The ones surprised most by what just happened were the Soul Kings from the Soul Refining School. They stood there in the sky, wide-eyed by the fact that their Soul Emperor had just…fled. None of them knew what to think.

“Ah!!”

Again, it was Qin Bangjie that was the first to respond. Giving one last shrill cry, he turned tail and fled without hesitation!

It looked like he was just a second away from being killed the way he was fleeing!

The next two to follow were Xu Qianqing and a yellow-skinned elder. Looking not unlike Qin Bangjie, these two elders were fleeing as fast as they could! It didn"t matter if they were Soul Kings, they were running as though the dogs of the underworld were snapping at their heels! A panicked escape in the one direction away from the floating figure up above!

To say this was an unpredicted outcome was an understatement. Allies and enemies alike stared at one another and then to the fleeing soul refiners in confusion.

“Head…headmaster…”

He Changkai spoke two seconds later. He had snapped out from his confusion, albeit with a small tremble still, and was looking especially lost. His attention was on the fiery-red figure up there in the skies and the area around him. Where was Duan Leiting? The headmaster had to be there somewhere.

But that somewhere wouldn"t be anyone where on this plane of existence, would it?

The bombsh.e.l.l dropped in He Changkai"s mind then. The avatar of Duan Leiting—an Early-stage Soul Emperor—was dead. Vanquished. Gone. 

His body trembled violently.

How could he stay calm now?

Further cowed by the reactions of the soul refiners, He Changkai made up his mind in no time.

“We"re leaving!!”

The three Soul Kings from the Wind Lightning School took off after the Soul Refining School and disappeared into the horizon… 

Still stunned, the Yao clansmen and Dan Teng just stood there. Slowly, they looked to the beast tamers.

Only the Beast Taming School was left here… 

Ma Xucheng was wide-eyed and tongue-tied. He and the Demon-eyed Tiger King stood there along with the Beast Taming School"s headmaster, Lin Dongxiao. Each of them had a "stormy" expression on their faces.

Lin Dongxiao was a new addition to the group. He came with the Soul Emperor from the Soul Refining School, but didn"t run away when the other did. Right now, he stood there at the front lines to glare at the skies. Standing nearby him was a golden tiger-type soulbeast… 

As heroic as the two might look, the situation of the Beast Taming School was truly an "awkward" one… 

The three schools united to fight in this battle and even had a Soul Emperor apiece. When the Soul Emperor from the Wind Lightning School took action, the one from the Soul Refining School was the second to go. If not for those two, Lin Dongxiao would"ve stayed hidden. 

The plan was to wait for the right time to make their appearance and start ma.s.sacring everyone. Lin Dongxiao"s personal plan was to destroy any written or verbal records of how the Alchemy School raised their familiars and take them for the school. This way, winning the familiars would be worth being "skimped" out on from the pills. 

If they were to attain these familiars, then the Beast Taming School would be given a plethora of power!

But…before he could even enact that plan, the other two Soul Emperors either got their avatars killed or fled!

And to make matters even worse, the Soul Kings of the other two schools fled like puppies with their tails in between their legs… 

The absolute worst part of this situation was the looks the Yao clansmen were giving them. They were all staring at the beast tamers with an expression as if to say: “Are you going to run or not as well?”

“Head…headmaster…”

The nervous voice of Ma Xucheng spoke to Lin Dongxiao via soul communication. Lin Dongxiao turned his head. The elder looked extremely hesitant for some reason. He was staring in absolute fear at the figure still standing there above Yao City. He, too, looked like he was asking the same questions as the others:

“Should we start running?”

Lin Dongxiao was disgruntled. His school using the Demon-eyed Tiger King was supposed to be a grand show of strength! It was meant to display the might of their school, but now, all Lin Dongxiao could do was frown as though he just ate something unpleasant.

Would he really have to retreat? A powerful Soul Emperor like him?!

A furious aura radiated from Lin Dongxiao"s person in tremendous amounts. Ma Xucheng s.h.i.+vered right next to him; the rage of the headmaster was not something he felt ready for. Even the Yao clansmen trembled slightly, prepared for whatever Lin Dongxiao might do.

“Swish…”

The rapid displacement of wind alerted everyone to a sudden movement from above. Bai Yunfei was flying towards them.

Since he had yet to undo his "Berserk" Mode, Bai Yunfei had the same amount of strength to make the Soul Kings from the Beast Taming School tremble with fear. Even Lin Dongxiao felt fear stir inside his body along with his soulforce bubbling with preparation… 

“He"s only a Half-emperor boosting his own strength. He isn"t a true Soul Emperor..”

He thought to himself. They put in too much into this battle effort to give up now! All they had to do was get rid of the enemies and they"d be able to take the spoils. The Soul Refining School and Wind Lightning School fled already, that meant the majority—if not all—of the spoils would be for the Beast Taming School to claim!

But even then…he felt hesitant!!

Lin Dongxiao only had the opinion that he could kill the enemies. It wasn"t an undeniable fact that he would. Duan Leiting"s avatar had that same opinion before and was killed rather easily. The ones from the Soul Refining School fled straight away rather than fight, meaning they held the opinion that they couldn"t. 

Considering those options, how could Lin Dongxiao possibly make such a decision?

“Who is this person?! Just who is he?!” Lin Dongxiao roared. “The soul refiners must know him if they ran off like that! But how would they know someone from the Alchemy School?! And why did he of all people run away from him?!”

The more he thought about it, the less this matter made sense to Lin Dongxiao. He could only bite his lips in annoyance. Bai Yunfei was approaching now, a choice had to be made.

“We"re going!!” Lin Dongxiao decided at last.

Only when the beast tamers left did the Yao clansmen all sigh in relief. Somehow, they managed to escape from this ordeal with their life intact.

In one short moment, three Soul Emperor and a cla.s.s eight soulbeast appeared! The clan was ready to have their lives end, but they were still alive!

Everyone turned towards the direction of Yao City where Bai Yunfei was flying over from. Aside from Dan Teng and Wu Dijian, everyone else had a hard time believing the reality of their situation. Some of them were even starting to fear whoever this person was… 

“They left? Already?”

Slightly surprised with how easily the enemies left, Bai Yunfei came to a stop there near the alchemists. He had been ready to fight again, but the enemies left before a fight could even break out.

“That works for me, who knows what else would appear if they stayed? At least this way I"ll have some time to understand the situation a bit…” Bai Yunfei muttered to himself. He had plenty of questions on his mind and wanted to be rid of them quickly.

He slapped a palm to his chest to undo "Berserk" Mode. His power level dropped immediately to return him to the levels of a Peak Late-stage Soul King. 

The second fireseed didn"t exit his body and go into his Cataclysmic Seal, however. And neither did he feel the pain of undoing the mode as he expected.

More importantly, Bai Yunfei was observing the looks everyone was giving him. He scanned the audience for a while before settling on Dan Teng and Wu Dijian. “a.s.sistant headmaster Wu, uncle Dan Teng…” he smiled, “it"s been a very long time…”

Wu Dijian roared with laughter at his words and flew up to meet Bai Yunfei. Slapping the younger male on the shoulder, he cried, “It really is you, Bai Yunfei! Haha! It really has been a very long time! Haha!!”

Dan Teng smiled. He didn"t go up to meet Bai Yunfei, but nodded in response. “Let"s return to the city, we can discuss our next plan.” He spoke to the elders.

Now that the danger was over, Bai Yunfei really wanted to get some answers about this situation. And the best way to do that was for a discussion. That way, they"d also be able to figure out when the enemies would strike again. 

Plenty of the clansmen were injured as well, so additional time was needed for them to recover. Yao Tianji, for example, would definitely need more time to heal the damage done to his soul.

Flying back to the city center, the Soul Kings all finally looked more at ease. Their second crisis was finally over, despite it starting and ending in a way none of them ever expected…