Chapter 52: Meeting the Old Man From the Fate School Again

On a desolate hill.

Bai Yunfei was looking at a map in his hands with a solemn expression. Frowning slightly, he mumbled to himself.

“Um, this forked thing represents a small town, right? Should be so. This circle thing means a mountain, right? Can’t be wrong. This line represents a river. This thicker line represents a large road...” Bai Yunfei said as he nodded. His eyes seemed to be moving bit by bit on the map.

After he ‘studied’ like this for a long time, his face became more and more unsightly. Eventually, his whole face went purple, looking extremely furious. He threw the map in his hands to the ground fiercely, stamped his food and cursed loudly.

“F*ck you! Why did I still get lost?!?!”

With his anger not yet vented, he stamped on the map a couple of times. He then raised his head and looked around at that seemingly boundless expanse of mountains and forest, almost feeling like crying.

“Looks like finding someone to ask for directions is still more reliable...”

Bai Yunfei shook his head in frustration and continued to go north. Now the only direction he knew was this ‘north’...

It had been five days now since he had left Snowpeak City. Bai Yunfei did not know how he himself had gone into this desolate area with no signs of human habitation either. Anyway, as he kept going on, he discovered that the map in his hands was completely useless.

When the moon began to rise, Bai Yunfei, who was going on the side of a large mountain, was almost driven crazy. He decided that if he still could not find someone by the time he got on top of the mountain, he would stop and sleep in the open for another night then continue his journey tomorrow.

When he was about to reach the peak of the mountain, he halted his steps all of a sudden in surprise, sniffed with some uncertainty then showed an ecstatic expression.

“It’s the smell of roast meat! This means there’s someone on the mountain! Finally... I’ve finally run into someone!” Bai Yunfei was so excited that tears almost welled up in his eyes. He immediately quickened his pace, rushing up towards the top of the mountain.

... ... ... ...

Atop the mountain, an old man in a gray robe whose hair and beard were both white were sitting under a large tree, slowly adding various kinds of seasonings to a fat rabbit being roasted on a fire. Obviously he was preparing his dinner.

However, the mind-boggling thing was that the fire in front of him was unexpectedly floating in midair! There was no firewood such as tree branches, only a writhing mass of fire floating in midair at a height of two inches from the ground! Moreover, that roast rabbit on the fire was also floating in midair instead of being propped up by something!

If ordinary people saw this scene, they would definitely think that they were seeing a ghost.

That old man’s head was slightly lowered. Even though he was tendering the meat in front of him, he did not seem to be paying attention to it at all. Instead, he was frowning slightly, seeming to be murmuring something.

“According to the guidance of my fate soul, that place should be in Qingyun Province, but even though I’ve been looking for it for over two months, I still haven’t found a clue whatsoever...

“If I can find that place, my power will definitely break through that final barrier and I can even train a batch of experts for my school, making it a bit easier for the school to face that catastrophe later...

“But I can’t peek too much into the future. If I go beyond the limit of ‘right fate’ and enter the scope of ‘fate alteration’, I’ll probably change the matter so much that it’ll become even harder to anticipate. This matter involves the existence of the Fate School. I definitely can’t cause more unforeseen events...

“Alas! I’ve got no choice but to take one step at a time. If there’s such a predestined relationship in my ‘right fate’, eventually I’ll find a trace. At that time, I’ll... Who?!” While talking to himself in a low voice, the old man suddenly raised his head. With his eyes seeming to flash with fire, he looked towards a cluster of trees on the left.

A series of soft rattles rang out as a youngster slowly appeared, who was none other than Bai Yunfei.

“It’s you!”

“It’s you!”

Both Bai Yunfei, who had just walked out, and the old man sitting under the tree said in surprise at the same time when they saw each other’s face.

With a face full of amazement, Bai Yunfei looked at the old man in front of him, who was being illuminated by that mass of fire. He even forgot to continue to go forwards -- this was unexpectedly none other than the mysterious old man from the Fate School who had given him the interspatial ring and said that he was the person who could ‘negate a disaster’ or something before.

“Ha ha, sonny, why are you here?” A question woke Bai Yunfei up with a start. That old man had already awakened from his amazement and was looking at him with smiling eyes.

Bai Yunfei looked at the old man with a strange expression and took a quick look at the fire and the roast rabbit floating in front of him, his eyes glittering. He then straightened up and took a deep bow to the old man, saying respectfully: “It’s a pleasure to meet you again, senior.”

The old man was taken aback then nodded, saying laughingly: “Oh, not bad, you’re well-mannered now. This is much better than when I met you for the first time.”

“......”

“Ha ha, come here and take a seat. Judging from your appearance, you seem to be going in a hurry?” When the old man saw that Bai Yunfei was somewhat embarrassed, the smiling expression on his face deepened, and he asked while waving at him.

Bai Yunfei went up to the old man and sat down in front of him. Looking at the rabbit, which had been roasted to the point of being glistening with oil, he slightly swallowed some saliva then nodded and said: “Yeah, I plan to wander the outside world a bit.”

Somehow, upon seeing the old man this time, Bai Yunfei felt indescribably friendly towards him. Perhaps this was because only after becoming powerful did he finally understand how great the opportunity given to him by the old man had been...

“Yeah, this Qingyun Province is too small. It’s good for you to go out and see the real world of the strong. This way you can grow up faster, which will be good for the future as well...” At this point, he seemed to think of something and did not finished what he was saying. Instead, he corrected himself by asking: “But aren’t you a bit impatient? The space ring I gave you contained the entire cultivation method of the first three stages. You should wait until you’ve become strong to think about these matters again. Right, I remember you wanted to take revenge, why now... Could it be...”

“Yes.” Bai Yunfei nodded, “Only thanks to the secret training method, soul skills and soul armaments you gave me was I able to get my revenge so easily. Besides, because I’m already at the mid-stage Soul Warrior level, I want to leave this Azure Cloud Province and seek greater power...”

“Oh, I see. As you’ve already reached the mid-stage Soul Warrior level, you indeed can leave...” The old man could only finish half of what he was casually saying before stopping all of a sudden. He then lifted his head abruptly and stared hard at Bai Yunfei. The indifferent expression on his face had disappeared. His eyes were even bulging out slightly and his face was full of disbelief, “You said... What stage did you say you had reached?!”

“Mid-stage Soul Warrior, what’s wrong?” Bai Yunfei looked at the old man somewhat doubtfully. Then, seeming to understand what was going on, he continued in a somewhat embarrassed manner, “In fact I also wanted to wait until I’ve reached the late Soul Warrior stage and become more proficient in the acupoint control method to leave, but I encountered some problems so I had no choice but to...”

Before he could finish what he was saying, he saw a blur. The old man had dashed up to his face in an instant at a simply unimaginable speed and caught hold of his wrist with a grab. When Bai Yunfei was yet to regain composure, he felt a slightly warm, extremely powerful stream of soulforce surge into his body. In just the blink of an eye, it flowed through every part of his body. He even felt that his soul was run through by it.

Bai Yunfei was so stupefied by this sudden action of the old man that he froze right there. After the old man let go of his wrist, he still remained motionless. For a few moments, the atmosphere was obviously somewhat strange.

“Se... Senior?”After ten something seconds, Bai Yunfei finally could not help shouting weakly. As soon as he made a sound, the old man suddenly reacted by murmuring. He seemed to have been emotionally affected to the point of being somewhat lost in thought.

“It’s true... It’s really the mid-stage Soul Warrior stage. How is this possible...?

“Oh? Wait, this is... the elemental force of ice! Sonny, are you injured?”