Having been asked a question so suddenly, Bai Yunfei turned around with a questioning look on his face. What greeted him was a pretty young woman smiling at him.
She wore stunningly-red clothes that clung tightly to her body and beautifully defined her curves quite. Likewise, her hair was tied up tight behind her head in a way that made her look quite pretty. She wasn’t by any means drop-dead beautiful, but at the very least, she was heroic looking, like a female heroine.
“An early-stage Soul Ancestor.” Bai Yunfei noted. Those were the median levels of strength in the guild.
She looked to be twenty-seven at the youngest and thirty at the oldest, so her talent as a soul cultivator wasn’t all that low.
“I am indeed going to go there. Is there a problem?” Having made his observations, Bai Yunfei nodded his head in response to her.
A flicker of surprise ran through the woman’s eyes. “As it were, sir, my team is about to enter the Soulbeast Forest. If it’s to your liking, why not join us?”
“Join? A team? Are you bounty hunters or mercenaries?”
“No no, we’re just a group of adventurers, not people that hunt for treasure or lives. We’ve a different reason for entering the Soulbeast Forest this time…” She pointed to a table not too far away where three males and a female sat. “It’s incredibly dangerous in that forest, so it’s common sense to stick together. If you don’t have a team of your own yet, sir, then please consider joining ours. Our captain has gone into the deeper parts of the class five zone before and knows the terrain quite well. We’ll be able to help you get to Spoon Lake.”
“Oh?” Bai Yunfei had to admit, the offer was tempting. “Very well then, thank you for your invitation miss. I’d be more than happy to join with you.”
Her face lit up with a bright smile, “Really? That’s good to hear. I’m called Ye Zi, might I ask what your name is, sir?”
“Bai Yunfei.”
“A pleasure. If you’d like, I can introduce you to the rest of my companions.”
“Well, if you don’t mind waiting for just a second, I’ve one more thing to do.” He turned to uncle He, “Uncle He, can I ask for the most detailed map you’ve got? One that’ll list information about soulbeasts and their classifications.”
“You want one of those?” The man looked troubled at the request, “Sire Bai, I must tell you that those maps are extremely precious. Their prices rather steep…”
The topography of the Soulbeast Forest was a complex mess that took the lives of many brave people. They had to figure out information about the area along with the soulbeasts living there, so a very detailed map was obviously quite precious.
“I understand that, uncle He. I only require one map, so the price shouldn’t be a problem.”
Since Bai Yunfei was adamant, the man didn’t try to convince him. Presenting a gray scroll, he said, “Sire Bai, this map will cost ten mid-tier primal stones.”
The amount nearly made Bai Yunfei flinch. He was ready for a steep price, but even this was slightly more expensive than he had thought. Ten mid-tier primal stones was equivalent to a thousand low-tier ones, a sum any soul cultivator would balk at.
Bai Yunfei didn’t have many primal stones to begin with, but when it came to other things of value, he had them in spades. A shortsword was brought out with a twist of his hand, “Would using a mid-human tier soul armament suffice as a trade?”
A mid-human tier soul armament would fetch a price larger than a thousand low-tier primal stones without a problem.
“Soul armament?” Uncle He was taken aback by the prospect, but he smiled nonetheless. “Of course, as long as it’s equivalent in price.”
Taking the sword, the man began to inspect it to confirm its value. “This is indeed a mid-human tier soul armament. Sire Bai, the map is yours.”
Bai Yunfei took the map with a grateful salute, “You’ve my thanks.”
He turned back to Ye Zi, who looked thoroughly surprised by the exchange just now, “Miss Ye Zi, let’s go if you don’t mind.”
“Ah? Oh! Yes, alright… please come this way, sir Bai.” Ye Zi snapped back to awareness after looking at Bai Yunfei with surprise. She turned to walk in the direction of her fellow adventurers.
The two arrived at a table to the right of the room where three males and one female sat. “Everyone, this is Bai Yunfei. He’s agreed to join our team.”
“Thank you for the kind invitation, please treat me well.” Bai Yunfei clasped his hands politely.
“Haha, you’re a polite one, brother Bai! Come! Sit down!” A man in his thirties laughed. He seemed like the leader of the group.
“You do me the honor of joining my team, brother Bai.” The man smiled, “I’m very honored to have you here. The Soulbeast Forest is fraught with danger, so having one friend more is an extra layer of security for us all.”
He waited for Bai Yunfei to sit down before saying anything more. “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Zhang Yunpeng, I hail from the Shining Star School.”
Bai Yunfei had heard about that specific school before. It was quite famous in the Northern Mist Province and was considered one of the stronger schools.
Judging by Zhang Yunpeng’s strength, he was a mid-stage Soul Ancestor, which meant he was the strongest of the group.
“You already know Ye Zi’s name, I’m sure. She’s my junior.” He pointed at her first before his finger slide to the slightly shorter woman next to her, “This is Han Yan, Ye Zi’s cousin from the Bright Daylily School.”
The Bright Daylily school was an even more well-known school in the province. As a late-stage Soul Sprite, she was the weakest of the group and apparently the most shy since she only gave Bai Yunfei a small nod in greeting.
Zhang Yunpeng pointed his finger at the male to his right, “This is my good friend, Zhou Feng. He’s the eldest of the house of Zhou in Caevius City.”
“Nice to meet you, brother Zhou.” Bai Yunfei greeted, but the man replied with only a small grunt of greeting. It wasn’t a sign of rudeness, but rather a personality trait of his that made him less inclined to speak. He was an early-stage Soul Ancestor.
The very last person introduced himself before Zhang Yunpeng could even introduce him. “Haha, let me introduce myself. It’s nice to meet you, brother Bai. I’m ‘Kun’.”
In contrast to the nature of Zhou Feng, Kun was far more boisterous, but his introduction tripped up Bai Yunfei. This was the first time Bai Yunfei had met someone with only one character for their name.
But Bai Yunfei greeted him anyways, “Ah… nice to meet you, brother Kun.”
“Haha, isn’t my name something special? I chose it myself.” Catching onto what made Bai Yunfei so surprised, he laughed, “I’m an orphan without any records, so I thought I’d make one up. A name with only one character is great and simple.”
Again, Bai Yunfei was surprised. It was rare to meet someone who was so natural at speaking. Bai Yunfei couldn’t help but feel respect for him.
Now that the introductions were over, Bai Yunfei asked the leader, “Brother Zhang, when do you plan on entering the forest?”