Back in the real world, Bai Yunfei was traveling by himself towards the northern parts of the forest.

He was crossing over into the class seven area when Bai Yunfei narrowed his eyes at the sudden presence of something. Turning around, he looked off to the west.

He could sense a very powerful aura rapidly approaching!

“Is it the clan of the bloodthirsty wind ape or the four-winged golden roc?” Bai Yunfei asked himself. The auras were powerful and numerous, so they had to be the Beast Taming School’s ‘help’. In the end, Bai Yunfei decided to teleport away from the place.

“We don’t have much time to prepare, the Beast Taming School has already sent a wave out to attack the wolf clan.”

Bai Yunfei flew quickly through the skies. He used up a decent amount of soulforce teleporting everywhere, so it was better to use the Heaven’s Thunder right now. Furthermore, this mode of transportation would allow him the potential opportunity of meeting someone from the wolf clan so he could ask for directions.

But it didn’t seem like there was any soulbeast in the forest. It was probably as Wind Slicer said and that all the class six soulbeast and stronger were gathered together.

“Eh?!”

From the corner of his eyes, Bai Yunfei spotted several streaks of light flying rapidly from the direction to his left.

“Wolf clansmen, maybe?” He thought as he flew close to meet them.

The closer the two got, the more Bai Yunfei was able to tell from their aura. There were four of them, one being Wind Slicer, and the other three were far stronger. Bai Yunfei could tell they were Soul Kings.

“This aura is...” Something about one of the Mid-stage Soul King’s aura felt familiar to Bai Yunfei.

“Big brother Hong Yin!!”

The four of them weren’t close enough for Bai Yunfei to see their faces, but Bai Yunfei knew the owner of this aura was definitely Hong Yin!

But that wasn’t everything. There was another familiar aura. “Haha!” He laughed, “The thunderfire wolf! He’s become a class seven!”

He couldn’t hold back his excitement now. Stowing away the Heaven’s Thunder, Bai Yunfei teleported the last remaining distance over to the incoming four straight away.

His sudden teleportation came to the four as a shock and nearly saw to them colliding with him, but they managed to avoid collision and stop in front of each other in time.

To the left was Wind Slicer. Beside him was a tall and strong middle-aged man. To his side was a handsome young man dressed in silver. And on the right was ashen-faced male with short hair.

“Big brother Hong Yin!!”

Bai Yunfei joyfully called out to the man in silver robes. This person was Hong Yin! Ten years went by since their last meeting, but Bai Yunfei could see that Hong Yin looked the same still.

“Bai Yunfei...it really is you!” Hong Yin could hardly believe his eyes right now.

“It is!? Bai Yunfei...did you....did you already become a Peak Late-stage Soul King?!” The gray-robed male next to Hong Yin cried out right after. Like Hong Yin, this person seemed quite excited.

“Thunderfire!” Bai Yunfei smiled, “It’s good to see you again...you’ve become a class seven I see.”

This person was the humanized form of the thunderfire wolf!

He once was the soulbeast puppet of a beast tamer. Fate would have him stay that way until Bai Yunfei wrested control of him with the Beast Taming Ring and removed the slave seal. Eventually, the thunderfire wolf regained its sentience and had actually enabled Bai Yunfei to form his lightning companionseed.

After their paths parted at the Crack in the Sky, the thunderfire wolf was able to return home to his clan. Then after the years that went by, the thunderfire wolf was finally able to become a class seven.

“Haha, do you remember me then, little brother?”

The next to speak was the sturdy-looking man to the left of Hong Yin.

“Hm? You’re...” Taking a second to look at the man, Bai Yunfei noted the powerful elemental lightning coming from within his body.

“Ah! You’re the Lightning Wolf King!!”

This was the Lightning Wolf King he met once before!

“Oh? So you remember me, then?” Laughed the Lightning Wolf King, “What memory you have, brother, haha!”

“Yunfei, I heard the rumors say that you died three years ago...” Hong Yin asked.

“Haha, I know, the world really did think I was dead.” Bai Yunfei smiled, “It’s a long story, so I’ll tell you about it another time...but right now we should head back to the camp. I sensed the Beast Taming School’s help coming already. They should be ready to strike soon so I’d like to confer with the rest of the people gathered and see what we should do.”

“Oh?! The bloodthirsty wind apes and the four-winged golden rocs are already here?!” A grim expression appeared onto Hong Yin’s face. “Very well then, let’s make our return! I’ll bring you to see my father!”

———————————

On their way back to the camp, Hong Yin couldn’t help but ask, “Yunfei, I heard from Wind Slicer that you had multiple companions with you, where are they now?”

“Oh, they’re in the Core World.”

“The Core World?!” Hong Yin’s eyebrows flew to the top of their head. “The rumors also said that you had the Core Stone and Soul Sealing Mandate, I just...I didn’t think they were true!”

“They are, both of those Regalia are within my possession.”

“My my...” Hong Yin clicked his tongue, “Oh, Wind Slicer also said that you went to the Beast Taming School’s camp to save someone. Did you...?”

“They’re saved already, haha.”

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

“Already?!” Hong Yin and his companions had their eyes wide open at that. How could he have possibly saved anyone within the half day they were apart?

“Big brother Hong Yin, how many class seven soulbeasts does the wolf clan have?” Bai Yunfei asked, hoping to find a rough estimate of the power difference.

“There’s a total of eleven class seven soulbeasts within the wolf clan. My father, the Bloodhowl Wolf King, is a mid-stage class eight soulbeast. He originally tried to become a late-stage class eight soulbeast, but the Wind Ape King ambushed and dealt a severe injury to him...I can’t believe he, the four-winged golden rocs, and the Beast Taming School are colluding against my clan, how despicable!”

A furious ire entered Hong Yin’s eyes at the mention of his father’s injury.

“So something like that happened? Then is...the Wind Ape King a mid-stage class eight?”

“He is. His clan and ours have always been in conflict. If they’re pulling out measures like these, then it’s clear that they want to eliminate the wolf clan this time! The four-winged golden roc clan’s head is the Golden Roc King, he recently became an early-stage class eight soulbeast. Not only is he in such a rush to fight our clan, he’s even trying to ally themselves with the Beast Taming School. What a disgrace to the world of soulbeasts!”

The head of the bloodthirsty wind ape clan was the Wind Ape King and was one of the Eight Soulbeast Rulers. Ranked as one of the stronger few, the Wind Ape King had quite the name for himself as a fearsome individual. Meanwhile, the head of the four-winged golden roc clan, the Golden Roc King, was also one of the eight. He was already a part of the eight as a class seven soulbeast, but now he was a class eight.

The Eight Soulbeast Rulers was by no means a means of classifying which soulbeast was the strongest, but rather which soulbeasts were the most unique or familiar to the world of soul cultivators. But of course, strength was also a huge factor in that list.

A clan having eleven class seven soulbeasts. While very strong, this wasn’t much to say in front of the enemies. If not for the mid-stage class eight Bloodhowl Wolf King, the wolf clan would probably not be considered to be super powerful.

It didn’t take the group long before Bai Yunfei could begin to feel the presence of multiple powerful individuals with most of them being class six soulbeasts. Bai Yunfei could tell with his soulsense that this place belonged to the wolf clan.

“We’ve arrived.” Hong Yin pointed, “That’s where my clan is located at.”

Following his finger, Bai Yunfei saw a tremendous mountain in the distance. The mountain point was hidden by the clouds, but Bai Yunfei could sense the presence of several very powerful individuals there...