On the mountain where Mo Ni had died.

The area was extraordinarily peaceful. Since the battle between Bai Yunfei and Zhang Zhenshan happened within the Interdimensional Phantasm, the landscape was calm and untouched as if nothing had happened to begin with.

Then, somewhere in the sky, a part of space opened up to allow two figures to walk through.

One of the two was a white-haired elder as long-haired as he was frail. The other man next to him was probably in his fifties at most, though he looked far more mournful than the first. Not only was his body bloodied, but his right arm was cut off at the shoulder so that only a stump remained. Even now, the stump had a small flow of blood dripping from it.

This one-armed man was none other than the headmaster of the Soul Refining School, Nether! And the elder beside him was the Late-stage Soul Emperor who carried him away.

It was with vigilance that the two scanned the area when they arrived. Upon noticing no danger, Nether started for a certain cave, “He’s over there...Mo Ni is in that cave…”

The eyes of the elder narrowed in on the cave. Looking at it for a moment, the elder let out a gasp, “Why can I not sense Mo Ni’s aura!?”

“Eh?” It was Nether’s turn to be surprised. Scanning the cave as well, Nether’s face soon turned deathly-white upon processing the results.

The interior of the cave was soon made immediately clear to them when they sent their soulsenses into the cave.

And that was when they both took notice of the lone corpse on the ground.

“No!!”

Nether howled in extreme despair. He dashed toward the cave without waiting for the elder.

Both of the soul refiners came careening into the cave, only to cry out again with shock at the true sight of Mo Ni’s corpse.

“My son!!”

Nether wailed in grief. As if the life had been sucked out from him, Nether’s person slackened and seemingly aged by several years. Not even a Soul Emperor could weather such an emotional blow like this one.

He couldn’t believe it. His son, dead? Did this corpse in front of him truly belong to his child? But that dark-green bracelet, the one on its right wrist. He knew that bracelet. He recognized it. This was truly his son.

The bracelet was a soulbound armament of Nether. It wasn’t particularly strong, but it was one he used for many years before handing it over to Mo Ni. If anything were to happen to Mo Ni, Nether could use the bracelet as a way to home in on his son.

He had Mo Ni’s soul armament in a space ring, but that ring had been on his right hand. And that hand had been…lost when it was severed back at the Fate School. Consequentially, he had no idea that Mo Ni was dead yet. It was only when he managed to escape with the elder that the two thought about finding him, only to find Mo Ni’s corpse… 

It was a devastating blow to his heart. Initially, Nether had been happy to sense his soul armament here in this cave since that meant Mo Ni had managed to escape the massacre. But then to see his son dead on the ground? The world itself was crashing down all around him now.

The scene was enough to make any father go mad with grief.

“Who…who was it!! Who killed my child! I’ll kill them! I’ll kill them!!”

With how Nether raged and frothed at the mouth, he looked more like a madman than a Soul Emperor. Both his eyes were turning red with his grief and his voice was already cracking up due to his wailing.

“Headmaster…” The elder opened his mouth to try and calm Nether down, but he found himself unable to do so. Who could possibly remain calm at the sight of their dead child!?

Giving up on the effort, the elder turned his attention back to the corpse. “What’s this?” He murmured, “Headmaster! I…I can see the signs of the Bloodsoul Dark Artes! Mo Ni…he died because of it!!”

“What?!” Nether froze up at once, his brain restarting itself to process this new information. Inspecting his son’s corpse, Nether quickly verified the truth with renewed anger.

There was no one else more familiar with the Bloodsoul Dark Artes than him. It took only a second for him to detect the signs and determine how Mo Ni had died.

“Could it be Gui Nu?! But how!?”

“Gui Nu! Gui Nu!! Ahhh!!! Why has it…how did it come to this?!”

Nether trembled from head to toe with furious grief. He couldn’t understand how Mo Ni’s own ‘puppet’ had killed him!

The answer was unfathomable to the elder as well. “Headmaster,” He spoke, “it wouldn’t be wise to remain here, we sh—watch out!!”

Crying out loud in shock, the elder exploded with soulforce to push Nether to one side while he launched himself to the other.

“Whoosh!!”

It all happened too fast for the elder. Though he managed to act quickly, it wasn’t quick enough! 

The cave was briefly illuminated by a brief flash of red light as a crimson-red spear appeared out of nowhere to stab him in the chest!

“Clang!!”

The first thing he heard was the sound of his own armor resisting the foreign object before it shattered apart. Then came the pain. Somehow…his own high-heaven tier armor had been pierced!

“Boom!!”

Before he even had time to inspect his wound, the elder heard the an ear-splitting explosion go off right below his head before he was transformed into a fireball and thrown backward.

His ambusher had been merciless on him. As soon as their spear thrust managed to incapacitate the elder, the ambusher moved to block off the cave entrance and stare at the two bewildered Soul Emperors.

It took a moment for Nether to realize what was going on, but the ambusher was already at the cave’s entrance by the time he recovered. “It’s…it’s you!!” He barked in disbelief.

“Bai Yunfei!!”

……

Yes! The ambusher was none other than Bai Yunfei!

Two hours after Bai Yunfei killed Zhang Zhenshan, he had been in the cave standing over Mo Ni. He was about to cremate Mo Ni’s corpse when he suddenly took notice of the bracelet on his right arm.

It was a simple matter to see that this wasn’t Mo Ni’s soulbound armament, but one that belonged to someone else. It also didn’t take much for Bai Yunfei to realize that sooner or later, the owner of this soul armament would probably come looking for Mo Ni.

He wasn’t too sure if that was correct, but Bai Yunfei was willing to bet on the outcome and wait for the right opportunity.

Hiding in a corner of the cave, Bai Yunfei hid his presence perfectly enough so that neither Mo Ni nor the elder noticed him when they entered. He even used the +12 additional effect of one of his rings to better hide himself.

Scout Ring’s (TL Note: Also known as Invisibility Ring) stats:

Equipment Grade: High Earth

Elemental Affinity: Darkness

Upgrade Level: +12

Attribute: +800 Spirit

Additional Attribute: +700 Spirit

Soul Compatibility: 35%

Equipment Effect: Increase perception by 10%

+10 Additional Effect: Reveal anything hidden within a kilometer for 10 seconds in exchange for 5% of current soulforce reserves.Can increase range of perimeter by 100 meters in exchange for 1% of soulforce.

Cooldown of 1 minute.

+12 Additional Effect: Enter a ‘Hidden’ status. Any movement will cancel out this status.Cooldown of one hour.

Upgrade Requirement: 110 Soulpoints

Thanks to this ring, Bai Yunfei was able to remain hidden with great results. Not even a Late-stage Soul Emperor like the elder would be able to find him even if he tried.

For two hours, Bai Yunfei remained motionless. It was a feat that even the most determined person would find extremely difficult to accomplish.

And when they came, Bai Yunfei made sure to not hold back. He waited for the two to get a little closer and be shocked by Mo Ni’s death before he made his assault!

If Xiao Qi, who was currently in the Core World for now, were to come out and help him fight a direct battle, then Bai Yunfei was confident in being able to defeat these two without a problem. However, ambushing his opponents and delivering a great opening move would definitely make that battle much easier. 

Whether an ambush was dirty-handed or not…was a ridiculous topic he didn’t even want to bother with right now.

He had hoped that his ambush would at least kill one of the two and make his life a whole lot easier. But in the end, a Soul Emperor was a Soul Emperor. The elder was made aware of Bai Yunfei’s ambush the moment he emerged from his Hidden status and only managed to get a spear through the chest for his troubles. While not fatal, the wound would definitely weaken the elder by a substantial degree.

……

Standing by the entrance, Bai Yunfei stared the shocked Nether. Three years ago, Bai Yunfei had been there to strike and vanquish Nether’s avatar. Three years later, and the hatred he had for this man had yet to fade.

“Yes, it’s me! You actually came, Nether…it’s time for you to die with your son!!”

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