Soon, the two streaks of light came to a stop on the top of the mountain.

“Instructor Bai, I’ve brought help! He can help patch up the hole....”

Mo Chen scratched his head with a chuckle, “Instructor Bai, this is instructor Xiao, instructor for the fifth year earth section students of class three.”

He nodded to the other man, “Instructor Xiao, this is instructor Bai.”

The man smiled and bowed towards Bai Yunfei. “It is nice to meet you, instructor Bai. I am Xiao Nan, a fellow instructor. It’s an honor to meet you, instructor Bai. You are a talented individual of your generation...haha.”

This man looked to be in his thirties and wore a brown colored robe. Standing at about 1.8 meters tall, Xiao Nan had short black hair and a rugged face. His looks were rather average, though he did look mature and earnest. His eyes shined also with a warm light, making him seem like a fairly approachable person.

Bai Yunfei returned the bow, “You flatter me, instructor Xiao. I am but a regular person....thank you for taking the time to come, instructor Xiao.”

Xiao Nan waved his hand, “You’re too kind, this is but only a small matter, no need for thanks, instructor Bai. What exactly is your class doing here, if you mind me asking?”

He could see the holes all over the mountain wall, he just couldn’t understand the reasoning behind them.

Mo Chen answered him first, “This is the crafting caves for our class, we’ll be learning how to craft in here.”

“.....” Not sure how to respond, Xiao Nan smiled. “Well....your crafting class is quite....special.”

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

“Haha, instructor Xiao, I’m embarrassed by this poor showing. The process of crafting is rather special and will affect the other students in the academy. That’s why I chose this place, it’s isolated and is quite suitable to learn how to craft here.”

“I see,” Xiao Nan nodded in understanding. “in that case, what can I help you with?”

He looked up at the eight holes all already excavated. What exactly did Bai Yunfei want?

“Instructor Xiao, over here over here.” Mo Chen tugged at his sleeves to walk him over to the hole he made. “This....I was hoping instructor Xiao would help me seal up this hole, hehe, if you could please!”

Perhaps it was because of his relationship with Mo Chen, but Xiao Nan didn’t rebuke the young boy straight away. “Ah,” he laughed, “is this your doing? It’s a little....over the top, don’t you think? When will you ever learn to curb your impulses?”

Mo Chen scratched his head with a sheepish laugh.

From the way they spoke to one another, one could tell they were both on good terms with each other.

Xiao Nan nodded his head soon afterwards, “This won’t be a problem then, leave it to me.”

“Thank you instructor Xiao!”

Chuckling again, Xiao Nan walked up to the cave and pressed his hand to the wall.

There was a flash of orange light before his soulforce spiked from his body, drawing in the ambient elemental energy in the area. Elemental earth started to materialize in front of him before enveloped around his person.

“What abundant elemental earth!” Bai Yunfei thought to himself in surprise.

The elemental earth Xiao Nan was gathering to him gave Bai Yunfei the feel of him becoming as indestructible as stone. Xiao Nan’s strength was already a peak late-stage Soul Exalt, but his soulforce was far beyond what any peak late-stage Soul Exalt should be normally capable of.

Was....was he already a Soul King?!

A sparse few seconds later, Xiao Nan’s eyes flew open from within his orange circle. The hand pressed against the cliff shook before orange light traveled down from his arm and into the mountain!

“Bzzz!!”

Bai Yunfei thought it was a mistake at first, but there was a buzzing sound coming from...underneath!

The entire mountain point was shaking!

Simultaneously, a large amount of elemental earth bled into the mountain and turned the surrounding hundred meters into a shining area of orange light. From what Bai Yunfei could sense, the earth was growing seemingly alive as it started to move.

“Crack, crack.....”

There were a few crackling sounds from the hole Mo Chen made as the area around the opening started to rumble. Clods of earth started to form from the orange light, the opening slowly starting to close up as more and more earth started to replace what had once been air. In time, the opening was closed with the other side now a regular stone wall with orange light occasionally shining from it.

Mo Chen’s cave hadn’t been the only part that had been changed, At the same time Xiao Nan was sealing up the cave, the entire mountain point was shaking almost like the ripples in water. It persisted for several minutes before finally stopping.

The light gradually faded away from the area, leaving Xiao Nan standing there next to the cliff wall. Setting his arm down, Xiao Nan sighed as he had his soulforce recede back into his body. Now that he was done, Xiao Nan still didn’t even look tired.

Probing at the cliff with his own soulsense, Bai Yunfei was amazed to find that the mountain was exactly the same. But at the same time, there was something special now that wasn’t there before.

The entire mountain was....more durable than before?

The eight caves that had been rather haphazardly made before had been smoothed out. The walls were glossy, the space was wider by an inch, and the caves were far more durable-looking.

In just a short few minutes, Xiao Nan had completely restructured the components of the earth on the mountain peak!

Bai Yunfei was amazed, he had no idea that this type of manipulation was possible. Xiao Nan, as it appeared, was not a man to look down on.

“Instructor Bai, is this....to your liking?” Xiao Nan smiled as he made his way back over.

Bai Yunfei bowed towards him with a grateful smile, “I really can’t thank you enough, big brother Xiao. Crafting in this area will no longer be a problem, thank you!!”

“If you’re going to call me big brother, then don’t mind me if I lay off the formalities. My friend, if there’s ever anything you need that I can do, feel free to call upon me.”

“Alright!” Bai Yunfei replied ‘boldly’, “I’ll lay off the formalities too then. If you ever need me for something, just say the word, big brother Xiao!”

......

After chatting with Bai Yunfei for a few minutes, Xiao Nan said that he still had some students to assist and left the mountain.

Bai Yunfei had a decent impression of Xiao Nan. Because of the fire instructor Zhou Yu, Bai Yunfei had initially a slightly negative bias towards the other instructors.

Looking back at the seven students, Bai Yunfei waved his hand, “Now that we’re done with the holes, this place will be our ‘base of operations’ from now on. Come with me to my crafting cave first. I’ll explain the basics of crafting as well as the basics of elemental fire manipulation.”

The light in everyone’s eyes glistened—after waiting for so long, they’d finally be able to learn the art of crafting!!

Without any further ado, the students followed Bai Yunfei into his crafting cave....