Chapter 780: The Reaper Approaches
The abruptness of the scream saw to everyone swinging their heads over at the source at once.
“Roar!!”
A bear’s roar could be heard as well. All everyone saw was a tremendous black bear just at that moment stabbing its claws into a person’s chest and swing him up! Still screaming, the person had barely any time to react before the bear tore the person in two like how one would tear open a bag!
Despite the relative distance between this sight and Bai Yunfei’s group, the sight was unbearably grisly to parts of the group. Nangong Yuexia for example, let out a cry of alarm and shielded her eyes from it.
“Lin Dongxiao! You demented person! We were only ju—urk!!”
A horrified voice boomed out to rebuke another, but he wasn’t even halfway done with his sentence before something golden came crashing into him. A giant tiger had snapped the man up into its mouth and bit down onto his upper half, killing the man instantly!
The mountain grew quiet again now that those two people were dead. Everyone watched as the two soulbeasts disappeared from sight. There was a shrill bird’s cry before a white crane came descending from the skies with a man in purple sitting on it.
……
“It’s Lin Dongxiao!”
“The junior headmaster of the Beast Taming School, Lin Dongxiao! Didn’t he head up the mountain an hour ago, what’s he doing back down here?”
“What in the world happened? Why’d he go and kill two people for?”
“I’m pretty sure those two people were from the house of Qi from Expleta City in the Southward River Province, what did they do to Lin Dongxiao to piss him off?!”
“What a brute Lin Dongxiao is! It’s already a gentleman’s agreement to not fight each other here, but there he goes killing two people! Does he think the Beast Taming School is invincible?!”
“They aren’t, but they’re not people we can annoy either. Don’t let him catch what you’re saying, or else you’ll be the next one to die…”
“There used to be four beast tamers here, but Lin Dongxiao is by himself. I heard the other three were already killed by someone. That must be why Lin Dongxiao looks so angry. The next person to piss him off won’t be dying in one piece…”
“What what? Really? The beast tamers were killed?! But how! The strongest ones here are only Late-stage Soul Exalts, we’re at a disadvantage against the Beast Taming School and their ability to use so many soulbeasts at once. How could they be killed? Did an entire group ambush them?”
“Who knows? I’m only repeating what I heard…pah, they’ve been treating the rest of us like scum. I met one of the beast tamers when I got in and had to flee for my life. If they’re really dead then….I’d like to thank whoever did it…”
Lin Dongxiao’s entrance caused no small amount of stir in the community here. People from all over started to talk about what they had witnessed while maintaining a fearful stare at the still-flying Lin Dongxiao. As angry or discontent they were with Lin Dongxiao’s actions, they were still afraid of being caught by him.
……
“Lin Dongxiao…So he’s here as well. And here I thought he’d be off at the edge of the pocket instead of here.”
Jing Mingfeng tsked. The fact that Lin Dongxiao was sitting on top of his crane and being protected by another two late-stage class six soulbeasts and having that look on his face seemed to annoy Jing Mingfeng.
Bai Yunfei was surprised as well. He remembered seeing Lin Dongxiao running off in the opposite direction of the Extreme King Pills when he first entered. He must’ve heard from someone else and turned back. Judging from his positioning, Lin Dongxiao must’ve come out from the mist as well.
“Beast tamers?” Yue Feng had a look of annoyance on his face, “I remember coming acrossd one back in Soulbeast Forest. He was an arrogant annoyance.”
His impression of the Beast Taming School wasn’t very high as it would seem.
“Why’s it only Lin Dongxiao? I remember he came with three others, didn’t he?” Jing Mingfeng asked.
A sadistic gleam entered Jing Mingfeng’s eyes, “Did they come across someone even stronger than they were and got themselves killed?”
“……”
Bai Yunfei sipped his tea without a word.
There was no way he’d talk about him killing the three beast tamers. The only ones who knew of the deed would be the three people from the Wood School (to which they only knew he killed two of them). Since Bai Yunfei killed those two beast tamers for the sake of saving them, there was no way the three would divulge that secret either.
Lin Dongxiao glanced over to Bai Yunfei’s group as if sensing their gaze. When he saw Bai Yunfei, there was a flash of light in his eyes, but he ultimately did nothing and averted his gaze.
……
Dozens of minutes went by as Bai Yunfei and his group sat there and talked to themselves. Over this time period, more and more people had been coming out from the mist, each one looking sad over their fruitless endeavor. Some of them were even looking impatient.
“Here comes another two…” Yue Feng muttered as he watched two figures walk out from the mist, “There’s more and more people here now…”
Bai Yunfei turned his head to look. He stood up after a moment to think to himself, “We should go back up one more time. It doesn’t matter how many people are here if they can’t figure out the secret. It’s a race now, whoever can get up to the mountain will get the Extreme King Pills.”
“Alright, let’s get going then!” Zheng Kai agreed.
After tidying up their things, the group set out back to the mist.
From off in a distance, another person stood up at the same time Bai Yunfei and his group did. It was Lin Dongxiao. Storing away his soulbeast puppet, he strode for the mountain as well…
……
Simultaneously, at a place roughly five kilometers away from the mountain.
Two streaks of orange light blazed through the forest. It was a male and female pair of Peak Late-stage Soul Exalts. The male was of stocky build and the female of ordinary stature. The two of them were traveling as fast as they could towards the mountain that glowed red with mist.
Suddenly, the male grabbed hold of his companion and stopped the both of them where they stood.
His companion was surprised by his sudden action, but the male wasn’t looking at her. “Who’s there?” He barked, staring at a large tree up ahead, “Come on out!”
Surprised again, the female looked to where he was looking and simultaneously prepared herself for battle.
“Haha…so you were able to sense me? As expected from the elites of the Earth School, you’re both quite strong…”
Faint laughter echoed through the forest before a young figure in black appeared in front of the two students.
“Who are you? Why ha—”
“Senior, watch out!!”
Whilst the male was demanding for an answer from the figure, his companion seemed to have realized something and cried out a warning. Pushing him behind, she slammed her foot into the ground and brought an earthen slab of elemental earth up from the ground to protect the two.
“Pcht!”
The two heard a slight ringing sound the moment after the shield was erected. From the other side of the shield, a tiny black streak of light shot straight through it and through the place where the male once stood! If not for his companion pushing him away, the male would’ve had his heart pierced by this flying object!
“A fast one aren’t you? But…it’s no use…”
The figure remarked, a slight smile on his lips when he watched the two dodge his attack.
There was a flicker of black light as the black streak came to a sudden halt in the air. Turning straight around, it flew at the head of the female!
“Pcht…”
With how close the object was and how unexpected of a direction it traveled, the female was unable to react or dodge. All she could do was watch with wide open eyes as the needle shot straight through her forehead, leaving behind a single hole in it!!
“Junior!!!”
The male roared in disbelief. He kicked off against the ground and made for a mad dash to grab hold of her body before it could hit the ground.
“Whoosh!”
Faster than he could react, the black streak of light came flying back again and flew for his head fast enough to hear a crack in the air!
Having swifter reflexes than his female companion, the male managed to stamp on the ground in the same way the female had done. Instantaneously, a giant orange shield the size of a door came up to protect him.
“Clang…”
There was a metallic clang as whatever it was chasing him slammed into his shield. Instead of stopping, it stabbed straight through the shield and through his low-heaven tier soul armament towards his throat!
“What the!”
The male cried in terror. He threw himself to the side just fast enough for the sharp object to stab through his right shoulder. A normally negligible wound, but only under normal circumstances…
He came to an immediate halt the moment after the object pierced him. For a moment, he did nothing.
Then came the fall. His person collapsed to the ground and all of his elemental earth dissipated from his person.
He was dead!!
The object stabbed only through the man’s right shoulder, but it had claimed his life in an instant!
……
The figure in black robes slowly walked out from his original place. He looked to the mountain with mist floating around it. “Is that where the Extreme King PIlls are? Then, in other words, is everyone gathered there? Haha…very well then, that saves me the trouble of looking for them all…”
He started to walk towards the mountain…
To this moment, not a single person within this pocket knew that this person wasn’t here for the Extreme King Pills. This person was like the Reaper, here to reap and harvests the lives of every single person he came across…
And right now, the Reaper was heading for where everyone else was!