âThe apprentices patrolling the outermost parts of the school were attacked. Elder Cheng came as a part of the reinforcements, butâŠhe was ambushed on the way and was hurt!â Bu Jiadi explained, âThe othersâŠwe donât know if the apprentices are alive or dead!â
âWhat?! For an ambush to do this much damage to elder ChengâŠwas a Soul King there?!â
âItâs possible, but we donât know the specifics,â Bu Jiadi replied. âWeâll have to wait for elder Cheng to wake up first. How is he?â
Elder Yu held his fingers to elder Yuâs wrist for a moment. âThe soulmending pill is working on him, but his wounds have yet to stabilize. Itâll probably be a few days beforeâŠâ
His voice trailed off as he sensed an anomaly in the other personâs body. âThis corrosive energyâŠif the records are correct, thenâŠthe Soul Refining Palm?! The Soul Refining School?!â
âClang!â
Several objects clattered onto a hard surface, catching the attention of everyone in the room. The heads of everyone turned to look at the tumble of files and slips on the ground and table.
It was Bai Yunfei who had dropped those items.
âTang Long? What is it?â Bu Jiadi asked.
âItâsâŠitâs nothing.â Shaking his head, Bai Yunfei bent down to pick up the things he dropped.
Luckily, his antics were perceived by the people within the room to simply be a result of nerves from hearing about their enemy and so they ignored him.
And so no one seemed to notice the shockingly red gleam of light that was in Bai Yunfeiâs eyesâŠÂ
It was only for a moment. Even Bai Yunfei himself was surprised by his own reaction.Â
For some reason, just hearing those three words; Soul Refining School, made him feel like his heart was tightening. Like a strand of rope was wrapping around it and causing him to stagger a little bit. The files that had been in his hands fell, and that was the reason why everyone turned to look at him.Â
In that moment, Bai Yunfei felt an unprecedented amount of rage flow through his body.
âSoul Refining SchoolâŠâ He muttered underneath his breath. His hand clenched tightly enough that several knuckles popped ominously. A few of the files he grabbed at were even starting to distort under the pressure.
Hearing the name of that school for some reason made him want to kill.
âElder Yu, the clan elder has ordered for elder Cheng to be brought back to the hall. Please come with us!â A figure in purple suddenly dropped into the room with a missive for the elder to hear.
The elder nodded his head. Waving his right hand, he had a layer of energy envelop and bring the elder up, âWeâre going!â
âStay here in the meanwhile, no pills are to be dispensed until my return!â Spoke elder Yuâs voice into Bai Yunfeiâs ear.
Bai Yunfei said nothing and waited for everyone to leave before he let out a sigh. Shelving the files, Bai Yunfei sat back down at his table. âSeems like thereâs trouble afoot. Something bigâs happeningâŠelder Chengâs a Peak Late-stage Soul Exalt, what kind of foe couldâve harmed him this muchâŠ?â
Two of his fingers massaged the temples on his head. âSoul Refining SchoolâŠâ He grunted, âOne of the Ten Great Schools and filled with all sorts of villainous people. ButâŠwhy is their name alone enough to cause so much hatred in me?â
He only had a few memories of the Soul Refining School to think of. As hated as the Soul Refining School was, Bai Yunfei couldnât think of a reason why he himself hated the school so much. The hatred he had was unnaturally deep. It had to be if just the name alone was able to elicit such a response despite not knowing the reason why!
âThey were only near the village a month ago. Have they really managed to get this far?â Bai Yunfei wondered aloud.
âThe magical pills of the Yao clanâŠreally does seem to be the treasure everyone wants. But with how long the Yao clan has been goneâŠshouldnât everyone have given up already? There has to be a reason why theyâre looking nowâŠâ
No answer came to him.
He shook his head with a sigh. A âmere Soul Warriorâ like him shouldnât be thinking so hard about this. âSighâŠI hope the Yao clan will return to the peace theyâre used to after all this is overâŠ.â
Within a large building at the center of the city.
Plenty of people were gathered here today. Over a hundred people from an initial scan.
The elder of the clan, Yao Wuchen, sat at the head of the hall. To his immediate right sat a middle-aged man in his fifties. He looked similar in appearance to Yao Wuchen.
That was because this man was Yao Wuchenâs predecessor and father, Yao Tianji.
Two rows sat on the left and right of these two seats. Rather than Wang Tong and the others, multiple elders sat on their chairs and waited to be called upon. They looked to be in their seventies or eighties and looked so withered that a single gust of wind mightâve been enough to blow them over.
These people were the entirety of the previous generations of the Yao clan.
Wang Tong, Kai Wen, and Bu Jiadi were also in attendance, but they were relegated to a corner. With them stood several other equal-aged men. They were fellow geniuses of their generation.
Only the strongest were gathered here. The weakest member here today was an Early-stage Soul Exalt. The people within these halls represented the core strength of the Yao clan.
It was just a moment ago the reawakened elder Cheng told the story of what happened.
Everyone had a grim expression on their faces. The story elder Cheng told had left a stifling atmosphere on the hall.
No one spoke for the longest of time. The news of what they heard was simply too hard to stomach.
âF*ck!â Roared a middle-aged man.
âI canât bear this any longer, clan elder, please give the order! The enemy is already at our gates and has already killed several of our clansmen, thereâs no chance of negotiations anymore! We should simply gather all our people and kill our enemies! Kill them all before they kill us! Let them know they have stepped on the tigerâs tail they shouldnât have!â
His words were the spark to set the entire room into furious fervor. Multiple people began to speak out at once, furious for revenge over the deaths of their clansmen.
The most outspoken of the people here were those of the younger generation. Many of the older generations had yet to say anything.
âSilence!â
Yao Wuchen roared, he had had enough of the noise, and the entire hall went silent as he wanted.
Yao Wuchen turned to his father. âWhat are your thoughts, father?â
Yao Tianji didnât look quite happy with how things were turning out. âYou are the elder, you should be the one making the decisions. It is up to you to decide!â
Yao Wuchen sighed. âThe enemies are quickly approaching,â He spoke to the people gathered in the hall. âThis is the greatest danger to our clan since two thousand years ago. We are up against no beasts this time, but powerful soul cultivators from the outside world. Their goals are obvious; they wish to take our strength for themselves!â
He paused once here to take in a deep breath. âWhat Yao Kui said is correct. The enemies wonât hesitate to kill our clansmen, and there is no chance of any negotiations. If they are to treat us with malice, then we wonât sit and wait for our death!
âHowever! We are still unclear about the situation. We know little if they are all gathered here yet or if they are simply waiting for us to walk into their trap. ThereforeâŠnone of you shall take action without my command!
âOur patrolmen shall pull back to half their radius. None of our members shall walk even a step beyond the illusionary barriers. We will double our defenses at the edge of these barriers and have our familiars at the ready for battle!
âElder Bu, awaken all the slumbering familiars we have!
âSecond uncle, speed up the taming of the soulbeasts from last monthâs trip. Tame the class six ones first. The class seven snake-tailed serpent willâŠbe up to you and third uncle to tame!
âElder Yu, distribute all the power-boosting pills to the familiars. Do the same for the treatment pills. Have all apprentices Soul Ancestors and up prepared for battle!
âElder Wang, strengthen the sentinels at all points around the barriers near the city. I donât want the enemy being able to sneak even a rat inâŠâ
Orders streamed out from Yao Wuchenâs mouth one after another, but no one complained. A grim future was awaiting them, and everyone could tell that a great danger was coming down onto their clanâŠÂ