Chapter 1230: Gu Lianhun and Shen Pojun

The change was noticed by everyone in the battlefield. Many were already splitting up from their opponents and gathering with their allies moments after the whirlpool had manifested.

Bai Yunfei was one of the first few to realize the gravity of the situation. Abandoning his pursuit of Gui Nu, he followed after Li Chengfeng to safety.

"A Saint...how?!"

Just saying the word 'saint' felt abnormally heavy to his lips. Horrified, he watched as the colors of the world took on a completely different shade than normal.

An overwhelming pressure was enforcing itself onto every single person on the battlefield. To Bai Yunfei, this pressure felt almost the same as when the Frostfeather Saint appeared.

A Saint-levelled being!!

An enemy as strong as a Saint had suddenly appeared!

Given the circumstances, Bai Yunfei was unquestionably shocked!

"Retreat!! Everyone retreat at once!!"

Bai Yunfei's voice boomed across the battlefield like an amplified clap of thunder. At once, everyone from the Crafting School began to retreat farther away while ensuring that they stick close to one another. They all knew the severity a danger a Saint was, no one was foolhardy enough to think otherwise.

Countless people were already moving before Bai Yunfei gave the command, though. Everyone of the Soul King level and higher were all rapidly flying as far away from the Saint as possible. Who'd possibly want to continue fighting now that a Saint was here? All that Saint had to do was point a finger and they'd die a dog's death.

The battlefield was a panicked mess with both sides retreating. Li Chengfeng, Yang Yao, and the others led the retreat of the Crafting School toward the skies above Mt. Crimson while Huo Zhenting guided his side to the skies before the mountain.

In the middle of the two forces was the giant whirlpool.

Whenever a person looked up at the sky, regardless of their affiliation, they couldn't help but shudder at the sight of the whirlpool. Each person had a look of fear on their faces as they looked then to...the shadow beneath it!

"Boom!!"

A loud explosion broke the silence as a violet light and a red light split off from one another.

Even Dong Wanlei and Chu Yintian decided to pause their battle because of this new development.

The brief moment they fought for wasn't nearly long enough to have a definitive victor, but anyone could tell that Dong Wanlei's aura was abundantly strong while Chu Yintian was extremely pale in the face.

"A Saint!" Chu Yintian cried at the sight of the whirlpool. "The Law of Space...could...could it be? But...it can't be!!"

......

All was calm in the world as everyone carefully watched a black figure 'walk' out from the whirlpool.

The shadows fell away from the figure's face, revealing them to be an elderly man of average appearance. He was neither angry looking or awe-inspiring, but the way his aura melted into the world made him seem like an existence that could hardly be 'defined' in their world. An existence no one could possibly put a classification on.

A wistful expression crossed his face as his eyes swept the world. First, he looked to the people behind him. Then his mouth opened up, as if to let out a sigh only he could hear, before he looked to the northern peak of Mt. Crimson.

"Shen Pojun...I see Sainthood is nearly at hand for you...Show yourself, or prepare to bear witness your school members dying before you..."

His words were spoken like a whisper, but the weight of them carried far throughout the area. At his words, Chu Yintian, Dong Wanlei, and the others all had a pained expression, as if his words hurt to hear.

"Bzz..."

As if in response to his words, something within the world started to shake and disturb the otherwise silent battlefield. It was...the earth!

The epicenter of this tremor was Mt. Crimson. The entirety of the mountain trembled as waves of energy exploded out from it. Condensing as elemental fire, energy flowed to the skies above to form a maelstrom of fire not much weaker than the black whirlpool.

One second later and a person in red appeared out of thin air in front of Chu Yintian and the others.

This newcomer was also an elderly figure, though his hair seemed to be as red as fire. His face, shriveled from age, was stern with an imposing glare in his eyes. His fiery-red robes looked like they had been fashioned from the scales of some kind of snake soulbeast and seemed to amplify the aura he gave off. Hardly anyone there even dared to look at him.

"Brother!!"

"Teacher!"

"Grandmaster!!"

Several voices called out to him at once. The first was Chu Yintian, the second was Yang Yao and Hu Yang, and the third was Kou Changkong. Everyone seemed relieved to see this man here.

This elder was a genuine 'ancestor' of the Crafting School and also the strongest they had to offer, Shen Pojun!

Isolated in meditation for nearly a hundred years, Shen Pojun had resolved himself to not emerge from the depths of Mt. Crimson until he achieved Sainthood. So to see him appear now of all times felt...

Shen Pojun ignored the ones behind him in favor to stare wide-eyed at the figure in black. "Gu Lianhun?! You're alive! Impossible!"

Gu Lianhun was a man even older than Shen Pojun. Known as the elite amongst the elites, he had been the strongest refiner in the Soul Refining School over two hundred years ago and made trouble whenever he pleased. He went silent two hundred years ago, and by the time Shen Pojun isolated himself a hundred years later, hardly anyone thought Gu Lianhun was still alive.

So it was a shock to see the man standing right there!

"That's really Gu Lianhun?!"

Chu Yintian gasped. While he had some kind of inkling the Soul Refining School still had something up their sleeves, he never imagined that one of the previous headmasters, Gu Lianhun, would be it.

"No! That's not your real body...you're an avatar!! And...you're fading away!!"

Shen Pojun announced in equal parts shocked and relieved.

It was rumored that Gu Lianhun and several other Soul Emperors had met their demise in some hidden location two hundred years ago, but it seemed that rumor was only partially true. Gu Lianhun wasn't able to return to the Soul Refining School and was instead only able to use his avatar to continue on. But even that had its limits, and without the avatar having a real body to replenish its energy, even if it was a Saint, the avatar was close to fading away.

Knowing that, Shen Pojun mentally calculated the odds and deduced that the two of them had to be of near-equal strength. To him, that was a very relieving thought to have.

He wasn't a Saint like Gu Lianhun, but he was so insanely close that his foot was practically halfway in the realm of Sainthood. His chances of success against a Saint was slim-to-none, but against a weakened Early-stage Soul Saint avatar, those same chances were looking much better than before...

"Dying my avatar may be, but you will still stand no match against me..." Gu Lianhun didn't seem to be in anyway annoyed to have his circumstances aired out. Instead, he gave a small chuckle, "Come with me if you don't want your precious school and students to be struck by our battle..."

Gu Lianhun gave a final look to the refiners from his side of the battlefield before disappearing from sight.

"......"

Wary, Shen Pojun glanced in the direction where Gu Lianhun disappeared to. He hadn't a good feeling about this...