After the snake missed its first initial strike, it contorted its body so that it came flying back to coil around Tianming!
The speed of the snake was fast enough for Tianming to be left unable to dodge again. However, Bai Yunfei had reached him by then; reaching out with his left hand, Bai Yunfei yanked the robes of Tianming’s clothes to pull him back. At the same time, his right hand swung to punch the snake on the head with a ‘pop.’
As soon as Bai Yunfei had pulled Tianming behind him, he and Jing Mingfeng carefully looked around the situation with vigilant glares.
While they were rescuing Tianming, a slight sound of surprise was heard from the left side of the forest where the snake came from. Slithering sounds from all around them could be heard before five figures came walking out. Among these five was a middle-aged man wearing rich purple robes and another man wearing gray robes. By their sides were soulbeasts that had vacant pupils on their faces.
“Beast Taming School!!”
Bai Yunfei’s heart skipped a beat as the hatred he had for the Beast Taming School from the last incident with the Quickshade Bird came flying back to him.
“Caretaker Zhao!!”
A startled cry interrupted Bai Yunfei’s train of thought as Tianming had finally taken note of their ambushers.
“Tianming, do you know them?” Bai Yunfei stared down the man with luxurious looking robes and a ‘kind’ smile on his face. This was a man that exuded the aura of a middle-grade Soul Sprite without a doubt.
“He’s the caretaker of one of the three major families in Gaoyi City, Zhao Chuan! Even though he’s only the caretaker, he’s practically the second ruler of the household — even the head of the house, Zhao Ling, is barely stronger than him! The majority of the internal affairs are usually up to him to handle as well. I know that he’s a middle-grade Soul Sprite and has the lightning affinity as well.”
“The house of Zhao… was there some sort of quarrel between your house and his?” Jing Mingfeng looked at the group of people in front of him vigilantly as he asked Tianming.
“Of course there’s been some bad blood between us, but there has never been any conflict like this. Something like this… this is a first!” Tianming replied. He was more than aware of their plans as well, but he still had to ask himself, “Did… did something happen in the few months I was away?”
A look of panic crossed Tianming’s face. He was clearly worried for his family.
“I can understand the house of Zhao coming after you, but why is the Beast Taming School partic.i.p.ating in this too?” Jing Mingfeng’s eyes stared at the soulbeasts in front of them with confusion.
Tianming shook his head in confusion, “I… I don’t know that either. Aside from the house of Liu, who have connections with the Wood School, the house of Ye and the house of Zhao don’t have any affiliations with any other school.”
“Bahaha, little Tianming, you couldn’t possibly guess the reason even if you tried. It wasn’t in my expectations to see your friends be this strong. That was a mistake on my own part, but this changes nothing. I’ve come here today to welcome and receive you back to the house of Zhao for a few days. It goes without saying that I am rather unwilling to harm you, and if you cooperate with us, then your friends won’t be hurt either.” The caretaker smiled as he held his hand to stop the two men to his side.
Bai Yunfei had been silent during this brief exchange, so he could carefully ponder the situation. After a while, it was Tianming who voiced his thoughts, “In other words, there is now an open conflict between both houses, and you wish to make use of me as a hostage to use against the house of Ye? If we don’t cooperate, then you will, of course, adopt a more forceful approach and possibly harm or even kill my friends?”
Tianming was young, but he wasn’t stupid. The sudden development of the situation had only required a snap judgment to realize the reality of what was happening. Staring down the caretaker, Tianming questioned, “Are you not afraid of bringing the wrath of the lord of Gaoyi City onto your heads for this blatant attack? Are you also not afraid of suffering from his hand? What has happened to the house of Ye?”
“Little Tianming, you’ve been away for far too long I’m afraid. It’s only natural that you wouldn’t know about the happenings of Gaoyi City. Just wait until we get back home to the house of Zhao. I’ll be more than happy to tell you every single little bit of detail you want… now, how about it? Shall we be on our way, little Tianming?” The caretaker continued to smile at the three with the air of a businessman.
Even now, Bai Yunfei remained silent as he continued to a.n.a.lyze the situation. “This caretaker is a middle-grade Soul Sprite, and the three people by his side are high-grade Soul Warriors. The most important matter is that middle-aged man right next to the caretaker; he is a middle-grade Soul Sprite. A stronger one than the caretaker! Two tiger soulbeasts, a wolf soulbeast, and a snake soulbeast; there’s no way that this snake will be a weak one either… why is it that I see the Beast Taming School anywhere I go? even if the physical body is gone, the spirit remains I guess…”
“Hmph, don’t even think that—” Tianming snorted just before Bai Yunfei suddenly realized the change in the situation and leaped back with Tianming in tow. Simultaneously, four wriggling tree-root-like objects suddenly flew out in an attempt to coil around their legs from where they stood.
Seeing that their ambush had failed once again, the man from the Beast Taming School waved at Zhao Chuan to stop him from talking, “Quit the chatter. It’s time to take action!”
His voice was the catalyst for the three Soul Warriors to suddenly fly back. With hardened expressions and a faint trill coming from their lips, the three of them waved their right hands out for a command. The soulbeasts right next to them gave a low roar before leaping into the air to chase down Bai Yunfei and the other two.
Even Zha Chuan had narrowed his eyes as he barked out, “Fine! Capture the kid, but kill the other two!”
A halo of purple light enveloped his body as he spoke, and in the next movement of his leg, the man had disappeared from sight with a speed faster than even the three soulbeasts. In the next instant, he had appeared in front of Tianming with a hand outstretched to grab his neck.
“Fast!!’ Bai Yunfei felt extremely alarmed at this speed. This was the very first time he had encountered someone with the lightning affinity. A soul cultivator with this affinity was extremely fast in short bursts, and had a powerful attack power to follow it up with. This was not the only advantage they possessed; soul cultivators with the water, ice, or metal affinity would not be a good match up against them.
Even though he was startled by his speed, Bai Yunfei hadn’t dared to fall behind either. With a twist of his foot, Bai Yunfei flew in front of Tianming as well. With his left arm moving up to brush away the hand aimed at Tianming, his right hand formed a fist to punch at Zhao Chuan’s chest.
Zhao Chuan had predicted that Bai Yunfei would move in this fas.h.i.+on. He brought his right arm up to defend himself. In the next second, his right hand lashed out, and with a ‘bang’, the two of them separated half a step.
The sound of wind crackling with movement could be heard a short moment later as the two tigers pounced at them. Jing Mingfeng pulled Tianming to the left while Bai Yunfei was forced by Zhao Chuan’s kick to the right.
As soon as the three soulbeasts landed on the ground, they diverted their energy to turn toward Jing Mingfeng and Tianming. The three soulbeasts were third cla.s.s soulbeasts. Jing Mingfeng could take all three of them on and then the three beast tamers behind them without much difficulty, but doing so while protecting Tianming would be a whole different problem.
Bai Yunfei wanted to help the two, but in that one moment of distraction, Zhao Chuan had managed to slam his palm into Bai Yunfei’s left shoulder. A wave of electricity had coursed into his body and numbed it before he delivered yet another punch to Bai Yunfei’s chest. However, he hadn’t been too injured by the attack because of the Goldsilk Soul Armor. The wave of paralysis had cleared away, allowing him to stand up.
Just as Bai Yunfei was trying to think of some way to help protect Tianming, a startled cry emerged from the person in question. Casting a quick glance to see what had happened, Bai Yunfei realized that Jing Mingfeng and Tianming had been forcibly divided. Jing Mingfeng had kicked away a gray wolf in an attempt to clear the path as he reached for Tianming, but then a black line suddenly darted from the bush. It was the same snake from before! Coiling around Tianming’s leg, it climbed up his leg and immediately sank its fangs into his arm!
Tianming’s body was as stiff as a board while his face turned flush red. His mouth opened to say something, but no sound came out. Ultimately, his eyes fluttered closed, and as if his strings were cut, Tianming’s body fell to the floor. The snake remained coiled around Tianming’s body as it started to drag his body away to the other side.
“Tianming!!”
Bai Yunfei and Jing Mingfeng cried out in alarm at this sudden development. Just as Bai Yunfei moved to take out his Compliant Rope, a flash of purple light burst toward him from the side. Zhao Chuan appeared seemingly out of nowhere with a malicious glint in his eye. A small curved blade (shaped like a watermelon knife) about three fingers wide was in his hands. While Bai Yunfei had been distracted, he took this opportunity to strike!
Surprised, Bai Yunfei could only try to move his left arm out of the way so that the short blade swiped across his waist. The clothes he had been wearing were ripped apart, but the Goldsilk Soul Armor he wore underneath was able to take the blow with only a series of spark to indicate a collision had happened.
“Ol’ Bai!” Jing Mingfeng had struck down the two tigers with a single blow before leaping out of the way from the two tree roots that moved to entangle his feet. Eying Tianming being dragged into the forest, Jing Mingfeng let out a cry to Bai Yunfei as if trying to ask what they were to do now.
A cold light appeared in Bai Yunfei’s eyes as his anger rose, “Kill!!”
Bai Yunfei wasn’t one that liked to kill people, and thus, wanted to run away given the opportunity to. The situation now no longer allowed that plan of action due to Tianming being captured. Since these enemies were clearly trying to kill Bai Yunfei and Jing Mingfeng, there was obviously no good will left between the two sides. Bai Yunfei no longer possessed the opportunity to be as kind as before. He would remove the emotions of his heart and kill his opponent.
All that was left for the house of Zhao and the Beast Taming School was death! If these two were not killed, then Bai Yunfei and Jing Mingfeng would be killed in the future! This was all there was to it!
Jing Mingfeng’s eyes lit up in recognition of the word that came from Bai Yunfei’s mouth. His right foot stomped on the ground as he charged toward one of the tigers. Borrowing its head as a foot stool, he leaped three to four meters into the air with a burst of azure light accompanying him. His right hand blurred through the air before a black dagger appeared in it. His right arm streaked through the air. As it came flying down, a two-meter long blade of wind come shrieking forth toward one of the beast tamers.
The beast tamer that had been controlling the giant wolf had been sneering when it looked like Jing Mingfeng would not be retaliating against them. However, when Jing Mingfeng had flown into the air and unleashed a fierce counterblow, he had let out a yelp and commanded the beast to come back and protect him. With a snarl, the wolf flew into the air from the side. It took the blade of wind in subst.i.tution of its master.
During that moment, the beast tamer had been congratulating himself on his quick reaction. However, Jing Mingfeng’s eyes had hardened again before he unleashed another blade of wind from his dagger, “Scatter!” He barked.
During the battle when Jing Mingfeng was fighting to protect the Quickshade Bird, his blade of wind had transformed into a form suitable for fighting. This time, this blade of wind had not turned into a net, but, instead, a single giant blade of wind that instantly exploded into a storm of miniature blades of wind!!
The beast tamer had no time to dodge the explosion of wind blades coming from Jing Mingfeng. With a series of slas.h.i.+ng sounds, his body was cut into at every angle and area. Those previously happy eyes turned to shock, but even that shock slowly drained away to reveal a lifeless look. His body fell to the ground with a ‘plop,’ and he moved no more. The wolf he had been controlling came to a screeching halt as well, like a puppet that had suddenly lost contact with the puppeteer that was controlling it.
Jing Mingfeng had killed a man in a single instant just like that, and on the other side, another completely unexpected situation was happening simultaneously!b