“Senior Xiao!!”
Cang Yu cried out in jubilation. All of the tension in her body bled away, only to have a wave of fatigue, pain, and even a bit of a headache come flooding in.
She could relax a bit now. With Xiao Binzi here, she would not be in any danger.
While Cang Yu felt her nerves lessen, an explosion went off in both hearts of the men from the Beast Taming School. The late-stage Soul Exalt was far more pale in the face than his companion, and fear could clearly be seen in his eyes. The very sensation of the incoming soulforce was enough for the Soul Exalt to feel a bit like he was suffocating.
“A Soul King! A strong one at that!!” He himself wasn’t strong, so he couldn’t determine the true extent of Xiao Binzi’s strength. However, he could, at the very least, confirm that person was indeed a Soul King.
“It’s fortunate that there’s a Soul King next to me.”
The man rejoiced to himself.
When he turned around to look, what he saw immediately turned him icy-cold.
The black-cloaked person who had been standing there earlier was already making his escape!
He was running away!!
“What kind of joke is this!? A Soul King running before there’s even a fight!!” The man cried out to himself. What he was seeing in front of him was completely undermined what he had been taught.
In his mind, practically no one could even hold a candle to Soul Kings, but when another one came, the other man immediately turned tail and ran without even fighting!
No matter how shocked or in disbelief the man was, the truth still remained. The black-cloaked man was running away with all his might and was solely occupied with escaping!
“Dammit! d.a.m.n it all! Xiao Binzi is here. How did he get here so fast!” s.h.i.+vering as he fled, the black-robed man continued to scream to himself in mental anguish, “I must run! Only death awaits me back there!”
Dignified and exalted, Soul Kings were beings whose might could hardly be seen in full clarity.
At this moment, this Soul King was running away like a cowardly stray dog.
This was because he knew far more than what the other man knew of the Crafting School. As a more knowledgeable beast tamer, the cloaked man knew about the first elder of the Crafting School. Thus, he was more than aware of how terrifying Xiao Binzi was!
In the past, the black-cloaked man was once a trifling little Soul Exalt. During that time, Xiao Binzi was already a well-known Soul King. He was even more fortunate to bear witness to the battle where the late-stage Soul Exalt Kou Changkong was able to kill an early-stage Soul King.
Xiao Binzi was there as well, but there was another fact to the tale… as a mid-stage Soul King, Xiao Binzi was able to kill not only another mid-stage Soul King… but also a late-stage Soul King!
In that battle, both Kou Changkong and Xiao Binzi were able to destroy an entire sect!!
All he could possibly hope for for now was that the Soul Exalt beast tamer would be able to stall for time. Enough time that he could run away, even if it was just one minute more!
Over dozens of kilometers away, the purple-robed Soul Exalt stared at his fleeing ‘companion.’ He wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or not, but sooner or later, he managed to recover his wits enough for a greenish light to flicker past his eyes.
It was minute, but he could sense that when the figure in that green light raised his right hand, a wave of red light started to flow out…
A s.h.i.+ver originating from within his body started to grab hold of him, and when it did, the man realized that he was suddenly unable to move!! Even his own arms didn’t feel like they belonged to him anymore, no longer heeding his own commands.
Not even blinking was possible!
The most important thing was… he couldn’t use his soulforce!!
As soon as Xiao Binzi imprisoned the Soul Exalt, he immediately flew off to chase the fleeing cloaked man. Said man was using his own soulforce to fuel his flight, but for Xiao Binzi who was not only the same level of strength as the man, Xiao Binzi also possesses a soul armament that’d easily outspeed his prey. Distance wouldn’t even be a factor in this chase.
When the cloaked man was already a hundred kilometers away, he turned his head back—only to be terror-stricken by what he saw.
Xiao Binzi, who was riding his green Zephyr Sword, was already several hundred meters away from him!!
“d.a.m.n it!” The man howled to himself in anger. Frantic in his fear, the soulforce in his body started to bubble strangely before doubling his speed!
No hesitation was felt when the man decided burn up his own soul essence to make his escape even faster!
“Hmph!” Xiao Binzi sneered, though his speed remained the same. Shaking his right hand, a dazzling ball of orange light the size of a small chicken egg came shooting out. Traveling faster than both Xiao Binzi and the cloaked man, the pearl soon found itself about to pelt the man’s back.
It didn’t slam into his back. Instead, it flew around his side and burst forward several times faster than before to reach the barren hill a kilometer in front of them and then out of sight!
The cloaked man stared blankly for a second before shock from what he saw immediately dilated his eyes!
After he tossed the orange pearl, Xiao Binzi stopped where he was in mid-air. Rather than chase the man down, he only watched the man with his right hand stretched out.
And then, he unclenched his fist!
“Boom!!”
An overwhelming wave of power surged as someone’s soulforce could be felt exploding. When Xiao Binzi unclenched his fist, the land in front of them started to quake violently along with the barren hill where the pearl was. It was almost as if some sort of living being was about to awaken!
In the blink of an eye, the entire mountain had ‘transformed’ into a giant stone palm!
While the cloaked man was taken aback by this transformation, the ‘mountain palm’ moved to stop him!
Still glaring coldly, Xiao Binzi clenched down with his fist!
There was a giant explosion as the ‘mountain palm’ followed the movements of his own palm of flesh.
As if it was swatting a fly, the mountain palm flew to ‘grab’ the cloaked figure!
“No!!”
Came the furious cry of the man in question. In desperate abandon, his right arm was thrust out, and his gigantic chains coiled around him. A wave of blue energy condensed to form a wall of water all around him, chilling the air.
Several crackling sounds later, the wall of water froze to become a wall of ice that s.h.i.+ned and looked as if it was as hard as iron.
It took a second to pull this move off, and the palm was just able to grab hold of him!
If anyone were to look from far away, all they’d be able to see is a giant palm rise out of the earth and form a giant fist.
After the stone palm had formed a fist, wave after wave of soulforce could be seen coming out of the fist along with several slamming sounds from inside. Apparently, the captive was trying his best to break free from the stone prison and escape.
Narrowing his eyes, Xiao Binzi didn’t soften his grasp, “Shrink!” He barked.
“Bzzz!!”
As soon as he spoke, the ‘mountain fist’ that had came forth from the earth started to s.h.i.+ne a bright orange light. Waves of elemental earth started to pervade the sky and congregate around the fist before shrinking rapidly in size. Within half-second intervals, the visible changes to the fist could clearly be seen!!
The more the fist started to shrink, the more erratic the man’s aura became within the fist. The man was starting to yell even louder along with the banging from his attempts to escape.
Within ten minutes, the previously large fist was no more than ten feet long and tall!!
The entire fist was ablaze with an orange glow, uncertain it could be made out of stone and earth anymore. The saturation of the orange glow was reaching a terrifying level where it felt as if it was made completely out of elemental earth instead!
A glint of murderous intent sparked to life within Xiao Binzi’s eye. “Explode!”
“Boom!!!!”
The following explosion rocked the earth as the orange ‘fist’ exploded into pieces and dust. Along with the remnants of the fist, a mist of blood could be seen mixed in before scattering throughout the world…
An orange-colored pearl came flying out of the dust back to Xiao Binzi’s outstretched hand. In the orange pearl, a single s.p.a.ce ring could be seen.
In an instant, a Soul King had been reduced to nothing but dust!
This… this was the might of the first elder of the Crafting School!!