Chapter 320: Mo Ni
There was a total of three people that greeted Bai Yunfei’s group. The first was the one with the last name of Mo, and the other two was Lin Dongxiao, the junior headmaster of the Beast Taming School and the elder with the last name of Wei.
“Haha, Zhong Liyan, Yang Lin, and Zhao Xiluo, I never thought to see you all gathered here today&h.e.l.lip;.Ah, sister Tingting, you’re here too! It’s been a long time, you’ve gotten prettier since the last time&h.e.l.lip;”
Lin Dongxiao was already greeting Zhong Liyan and the others before he was in front of them. His greeting seemed to distress Kou Tingting, as her eyebrows knitted together when she heard him speak. Clearly, this was a sign of her not liking this speaker; but rather than say anything, she chose to stay quiet and nod her head due to her polite nature.
“We were only just seeing the sights, unlike you, brother Lin. You’re here on business for your school, I take it? How formidable you are, brother Lin. Even though we’ve the confidence of our school’s elders, we cannot compare to you.” Zhong Liyan greeted him politely.
By the side, Yang Lin and Zhao Xiluo spoke out to him in greeting as well, but theirs were far more simplistic. Lin Dongxiao didn’t seem to even notice their greetings, however.
After all the greetings were made, the young man with the last name of Mo saluted Bai Yunfei, “I am Mo Ni, by what name may I call you by, sire?”
“Mo Ni? As in the same two characters used to mean ‘bosom buddies’?” Bai Yunfei just had to ask.
“Haha, those same two characters.” Mo Ni smiled. It was a handsome smile that corresponded well with his similarly handsome face. Surely, if any daughter from a rich or n.o.ble family were to see his smile, they would be immediately smitten.
There was however, no change in expression from Tang Xinyun or Kou Tingting. In fact, neither of the two spared him a glance even.
Bai Yunfei didn’t have a bad impression of Mo Ni. The two of them might’ve fought over the fireseed spirit mushroom, but the look on Mo Ni’s face didn’t look at all bitter about it, unlike Lin Dongxiao during the auction.
So, Bai Yunfei replied, “Bai Yunfei.”
A gleam of light flickered across Mo Ni’s eyes as he cross-referenced the name with every single thing he knew. Upon coming up nothing, Mo Ni gave Bai Yunfei one look before looking to Tang Xinyun next. “Brother Bai, I presume you’re trading a heaven tier soul armament for a fireseed spirit mushroom for the sake of forming an essence fireseed for miss Tang?”
At first, Bai Yunfei was alarmed that Mo Ni guessed what the fireseed spirit mushroom was for, but when he really thought about it, the guess wasn’t all too strange.
“Haha, you’re indeed correct, lord Mo. That is its purpose.”
Mo Ni shook his head as if to praise Bai Yunfei, “The fact that you’re able to do this much for a beautiful woman is awe-inspiring, brother Bai! The house of Tang would surely have a great son-in-law with you&h.e.l.lip;”
“Uh&h.e.l.lip;.” Bai Yunfei coughed in embarra.s.sment while Tang Xinyun’s face grew red behind him. She wanted to say something, but what exactly wasn’t known to her.
“Haha, you praise me too much, lord Mo. I was only doing what I felt was right.” Bai Yunfei tried to laugh it off.
He actually wanted to say that it wasn’t a bad trade-off. But to say that here would sound like he was bragging, so he decided against it.
“Haha, well, I just wanted to get to know brother Bai today. I’ve still several other matters to take care of, so I hope that we’ll meet again in better circ.u.mstances, brother Bai.”
“May we meet again!” Bai Yunfei nodded.
Mo Ni and the other two soon left the auction house, leaving Bai Yunfei and his group behind. Bai Yunfei was confused by the interaction, however; was he trying to make friends with him?
“Brother Zhong, who is this Mo Ni? I’ve never heard of him before, have you? If he’s with Lin Dongxiao, is he perhaps a new prodigy from the Beast Taming School?” Zhao Xiluo commented as he watched the three men leave the auction house.
The other man shook his head in reply, “I don’t know either, but he’s probably not from the Beast Taming School&h.e.l.lip;.I think the Mo comes from the house of Mo from the the Western Frontier Province to the farthest place west of the continent.”
“The house of Mo from the Western Frontier Province?” Zhao Xiluo repeated, “That family has kept to itself in its corner and rarely makes friends with anyone else in the empire. If that Mo Ni is from the house of Mo, him being a prodigy isn’t too strange then. But&h.e.l.lip;.since when did the Mo and the Beast Taming School have any relations.h.i.+p with one another?”
Zhong Liyan shrugged, “How should I know? Take a look yourself when you’ve the chance.”
They were outside now. The group was getting ready to walk onto the main streets as a single figure in black approached them from behind. He moved off to the side as if trying to get around the group and leave as though he was in a hurry.
He pushed against Bai Yunfei as he slid past him, but before the figure could get too far away, Bai Yunfei’s hand snapped up to grab hold of his wrist.
Twisting the man’s wrist, Bai Yunfei wrenched it upwards, causing the arm to jerk up and unclench, revealing a single s.p.a.ce ring that was previously clutched in it.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Bai Yunfei asked the man in black.
When everyone gave him a look, they were startled to realize that the man was the very same lazy youth who tried to bid against Lin Dongxiao for the baby wind squaller.
“Hehe, Ol’Bai, you’ve gotten a lot better after a year!”
Despite being caught by Bai Yunfei, the young man didn’t seem to be fl.u.s.tered at all. If anything, there was a smile on his face, and what he said had surprised Bai Yunfei himself.
Bai Yunfei didn’t recognize the face, but the voice and the nickname was more than enough to allow a smirk to crawl onto his face.
“Jing Mingfeng?”
Bai Yunfei and Tang Xinyun asked in conjunction.
Their conjoined reactions earned a look of surprise from the young man at last. “Wow, Ol’Bai, when did you and her have such coordination like that?”
It really was Jing Mingfeng!
Loosening his hand, Bai Yunfei let Jing Mingfeng go. “Haha, it really is you, you idiot. I knew you were in Mo City, but I didn’t think I’d run into you here of all places. Why is your&h.e.l.lip;.”
He pointed a finger at his face as if to ask, “Why are you using a different face?”
Shaking the numbness off in his left arm, Jing Mingfeng laughed, “Hehe, when traveling in this world, safety is very important&h.e.l.lip;.I hafta say, Ol’Bai, you’ve gotten a lot stronger. Did a lot of training, did you? And&h.e.l.lip;.a way to hide your strength? Wow, you’re really good at that, how’d you manage that? I’d say it’s just as good as my family’s&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;almost.”
“Er&h.e.l.lip;.it’s a little complicated to say, I’ll tell you about it later.” Bai Yunfei waved his hand before turning to introduce him to everyone else. “This is my friend, Jing Mingfeng.”
He introduced the latter to everyone except for Zhao Xiluo, who met him back in Gaoyi City; only that during that time, Jing Mingfeng had a different face so Zhao Xiluo didn’t recognise him now.
From the Treasure Trove, the group split into three. Zhao Xiluo said that he wanted to reminisce with Zhong Liyan and Yang Lin, so the three left together. Tang Xinyun and Kou Tingting wanted to bring the baby wind squaller back to the house of Tang, so the two left with one another.
That left Bai Yunfei and Jing Mingfeng who brought him to a bar so that they could talk over a bottle of wine.
The two soon arrived at a bar. Upon sitting down at a table, the two of them ordered several plates of food and drink and began to talk to each other about their travels.
“And after that, I joined the Crafting School and became the disciple of the previous headmaster.”
A very concise summary of his travels after Gaoyi City was explained to Jing Mingfeng. Of course, the process on how he became Zi Jin’s disciple was chosen selectively and watered down so that it made him look a lot more modest.
“Tsk tsk tsk&h.e.l.lip;.” Even despite being given such a short and simple summary, Jing Mingfeng still found reason to click his tongue in amazement. “What a journey! Ol’Bai, not only did you join the Crafting School, you became someone’s personal student! The disciple of headmaster Zi Jin no less. I can’t even find the words to describe your situation&h.e.l.lip;.”
“Haha, what about you? What’ve you been doing lately?” Bai Yunfei sipped a cup of tea. The amount of talking he did was taxing on the tongue, so his drinking was a hint for Jing Mingfeng to start talking about himself.
“I&h.e.l.lip;well, I’ve been wandering wherever I wanted.” Jing Mingfeng shrugged. “I played around in Gaoyi City for a month before heading for Fortucis City. After that, I went to&h.e.l.lip;.”
For approximately twenty minutes, Jing Mingfeng gushed over the places he wandered to and spoke stories that left even Bai Yunfei wide-eyed. The stories he told in these minutes alone could fill up an entire manual about traveling!
He waited for Jing Mingfeng to finish speaking before he spoke up next, “Haha, I bet then you ‘earned’ a lot after an entire year of traveling?”
Knowing exactly what Bai Yunfei was hinting at, Jing Mingfeng smirked, “Well of course&h.e.l.lip;.don’t you underestimate me. Stealing what’s in front of me isn’t the only thing I know. The continent is huge, and the adventures are endless. My luck isn’t bad either. I only have one or two grand experiences, but the bounty I got were great. I also managed to become a lot stronger as well&h.e.l.lip;.”
“Oh?” Bai Yunfei asked, “I know that you’re hiding your strength to be that of a late-stage Soul Warrior. What’s your current strength like right now?”
“My current strength?” Jing Mingfeng smiled.
His eyes narrowed just slightly as he started to concentrate. A faint but powerful bluish-green light began to appear and glow around his person like a candle.
He looked then to the gobsmacked Bai Yunfei, “Hehe, how ‘bout it? Ol’Bai, how does it compare to you?”