The Heavenly Capital Province stood at the center of the fifty-six provinces of the Tianhun Empire. It was the largest and most prosperous province, and standing at the center of this province was the imperial city, the Capital.

The being with the highest authority within the Tianhun Empire lived within the Capital. The Capital had no lord mayor for obvious reasons since it was the Emperor that oversaw the government of it.

Officials and high-ranking members of the Capital could always be found here. And aside from having the most commoners there, the Capital boasted the most soul cultivators in one area.

Even Soul Ancestors had to watch their steps when they walked into the capital. Countless people of unimaginable strength lived here, and the amount of Soul Kings here alone numbered above the hundreds.

Not many people would go beyond the province of their own birth, let alone three provinces beyond that. The Tianhun Empire was tremendously large, but there were many that dreamed of traveling to see the Capital.

......

Year 2014 of the Tianhun Calendar. The twentieth day of the eighth month.

The sun was finally starting to rise, and the moon starting to fall.

To the north of the Capital, a white streak of light traversed across the skies like a shooting star to travel to the south as quickly as possible.

At a closer look, a white mastiff could be seen in the white light, speeding across the skies in a blaze of glory and strength.

If an experienced soul cultivator were to look up and see it, they’d realize that this was a very rare soulbeast, a permafrost mastiff.

And this permafrost mastiff wasn’t traveling through the main means of transportation Soul Exalts could do—using elemental energy as platforms to remain in the sky—this mastiff was....flying! Flying without using these platforms! The only reason it was using its four legs was to further increase its velocity through the sky.

It was a class seven soulbeast!!

And even more surprising was the fact that there was a person on top of the permafrost mastiff!

It was being used as a mount!

Not a single soul cultivator wouldn’t create a stir at this sight.

It was night time, but the mastiff didn’t need to bother about the main roads or even about any other travelers since it was flying.

......

The one on top of the permafrost mastiff’s back was naturally Bai Yunfei. And standing behind him was the miniaturized blue-eyes wyrm, and on his right shoulder was Xiao Qi.

After traveling for half a year, Bai Yunfei had finally made it from the Northern Ridge Province to the Capital in the Heavenly Capital Province.

Bai Yunfei had maintained his training on the way here. He partook in the local customs and terrain when he can, and learned plenty from what he saw.

The reason why he was using the permafrost mastiff to fly now was because of their close proximity to the Capital. They’ve been traveling nonstop for the last few hours or so now because Bai Yunfei wanted to find a nice inn in the Capital and rest well for the night.

There were still fifty kilometers left to go to the Capital, but that distance was nothing for the class seven permafrost mastiff.

Bai Yunfei hadn’t changed much in half a year. Many soul cultivators found their physical appearances held in stasis when they reached twenty-five. They’d be able to maintain this age for some time, making it hard for others to determine their true age. In short, while one looked like they were twenty-five or twenty-six, it was very much possible that they were in fact thirty to forty years old.

Bai Yunfei hadn’t seen any major improvements to his strength either. Even after half a year, Bai Yunfei was still a mid-stage Soul Exalt, but there was still improvements nonetheless. Becoming a late-stage Soul Exalt wasn’t too far away. The blue-eyes wyrm was still a peak late-stage class six, but Xiao Qi had a bit of improvement and was now also a peak late-stage class six just like the wyrm, shocking everyone.

There was also the permafrost mastiff Bai Yunfei got from the fourth elder of the Beast Taming School, Huang Lin. Now that he had control over it, Bai Yunfei had to admit it was a great addition to his strength.

Many obstacles and troubles popped up in Bai Yunfei’s path the last half year. But with the permafrost mastiff, Bai Yunfei was able to resolve these conflicts with barely any effort.

This was only made possible through the Beast Taming Ring, which Bai Yunfei used to control it. He’d often have Xiao Qi and Xiao Lan try to talk with it, but those never helped much. Not even a peep of a reaction was had from the soulbeast puppet, and the only thing it was capable of doing was obeying commands. Bai Yunfei opted not to try and change anything, especially the slave seal in its body like he did with the thunderfire wolf.

Life felt peaceful to Bai Yunfei. He had nothing to worry about, and no grudges to be afraid of. He could focus freely on hsi training, living, and traveling to his greatest satisfaction.

Aside from delivering the letter his master entrusted to him, Bai Yunfei didn’t have much he wanted to do in the Capital but look around and see what it was like.

Well. If he was there, he wanted to go see one youth. A youth that he owed a favor to from long time ago.

......

“I should be there soon, right?” Bai Yunfei asked. Thanks to his above-average eyesight, Bai Yunfei was already starting to see the distant outline of a city beyond the horizon.

“Boom!!!”

Suddenly, a faint explosion echoed into the air, surprising him.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Gingerly, Bai Yunfei commanded the mastiff to come to a stop in the air.

The sound he heard just a moment ago had been a little weird. Seemingly, he thought, it felt as though it was supposed to be a lot louder, but something had muffled it.

If not for his above-average perception, Bai Yunfei probably wouldn’t have felt it.

“How strange....it’s so close by, but why couldn’t I feel it?” Bai Yunfei asked. Trying his best to wonder what it was, Bai Yunfei gave up after a while and hurried onwards.

“Hold on!” He came to a stop again to look to his right. “That was a wave of elemental energy!”

He felt a new instance happen again, this time, the feeling was unmistakable!

“Something’s up....” Bai Yunfei smiled. He was curious now, he wanted to see what was going on.

Closing his eyes, Bai Yunfei focused. He was trying to figure out where it was coming from. “Over there!”

He turned his head to a nearby mountain to his right.

Thanks to the night, it was very dark still, and the mountain didn’t look like there was anything was happening. It looked for the very most part like a normal mountain. But Bai Yunfei knew that the strange energy he was feeling was coming from there!

Turning the mastiff, Bai Yunfei had it go towards the mountain. He was sure to hide his presence, and the other soulbeasts did the same.

He came to a stop a little over a hundred meters up the mountain. Looking around, Bai Yunfei didn’t see anything strange. But from what he could tell, there was something going on behind the mountain!

The permafrost mastiff slowly inched towards the mountain peak, but when it was about to reach around it, something.....changed!

In one swift moment, Bai Yunfei felt the Charm Bracelet around his wrist and the Soul Sentinel Scarf on his forehead shine softly before a strange energy entered his body!

Then at the same time, the entire scenery around him started to twist!!

Bai Yunfei was dazed. Realizing what was going on, Bai Yunfei said aloud, “This is....an illusion!!”