Chapter 244: The House of Xing From the Northern Ridge Province

“Young master!!”

All the color bled away from Tie Nu’s face. He had a look of fear as he looked at the red magiboar.

If a late-stage Soul Ancestor revealed fear on his face, then it could clearly be called a very stressful moment.

Just as he thought about rushing to his young master’s side, the red magiboar was already gone in another blaze of red. Beating Tie Nu to the punch, the red magiboar’s hoof immediately slammed down on the young man’s head!!

“Bang!”

The young man’s head sank halfway into the ground—almost knocking him out from the impact. As an early-stage Soul Ancestor, the young man’s head wouldn’t split open from such a blow, but it’d at the very least blur his vision, and with the injuries he already had, his health was already quite low.

“Don’t hurt him!” Tie Nu cried out loud, but he didn’t take another step forward. He was far too afraid of being the next target of the red magiboar.

“A late-stage fifth-tier soulbeast… a sentient one, at that! Dammit, dammit all! How could it be that strong? Is it some sort of mutant soulbeast!?” Tie Nu thought to himself in fear as his mind raced furiously to try and figure out a way to save his young master.

Today was already the day that would mark his unemployment, but if the young master were to die, then there’d be no need for Tie Nu to report back to the family. He may as well commit suicide here and now.

“……”

It was with surprise that Bai Yunfei looked at the red magiboar. Up until now, his entire mind was in a state of flux, as if there was a boar running around in circles in his head. He had absolutely no confidence since he had watched each blow that had transpired within these past few seconds.

In just a few moves, a late-stage Soul Ancestor had been completely beaten!

And so was the early-stage Soul Ancestor. Up against the boar, the two of them had simply no chance at all to retaliate!

It wasn't just him. Ye Zhiqiu, Tang Xinyun, and the others were all staring at the red magiboar in shock. The audience around them were even worse—many of them had probably thought they were in some sort of dream or saw some sort of ghost.

“You… what do you want! What will it take to let the young master go!”

The red magiboar was stepping harshly on the back of the young man, eliciting several bone-cracking sounds before Tie Nu finally yelled out. He didn’t dare do anything rash now, so he had to ask Bai Yunfei and the others for their demands.

Everyone looked at Bai Yunfei like he was the principal decision maker of the group.

Bai Yunfei first looked to the red magiboar as it ‘assaulted’ the young master on the ground and then to the pain-filled face of the man before thinking about the best way to resolve this problem.

At the same time, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard from the right side of the crowd, causing the audience to make way. As soon as the audience split, Sima Dong, Mo Xiaoxuan, and the others could be seen. Even the middle-aged man named Shi Lan could be seen by Sima Dong’s side, whispering to him in a low voice.

Right behind Sima Dong was a tall and skinny young boy who looked to be around fourteen years old. Originally, the boy’s facial expression had been apathetic, but when he saw the red magiboar and the state Tie Nu was in, shock started to register on his face. Inching closer to Sima Dong, a guarded look began to creep up his face.

Glancing around, Sima Dong quickly came to a quick realization of the situation. Subduing his inner shock, he walked up to Bai Yunfei,

“Brother Bai, what’s going on?” He asked in a grim tone.

“Hehe, nothing, just a small dispute, that’s all. Brother Sima, there’s no need to be concerned.” Bai Yunfei casually replied, but his eyes continued to glance over to Tie Nu as if afraid that another clash might happen.

A small dispute…

It was almost unnoticeable, the corners of Sima Dong’s mouth twitched just slightly as if he wanted to say, “Your soulbeast has an early-stage Soul Ancestor under its feet and a late-stage Soul Ancestor that’s far too afraid to even move. You call that a ‘small dispute’??”

“Friend, I am Sima Dong, son of Sima Wenhao. Might I inquire who you are…?” Sima Dong turned to Tie Nu to greet him politely.

While Shi Lan reported what had already happened to him, Sima Dong still wanted to at the very least confirm everyone's identities before a solution could be made.

Sima Dong’s appearance had given Tie Nu a chance to finally let out a sigh of relief. Cupping his hands in greeting, the man said, “Master Sima, we are from the house of Xing of Ventia City in the Northern Ridge Province. This is the second heir to the house, Xing Luo.”

“The house of Xing from the Northern Ridge Province?” Sima Dong’s eyebrows rose up on his face from shock. Thinking hard about the situation, he then said, “I’ve heard the gist of the situation, but no matter the case, I’m sure none of us want to make a mountain out of this molehill. These are disciples of the internal school of the Crafting School and are my friends as well. Would it be possible for the house of Xing to show my house of Sima some face and have this matter drop where it stands?”

“The Crafting School!” Tie Nu’s face contorted in on itself as he thought about the implications, but then the thought of saving his young charge resurfaced, “If master Sima’s friends could let my young master go, we’ll leave at once!!”

Turning to Bai Yunfei, Sima Dong said, “Brother Bai, please give me some face as well and let this matter drop, okay?”

Now that Sima Dong was mediating the conflict, Bai Yunfei was far too lazy to do any more problem solving by himself. Looking to Xing Luo, Bai Yunfei couldn’t help but think that he had already suffered enough, so no more was needed. “He has learned his lesson for putting his needs in front of others. We’ll let this matter drop then.” He nodded.

He then looked to Huangfu Rui, “Doraemon, you’ve had your fun, let Xiao Rourou come back now.”

“Oh… okay.” Huangfu Rui nodded her head obediently before calling out to Xiao Rourou, “Xiao Rourou, come back. That bully has learned his lesson. I’m not angry anymore!”

Since she looked bewildered at the scene, Bai Yunfei had thought that she wasn’t aware of what was going on, but as it turns out, she knew that Xiao Rourou was teaching Xing Luo a lesson!

The red magiboar had been ignoring even Sima Dong when he first walked in, but when Huangfu Rui called out to it, it brought its right foot up before turning its head to glare balefully to Tie Nu. In a flash of light, it returned to Huangfu Rui’s leg in its original white-skinned appearance.

Flashing to Xing Luo’s side with a wary glance at Bai Yunfei, Tie Nu moved to pick up Xing Luo when he realized that when the red magiboar slammed into him with one of its hooves, his right arm had been completely broken. A hundred days of recuperation would hardly be enough to heal a wound like this, but at least it wasn’t life-threatening or crippling.

Ashen-faced from the pain, Tie Nu managed to speak to Sima Dong in between grit teeth, “Master Sima, this one will be taking my leave then!!”

There were no final remarks like ‘I’ll remember this day, the house of Xing will not let this matter stand.’ Tie Nu had simply just left the area with Xing Luo along with the woman Xing Luo had with him in tow. As she rose to follow the two, her legs could still be seen quaking. Not even bothering to look behind, she and the other two disappeared into the crowd and out of sight.

It wasn’t until Bai Yunfei couldn’t sense Tie Nu’s presence that Bai Yunfei let out a sigh of relief. He looked calm on the surface, but he was practically on edge to the extreme; the person he was putting a bravado against was a late-stage Soul Ancestor after all!

If a fight broke out, not only would he lose for sure, but Bai Yunfei’s friends would surely come into harm’s way as well. This was not something he’d want to happen.

There was, however, a beneficial point to today’s events. What he saw of the red magiboar’s strengths, his senior’s high praise wasn’t completely full of hot air!

“Brother Bai, are you alright?”

Sima Dong’s question broke Bai Yunfei’s train of thought, allowing him to shake his head in response to him. “I’m fine, but I apologize for making a scene for brother Sima.”

“Now now, please don’t say that. You all came here to Redfire City to have fun. I was the one who invited you all to come see the festival, but to have an incident like this occur on my watch shows my lack of hospitality. It’s fortunate that nothing happened; otherwise, my father would surely punish me if he found out, haha…”

Bai Yunfei glanced at Shi Lan with a suspicious look, “Then this festival…”

Sima Dong nodded, “I’m sorry to make light of brother Bai’s efforts, but this festival was merely something I had set up on a whim for the people of the city to enjoy themselves…”

So that was the case. Not once did Bai Yunfei think that Sima Dong would have such a carefree side like this to him.

Thinking about the situation even more, Bai Yunfei asked, “Brother Sima, about those two, they said they were from the house of Xing from Ventia City in the Northern Ridge Province…”

“Haha, there’s no need to worry, brother Bai. I’m sure that no problems will arise from this.” Sima Dong must have known what Bai Yunfei was talking about since he continued to say, “The Northern Ridge Province is one of the smaller provinces up in the north. The house of Xing is the biggest faction of the Northern Ridge Province, but that is where their influence ends. They might be one of the middling factions in the scale of the entire continent, but compared to the Crafting School, they’ve no power to fight with.”

“The biggest faction in the Northern Ridge Province…”

Bai Yunfei nodded his head as if content with what he was told, but then, another thought occurred to him, “Brother Sima, if I could talk to you about something…”