The Golden-eyed Ape King was holding his head in his hands as he howled. His face was twisted in pain and his eyes looked like a vessel in them had burst with how red they looked. He looked almost terrified about something—but everyone knew that he was in an extraordinary amount of pain! It had to be if it could make a class eight soulbeast scream like this!
The only thing that could possibly do that much pain like this was a soul attack!
But…how could that be? He was the one sending a soul attack out. How was it that he was the one hit by one instead?!
They were all mystified. No one knew the answer. If not for how the Golden-eyed Ape King was screaming, they would’ve just assumed he was acting instead…
There was no way for the witnesses to know that this was the result of the Soul Sentinel Scarf and its +10 additional effect: the ability to bounce soul attacks back!
If Bai Yunfei had to be honest, he wasn’t expecting this either. Since the Soul Sentinel Scarf’s additional effect was chance-based, he planned on using the +10 additional effect of the Soul Sealing Mandate to stop the Golden-eyed Ape King’s attack.Uniq+10 Additional Effect: Create a spiritual barrier by using soulforce. Gain immunity to a single spirit-based attack for up to 5 seconds.
Cooldown of 24 hours.
But it seemed luck saw fit to having the Soul Sentinel Scarf activating its effect. Lady luck was definitely not granting the Golden-eyed Ape King any mercy today.
Three attacks were launched from the Golden-eyed Ape King and three effects were activated by Bai Yunfei!
The Golden-eyed Ape King had lost!
The first effect was the soul armor’s +10 additional effect to negate any attack. The second was it’s +12 additional effect to bounce any attack back. And the last effect was the Soul Sentinel Scarf’s +10 additional effect to bounce back a soul attack!
From the beginning to end, Bai Yunfei could be said to have done nothing more than to lift his hand! As for the Golden-eyed Ape King…he went all out and was still hurt by his own attack!
This was a result no one expected. Not even Bai Yunfei thought things would be taken ‘this’ far...
But the results were spectacular. Bai Yunfei had to resist licking his lips after witnessing the +12 additional effect of his armor. It was an effect on par with the +10 additional effect of the Soul Sentinel Scarf!
Almost, at least. The ability to bounce back a soul attack was a tactically more important one. But it was almost a more costly one—bouncing the Golden-eyed Ape King’s attack required almost half his soulforce to use!
Bai Yunfei’s reserves were running dangerously low. The +10 additional effect of his armor took out another sizeable chunk in addition to the Soul Sentinel Scarf. It was fortunate that the Golden-eyed Ape King used a soul attack rather than elemental one for his third move. Otherwise, Bai Yunfei would’ve had to use the ‘Coil’ Form for additional strength!
Relying on the Dual Flame Artes to recover his soulforce, Bai Yunfei forced himself to look calm. He bowed to the Golden-eyed Ape King with a polite smile.
“Thank you for letting me win, Ape King.”
His words snapped everyone back to reality. Several soulbeasts were unable to refrain from a frown entering their lips…
This wasn’t a fight! This was Bai Yunfei slapping the Golden-eyed Ape King’s face silly!
The Golden-eyed Ape King letting Bai Yunfei win?? Normally this was a phrase said out of politeness, but his words were by no means appropriate for a fight like this. They sounded more sarcastic than polite right now!
“Huff…huff…hufff…”
By now, the Golden-eyed Ape King was finally starting to calm down. His chest was heaving wildly as he tried to catch his breath, but he had at the very least stopped screaming. Sweat dripped from his forehead and eyes as he stared Bai Yunfei down. His soulforce reserves were running low as well.
The expression on his face looked outright downcast. Being hit with his very own soul attack had definitely done a number on him.
A vein above his eye pulsed violently when he heard Bai Yunfei speak. He knew that he had lost…and so definitively! It was a complete and utter loss for him!
The absolute humiliation was downright maddening, but it was a lesson he had to accept. Though he was calming down, the bitter taste of defeat stayed fresh on his mind…
“Ssss….” He exhaled after a lengthy period of silence. “I admit defeat,” He spoke between gritted teeth, “I was the inferior one!!”
A wave of fresh shock ran across the witnesses—the Golden-eyed Ape King was actually admitting defeat!?
“How in the world did you do that?” The Golden-eyed Ape King had to ask.
It was a question on everyone’s mind. They all looked to Bai Yunfei, eager for him to answer.
The straightforwardness of the question caught Bai Yunfei off guard. Realizing that his words just now had definitely carried a sarcastic tone to them, Bai Yunfei gave a faint smile in apology.
“To tell the truth, I was merely relying on the power of my soul armaments.”
Such a statement didn’t tell the finer details of how he managed to do it though.
“Your soul armaments?!”
The Golden-eyed Ape King repeated. “Soul armaments have never been known to have such power before…it’s little wonder that you’re a crafter then if you could push me so far with just soul armaments…”
There was no way the Golden-eyed Ape King would say an excuse as blame-shifting as ‘the only reason you won was because of your soul armaments and not your own strength’. Instead, he simply said, “Your power far exceeded what I imagined. I have no complaints if you deliver us to the Beast Taming School…”
No one had a complaint with his words. Not even those who doubted Bai Yunfei doubted anymore. They were now believers of Bai Yunfei’s strength.
No one voiced any objections to his plan even after they all returned to the conference hall. Everyone was merely content to make the Vow of Souls with Bai Yunfei and wait for the plan to start.
It surprised Bai Yunfei how the Golden-eyed Ape King made the Vow of Souls with him. He thought the Golden-eyed Ape King was only there to cause trouble if anything. But it seemed that the ape was truly there to help defeat the Beast Taming School. Perhaps the Golden-eyed Ape King was truly a soulbeast with different ideals than the Wind Ape King…
The only thing for Bai Yunfei to do after that was to talk with all the clan heads to see where everyone's strength lied and where they would be the most useful.
More soulbeasts came to the wolf clan’s territory the following hours after that. They were mostly class seven soulbeast that were late to the party and cursed themselves for missing out on the battle that took place a few hours prior.
Many of the soulbeasts were leaders of their own clans. Powerful in their own right, these clan leaders brought with them many other powerful individuals. More time was still needed for everyone to gather, but Bai Yunfei was already finding it hard to imagine just how amazing the future battle would be with all these people…
Other than that, Bai Yunfei was having many soulbeasts come into the Core World to where the soulbeasts puppets he had were. It became something like a ‘family reunion’ with many soulbeast puppets being taken by their respective clans. Until the Yao clan came up with a potent soul rejuvenating pill, these soulbeast puppets would remain in their own respective territories for safety.
And so day turned to night.
The clan leaders were all back in their own respective residences by the time Bai Yunfei returned to the Core World for a rest.
Meanwhile, several people were gathered together in a stone room:
The Bloodhowl Wolf King, the Three-eyed Tiger King, the Ancient Crocodile King, the Violet Dragon King, the Stegosaurus King, and the Violet Spider King…they were all class eight soulbeasts!
The last one to enter the room was the Golden-eyed Ape King—the last class eight soulbeast!
“What did you want from us, Wolf King?”
The Golden-eyed Ape King looked quite confused—what was the reason for calling all the class eight soulbeasts here?
The Bloodhowl Wolf King only spoke after the Golden-eyed Ape King sat down.
“Everyone, I have a matter that I wish to discuss with you…”