Chapter 520: Mo Huangkong
Much to Bai Yunfei’s amazement, the doors closed behind him when he entered the room. The interior of the building was just a long hallway. On the stairway up even, there was just an empty space where no entrance seemed possible from where he was, as if entry upwards was blocked off.
Still remarking at the sight, Bai Yunfei followed down the corridor before climbing a staircase to get the second floor. Upon stepping foot there, Bai Yunfei realized there was no second floor, merely just a staircase that continued onwards. In fact, from the moment he entered the building, there was only one path he could take, and that was upwards. The building he stepped in was merely a mezzanine to the actual one….
In other words, there were no floors to stop on besides the first floor, and the floor at the very top.
Climbing several stories worth of stairs wasn’t a very hard task for Bai Yunfei to do. It wasn’t long before he reached the top floor, where another fan-shaped door met him. As he was about to knock on it, the door opened by itself, revealing a spacious room beyond it.
Bai Yunfei strode respectfully into the room. When he did, the very first scent to assault his nose was the smell of books and ancient furniture. It wasn’t repugnant to the smell, Bai Yunfei felt at peace instead. It was almost as if this room had some sort of aura that was meant to calm people down.
About three hundred steps away were two rows of bookshelves, lining up the room to look like a library. There was only a corridor in front of the door that led to the center of the room, and then a large table where another set of bookshelves sat to the left. Behind the door, a single old man with a kind expression sat there, looking at Bai Yunfei.
Not even an iota of intimidating aura was felt by the old man, and even Bai Yunfei himself was doubting his senses as he regarded the dark-purple robed man. His hair was a mixture of black and white, though his face was wrinkled with age. A white grizzly beard laid over his chest, making him seem like a regular old man, but this was most definitely the one Bai Yunfei was looking for.
Bai Yunfei drew close to the elder and bowed, “Junior Bai Yunfei pays his respects to senior Mo.”
“Haha, be at ease, young one. An old fogey like me cares not for etiquette.” Mo Huangkong nodded, “Fourth disciple of Zi Jin, you are very much deserving of your fame. A young one like you becoming a Soul Exalt and having a class seven soulbeast partner, those are quite astonishing to see.”
As chairman of Tianhun Academy, Mo Huangkong had seen many things and was a genius for his time, but he had only reached the level Bai Yunfei was at thirty years ago. But the more shocking thing to him was the fact that Bai Yunfei had a class seven soulbeast he was partnered to.
Likewise, Bai Yunfei was equally surprised. He didn’t bring the three soulbeasts with him and instead left them outside, though he did command the mastiff to conceal its strength so that no one would know. But in the end, Mo Huangkong did notice and see the mastiff’s strength.
“Senior is too generous with his praises. This junior was only lucky in his journeys in the Soulbeast Forest.”
“Ah, so you came from the Soulbeast Forest? Zi Jin told me three years ago about you, so I assumed you’d be here soon….did your master have you do something for him?”
Startled, Bai Yunfei took out the letter from his space ring. He hadn’t thought that his master would’ve told Mo Huangkong about him, but he handed the letter over without hesitation. “My master said to come pay my respects to senior Mo in the Capital and to give this letter.”
Taking the letter from Bai Yunfei, Mo Huangkong flipped it open and start to read. From the glimpse he saw of it, Bai Yunfei noted that there were only a few hundred characters in that letter at most.
Skimming over the contents, Mo Huangkong gave a smile. “Ah, your class seven soulbeast must be a permafrost mastiff, is it not?”
“Hm?” Not having expected that question, Bai Yunfei stiffened in the back. Trying his best to hide his worry, Bai Yunfei nodded. “You’ve sharp eyes, senior Mo. It is indeed a permafrost mastiff.”
“I see….” Mo Huangkong dipped his head, putting the letter in his hand down on the desk. “I’ve heard that the fourth elder of the Beast Taming School, Huang Lin, has a permafrost mastiff as his strongest soulbeast puppet.”
This time, Bai Yunfei found it impossible to keep his calm. The smile on his face slipped for a moment in his apprehension. He took a step back, the Fire-tipped Spear appearing from the Violet Soul Ring just in case he needed to protect himself. He hadn’t thought that Mo Huangkong would be this ‘knowledgeable’!”
A flicker of surprise flashed across Mo Huangkong’s eyes as well. He looked as though the suspicion he had in his mind was being confirmed by Bai Yunfei’s actions, though when Bai Yunfei started to prepare his soulforce in preparation for battle, Mo Huangkong help up a palm to stop him. “Young one,” he spoke in admiration for Bai Yunfei’s actions, “don’t be alarmed. Your master is a dear friend of mine, what reason is there for me to bring harm to you?”
From start to finish, Mo Huangkong hadn’t leaked any intent to battle at all, and neither did he do anything out of the ordinary. Bai Yunfei took a second longer to consider his actions before he sighed in relief. His actions had been a little too over-the-top, even if he didn’t want anyone to know he had killed Huang Lin. If that got out, it’d cause a great deal of trouble for him.
“Am I correct in saying that this permafrost mastiff used to be the soulbeast puppet of Huang Lin? Why is it by your side? And….how are you able to control it?” Mo Huangkong questioned. From his senses, he could tell the mastiff was still a soulbeast puppet, but everything else had been a guess until Bai Yunfei confirmed it. If not for the fact that he knew Bai Yunfei was Zi Jin’s disciple, Mo Huangkong would’ve assumed he was a student from the Beast Taming School. After all, there was never any accounts of an outsider being able to control the soulbeast of a beast tamer.
Knowing that Mo Huangkong shouldn’t be lied to, Bai Yunfei came clean with his answer. “You are right, senior. This permafrost mastiff came from a beast tamer before, but the reason I’m able to control it is….because of a special soul armament I have.”
“A soul armament?!” Mo Huangkong’s eyes sparkled at that. “There is a soul armament capable of such a thing?!”
Bai Yunfei nodded.
“How interesting….” A soul armament capable of such a perverse action like that stunned Mo HUangkong, requiring him several addition seconds to think of his next question. “You said you took it from a beast tamer, is that said person Huang Lin, an elder of the Beast Taming School?”
Bai Yunfei paused this time. “This junior doesn’t know his identity.”
“Is he an early-stage Soul King with an affinity for wind?”
“Yes, that was he.”
“Then there’s no mistaking it. But how did you take it from him? I’m sure with his temperament, there’s no way he wouldn’t attempt to take it back. Did you properly hide your identity? If an elder of the Beast Taming School comes here, there’ll be no small amount of trouble for you.”
“Rest assured, senior,” Bai Yunfei smiled in reassurance, “My identity is safe. No one knows I have his soulbeast, and neither does Huang Lin, seeing how he’s dead.”