novelOnce Again…
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Chapter 105: Once Again....
"Red Lotus!"
Jiang Fan's eyes intensified in coldness as he glared at the black-robed man. Pointing his crimson-red sword at the man, the surrounding seven lotuses seemed to gain a life of their own. Billowing with a trail of flames, they flew to surround the man and sealed off any of his potential paths.
The man shot a murderous glance at Bai Yunfei who was almost completely out of sight already. The golden light from his dagger extended another third of a meter from the tip and shot out across the sky once more.
Snorting, Jiang Fan brandished his sword so that one of the lotuses on the left side flew up to strike against the golden gleam of light.
"Bang!!"
Exploding upon impact, a tremendous amount of backlash bursted from the collision and washed over the entire place. Unable to bear the brunt of the force, the stones underneath began to crumble and disintegrate while the golden light and the red lotus disappeared.
The moment after the impact, a gleam of golden light flashed underneath the black-robed man's feet as he dashed out from the gap left when one of the fire lotuses flew away. It appeared as if he wanted to escape from this imprisonment and focus on chasing Bai Yunfei instead of focusing on Jiang Fan.
But Jiang Fan smiled coldly once more as if he had predicted this would happen. Moving his sword in a circular motion, he commanded the remaining six scorching lotuses to strike into the man.
The speed of the six lotuses was faster than before—at least two times faster than they were previously! In a split second, the man's irises had contracted in apparent surprise. This had been outside of his expectations, causing him to freeze where he was and hurriedly bring out his entire strength without hesitation. With an amount of dazzling light that was even brighter than when Bai Yunfei used his Winged Flame Blades on him earlier. Even the dagger in his hand began to vibrate intensely enough for there to be a resonating sound from the blade.
Seeing the incoming lotuses come at him, the black-robed man tilted his dagger so that a resonating 'xiinggg" could be heard. A dazzling amount of golden light shot out and began to compress against the fire lotuses with its light.
Without stopping, the man brought his right hand up and down another five times so that five more blades of light flew out behind him to strike the remaining five lotuses down.
Then, the golden light began to gather around him abruptly in a cocoon-like state. Condensing in a manner that obscured the human figure, the black-robed man now looked as if he was in some sort of golden cocoon that floated in midair.
Despite the complexity of explaining these actions, the time between them all had only taken an instant. After the six blades were sent out, he had the golden light around him contract around himself to protect him from the resulting impact
"Bang!!!"
The explosions had happened almost simultaneously, resulting in a single loud boom. The sound had been so loud that it rocked even the earth beneath; it was possible even that the people from Stonegroove City would have heard it.
After the explosions, the six lotuses had transformed into a wave of elemental fire filled with power still. With the black-robed man at the center, the surrounding ten meters was transformed into a sea of flames that concealed the golden cocoon.
An unbelievable amount of searing hot flames spread throughout the area, crumbling the stone pillars in the area. Many of them began to disintegrate with time, and eventually they became nothing but fine dust after the golden light and elemental fire mixed with it!!
A thousand meters away, Bai Yunfei who had been desperately running away had nearly struck against a giant boulder after hearing the terrifying explosion. Looking up, he could only see a gigantic wave of fire flow from the battlegrounds. Even a thousand meters away, he could practically feel the scorching heat from the elemental fire.
"This is... a battle between Soul Exalts!!" Bai Yunfei eyes reflected the burning hot flames for a moment before quickly becoming normal once more. But without stopping to even press down on his wounds, Bai Yunfei continued to run forward as fast as he could.
Standing on top of a stone pillar, Jiang Fan observed the sea of flames with a serene eye. But the sword in his hand hadn't relaxed an inch. He knew that that one strike from the other man had been filled with power and was not a person to be trifled with. There would be no relaxing of his guard for now.
The entire area had been extremely quiet. It could even be said to be deathly quiet. Even the surrounding crickets and cicadas couldn't be heard at all. Only the crackling sounds of the sea of flames could be heard.
After around ten minutes, the flames had finally begun to die down when all of a sudden, a globe of dazzling gold light suddenly soared through the air. Bisecting the remaining flames in two, the black-robed man came flying out from the middle of it.
Jiang Fan's eyebrows flew up on his face in apparent shock. He knew that the enemy wouldn't be too heavily damaged, but it seemed as if the man was completely unharmed. Even though he couldn't see the face under the mask, the gloomy light in the man's eyes and the untouched clothes of the man had hinted that despite the large amount of soulforce that was used, the man was unharmed.
The man walked out from the flames and stood several dozen meters away from Jiang Fan with a death glare. Not speaking a word, the man didn't seem to have any notions on chasing after Bai Yunfei.
Using his soulsense to look for Bai Yunfei, Jiang Fan gave a smirk after realizing that Bai Yunfei was gone by now. Clasping his hands together, he spoke, "It seems that you haven't any idea on fighting anymore, so let's leave things here as it is. If there's a chance in the future, please teach me well!"
Clenching the fist with a sword in his hand tightly, the man's eyes could barely suppress the murderous rage within them. He had wanted nothing more than to fight Jiang Fan, but he knew that this was neither the time or place suitable for a giant battle now. His opponent was someone from the Crafting School; in the case that they discovered who he was, then it would bring countless of misfortune that would affect the plans of his school.
Staring hard at Jiang Fan for a minute, the man in black finally let out a final sneer before leaping off his pillar. Several leaps later, he disappeared into the night sky in the exact opposite direction of where Bai Yunfei had run off to.
Jiang Fan looked off at the disappearing figure for several seconds before letting out a gentle sigh. Collecting his sword, he whirled around to the other side. Sensing nothing there, his eyebrows furrowed together before finally shaking his head helplessly.
"This kid. He really did run off.... is he afraid I'll hurt him or something?" Jiang Fan muttered."Maybe he's never seen me before and doesn't know who I am.... Forget it, as long as he escaped, everything is good. The more experience he gets to hone himself, the better. If he's out on a journey away from the school, it'd be good for him to experience the bitterness to life."
Then glancing at the direction where the black-robed man disappeared off into, his eyes reflected a curious glint."Just who was that person.... he deliberately fought in a way that didn't make use of any particular soul skill or fighting style. Was he afraid of revealing who he was? Just what was he up to if he was chasing down a junior to such an extent..."
With a mind filled with doubt, Jiang Fan could only return back to the city.
......
Bai Yunfei had only felt his mind growing fuzzy as he tried his best to support himself as he ran as fast as possible into the forest. The leaves crackled underneath his feet after running for an unknown amount of time. Without stopping at all, Bai Yunfei only knew that the farther away he ran, the less of a chance he would be chased....
After running for nearly an hour, Bai Yunfei finally came to a stop, his spirit weary and his strength exhausted. Climbing on top of a tree, he hid himself within the tree branches and sat on top of a thick branch to regain his breath.
Not even several gasps later, his face suddenly grew red. With a hand flying to his chest, Bai Yunfei began to look pained.
"Pfft!!"
A single mouthful of blood splattered the tree leaves, dying the verdant leaves a crimson hue. Pained, Bai Yunfei let out several more coughs before his condition finally took a turn for the better.
Leaning against the tree with his back, Bai Yunfei closed his eyes and began to slow down his breathing. Several minutes later, he entered a complete meditational state. A weak red glow encircled his body, gradually turning his face a healthier shade of color before finally stabilizing.
......
On the second day when the sun was hanging in the middle of the sky almost, Bai Yunfei slowly opened his eyes.
"Phew...." Taking in a deep breath of air, Bai Yunfei's eyes had a happy look to them.
"Its lucky that I'm not too heavily injured. At most, it should take two days to heal completely." Bai Yunfei rubbed at his chest, "Thank the heavens for my Goldsilk Soul Armor. Otherwise, my entire rib cage would be dust by now."
"I was saved by someone yet again...." Bai Yunfei thought to himself with an unwilling expression. "If not for the fact that Jiang Fan mistook me to be someone from the Crafting School, I would have most likely been killed by the man in black. Damn it all, why is it that I always have to rely on someone else to save my own life?! Luck can't always be by my side, it only just needs one more time where it is not here for me to lose my own life...."
"Power. I need power!!" Bai Yunfei clenched both fists tightly as desire flooded his eyes. "If I become a Soul Exalt, or even stronger than one.... then I don't need to rely on the favors of others. I could just beat or even kill the ones who are trying to kill me! Power, I just need power...."
Several minutes later, Bai Yunfei regained his tranquil expression once more.
"Ah, I wonder where Jing Mingfeng is...." Bai Yunfei suddenly thought back to Jing Mingfeng who had been chased by a Soul Exalt as well. Unable to stop himself from worrying, Bai Yunfei immediately went rigid and had a grimace on his face as he mocked himself, "For f*ck sakes, it was because of him that this happened to me. Why am I worrying about him? If he wasn't so bored to use me for such a thing, I wouldn't have been called a pervert or be chased down to be killed and lose my life!"
"It's good that I'm lucky.... that bastard Jing Mingfeng. If I see him again, I'll beat the crap out of him until he can't even live a normal life!!" Bai Yunfei thought hatefully, but it had not been too spiteful, causing him to feel somewhat odd. For such a person that gave him so much trouble and danger, Bai Yunfei was still feeling generous towards him; was he being masochistic? Bai Yunfei silently cursed at himself—it was only because he had already escaped from danger without much harm that he could laugh and amuse himself like so.
But he had already determined that should this happen again, he would definitely take out a sizeable compensation from Jing Mingfeng....
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