With each person Jing Mingfeng pointed out to Bai Yunfei to introduce, he was not only able to tell him who each person was, but also each of their major accomplishments. Bai Yunfei was alarmed with just how knowledgeable Jing Mingfeng was and just a little filled with admiration at his thorough intelligence report.

Neither of the two were even really paying attention to the battle. With Jing Mingfeng introducing each person and Bai Yunfei listening, the two people fighting each other was completely forgotten about.

“....And that should be it. Not everyone is here, of course, but the major players are nearly all accounted for. I remember there was a wandering soul cultivator of some kind, but I don’t see him. He’s probably not interested in this fight.”

Jing Mingfeng finished off his introductions with just one final note to remember.

He did talk about the few people who didn’t show up to watch the fight, but they were given only a simple introduction. Eighteen factions were already gathered here, and aside from three of the second-rate groups that didn’t have any Soul Kings, every single faction had at least one Soul King with them. Most of the groups were primarily composed of having one Soul King and three or four Late-stage Soul Exalts.

When Bai Yunfei looked at each person there, he had the feeling that using the word ‘prodigy’ felt a little stale to use now. With everyone being able to be described as being a ‘prodigy’, the word had lost all its meaning almost. Everyone here was either a Late-stage Soul Exalt or Peak Late-stage Soul Exalt, some became one earlier than others, and some later. But whatever the case, they were all of the same level of strength as one another for now and perhaps in the foreseeable future.

The Peak Late-stage Soul Exalt level marked the blockade in a soul cultivator’s life. From there on out, it was remarkably hard for people to advance. Some could be ten years earlier than another before they finally were able to breakthrough and become a Soul King.

That was why the Extreme King Pill was such a priceless treasure and why so many people were willing to fight each other for one. If any one faction could borrow this chance to have their next generation become Soul Kings, it’d serve their faction a great deal of power and allow them to beat the other families.

The prize was tempting for all parties equally, so they came together, and it only made sense for some parties to agree to work together. Countless competitions had been started over the past thousand years, and the world of soul cultivators had always a certain ‘rule’ of sorts where they banded together. If any one faction tried to monopolize the prize for themselves, they were always certain to face a unified opposition force. To continue and try fighting the entire competition for the prize would only mean their sole destruction. No faction would dare fight off everyone else by themselves, so they formed ‘agreements’ with other factions for the best resolution.

Each group bringing about four Soul Exalts for the Extreme King Pills was about just enough for them. They were here to get the Extreme King Pills for themselves to use. They didn’t care to fight for the Extreme King Pills and then give the others any of the remainders (though they’d love to gain a surplus if there was). What everyone was aiming for was getting just enough for their own party to benefit from. They didn’t care what happened to the rest as long as they got what they came for. If the other factions fought and killed each other to tatters for the remainder, then they’d watch from the sidelines and laugh.

It wasn’t as if they didn’t want to monopolize all of the Extreme King Pills, they would if they could, but it was an impossibility. It would’ve been a different story had the Beast Taming School not had the matter leaked, but it was a moot point now that everyone knew about it. Should any one faction try to act on their ‘greedy’ desires, then the other factions would rise up against them. No matter which one of the Ten Schools or Five Families they are, none of them would be able to handle the entire continent’s soul cultivators.

......

“Che, slugging at one another one punch after another, are they trying to see whose skin is thicker? It’s not entertaining if they’re not trying to kill each other....”

Jing Mingfeng complained whilst Bai Yunfei was thinking about the matter with the Extreme King Pills. He was still looking at the battle in front of him with a look of boredom.

As mentioned before, neither of the two combatants were trying to kill one another in hopes of trying to save up their strengths for the competition that laid ahead. Though they were fighting with a rather intense aura glowing from them, the ensuing blows coming from both Soul Exalts were less than impressive. They fought in the air, but without the usual intensity that came with blows enhanced with soulforce, their battle may as well be one between regular fighters using their arms and legs to fight. Two Late-stage Soul Exalt fighting like so was laughable and thereby justified for Jing Mingfeng to be so full of complaint over it.

Jing Mingfeng wasn’t the only one to complain. Everyone else who was looking at the battle was also looking on with contemptuous expressions. Some were even heading back to their original spots.

“Forget it, let’s go. Ol’Bai, you can tell me what you did in the Capital.”

No longer interested in the battle, Jing Mingfeng turned around to scoff and talk with Bai Yunfei.

Bai Yunfei shook his head though. “Hold on, I want to go visit some acquaintances first.”

“Oh, you talking about that You Qingfeng?”

“Yeah, since he’s here, it’d be rude of me if I didn’t go pay him a visit. There’s also Zhong Liyan, why don’t we go together?”

“Forget it. I don’t like talking with strangers. I’ll just wait here for you, come back when you’re done.”

“Fine by me. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Waving his hand, Bai Yunfei prepared himself to head for the right and meet up with You Qingfeng.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

But at that moment, a new development started to take place in the battle ahead....

“You can shut up now!!”

There was a short roar from the metal-type soul cultivator, as if he was angered by something the other person said. Soulforce blared out from his body and enveloped his right hand with a shining golden light. With a mighty roar, he lashed out and slammed his right fist down onto the fire-type soul cultivator’s chest!

There hadn’t been any time for the fire-type soul cultivator to react. The fist slammed successfully onto his chest and sent him flying down like a meteorite!

Since no one had really been paying attention to the battle, this sudden development came to them as a surprise. Those who were already planning to leave were now looking back at the fight. But the aftermath of that one blow was what really caught the eyes of everyone, including the Soul Kings!

When the fire-type Soul Exalt was sent flying down to the ground, he did so with blood coming out from his mouth. But....just about fifty meters after impact, something behind his back began to change.....

The direction in which the fire-type soul cultivator was flying towards wasn’t either one of the places where their comrades were. Instead, the fire-type soul cultivator was flying towards an empty area near the mountain. Now in the airspace around it, the soul cultivator was expected to stabilize and orientate himself, but neither of the two things happened....

When his body came into contact with the space fifty meters away from where he used to be....it looked as if he crashed into a transparent but liquid-like wall. The soul cultivator’s body descent was slowed down a bit, but then he went straight through into it!

There had been pain on the fire-type soul cultivator’s face when he touched upon the wall. About to turn his head and see what was going on, his entire person disappeared from sight!

It was like a stone dropping into a body of water. As soon as he disappeared, the air around the mountain started to show several ripples....