The middle-aged man looked to Long Lan as he spoke, clearly thinking he was the one in charge of the group.

Since this person that had just shown up wasn’t a weakling like the ‘Hornets’, Long Lan didn’t have a look of contempt on his face. Instead, he looked to Bai Yunfei to see what should be done in this case.

His actions hadn’t gone unnoticed by the man up in the skies who turned to look strangely at Bai Yunfei as well.

At first, Bai Yunfei had thought this Soul King was a comrade of the Hornets when he first appeared. But then he thought against that notion when he heard what this person was saying. Bai Yunfei looked back to the fleeing Hornets. By now, they were all escaping down the mountain. And with that moment of hesitance, they were already gone from sight.

Bai Yunfei sighed. Shaking his head, he spoke to Long Lan, “Forget it. Chasing and killing those people is pointless now. Since this senior is asking us to adhere to the rules of the inn, we should accept.”

It wouldn’t do to be overbearing while residing in the territory of another, especially if it was in the territory of a Soul King. Bai Yunfei didn’t want to risk trouble with a Soul King over a group of inconsequentials like the Hornets.

That didn’t mean he forgave them. Bai Yunfei had already memorized their faces so that he could properly pay them company the next time they meet.

Cupping his hands in salute towards the middle-aged man in the skies, Bai Yunfei spoke, “Greetings, senior. We didn’t wish to cause any trouble outside your inn, but those people started it first. If senior will please forgive us, we will leave matters at this as you say.”

There was a strange light in the man’s eyes. He never thought that the one making all the decisions in this group would’ve been the youngster there. And the fact that this one was so polite was even more surprising to him.

“Haha, what a reasonable young man you are. Thank you for sparing Lei Xi some face, youngster. I should be the one thanking you. Since those trouble starters are gone now, let us not get off on the wrong foot because of them. Let us please return to the inn, I’ve a few vats of hundred-year wine on hand for everyone to sample. Please accept it as our apologies for the disturbance just now.”

Bai Yunfei smiled. “Boss Lei is very kind, we will take boss Lei on your offer then.”

He waved to the people behind him, “Let’s ignore those people and go back in.”

As unsatisfied as they were about the group of nine fleeing, Tang Xinyun and Kou Tingting weren’t the type of people to hold grudges. Since they were gone, the two were far too lazy to bear a grudge or go after them. Huangfu Rui was fully satisfied herself since Xiao Rourou had beaten them up on her behalf. Only Zheng Kai was looking a little angry still, feeling as though they should’ve at least pulled out their tongues if anything. But since Bai Yunfei wasn’t going after them and a Soul King was here, Zheng Kai only sighed to himself on the luck of the nine before walking with Kou Tingting back into the inn. Lei Xi followed the group as well into the inn.

The people who had been watching the spectacle at the front of the inn were all astonished by the upturn in events. But since it was over and everyone was going back to the inn, the soul cultivators all began to voice their greetings to Lei Xi.

Most of them had never seen Lei Xi before, but after the receptionist greeted the man, everyone realized that Lei Xi was the innkeeper of the Vacancy Inn. Some of them had heard rumors of the man before, and the fact that he was a Soul King was already more than enough to earn him their respect. They all bowed and greeted him as ‘boss Lei’, but the man himself didn’t have the aura of that of a Soul King. Instead, he felt more like an ordinary innkeeper who smiled and returned the greeting back.

“Is this really the very same person known as the ‘Evil Faced Thunder Lord’? He doesn’t seem very similar to the one capable of killing without even blinking.”

“Shh....those are only the rumors from a long time ago. Boss Lei gave up that life more than twenty years ago and dissolved the Lightning Gang he created. He opened the Vacancy Inn after that to help serve the soul cultivators in the world.”

“The rumors said that boss Lei changed from being a man of evil to being a man of virtue, guess it’s true then. I heard it was because of a woman. Tsk tsk....never would’ve thought the infamous ‘Evil Faced Thunder Lord’ would be turned by his ‘emotions’....”

“......”

Several people within the inn were gossiping quietly to themselves now that everything was settled. Bai Yunfei, who had been listening in, was slightly surprised to hear that information.

Lei Xi gave a self-deprecating smile. “Haha, I am quite ashamed,” he sighed. “I was up to no good in the past and did many evil things. Sigh....I cannot bear to return to such a past...”

As he spoke, his eyes glazed over a bit with those memories, his expression changing slightly as well.

Lei Xi sat down with Bai Yunfei when they were back in the inn. Ordering the receptionist to prepare few more dishes, Lei Xi turned to Bai Yunfei, “I believe I never heard mention of your names?”

“This junior is Bai Yunfei, and these are my friends, Zheng Kai, Tang Xinyun, Kou Tingting, Huangfu Rui, and Long Lan.”

The man didn’t have a change in his expression at all when he listened to the names, meaning he had never heard of them before. As amazing Bai Yunfei was, his name was hardly on a level yet where the entire world would know his name, and neither would someone who lived in solitude like Lei Xi would know him either.

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Lei Xi nodded to Zheng Kai and the others one by one before finally reaching to Long Lan. Unable to stop himself from his curiosity anymore, the Soul King cupped his hands, “Haha, forgive me for my boldness, but I can see you are not quite like any ‘ordinary’ soul cultivator, brother Long....”

Long Lan never thought his identity to be something of a secret, and neither did he believe that he had to hide anything from someone who was as strong as he was.

“I am a class seven blue-eyes white wyrm.” He confirmed.

“As I thought.”

Lei Xi’s eyes sparkled. He could tell that Long Lan was a Soul King in strength, but he just couldn’t confirm if he was a soulbeast or not. And now that he had confirmed his own suspicions, the man was a little surprised. There weren’t many class seven soulbeasts that roamed the world of soul cultivators, so it was hard to see them. Not only was Lei Xi able to see one today, the class seven soulbeast was actually traveling with a group of Soul Exalts. But the most important thing was that it looked like it was traveling with Bai Yunfei as a type of ‘bodyguard’....

“These youngsters are all of considerable strength, they all must be from a powerful school or family then? These soulbeasts are quite unordinary too. That soulbeast with the young girl must be one of the rumored ‘red magiboars’, it’s even stronger than she is....is the class seven blue-eyes wyrm the contracted soulbeast of Bai Yunfei?”

Lei Xi’s eyes swept across Xiao Rourou and Xiao Bai’s bodies for a second before landing upon Xiao Qi on Bai Yunfei’s shoulder. His eyes paused there for a moment, Lei Xi’s expression betraying his surprise. “Hm?? This....this is....”

Xiao Qi winked an eye at him, “I was thinking you had forgotten about me, uncle. Hehe, I’m Xiao Qi. I’m also a class seven, but I can’t take on a human form.”

“Also a class seven.”

Lei Xi’s eyes betrayed his surprise again at that statement. In all honesty, he really did think Xiao Qi had just been an ordinary pet soulbeast when he first looked at it. But now that he could sense the power of a class seven soulbeast from it, Lei Xi was thoroughly shocked.

“These youngsters.....just who are they?” He sighed to himself. Having two class seven soulbeasts travel with these youngsters was even more particular than having Soul Kings act as guards. Lei Xi had to admit, he was very curious to see just who these youngsters were affiliated with--as far as he knew, there was no family with this much strength in the Southward River Province.

Since they had only just met, Lei Xi didn’t want to be asking questions beyond the social norms. Instead, he asked a few questions such as if Bai Yunfei and his group were from the province or not before telling them a bit about the local traditions and cultures in the province. He also recommended them a few noteworthy places to go to to see the scenery there, but throughout the entire conversation, Lei Xi didn’t seem to have that ‘air’ a Soul King had and felt more like a regular innkeeper.

......

“Ah, pardon me for asking, young brother Bai, but does your group have any considerations to go to the Crushed Stone River?”

In the middle of their conversation, Lei Xi suddenly asked a new question to Bai Yunfei.

“What?” Bai Yunfei asked, “What kind of river is it, boss Lei?”

“Crushed Stone River.” Tang Xinyun whispered to him.

“Crushed Stone River?” Bai Yunfei repeated, “What kind of place is it? Why do you mention it, boss Lei?”

A hint of confusion crossed Lei Xi’s eyes for a moment. “Oh, it’s nothing, just merely asking.”

He changed the topic then, remarking on a few wonders not too far away from the inn. Though they noticed how abrupt the question had gone and went, no one in the group said anything about it and said nothing about it.

Bai Yunfei however had committed the name to memory since he had never heard about it before.

Crushed Stone River.