While Bai Yunfei was stuck behind enemy lines and trying his best to recover, on the outskirts of Swallow City.

“The Qin...is over...”

That was the only thing any one of the spectators could think about even as they watched Tang Xinyun calm down the furious Xiao Qi.

It was simple why they were so convinced of that. Not too long ago, Xiao Qi had gone from not only killing the several dozen members protecting Qin He, but also the few Soul Exalts and Soul Ancestors fighting elsewhere. Differentiated from the miners who were still trying to escape, the members were swiftly killed.

It was done without hesitation like how a man might kill an ant without a second thought.

Appalled, even the soul cultivators who had been fighting an intense battle felt a cold shiver run up their spines.

“Now that I think about it, why in the world were those miners fighting against the Qin?”

A random man within the audience wondered aloud. Dialogue broke out as several others began to wonder the same thing, and soon enough, a few of them ran after some of the nearby miners to ask for details.

......

On the other side, Tang Xinyun was giving the mad-eyed Xiao Qi a helpless look. “Xiao Qi, you’ve already killed enough people, let’s end things there...”

She was still deeply worried about what had happened to Bai Yunfei and so she didn’t want Xiao Qi to bring about any more trouble. Too many people had died here—especially those from the Qin—the repercussions of such a slaughter had still yet to be seen...

“Damn! It’s all because of the Qin! They deserve to die for putting Yunfei in danger like this!”

Xiao Qi seemed unwilling to calm down, though. Flapping his wings to vent, the bird shot a glance at Tang Xinyun. “What do we do? Do we try and find him? Or do we wait here in case he comes back?”

Given the options, Xiao Qi was more preferential for the option to look for Bai Yunfei. The only thing about this option was the fact that he couldn’t locate Bai Yunfei. Not knowing what to do, Xiao Qi could only look to Tang Xinyun for advice.

Burying the concerns she had, Tang Xinyun thought about how to answer this question for a solid two seconds before she shook her head. “We can’t stay here...I think we should go back to Mo City and ask for father’s help to locate Yunfei. Then we return to the Crafting School and ask the headmaster for his help. That should be the best way to find where Yunfei is.”

“Oh oh! That makes sense! Let’s get going then!” Xiao Qi chirped in agreement.

“Big brother Xiao Nan,” Tang Xinyun turned to Xiao Nan and Zhao Jie, “I thank you for your assistance this time, you two should leave this place as soon as possible. Where do you two plan to go now?”

“It definitely wouldn’t be convenient to stay here. Xiao Jie and I were planning to visit a few other places, but I suppose it’s best to cancel those plans and return to the academy at once.”

Tang Xinyun nodded and turned to Hu Sha next. The man smiled and waved his hand arbitrarily. “Don’t mind me none, miss Tang. I’m a wanderer, if it gets too noisy in one place I’ll just leave and head for another.”

“Ah, where’s Jing Mingfeng?”

Tang Xinyun suddenly remembered about their missing companion. With him not being here with the rest of the group and Bai Yunfei suddenly going missing, it wasn’t hard for her to forget about him.

When Bai Yunfei had first defeated patriarch Qin, Jing Mingfeng had in fact been flying towards where Jing Wuying was. He didn’t show up to regroup with Tang Xinyun ever since then.

......

Far away from the battlefield in a small mountainous forest, a beam of green light shot through the skies above it. This green light was Jing Mingfeng, and on his back was a weakened Jing Wuying.

The first thing Jing Mingfeng did after Bai Yunfei and patriarch Qin started fighting was bring Jing Wuying away from the battlefield.

The two of them were the reason why this entire battle started, and because of how injured Jing Wuying was, there was definitely no way the two of them could stay behind with Bai Yunfei and the others. Jing Mingfeng felt guilty and ashamed enough that Bai Yunfei had been involved in his matters, but he couldn’t cause them any further trouble by sticking around.

Jing Wuying was also looking to be in a very bad spot, so Jing Mingfeng had to worry about him as well. He didn’t even know how the battle looked like, but he did take notice of the fact that patriarch Qin’s aura began to weaken immensely when Bai Yunfei’s aura exploded before he was too far away from the battlefield.

“Ol’Bai, you better be safe...I’ll never be able to forgive myself if you aren’t...”

Jing Mingfeng muttered to himself. Bai Yunfei had actually told him to ‘take senior Jing and leave’, and that he’d take care of the battle when Jing Wuying fell The two split ways there with Bai Yunfei going after patriarch Qin and Jing Mingfeng going after his great-grandfather.

“Hngh...”

A faint grunt was uttered by the man on top of Jing Mingfeng’s back, causing him to snap out of his thoughts. “Great-grandfather, are you awake?!”

The aura of his great-grandfather was stirring a bit, meaning the man was conscious at the very least. Knowing that, Jing Mingfeng started to panic a bit as he looked for a place to land. Eventually, he found a small cave on top of a close by a mountain.

Given how far they had traveled already, Jing Mingfeng figured no one should be able to find them here...

Entering the cave, Jing Mingfeng gave a quick glance around before taking out a large robe to lay onto the ground. Gingerly, he helped Jing Wuying on top of it.

“Great-grandfather, how are you feeling?! Is it bad?!”

His hand was already transmitting his soulforce through the withered right hand of Jing Wuying as he asked.

“Pftt...”

A mist of blood escaped from Jing Wuying’s mouth, but his breathing remained fine. He smiled at Jing Mingfeng and shook his head, albeit weakly. “A man shouldn’t cry...worry not, I won’t be dying yet.”

“Really?! Are you really fine, great-grandfather?!” Jing Mingfeng brightened up, though he noticed then that the beginning of tears had actually started to form underneath his eyes.

Now that he knew his great-grandfather was fine, Jing Mingfeng could begin to have control over his emotions.

Jing Wuying gave him an affectionate smile and forced himself upright. “You can stop transmitting your soulforce to me, I can heal by myself.”

“O-oh...” Jing Mingfeng nodded rapidly. Afraid of disturbing Jing Wuying’s recuperation, he hurried to the side to see if anyone was coming over. After confirming there was no one, he turned back to face Jing Wuying.

“Mingfeng, what happened after I was defeated? How did you bring me away?”

Jing Wuying asked.

“Eh?” Jing Mingfeng blinked. He didn’t think that his great-grandfather would speak to him at this important moment. “Ol’Ba—Bai Yunfei intervened into the battle and made sure I had enough time to bring you away.”

“Bai Yunfei?!” Jing Wuying exclaimed in shock, “He...can fight patriarch Qin?”