Chapter 80: Seven Day Agreement!
“Zhang Zhenshan, I agree to fight with you!”
Just as the two sides were facing each other tensely with drawn swords, and as battle was about to erupt…Bai Yunfei flew out from the crowd. He stood there by the side of Hong Yin, staring at Zhang Zhenshan with a cold look on his face.
His appearance caused both sides to feel startled. Zhang Zhenshan was the first to react. Upon seeing Bai Yunfei, Zhang Zhenshan’s entire body began to shake, and his face began to contort with rage as hatred spat from his eyes. He roared furiously, “Brat, you actually dare to come out! Repay me for my son’s life!”
“I can give you the thing you want.” Bai Yunfei saw that Zhang Zhenshan was about to charge out, and so he said these words calmly. As he did, he glanced sideways out of the corner of his eyes towards Yu Fei, who was behind Zhang Zhenshan.
Yu Fei had been staring at Bai Yunfei speculatively as soon as he had stepped out. Upon hearing Bai Yunfei’s calm words, a light flashed through his eyes. He reached out to stop Zhang Zhenshan, then stared at Bai Yunfei and said, “Kid, what do you mean by that?”
“Both of us know what I mean by that…right?” Bai Yunfei laughed softly. “I agree to duel Zhang Zhenshan by myself, and if I lose, I’ll let you dispose of me as you please, as well as give you the thing you want. But if I win…you must give me back my Glacial Pricker! In addition…this matter has nothing to do with the Green Willow School. In the future, you cannot cause problems for them!”
Yu Fei was slightly startled. He stared at Bai Yunfei for a long time, thoughts flickering through his eyes. Finally, he said in a low voice, “Do you speak the truth?”
Bai Yunfei swept his gaze towards everyone present, then said in a clear voice, “Everyone from the Green Willow School and the Glacial School are present, as well as senior You from the Wood School and the members of the Beast Taming School. They are all witnesses! I shall fight Zhang Zhenshan in a fair battle and resolve our private feud. Who lives and who dies shall depend on each person’s own strength!”
And then, he turned to look at Yu Fei anew. “However…I do have a requirement.”
“What requirement?” Yu Fei raised an eyebrow and asked.
“Seven days. After seven days, we shall gather here again and fight to the death!” Bai Yunfei stared at Yun Fei, saying these words one word at a time.
This time, Yu Fei just pondered for a brief instant before nodding. “Fine! It shall be as you request! Seven days later, we’ll make a wager with lives and the things each of us want. You shall battle our Elder Zhang by yourself! However…you had best not be planning on fleeing. If you do not appear, then I shall consider your debt as now belonging to the Green Willow School.
Bai Yunfei nodded slightly. “So mote it be!”
Yu Fei led the Glacial School’s men in a slow departure. The black-robed man gave Bai Yunfei a reflective glance, then turned and left as well. Yang Lin glanced at Hong Yin with a gaze filled with venomous hatred, but in the end he was unwillingly forced to depart with the black-robed man, slowly disappearing into the distance.
“Yunfei, you were too rash. How can you make an agreement with them like this? The enemy is at the Soul Sprite stage. How can you win…” Hong Yin looked at the silent Bai Yunfei whose head was lowered, then said these words in quite a worried manner.
Mu Wanqing dismissed her disciples, then walked over alongside You Qingfeng to Bai Yunfei. “Indeed, Yunfei. You didn’t have to appear; although they had many experts, we had Hong Yin and Qingfeng on our side. They wouldn’t necessarily have dared to act rashly.”
Bai Yunfei gently shook his head, then clasped his fists in a salute towards Mu Wanqing. He said with sincerity, “Thank you, Headmaster Mu and senior You, for having done your utmost to protect me. However, if I did not appear, then I probably would have brought harm to the Green Willow School. Even if just some small-scale fights break out, if so much as a single person dies or is injured because of me, I will never feel at ease.”
Qiu Luliu pulled Chu Yuhe over. Both of them looked towards Bai Yunfei in a very worried manner, and Qiu Luliu said, “But you truly shouldn’t have agreed to battle Zhang Zhenshan! You aren’t even a late-stage Soul Warrior; how can you beat him?! This buys you seven days at most…why don’t you seize this opportunity to flee? Let big brother Hong Yin take you away. So long as you can leave Qingyun Province, given how vast the world is, there’s no way they’ll be able to find you.”
“I can’t do that. Didn’t you hear the last thing they said? If I were to flee, I would have brought trouble to the Green Willow School.” Bai Yunfei shook his head, then said with a laugh, “Don’t worry. Since I’ve agreed, I naturally have a degree of confidence. I won’t necessarily lose…”
“Oh? Young friend Yunfei, can it be that you have a way to win?” You Qingfeng raised an elegant eyebrow and asked curiously.
“Mm, well…I do indeed have a method to raise my power quickly in a short period of time…this was taught to me by senior Gu Yiyun.” Bai Yunfei hesitated a moment, then decided to explain by using Gu Yiyun as his excuse.
“Senior Gu taught you…?” Hong Yin had a puzzled look on his face. Suddenly, he seemed to have thought of something, and his entire face changed. “Can it be…a type of soul technique that allows you to explode forth with power of a higher level? You can’t! You can’t activate this sort of soul technique! After using it, your power level will decline, and you will even pay a price of using up your life energy. You are merely at the Soul Warrior stage; you want to use a soul technique like this?! If you do so, even if you defeat Zhang Zhenshan, your life will be ruined!”
Hong Yin’s reaction caused everyone present to be stunned, then turn towards Bai Yunfei with looks of amazement. A light flashed in You Qingfeng’s eyes in particular as an idea seemed to flash through his mind.
Upon hearing Hong Yin’s words, Bai Yunfei was momentarily stunned as well. He lowered his head, thoughts flickering through his eyes. Clearly, Hong Yin had gotten the wrong idea. However…this was the first time he had ever even heard of a soul technique like this. After pondering for a few moments, Bai Yunfei lifted his head, still smiling. “Big brother Hong Yin, you are worrying too much. Things aren’t as serious as you say. Don’t worry; I told you, I have a degree of confidence. I definitely won’t use my future as the price.”
“You…” Upon seeing the calm look on Bai Yunfei’s face, in the end Hong Yin shook his head helplessly. “Fine. Since you’ve already made your decision, I won’t say anything else. If there’s anything I can help with, just tell me.”
“Alright. In fact, I really do have some matters I need you to help me with, big brother Hong Yin. Heh heh. Let’s go back now and stop standing here in the gateway,” Bai Yunfei laughed, then turned towards Mu Wanqing. “For the sake of the battle seven days from now, I want to go into seven days of closed-door meditation. I would like to ask Headmaster Mu to help arrange that for me.”
“No problem. I will make the arrangements and ensure that none of my disciples go to your courtyard to disturb you.”
Green Willow City. The Long estate.
The black-robed man, Yang Lin, Yu Fei, and the others were all seated within the main hall. The atmosphere was rather gloomy, and everyone seemed to have their own thoughts.
“Senior Yan Xi, you really can’t act against Hong Yin? He took away my Giant Goldeye Ape…” Finally, Yang Lin became the one to break the silence in the hall as he sent a question to the black-robed man. Only now did Yu Fei and the others learn that this mysterious black-robed man was named Yan Xi, and that he was most likely not of the Beast Taming School. But…what was his identity and status, then? Why did he arrive alongside someone of the Beast Taming School who was on a mission to recruit the Glacial School?”
Yan Xi gave Yang Lin a glance, then shook his head. “The adopted son of the Bloodhowl Wolf King…I imagine you know quite a few things about him. You had best just forget about it. There’s no way I’ll fight with him. Although we are both early-stage Soul Exalts, even if I let loose with all of my power, I wouldn’t be a match for him. I have this much self-awareness, at least! You should be celebrating the fact that I stopped him; otherwise, you’d be dead already.”
Yang Lin’s facial expression turned rigid. Although he was unwilling to admit it, he knew this person was speaking the truth. In the end, he could only let out a helpless sigh, then lower his head and say nothing more.
“Tomorrow, you shall leave this place. Otherwise…if you run into him later, you might not survive it,” Yan Xi said, still looking at Yang Lin.
Yang Lin was startled. “Eh? Senior Yan Xi, you won’t be leaving with us?”
“I’m slightly interested in the duel seven days from now. I’ll regroup with you at our next destination after it concludes.” After speaking, Yan Xi turned to look towards Yu Fei. He said calmly, “Headmaster Yu, I have a question; are you truly seeking Bai Yunfei just to take revenge for the death of Elder Zhan’s son?”
Yu Fei’s hand, which was holding onto a cup of tea, trembled momentarily. A look flashed through his eyes, and then he looked towards Yan Xi with quite a bit of fear as he said, “Senior, we are indeed pursuing him for the sake of getting revenge on behalf of the slain son of Elder Zhang. However…I do not dare deceive you; aside from this, we…want to acquire something that he has.”
“Oh? What?”
“A crimson longspear; it should be a low-grade earth-ranked soul weapon.”
“Earth-ranked soul weapon…yes, that would indeed be worth you sending out the full force of your school to go seize it…” Yan Xi lowered his head slightly, seeming to reflect on Yan Xi’s words. “So that’s the terms of your wager? Then what is this ‘Glacial Pricker’ of which he spoke?”
Yu Fei’s heartrate began to quicken. Putting on a look of not daring to hide the truth, he brought out the Glacial Pricker, then walked forward and offered it with both hands to Yan Xi. He said solemnly, “Elder Zhang seized this Glacial Pricker from him when he was chasing after him. I imagine it is very important to him, which is why he wants it back…”
Yan Xi accepted the Glacial Pricker, glanced at it, then handed it back in a rather uncaring manner. He said quite disdainfully, “Merely a human-ranked soul weapon. Given that he cares about it this much, it probably has some special meaning for him.”
Yu Fei accepted the Glacial Pricker, letting out a secret sigh of relief inside. He didn’t reveal it on his face, however, as he walked back and sat down again. He pondered for a moment, then instructed his subordinates, “For the next few days, keep a close eye on the area surrounding the Green Willow School. If Bai Yunfei seizes this chance to flee, report it to me immediately!”
“Elder Liu, what do you think is the reason why Bai Yunfei suggested a seven day grace period? To buy himself time to escape? Or does he have something else planned?” Yu Fei glanced at the nearby Liu Cheng, who seemed to have something on his mind, then asked him this question in a rather puzzled manner.
Liu Cheng shook his head. “I don’t know either. However, the reason he stood up was because he didn’t want to implicate the Green Willow School; thus, I imagine he wouldn’t plan on fleeing. He knows he isn’t a match for Elder Zhang, but he still plans to fight. What is he…”
“Hmph, he just wants to rely on soul techniques which allow him to instantly raise his power. Aside from that, what else could it be?” Upon hearing their conversation, Yang Lin let out a soft snort and said disdainfully, “That ignorant child. Given his current power, if he truly does use such a soul technique, I imagine that even if he wins, he will either perish or be crippled. However…with Hong Yin present…perhaps he might have some special abilities to…bah, in short, even if he does have enough power to fight with you, so long as you keep the fight going for a long period of time, the backlash from using that technique alone will be enough to ensure his defeat!”
Zhang Zhenshan, upon hearing these words, seemed to have suddenly realized what was happening. He let out a cold snort, then said with a savage expression, “No matter what method he uses, I definitely won’t let him die so easily! I am going to ensure that he tastes what it is like to be living a life worse than death…and only then will I kill him as an offering to my son!”
Green Willow School. Bai Yunfei’s courtyard.
Bai Yunfei had returned to his room, then quietly remained inside for an hour. Only then did he once more re-emerge as he walked to Hong Yin’s nearby room.
“Big brother Hong Yin, there’s something I would like to ask you to help me with…”