There stood a tall mountain with a point several hundred meters in height. A white pillar of light could be seen at the tip of the point piercing through the layer of clouds above it and disseminating its light throughout. But with the clouds covering the mountain, it was only possible to see the light from where it was heading straight up from. It was like if a giant cover was being placed over the mountain with how the light was seemingly melting with the air. From a distance, not even the pillar could really be seen in its clearest form.
The area around the mountain was seemingly on fire with how the air was bending like a wave. But the strange thing was that it didnât feel hot here.Â
Should a space-type soul cultivator or Soul King be here, they wouldâve noticed that the spatial energy in this area was particularly heavy enough to create distortions in the air.
At the top of the mountain stood a platform with two people standing on top of it. One of those two people was an elderly person with black robes and gray hair. This person was perhaps seventy in age but his spirit was still quite robust for his age. There werenât any signs of soulforce coming from this person, however, making it seem like he was just an ordinary elder.Â
The other person was a young man dressed in equally black robes. His hair reached his shoulders and his face was exceedingly handsome. The only demerit to his appearance were his eyes, which looked sinisterly dark enough to make anyone think twice about meeting his stare.
This young man was, of course, the junior headmaster of the Soul Refining School, Mo Ni. And the elder was one of the people that had appeared in front of the Black Dragon King back in the Soulbeast Forest, âQin Bangjieâ. He was the first elder and overseer for external affairs, a Peak Late-stage Soul King.
In front of him was a half-transparent floating disk made from an unknown material. The disk was pulsating with a soft glow and had several white dots glowing on its surface and moving every so often.
The entrance to the Soul Refining School wasnât a mountain like the Crafting School. It was in fact a series of mountains spread out farther than what most people could imagine. Soul refiners were rarities in the world, but there was actually a large sum of them hidden away on the school grounds. The school had also seven elders in charge of external matters; each one of them Soul Kings. There were also multiple elders who had secluded themselves from the world and held the title of âelderâ as well. Those elders were in charge of protecting the interior of the school. Then there were the âguest eldersâ, who were Soul Kings from the outside that had decided to throw their lots in with the Soul Refining School.
No one knew just how many Soul Kings the Soul Refining School had, and not even the people from a millennium ago knew the answer to that riddleâŚÂ
The mountains Mo Ni and Qin Bangjie stood upon was the origin of where the Agitation Edict was activated from.
At this present moment, Mo Ni was staring off into the distance with a nervous expression on his face. It had been a day since Bai Yunfei was last spotted, and none of their scouts had yet to report any news back to them. The fact that no one had even reported back in general was enough to make Mo Ni feel like choking almost.
If he had to put it into words, Mo Ni would say the situation felt like he was holding onto a giant sword to cut the neck of a serpent. The only thing was, the serpent was still hiding in its hole and refusing to come outâŚÂ
âI donât believe for a second that you were able to make it out from the range of the Agitation Edict before it was activated! Youâre definitely hiding somewhere to heal yourself! Youâre like a tortoise hiding within the Core Stone! Even if no oneâs able to find you, we just need to flush you out! I donât believe it for even a second youâll be able to live through this!â
Mo Niâs eyes reflected the sadistic glee he had for Bai Yunfeiâs misfortune. Though killing Bai Yunfei straight away was something he wanted to prioritize, this game of cat-and-mouse felt equally refreshing, and Mo Ni couldnât help but feel like Bai Yunfei was a lamb waiting to be pounced on. All he, the wolf, had to do was wait.
âEh?â
Mo Ni and Qin Bangjieâs eyebrows rose up as they took notice of something from the right. A group of students was running frantically for them. âJunior headmaster, first elder, a message came from the Soul Tablet Palace a moment agoâŚthey said elder Luâs tablet was broken!â
âWhat?! Heâs finally starting to move!â
Mo Niâs eyes lit up with excitement rather than shock and anger at the death of one of their own!
A soul tablet was similar to the âlife jadeâ from the Crafting School, but their effects werenât as strong. A soul tablet couldnât sense how strong the vitality of its owner was and would break apart when their owner died. Nonetheless, the Soul Refining School had an entire palace with soul tablets to keep an eye on their students.
Not once had the thought of saving elder Lu crossed Mo Niâs mind. His tablet was still fine in any case, and Mo Ni figured Bai Yunfei would wait until he was fully healed before dealing with the elder.Â
In fact, Mo Ni was actually waiting for Bai Yunfei to kill the elder. Should that happen, it would mean Bai Yunfei was once again starting to be on the move, and killing the elder meant Bai Yunfei was going to show himself!
There was also the offside that the death of elder Lu meant Bai Yunfei wasnât as weak as before. Bai Yunfei would most likely be back in his prime state and would definitely not be an easy target to capture. Still, Mo Ni had total confidence in their task. This was the Soul Refining School after all! Bai Yunfei was by himself! Even if he had the power to kill two Late-stage Soul King, that meant little when there were over a dozen Soul Kings ready to take action! Mo Ni had no doubts at all that they would be able to kill Bai Yunfei without much difficulty!
âNotify all the students to be extra careful at once. Bai Yunfei will most defiâwhat?!â
He wasnât even done giving the order when Mo Ni took notice of something strange on the floating disk in front of him. Staring at it, Mo Ni began to smile in joy!
One of the white dots on the lower-left corner had suddenly disappeared from the disk!
âSouth-westâŚthatâs close to the Amethyst Cliff!!â Mo Ni exclaimed, âBai Yunfei must be there!
âNotify everyone near the Amethyst Cliff to be on the look-out and to be ready for battle! Notify everyone else to surround the place! I want every inch of that place scoured. Do not let Bai Yunfei escape!â
âYes, junior headmaster!â The student bowed at once before disappearing to do as he was told.
Mo Ni was feeling elated now. Turning to Qin Bangjie, he spoke, âFirst elder, this Bai Yunfei has plenty of strange techniques to him. I believe it would be prudent for you to go and capture him to avoid any casualties to our students!â
Qin Bangjie had a calm expression on his face as he stared at the strange disk in front of them. âThis is no small matter, I will of course take care of it myself. Letâs go.â
The two glowed brightly with light for a moment before they took off towards the south-west!
  âŚâŚ
âWhoosh, whoosh, whooshâŚâ
The sound of air being displaced could be heard as Bai Yunfei flew through the skies like a demon, his mind racing miles per minute to think of what to do next.
âAgain! Yunfei, you just tripped another barrier! Someoneâs most likely going to find you!â
Xiao Fangâs voice spoke into Bai Yunfeiâs mind again, causing him to narrow his eyes in consternation!
âDamn! How can they hide those barriers so well?!â Bai Yunfei cursed to himself. Any hope he was feeling was rapidly dwindling away from him with each successive barrier he tripped. It seemed like there wasnât much of a point hiding his aura and running away!
âIâve got to charge straight on through before the enemies can gather here!â
Bai Yunfei declared. Soaring into the sky, he leaped onto the Heavenâs Thunder and took off with renewed speed. He didnât care about hiding himself anymore, it was too late for that. It was time for him to take flight!
It wasnât for another five kilometers or so before Bai Yunfei met his next obstruction. Several beams of light could be seen within the vicinity. They werenât flying towards him, but it was obvious they had seen them since they were flying off to the side. It was likely that they were trying to get to safety on a nearby mountain and observe his movements from there.
âTch!â Bai Yunfei clicked his tongue. He hadnât the time to deal with the small fry, so Bai Yunfei turned his sword around into a different direction to hopefully shake off his observers.
Noticing that Bai Yunfei wasnât going to âfightâ them, the scouting unit changed directions as well to chase after him!
That only made Bai Yunfei even more sullen. Several more beams of light were already converging onto his general areaâtwo of them were Soul Kings!
âTheyâre fast!â Bai Yunfei noted in panic.
Then his eyes flickered over to another two beams of light heading his way from his left and right. They were coming in to stop him from all three sides but back!
The formation of his enemies caught Bai Yunfei off guard. There was no escape now!