Bai Yunfei had finally grabbed hold of his assailant, meaning he could finally see who it was. The face was that of a bearded middle-aged man, but the expression was a shocked one. His eyes swiveled about when he listened to what Bai Yunfei said, and then after a moment, he twisted his right hand back to withdraw the dagger. Like a cheetah, he leaped several steps back to stick to the cliff wall and stare suspiciously at Bai Yunfei.
"You're…you're…"
He looked like he couldn't believe his eyes at what he was seeing.
Bai Yunfei was using the Face Change technique in order to give him a second layer of protection for this mining trip. Even his soulforce was different thanks to the Soul Concealment Arte. Aside from when his soulforce was used all at once, no one would be able to tell that it was Bai Yunfei by his soulforce.
Bai Yunfei softened up a bit when he saw his opponent put their dagger away. He smiled at the man, "What? You can't see through my disguise? Haha, Mingfeng, I remember you saying you'd beat me by the next time we meet. Seems like you failed…"
The muscles and skin over Bai Yunfei's body were starting to ripple and change as he spoke. Soon, he was back to his regular self. He even had his soulforce undulate once in his own regular presence before disguising it again. Doing it once would be enough for the other person to know.
"You're…Ol'Bai, it's you!!"
The middle-aged man came sliding down the wall as if to get a closer—but still incredulous—look at Bai Yunfei.
Ol'Bai. A nickname Bai Yunfei was given by only one person, Jing Mingfeng!
"Haha, it's me."
Before they could say anything more, the two of them whipped their heads to the right. Something was coming.
Silently, the two looked at each other first before then to a dark corner of the cave's roof. Jing Mingfeng called back the crescent-moon shaped weapon back to him with meteroic speed and immediately moved with Bai Yunfei to the roof.
Using the Soul Concealment Arte to fully conceal their auras, the two of them made use of the natural darkness to hide. No one would be able to tell anyone was standing there unless they got close.
They were silent and were completely focused on the ground below. Several moments later, there was a small burst of wind as three figures came shooting into the area.
An elder and two middle-aged men, all of them Soul Exalts.
"No one…" The elder muttered. He looked attentively at the surrounding area in suspicion, "I distinctly felt a strange burst of soulforce here, how did they run away so quickly?"
"I don't see anything strange, are you sure you're not mistaken, senior Li? Perhaps one of the nearby soul cultivators did it while training." The man to the elder's right suggested.
"Perhaps I was oversensitive," the elder replied, "Safety comes first, we'll head that way to look. If we don't find anything, then that's that."
The three walked for another tunnel away from this one and were soon out of sight and range.
None of the three had noticed Bai Yunfei and Jing Mingfeng at all. With their level of strength and proficiency with stealth arts, it'd be more surprising if the two were caught.
Minutes after the group of three left, Bai Yunfei and Jing Mingfeng finally decided to descend back to the ground.
Jing Mingfeng turned his head to look Bai Yunfei up and down in disbelief. "Ol'Bai…is it really you? Your…am I just sensing things wrong? You can't be a Mid-stage Soul King, can you? What kind of trick are you using to change your soulforce like that?"
Bai Yunfei grinned, "Hey, are you trying to say that I'm not a Mid-stage Soul King? Or did you think that if you became a Soul King, I couldn't?"
"But…I'm only just an Early-stage Soul King myself! How were you able to become a Mid-stage Soul King? That's some unbelievable news, you know that?" Jing Mingfeng groused.
"Hold on, did you actually get a hold of some of the Extreme King Pill last time?! You must've got more than I did, didn't you!?"
Bai Yunfei smiled again. "Haha, I won't lie, I did actually get some of the Extreme King Pill and used it to become as strong as I am now."
"Really?!" Jing Mingfeng's eyes were wide open now. He slapped Bai Yunfei's shoulder with a curse, "Damn! You got such a good fortune and you didn't think to tell us? And to think I was worried about you, what a good friend you are!"
"Honestly," Bai Yunfei shrugged, "I didn't even know I had some when we parted. It was only after a small development that I really learned about me having it."
Bai Yunfei didn't want to reveal the existence of the Core Stone to Jing Mingfeng just yet, so he decided to change the topic. "You became a Soul King pretty fast yourself, nice going!"
"Well, that's just how talented I am after all…" Jing Mingfeng praised himself. "Strangely enough, I don't feel as happy when you're the one saying it. You're too much, Ol'Bai. Who's ever heard of someone skipping stages? I was already feeling super happy about my speed, and then you come and shatter my happiness…"
"Hehe, everyone's different. You're just asking for sadness if you keep comparing yourself to me." Bai Yunfei laughed, "Anyways, what brings you here?"
"I was going to ask you that, what are you doing here?"
"I've some business in Swallow City."
"I also have some business in Swallow City."
"……"
The two grew silent.
"What, you're not going to say it?" Jing Mingfeng teased.
"Well, it's not that I'm not," Bai Yunfei replied, "but now's not the time nor place for it. Let's go somewhere else, this place gives me the creeps…"
As the two moved to step away, Bai Yunfei suddenly whipped his head into another direction, "Someone's coming! And this speed…it's a Late-stage Soul King!!"
A powerful aura was coming towards them. It even felt like the person had already locked onto their auras! It was a faint feeling, but Bai Yunfei was sure that this wasn't a mistake, this person knew they were there!
Grim, Bai Yunfei prepared to make a dash out from this place and looked to Jing Mingfeng to see if he'd follow.
But Jing Mingfeng looked relaxed for some reason. "Don't be so nervous, they're with us." He waved his hand arbitrarily.
"With us?" Bai Yunfei repeated, skeptical of what Jing Mingfeng had just said.
"Yes, with us. So don't worry, there's not going to be any trouble."
Bai Yunfei was still skeptical, but he decided to wait and relax a bit. The person was already here in any case. In the time of their small conversation with one another, a tear was already opening up in the space in front of them to reveal a figure in black.
Jing Mingfeng took two steps forward to salute. "Great grandfather, how was your investigation? Did you find anything?"
Bai Yunfei was alarmed to hear what Jing Mingfeng called him—this person was Jing Mingfeng's great grandfather?!