Early morning in Tianhun Academy.

The first rays of sunshine was beginning to shine down on the campus grounds. A young man dressed in plain gray robes walked down the streets of the academy. Sometimes, he’d turn his head left and right to smile at the younger students walking around him.

He was already in the fifth year section but made no attempt to stop and instead ventured deeper to the sixth year section.

This young man was Bai Yunfei.

At a glance, Bai Yunfei was back to normal. Other than the lukewarm glow of as if he was still recovering, there didn’t seem to be anything else that was wrong with him.

His recovery had been extremely quick. The Soul Sentinel Scarf on his head paired with the Dual Flame Art had been surprisingly effective for Bai Yunfei’s treatment. In barely any time at all, Bai Yunfei went from having the glow of death on him to looking almost perfectly healthy.

Today was the promised date of classes. He didn’t want to prolong his stay any longer and walked with Zheng Kai to the academy so he could go and teach.

The reason why he was alone now was because of Zheng Kai suddenly finding the need to have a ‘heart to heart’ talk with someone from the fifth years, thus why he disappeared like a wisp of smoke.

Fortunately, Bai Yunfei remembered the way to his class and trodded slowly there himself.

He, of course, was with Xiao Qi. The bird was perched on his shoulder while the blue-eyes wyrm and permafrost mastiff followed from behind. Because of the dangers he faced last time, Bai Yunfei decided it best to have his soulbeasts with him to ensure his safety.

In the eyes of the other soul cultivators, only the blue-eyes wyrm looked like a proper soulbeast. Xiao Qi and the permafrost mastiff looked more like regular animal pets. Only a few bothered to stop and think about what kind of person would bring out so many animals, but none of them cared that much.

Very few people also knew that this young-looking man was also the highly gossiped about instructor for the crafting class.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

......

The people within the class six area was significantly lesser than those in the previous areas. One of the nearby buildings had a wide mixture of soulforce radiating it—presumably from the students currently in a lesson in there—but that made Bai Yunfei curious. What kind of classes took place in this academy? He was especially curious about the sixth year courses. The students were all Soul Exalts, what could they possibly learn?

He would ask later, Bai Yunfei decided. Perhaps he’d be able to take a look.

Walking a short distance longer, Bai Yunfei finally reached the area designated for his crafting class. There were already a few sources of soulforce waiting there, presumably his students. Somehow, they were there even earlier than he was.

Bai Yunfei was now in front of the building where his classes took place. But before he could walk in, someone called out to him.

“Instructor Bai, one moment please.”

Surprised by this sudden voice, Bai Yunfei paused mid-step and turned to look.

Right there a few meters away to his right stood a young man. He had been leaned up against the wall before Bai Yunfei appeared and was now walking towards him.

He looked like he was around twenty-five or twenty six. He wore a dark purple robe with his long hair tied up behind him. His eyebrows were sharp just like his eyes. He stood tall, but the look on his face gave the impression of him being a rather indifferent person, or at least, a proud but aloof person.

Author Note: It’s hard to tell the actual physical age of a soul cultivator who are in between the ages of 25-35. I know I say this all the time, but I hope you all don’t find it monotonous.

Bai Yunfei had never met such a person before, so he was by all rights confused on who this person was. “Do you have business with me?”

Striding up to Bai Yunfei, the young man had a strange look on his face, as if he wanted to say something but found it difficult to speak it out loud. He exhaled slowly, shaking his head before finally mustering up some courage. “I am a sixth year student from class one of the lightning course. My name is Ye Ming.”

“Yes, nice to meet you.” Bai Yunfei nodded politely. “Is there something I can do for you?”

The other man hesitated for two seconds before retrieving a small book over a dozen pages in length. “I wanted to give this to you, instructor Bai.”

“This?” Bai Yunfei grew even more curious, “What is it?”

“My experiences and insights from your crafting lesson two weeks ago. I wrote them down. If you could please look over them, instructor Bai.”

“Insights?” It took a moment for Bai Yunfei to realize. This had been the ‘homework’ he gave his students two weeks ago. He wanted them to write down whatever insights they had when they watched him craft and was to collect it on their next class.

But this person was from the lightning section. He wasn’t a student of Bai Yunfei, so that meant he must’ve watched Bai Yunfei as one of the audience. But what business had he doing this ‘homework’?

Bai Yunfei took the book into his hands, “Why are you giving this to me?”

It took half a second this time for Ye Ming to reply, “I wish to join the crafting class.” He spoke bluntly.

“Pardon?” Bai Yunfei thought he had heard wrong this time. “What did you just say?”

“Instructor Bai, I wish to join the crafting class and learn how to craft.” Ye Ming repeated firmly.

“You want to join my class? But....are you not a lightning-type soul cultivator? The art of crafting requires an affinity for fire, you’re....”

Before Bai Yunfei finished speaking, Ye Ming’s eyes flashed once with a red tint of light. Elemental fire surrounded his body, a ring of elemental fire lighting up his body just faintly.

“A dual affinity?!” Bai Yunfei sucked in a sharp breath when he realized what that meant. But....

“As surprising as it is that you have a dual affinity for lightning and fire, are you still not focused primarily in the path of elemental lightning?” Bai Yunfei asked. “You’re already a Soul Exalt in terms of elemental lightning, but your elemental fire manipulation surely can’t be any higher than a late-stage Soul Ancestor. If you were to focus on the art of crafting, your future path would see a huge roadblock. The art of crafting cannot have another element be balanced equally with it. I suggest that you continue focusing on your current path. You....are not suitable to learn the art of crafting.”

A crestfallen look fell onto Ye Ming’s face, but his eyes still held resistance. “I still wish to learn. Instructor Bai, please help me.”

“I....” He didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t ever come across such a person like this before. It was praiseworthy how determined Ye Ming was, but his situation was regrettable. Having a focus on elemental lightning was unsuitable for learning how to craft. Bai Yunfei shook his head. “It’s not that I’m unwilling to teach, but you are truly unsuited to learning it. You should focus on your current path.”

Ye Ming was silent, his head dipped low in resignation and his eyes flickering with light.

A moment later, he straightened back up to look at Bai Yunfei as determined as ever. “If instructor Bai could first look over my insights in the meanwhile. I will come back for your next class. At that time, I hope instructor Bai will change his mind and allow me to join.”

Any sign of pride he might’ve had was gone now as he bowed to Bai Yunfei before leaving the area.

Bai Yunfei could only watch him go with a shake of his head. His hand still holding onto the book given to him, Bai Yunfei walked into the building.

As soon as he was inside, his eyes came across a spacious room about a kilometer in area. At the center, seven students were standing there, some of them looking around in boredom.

But that changed when Bai Yunfei walked in. All eyes immediately flew over to him, several of the students calling out in greeting to him and others walking on over.

“They really are students of the crafting class.” Bai Yunfei smiled, his own feet increasing in speed as he met with them halfway....