The tip of the Fire-tipped Spear pressed against the skin of Yan Tianxingâs body, as if daring him to move. But Tan Tianxing knew better than to do that and gain a new hole in his person. He was still as a statue and not even his soulforce made a move.
Without a steady source of soulforce to feed it, the curtain of lightning faded away from the skies. Once the curtain dropped, the figure of Bai Yunfei was revealed to be standing about a hundred steps away. His outstretched arm seem to be remotely controlling the Fire-tipped Spear.
Slowly, the sky began to regain the normal shades of color of daylight. Though the fight was reaching a lull, the spectators were watching more with more intensity than before. They were perhaps trying to process the fact that this was the conclusion of a most unforgettable fight.Â
âBoom!!â
Qin Long crashed into a mountain nearby the spectators, causing many of them to jerk their heads away in surprise. The impact of his landing was mighty enough to cause a localized earthquake to rumble to life. The mountain trembled for a brief moment before collapsing in on itself and kicked up a dust storm.
Bai Yunfei spared a quick glance over to where Qin Long fell before twitching a finger on his right hand. As if attached to a string, the Fire-tipped Spear zipped back to Bai Yunfeiâs side along with the Heavenâs Thunder which came to a stop on the other side of him.
âLord Yan, Iâll be leaving now. Please do not stop me.â
He stated to Yan Tianxing as he stored away his Fire-tipped Spear. Stepping onto the Heavenâs Thunder, he zipped off into the skies to where Tang Xinyun was.
Yan Tianxing remained motionless where he stood. His mouth opened and closed several times as if wanting to say something. No words were coming out though. All he could do was just watch Bai Yunfei leave.
  âŠâŠ
âCanâŠcan someone tell me what in the world happened? ItâsâŠitâs over? Lord Qin and the lord-mayor were bothâŠdefeated by Bai Yunfei!?â
âThereâs just no f*cking way?! Was this really a battle between equals?! How in the world were neither lord Qin or lord-mayor Yan unable to stop Bai Yunfei?! I canât believe this!!â
âA soul attackâŠit was a soul attack that defeated lord Qin at the end! I canât believe lord Qin wasnât able to defend against it! That wasnât a normal soul attack then, it had to be some kind of arcane art! Bai Yunfei has possession of an even more powerful soul attack!â
âAnd that one soul armament that defeated the lord-mayor, what was that?! Lord Yan shouldnât have been able to be so easily defeated if he was focused entirely on defending himself! What soul armament was Bai Yunfei using to penetrate it!?â
âHow is lord Qin? Can he still fight? Will the fight really end like this?â
âHow would it continue even if he could? Not even a few more Early-stage or Mid-stage Soul Kings wouldnât be enough if Bai Yunfei is this powerful! Unless patriarch Qin and his other elders come out, thereâs no way Bai Yunfei wonât win! And an entire clan against one person? WouldâŠwould the Qin really do something like that?â
âBai Yunfeiâs leaving! And lord Yan isnât stopping himâŠis he giving up? Tsk tskâŠlord Yan has to be doing this on purpose, right? He didnât show his entire strength, sure, but to fight together with lord Qin on this wasnât very spectacular, especially since he lostâŠâ
The entire battle had been only a few minutes at least and ten at most. For those long few minutes, the entire audience had been stunned over and over again by how powerful Bai Yunfei was. The âabruptâ ending was even more of a bombshell onto these people and so most of them were having a hard time believing it was over.
  âŠâŠ
On the mountains to the left of the battlefield was Tang Xinyun. Watching as Bai Yunfei shot on over on his Heavenâs Thunder, Tang Xinyun began to break into a relieved smile and pride. She waited for Bai Yunfei to alight from the sword before she ran up to him, Â âAre you alright, Yunfei?â
âIâm fine.â Bai Yunfei smiled back, âDo I look hurt to you? I canât even say how relaxed I feel right now, hahaâŠâ
He hadnât spent much time in the âCoilâ Form so dispelling it wouldnât do much harm onto him. The battle did drain a decent amount of soulforce from him, but thatâd be easily solved with his faster-than-normal regeneration. At most, his biggest injuries were the physical blows Qin Long gave him, but even those were just negligible wounds.Â
Truly, Bai Yunfei had come out from this battle with more than enough to spare.
This was the first fight he took part of since he became a Mid-stage Soul King and was ârefittedâ. Even he was surprised by how easily victory came to him.
A good reason behind that victory was in part due to Yan Tianxing not taking the battle too seriously. Though he was siding with Qin Long, the man wasnât fighting with the intent to kill Bai Yunfei. He was just fighting at a level needed to injure and capture Bai Yunfei.Â
Or it could perhaps be said that Bai Yunfei hadnât given him the chance to fight seriously either. The +13 additional effect of the Fire-tipped Spear (ignore elemental defenses) was a decisive deal-breaker no one could possibly expect to see.
âHowâŠhow is lord Qin?â At ease now due to Bai Yunfei being safe, Tang Xinyun was still seemingly worried about the other combatant. There was without a doubt a grudge between Bai Yunfei and the Qin now, and even though she herself didnât like the Qin much, her family was still friends with the Qin. Having things develop this way wouldnât be good at all for relationships between the Tang and Qin.
âHeâs not dead, but heâs not lightly injured either. He wonât have much energy to fight unless he risks everythingâŠâ
âBoom!!!â
A loud explosion rocked the earth behind Bai Yunfei a split-second later before washing the area over with a wave of powerful soulforce!
Bai Yunfei frowned. âNo way, did I jinx it?â
The dust where Qin Long had fallen had cleared away to reveal a pillar of green light to shoot up into the sky!
Qin Long was looking worse for wear within the pillar of light. His hair was a frazzled mess and his clothes were in ruin. Not even his dark-green armor was in one piece with multiple fracture lines running from where two fists imprints had been left behind on its carapace. Blood was trickling from his heaving mouth, but his eyes were bloodthirstyâvery much like an animalâand still filled with killing intent.
He wasnât just angry over the death of his two sons now. He was angry that a âyoungsterâ had dealt such humiliation to him! His heart was like a hornetâs nest with how it beat and brought his soulforce into quick undulations.
âDie! Die!! Iâll kill you!â Elemental wood poured out from his body at the same levels as if he was completely unharmed as he let loose a guttural roar towards Bai Yunfei.
âLord Qin, please calm yourself. Donât do anything hasty nowâŠâ
Yan Tianxing appeared right beside him as he tried to pacify the man, albeit a little helplessly.
âMy lord!! Please restrain yourself! Zhou Huai has already gone to report to the others. I am sure brother will be here shortlyâŠlet them make the decisions for now. We can chase after Bai Yunfei another timeâŠâ
Qin Pingzhi had caught up to him now as well. His battle with Xiao Nan had been finished a lot earlier when Yan Tianxing and Qin Long began their assault with the two of them choosing to stand aside rather than fighting.
The more they tried to convince Qin Long though, the angrier he became. The snarl on his lips grew more and more pronounced as his soulforce started to leak out larger amountsâŠÂ
Yan Tianxing and Qin Pingzhi had worried looks on their faces. They could both tell Qin Long was being swayed more by his emotions than logic. His hatred for the one who humiliated him was overriding all logical thought and was close to turning him insane.
âIâllâŠIâll kill him! Ahhh!!!â
At last, a primal roar erupted from Qin Long. His head snapped back to let loose the fury within him along with a burst of soulforce! This was the power of a man gone crazy!
âNâno way?! Does he still want to fight? Donât tell me lord Qin has gone berserk?!â
Someone from the audience gasped aloud as he realized what was going on. His cry was picked up by the others in the audience and another conversation was soon started.
At that same momentâŠÂ
âRumble! Rumble! Rumble!!â
Without any warning whatsoever, the ground beneath everyoneâs feet started to tremble violently! It was as if the entire earth was being shaken! Something deep underneath the earth was rumbling so loudly that even the heavens could hear it!
âWhatâs going on? Whatâs happening?! An earthquake?â
âThe epicenter is towards the north! Ah!! Look there! WhatâŠwhat is that?!â
The abrupt earthquake had caught everyone off guard. Crying and yelling out in confusion, everyone started to look this way and that before someone brought their attention to the north. To the northâŠwhere the skies were dyed a crimson red!
Yes. The sky to the north of Swallow City seemed like it had been either set on fire or had been dyed red with blood. It was a chilling sight that seemed to affect even oneâs soul!