The abruptness of this voice scared Bai Yunfei, who leapt up into the skies in fright. Darting away as he turned, Bai Yunfei took out his Cataclysmic Seal and had it protect him from the direction in which the voice spoke to him from.

His reaction had been quick. Xiao Qi and the blue-eyes wyrm hadn’t even moved when Bai Yunfei was already in the sky.

When Bai Yunfei came to a stop, he saw that just twenty meters away, an elderly white-haired man in orange was standing right there.

Bai Yunfei didn’t know when the elder appeared, but he hadn’t noticed him at all!!

The elder smiled at Bai Yunfei, presumably because of the extreme reaction of Bai Yunfei to his presence. “Haha, what an energetic young man. Don’t be worried, this old one won’t hurt you.”

As he spoke, his eye glanced over at the three soulbeasts, each one of them ready to attack the old man at any moment. But when his eye fell on the three, the soulbeasts immediately shivered and their auras dropped rapidly.

“Senior, who are you? And what reason are you here?” Bai Yunfei asked. He was prudent in his caution, but Bai Yunfei wanted to know just who this person was.

“Why am I here?” The elder asked in surprise, “I live here. Why can I not come out here? Haha....young one, this old one poses no danger to you. Would one as old as several hundred years old like this one bother to trick a youngster like you?”

“Uh....” Bai Yunfei looked embarrassed. It was true, the old man had been behind Bai Yunfei before he even knew it. If the old man wanted to kill him, Bai Yunfei would’ve died a lot earlier without him knowing.

But then something from the elder’s words surprised him, “Se—several hundred years?!”

If he had heard right, then this elder said he was ‘several hundred years old’!

The very first thing Bai Yunfei could assume about this person was that the elder was a Soul King, one that was a mid-stage or even late-stage. Xiao Qi hadn’t been able to sense his arrival, meaning he was stronger than the bird. And the fact that he was ‘several hundred years old’ was something very few humans were capable of, meaning that this person was most likely....

Bai Yunfei turned his head to look at Xiao Qi, his question already being sent to his companion’s mind.

Xiao Qi flew up to Bai Yunfei’s side with a confused look at the elder. “Grandfather....are...are you a....”

The old man smiled at Xiao Qi, “Haha, you’ve a keen eye, youngster. Correct, you and I are the ‘same’.”

That confirmed it! This elder was a....soulbeast!

Flapping its wings in awe, Xiao Qi stared at the elder, “Are you really a soulbeast, grandfather?! A soulbeast that can humanize! How amazing...you’re even more amazing than I am....are you really several hundred years old? What are you doing here? Oh oh, what soulbeast are you? Could you teach me how to humanize? I can’t humanize...”

Xiao Qi grew more and more excited like a young child admiring after an elderly figure.

Surprised by the excitement coming from Xiao Qi, the elderly man gave him a strange glance, “Youngster, you are a class seven, but you act like a child, it bears poorly on the regal dignity you should have.” He smiled.

He was looking at Xiao Qi like an old man would stare affectionately at any young child. His words were spoken kindly as he continued, “The person contracted with this old man is in the Capital, as such, this forest is my home. This old one has already lived for....four hundred years, perhaps five hundred. I am not clear.

“As for what kind of soulbeast I am....” The elder stroked at the long braid of hair resting against his chest, “there’s no harm in telling you I suppose. This old one is a ‘seismic wyrm’.”

“Seismic wyrm?” Xiao Qi cocked its head curiously, “I’ve never heard of one before....but, ‘wyrm’? Isn’t that the same as Xiao Lan? He’s a blue-eyes wyrm! No wonder your auras are so similar!”

The elder couldn’t help but smile at that, glancing at the blue-eyes wyrm with a strange look.

Bai Yunfei was still standing there in shock as Xiao Qi and the elder spoke with one another—this elder really was a soulbeast!

A seismic wyrm?! Bai Yunfei hadn’t a clue on what that was. The ‘soulbeast compendium’ given to him by his master hadn’t a single thing about a soulbeast like that. Was he a....very rare type of soulbeast?

He was further shocked by what the elder said, his contracted soul cultivator was living in the Capital?! Was it Tianhun Academy? He had heard from other students that there were a few old contracted soulbeasts that lived in the Training Forest, and this old man did seem to have come from that direction. Who was he contracted to? With strength like that....could it be the chairman?!

Trying his best to concentrate, Bai Yunfei started to speak respectfully, “Might this one ask how to address you, senior?”

“Address? This old one goes by the name ‘Long Zhen’.”

“What can this junior do for you senior Long?” Bai Yunfei asked the most important question on his mind.

“Ah, yes. This old one has a matter to discuss with you. But before that, tell me. Who are you?”

“Who am I?” Bai Yunfei asked, thinking for a moment how to answer. “This junior is named Bai Yunfei. I am currently the instructor of the crafting class. This junior is a student of the Crafting School and disciple of Zi Jin.”

Long Zhen’s eyebrow raised at the latter half of Bai Yunfei’s introduction. “Student of the Crafting School?! You say you’re the disciple of Zi Jin?!”

“Correct.”

The look on Long Zhen’s face continued for a moment before he smiled, “I had heard before that Zi Jin took on a new disciple....ah, very good. No wonder you are so well achieved for your age.”

Bai Yunfei was surprised, it seemed that this old man and his master knew each other. The circles his master traveled in was surely an extensive one.

Now that he knew Bai Yunfei’s identity, Long Zhen seemed to look a little friendlier than before. “Youngster Bai, I’d like to ask you, which one of these three soulbeasts is your contracted one?”

Bai Yunfei blinked, not sure why he was being asked this question. Before he could answer, Xiao Qi answer it for him, “It’s me, it’s me! Grandfather, I’m Yunfei’s contracted soulbeast.”

“Oh? It’s you?” Long Zheng replied with a quirked eyebrow and smile, “Does this mean to say that the blue-eyes wyrm and permafrost mastiff are traveling with you willingly? I see the blue-eyes wyrm is an easier one to travel with, but the permafrost mastiff....does your Crafting School have a tradition of raising soulbeasts as pets? It....”

Long Zhen turned its eyes to the permafrost mastiff to look at it. As he did, the smile on his face froze. His eyes dilated for a moment as if he saw something shocking, and the words he was about to say died in his mouth.

Bai Yunfei’s heart immediately skipped a beat at that, “Crap!!”