A Will Eternal

by Srtyi

One will to create oceans. One will to summon the mulberry fields. One will to slaughter countless devils. One will to eradicate innumerable immortals. Only my will… is eternal. Translator: Deathblade

33. 1028

Read A Will Eternal - Chapter 1028 - Heavens Destroyed, Earth Decimated! online free - Novel Full

The world treasure of the north was Bai Xiaochun's trump card!

In response to the movement of his hand, the northern Heavenspan River region, which had long since ceased to be a land of frozen ice, began to crack and crumble. The mountains which were falling because of Daoist Heavenspan's magic transformed into ash.

Deafening cracking sounds erupted out from the entire broken landmass, spreading out to fill the world.

Crevices spread up and down the length of the parched Heavenspan River, stretching all the way to the Wildlands!

Then the lands of the north began to tilt, sending a multitude of rocks and rubble crumbling down. The place where the northern lands of Heavenspan connected to the Wildlands broke, and then… began to rise high into the air.

As this happened, everyone in the world was able to see it, and they gasped in shock. Despite how their life force was flowing away from them, this was still one of the most shocking images they had ever seen in their entire lives.

"Heavens! What… what is that?!?!"

"Is that… the northern Heavenspan region?"

As the landmass that was the northern Heavenspan region rose up, it began to shine with brilliant blue light. Anyone who looked closely would be able to see countless crevices appearing in the land, from which the blue light spilled. Simultaneously, any living beings who remained in the north vanished, taken away into the interior of the world treasure. As the moments passed, the earth and soil began to crumble and fall down, until… an enormous sword was revealed!

This was… the world treasure, the Greatsword of the North!

The bright blue greatsword cast its light throughout the dying world around it, and illuminated the crumbling sky, causing indescribable pressure to radiate out in all directions.

Now that it had truly become a world treasure, it was possible to see a huge face on the surface of the sword. It was the Frigid Matriarch, clearly awake, her eyes shining with grief as she looked in the direction where the Blood Ancestor had burned to death. She appeared to be murmuring something in a voice that only she could hear. And then, a moment later, the enormous sword turned into a blue streak that shot toward… the Heavenspan Sea!

Considering how large it was, it took only a brief movement for it to appear right above the sea. However, along the way, it shrank down rapidly until it was just large enough… for Bai Xiaochun to grab it by the hilt!

As soon as Bai Xiaochun grabbed the world treasure of the north, his cultivation base surged, and he began to radiate unprecedented dignity. Eyes harsh and cold, he turned to the red vortex held by Daoist Heavenspan, and…. violently slashed at it with his sword!!

"DIE!"

The sword became a glittering blue streak. At the same time, a projection of the full-sized sword appeared, rumbling directly toward Daoist Heavenspan.

The sensation of deadly crisis that Daoist Heavenspan felt couldn't have been greater. Although he had been aware of the existence of the Greatsword of the North, he could never have imagined that it would be this powerful.

He was still in the middle of trying to absorb the lives of everyone in the world, but now was not the time to worry about how the job wasn't finished. Without any hesitation, he sent the full power of his cultivation base into the vortex, causing it to rapidly increase in size.

Battle prowess that was very close to the level of a true celestial raged as Daoist Heavenspan let out a shout. Then he thrust out his right hand, sending the vortex flying to meet the Greatsword of the North.

Time seemed to slow down. The withering heavens, the wasting earth, the minds of all living things… they all slowed. Slowly but surely, the spinning vortex and the Greatsword of the North approached each other… and then made contact.

Then, a massive, deafening, ear-splitting boom rang out, the volume of which surpassed anything that anyone had ever heard in all of history…. The Greatsword of the North slashed into the vortex, sending out fluctuations that surpassed the quasi-celestial level, and reached the point of a true celestial!!

If you likened this world to a paper model, then the fluctuations of the true Celestial Realm were like flames that would engulf it!

The crumpled heavens couldn't sustain the force anymore, and a massive rift opened up. Then a second rift appeared, and a third. More and more appeared, until there were eight in total, ensuring that the sky above… had been torn into nine parts!!

It was possible to see through those rifts into what lay beyond… a strange world….

An aura that did not belong to the Heavenspan Realm then began to seep in through the rifts and spread about.

As that was happening, the lands were equally shaken. Intense rumbling sounds filled the Heavenspan Realm, including the Wildlands, as the ground was ripped into ten parts.

As of this moment, the Heavenspan Realm… had nine heavens and ten earths!

The entire world was being torn to pieces!

The living beings throughout the realm were trembling, their gazes blank as the world was destroyed around them. Indescribable terror filled them from the destructive fluctuations they felt.

Meanwhile, the Greatsword of the North finished slashing through the vortex, which was powerless to fight back, and in the end, exploded!

When Daoist Heavenspan was hit by the devastating blow, it was like an enormous mountain had slammed into him. Blood sprayed out of his mouth, and his hair whipped about in wild fashion as he was flung away. Blue light was reflected in his eyes as he dodged to the side, and yet, his efforts couldn't prevent his right arm from disappearing in a haze of blood!

"Impossible!!" he screamed, blood splattering his lips and chin. He simply couldn't accept how powerful Bai Xiaochun was, and how majestic the Live Forever Lamp had been. Worse was that his top apprentice of years past had finished forging the Greatsword of the North, a fact that drove him into further madness.

Although he had recently come to be certain that his top apprentice hadn't really died, and had also known of the supposed world treasure, he hadn't particularly cared. After all, he knew of one important fact. A demigod… could not unleash the full might of a world treasure!

However, the shocking sword energy which had just been released was almost impossible to believe.

"Impossible. This is impossible!!" Trembling in terror, he suddenly thought back to a point he had overlooked…. Backing up, he said, "The laughing-crying ghost face's true form!! Dammit, it must have been him!!"

As for Bai Xiaochun, he was just as blood-spattered as Daoist Heavenspan. It didn't matter how strong his powers of regeneration were, they couldn't immediately heal him from the backlash of using the Greatsword of the North, which contained true celestial fluctuations.

The injuries were inconsequential. Nor did he care that his consciousness was fading. He bit his tongue to maintain clarity, and then, bursting with killing intent and a murderous aura, hefted the Greatsword of the North and transformed into a bright beam of light that shot directly toward Daoist Heavenspan.

"Time to die, Daoist Heavenspan!!"

Even if the heavens were being destroyed and the earth was being decimated, his killing intent had not lessened.

Daoist Heavenspan's anxiety skyrocketed as he saw Bai Xiaochun using every last bit of energy in this final attack. The blue beam of light which descended upon him was not the type he could fully avoid. Pupils constricting, he dodged to the side, only to have his left leg wiped out of existence.

The pain caused a wild shriek to erupt from his lips, and yet the maddened Bai Xiaochun didn't slow down at all. Taking advantage of having gained the upper hand, he attacked again.

The look in Bai Xiaochun's eyes made even the powerful Daoist Heavenspan shiver in fear.

"Du Lingfei isn't dead!" he shouted in a thunderous voice. Although it was a shocking revelation to Bai Xiaochun, he was so maddened that he didn't slow down for even a moment.

Seeing that his tactic had failed, Daoist Heavenspan gritted his teeth and self-detonated. Massive force erupted from his battered body, and a glowing ball emerged, a mass of magical symbols that almost looked like a seed. Moving with incredible speed, it shot away from Bai Xiaochun and headed up into the crumbling sky.

Bai Xiaochun wasn't willing to just let the Celestial destroy his own fleshly body for a burst of speed to escape. Coughing up blood, and his injuries worsening with every moment that passed, he shot off in pursuit. Unfortunately, Daoist Heavenspan achieved a final burst of speed… and massive rumbling sounds could be heard from the sky as the nine pieces which now made it up… crumbled into nothing!

The heavens were destroyed!

A massive shockwave spread out in all directions. Bai Xiaochun had been struggling just to keep his injuries in check, and was unable to evade the force. As it hit him, his mind began to spin, and he began to tumble through the air, completely out of control.

Even as his consciousness began to fade, he jerked his eyes in the direction of Daoist Heavenspan, only to see him being overwhelmed by the shockwave. It was impossible to tell if he survived or died….

Bai Xiaochun wanted to see for himself, but couldn't control his own body. Slowly but surely, he began to lose consciousness. The last thing he saw was…

As the heavens were destroyed… a massive black hole sprang into being high above. Intense gravitational force erupted out, which rapidly transformed into teleportation power. That power descended into the Heavenspan Realm and reached out to all of the living beings within it. In the blink of an eye, they vanished, to reappear in random locations in the world beyond, although Bai Xiaochun had no way to know that.

Everyone from the River-Defying Sect. Everyone from the Wildlands. Every person from the Heavenspan Realm was teleported away….

Bai Xiaochun's eyes were completely bloodshot as the heavens were destroyed and the earth decimated. In his bitter blankness, he thought back to everything that had happened, and wondered if it was all real. It didn't seem like it.

"My home… is no more…." he murmured. The future seemed like a blank as he slowly descended toward unconsciousness. He fell through the air, and the light of teleportation wrapped around him…. Then he vanished.

In the last moment before he passed out, he heard a cacophony of voices ringing out from the world beyond the heavens. Some were excited. Some sounded greedy. Some seemed profoundly sinister.

"It broke open! The Arch-Sovereign's body broke open!!"

"Hahaha! We've been waiting a long time for the people from that world to come out! Quick, notify the Vile-Emperor! The people of the Arch-Emperor Dynasty are going to be teleported to all sorts of random locations in the Eternal Lands! There's no time to waste! Enslave all of them!!"

"Hmph! The Saint-Emperor is obviously going to covet the bloodline of the Arch-Emperor Dynasty, the sanctimonious bastard. But he won't be able to outdo us! Once our Vile-Emperor Dynasty enslaves everyone from the Arch-Emperor Dynasty, then the people of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty are done for! It's a good thing we went to war over the issue of setting up teleportation formations all over the body of the Arch-Sovereign!"

"Of the three sovereigns, he was the last to blow! Sure took long enough! Originally, everything was supposed to be split three ways, but it's way too late for that now. The people from the Arch-Emperor's world are destined to be the slaves of the Vile-Emperor Dynasty!"

"Fellow Daoists from the Arch-Emperor's world. We are from the Saint-Emperor Dynasty! We're here to help you! Join us in resisting the Vile-Emperor Dynasty! Remember, we are the Saint-Emperor Dynasty. Come look for us!!"

"The Saint-Emperor Dynasty is the only force in the Eternal Lands that can resist the Vile-Emperor Dynasty! Fellow Daoists from the world of the Arch-Emperor, and especially the reigning Arch-Emperor, you really have no choice! Join the Saint-Emperor Dynasty!!"

In the Eternal Lands, there were five immortal domains, as well as a misty sea. Within that sea was an enormous, ancient statue, which seemed capable of propping up the very heavens. Suddenly, a massive boom erupted from that statue, to fill all of the Eternal Lands as….

The statue collapsed!

End of book 6: The Strongest Deva

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Book 7: The Eternal Immortal Domains

Time passed.

Half a year had already gone by since the destruction of the Heavenspan Realm.

Strange skies, strange lands. Strange cities, strange people….

These lands were actually made up of five enormous land masses which were called… immortal domains.

Any one of the immortal domains was dozens of times as large as the Heavenspan Realm or more. On one of them, in the eastern part of the domain, was a vast, winding mountain range that resembled a sleeping dragon. Many cities could be seen within those mountains, around which were numerous towns.

In one such town was a young man in a rumpled white garment, with a smudged and dirty face. He seemed to be laughing and muttering to himself as he stumbled drunkenly down the street, a jug of alcohol clutched in one hand, from which he occasionally took long swigs.

"Immortal domains, huh…?" he murmured. From the way he trudged along, he seemed completely despondent.

It was autumn, and a biting wind swept through the mountains, sending yellow leaves rustling along down the street. This particular town wasn't very heavily populated. It was located in a relatively remote area, and for the most part, the people in it kept to themselves. Because of how bitingly cold the wind was, the few people who did walk down the street all wore thick, warm clothing, and hurried to their destinations as quickly as they could.

Clearly, no one wanted to be out on the street on such a chilly evening. And anyone who did have to be out wanted to get back home as quickly as they could, to where it was warm, and to where their friends and families waited for them.

However, this drunk young man didn't seem to have any concept of home. He wandered in seemingly aimless fashion, a blank look in his eyes, completely ignoring the biting wind. He didn't seem to mind the wind at all, and in fact, it matched the loneliness in his heart. As he walked along through the evening, he seemed incredibly melancholy….

Brittle yellow leaves floated in the air around him, and they seemed to have found a kindred spirit in him that they didn't wish to leave.

"Immortal domains…? Who gives a shit…?" The aroma of alcohol surrounded the young man as he staggered onward, lifting the jug up for another drink. However, at that point, he realized that the jug was empty. Cursing, he lifted it up and jiggled it a bit to get the final remaining drops out. After swallowing them, he smacked his lips.

As the amber light of evening shone in his listless eyes, it revealed the bitterness and loss contained deep inside.

"Out of booze again…. At least the alcohol in this world is good stuff." Ducking his head, he began to mutter incoherently as he stumbled off in the direction of the tavern he frequented, his only company the biting autumn wind.

The tavern wasn't very far off, but the young man almost seemed to be walking through knee-deep water as he went along. It took him the time it takes an incense stick to burn before he reached his destination. By that time, not much of the amber sunset remained. He pushed the door open and lurched inside, simultaneously allowing a blast of cold wind to enter with him.

There were only about seven or eight tables in the tavern, but they were all full. Even the random seats that weren't attached to tables had people in them. There were quite a few young ones present, running about amongst the tables playing while their parents sat chatting and drinking. There wasn't much to do in this remote town, and therefore, this tavern, which sold Drunken Immortal liquor, had long since become a center of activity.

It was here that people exchanged local gossip, rumors about the rich people in town, and even stories about immortals. Sometimes, people got drunk and told their secrets out loud, leading to much laughter from their fellows.

For most of the people in town, their greatest entertainment was to come to this tavern and enjoy each other's company.

As soon as the young man entered, some of the regulars pointed at him and chuckled. "Well, if it isn't Scholar Bai! Hey, shopkeep, looks like you've got another one hooked on your Drunken Immortal!"

Considering how drunk the men were, it was hard to say whether they were being friendly or not.

No one in town knew this young man, but the regulars at the tavern recognized him. He had shown up out of nowhere a few months before. He never talked with anyone, and nobody even knew his name. However, he was clearly different from the somewhat rough and uneducated townsfolk. He wore a long, white robe, and seemed to wallow in melancholy and pain. None of that did anything to forestall the speculation about who exactly he was.

He looked like a scholar, specifically the type who had only passed the town-level scholar examinations.

Because of the white robe he wore, people took to calling him… Scholar Bai. [1]

"Scholar Bai must have failed in the imperial examinations, and doesn't have the face to go home. That's why he's drunk all the time…."

"Nah. You listen to me. Scholar Bai's family all died, and then he got robbed by bandits. The pain of everything he's been through is why he looks so depressed." The crowd in the tavern had noticed how often he came to buy alcohol in the tavern, and considering how despondent he looked, they couldn't help but sigh and come up with various guesses about his past.

The young man could hear much of what was being said about him, but didn't seem to care. He stumbled over to the counter, put the alcohol jug down, and then spoke in a somewhat incoherent voice.

"Another jug, shopkeep…. Drunken Immortal. This Drunken Immortal of yours… it's good stuff."

The shopkeeper, an older fellow in green garments, looked back at the young man and sighed.

"Scholar Bai, it's nearly the end of the year. Why don't you save your silver and go back home?"

"Home…?" The young man chuckled, a blank look in his eyes that seemed tinged with pain. Reaching into the fold of his robe, he pulled out a stack of silver and placed it on the counter. "What, you think I'm poor or something?!"

The old shopkeeper frowned at the young man's apparent inability to accept a kindness. Looking a bit annoyed, he scooped up the silver, plopped a new jug of alcohol onto the table, and then proceeded to ignore the young man.

It was with somewhat glazed eyes that the young man grabbed the jug of alcohol and then took a long drink. Smiling foolishly, and face flushed red from the alcohol, he swayed his way toward the door.

By this point, the children playing around in the inn had taken notice of the young man, and considering how he was stumbling around, began to jokingly call him a drunkard.

The young man didn't care. By the time he walked out of the tavern, it was already dark, and the wind was even colder. He looked around at the lantern light flickering in the windows of the houses, and his heart grew even darker.

As the darkness in his heart spread to encompass his eyes, he stumbled off in the direction of a temple where he usually slept. Upon arriving, he slumped down against the wall and continued to drink….

The only sound he could hear was the whimpering of the wind, and the rustle of the leaves that occasionally landed on him.

At one point, a leaf landed on his hand… highlighting a scar there that looked like a spark.

"Hao'er…." he murmured, the pain in his voice clear. Right now, the only thing he could think of to do was drink, to use Drunken Immortal to descend into a muddle-headed daze. Only by being drunk… could he forget about all of the pain and confusion.

This young man was Bai Xiaochun.

Once upon a time, he had been happy and full of laughter. But in the same way that summer will change into autumn… those things were gone, and he had changed.

Also gone was his home. Just before passing out, he had heard the deafening boom, and watched as the Heavenspan Realm was destroyed.

Later, he woke up in a strange, unfamiliar land to find that everyone from his past was gone….

His home was no more.

The River-Defying Sect. Li Qinghou…. Mistress Red-Dust. Song Junwan…. They were all gone.

Thankfully, Daoist Heavenspan was also gone. However, that fact brought him no joy, only sadness. An ocean of sadness with him at the bottom of it.

He wanted to cheer up. And in fact, after being teleported to this immortal domain, he had spent months searching. He had used everything in his power, including all of the power of his cultivation base, and all of his divine sense.

But the only things he had found… were corpses. One after another, he tracked down people from the lands of Heavenspan who had been teleported to this unfamiliar world. None of them had been able to survive the process, and reached their destinations as corpses. It was like a nightmare for him, and led to a moment of weeping in which he simply couldn't hold on any longer.

During his months of searching, he had found corpses that included Nascent Soul cultivators and even devas. Eventually, he didn't dare to search anymore. He feared that one day he would find Li Qinghou, Mistress Red-Dust, Song Junwan or some other familiar faces… as corpses.

Bai Hao's death. The gravekeeper's plan. Du Lingfei's tears. The destruction of the world. One corpse after another. Eventually… Bai Xiaochun couldn't take it.

Exhausted in all senses of the word, he reached this town, where he ended up in a drunken stupor….

He was not the ruthlessly ambitious type like Daoist Heavenspan. He was Bai Xiaochun… a simple person who wanted to be happy and live forever.

"If all of you are still alive, then where are you…?" he said, his voice slurring a bit as he slowly closed his eyes and passed out.

1. Remember that the character Bai means white. In this case, it could also be translated as Scholar White or White Scholar. They're technically calling him this because of his clothing, not because they know his surname. Because of how it's used like a name, though, I chose to go with Scholar Bai

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Dawn.

The distant sky was misty white, with dark clouds overhead. Gradually, the sun climbed up, turning the clouds violet, and then bright red.

Eventually, sunlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating the world in a riot of colors. At around that time, an old man and a youngster appeared, walking through the forested mountain.

The old man wore a Daoist robe, and although he kept his cultivation base mostly concealed, from the way his eyes sparkled like lightning, it was obvious that he was in the Core Formation stage. The child who walked with him was a mere Qi Condensation cultivator.

Eventually they entered the town and reached the temple. Outside the entrance, the youngster caught sight of Bai Xiaochun slumped up against the wall. He frowned.

"The world is a bitter place," the old man said. "Those who fail to understand the great Dao live their lives like insects. Pay him no heed." Shaking his head, he led the child inside. Some time ago, the temple had caught fire and nearly burned to the ground. It was in terrible shape.

"Master, is this the place?"

The old man nodded. "Yes. Years ago, fire fell from the heavens and landed right here. Immerse yourself in this place, and your Fire Kindling Incantation will rise to the next level." Looking around at the ruins of the temple, he sighed. "This was once a temple to the Eternal Mother. Before you begin meditating, make sure to pay your respects."

"The Eternal Mother?" the child said, clearly surprised. He quickly clasped hands and bowed respectfully. Then he looked up at his Master and asked, "Master, the story about the Eternal Sons and the Enemy from Beyond is true, isn't it? And we can see the Enemy from Beyond when we look up into the sky, right?"

The truth was that the boy already knew the answers to his questions, but he still wanted to hear his omnipotent, omniscient Master explain the answer.

By this point, the conversation between the Master and apprentice had reached Bai Xiaochun's ears, and he slowly opened his bleary eyes. He was hungover, and his head was pounding. At the moment, he couldn't even see clearly. But that didn't stop his memories from rising up and filling his heart with pain and confusion.

He thought about how he had been forced to fuse with Du Lingfei, and about how his apprentice had died right in front of him. He thought about all the plots and schemes that had played out, and how the entire world had been destroyed in front of his very eyes.

The things he had experienced were things that most people of his generation could never even imagine happening.

Because of all of that, he now felt confused, bitter, and in pain. He was lost.

Only in his drunken dreams could he once again feel happy and blessed…. But after sobering up, and looking into a sky that was not the sky of the Heavenspan Realm, depression would grip him tight once again.

After his months of wandering in this strange world, he had heard enough from the local inhabitants to know that he was in… the Eternal Lands.

Even the mortals here knew the beautiful legends about this place…. The truth was that they actually resided on a gargantuan flower.

The Eternal Flower was vast beyond imagination, with its five petals forming enormous districts, which were called immortal domains.

People usually referred to the flower as the Eternal Mother, whom they worshipped with pious devotion. Even small, remote towns like this one had temples erected in her honor.

According to the legends, people had lived on the petals of the Eternal Flower for too many years to even count. In fact, it had been this way from the moment life began in this world….

In between the five immortal domains was something called the Eternal Sea…. It was a sea of mists that mortals couldn't even approach safely. According to the stories… within the depths of the Eternal Sea, there had once existed three enormous statues!

People called the statues the Eternal Sons. In the legends, those three Eternal Sons had once fought a spectacular war with the Enemy from Beyond. In the final battle, the Enemy from Beyond fell into slumber, and the three Eternal Sons became statues.

It was a story that had been told in the Eternal Lands for many years. Oftentimes, stories that get passed down through the ages are eventually forgotten or changed. More commonly… people stop believing them.

And yet… the story of the three Eternal Sons and the Enemy from Beyond had never been forgotten. Even the mortals had full faith that the story was no legend. It was the truth!

Bai Xiaochun put the jug of alcohol to his lips and took a long drink. As he listened to the Master and apprentice talking in the temple, he looked up into the sky. Back when he had first arrived in this world more than half a year ago, he had awoken, looked up and been struck with astonishment.

This sky looked very different from the sky he was used to. Now, as he listened to the Master talking about the history of the Eternal Lands, he gazed up into the sky with that same sense of wonderment.

On each side of this sky… hung five enormous mountains. At the bases of either of the two sets of five mountains were enormous land masses, each of them just as large as one of the immortal domains!

The mountains and the land masses did not rise up from the Eternal Lands, they just hung there… as if they were a part of the heavens!

"Mountains? Landmasses?" Bai Xiaochun murmured. "No… those are obviously two gigantic hands! The hands of… a gargantuan giant!!" That had been his initial reaction months ago upon first looking up into the sky.

The truth was that even the children in the Eternal Lands knew the history of such matters…. After all, in addition to the two enormous hands in the sky, there was also… a face!

The face existed far away in the heavens, but it was still clear for everyone to see. It was awe-inspiring, harsh and cruel, and generally speaking, terrifying!

That face hovered there at all times in the sky above the Eternal Lands!

If it were true that the mountains and land masses were really hands, just as Bai Xiaochun had assumed from the beginning, then it was obvious to conclude that, because of the huge face, there must be a spectacularly unfathomably large giant in the void outside of the Eternal Lands.

The giant was so large that even half of its face would be large enough to fill most of the sky above the Eternal Lands. And its hands… seemed poised to crush the Eternal Lands into dust!

"And he," said the old man in the temple, "is the Enemy from Beyond who fought the three Eternal Sons."

According to the legends, the Enemy from Beyond had destroyed the starry sky, but had been stopped outside of the Eternal Lands by the three Eternal Sons. Those three sons had sacrificed themselves in death to seal the Enemy from Beyond in a state of slumber.

The stories said that one day in the future, the giant would awaken, open his eyes, and try to destroy the Eternal Lands.

Bai Xiaochun took another long drink.

He had heard this story numerous times over the past months, and every time he did, it made him think of the mural he had seen on deck 1 of the bone galleon all those years ago. It seemed… like the same story. [1]

"People say… that after the three Eternal Sons sealed the Enemy from Beyond, destructive fluctuations filled the world. Because of that, the Eternal Sons brought all of their people into their own bodies, and then transformed into three enormous statues that stood in the depths of the Eternal Sea.

"It is also said that the Eternal Sons used their last bits of life force to give birth to all the living things that inhabited the worlds formed by their bodies…. Their descendants became the imperial clans. And it was the emperors who led their people, spread knowledge of the world, and imparted the ways of cultivation….

"The legends also speak of how, many years later, the first statue shattered…. People emerged from that world and were the first to lay eyes on the Eternal Lands. When they saw the strange things in the sky, they were not as happy as they had been when they first emerged into the open. However, under the direction of their emperor, they settled down and began to multiply…."

As Bai Xiaochun listened to the story being told in the temple, he wanted to smile, and yet couldn't. This was not his first time hearing the tale, and yet, every time he did, it shocked him to the core.

Note from the author, Er Gen: There are four main emotions; happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy, and those emotions appear in the stories we read. I've seen some people predicting that this story will end as a tragedy. In response, I flick my sleeve and shout, "Who dares to say such a thing! Impossible! I'd stake my handsome good looks that it won't!"

1. The mural was described in chapter 859

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Chapter 1031: A Bit Of Warmth

"Eventually… the people from that world created a mighty nation that has existed from generation to generation down to this very day. That is our nation… the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, one of the two imperial dynasties that exists in the Eternal Lands, and also… the most powerful!

"Eventually, the Vile-Emperor Dynasty took note of the other two statues of the Eternal Sons. They knew that one day, the two statues would break open, and the hosts of living beings inside would emerge.

"Originally, the Vile-Emperor Dynasty had intended to welcome the people from the other statues, and join forces with them to fight the great enemy. But before they could prepare properly, the second statue… unexpectedly shattered. The people inside were teleported to all sorts of locations in the Eternal Lands. Unexpectedly, they were not interested in fighting the great enemy. They were bent on conquest, and in the end, the Vile-Emperor Dynasty had no choice but to go to war…. It was around that time that an archaean appeared from within the newly arrived imperial clan. Thankfully, the Vile-Emperor was already in that same cultivation level. In order to prevent a horrific situation for their peoples, they eventually made peace." As the old man sighed in the temple, Bai Xiaochun took a swig of alcohol, and then chuckled.

Bai Xiaochun could see through to the truth almost immediately. The Vile-Emperor Dynasty had hoped to control all of the Eternal Lands, but the second Eternal Son statue had opened before they were in a place to do so. The people from within the second statue regrouped and fought back until the Vile-Emperor Dynasty had no choice but to declare a truce.

Obviously, that other major force was the Saint-Emperor Dynasty!

"Originally, there should have been three imperial dynasties…." the old man said with another sigh.

"I know, Master. The third imperial dynasty was supposed to be the Arch-Emperor Dynasty. Hasn't everyone been saying that the third Eternal Son statue shattered recently?"

When Bai Xiaochun heard the boy's words, he looked down at the alcohol jug, his hand trembling.

"Sadly, the third Eternal Son statue was supposed to produce the Arch-Emperor Dynasty. But it shattered far, far too late…. Right now, the Vile-Emperor Dynasty essentially controls three of the immortal domains. There are two immortal domains that are mostly under the control of Saint-Emperor City, which the Vile-Emperor Dynasty can't do anything about!

"The only thing the Arch-Emperor Dynasty people are good for now is to bolster the forces of the other two imperial dynasties. In any case, the end goal of it all is to deal with the great Enemy from Beyond. Of course, the sanctimonious Saint-Emperor Dynasty is weak and useless. Our Vile-Emperor Dynasty is the true strength of the Eternal Lands, and its only hope!" By the time the old man got to the last part of his speech, his voice resonated with devotion and zeal.

Bai Xiaochun lay there slumped against the wall, hand trembling as he lifted the alcohol jug and took another drink, hoping that he would soon be numb to the bitterness that dwelled in his heart.

This town was in the third immortal domain, which was controlled by the Vile-Emperor Dynasty. The five immortal domains in the Eternal Lands were all roughly the same size, each one vastly larger than the Heavenspan Realm. In fact, the Heavenspan Realm would only count as one of the many prefectures that existed within a given immortal domain.

Each immortal domain had dozens of prefectures. Within the prefectures were dozens of counties, and within the counties were hundreds of cities and towns of varying sizes….

The little town that Bai Xiaochun was in was just such a place.

In the Eternal Lands, the relationship between cultivators and mortals was somewhat different than in the Heavenspan Realm. Here, the cultivators took care of the mortals, as well as the land itself.

Each immortal domain was ruled by a celestial, whose subordinates, the demigods, would oversee the prefectures.

Of course, the demigods had subordinates too, devas who ran the various counties. Usually, Nascent Soul experts would be in charge of the larger cities, with the smaller locations occasionally being run by Core Formation cultivators.

Not every celestial would be appointed to serve as the ruler of an immortal domain. For example, in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, there were only three celestials with such responsibility, while the other handful remained stationed in Vile-Emperor City.

And the Vile-Emperor himself was in charge of Vile-Emperor City and the areas surrounding it!

"The Eternal Lands…." Bai Xiaochun murmured. Whether it was in terms of sheer size, or the number of powerful experts present, the Eternal Lands vastly surpassed the Heavenspan Realm. People like Daoist Heavenspan who had not yet become true celestials… were by no means rare.

Only by reaching the Mahayana Realm and becoming celestials could someone truly be counted as a powerful expert in the Eternal Lands.

Above the Celestial Realm was the Archaean Realm…. That was a terrifying level, and in all of the Eternal Lands, there were only two such people, the two emperors.

From what Bai Xiaochun could tell, quasi-archaeans were people in the great circle of the Celestial Realm, or people who had failed to actually become archaeans.

"I wonder where that laughing-crying ghost face came from originally…." he thought. Then he shook his head. Every time his thoughts strayed to such matters, many images would appear in his mind.

He would see friends and family from the Heavenspan Realm, people… that he had been unable to find.

During his first few months of searching, it had been easy to track down the aura of the Heavenspan Realm. He had found corpses of strangers, and some who were familiar faces. Each time he had trembled and looked up into the sky, heart wracked with grief.

At some point, the old man and the boy moved on from the temple. When they did, the boy couldn't conceal his excitement at having gained enlightenment of his magical technique.

Eventually, the sun set. Bai Xiaochun was still lying there against the temple wall, as drunk as ever. He almost looked like he was asleep.

Usually, he would only leave this spot when he ran out of alcohol. Then he would stagger over to the tavern to buy more, then come back to the temple, lean up against the wall, and watch the sun rising and setting, or look up at the strange hands and the evil face in the sky.

Days turned into a blur. Bai Xiaochun had no idea how much time had passed. He had a scraggly beard now, and his clothing was so dirty it threatened to turn black.

He no longer thought about the past. Unwilling to deal with the pain, he entered a state of almost complete mental blankness.

Sometimes a dried-up leaf would land in front of him, and he would stare at it for the entire day…. It was almost as if by looking at the leaf, he could see all of the happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy it had experienced in its life.

One thing he loved was when night fell and, from his spot at the temple, he could see lamplight filling the little town. Each of those flickering lamps represented a family….

He looked at them until his tears ran dry. Sadly, the lamp of his heart seemed impossible to spark to life.

One autumn night, thunder rumbled in the sky, and great, bean-sized drops of rain began to fall, almost as cold as ice. Clearly, winter was on the way.

Bai Xiaochun looked up into the night, and the rain splashed onto his face. For the first time, he actually felt cold. However, it was also in that same moment that he looked down at the back of his hand, to the spark-shaped scar that was the spot where Bai Hao had perished.

"It's warm…." he said. It had been a long time since he spoke out loud, and the feeling was strange. As he looked down at his hand, his disheveled hair fell down to cover his face, and yet, it couldn't cover the confused shock in his eyes. He suddenly began to pant.

"It's warm?" Shivering, he lifted his hand up until it was right in front of his nose. For the first time in a long time, his eyes were not cloudy and dim, but rather, shone with the bright light of surprise.

Deep within his gaze, a stubborn determination suddenly erupted to life.

"It's warm!" he exclaimed in a quavering voice. Unable to stop his hand from shaking, he sent some divine sense into it, and specifically, the spark-shaped mark on it.

He had done this on numerous occasions before, but his divine sense had never detected anything in particular. But now it did. All of a sudden, his dry eyes began to overflow with tears.

"Hao'er… you're not dead!!" All of a sudden, mad excitement rose up inside of him. Up above, thunder crashed, but it was like nothing compared to what was happening inside his mind and heart. He could sense Bai Hao's aura! Deep inside the mark on his hand, he could sense Bai Hao as an incredibly weak discarnate soul!

He was as fragile as a candle flickering in the wind. And yet, within that weakness, he showed a tenacious refusal to be destroyed. Unfortunately, it would be many years before he managed to grow strong, and recover.

Shaking physically, Bai Xiaochun grabbed one hand with the other and then pushed them both up against his chest. Considering his unkempt hair and scraggly beard, he looked very much like destitute beggar who had just found the most precious of gems. As the rain fell down on him, it was for the first time since he arrived in the Eternal Lands… that he smiled.

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To go along with major milestones in both A Will Eternal and Renegade Immortal, I'm excited to announce that Rex and I are hosting the biggest art contest to date on WuxiaWorld. We have categories for ALL of the WW Er Gen novels, even I Shall Seal the Heavens!

If you're not an artist, you can still participate by giving feedback to the contestants, and ultimately, voting on the winners. Another thing you can do if you're not an artist is to convince any artist friends you have to join, with you as their art…

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Chapter 1032: Robbing Bai Xiaochun

"Hao'er…." he murmured in excitement. He smiled as excitedly as a child would, a smile that had appeared often in the Heavenspan Realm, but after everything he had experienced, had become as rare as a jewel.

In his state of despondency, the fluctuations of Bai Hao's soul became something like a burning lantern on a dark night. Despite how wet and freezing it was that night, Bai Xiaochun felt warm.

Back in the Wildlands, Master and apprentice had depended on each other for survival as they ran their little spirit enhancement shop, and it was that memory which suddenly brought Bai Xiaochun to his senses. It was almost like the sun rising up from the horizon.

He looked back down at his hand, and suddenly wondered if he was dreaming. Therefore, he probed at the scar on his hand over and over again to make sure. Finally, he breathed a long sigh.

Bai Hao was definitely not dead!

Or perhaps it was most appropriate to say that his soul had not fully dispersed. Perhaps it was something the gravekeeper had done, or perhaps it was Bai Hao's own determination. Either way, he had somehow survived as a discarnate soul.

Bai Xiaochun had reached out to try to grab Bai Hao, only to have a tiny spark fall down onto the back of his hand. And that spark was the discarnate soul. [1]

It was so weak that it seemed it might vanish at any moment. And yet there it was, inside the scar. Due to the string of catastrophic events that had ended in the destruction of the Heavenspan Realm, Bai Xiaochun had never sensed the oh-so-weak fluctuations of the soul.

But now, in this tiny town, in his moment of quiet despair, as he sat there watching the sun rise and set… he suddenly sensed something in the mark on the back of his hand.

"You're still with me…." he murmured. A bit of pain and bitterness could be seen in his smile as he lifted his alcohol jug up to take another drink. It was almost empty.

"This Drunken Immortal is good stuff, Hao'er." Rubbing his aching temples, he began to head toward the tavern again. As he walked along, talking to himself and drinking, the other people on the street would look at him with strange expressions, and hurry to get out of his way.

"Scholar Bai is crazy!"

"He's started talking to himself!? Who is this Bai Hao fellow? His assistant or something?"

"You can't help but feel sorry for him."

Bai Xiaochun ignored all the townsfolk pointing and whispering about him. Before, he had been all alone in the world, but now, he had Bai Hao to accompany him.

His whole day was spent drinking and talking to his apprentice, until he eventually staggered back to the temple and leaned up against the crumbling wall. There, he stared up blankly into the sky again.

The fluctuations of Bai Hao's soul were like a lamp on a dark night, casting light out into the world. Before, Bai Xiaochun had been unwilling to consider what the future held, but now, he began to ponder just that.

"Hao'er, what do you think Master should do…?

"Maybe I should look for people from the Heavenspan Realm. But… I already looked. From the moment I woke up, I started looking. All I found… were corpses.

"Hao'er, do you remember Beihan Lie? Oh right, you never met him. Well, I found his corpse…." Bai Xiaochun shook his head and smiled bitterly. Then he took another drink.

"I don't want to keep looking…. But what else am I supposed to do in this strange, unfamiliar world…? I wish you could wake up. You would definitely have some great ideas! You always do." Bai Xiaochun sighed and looked up at the setting sun, and the amber glow which it cast out across the sky.

It was almost dark when he decided that he needed more alcohol. Like usual, he crawled to his feet and headed toward the tavern, where he got another jug. By the time he headed back out into the dark, he was already drunk again.

"Ah the drunken life. That's how to be happy…." He threw his head back and laughed heartily, then suddenly started crying. By the time he staggered back to the temple he was out of energy, and collapsed face-first onto the ground. His jug rolled off to the side, spilling quite a bit of alcohol.

There were a few lamps lit within the little town, but none of them were strong enough to illuminate the ruins of the temple. A biting wind kicked up, and whether it was the rustling of the withered leaves that blew through the air, or the whisper of the bamboo forests around the village, it all sounded very desolate.

The night grew darker, and the wind picked up. Eventually, one particularly strong gust of wind pushed the empty jug of alcohol into motion. It rolled off to the side and down into a nearby ditch, where a foot suddenly stepped down onto it, crushing it into the mud.

"That drunkard is going to drink himself to death sooner or later!"

"You know, he must be pretty rich. Think about it! He's been drinking for months and months, but still has money to spend."

"We're actually doing a good thing here. His money would do a lot more good in our pockets than it would being wasted by him, drinking himself to death. Let's just send him off early to reunite with his dead family!" Three local ruffians emerged from the nearby bamboo forest, joking greedily amongst themselves as they tromped over to the temple.

They were members of a local gang, mortals who had long since taken notice of Bai Xiaochun. Originally, they hadn't given him much thought, but when they realized that he continually bought Drunken Immortal and never seemed to run out of money, their interest was piqued.

To ruffians like this, a drunkard with deep pockets was like a fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered. Only one of the ruffians actually approached Bai Xiaochun. The other two fanned out to act as lookouts. As far as they were concerned, any of them could single-handedly take care of a single drunken scholar.

One of the ruffians standing watch chuckled and said, "Hurry up and kill him, Sun Wu! Then we can take the loot to the Pink and Lace Pavilion and have a real good time!"

The one they called Sun Wu didn't hesitate. He walked over to where Bai Xiaochun lay on the ground outside the temple and squatted down next to him.

"The sooner you die, Scholar Bai, the sooner you can be reincarnated. I'm just helping you out here!" With that, he reached into the fold of his robe and pulled out a dagger, which he placed right over Bai Xiaochun's heart.

Because of the life of crime they had led, these three ruffians had done things that most ordinary people had not. They had taken lives in the past, and although they couldn't be considered particularly powerful or dangerous, were vicious and merciless to the core.

They had never even considered sparing Bai Xiaochun's life. He was an outsider, so if he died, no one would care too much. On the other hand, if they robbed him but left him alive, and he reported the theft to the authorities, it could cause them a big headache.

The moonlight caught the dagger, causing it to glint in sinister fashion. Sun Wu smiled coldly, but then realized that considering the scholar might awaken from the pain, he reached down and clamped his hand over his mouth.

He had killed people in this way before. However, something different happened this time. As he tried to plunge the knife into Bai Xiaochun's chest, it felt like he had struck a slab of metal. He pushed harder, but then let out a yelp of shock and pain as the dagger snapped in half.

To Sun Wu's shock, his forefinger was cut by the broken dagger, and began to bleed.

It was too dark for the other ruffians to see what was happening, so one of them called out, "Hurry it up, Sun Wu. What are you doing?!"

Sun Wu took a deep breath. He looked at the broken dagger, and then the sleeping Bai Xiaochun, who reeked of alcohol. Assuming that it was a problem with his dagger, he borrowed a saber from one of his fellows and then hacked it down onto Bai Xiaochun's neck.

A cracking sound rang out, and Sun Wu shrieked and staggered backward, his arms vibrating so hard he worried his bones might break. He even lost his balance and fell onto the ground, the shattered remnants of the sabre scattering around him.

Meanwhile, Bai Xiaochun was snoring just as loudly as before, and hadn't reacted at all. To him, both the dagger and the sabre had felt like little more than a mosquito landing on him.

Sun Wu and his companions immediately began to sweat profusely, and their eyes went as wide as if they had seen a ghost.

"He… he…."

"How is this even possible!?!?"

1. If you're like me, you might have missed the casual mention of a spark falling on his hand. It was in chapter 1014

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Chapter 1033: An Old Friend. The First.

The cold wind was no different than it always was. And yet, as it blew on the three shivering ruffians, they were soaked with sweat.

"An immortal!" Sun Wu blurted. "He's definitely an immortal!!" The mere thought that he had struck an immortal made Sun Wu feel like crying. In fact, he was certain that his life was about to end.

"So what if he's an immortal!" one of the other ruffians said. "I saw an immortal a few years ago, and he got gutted like a pig!" Perhaps this fellow was confused about what he had seen in the past, or perhaps he was just so terrified that he wasn't thinking straight. Either way, he quickly pulled out an axe and aimed it at Bai Xiaochun's head.

"If he is an immortal, we're dead anyway, so we might as well go for broke!" Howling, the ruffian swung the axe down with all his might. When it hit, a cracking sound could be heard as the haft of the axe shattered into pieces. As for the axe blade, it might as well have struck a boulder, and it turned into a blur of light that whizzed back and embedded itself into the ruffian's face.

Before the blood could even drip down from the wound, the ruffian staggered backward, and then flopped down onto his back, dead.

Sun Wu and the other ruffian were scared out of their minds. Screaming, they turned to run away.

Terrified, they didn't dare to stay in the town for another night. After stealing some horses, they rode off into the night.

Back at the temple, the cold wind blew over the corpse with the axe head embedded in its face. Eventually, the blood from the wound pooled around the unmoving body.

Some time passed, and Bai Xiaochun managed to open his eyes. He looked at the bamboo forest, and the corpse lying next to him, and then struggled to his feet. Annoyed at having been woken up hungover, he stumbled to the tavern to buy some more alcohol. After returning, he slumped down against the wall, oblivious to his own filthy clothes and hair as he started drinking again.

Before long, the alcohol allowed him to revel in his fancies, and forget any painful and bitter memories.

As he drank, the sky turned dark. Soon, hints of dawn could be seen on the horizon, and the inky darkness began to retreat. It was at that point that Bai Xiaochun's expression flickered with disbelief. Straining his eyes to focus, he looked at the bamboo forest not too far away, and suddenly began to tremble.

In fact, his hand started shaking so hard that he dropped the jug of alcohol.

There, striding out of the bamboo, was a tall man clad in a black robe. He almost seemed at one with the night, wrapped up in a sinister, ghostly energy that transformed the temple and its surrounds into an underworldly hell.

The man walked up to Bai Xiaochun, loomed over him, and then let out a sigh of regret. When he spoke, it was in a voice that seemed profoundly ancient.

"Got any more left in that jug? Can I have some?"

"Big bro… Giant Ghost…?" Bai Xiaochun could do little more than stare blankly at this tall man in black.

Sure enough, he was none other than the Giant Ghost King!

This was the first living friend Bai Xiaochun had encountered after arriving in the Eternal Lands!

He looked much, much older than he had back in the Heavenspan Realm. He had scars on his face; clearly, he had experienced many trials in the more than half a year since he had been teleported to the Eternal Lands.

Looking very tired, he sat down next to Bai Xiaochun. After leaning up against the temple wall, he reached out, grabbed the alcohol jug, and took a long, hard swig.

Bai Xiaochun suddenly jumped to his feet and sent some divine sense out into the area.

"Don't bother," the Giant Ghost King said, not even bothering to look over. "I have no idea where Zimo is, or anybody else. The only person here… is me." With that, he continued to drink.

Bai Xiaochun suddenly seemed to lose even the power to stay standing. He flopped to the ground, snatched the alcohol jug back from the Giant Ghost King, and took a drink. However, it was empty. He shook it back and forth a bit to get the last drop or two out, and then threw it off to the side.

The Giant Ghost King didn't say anything.

"How did you find me?" Bai Xiaochun asked, his voice hoarse.

The Giant Ghost King produced a jug of alcohol from his bag of holding, took a long drink, then tossed it to Bai Xiaochun. "By looking for half a year!"

In the moment when the world collapsed, Bai Xiaochun had been severely injured because of his fight with Daoist Heavenspan, and thus lost consciousness upon being teleported away. However, the Giant Ghost King had not lost consciousness. He had been there to watch as Bai Xiaochun was whisked away to the third immortal domain in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, just as he had been.

He had begun his search almost immediately. Just like Bai Xiaochun, he had found so many corpses that he eventually began to sink into bitterness and despondency. However, he had held fast to his belief… that Bai Xiaochun was alive.

That faith pushed him through many months until this very day… when he finally found Bai Xiaochun, wasting away outside of the temple.

The truth was that the Giant Ghost King was in just as bad a state as Bai Xiaochun. After the war in the Wildlands, the world had been destroyed, and his daughter went missing. He had once been a mighty heavenly king in the Arch-Emperor Dynasty, but now, everything had changed.

The wife he had taken in Giant Ghost City was also nowhere to be found. And thus, the heart of the mighty Giant Ghost King eventually went dark.

The people he had once ruled, and his previous glory, were gone in the blink of an eye…. They were a thing of the past. Here he was, alone in the Eternal Lands… starting over from scratch.

Considering how old he was now, the idea of being back at square one caused him to sigh bitterly. It was just when things seemed to hit rock bottom that he realized that the alcohol in the Eternal Lands was a wonderful thing.

This alcohol could get mortals drunk… and could also get immortals drunk!

Bai Xiaochun took a drink, then stared off into the distance for a moment. Eventually he said, "Did you see…?"

Certain that the Giant Ghost King would know what he was talking about, he didn't finish his sentence.

A moment passed, and then the Giant Ghost King replied. "Did I see anyone else alive? You're the only one I've encountered so far. However, I'm certain that even though a lot of people died in the teleportation, there are some who survived. I saw many of them flying through the starry sky!"

Bai Xiaochun looked quietly up into the night sky….

As he did, there were other people on the other immortal domains of the Eternal Lands doing the same thing. They were in different domains, different continents, different counties. Some were in cities, and others were out in the wilderness. But all of them had the blood of the lands of Heavenspan in their veins, and all of them were looking up into an unfamiliar night sky.

They were like a vast multitude of stars, flickering with their own desires, not willing to resign themselves to fate.

Li Qinghou. Patriarch Spirit Stream. Master God-Diviner. Xu Baocai.

Zhou Zimo. Song Junwan….

Bruiser was out there as well. Because of the insanity to which Bai Xiaochun had sunk, he had forgotten about Bruiser during the final hectic moments of the fighting. After being teleported into the Eternal Lands, Bruiser found himself among strangers, and was scared. He couldn't sense Bai Xiaochun's aura, but he could sense some familiar fluctuations. And after searching for a time, he found Song Junwan….

That was when he realized that the familiar fluctuations were not coming from Song Junwan, but rather, from inside of her belly….

The blood was familiar, but the aura was not. Bruiser didn't understand. However, when he saw Song Junwan's beaming smile, he knew that he had to protect her, and protect that aura inside of her!

Bruiser knew that sooner or later, he would find that familiar face, which he longed to see in this strange land….

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Chapter 1034: Congratulations, Father-In-Law

The following day, the corpse was gone. The ruffians who had stolen horses and disappeared into the night would never again be seen in the world.

Although Bai Xiaochun didn't care about them, the Giant Ghost King wanted to make sure there were no loose ends. Although the people in the town were all mortals, he still didn't want to risk word spreading that could cause trouble.

The gang in town lost three members, and although they investigated the matter, they didn't turn up any evidence about what had happened, and quickly forgot the matter. As for Bai Xiaochun, he continued with his usual routine.

However, now he didn't drink alone. Whenever he went to the tavern, he was joined by an old man.

The man was tall and tough-looking. Although he was old, he was mighty and heroic, and made quite the contrast to the slim, fair Bai Xiaochun. In fact, his burly frame, the scars on his face, and his overall manly appearance made him quite attractive to many of the women in town.

Eventually, a month had gone by. The Giant Ghost King never tried to force Bai Xiaochun to cheer up. The two of them spent their days drinking, and their nights dreaming drunken dreams. They talked a lot. The Giant Ghost King recalled his past glories, and bragged about how incredible he had been. He even talked about how many young noblewomen had crawled into bed with him throughout the years. Eventually, Bai Xiaochun started to get bored with such stories, and began to throw in some sarcastic comments here and there.

At one point, he yawned and said, "Hey, remember that woman from that one clan? I forgot which clan it was. Have you forgotten who told me to go get her, and then made me the scapegoat in the whole thing? You old pervert. Nobody in the Wildlands ever found out the truth!"

Although he wasn't as talkative as the Giant Ghost King, every time he said something sarcastic, it would catch the man by surprise. After a moment passed, the Giant Ghost King would then angrily resort to reminding Bai Xiaochun who he was.

Grabbing the alcohol jug out of Bai Xiaochun's hand, he glared at him and growled, "Listen, fool, I'm your father-in-law! You think I don't know about you and Zimo?! If it hadn't been for me secretly playing matchmaker, that would never have happened!"

Snorting coldly, he guzzled down some alcohol.

Upon hearing Zhou Zimo's name, Bai Xiaochun sighed despondently.

When the Giant Ghost King saw that, he felt a bit bad. Sighing, he said, "Hey, Xiaochun. Do you know why the Arch-Emperors never had many children?"

Somewhat taken aback, Bai Xiaochun looked over at the Giant Ghost King.

"Few people know the truth, but as a heavenly king, I know many things that ordinary people don't. You see, people who cultivate the Undying Live Forever Technique have much stronger male energy than ordinary cultivators. Because of that, it's impossible for them to get mortal women pregnant. And even if they get a female cultivator pregnant, it will take dozens of years or more for that masculine energy cause the baby to form!"

This was Bai Xiaochun's first time hearing anything like this, and although he was a bit shocked, he actually didn't find it very surprising. As he took another drink, the Giant Ghost King went on to another conversation topic. Before long, Bai Xiaochun was as silent and depressed as he had been earlier. The Giant Ghost King sighed, and deep within his eyes, it was possible to see a glint of worry.

He knew that Bai Xiaochun had suffered a much greater blow than he had. Furthermore, when it came to how many years the two of them had lived, the Giant Ghost King really did count as an old man compared to Bai Xiaochun.

However, he wasn't hoping to immediately light a fire in Bai Xiaochun's heart. He wanted to help him recover slowly. And in fact, a month later, it was already possible to see that Bai Xiaochun was different from before. He talked a bit more, and would smile more often.

Another half a month went by.

The regulars at the tavern were now used to Bai Xiaochun and the old man coming to buy alcohol. Furthermore, the old man was quite different from Bai Xiaochun. He liked to talk, and before long, people got comfortable around him.

Some people even noticed that the old man referred to himself as Scholar Bai's father-in-law. Eventually, people in tavern formed their own version of Bai Xiaochun's background.

"So, Scholar Bai's wife died!"

"His own wife! No wonder he's been so down in the dumps!"

"Now the two of them are relying on each other to survive! You have to admit, the world is a crazy place right now."

Most of the people in the tavern would sigh sadly at the story.

Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King began to argue more often as time went on. One evening in the temple, as the Giant Ghost King lounged against the wall, guzzling some alcohol, he looked over at Bai Xiaochun and said, "Xiaochun, I'm telling you, there's no flower up in the sky, just that ugly face! We're out of alcohol. Go get some more."

Bai Xiaochun frowned at having his reverie interrupted. Glaring, he threw the jug over to the Giant Ghost King.

"You go!" he said.

The Giant Ghost King sat up straight and yelled, "Bai Xiaochun! Don't think I've forgotten how you slapped me and kidnapped me! We never settled that debt. All I want you to do is go get some booze, but you come up with a million excuses. Don't forget that I'm your father-in-law!"

After hearing the Giant Ghost King call himself 'father-in-law' for over a month, Bai Xiaochun felt like his ears were about to fall off. Glancing mischievously out of the corner of his eyes, he said, "Oh yeah, well I'm the Arch-Ancestor!"

Bai Xiaochun's words apparently caught the Giant Ghost King completely by surprise, and he couldn't think of anything to say. Even as he sat there, eyes turned up in thought, Bai Xiaochun's expression flickered. Then, the two of them looked at the door of the temple.

Before long, the voice of a woman could be heard from outside.

"Squire Zhou. Scholar Bai. I have some good news for the both of you!" From the way the woman spoke, she sounded very happy and excited. Even as her words continued to echo out, she stepped into the temple. Neither young nor old, she was dressed in fine clothing, and was flanked by several handmaidens.

"Well, if it isn't Madam Sun," the Giant Ghost King said, his eyes sparkling. Ignoring Bai Xiaochun, he rose to his feet. "Please, let's talk over here!"

Bai Xiaochun sighed. The Giant Ghost King had made quite a few friends since coming to town. Bai Xiaochun had been in the town for a lot longer than him, and yet wouldn't even have been able to guess what this woman's name was.

Bai Xiaochun looked at the Giant Ghost King and the woman standing there off to the side talking back and forth, and couldn't help but marvel. Here was the Giant Ghost King, a mighty demigod, a heavenly king, acting just like a mortal. Although that in itself wasn't necessarily amazing, the fact that he even knew how to deal with mortals on the romantic side left Bai Xiaochun mostly speechless.

All of a sudden, Madam Sun gently pushed the Giant Ghost King away from her.

"You devil!" she exclaimed. Eyes flashing charmingly, but expression serious, she continued, "Squire Zhou, I'm being serious here. Widow Zhang has a shop in the east part of town. Her husband died years ago, and ever since then has maintained the propriety of a widow! She's also one of the most good-looking women in town, and very rich!

"You're lucky to have a woman like that take a liking to you, Squire Zhou. She asked me to come here and see if you would be willing to marry into her family! If you are, then she'll give you thirty percent of her shop as her dowry!"

In response to Madam Sun's words, the Giant Ghost King's jaw dropped. Never could he have imagined that something like this would happen to him in a little town like this….

After all, he was a mighty demigod. To marry into the family of a mortal widow… would be very embarrassing.

However, the truth was that despite how old he was, he was still tall and well-built, and also very handsome. To most older women, he would be considered very attractive.

Bai Xiaochun was also stunned. He looked at Madam Sun, and then at the Giant Ghost King, and despite how depressed he still was, couldn't help but slap his thigh and start laughing.

"Congratulations, father-in-law!" he said. All of a sudden, he felt the sadness and bitterness inside of him melt away a bit.

The truth was that all the bickering with the Giant Ghost King had been slowly chipping away at the ice which held his heart locked up. And now, his laughter caused those cracks to widen and begin to fall away.

In contrast, the Giant Ghost King was very depressed by Bai Xiaochun's words.

However, even as Bai Xiaochun stood there laughing, Madam Sun looked over at him with narrowed eyes.

"Oh, Scholar Bai," she said with a smile. "I'm glad you approve of the matter. Silly me, I forgot about the good news for you. Widow Zhang said that if Squire Zhou accepted her proposal, then her daughter, whose husband just died last month, and who is also very beautiful, would be the perfect match for you. If both of you agree to marry into the family, she'll give you fifty percent of the shop!

"I guess her daughter must have just been born under an ill star. Her husband was a ruffian of sorts, a real plague on the village. Supposedly, he got what was coming to him, and was tossed out into the wilderness for the animals to eat. Obviously, he's nothing like the well-educated and cultured man you are, Scholar Bai."

All of a sudden, Bai Xiaochun's laughter screeched to a halt. Then, a moment later, the Giant Ghost King started laughing.

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Chapter 1035: Decree From The Vile-Emperor

The leaves of autumn had all fallen, and the cold of winter had set in. Although the coldest days of the season had not yet come, it was still cold enough that most people didn't want to go outside. The bite of the wind was like blades against the face.

It was still possible to see a few leaves on the ground, but they were all dry and yellow, and would collapse into fragments at the slightest touch. Only once in a while would a leaf be seen dancing in the wind. But now that winter had arrived, none of them seemed willing to stay in the town, and would fly off into the distance as quickly as possible.

It was in such weather that Madam Sun had left the warmth of the buildings in town and come to the dilapidated temple to talk with the father and son that lived there. After all, if she succeeded in her task, the compensation she would receive from Widow Zhang would be considerable.

Because of that, she wouldn't give up easily. She tried over and over again to convince Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King to agree to the deal. She emphasized that for the two of them, it was the kind of rare chance that would only come around once in a blue moon, and that they definitely should not allow the opportunity to slip by.

She talked up the good looks of the younger widow, and repeatedly pointed out how profitable the shop was. Over and over again, she explained out how much they would be losing out if they didn't agree.

The Giant Ghost King wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Despite being a demigod cultivator, there was no reason for him to be cruel in his refusal. All he could do was tell Madam Sun that they would think about the proposal, and then ask her to be on her way.

After she left, he turned back to Bai Xiaochun and sighed.

"See? I'm just too dashing. This is how it was back in Giant Ghost City. It was so bad I preferred to stay indoors. Whenever I went out, the women would all go crazy! Young and old alike!" Although his words were spoken as if in frustration, it was impossible for him to hide how pleased he was with himself.

"Who would have thought that in a little town like this where nobody even knows I'm a cultivator, the same thing would happen again? I guess it's really my fault." He sighed.

Bai Xiaochun wasn't exactly pleased to see the Giant Ghost King moaning and groaning about how amazing he was. It was worse that Widow Zhang had obviously been using Bai Xiaochun as a bargaining chip to try to gain the Giant Ghost King's approval. Otherwise, why else would she have offered her daughter to Bai Xiaochun in marriage after she had only been widowed for a month?

"I can't believe that I, Bai Xiaochun, am not even as attractive to these mortals as this old fogey." Not willing to accept the truth of it, he looked at the preening Giant Ghost King out of the corner of his eye and snorted coldly.

"Congratulations, father-in-law! Who would have thought that you would put down roots in this little town? I'm sure you'll really prosper here! You absolutely, positively must not refuse the offer. Oh, you'll also need alcohol for the wedding. So why don't you go get another jug?"

By force of habit, the Giant Ghost King glared at Bai Xiaochun, and prepared to start arguing. But then he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Now that I think about, I remember seeing this Widow Zhang before. I'm pretty sure I passed her on the street on the way to get alcohol. If I remember… she blushed when she saw me. She's actually pretty good-looking. Nice figure, attractive rear end… a real hottie!" The Giant Ghost King's eyes began to shine brightly, especially upon describing what Widow Zhang looked like.

"Wait, hold on a second. I should head over to that shop to double check. After all, she's making an offer in good faith, and I've always been a straightforward and candid person. I can't take advantage of her good faith."

The Giant Ghost King had been somewhat of a pervert even back in the Wildlands, especially when it came to attractive women of his own age. That much was obvious from how he had secretly asked Bai Xiaochun to bring him that one particular woman from the clan outside of Giant Ghost City.

Here he was, down and out in the Eternal Lands, and yet his personality hadn't changed. Now that his passions were aroused, he didn't care what kind of sarcastic things Bai Xiaochun said. Full of zest, he hurried out of the temple.

"Xiaochun!" he called over his shoulder. "You'll have to drink alone today. I'll be back later."

Bai Xiaochun was a bit stunned. Although he knew of the Giant Ghost King's lecherous nature, he would never have been able to guess that the man would even be attracted to mortal women. How could a demigod expert be like that…?

Bai Xiaochun smiled wryly at how eagerly the Giant Ghost King rushed out of the temple, and was about to yell something after him when, all of a sudden his eyes flickered, and then began to shine with a light much more intense than anything which had appeared in them in recent days.

He wasn't the only one to react in such a way. The Giant Ghost King suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked up. Instead of the fiery light of passion which had just been burning in his eyes, his expression was now as cold as Bai Xiaochun's.

The biting winter wind wasn't even close to being as cold as their gazes, and in fact, it didn't dare to remain, and died down.

Moments later, a whistling sound filled the air, along with three distant beams of bright light. As they got closer to the town, it was possible to see that within them were… three deva cultivators, natives of the Eternal Lands!

Two of them simply continued to fly overhead, but the third, a middle-aged man with an intimidating expression on his face, came to a stop in midair above the town. As he did, he unleashed a deva aura that caused rumbling to fill the air like heavenly thunder.

All of the mortals in the town began to tremble in fear, and no matter where they were or what they were doing, dropped to kowtow to the figure up above.

In the Eternal Lands, mortals didn't view the immortals as figures of legend and myth. Although they didn't necessarily see them every day, they were by no means rare. In fact, even this small town had an official residence set aside for them. As the deva fluctuations filled the town, four figures emerged from a rather large pagoda. They quickly flew up into the air toward the deva, and then kowtowed in greeting.

One of them was the old man who had taken his apprentice to the temple some time ago, the Core Formation cultivator. Another of the four was that very apprentice, the boy who was in the Qi Condensation level. The other two were young men, both of whom had Foundation Establishment cultivation bases. The entire group was visibly sweating as they greeted the deva.

"Greetings, Immortal!" the old man said respectfully.

The deva looked at the man with a piercing gaze, then clasped his hands behind his back and spoke in a voice that echoed out like thunder in all directions.

"I bear orders from the demigod preceptor of Crosspeak Prefecture, Master Dust-Origin. All inhabits of Crosspeak Prefecture are hereby commanded to participate in the manhunt for people from the Heavenspan Realm!

"Every single one of them must be tracked down and delivered to the local prefecture, even the corpses!

"Anyone who harbors or assists refugees from the Heavenspan Realm will be severely punished, and possibly have their clan exterminated! If anyone is found guilty of negligence by allowing Heavenspan cultivators to reside in the area, they will have their cultivation base crippled! There will be no leniency in this regard! And anyone willfully violating any of these orders will bring greater disaster onto themselves than they can possibly imagine!

"Of special importance are any Heavenspan cultivators in the Foundation Establishment level or higher. Hold nothing back to capture them! Anyone who does will be handsomely rewarded by the Vile-Emperor!"

His words were spoken in callous and grim fashion, and left everyone in the town trembling, especially the Core Formation cultivator. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he said, "We will follow the orders of the preceptor down to the smallest aspect! If any Heavenspan denizens appear in our area, we will put our lives on the line to do just as the Vile-Emperor and the preceptor command!"

The deva nodded slowly, then scanned the area with divine sense. Finding nothing unusual, he turned and sped off into the distance to the next location on his list of places to make the announcement. Generally speaking, a voice transmission would have been sufficient, but in order to emphasize the importance of the matter, this deva and his compatriots were personally taking the announcement to everyone in Crosspeak Prefecture, and simultaneously inspecting the area.

After the deva left, the town did not simply go back to business as usual. No one would dare to take the words of a deva lightly, and thus the old man in the Core Formation stage immediately passed down orders, instructing the gang in town to perform a thorough search.

Back in the temple, Bai Xiaochun's eyes shone with cold light, as did the Giant Ghost King's.

"I could smell the blood of Heavenspan cultivators on him," Bai Xiaochun said. The Giant Ghost King snorted and flew up into the air.

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Chapter 1036: The Ruling Ghostmother

Some distance away from the town, the deva who had just made such an impressive showing was currently flying through the air over Crosspeak Prefecture.

"This is all the fault of those vermin from the Heavenspan Realm!" he muttered.

He was the youngest deva in Crosspeak Prefecture, a fact of which he was very proud, arrogant even. Considering that he had already made such achievements, it seemed likely that his future prospects were considerable.

Although reaching the Demigod Realm might not be realistic, he was confident that he would eventually get to the great circle of the Deva Realm.

"Why don't the Heavenspan people just hand themselves over to be slaves? Why resist? What's the point of struggling?!" The man chuckled, thinking back to the search for Heavenspan cultivators which had already gone on over the past half year or so in Crosspeak Prefecture. A flicker of scorn passed through his eyes.

"From what I heard, the legacy of the Arch-Emperor Dynasty was never passed on. They had some guy called the Celestial? How dare he call himself that without ever having reached the Mahayana Realm! And what about that Arch-Ancestor?" The man shook his head arrogantly.

"Although, people with the blood of the Heavenspan Realm are supposedly really good at spirit enhancement…. That's pretty amazing." At this point, his eyes began to burn with anticipation. After all, the rewards offered by the Vile-Emperor were quite attractive. Pushing forward with greater speed, he thought, "The best would be to capture one of the Heavenspan devas…."

Even as his heart surged with excitement, the air around him suddenly distorted. It happened so quickly that he had no time to react. A hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere, which then reached out and grabbed him by the neck!

"You–" The man's eyes went wide, filling with terror and shock as he realized that he was powerless to struggle against this hand. In fact, he could sense that all the hand needed to do was squeeze down a bit, and he would be crushed out of existence.

"Demigod!?!?" He didn't even have time to transmit a message before that very power he feared erupted into him. However, it didn't kill him, it merely shoved him into unconsciousness. Then, he was dragged away by the hand, vanishing without a trace.

From the moment the hand appeared until both of them were gone, only a brief moment passed. No evidence was left behind of what had occurred, not even a tiny energy fluctuation.

Back in the temple, a cold, grim expression could be seen on Bai Xiaochun's face as he sat there against the wall. A moment later, the giant Ghost King entered, his expression equally grave, a limp deva held in his hand the same way he might hold a chicken.

After walking over to Bai Xiaochun, he dumped the deva down onto the ground. The deva shivered and opened his eyes. After looking around and seeing Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King, he began to pant.

"Who are you people?!?!" he blurted, his mind and heart battered by waves of shock as he realized that his cultivation base was sealed, making him little more than a mortal. As for the old man who had captured him, he had his cultivation base fluctuations masked to a certain degree, but the deva could tell that he was no ordinary demigod!

The pressure the deva felt when looking at him was even more terrifying than those of Crosspeak Prefecture's preceptor, the demigod Master Dust-Origin!

Then he looked over at Bai Xiaochun, sitting off to the side with a blank face. When Bai Xiaochun looked back at him, he sensed something intangible stabbing into him, causing his head to spin, and shaking him down to the depths of his being. It was as if that gaze contained divine sense which could peer at every aspect of him, inside and out. At this point, the deva cultivator felt ten times more shaken than he had before.

"C-cel… celes… celestial…!" he stammered. Years ago, he had accompanied the demigod preceptor to visit the celestial who presided over the third immortal domain, and back then, he had experienced this same feeling.

It was as if the person sitting in front of him wasn't a cultivator, but rather, a god!!

As of this moment, he had no need to ask who this person was….

"You're… Arch-Ancestor Bai Xiaochun!" he said in a quavering voice. He had now fully resolved to not do anything to resist.

Bai Xiaochun's eyes flickered with cold light and killing intent. The fact that this person knew who he was would actually make certain matters easier to handle.

Narrowing his eyes, the Giant Ghost King said, "Where are you from?!"

Knowing who Bai Xiaochun was, the deva could already begin to speculate who this old man was that kept him company, although he couldn't be certain. In any case, considering that he was a demigod, there was no way to conceal anything from him. The deva knew that if he didn't talk quickly enough, the man would have plenty of ways of making him talk.

When he saw Bai Xiaochun frown in response to what he had just said, his heart began to pound, and he added, "Junior's name is Li Hai. I am a subordinate of the preceptor of Crosspeak Prefecture, the seventeenth prefecture of the third immortal domain of the Vile-Emperor Dynasty.

"There are a total of six celestials in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, who rotate leadership of the second and third immortal domains. Currently overseeing the third immortal domain is Celestial Ghostmother."

In response to the man's words, Bai Xiaochun's eyes narrowed, and the Giant Ghost King's heart began to pound. Both of them were familiar with the name Ghostmother. The huge fight between the gravekeeper and Gongsun Wan'er in the Wildlands was something the Giant Ghost King could never forget.

"Ghostmother?" Bai Xiaochun asked. "Not Celestial Virūpākṣa?" [1]

The divine abilities and Daoist magics of Ghostmother were of the same line of cultivation as the Giant Ghost King's. Despite how down-and-out both he and Bai Xiaochun had been during the past several months, they had still come to know a lot about the third immortal domain. For example, the celestial in charge of it should not have been Ghostmother, but someone with the Daoist name of Virūpākṣa, which meant all-seeing.

Upon hearing different information from this Li Hai, the Giant Ghost King frowned, walked over, and clamped his hand down onto the top of the man's head. Instead of wasting time speaking, he decided to simply resort to a soulsearch.

Screams erupted from Li Hai, but none of them went beyond the confines of the temple. He twitched, blood oozing out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. It wasn't that he didn't think to end the pain by self-detonating, but rather, he couldn't. In much the same fashion as the numerous Heavenspan cultivators that he himself had soulsearched in recent days, he eventually began to lose consciousness.

Eventually, the Giant Ghost King removed his hand, whereupon Li Hai coughed up a mouthful of blood and then flopped down onto his back, dead.

"Any information about Hou Xiaomei, Big Fatty Zhang, or any of the others?" Bai Xiaochun asked quietly.

"No. I just know that Ghostmother took over for Celestial Virūpākṣa last month." The Giant Ghost King actually didn't know Hou Xiaomei or Big Fatty Zhang, but hadn't seen any information about them in Li Hai's mind.

"Ghostmother is in charge now. She has seventeen demigod preceptors, who in turn oversee seventeen prefectures here in the third immortal domain. Every preceptor has numerous devas under their command….

"The Vile-Emperor has ordered a full-scale manhunt to track down everyone from the Heavenspan Realm, and Ghostmother is going all out to scour the third immortal domain.

"They're even trying to bring in all the corpses….

"One reason for the search is that the Vile-Emperor Dynasty wants to bolster their own forces. But even more importantly… they figured out that we people from the Heavenspan Realm have something special about us. We have a type of Daoist magic that no one from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty or the Saint-Emperor Dynasty can match. And that is… spirit enhancement!

"Only Heavenspan cultivators can perform spirit enhancements. No amount of research by cultivators from either of the other two dynasties provide any help in that regard. The only way it can be accomplished is with Heavenspan blood!

"Therefore, all three of the immortal domains controlled by the Vile-Emperor Dynasty are being searched, and it's the same in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty. The main difference is that the Vile-Emperor Dynasty is openly revealing their intent to enslave the Heavenspan cultivators. The Saint-Emperor Dynasty is at least proclaiming a desire to offer help." Having finished his analysis from the soulsearch, the Giant Ghost King looked at Bai Xiaochun with sparkling eyes.

"Xiaochun, the time has come to stop sitting around wasting time!"

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It was a dark night, and the winter wind only continued to grow stronger.

The wind sobbed, growing colder as it scraped over the lands, the towns, and the millions upon millions of residents in the land. As the wind rose into the sky, it met the black clouds above… and thunder rumbled.

Based on the thunder, anyone could tell… that rain would fall soon, or perhaps snow.

And so it did. It was either rain mixed with snow, or snow mixed with rain. In this, the beginnings of winter, it was difficult to tell….

The dilapidated temple could do nothing to keep out rain or snow, and before long, it began to drip down onto Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King.

The precipitation caused the withered leaves to rustle, as if they wished the falling snow would simply become rainwater, having forgotten that oftentimes freezing rain is colder than snow.

Bai Xiaochun reacted to the Giant Ghost King's words in similar fashion. Although he didn't shiver, it was hard to say whether his heart became as cold as falling snow, or as cold as freezing rain.

"You're right," he murmured. "We can't let things go on like this. The time has come to attack. Kill as many as we can…." Out of reflex, he reached out, grabbed the nearby jug of alcohol, and prepared to take a drink. However, the Giant Ghost King stepped forward, eyes blazing with anger as he slapped the jug out of Bai Xiaochun's hand.

It spun off to the side, where it shattered, the alcohol quickly mingling with the rain and snow.

"Drinking?!" the Giant Ghost King said, nearly shouting. "Is that all you know how to do?!

"I know you've been through a lot, but so what? Did nobody else lose people? Who lost the most? You? Me? What about everyone else? Everybody from the Heavenspan Realm lost friends and loved ones!

"If these Eternal Lands were completely filled with malice and evil, then you could drink yourself to death and I wouldn't care. But that's not the case!

"Did you ever think about Zimo? Did you ever think about the elder generation from your River-Defying Sect? What about all your friends? What about everybody who looks up to you?!" Although the Giant Ghost King was yelling at Bai Xiaochun, to some extent, he was also speaking to himself. He too had become somewhat lost.

"Attack them?! What, you and me? How many do you think we can kill? Don't you remember what you used to be like back in Arch-Emperor City in the Wildlands? Where did that Bai Xiaochun go? Remember your clever plots? Remember the Proclamation of Universal Grace? Remember how you made a Foundation Establishment-level soul into a deva soul? You got the Grand Heavenmaster to back you, and then you forced all of the nobility and aristocracy to cower in front of you!

"Slaughter should always be the last part of the plan. That's what you do when you go crazy and have nothing else to lose. You don't go around attacking people as your opening move!" The Giant Ghost King looked truly disappointed. He had long since come to the realization that, at this point, Bai Xiaochun was not the same old Bai Xiaochun who feared death. It was like he had gone crazy, shifting from one extreme to the other!

Furthermore, the Giant Ghost King knew that someone who was only interested in slaughtering enemies would never be able to rise to prominence in these Eternal Lands.

"What we need to do now is look for people from the Heavenspan Realm!" he said, flicking his sleeve. Then he continued to speak, driving each word home like a hammer slamming into a nail. "No attacking. No drinking. No more wallowing in despair!"

Bai Xiaochun sat there quietly. He was now trembling visibly, and his eyes were bloodshot. The Giant Ghost King's words had struck him deeply, stabbing into his heart like a sharp knife. A moment passed. Then he looked up.

"I'm not wallowing in despair!" he said, his voice hoarse. "And I already went looking for them!"

Waving his hand, he caused a small pile of medallions to pour out of his bag of holding and pile up next to him.

They were identity medallions from Heavenspan cultivators. Clearly, these were not from rogue cultivators, but rather, cultivators from powerful organizations in the Wildlands and the four Heavenspan Rivers. They were objects that cultivators would normally use to transmit messages or prove their identity.

"You know what I found? Corpses! All I could do was bury them and take their identity medallions!" Bai Xiaochun's eyes bulged as he spoke, as though all of the anger and resentment he had been building up inside of him were finally being released.

"I want to keep looking too," he continued hoarsely, "but what if all we find is more corpses? I know…. I know I shouldn't give up. But the Eternal Lands are huge! Just one prefecture is as big as the entire Heavenspan Realm! The third immortal domain alone has well over a dozen Heavenspan Realms inside of it! How am I supposed to search through all of that?!"

The Giant Ghost King looked at the pile of command medallions for a long moment. Then he shifted his gaze back to Bai Xiaochun and said, "If we can't find them, maybe we can get them to find us!"

The Giant Ghost King's eyes began to shine even more brightly. "That would also give them hope. And if they have hope, they can endure. That's what we need to do!"

"Hope…." Bai Xiaochun murmured. As he looked at the Giant Ghost King, his eyes finally began to come to life.

"That's right. Hope!" Eyes glittering, the Giant Ghost King began to pace back and forth in the temple. "Xiaochun, we need… to seek asylum with the Saint-Emperor!

"The Vile-Emperor wants slaves. Working out a deal with him doesn't seem possible. Supposedly the Saint-Emperor is a bit sanctimonious, but at least his dynasty openly proclaims themselves to be kind. That gives us a basis to try to work out a deal!

"However, if we seek asylum, we can't go empty-handed. Just showing up and asking for help isn't impressive at all. We need to bring the Saint-Emperor… a blood tribute!

"Yes! The head of an enemy!" The more the Giant Ghost King thought about his idea, the clearer it became.

"Xiaochun, if we want to prepare a blood tribute, then we need to accomplish something major in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty. We need to get famous! We need to do something… that will shake, not just the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, but all of the Eternal Lands!

"If we can't find all of our people, we can at least let them know we're here! Let them know where we are! In the darkness of night that these Eternal Lands are for the people of the Heavenspan Realm, the two of us… can be blazing torches!

"The brighter and more dazzling we are, the easier it will be for them to find us. And at the same time… we can gain stronger positions. Shake the other two imperial dynasties, and buy some breathing room for the people of Heavenspan!

"When someone is powerful, no one will dare to bully him or his people!"

Bai Xiaochun was panting, clearly deeply shaken by what the Giant Ghost King was saying. At long last, his eyes were no longer blank, but rather, filled with hope!

Hope for the Heavenspan Realm, and hope for himself!

"If we offer a blood tribute to the Saint-Emperor, he'll have no other option than to give us official positions in the government! And then we can use the power of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty to forge a new place in the Eternal Lands for the people of Heavenspan!"

The Giant Ghost King's booming voice resonated back and forth inside of the temple. Outside, the rain and snow continued to fall harder and harder. The tattered temple walls and ceiling did nothing to conceal the weeping of the wind. Water and snow continued to build up inside of the temple, to the point where the scattered leaves were covered.

Bai Xiaochun stared at the leaves for a long moment, then looked up. All of a sudden, his aura changed, and his eyes began to glitter brightly.

"What kind of blood tribute should we prepare?!"

When the Giant Ghost King saw the anticipation in Bai Xiaochun's eyes, his own heart began to pound.

"How about the heads of a few of the Vile-Emperor's demigods?"

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Chapter 1038: A Sword To Shake Seventeen Prefectures

"The third immortal domain has seventeen demigod experts," the Giant Ghost King said. "The locals call them preceptors.

"But before we make our move, we should make sure we have an escape route planned. I saw a map of the third immortal domain within the memories of that deva cultivator. Some distance to the northwest, about halfway across the prefecture, is a majestic sea!" With that, he pulled out a jade slip, branded it with some information via divine sense, and then tossed it over to Bai Xiaochun.

Bai Xiaochun grabbed it out of the air and looked at it. Not only did it have a general map of the third immortal domain, it also had information about the demigods who oversaw the various prefectures. Although the information wasn't extremely detailed, it was at least fairly comprehensive.

Almost immediately, Bai Xiaochun noticed the details that the Giant Ghost King had just mentioned.

Eyes flickering with killing intent, the Giant Ghost King said, "What if each of us go to a different prefecture, take out a demigod, and then meet back up?

"Master Dust-Origin of Crosspeak Prefecture is only in the early Demigod Realm. I'm a hundred percent certain that I can handle him. Next to Crosspeak Prefecture is Cloudsea Prefecture, ruled by a preceptor named Li Luohai. He's in the mid Demigod Realm. Xiaochun, how about you handle him?"

Bai Xiaochun didn't give a specific answer; the killing intent in his eyes said everything that needed to be said. The Giant Ghost King nodded and prepared to continue with some more information when Bai Xiaochun said, "Ghostmother runs this entire area, and she's definitely going to notice. We need to act fast. And we need to pick a good location to meet back up. If either of us are late, we don't stick around waiting. We leave the third immortal domain and head directly toward the Saint-Emperor Dynasty!"

The fact that Bai Xiaochun had begun to participate in the planning caused the Giant Ghost King's expression to brighten visibly. After all, he had always been impressed by how Bai Xiaochun handled everything in the Wildlands. Over the next few minutes, the two of them continued to discuss and refine the plan further. Finally, the Giant Ghost King took a deep breath and looked at Bai Xiaochun.

"Safety first!" he said. Then he turned and vanished.

With that, Bai Xiaochun looked around at the dilapidated temple in which he had spent the better part of a year. He looked at the snow and rain, and at the broken jug of alcohol.

Finally, he sent his divine sense out, covering the entire town. His eyes shone brightly now, as if the flame of his life force had finally been reignited!

"The time has come to leave…. My old pal Giant Ghost was right. I get it now…. Hope…. Hope for the people of Heavenspan. Hope for myself. Hope for Hao'er!"

He looked down at the scar on the back of his hand, and seemed completely different than he had been for the last several months. He was now like an unsheathed sword that would soon cast fear into seventeen prefectures.

"My Dao has always been to live forever. It has always been… to give all my friends and family that same chance…. To live forever!!

"No more doubts about the fighting and killing. If I want to live forever, then I have to face the difficulties and obstacles along the way. Without a sword in hand, how could I ever cut through the thorns and thistles that block my path!?

"I'm still afraid of dying. But being afraid… is useless. The only thing that does any good is to get stronger! I need to be the kind of person nobody can kill! That is the way to protect my great Dao!" He lifted his foot to take a step forward, and when it landed, the rain and the snow seemed to pause.

It was as if some undetectable fluctuations had suddenly rolled out in all directions!

"People back in the Heavenspan Realm always said that in the right circumstances, I could destroy all heaven and earth…. Well, here we are with one imperial dynasty that wants to enslave the people of Heavenspan, and another that wants to assimilate them. I guess the time has come to see if I can really destroy them both!" With that, he vanished, to reappear high above.

With his aura masked, not even someone at the peak of the Demigod Realm would be able to detect him. The only person who might notice something… would be a celestial.

By now, Bai Xiaochun had surpassed that peak level. Furthermore, to say that he was a quasi-celestial would actually not be completely correct. After all, even a quasi-celestial… would be no match for him!

Although he was not quite at the level to fight a true celestial, for all intents and purposes, his battle prowess… was that of a celestial!

"Get that blood tribute, and head to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty…. With the resources I'll gain access to there, I can achieve my breakthrough and become a true celestial!" Having reached this point in his train of thought, he buried all of his despondency and depression. Then, he blurred into motion.

Cloudsea Prefecture was right next to Crosspeak Prefecture. Instead of the numerous mountain peaks which filled Crosspeak Prefecture, Cloudsea Prefecture was made of a vast plain. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth there surpassed most other prefectures, and made it one of the best places in the third immortal domain to practice cultivation.

Because of that, the preceptor here would obviously not be an ordinary early Demigod Realm expert. Only someone in the late Demigod Realm could possibly be trusted to watch over such an area.

There were also more devas in Cloudsea Prefecture than there were in the surrounding prefectures. There were nine counties and over a hundred cities and towns, all of which had vast tracts of medicinal plant fields surrounding them.

Preceptor Li Luohai's official residence was located at the very center of Cloudsea Prefecture, in the bustling capital city. That was also where the largest medicinal plant farms were located!

Even Arch-Emperor City back in the Wildlands couldn't match up to this capital city in size. Right now, in the shadows of dusk, the glimmering lamplight which filled the city made for a particularly lively scene.

People hurried about every which way, cultivators and mortals alike. Flight was restricted, and squads of patrolling soldiers could be seen in numerous locations throughout the city.

Bai Xiaochun soon appeared in the air off in the distance, where he could both see and hear the bustle of the city.

This was not his first time seeing a large city in the Eternal Lands, and yet, it was still a shocking sight.

"The Eternal Lands… really are huge." Keeping his eyes on the path directly ahead of him, he continued on. In terms of the restrictive spells preventing flight, considering Bai Xiaochun's Undying Hex and cultivation base, they were essentially useless against him. Within moments, he was in midair above the city, looking down at an area right in the middle of it!

A huge stone gate had been erected there that was guarded day and night by the local cultivators. Inside of that stone gate… was a spatial dimension created by Li Luohai that contained his personal immortal's cave.

Li Luohai spent most of his time in secluded meditation, and was rarely seen publicly. He would only emerge when the Vile-Emperor sent decrees specifically for celestials. After the people of Heavenspan were teleported into the Eternal Lands several months prior, he came out more often. Like many others, he was particularly interested in the blood of Heavenspan. Any cultivators with that blood in them who were captured in Cloudsea Prefecture would be sent directly to him.

After identifying the stone gate, Bai Xiaochun took a step forward, placing him directly in front of it. Three devas sat there cross-legged, keeping watch. Unless someone showed them a Dharmic decree from a celestial, they would not permit that person to enter.

However… they didn't even realize Bai Xiaochun had appeared among them. It was as if he existed in a different dimension.

Ignoring them, he walked calmly into the stone gate. Not a single ripple or energy fluctuation resulted. It was with completely and utter silence that he appeared… inside of a sprawling immortal's cave!

It was actually only a fragment of a spatial dimension. In the middle of it was a medicinal plant farm roughly 30,000 meters across. All sorts of medicinal plants grew there, many of which Bai Xiaochun had never seen before. A hunchbacked old man stood in their midst, performing a double-handed incantation gesture as several hundred bodies floated through the air around him. It was impossible to tell whether those bodies were living or dead!

He seemed excited, almost laughing as he loudly said, "Upgrade my medicinal spiritualization into spirit-blood fertilization. If this works, then when I go to offer tribute at the imperial city, I'll receive a handsome reward!"

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Chapter 1039: Killing A Preceptor!

Medicinal spiritualization was used to describe techniques in which the spiritual power of heaven and earth was used to extract the life force from plants and vegetation, which was then used to create stronger medicines. It was something that, as an apothecary himself, Bai Xiaochun would sometimes do.

In terms of blood-spirit fertilization, it was very much as the name indicated. It involved burying people alive in the soil so that the spirit plants could absorb that person's spirit and blood to grow faster and stronger.

Only unscrupulous and evil apothecaries would use such methods. Bai Xiaochun had actually seen such evil before in the Wildlands, for example, when Song Que had been turned into a living spirit stone.

Another blood-spirit fertilization technique he had seen once was a vile method in which a seed was planted into a person's body, which would then grow inside of them and take them over.

But what he was looking at right now… was different from either of those two methods he had seen in the past. Growing right in front of the hunchbacked old man… was a crimson plant fully 90 meters tall.

Despite its size, it only had nine leaves, each of which had serrated edges that almost looked like teeth. In addition to the leaves, there were hundreds of vines, each of which was stabbed into the forehead of one of the bodies, and was sucking its life force away.

Most of the bodies that floated in the air attached to the vines were severely withered, as though they had been sucked dry by the blood-colored plant.

All of them had expressions of pain and rage on their faces, their mouths open as if they had been crying out right before death.

Ninety percent of them truly were dead. However, the remaining ten percent had a bit of energy left. They were like oil lamps flickering on the verge of winking out, the flames of their life force just barely there.

Some of them had the aura of the Heavenspan Realm on them, but the majority had a unique, holy air that Bai Xiaochun had never encountered before. Presumably, those were people from the Saint-Emperor Dynasty.

Bai Xiaochun's divine sense also revealed to him that deeper in the immortal's cave was an enormous pit filled with skeletons and corpses, most of which had that same holy feeling to them. That enormous pit was the main reason that the plants in the immortal's cave grew so well.

When Bai Xiaochun detected the Heavenspan aura among the hundreds of bodies hanging in the air, his eyes turned as cold as ice.

"Have a death wish?!" he said, his voice like a biting winter wind that had swept from Crosspeak Prefecture all the way to Cloudsea Prefecture.

The excited Li Luohai shivered, his expression flickering.

"Who's there?!" he blurted, his heart already pounding. Then he took a step forward, as if to leave. Although he had been caught completely by surprise, the fact that a voice had spoken out in this place where no one could possibly enter was extremely telling.

Considering the level of Li Luohai's cultivation base, he knew that in all of the third immortal domain… there were no more than three people who could possibly enter his immortal's cave so stealthily!

And they were all celestials!

Even as he began to step forward, he could sense something behind him, something whose mere energy fluctuations created a pressure that could shake the world. It was something that could devour even demigods, something that could topple mountains and drain seas. And that energy immediately engulfed him.

"Noooo!!" It was to his shock and terror that he realized his divine soul was shaking violently. Countless streams of frigid qi entered him through his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and pores, causing cracking sounds to ring out as his flesh and blood was frozen and shattered, then his energy passageways, and even his bones!

It only took a few breaths of time before a bloodcurdling scream erupted from Li Luohai's mouth. Then came a stream of blood as his vision blurred. And finally, he realized that a hand was clamping down onto the top of his head.

The last thing he heard was the sound of crunching bone!

Starting with his head, his entire body shattered into pieces. It only took the blink of an eye!!

Because he was a demigod with abundant life force, it was not easy for him to simply pass out. And therefore, he experienced every single last bit of pain!

The entire time, Li Luohai never even had a chance to look back to see who it was that had entered his immortal's cave, nor did he have time to send out any divine sense. He had absolutely no idea who it was….

As his body shattered into bits, and before his divine soul could do anything, a massive pressure crushed down in the area, suppressing the power of reincarnation. As a result, he was unable to enter the cycle of reincarnation, and was snatched up by Bai Xiaochun. He was Bai Xiaochun's first demigod soul from the Eternal Lands!!

He wouldn't have been able to do such a thing in the past. However, after arriving in the Eternal Lands, despite the fact that he had not practiced any cultivation, the powerful energy of heaven and earth had entered him, and caused his cultivation base to advance some.

It was actually the same with all cultivators from the Heavenspan Realm. After encountering the spiritual energy in the Eternal Lands, all of them slowly began to grow stronger!

After snatching up the demigod soul, Bai Xiaochun swished his sleeve to throw it in his bag of holding, then turned his gaze toward the corpses attached to the enormous crimson plant.

The plant was close to being sentient, and shrank back from Bai Xiaochun. However, the powerful fluctuations emanating off of him caused it to simply wither away into death.

As it did, the corpses began to drop to the ground. Bai Xiaochun walked over to examine them, and among the several hundred, found a single familiar face.

"Zhou Hong, heir apparent to the Nine Serenities King!" Zhou Hong had plotted against him over and over again in the Wildlands. Bai Xiaochun had thwarted him at every turn, until the point where he reached such a high standing that Zhou Hong was powerless to even plan a strike against him. At that time, Zhou Hong had simply gone into hiding.

Zhou Hong had not yet breathed his last breath, but unfortunately, the flame of his life force had already gone out. In his last moments, the death of the plant caused a slight backlash of energy that forced his eyes opened, allowing him to see Bai Xiaochun.

He was surprised, excited, and also sad….

Both gratitude and grudges alike could be seen in his eyes. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but only managed to smile, and then he closed his eyes forever….

Bai Xiaochun stood there silently for a long moment. He had hoped to come to the rescue of the people he had seen here, but had clearly come too late. Sighing, he waved his hand to collect Zhou Hong's corpse, then turned to leave. He left the immortal's cave in a sea of fire.

Everything inside the cave became ash, with the exception of the valuable medicinal plants. Although they had been grown with the blood and spirit of countless Saint-Emperor Dynasty cultivators, they could still be useful in concocting medicine. It was a true windfall for Bai Xiaochun!

Eyes flashing with determination, he left.

"I've come late, but I'm going to take all of the people of Heavenspan in this city with me!" As soon as he was out in the open, he sent his divine sense spreading out through the entire city.

Everyone present, regardless of the level of their cultivation base, shivered, and then their minds went blank. For them… it was as if time had stopped!

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Chapter 1040: Did Locusts Sweep Through?

Bai Xiaochun's cultivation base surpassed the ordinary quasi-celestial level. That, combined with his powerful Daoist magics from the Live Forever Codex, ensured that his divine sense was actually very close to the level of a true Mahayana Realm celestial.

Although there was a slight gap, only a true celestial would be able to tell. When it came to anyone under the celestial level, Bai Xiaochun would appear to be an actual celestial.

In the third immortal domain, the capital city of Cloudsea Prefecture was often referred to as the Medicine Storehouse. And right now, the minds and souls of all cultivators in that city went blank, leaving them completely unaware of their surroundings.

From the moment that Bai Xiaochun's divine sense spread out, to the moment that they regained consciousness, from their perspective, no time would have passed!

This was one of the dramatic, domineering and terrifying things that powerful experts in the Mahayana Realm were capable of doing.

The innumerable cultivators in the capital city all remained in place, completely unmoving. The only person who could act as normal was Bai Xiaochun!

As he walked away from the huge stone gate that was the entrance to the immortal's cave, he ignored the deva guards and used his divine sense to locate the auras of the more than 100 Heavenspan Realm cultivators in the city.

Sadly, all of them were strangers to him. But that didn't stop him from vanishing and reappearing in the northern part of the capital city, where a prison was located.

The Heavenspan cultivators in the prison were also immobilized and rendered unconscious by Bai Xiaochun's divine sense. However, they weren't hurt. He considered sending them into the Greatsword of the North, but after some thought, waved his sleeve, and put them in his bag of holding.

Blue light glittered as the Greatsword of the North then appeared in his hand. After examining it closely, his eyes glittered.

From what he could sense, the laughing-crying ghost face has been subjugated by the world inside the greatsword, which would explain why his strike at Daoist Heavenspan had been so shocking.

Furthermore, he could tell that, now that he was in the Eternal Immortal Domains, the three-use-limitation that had been placed on the sword was now gone. Unfortunately, it had still not accepted him as its master. Therefore, he could only use it as a weapon, and could not access its divine abilities in order to send people inside.

On top of all that, the spirit automaton, the Frigid Matriarch, was not responding to his divine will.

"Do I not yet meet all the requirements…?" he thought. He knew that there were people living inside the world of the sword, those being the northern cultivators who hadn't been mobilized in the war. In fact, considering that they were inside the world of the sword, they would have no idea of the events which had occurred on the outside, or that the Heavenspan Realm had been destroyed.

Still contemplating the matter, he vanished. When he reappeared, he was next to another Heavenspan cultivator, who he quickly put into his bag of holding. Then he went on to another, and another. After he had them all, his eyes flickered.

"I can't let any of the medicinal plants here go to waste." With that, he performed an incantation gesture with his right hand, and used the power of the Live Forever codex, as well as Frigid School energy, to summon nine frigid clones. Without the slightest hesitation, he then sent them out in nine different directions into the city.

Wherever they went, they took the medicinal plants they saw, regardless of whether they recognized them or not.

They were like ravenous locusts who, in a very short time, cleared out all of the medicinal plant farms in the entire capital city. And yet, even after doing that, Bai Xiaochun wasn't finished.

"That Li Luohai mentioned something about tribute…." After a bit more searching, his frigid clones found exactly what he was looking for: a treasure storehouse deep beneath the surface of the capital city!

Other than Bai Xiaochun, few people would be able to open it. But with his Undying Hex, it was little challenge. Once inside, he took all of the medicinal plants and spirit stones that were stored inside.

There were also ten crystalline strongboxes that radiated such a powerful energy of heaven and earth that it was obvious they contained shocking, high-level medicinal ingredients!

One of them was an ingredient that Bai Xiaochun recognized.

"Nine hells apparition leaf!" His eyes immediately began to shine with passion. He had read about nine hells apparition leaves back in the Heavenspan Realm. They were a legendary medicinal plant that had long since gone extinct. Supposedly, only one leaf would sprout on the plant every five hundred years. These leaves were so beneficial to cultivators that they were considered heaven-defying.

Inside of the box, Bai Xiaochun could see more than thirty such leaves, provoking a loud gasp.

"That's 15,000 years' worth of leaves!!" For the first time since arriving in the Eternal Lands, Bai Xiaochun's eyes shone with delight. After all, the nine boxes all contained medicinal plants, and although he didn't recognize any of the others, considering how valuable the nine hells apparition leaves were, he could only imagine what the other plants were.

As for the crystalline boxes, he got the sense that they had been crafted by refining countless spirit stones! Furthermore, the boxes were sealed with strips of paper that had the character emperor on them. Obviously, these medicinal plants were the tribute that Li Luohai had spoken of!

After collecting the boxes, Bai Xiaochun called his frigid clones back, then looked around at the city one last time, sighing.

"Too bad time is so limited. Otherwise, I would spend more time cleaning this place out." Shaking his head, he was forced to hold back the skills that he had honed in the Wildlands. Turning into a blur of motion, he left the capital city.

He took his divine sense with him, removing the pressure which had been weighing down on the cultivators. They didn't awaken immediately; it took about an hour. At that point, everyone simultaneously shivered, and then went about with whatever they had been doing before losing consciousness.

The cultivators within the city walls had it better off. To them, nothing much seemed different. However, the cultivators in the farms that surrounded the city were stunned to find that not a single plant or even root could be seen. Everything around them was nothing more than bare soil.

"Where… where am I?"

"This place seems familiar…." As the stunned cultivators muttered and looked around, they eventually noticed a city off in the distance….

When they recognized the city, and then looked back at the bare earth, they began to gasp in shock and cry out in alarm.

"Heavens, what's going on?!?! This… this is crazy!! Did locusts sweep through or something?!?!"

"No way. Even if locusts came through, they wouldn't wipe things as clean as this. I just blinked, and then… everything was gone!!" As the commotion built up, some of the more quick-witted among the farm workers came up with logical explanations.

"Calm down, everyone. The preceptor probably just came and harvested the plants…." However, such voices of reason were soon drowned out by angry shouts.

"Like hell! If the preceptor harvested the plants, he would only take the leaves…. Look, even the roots are gone!! I've been tending medicinal plants for my entire life, and I've never seen a field as empty as this! It couldn't be cleaner if it was licked clean by dogs!! And look over here! Dammit… the medicinal soil levels here are lower!!"

"That's nothing. Look at this, guys. When I blinked just now, the medicinal plant I was holding in my hand… vanished!!" Soon, the commotion spread to the city itself.

By that time, Bai Xiaochun had already left Cloudsea Prefecture, and was closing in on the rendezvous spot.

"I wish I'd had more time. What a pity I had to leave all those bricks behind. They weren't exactly spirit stones, but they had a lot of spiritual energy in them. And what about the floor tiles? And the building foundations…." Shaking his head, he flew along until he saw a sea that was vastly more majestic than the former Heavenspan Sea!

Waves rolled and crashed on its surface, creating a sound like thunder from the highest heavens.

Compared to this sea, the Heavenspan Sea was more like a lake.

Far, far off in the distance, just off the shore, there was a huge mountain that seemed to hold command over the waters around it. Visible on the surface of that mountain were words!

Eternal Sea!

This was the appointed rendezvous location with the Giant Ghost King. After sending his divine sense out and ensuring there was no danger, Bai Xiaochun flew up to the top of the mountain.

"The Giant Ghost King should be coming along any moment now." Sitting down cross-legged, he sat there listening to the crash of the waves and looking off in the direction of Crosspeak Prefecture. After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he breathed a sigh of relief as he caught sight of the Giant Ghost King heading toward him.

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Chapter 1041: Another Encounter With Ghostmother!

After confirming that the Giant Ghost King was unharmed, Bai Xiaochun rose to his feet and prepared to offer greetings. But before any greetings left his mouth, he unexpectedly vanished!

As for the Giant Ghost King, he was feeling very proud of how smoothly everything had gone, and was especially pleased with how he had killed the preceptor of Crosspeak Prefecture without anyone noticing. "Xiaochun, this is–"

Before he could finish speaking, Bai Xiaochun materialized right next to him and slashed out with his hand. The Giant Ghost King immediately shot forward with a burst of speed, performing a double-handed incantation gesture that summoned a black mouth of smoke that shot into the air behind him.

Even as rumbling sounds echoed out, the Giant Ghost King spun in place to find a child-sized little ghost behind him that had just been slashed into two pieces.

The green-skinned ghost let out a shriek of pain, and then the two halves of its body faded away into nothing.

At that point, an unsightly expression appeared on the Giant Ghost King's face.

"Dammit! That Crosspeak Prefecture demigod secretly hit me with some ghost magic!"

"No." Bai Xiaochun said, his expression somber. "Not the Crosspeak Prefecture demigod!" The Giant Ghost King followed his gaze to a point off in the distance, whereupon his expression flickered. Approaching rapidly was a massive tempest made of innumerable evil ghosts, a tempest that raged with wildly destructive power.

Atop the tempest of ghosts was a huge bone lizard that seemed to fill half the sky. It was vicious and cruel, and on top of its head was a crest that looked like a galleon!!

Two flags flew on the bone galleon, upon which vicious ghost faces could be seen. Their aura combined with the aura of the galleon and the lizard created a ghost qi that filled all heaven and earth!

Seven demigods stood on the deck of the bone galleon, all of whom looked with icy yet excited eyes at Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King!

However, what had captured Bai Xiaochun's attention was not the demigods, but rather, someone else who stood on the deck. It was a beautiful young woman who seemed like a paragon entity within heaven and earth!

She had an attractive figure, fair skin, and delicate features. Her phoenix-like eyes sparkled with extraordinary brightness, making her seem like the awe-inspiring type of person that no one would ever dare to offend.

She wore an ornate orange court gown that made her look particularly dazzling. Her long, slender fingers and milky arms made her incredibly entrancing to anyone who could see her. As the bone lizard sped through the air, her orange gown fluttered in the wind, especially the wide, violet-embroidered sleeves.

Her gown was embroidered with something that looked like a black underworld city, featuring an enormous gate, out of which flowed an endless stream of howling evil ghosts.

"Ghostmother!!" the Giant Ghost King said with a gasp. Although he had never seen the true Ghostmother, he had seen Gongsun Wan'er, and considering how ghostly and sinister this young woman seemed, and the familiar aura, it only took him a moment to guess who she was.

She was none other than Ghostmother!

"Impossible! How could she have possibly detected our actions so quickly!?!? Did she just happen to be in the area?!" The Giant Ghost King was already starting to devolve into a panic. After all, his previous encounter with Gongsun Wan'er in the Wildlands had left a deep impression on him.

"It's not a coincidence…." Bai Xiaochun said, his eyes shining with dangerous light as he stared at the incoming bone lizard.

"She figured out some time ago that we were hiding here." After all, both he and the Giant Ghost King were strangers to the Eternal Lands, and although they had been very careful, it was no surprise that someone had been able to track them down.

"If she knew, then why weren't the demigods in the local prefectures lying in wait for us to–" The Giant Ghost King was very intelligent, and a profound schemer. Therefore, before he even finished giving voice to his question, he came up with the answer, and it caused an unsightly expression to appear on his face.

"She knows more about the Heavenspan Realm than anyone else in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty," Bai Xiaochun said. "It's only natural for her to be a bit greedy because of that."

It wasn't difficult to guess at Ghostmother's plan. She was confident in being able to handle Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King, and hoped to capture and consume them.

It caused Bai Xiaochun's heart to sink, and nervousness to prickle at the back of his mind. But it was an unavoidable fight, and he had one advantage: he could pick the battlefield.

Eyes flashing, he backed up rapidly, joined by the Giant Ghost King. Both of them felt their battle spirit rising, and clearly, both were thinking the same thing. The battle would be best fought… not on the third immortal domain, but out on the Eternal Sea!

In addition, they would fight and flee at the same time. That would be the best way to prevent reinforcements from arriving, and would increase their chances of avoiding defeat.

Even as Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King fled, Ghostmother's eyes flashed with bright light, and she waved her finger.

In response, the seven demigod experts flew off the deck of the bone galleon, becoming beams of bright light that shot forward with incredible speed. They were like sharp swords that could slice through any obstacles as they headed directly toward Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King!

"Bai Xiaochun…." Ghostmother said, her eyes radiating determination. Despite having taken Hou Xiaomei as an apprentice, and also having had dealings with Bai Xiaochun, as soon as she was assigned to oversee the third immortal domain last month, she had made her decision.

She was the only person from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty to have ever entered the Heavenspan Realm, and then come back out alive. Because of that, and the fact that she was in the early Celestial Realm, the Vile-Emperor valued her highly. In fact, that was why he had assigned her with the task of overseeing the manhunt for Heavenspan cultivators!

Although she had only arrived in the third immortal domain recently, that was because, for the previous better part of a year, she had been in the first and second immortal domains. Because of her familiarity with the aura of Heavenspan cultivators, she had developed a technique to hunt them down that only she could employ.

And the entire time, she had been trying to locate Bai Xiaochun!

Her experiences in the Heavenspan Realm, as well as her cooperation with the gravekeeper, ensured that she knew just about everything about Bai Xiaochun!

All of that led her to the conclusion that Bai Xiaochun… was a rarity among rarities!

In the end, not even the Vile-Emperor could possibly know as much about Bai Xiaochun as Ghostmother.

Therefore, whether it was the secrets of spirit enhancement that she had extracted from the blood of Heavenspan cultivators, or the authority conferred upon her by the Vile-Emperor, she had decided to focus the majority of her search efforts on locating Bai Xiaochun.

When she finally confirmed his general whereabouts several days ago, she had refrained from mobilizing the prefectural forces that she had suddenly taken over from Celestial Virūpākṣa. Instead, she headed in his direction with her own personal subordinates, in the hopes of capturing him secretly.

How could she have ever guessed that, in the few days it would take her to reach him, Bai Xiaochun would do something so daring!?

The death of a demigod was not some insignificant matter. As a celestial, Ghostmother could theoretically sweep the matter under the rug, but it wouldn't be easy. But then there was the matter of the medicinal plant farms in Cloudsea Prefecture's capital city. The dramatic theft of those resources was something that affected the prefecture as a whole. Therefore, the matter had instantly turned into a big headache.

Most important of all was the fact that…. the tribute to the Vile-Emperor had been stolen. Nothing like that had even happened before, and there was no way Ghostmother could hide the news. She knew that, as of this point, consuming Bai Xiaochun wasn't an option. She had originally had the initiative, but had now lost it, and therefore, it filled her heart with extreme anger!

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Chapter 1042: Fierce Battle With Ghostmother

Numerous thoughts raced through Ghostmother's mind as the bone lizard sped through the sky toward Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King.

From a distance, it was possible to see the fearsome energy of the bone lizard distorting the air around it as it moved.

In the Heavenspan Realm, a mighty bone lizard like this could cause mountains to crumble and the land to shatter with its passing. But these were the Eternal Immortal Domains, and therefore, the mighty energy fluctuations did little to the surrounding landscape, much less the roiling Eternal Sea.

Compared to the huge lizard, Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King were like tiny bugs.

As the intense energy of the lizard got closer and closer, the Giant Ghost King's heart began to race as he sensed his cultivation base beginning to grow unstable.

"What kind of ship is that?!?!" he said, his scalp tingling in shock. At that point, Bai Xiaochun waved his hand, causing a moon-shaped flash of light to emerge from his bag of holding. It was his moonflower, the same one which had appeared during his fight with Daoist Heavenspan.

After spending the better part of the past year in recovery, the moonflower was mostly back to normal. Furthermore, the aura of its home, and the familiar spiritual energy of heaven and earth here, ensured that it was bursting with excitement. Directed by Bai Xiaochun, the moonflower shot toward the Giant Ghost King and coiled protectively around him, defending him against the pressure from the bone galleon to some degree.

When the Giant Ghost King saw the moonflower, his eyes went wide, especially considering that it emanated fluctuations equivalent to the great circle of the Demigod Realm.

"What the hell is that…? Fudge, the great circle of the Demigod Realm?! It's… it's stronger than me!!"

The added boost from the moonflower helped the Giant Ghost King speed up, and together with Bai Xiaochun, he flew deeper into the Eternal Sea.

As the two of them sped along, black flames suddenly rose up in the eyes of the bone lizard that made it seem intelligent to a certain degree. At the same time, Ghostmother performed an incantation gesture, causing the lizard's mouth to open and emit a howl in Bai Xiaochun's direction.

Along with the howl came black flames that also bore down on Bai Xiaochun!

It was a raging sea of fire, its heat so intense that it seemed it could melt anything that got in its way!

Bai Xiaochun's expression flickered at the terrifying power he sensed in the sea of flames. Without any hesitation, he spun, clenched his hand into a fist, and unleashed a punch!

The power of his fleshly body erupted, and numerous shockwaves rolled out as his fist made contact with the sea of flames.

A deafening boom filled the air as the sea of flames suddenly lurched to a halt as surely as if it were a person who had been grabbed by the throat!

Ghostmother snorted coldly, sending another command to the bone lizard. Another howl erupted from its mouth, accompanied by a second sea of flames. However, this one was vastly more powerful than the last, and it immediately destroyed the tempest that had been created by Bai Xiaochun's fist strike. Then, it coalesced into the shape of an enormous, fiery ghost face, which lunged forward ravenously.

It was at this point that the seven demigod cultivators closed in like seven shooting stars. In the blink of an eye, they were right on top of Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King.

Three of them performed incantation gestures to summon huge, flaming birds that let out ear-piercing shrieks. The birds merged with the demigods, giving them additional speed that they used to attack the Giant Ghost King.

An unsightly expression could be seen on the Giant Ghost King's face as he fell back and waved his hand, sending a mist of ghosts out to defend himself. At the same time, the moonflower held nothing back to aid him.

Already, a major battle was underway right over the Eternal Sea!

As the fiery ghost face closed in, Bai Xiaochun used the power of the Live Forever Codex to fuel his Cloud Lightning Forefather Transformation. Roaring, he transformed to a height of more than 300 meters. Looking like the forefather of all humanity, the original Arch-Ancestor, he leaped forward, throwing his arms out wide as he slammed into the ghost face.

The ghost face howled in response, and yet, was powerless to defend itself, and shattered into innumerable black sparks that fell down to the Eternal Sea below.

"No wonder the gravekeeper picked him," Ghostmother thought, looking down coldly at Bai Xiaochun. "And he was able to defeat Daoist Heavenspan too. He must have plenty of trump cards at his disposal!" Instead of impulsively rushing into the fighting herself, she waited on the deck of the bone galleon.

During the months in which she had been hunting down Heavenspan cultivators, she had collected quite a few clues that gave her a fairly good understanding of the final, spectacular battle between Bai Xiaochun and Daoist Heavenspan.

She was still completely and utterly confident that, since she was in the early Celestial Realm, she was superior to Bai Xiaochun. And yet, she still maintained caution. Her bone lizard was the envy of the other celestials in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, and therefore, she relied on it to carry out the initial attack on Bai Xiaochun.

Chuckling coldly, she performed another incantation gesture, causing yet another black sea of flames to erupt out. Within it was a nine-meter column of light that shot directly toward Bai Xiaochun.

And yet, things weren't over yet. Ghostmother now performed an incantation gesture with her left hand, causing a magical symbol to appear there. At that point, the two ghost flags on the deck of the battleship began to wave, and the ghost faces emerged, joining the sea of flames in the attack.

Bai Xiaochun's expression was unsightly to the extreme. He had known all along that Ghostmother would not be easy to deal with. Her bone lizard and its seas of flame contained terrifying destructive power, and only three bursts of it had already filled the area with a deadly miasma.

Although Bai Xiaochun had shocking powers of regeneration, the way the miasma constantly ate away at him caused him to frown.

Then there was the beam of light, which he could instantly tell was too powerful for him to face directly.

And last were the two ghost faces. Although they didn't match up to the laughing-crying ghost face, they still radiated the power of the quasi-celestial level, and were obviously very intelligent.

"Ghostmother must already know about my fight with Daoist Heavenspan. That's why she's being so careful. She wants me to use my trump cards early on…. However, I can't do that this close to the borders of the Vile-Emperor Dynasty…." Gritting his teeth, he faced the beam of light, the sea of flames, and the ghost face, and clenched his hand into a fist. Instantly, a black vortex sprang up around it.

Then, rumbling sounds echoed out as a shadowy emperor appeared, radiating domineering energy left and right!

"I've never fought a true celestial before. Let's see how far away I actually am from the Mahayana Realm!" His eyes were completely bloodshot as wild energy fluctuations erupted from his fist!

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Chapter 1043: Stupefying Battleship

On the bone galleon, Ghostmother's phoenix-like eyes narrowed. Despite having been in the Heavenspan Realm for many years, she had been stuck in the Deadmire for most of that time. Furthermore, Bai Xiaochun had progressed significantly since the last time she had encountered him, on the eve of her departure.

Therefore, she didn't have a thorough understanding of all of his divine abilities and magical techniques. Nor was she aware of all of his trump cards. Because of that, she wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating him. Although she didn't quite view him as being on the same level as herself, she did think of him as being stronger than Daoist Heavenspan.

As soon as she saw the vortex springing up around his hand, her eyes flashed.

At the same time, a howl erupted from the mouth of Bai Xiaochun's Forefather Transformation form. Stepping forward, he gathered the power of the black vortex… and punched out toward the incoming beam of light!

It was a quintuple-power Undying Emperor's Fist!!

Massive rumbling sounds filled heaven and earth as the shadowy emperor also punched out. The two fists overlapped, and then mountain-toppling, sea-draining power smashed into the black beam of light!

A huge boom rang out as the black beam of light struggle to fight back, but then shattered. Then, Bai Xiaochun's Undying Emperor's Fist went on to hit the sea of flames.

It was like a raging dragon had sliced through the middle of the fire, cutting the sea of flames into two halves. Then, the fist strike continued on toward the ghost faces!

By that point, though, it was getting weaker. And given how extraordinary the ghost faces were, when they collided, the Undying Emperor's Fist was vanquished.

And yet, Bai Xiaochun's expression didn't even flicker in response, although he was panting for breath.

"If quintuple won't work, then I'll double it! Decuple power!!"

An even more shocking pulse of fleshly body power erupted out, becoming a wildly destructive windstorm that slammed into the two ghost faces.

It was at this point that Ghostmother's expression flickered. The power of Bai Xiaochun's decuple-power Undying Emperor's Fist was something that could be considered rare even among the divine abilities of the Eternal Lands.

The two ghost faces were completely shaken, and had no choice other than to twist to the side to try to avoid the blow.

With the two ghost faces out of the way, Bai Xiaochun was now facing the huge bone lizard. Without any hesitation, he used his Undying Hex, becoming a series of afterimages that appeared right above the bone galleon a moment later. Making eye contact with Ghostmother, Bai Xiaochun clenched his right hand into a fist, and then punched at her with another decuple-power Undying Emperor's Fist!

As for Ghostmother, although she was clearly shocked, there was a bit of a scornful look in her eyes.

Even as Bai Xiaochun's fist strike closed in, a powerful blood qi sprang up around the bone lizard, which rapidly formed into a defensive shield.

It wasn't a spell formation, but rather a divine ability connected to the bone galleon, and it formed just in time to meet Bai Xiaochun's incoming fist strike.

And although a massive boom echoed out, the shield did not fall. Furthermore, a significant backlash attack hit Bai Xiaochun, causing his face to fall.

Unlike the beam of light or the sea of flames, this blood mist shield was powerful in defensive strength. In fact, it seemed to be on a completely different level. Cracking sounds rang out inside of Bai Xiaochun as he was thrown backwards, his five yin organs in chaos to the point where he felt like he might explode.

"How arrogant!" Ghostmother said scornfully. Waving her hand, she summoned two enormous ghost hands, which lunged toward Bai Xiaochun as if to grab him.

Simultaneously, the bone lizard spat out another sea of fire, cutting off any path of escape.

As all of this happened, Bai Xiaochun's powers of regeneration kicked in, and his backlash injuries began to disappear. Then he burst into motion, piercing through the sea of flames and punching out toward the ghost hands.

Within moments, he was completely back to normal, provoking a slight gasp from Ghostmother.

"Such powers of regeneration!!!" As of this moment, she finally understood how it was possible that Daoist Heavenspan had been defeated.

"That is his true secret weapon! But what other trump cards does he have?!" By now, Ghostmother's heart burned with true greed.

Based on their very short interchange, Bai Xiaochun already understood a lot more about the battleship than before. "Now that's a battleship!" he thought. "It's actually stronger than Ghostmother herself…. Especially its defenses. Absolutely terrifying! And it's so fast…." By now, he was relatively certain that even a blow from the Greatsword of the North wouldn't do much to this ship.

Nor would Ghostmother give him the time to prepare to do so….

"Ghostmother has true celestial battle prowess, but not enough to make her a major problem for me!" Having reached this conclusion, he decided that at the moment, the true threat was not Ghostmother, but rather… the battleship.

Meanwhile, Ghostmother took a deep breath. The greed in her eyes hadn't faded a bit; performing an incantation gesture, she waved her finger, causing screams to erupt from the two ghost faces that had just evaded Bai Xiaochun moments ago. Driven by the torment of the restrictive spells inside of them, they turned and headed toward Bai Xiaochun again.

At the same time, the battleship began to vibrate, causing the air around it to distort. Apparently, it was building up power to unleash one massive attack.

Bai Xiaochun's eyes flickered with the realization that he couldn't fight this battleship. However, it wouldn't necessarily be impossible to lock it down temporarily. Completely ignoring the two ghost faces, he unleashed his frigid domain and summoned nine frigid clones, which he sent toward the ghost faces, not in the hopes of defeating them, but just delaying them.

Then he howled, unleashing another Undying Emperor's Fist with decuple power, directly toward the bone galleon itself!

As the fist shot out, a massive vortex appeared!

He didn't pause for even a moment. Relying on the regenerative powers of his Undying Blood, he unleashed a second fist strike, then a third and a fourth!

Boom, boom, boom! Relentless attacks!

And the vortexes only continued to grow stronger!

Ghostmother's face fell as, in the space of a few short breaths of time, Bai Xiaochun unleashed… ten decuple-power Undying Emperor's Fists!

Even with his powers of regeneration, it was a level of wastage so intense that it created something like a black hole of spiritual energy, which almost instantly drained everything in a wide area. All of a sudden, the bone battleship was deprived of its fuel source, and was incapable of moving.

Although it was only temporary, and would last no more than ten breaths of time, that was plenty of time for Bai Xiaochun to work with. Without pausing, he flew back toward the Giant Ghost King, who despite having the moonflower to help him, was being battered soundly by the seven other demigods. Before any of the demigods could react, Bai Xiaochun reached out and clamped his hand down onto the head of the one nearest him.

He moved so quickly that the man had no chance to dodge or evade. Then, terrifying might erupted from his hand, filling the demigod with a sensation of deadly crisis. Howling, he immediately resorted to self-detonation to try to block Bai Xiaochun.

As his nascent divinity attempted to flee, the moonflower shot out and gobbled it up!

At the same time, Bai Xiaochun grabbed the Giant Ghost King and rocketed off into the distance.

In the blink of an eye, he was far, far away. Only six demigods remained on the battlefield, their scalps tingling in fear at the way Bai Xiaochun had just attacked. For the moment, none of them seemed willing to chase after him.

In their moment of hesitation, the bone battleship erupted with a mist of blood. No longer affected by what Bai Xiaochun had just done, the ship sprang into motion again.

As the bone lizard broke free, Ghostmother's expression flickered grimly, and yet at the same time, with greed. Pointing off into the distance, she said, "Catch him! Or die trying!"

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Chapter 1044: Do Something Momentous!!

Bai Xiaochun was already 5,000 kilometers away, his heart pounding. He could sense that the vortex he had created was gone, which meant that the battleship was likely closing in at top speed.

"Complete and utter bullying!!" the Giant Ghost King grumbled. His face was pale, and he looked quite bedraggled. Without the help of the moonflower just now, he would have suffered a bitter defeat at the hands of the other demigods. "If I had the Grand Heavenmaster and the other heavenly kings to back me up, we five could definitely have stood up to them!"

The Giant Ghost King was actually feeling quite embarrassed by how the fight had played out.

"It's a good thing we hatched our plan and left that town," Bai Xiaochun said. "If we had been caught by Ghostmother there, we would have been like fish in a barrel." At the moment, he was feeling very irritated. Considering the look of wild ambition he had seen in Ghostmother's eyes, he was sure that she would chase him down to the bitter end.

If he were in the Heavenspan Realm, things would have been a bit easier, with plenty of options and places to go to remain safe. But in the Eternal Lands, and on the border of the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, it was too dangerous to allow any delays to occur.

"If only I could get Ghostmother off of that battleship," he thought with a sigh. Unfortunately, Ghostmother was being very careful, and hadn't made any slipups. Right now, he had no options. Sending his divine sense out, he scanned the Eternal Sea, and yet saw nothing but endless water, with no places to hole up.

As Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King anxiously tried to come up with a plan, massive rumbling sounds could be heard coming from the bone lizard behind them.

When the howls of the evil ghosts that made up the black cloud reached Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King, their pupils constricted.

A moment ago, the bone lizard had used the blood mist to gain an additional burst of speed that sent it rocketing forward even faster than before.

Bai Xiaochun only had the time to flick his sleeve to separate himself and the Giant Ghost King, then turn to face the bone lizard.

Cracking sounds could be heard as rifts opened up everywhere. However, these were the Eternal Lands, and therefore, the rifts healed almost immediately.

Meanwhile, a sea of flames had erupted out of the mouth of the bone lizard, sending intense heat out in all directions.

Yet again, the black beam of light shot out, filled with deadly power.

The two ghost faces were also present, and were fanning out as if to block Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King's path.

It was a moment of deadly crisis, and there was no time to contemplate the situation. Bai Xiaochun immediately threw his hands out.

"Waterswamp!"

Water vapor roiled out, turning the world hazy. Even as Ghostmother's eyes narrowed up on the battleship, Bai Xiaochun threw his arms down.

"Kingdom!!"

Roar!

Heaven and earth trembled as a beastly howl filled the air that seemed to come from countless years in the past. As it echoed out, a huge black landmass rose up from within the watery swamp!

Blood scales and bloodshot eyes could be seen, along with a fishy odor as… a gigantic crocodilian head appeared!

By the time the lower jaw was visible, the demigods present were so stunned that their jaws dropped.

As for the bone lizard, it was huge, but compared to this crocodilian creature, it actually looked insignificant.

"What is that?!?!" That was what all the demigods were thinking as they rushed backward in retreat. Meanwhile, the huge crocodilian mouth opened… and snapped toward the bone lizard.

The Giant Ghost King knew Bai Xiaochun well, but when he saw this, he was so shaken his eyes nearly popped out of his skull.

"Is that really a divine ability?" he thought, his heart pounding with fear. He also backed up, doing everything in his power to get as far away as he could. Bai Xiaochun did the same thing, not even waiting to see what would happen behind him as he fled with the Giant Ghost King.

The bone lizard wanted to give chase, but it was too late as the huge crocodilian mouth snapped down onto it. From a distance, it almost looked like the crocodilian creature had risen up out of the Eternal Sea and swallowed the lizard!

The battleship seemed powerless to fight back. Not even the blood mist shield could help it to flee out of the closing crocodilian mouth.

The enemy demigods were terrified to find that they couldn't get out of the affected area; the mouth slammed shut, causing intense rumbling sounds to fill the air. Then, the crocodilian creature sank back down, making it seem almost like it was going down into the waters of the Eternal Sea.

When the crocodilian head disappeared, the watery swamp faded away. After about ten seconds passed, the rumbling sounds were gone.

Then, a rift broke open, and the bone lizard shot out, howling the entire way.

It was visibly damaged! Although the Waterswamp Kingdom hadn't destroyed it, it had inflicted serious injuries! Apparently, the Waterswamp Kingdom was even stronger when unleashed within the Eternal Lands!

Although Ghostmother looked slightly anxious, her eyes glowed with excitement.

"So, I finally got you to pull out a true trump card! And don't you dare think that using it on me a second time will have the same results!" She chuckled, a sound filled with both avarice and anticipation.

Bai Xiaochun was even stronger than she had hoped, and now that he had revealed his true trump card, she felt confident enough to attack him directly!

Smiling a radiant smile, she turned the battleship in his direction and began to chase him down!

She only had three demigods left, but was confident that if she could get her hands on Bai Xiaochun, it would all be worth it!

"You're mine, Bai Xiaochun, all mine!"

Ghostmother licked her lips slowly, a sight that, if anyone could see it who didn't know the current circumstances, would have jumped to very different conclusions about what was going on….

Several thousand kilometers away, Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King were fleeing across the Eternal Sea. Grim expressions covered their faces, and neither was saying much. As for the Giant Ghost King, bitterness and unease filled his heart. The terrifying strength of Ghostmother had already sapped his hope of reaching the Saint-Emperor Dynasty.

"What do we do?" he murmured inwardly. "We have to think of something?!" Of course, he hadn't noticed that a strange light that had begun to glitter in Bai Xiaochun's eyes.

Bai Xiaochun simply wasn't willing to give up. He was now confident that if it weren't for the bone galleon, even a celestial like Ghostmother wouldn't be able to kill him. Ghostmother's only strength lay in that battleship.

"I wonder how Hou Xiaomei is doing…?" he thought. After all, Ghostmother had brought Hou Xiaomei and Big Fatty Zhang with her to the Eternal Lands, and yet, he hadn't seen any hint that they were currently with her. Presumably, Ghostmother would remain tight-lipped if he tried to get any information about them from her.

"You know… two measly demigods is not a very good blood tribute…. We need to do something far more shocking!" Expression flickering, and eyes turning more bloodshot, he began to build on an idea he had just come up with moments before.

After some more thought, he turned and grabbed the Giant Ghost King's shoulder.

"Hey, old pal. What do you think… about kidnapping Ghostmother?! What kind of reward do you think the Saint-Emperor would give us for her!?"

The Giant Ghost King had just been thinking about ways to escape the situation when Bai Xiaochun grabbed him. When he looked over and saw the wild look in Bai Xiaochun's eyes, and heard his suggestion, he was completely taken aback.

"Kidnap Ghostmother?" Something about the whole situation seemed very familiar, but there was no time to think about that now. The mere idea left the Giant Ghost King feeling stunned. After all, there were a total of six celestials in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, all of whom were shocking figures. If one were to be kidnapped, it would send shockwaves through all of the Eternal Lands. That would be a blood tribute that defied the imaginations of everyone.

"We shouldn't do anything impulsive, Xiaochun…." he began. After all, the two of them were currently fleeing from certain death. To the Giant Ghost King, Bai Xiaochun's suggestion seemed almost ludicrous.

"Come on! Yes? Or No?" Bai Xiaochun said, glaring. If the Giant Ghost King had immediately agreed, he might have hesitated. After all, the idea really was a bit crazy.

But when he saw how nervous the Giant Ghost King was, he felt more than a little annoyed.

Forehead veins bulging, he gritted his teeth and said, "Giant Ghost, old pal, didn't you say you wanted to do something momentous? What could be better than kidnapping a celestial? You want big? If we do that, it'll shake all of the Eternal Lands!"

The Giant Ghost King's heart began to pound as he thought, "Why not kidnap an archaean then…?" But then he suddenly realized why the look in Bai Xiaochun's eyes seemed so familiar…. "Fudge! That's what he looked like… when he kidnapped me! He's a kidnapping expert!"

A wry smile broke out on the Giant Ghost King face. Then he gritted his teeth and said, "Alright, let's do it! How do we pull it off?!"

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Chapter 1045: Miserable Ghost Face

Bai Xiaochun's face was a bit flushed, and his heart was pounding. The realization that he was considering kidnapping a celestial… confirmed that he had changed a lot from his old self.

After all, this was a true celestial, not a quasi-celestial like Daoist Heavenspan. This was Ghostmother, a Mahayana Realm expert with an astounding bone galleon at her command.

"Fudge! What's there to be scared of? I'm the Arch-Ancestor, a quasi-celestial with the Greatsword of the North. Besides, when I was in Core Formation, I kidnapped a demigod. When I was a deva, I smacked Daoist Heavenspan across the side of the face. This wimpy Ghostmother… should be easy to kidnap!"

It all seemed completely crazy, and yet that only served to get Bai Xiaochun's heart racing in excitement.

It really was just like that time all those years ago in the Wildlands when he and the little turtle had kidnapped the Giant Ghost King. It was the exact same feeling, except stronger! Taking a deep breath, he turned to look at the Giant Ghost King, his eyes crimson.

"Don't worry, Giant Ghost, old pal," he said through gritted teeth, "I have a lot of experience kidnapping people."

The Giant Ghost King's eyes were just as bloodshot, and to be honest, he wasn't very happy about what Bai Xiaochun had just said, particularly the 'have a lot of experience' line…. Expression unsightly, he barked, "What, you think I'm scared of some old shrew like Ghostmother?"

Ignoring him, Bai Xiaochun stroked his chin, eyes glittering as countless ideas raced through his mind, especially thoughts about what had worked so well when he had kidnapped the Giant Ghost King all those years ago….

Lowering his voice, he said, "Based on my kidnapping experience, I think the best thing to do is get it all done in one shot. Sort of like how I did with you. Strike like lightning!" He was so wrapped up in his ideas that he didn't notice how the Giant Ghost King was clearly sinking into a very angry mood.

"Hit the battleship hard, get inside, grab Ghostmother, and then get out of there. Either that… or get Ghostmother to come out of the galleon…. Just like when I dragged you out of the spell formation in that big stone turtle." The Giant Ghost King snorted coldly as he thought back to what it had been like being kidnapped. Every time such memories floated up into his mind, he felt the impulse to beat the crap out of Bai Xiaochun. Right now was no exception. However, the differences in their cultivation bases ensured that all he did was sigh.

"Once she's off of that bone galleon, I can distract her temporarily. And that's where you'll come in, Giant Ghost, old pal. You see, we're not just going to kidnap Ghostmother, we're going to steal her bone galleon! And all her magical items too! If we're going to do something monumental, then monumental it's gonna be!" With that, he went on to explain the plan in detail, especially certain critical aspects that required particular attention.

As the Giant Ghost King listened, his eyes got wider and wider, and he suddenly realized how unlucky Ghostmother was to have encountered Bai Xiaochun….

At the same, hearing the plan laid out eased a bit of his nervousness. Although it wasn't a perfect plan, it seemed highly likely that it would work.

Before long, black mist filled the sky behind them, and the bone lizard appeared, racing toward them from off in the distance.

Bai Xiaochun gritted his teeth as the moment of truth arrived. When it came to kidnapping Ghostmother, he knew that his battle prowess was a problem. Therefore, as the bone lizard approached, he smacked his bag of holding to make contact with the Greatsword of the North. Then he sent his thoughts inside to try to contact the Frigid Matriarch.

A moment later, his eyes lit up. Although the Frigid Matriarch wasn't responding, he sensed a reaction from the laughing-crying ghost face.

Suddenly, blue light flashed inside of his bag of holding as the sealed laughing-crying ghost face was released.

Bai Xiaochun had left the laughing-crying ghost face inside of the world of the sword, and had never given him much thought later. However, after the Frigid Matriarch became the spirit automaton, she simply couldn't do nothing about the old ghost that had competed with her to become the spirit automaton. She didn't torment him endlessly, but did enslave him.

Once the ghost face was out in the open, it was clear that he had changed. There was no trace of a smile on his face, only a frown. However, as soon as he came into contact with the aura of the Eternal Lands, he began to recover from his previously weakened state.

"This… this…." he stammered excitedly, then turned and noticed Bai Xiaochun.

He immediately shivered as he recalled the dark memories of what Bai Xiaochun had done to him. Then he noticed the bone lizard closing in.

"Heavens! Everybody's here…." Never could the ghost face have imagined that, right upon being released, he would run into so many familiar faces. His initial instinct was to run, but before he could, Bai Xiaochun glared at him.

"Didn't you say that you're a quasi-archaean? With a cultivation base like that, what are you scared of?" He emphasized his words with a cold snort that resonated with the enslavement seal that had been placed onto the ghost face by the Greatsword of the North. Before the ghost face could even react, he spun in place and then shot toward the bone lizard.

"Noooo!! I haven't fully recovered yet! And I was exaggerating back then…. When the Vile-Emperor captured me, I was a quasi-archaean, but then he refined my soul, and Ghostmother imprisoned me. And later, Daoist Heavenspan ripped a part of me away! I'm not a quasi-archaean anymore! I'm sorry for everything. I can't do this. Aiiieee…." Unfortunately for the ghost face, he couldn't control himself at all, and immediately closed in on the bone lizard.

Meanwhile, the Giant Ghost King let out a shout as he became a bright beam of light that also charged toward the bone lizard.

The moonflower joined him, radiating the fluctuations of the great circle of the Demigod Realm, as well as boundless ferocity.

Then Bai Xiaochun gritted his teeth, drawing upon fleshly body power that surpassed the quasi-celestial level!

When Ghostmother saw the sudden, coordinated attack, she frowned. She had already seen the Giant Ghost King and the moonflower fighting earlier, but was very surprised to see the laughing-crying ghost face.

"I can't believe Bai Xiaochun has that old ghost working for him!" Eyes narrowing, she performed a double-handed incantation gesture, causing a sea of flames to erupt from the lizard's mouth.

The laughing-crying ghost face was the first to meet the sea of flames. He seemed to be on the verge of weeping as he howled, forced to go all out. Opening his mouth, he sent out an evil wind that slammed into the fire and cut it completely in half.

This ghost had once existed as the primary flag on the bone lizard battleship, and therefore had a good understanding of it. After slashing the sea of flames in two, he found himself facing the black beam of light. Roaring, he slammed into it, consuming the light in one huge gulp. Meanwhile, the other two ghost faces were so scared that they struggled against Ghostmother's control to back up.

Without anything blocking the way, the laughing-crying ghost face and Bai Xiaochun appeared right above the main deck of the bone galleon. As for the ghost face, he had no control of himself, and lunged forward to slam into the ship.

Chuckling coldly, Ghostmother said, "So, that old ghost is another of your trump cards!"

Waving her hand, she summoned the crimson defensive mist, which could block all divine abilities launched by Bai Xiaochun and his allies.

The laughing-crying ghost face hit the crimson mist and suffered a significant backlash attack that sent him flying backward, screaming. Next up was the moonflower!

A second boom rang out as cracks spread out on the moonflower's stalk! Howling, the Giant Ghost King put everything on the line to transform into a giant ghost that head-butted the shield.

After sustaining three blows one after the other, the blood mist was beginning to weaken, which was exactly when Bai Xiaochun unleashed his Undying Emperor's Fist.

A thunderous boom rang out as the blood mist sent out another backlash attack. However, it was not very strong, considering the repeated attacks it had just taken.

Blood oozing out of the corners of his mouth, Bai Xiaochun extended his right hand to once again summon the Greatsword of the North!

The blue sword radiated the aura of a world treasure as… he slashed it into the blood mist!!

Ghostmother gasped, and a strange light appeared in her eyes. She had been waiting for some time for Bai Xiaochun to use the Greatsword of the North; in the last several months, she had heard many stories about it, and had come to a basic understanding of what it was.

"So, you've finally pulled out that sword!" Chuckling, she performed a double-handed incantation gesture and then shoved both hands down toward the bone galleon!

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Chapter 1046: Sealing Mark

All of this takes a bit of time to describe, but actually happened in only a split second. Howling, Bai Xiaochun slashed the enormous Greatsword of the North down toward the bone galleon!

Blinding blue light shone out in shocking fashion as the aura of a world treasure shook everything. The sky went dim, and massive pressure weighed down. Within the massive eruption of blue light, it was possible to see a projection of the landmass that was the northern Heavenspan region!

Massive rumbling sounds could be heard as the sword made contact with the blood mist which, because of its weakened state, was incapable of holding firm.

As the blood mist shield exploded with a huge bang, the Greatsword of the North continued on unhindered to slash into the battleship!

However, it was also in that moment that Ghostmother's hands hit the surface of the ship! The galleon shuddered as all of the bones which made it up turned crimson. Blood-red mist then began to pour out of it, which then settled onto the bone lizard… in the form of flesh!

The bone lizard howled as flesh began to build up on it. In the blink of an eye, it was no longer made from bones, but rather, flesh and blood!!

Even the battleship was covered with flesh, as well as a blood membrane that protected it like a physical shield. Both the lizard and the battleship began to thrum with shocking, unparalleled levels of energy that… blocked the Greatsword of the North!

A deafening boom exploded out because of the backlash, and blood sprayed out of Bai Xiaochun's mouth. The Greatsword of the North was flung away, and he along with it, seriously injured, and unable to stop coughing up blood.

The Giant Ghost King was also hit with a backlash, and was severely hurt as he tumbled backward, coughing up blood.

The moonflower and the laughing-crying ghost face similarly retreated, also clearly in bad shape.

"Dammit! Dammit!!" wailed the ghost, whose form had already dissipated by more than half. "The Vile-Emperor personally upgraded this battleship for Ghostmother. How could we possibly do anything to it?"

However, the combined attack of Bai Xiaochun and his allies was not something the lizard could escape unscathed. Howling, it lunged backward by 3,000 meters, during which time a gaping wound opened up on its head. Blood poured out of the huge wound, and yet despite that, the blood membrane had not been penetrated!

On the other side of the membrane, Ghostmother looked out with shining eyes. Bai Xiaochun and his team had put everything on the line, and yet were now seriously injured. Bai Xiaochun had even pulled out his Greatsword of the North, and yet, it had done no good.

"Time's running out," Ghostmother murmured to herself. "Any more delays could result in unexpected developments….

"Bai Xiaochun has most likely gone through all of his trump cards. Even if he has a few more, they won't change the final outcome of the battle!" Killing intent burning in her eyes, Ghostmother performed an incantation gesture with her right hand, sending the lizard flying straight toward the injured Bai Xiaochun.

However, even as the lizard began to move in his direction, Bai Xiaochun suddenly looked up and shoved his arm out viciously!

Water vapor roiled out in all directions, which was none other than the Waterswamp Kingdom! Yet again, the crocodilian head rose up, accompanied by a howl that seemed to originate in ancient times. Opening its mouth wide, the crocodilian creature snapped at the lizard battleship.

Using the Waterswamp Kingdom again so soon caused Bai Xiaochun's injuries to worsen. His powers of regeneration simply couldn't keep up. Coughing up blood, he lurched to the side, and then began to fall down toward the Eternal Sea.

From the look of it, he was out of tricks, and was going to try to flee under the surface of the water!

Normally speaking, the cautious Ghostmother would handle the Waterswamp Kingdom first before giving chase. But in this situation… if she maintained direct control of the battleship, it would cost her several breaths of time.

That would be enough for Bai Xiaochun to disappear into the Eternal Sea, and then perhaps use some unknown escape magic to get so far away she couldn't catch up.

Worse, Bai Xiaochun would get some breathing room to recover a bit. Considering the level of his powers of regeneration, Ghostmother didn't feel that she could afford such a delay.

"I can't be any less vigilant," she thought, "but there are also times to be decisive. Clean and efficient! Besides, I'm a celestial, and since he's used most of his secret weapons already, I know that I can handle all of them!" Eyes flickering with decisiveness, she blurred into motion…. Ignoring the gaping crocodilian maw that was the Waterswamp Kingdom, she unleashed the power of her celestial cultivation base, leaving the battleship and appearing above the Eternal Sea, right behind Bai Xiaochun! This was… her first time stepping off the battleship!

Without any hesitation, she reached out toward Bai Xiaochun.

"You're mine, Bai Xiaochun!" she said, her eyes glittering with anticipation.

In the instant that she reached out, the bedraggled and blood-soaked Bai Xiaochun suddenly looked up, his eyes shining with strange light.

"So, finally got you out in the open!" The moment he spoke his words, his injuries all healed.

Then, Ghostmother's face fell as he reached out, not toward her, but toward the lizard battleship! Pointing at it with his finger, he softly said, "One Glance Abyss Crystallization!"

All of the Eternal Seawater that was visible in the area was sealed, causing cracking sounds to ring out as it turned into crystal.

The crystal then shattered, becoming crystalline swords that exploded up from the sea, smashing into the lizard before crumbling back down to pile up below it. They became… an enormous, crystal lampstand!!

"You!!" By now, Ghostmother realized that everything up to this point had been a ploy to get her off of her battleship! Then, her mind reeled as Bai Xiaochun spoke a second time.

"Heavenly Canopy Lampshade!"

Rumbling sounds echoed out as a huge, invisible hand seemed to rip apart the sky of the Eternal Lands and transform it into a lampshade. As the lampshade covered the battleship, sealing it, Ghostmother's face fell further. Now she wanted to get back to her ship, but wasn't able to. Suddenly struck with unease, she unleashed the power of her cultivation base, summoning countless evil ghosts to try to break through to her ship.

"Boundless Longevity, Endless Life!" Countless longevity characters filled the world, settling into place on the lampshade, causing its sealing power to skyrocket in intensity! As of this moment, Ghostmother was completely incapable of penetrating that seal!

"Thou Art The Candle!!" The lizard battleship, which had been sealed in place on top of the crystalline lampstand, and covered with the heavenly canopy that was the lampshade, suddenly turned white… like wax!!

"Live Forever Lamp… Integrate!"

Rumbling sounds filled heaven and earth as the lizard battleship transformed into a huge Live Forever Lamp. As the intense power of the Daoist magic erupted out, it created something that not even a celestial like Ghostmother could defeat quickly!

That was the main reason Bai Xiaochun had used it on the ship instead of Ghostmother herself. After all, Ghostmother wasn't Daoist Heavenspan, and Bai Xiaochun didn't want to bet on how much time it would take her to break out from it.

If she escaped too quickly, and then returned to her battleship, he would be doomed to be defeated.

Therefore, instead of sealing her, he sealed the lizard battleship. After all, he was quite confident that, without Ghostmother to control it… the battleship would not be able to escape easily from the Live Forever Lamp.

And of course, he would not give Ghostmother the chance to go to its aid!

"Bai Xiaochun!!" Ghostmother shrieked, her expression unsightly to the extreme. Furious at the realization that she had been plotted against, she suddenly began to chuckle. "Maybe I don't have my battleship, but I'm still a celestial, and I can crush you with ease!"

Throwing her arms wide, she sent mist roiling out in all directions, creating something that looked like an enormous ghost city.

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Chapter 1047: Awaken!

Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath as his eyes shone with the desire to do battle. With each second that ticked by, his conviction in being able to kidnap Ghostmother grew stronger.

"Step A is accomplished. Now… it's time for step B!" He clenched his right hand into a fist, causing his fleshly body power to surge. At the same time, the aura of both the Live Forever Codex and the Undying Codex rose up, merging together into something that surpassed an ordinary quasi-celestial…. He now thrummed with energy that was very close to the level of a true celestial!

The sky went dim, and the area was further darkened by the cloud of ghosts. But nothing could conceal how dangerous Bai Xiaochun looked at this moment, like an unsheathed sword filled with endless fury. He took a step forward, and then blurred into a streak of light that headed directly toward Ghostmother.

"Ghost Gate: Open!" Ghostmother's slender fingers blurred in an incantation gesture, and then she pointed at Bai Xiaochun, causing the boundless cloud of ghosts to suddenly form together into a huge vortex. As soon as the vortex opened, endless evil ghosts poured out of it toward Bai Xiaochun.

There seemed to be no end to them!

"Ghost Dao: Arise!" And yet, things weren't over yet. Even as the ghosts began to pour out, Ghostmother performed another incantation gesture. In response, the ghosts fell upon themselves, consuming and augmenting each other so that, in the blink of an eye, they became a gigantic 3,000-meter-tall ghost king!

This ghost king was covered with ghost eyes from head to toe, making him look bizarre to the extreme. Radiating quasi-celestial energy, he began to run toward Bai Xiaochun!

"Ghost Mirroring: Initiate!" But there was still more to come. Ghostmother performed another incantation gesture, causing an afterimage to spring up as a second ghost king stepped out of thin air. Then a third, and a fourth! Within moments, four ghost kings were in formation, barreling toward Bai Xiaochun.

These Daoist magics vastly surpassed anything that Daoist Heavenspan had used. And yet, Bai Xiaochun simply chuckled coldly, accelerating forward to smash through all four ghost kings, none of whom were even close to being a match for him.

However, the scorn had still not left Ghostmother's eyes. Her right hand flashed with an incantation gesture, and she pointed out.

"Ghost Gate: Imprison!"

In response, the four ghost kings, who were in the middle of tumbling backward, exploded into bits, and then formed back together into the shape of a huge gate.

This ghost gate then swung toward Bai Xiaochun, radiating intense pressure that caused even him to gasp. There was no time for him to react; the gate slammed down on top of him, trapping him right on the surface of the Eternal Sea.

She made no further attacks. At the moment, she actually didn't fear his world treasure as much as his terrifying powers of regeneration. Although she had put on a front of being wildly domineering and arrogant, the truth was that she was very frustrated by his ability to heal himself.

No matter how hard she hit him, he wouldn't die. And worse, she couldn't think of any way to overcome that strength of his. Now that he was temporarily confined by her ghost gate, she immediately headed toward the lizard bone galleon to attempt to free it from the Live Forever Lamp.

As she closed in, she drew fully on her celestial cultivation base, summoning a host of ghost hands that seemed capable of ripping apart any barrier. The hands flew forward, latched onto the Live Forever Lamp, and then began to rip at it!

Intense rumbling sounds echoed out as the Live Forever Lamp was torn to shreds. And yet, even as Ghostmother's face lit up with joy, a multitude of smaller Live Forever Lamps could be seen, each of which contained a projection of the lizard bone galleon.

"Dammit!!" she growled angrily. Never could she have guessed that the Live Forever Lamp would have a second form. Just as she was preparing to unleash another attack, her ghost gate suddenly exploded, and Bai Xiaochun shot up from the surface of the Eternal Sea!

He seemed a bit ruffled, but not injured in any way.

Gritting her teeth in anger, Ghostmother slapped her bag of holding to summon a small bell.

As the crisp chime of the bell echoed out, countless dead sea beasts that had been buried on the seafloor for endless years suddenly shot up in response to the call.

From a distance, it was possible to see countless bones suddenly erupting from the surface of the sea!

"Bone Miasma!" Ghostmother said in a grating voice. In response, the bones exploded, transforming into a toxic powder that filled the area!

"Strong fleshly body? I'll just corrode it!" Snorting coldly, she performed an incantation gesture with her right hand and then waved her finger. As a result, the bell began to toll faster and faster, causing more bones to rise up from the Eternal Sea.

Far off in the distance, where the third immortal domain met the Eternal Sea, cracks appeared in the ground, and then bones flew up into the air, where they would shatter and turn into a bone miasma!

"Miasma Burial!" Eyes flashing with killing intent, Ghostmother performed a sealing gesture, causing the bone miasma to turn corporeal, becoming like soil that rushed forth to bury Bai Xiaochun!

Rumbling sounds echoed out as he was buried by the bone miasma. At the same time, Ghostmother looked on, panting a bit as her trump cards played out. Having sealed Bai Xiaochun again, she turned and shot up into the sky, throwing her hands wide and letting out a piercing scream, a soundwave that battered the heavens, causing one Live Forever Lamp after another to shatter. In the blink of an eye, they were all destroyed!

However, before a smile could even appear on her face, her expression flickered with shock; after the Live Forever Lamps vanished, their aura appeared again, surrounding the lizard bone galleon!

This time, the entire world was the lampshade! The lands beneath all served as the lampstand! This Live Forever Lamp… could not be destroyed!

"How is this even possible!?!?" Ghostmother gasped. As far as she was concerned, not even true celestials should be able to utilize a Daoist magic this powerful, let alone a quasi-celestial like Bai Xiaochun.

Even as she reeled in shock, the soil of bone miasma exploded, and Bai Xiaochun appeared in the open again.

He looked a bit roughed up, but… was uninjured!

"How very disappointing, Ghostmother," he said coolly.

Ghostmother glared at him, her chest heaving. By now, she had given up on her idea of destroying the Live Forever Lamp. It might have been one thing if she were in control of the battleship, but since she wasn't, it didn't seem possible to free it any time soon.

In her fury, her killing intent grew stronger.

"Do you really think I can't handle you? I just didn't want to cause a big scene and attract other celestials!" Eyes flashing with determination, she suddenly extended her right hand. As she did, her eyes began to flicker with mysterious light that, on close inspection, looked like the images of ghosts.

"In the Celestial Realm, you can form a Daoseed, which contains the Will of the world…. Feel free to take a look at true celestial-level Daoist magic!" As she finished speaking, her left hand shot out and grabbed at Bai Xiaochun!

Everything began to tremble, including all three of the immortal domains controlled by the Vile-Emperor Dynasty. All prefectures, all counties, all cities, all cultivators, all mortals. Everyone looked around in shock as… they suddenly realized their left hands were reaching out in the direction of the Eternal Sea!

Also in that moment, the Vile-Emperor Dynasty's only archaean, the reigning Vile-Emperor himself, suddenly opened his eyes as he sat there in meditation. He wasn't the only one to react in that way. The other five celestials in Vile-Emperor City, regardless of what they were doing at the moment, suddenly turned to look in the direction of the Eternal Sea.

"Someone is using celestial magic!!"

"That aura belongs to… Ghostmother!"

Meanwhile, Bai Xiaochun's face flickered with anxiety. Earlier, he had come to the conclusion that the Celestial Realm didn't seem very much different from the Demigod Realm. It just seemed more powerful.

But now, he realized that he had been wrong. All of a sudden, he felt like… he was surrounded by an infinitude of hands!

There were simply too many of them. It was as if every living being in all of the immortal domains of the Vile-Emperor Dynasty were reaching out to grab him! It was something he couldn't fight against.

He couldn't even control himself as he began to inch toward Ghostmother! For some reason, it was actually a familiar sensation….

"I didn't want people to know about what was going on here, but since things have reached this point, I guess I'll just have to extract some profit from your soul. Your fleshly body is undying, and has heaven-defying regenerative capabilities. But let's see if your soul is the same!

"Ghost Dao Soul Magic!" As she spoke the words, her left hand suddenly turned translucent, as though it suddenly didn't quite exist in the world. And at the same time, she pushed it closer to Bai Xiaochun.

Apparently, she was going to bypass his fleshly body to grab his divine soul!

And yet, before she could touch his forehead, Bai Xiaochun's eyes glittered as his left hand shot up to grab Ghostmother's left hand!

As a flash of shock appeared in Ghostmother's eyes, his right hand suddenly blurred, the Greatsword of the North appearing in it, which he… chopped directly toward her left arm!

"I've been waiting this whole time to get close to your left arm! Time to wake up, Gongsun Wan'er!!"

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The sword descended, sundering the heavens and crushing the earth!

Blood sprayed out like a geyser, accompanied by an agonized shriek from Ghostmother. Fear filled her eyes, but even more so, astonishment at the sharpness of Bai Xiaochun's Greatsword of the North.

"How dare you, Bai Xiaochun!!"

Dazzling blue light shone out in all directions as she tumbled backward, screaming, her expression distorted with rage, her hair disheveled… and her left arm severed!!

"I'm gonna kill you, Bai Xiaochun!!" It wasn't the intense pain that pushed her toward madness, but rather… the words that Bai Xiaochun had just uttered!

The plan was playing out perfectly. Step A had been to get Ghostmother off of her bone galleon. Step B had been… to figure out a way to sever her left arm!

Not everything had gone exactly as planned, but close enough. Ghostmother's celestial Daoist magic had been unexpected, and powerful. Unexpectedly, she had called upon all of the living beings in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, controlling their minds in a way that Bai Xiaochun could never have planned for. At long last, he had come to realize how truly powerful the Celestial Realm was.

However, it was also in that moment that he remembered being in a similar situation once…. Years ago, in the bedchamber on the bone galleon, Ghostmother had used a similar Daoist magic to control, not Bai Xiaochun's body, but his mind. She had attempted to play with his memories!

Back then, Ghostmother had been both incomplete and far from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, and therefore, had only been able to exercise rudimentary control. But here, in her element, she had used the ultimate level of that celestial magic to actually control his body.

Both times… the same thing had happened. The scrap of Willpower inside of Bai Xiaochun had come to life and enabled him to move!

It was something that should not have skipped Ghostmother's mind. But here in the Eternal Lands, with the full power of her celestial magic, she simply didn't take the time to consider that Bai Xiaochun would be able to free himself from her grasp!

Much less could she have predicted that he would sever her left arm!!

Bai Xiaochun glanced coldly at the screaming, retreating Ghostmother, then reached out and grabbed her left arm. Not pausing for a moment, he sent some divine sense into it, hoping to stimulate the discarnate soul that existed inside of it.

A moment later, the arm collapsed into a blood mist that then resolved into a person….

It was… the very same little girl whom Ghostmother had consumed back in the Wildlands!

She opened her eyes and looked around blankly, seemingly confused…. But then she heard Bai Xiaochun speaking to her, his voice bolstered by his cultivation base so that it slammed into her like floodwaters.

"Gongsun Wan'er!!"

Who is Gongsun Wan'er? Sounds so familiar. I think I used that name before…. She looked at Bai Xiaochun blankly, and then looked around again.

"You lost," Bai Xiaochun said, "and were consumed by your true self. Now… I've called you back. I'm giving you another chance… to become the dominant soul. All you have to do is help me steal that battleship, and do what I tell you on the way to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty!!"

The girl shivered as memories began to slide into place in her mind. And yet, she just wasn't able to fit them all together properly.

Bai Xiaochun could see how torn she seemed, as if she were in pain, and confused. Frowning, he reached out and put his hand on the top of her head. Then, he poured more divine sense into her, hitting the discarnate soul's memories like a lightning bolt!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

The rumbling in the girl's mind caused the fragments of her memory to converge rapidly. She shivered, and then began to pant as the blank look in her eye faded away. At the same time, a hair-raisingly terrifying and cold aura erupted out of her!

"Hi, sweetie…." she said, smiling. Gongsun Wan'er was back!

It all happened within a few short moments. Despite being stronger than a quasi-celestial, the sight of Gongsun Wan'er's smile caused Bai Xiaochun's hair to stand on end. It looked exactly like the smile he had seen so many times back in the Heavenspan Realm of the past.

As the girl hovered there directly in front of Bai Xiaochun, she slowly turned her head to look at Ghostmother, bereft of her left arm, gasping for breath and clearly in bad shape.

"And hello to you… Ghostmother!"

Gongsun Wan'er chuckled, a cold, piercing chuckle of utmost bizarreness. Although her aura was still weak, from the nature of her laughter it was very clear… that she really had returned!!

There wasn't even a hint of confusion or blankness in her eyes. It took her only a moment to assess the situation and ascertain the basics of Bai Xiaochun's plan. Back when she had agreed to merge back into Ghostmother, she had been filled with intense regret, but had had no choice in the matter. Therefore, it was without the slightest hesitation that she agreed to ally with Bai Xiaochun now!

Furthermore, she knew that even if Ghostmother were kidnapped, she was a celestial, and therefore, the Saint-Emperor wouldn't kill her. If he did, then the Vile-Emperor would never let the matter rest!

Although there was friction between the two imperial dynasties, and they occasionally squabbled over territory, they were not interested in destroying each other. Most importantly, in either of the imperial dynasties, a celestial with a Daoseed could be resurrected by the Archaean Realm expert who they served!

Such a resurrection would come at a heavy cost, and there were limitations involved. But for all intents and purposes, archaeans could not die, and celestials could not be killed!

Therefore, the Vile-Emperor would definitely pay a hefty ransom to get a kidnapped celestial back from the Saint-Emperor. And therefore… the little girl knew that if she were the one to be taken hostage, then as part of Ghostmother, she would also be valued by the Vile-Emperor. Furthermore, the Vile-Emperor wouldn't deign to interfere in matters between a soulclone and its true self.

Such thoughts ran through Gongsun Wan'er's mind in a flash. Smiling radiantly, she burst into motion, heading directly toward the battleship. The Giant Ghost King followed, eyes shining brightly, moonflower in tow. The ghost face, still under the control of Bai Xiaochun, also came along.

This was all part of the plan that Bai Xiaochun had described. They were all to board the battleship together with Gongsun Wan'er, to forestall any unforeseen circumstances!

In response to all of this, Ghostmother was devolving into madness. Yet again, she felt weak like she had been in the past. Hatred burning in her heart, she realized she couldn't keep this fight up, and as she fled, she called out to the other celestials for assistance.

Unfortunately for her, the Eternal Lands were huge, and not even celestials could simply show up within moments.

And there was no way Bai Xiaochun would give her the chance to flee. Without hesitation, he began to chase after her.

As he thought about the chase which had just played out, and the events of the past, he began to feel very irritated. "You old ghost biddy! You scared me half to death in the Deadmire, and bullied me to no end! And just now, you had to go and be all arrogant! Well let me tell you. I've changed a lot since the last time we met. Watch!"

Snorting coldly, he began to unleash attacks, until Ghostmother was coughing up blood and clearly in very bad shape.

None of her Daoist magics or divine abilities did any good against him. As of this moment, he was chasing her in much the same way that she had chased him.

The only thing she could do was use special soul magics to try to get away as fast as possible. Until… the bone lizard battleship suddenly began to speed in their direction, with Gongsun Wan'er at the helm, smiling. At that point, Ghostmother began to laugh in bitter despair. Her hopes were completely crushed.

Almost effortlessly, Gongsun Wan'er sent a sea of flames, a black beam of light, and three vicious ghost faces after Ghostmother! Within moments, she was defeated and captured!!

Gongsun Wan'er delightedly transformed into a black mist that poured into Ghostmother's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. With Bai Xiaochun assisting her, she quickly took control. Then, the bone lizard battleship blasted away at top speed over the Eternal Sea, toward the Saint-Emperor Dynasty….

"This is my blood tribute! With the flick of a sleeve, I, Bai Xiaochun, reduced a measly celestial to ashes!" Bai Xiaochun no longer felt even a little bit depressed. The mere thought of what he had just accomplished caused his spirits to soar.

He had kidnapped a celestial and an entire group of demigods!

From the moment the Saint-Emperor Dynasty had been founded until now, no one had ever provided tribute like that!

It was unprecedented!

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Chapter 1049: Reconstructing The Dao Heart!

It was a huge matter that Bai Xiaochun didn't even need to go to the trouble of trying to announce publicly. Because of the celestial-level Daoist magic that Ghostmother had used, all of the celestials in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty had been paying attention, as well as the Vile-Emperor himself. Not long after the bone lizard departed, streams of divine sense began to converge on the location where the battle had occurred on the Eternal Sea.

There were five in total, which belonged to the five celestials of the Vile-Emperor Dynasty. As they scanned the area, and noticed the residual auras, they found themselves completely thunderstruck.

That was especially true because of Celestial Virūpākṣa. He had a special Daoist magic that was capable of taking images of the final moments of the battle and dragging them back through time to be viewed again. When he and the other celestials saw what had happened, they were both flabbergasted and enraged.

"One of our celestials was kidnapped?!"

"He's going to give Celestial Ghostmother to the Saint-Emperor as a blood tribute?!?!"

"What outrageous gall! This is a humiliation of our entire dynasty!!"

The rage of the five celestials caused the sky to distort, and a huge wind to kick up. As a result, massive waves began to roll out across the surface of the Eternal Sea.

"Catch him!" Five streams of divine sense began to give chase. Although they were not present as their true selves, Bai Xiaochun was only a quasi-celestial, and could not possibly stand up to the divine sense of five true celestials.

Rumbling sounds echoed out over the screaming Eternal Sea.

The matter of a celestial being kidnapped was simply too monumental. Even as the five celestials came to understand what had happened, the demigods from the third immortal domain began to use various means and methods to spread the news, leading to even more shock.

The news spread like wildfire, passing from the third immortal domain to the rest of the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, and soon, to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty!

Of course, the Vile-Emperor himself had been aware of the situation from the moment that Bai Xiaochun actually kidnapped Ghostmother. Anger had burned in his eyes, and he immediately rose to his feet as if to take action. However, as he did… he stopped, and looked in the direction of Saint-Emperor City.

There, he could sense an aura that was no weaker than his own suddenly explode with full ferocity.

He could tell that if he left Vile-Emperor City and entered the Eternal Sea, then the Saint-Emperor would interfere. The consequences of that… could bring massive changes to the two imperial dynasties. What was currently minor friction between the two could escalate into all-out war.

Neither the Vile-Emperor nor the Saint-Emperor wanted that right now. Although the Saint-Emperor Dynasty was weaker than the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, the price the latter would have to pay to come out on top in such a conflict would be immense. At the moment, the Vile-Emperor simply could not bring himself to do something like that.

After a tense face-off, the Vile-Emperor slowly sat back down, his eyes flashing with more coldness than ever.

When the Vile-Emperor chose to back down, it was in another immortal domain, in Saint-Emperor City, that laughter suddenly echoed out. Then, a warm voice issued orders from the imperial city, orders that resounded into the ears of everyone in the city!

"Fellow Daoist Gu Tianjun, please take a trip to the border to receive… a spectacular tribute from a Fellow Daoist from the Heavenspan Realm!"

Even as the voice continued to echo out, a stream of sword qi erupted from within Saint-Emperor City. Visible within it was a handsome middle-aged man with white hair and a white robe, with a greatsword strapped to his back.

After clasping hands in the direction of Saint-Emperor City, he turned and sped off into the distance, flanked by several demigods.

Many people were surprised by this turn of events, and soon, inquiries were made. Before long, news began to spread throughout the city, leading to widespread shock.

"A cultivator from the Heavenspan Realm actually kidnapped Celestial Ghostmother from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty?!"

"He's bringing her here to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty as a blood tribute?!?!"

"Heavens! How could these Heavenspan people be so daring?!?!"

"He kidnapped a celestial?!?!"

The commotion continued to rock the two imperial dynasties for a few days. Even at top speed, the bone lizard still needed time to get across the Eternal Sea. And considering it could move faster than Ghostmother's true form, it meant that the streams of divine sense from the five celestials could not easily catch up.

Before long, they were further from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty than they were from the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, at which point their anxiety began to mount.

Based on their analysis, they would probably be able to catch up to the ship, but… they would be so close to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty that they wouldn't be able to do much.

Soon, the Vile-Emperor himself ordered them to cease pursuit. The five blurry figures formed from divine sense came to a stop above the Eternal Sea, staring off into the distance with cold gazes.

"Bai Xiaochun, huh?" The Vile-Emperor wanted more information about him, and it didn't take long for him to get it.

"The Arch-Ancestor of the Heavenspan Realm!"

As the five celestials in divine sense form faded away, Gongsun Wan'er was pushing the bone lizard forward at top speed. She could control the ship just as well as her true self could. After all, she was the discarnate soul from her left arm, and the left arm was key to controlling the ship. Therefore, under her control, it was capable of shocking speed.

Waves rolled out across the sea beneath the ship as it shot along. Meanwhile, Bai Xiaochun stood there, looking off into the distance, his heart pounding with excitement.

"Fudge. The Eternal Lands… aren't so intimidating after all!!" Flicking his sleeve, he took a deep breath. As of now, he had completely emerged from his previous dispirited state.

"And who cares about some celestials? I already kidnapped one! Hm, what about archaeans…? I kidnapped a demigod when I was in Core Formation, and slapped a Mahayana Realm expert when I was a deva. Now that I'm a demigod myself… I've already taken care of a celestial!"

As the Vile-Emperor Dynasty disappeared far behind them, he looked down at the spark-shaped scar on the back of his right hand, and his eyes began to shine.

"Hao'er isn't dead. I'll figure out how to wake him up sooner or later. What I need to do now is establish a rock-solid foundation here in the Eternal Lands!

"My Dao has not changed. I want to live forever. I want the same things I've always wanted… I want all of my friends and family to live forever with me!!

"And there's something else I need to do… I need to find a permanent home for the people of the Heavenspan Realm!" Bai Xiaochun had always thought of himself as somewhat of a nobody, and definitely not a hero. But as he proceeded through life, he had slowly come to acquire a sense of duty and responsibility.

His world had been doomed to be destroyed, regardless of whether he got his revenge on Daoist Heavenspan or not. After awakening in the Eternal Lands, he had found corpse after corpse, and had slowly descended into bitter depression.

With the exception of Daoist Heavenspan, he now felt a deep connection to anyone who had survived the destruction of the Heavenspan Realm. All previous grudges were a thing of the past.

"It's too bad I can't see the looks on their faces when they hear about what I just did. Well, I'll see them all eventually!" As the wind buffeted his face, his eyes glittered with determination. He had his memories, and he had his hope for the future. His choice had been made!

At around this time, the Giant Ghost King walked out from the cabin, and saw Bai Xiaochun standing at the prow of the ship. At long last, the Giant Ghost King sighed in relief.

"The Bai Xiaochun I know is finally back…."

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Chapter 1050: That Crappy Dad Of Yours….

The news continued to spread. It was such a shocking event that in both the Vile-Emperor Dynasty and the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, it reached the point where everyone had heard about it. It only took a few days for the entire world to be affected.

Among those who heard of it were the scattered refugees from the Heavenspan Realm. In response, eyes went wide, and gasps could be heard. And for the first time, hope blazed within their hearts!

"Bai Xiaochun!" In one huge huge city in a prefecture in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty was an old man in an ordinary-looking robe. He was eating in a restaurant, listening to people talking about a Vile-Emperor Dynasty celestial being kidnapped. Although he didn't react visibly, inside, he was bursting with excitement.

He looked down to prevent his eyes from shining too brightly, and raised a jug of alcohol to his lips to keep himself from laughing out loud.

"It was the right thing to pay special attention to him all those years ago. I'm waiting for you here in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, Bai Xiaochun!" That old man was none other than… the Grand Heavenmaster from Arch-Emperor City!

Both because of his demigod cultivation base, and his profound ability to scheme and plot, he had managed to keep his identity secret, and was completely safe. From the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, he had been keeping his eye on both of the imperial dynasties that ruled the world.

There were others throughout the Saint-Emperor Dynasty who, much like the Grand Heavenmaster, heard about what had occurred. For example, in another of the immortal domains, in a small county, was Zhou Yixing. Nowadays, he spent much of his time bowing and scraping. By relying on his skills in spirit enhancement, he had managed to build up a small accumulation of spirit stones in his bag of holding.

After all, he wasn't the Grand Heavenmaster, and couldn't keep his identity a secret. Therefore, he had chosen to simply take advantage of the so-called benevolence of the people of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty to somehow earn a living.

But now, the news he was hearing had him far more excited than the spirit stones he had saved up.

"Milord really knows how to live. If he hides, he hides, but when he makes a scene… he does something monumental!"

All of a sudden, Zhou Yixing couldn't wait to build a solid foundation for himself, and then eventually earn his own glory here in the Eternal Lands.

"Nobody here can perform spirit enhancements…. I'm going to become a person of virtue and prestige in this place. I'm going to become a grandmaster that nobody will ever dare to offend!" Taking a deep breath, he strode forward with a bit more confidence, as though his new dream gave him the courage to stand a bit straighter.

In another prefecture quite a distance away from Zhou Yixing was a luxurious courtyard residence. There stood Master God-Diviner, his hands clasped behind his back as he looked up into the sky, a dispirited expression on his face.

"Why am I always down on my luck…?" he thought. "I can't believe that it was like this in the Wildlands… and here too! I wish I could be like you, Bai Xiaochun, and go around kidnapping celestials. I don't want this life of luxury…." Even as he sighed regretfully, a flirtatious voice drifted out from the room behind him.

"What are you doing out there, honey?"

Master God-Diviner sighed. Although he looked frustrated, he was actually feeling quite pleased with himself as he turned and entered the room….

The Heavenspan cultivators who had been teleported into the Saint-Emperor Dynasty had it better off than those who ended up in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty. In one of the immortal domains controlled by the latter, in a certain mountainous valley, Patriarch Spirit Stream and Li Qinghou were recovering from a recent battle. They were both weak and wounded, but their eyes shone with excitement.

"That's him for sure!" Li Qinghou said, looking particularly stirred up. "That's my Xiaochun! Kidnapped Celestial Ghostmother from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty!"

Patriarch Spirit Stream began to laugh uproariously, and at long last, his eyes flickered with hope.

"You head to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, Qinghou," Patriarch Spirit Stream said, "I'll take care of things here." However, even as he finished speaking, he began coughing, and blood oozed out of the corner of his mouth.

Li Qinghou shook his head. Looking anxiously at Patriarch Spirit Stream, he said, "Xiaochun can take care of himself. He's doing this to give people hope! We need to hurry up and find as many people as we can!"

"With Big Fatty Zhang to help me, I'll be fine," Patriarch Spirit Stream said, his eyes shining with determination. "The Vile-Emperor Dynasty people are definitely going to be worked up into a frenzy because of Xiaochun. Now is the perfect time to strike! I'm the patriarch of the River-Defying Sect! Even here in the Eternal Lands, that hasn't changed. Our home is gone, but our sect still lives on! It's my job to find all of our scattered disciples and bring them together!"

Somewhere else in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, in a wilderness area, a bedraggled Song Que was fighting a desperate battle with a local cultivator. After getting the upper hand, he broke the man's neck, and then sagged in place, gasping for breath.

Wiping some blood off his chin, he looked around at the corpses piled up around him, his murderous aura seething. When he thought about the news he had just learned from the group that now lay dead at his feet, he smiled. Of course, deep within that smile was a bit of a stubborn obstinance.

"Wherever Bai Xiaochun goes, he always gets famous…. The Blood Stream Sect, the River-Defying Sect, the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect, the Wildlands… and now here in the Eternal Lands. Even in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty! Well, I still have a chance to catch up. I can make my own place in this world!" Song Que actually liked how things worked in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty. He enjoyed the fighting and the struggling, and liked how everything usually boiled down to a live-or-die battle!

"Other than people from the Heavenspan Realm… I'll kill anybody I see!" Taking a deep breath, he prepared to move on, but before he did, he turned to look in a different direction.

Off in the distance was a person he knew, the daughter of the Giant Ghost King and also Bai Xiaochun's Daoist partner, Mistress Red-Dust. Just like him, she had chosen the path of slaughter and struggle!

As a deva, she had made even more of a scene than him, and had killed even more enemies.

"Sooner or later, I'll be a deva too!" Adjusting his black robe, he turned and sped off into the night.

In the direction he had just looked, some distance away, was a temple to the Eternal Mother, located high in the wild mountains. Mistress Red-Dust sat there cross-legged, drinking a medicinal liquid that looked almost like blood. A handful of Vile-Emperor Dynasty cultivators surrounded her, kowtowing in fear.

"When the cultivators from the nearby city come, I could simply escape, and leave you all dead behind me. Or I could protect you. You know which choice to make.

"I'm running low on life force elixir. Go get me some more immediately. If you can't find any, bring me life force from your apprentices!" She spoke in a voice as cold as the coldest winter wind, causing the cultivators in her presence to shiver. After voicing their assent to her demands, they hurried away, eyes bloodshot. Their only hopes to stay alive rested in their ability to please this she-devil.

The Vile-Emperor Dynasty was huge, and evil sects such as theirs existed everywhere. To have one wiped out wouldn't cause too many waves.

"She's more of a villain than us!" Her methods left even cultivators such as these nearly weeping.

After they left, Mistress Red-Dust took a deep breath and then looked down at her belly. When she did, all of her coldness vanished, to be replaced by warmth and hope.

"I don't know where the hell that crappy dad of yours is now, but don't worry, mother will take good care of you!"

Out over the Eternal Sea, Bai Xiaochun sat on the bone lizard battleship. Suddenly, he sneezed.

"Is someone else cursing me now?" Sighing, he looked over at Gongsun Wan'er.

"Wait, are you saying that Big Fatty Zhang is in Vile-Emperor City, and that people are calling him Grandmaster Zhang?"

"That's right," Gongsun Wan'er said with a smile. "There's a lot of detailed information in Ghostmother's memories about Big Fatty Zhang. After arriving in Vile-Emperor City and revealing his skills in spirit enhancement, he caused a huge stir. Even the Vile-Emperor was shaken. Back then, the Arch-Sovereign's body hadn't shattered, and therefore, Big Fatty Zhang quickly became extremely important. Supposedly, he actually performed a spirit enhancement on Vile-Emperor City itself.

"After the Arch-Sovereign's body shattered, the people of Heavenspan emerged into an abyss of suffering. But by that time, Big Fatty Zhang had already established himself and acquired a significant standing.

"Oh, don't worry about Hou Xiaomei. Ghostmother did indeed take her as an apprentice. For some reason, she showed particular talent when it came to the Dao of ghosts. In fact, Ghostmother began to groom her to accept the legacy of her unique Daoist magic. She really took a liking to her, so she definitely won't use her to threaten you.

"However, you won't be able to see her any time soon. She's currently practicing secluded cultivation in Ghostmother's immortal's cave in Vile-Emperor City. She's preparing to break through to the Deva Realm!"

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Chapter 1051: Will

Bai Xiaochun was stunned to hear that Big Fatty Zhang had actually done so well in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty. As for the Giant Ghost King, although he had never heard of Big Fatty Zhang before, he was also taken aback.

"This Big Fatty Zhang sounds like a brilliant character! He single-handedly made a place for himself in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty! I guess people with good names are just destined for greatness!" In the Giant Ghost King's opinion, the fact that Big Fatty Zhang had the character big in his name went to prove how much of a manly fellow he was. It was much better than the character small. He couldn't help but sigh with regret at not having met him back in the Wildlands. [1]

At this point, the Giant Ghost King suddenly seemed to think of something, and excitedly said, "Um… hey, Celestial Gongsun, does Big Fatty Zhang have a Daoist partner?"

Bai Xiaochun was not very happy, and immediately cast a glare in the Giant Ghost King's direction. He knew how much the Giant Ghost King liked to play matchmaker. After all, he'd pushed his own daughter on him. Now he was asking about Big Fatty Zhang, leading to an obvious question: did he have another illegitimate daughter out there somewhere?

When the Giant Ghost King noticed Bai Xiaochun staring at him, he chuckled guiltily. The truth was that he had no illegitimate daughters. However, he had become quite used to being connected to powerful people through female relatives.

Just now, he had been considering trying to adopt a new daughter, and then somehow get her together with Big Fatty Zhang as a Daoist partner. That would give him a new son-in-law, and if that son-in-law could go on to subjugate the world, and if his daughter could subjugate her husband, then that would put the Giant Ghost King in a position unparalleled under heaven.

Bai Xiaochun could guess much of what the Giant Ghost King was thinking, and was of the opinion that it was a complete disgrace. At the same time, he felt bad for Big Fatty Zhang. Gongsun Wan'er had only provided a brief description of where he ended up, but it was easy to imagine the difficulties and dangers he had faced along the way.

After all, Big Fatty Zhang had started out in a strange world, away from his friends and family, with only a Nascent Soul cultivation base. Step by step, he had established himself and earned a place in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, all because of his spirit enhancement abilities. It was something that not every spirit enhancer could do.

As for Hou Xiaomei, Bai Xiaochun could finally rest at ease. Although he didn't quite consider himself friends with Gongsun Wan'er, they were at least allies. And it didn't seem like she was hiding anything from him. Therefore, he actually felt happy with how things had turned out for Hou Xiaomei.

In the Eternal Lands, where danger abounded, Hou Xiaomei had managed to stay safe the entire time. And considering her talents, whether it was Ghostmother or Gongsun Wan'er, both would have good reason to take care of her in the future.

Feeling a bit better about things, Bai Xiaochun looked at the clouds whizzing by, and thought back to his other friends and family from the Heavenspan Realm.

"Wan'er, you're a celestial, so… can you tell me what's involved in becoming like you?" Although Bai Xiaochun was currently a quasi-celestial, his situation was not ideal.

He had reached the great circle of the Undying Codex, but not the Live Forever Codex. And his cultivation base was still in the Demigod Realm. Even he wasn't quite sure of where he stood in terms of cultivation ranking.

He did know that when he reached the great circle of the full Undying Live Forever Technique, he could rise to the level of a celestial. But in terms of the exact process, he wasn't very clear.

Being in the early Celestial Realm, Gongsun Wan'er obviously knew a lot more about the situation than Bai Xiaochun. The Giant Ghost King's ears also perked up. Considering how long he had been a demigod, he knew a bit more about the subject than Bai Xiaochun, but was still very interested in learning more.

Gongsun Wan'er laughed softly and began to toy with a stray lock of her hair. That simple action made her seem even more beautiful than ever, perhaps even flirtatious. Her captivating eyes and long black hair would make anyone who looked at her itch with desire.

The licentious Giant Ghost King's eyes were already shining brightly.

Even Bai Xiaochun's heart was beating a bit faster. But then he thought about Gongsun Wan'er's past, and he reminded himself that he had to be vigilant. She was a demoness, and he was in a much different position than he had been in the past.

Then again, he couldn't let himself be intimidated just because she was a beautiful woman.

Opening his eyes wide, he looked at her solemnly. Then, after a moment of thought, he quickly sized up her body.

When Gongsun Wan'er realized that two sets of eyes were checking her out, she smiled charmingly. Looking a bit flushed, she then said, "Don't look at me like that, sweetie. If you want to see more, why don't we go into the cabin, and I'll let you have a closer look. What do you say?"

The Giant Ghost King shivered and swallowed hard, whereas Bai Xiaochun's eyes widened, and he subconsciously inched backward a bit.

"It's a good thing I've got a lot of self-control!" he thought. "This Gongsun Wan'er is more of a vixen than Song Junwan or Mistress Red-Dust, but thankfully, I'm immune to this type of stuff. And I have a big sword!" Casting a contemptuous glance at the Giant Ghost King, he cleared his throat, smacked his bag of holding, and produced the Greatsword of the North in a blue flash of light.

With that, he jumped up and made a few practice swings before looking back at Gongsun Wan'er in what he hoped was a very intimidating fashion.

"What were you just saying? You wanted me to have a closer look at something?"

The Giant Ghost King wasn't quite sure whether to laugh or cry, but at the same time, couldn't help but admire Bai Xiaochun. To pull out the Greatsword of the North in such an intimate moment could not have been an easy thing to do.

A mix of fear and bitterness could be seen in Gongsun Wan'er's eyes as she looked at the sword.

"The cultivation system in the Eternal Lands is the same as in the Heavenspan Realm," she said quietly. "After Nascent Soul is the Deva Realm, then Demigod, and finally Celestial.

"What's different is the source of power. In the Eternal Lands, the source of all power is Will!

"Devas overtake the will of the heavens, and use the power of heaven and earth. That process is what awakens Willpower within them. As for demigods, their will surpasses that of the heavens. They don't borrow it, they take it! That further awakens their Willpower, and allows a Willroot to form!

"As for celestials… after breaking out of the Demigod Realm and entering the Mahayana Realm, they will take their Willroot and use it to form a Daoseed!

"During the course of cultivation, the Daoseed will eventually grow roots and sprout, merging with the body. In the final breakthrough, it will blossom, which creates Dao Will!

"When that happens, you break out of the Celestial Realm. If anyone accomplished that, they would become the third Archaean Realm emperor in the world!

"Unfortunately, that is extremely difficult. Right now, we only have two emperors, both of whom have Dao Will, and are Archaean Realm experts!"

Both Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King were completely shaken by what they had just heard.

"Willpower. Willroot. Daoseed. Dao Will!" Bai Xiaochun murmured.

"All things in the world have Willpower," Gongsun Wan'er continued. "It's a foundation that can come in infinite forms. Heaven, earth, the world, all living things that exist! All plants and all types of vegetation. The world is like a mountain, with those on the top easily crushing everyone beneath them. As for those on the bottom, they have to struggle relentlessly to climb higher. First, turn Willpower into a root, and bury it in the spiritual sea. Eventually, it becomes a Daoseed, which gives birth to Dao Will!

"There is no limitation to the divine abilities and Daoist magics that celestials wield, the reason being that anything in creation can be used as the basis for their magic. That is because of the Daoseed!

"Only when the Daoseed appears is a person a truly mighty celestial, a person who surpasses all heaven and earth!

"When it comes to the Willpower which exists as a fundamental part of all living things, from ancient times until now, there have been different understandings and explanations. Most people believe that Willpower is similar to faith. For example, when Ghostmother used her Daoist magic, she drew upon the power of the faith of all the people in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty!

"Faith is also a fundamental reason why the imperial dynasties stand to begin with. Although I don't fully understand how the Archaean Realm works, I do know that the more lands an archaean controls, and the more people live in those lands, the stronger that archaean can be!

"Also… Daoseeds are more important to celestials than their divine soul. It is the foundation of everything. Anyone who has a Daoseed, but dies, can be resurrected by an Archaean Realm expert!" Both Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King were visibly moved by her words.

"Resurrected?" the Giant Ghost King asked.

1. Don't forget that in Bai Xiaochun's name, the character xiao means small.

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"Resurrected!" Gongsun Wan'er repeated.

"That is why archaeans are emperors. Years ago, the Saint-Emperor Dynasty was almost completely crushed. However, once the Saint-Emperor made his breakthrough, the Vile-Emperor had no choice but to back down!

"No one really knows how powerful archaeans really are. The two emperors have never fought each other directly. The only thing we know for sure is that they are strong enough to resurrect celestials!" Gongsun Wan'er looked at Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King, aware of how shocking her words must be to people who had never heard any of this information before.

And she was right. Bai Xiaochun was panting, and the Giant Ghost King felt like he was being struck with waves of shock. Only now were they coming to understand how truly powerful the two imperial dynasties were. What they had seen so far was only the tip of the iceberg.

"Any demigod cultivator who breaks through and becomes a celestial must form a Daoseed and then deliver part of it to the Dao palace of the imperial dynasty they serve. Then, if that celestial dies, the archaean emperor can use that Daoseed to perform the resurrection!" Gongsun Wan'er paused for a moment to give Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King a moment to digest everything she had said up to this point.

Then she continued, "Discounting the emperors, who normally do not take action, the celestials have the greatest battle prowess in the Eternal Lands!

"Of course, resurrecting a celestial does not come without a price. Not only is it very draining to the archaean, but the resurrected celestial will forever be weaker than before!

"Because of that, celestials will do anything in their power to avoid perishing." At this point, Gongsun Wan'er stopped talking for a moment to think. There were more things to say that she could hold back, but they weren't exactly secrets. And once Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King got to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, they would eventually learn of them.

Therefore, there was little reason for her to not tell them.

"As for my true self, even if you or the Saint-Emperor killed her, she would still come back to life. However, in order to keep the status quo, and to maintain the good will of the other celestials in the dynasty, the Vile-Emperor will almost certainly work out a deal to get her back!"

Bai Xiaochun's eyes were shining by this point. Not only had he learned much more about how to become a celestial, but he now also knew much more about the shocking nature of the two emperors. However, after hearing the talk about resurrection, he had another suspicion that was even stronger than before.

"Is Daoist Heavenspan dead or not!?" Back when the Heavenspan Realm had been destroyed, Daoist Heavenspan's body exploded, and something that looked like a seed had flown out. "He was only a quasi-celestial. He couldn't have formed a Daoseed, could he…?"

He also thought about how, after arriving in the Eternal Immortal Domains, he was able to use the Greatsword of the North without any limitations, and yet, the sword had no true master.

Eventually, he put such thoughts to the side and looked back at Gongsun Wan'er. He didn't care too much about whether or not she was given back to the Vile-Emperor. He needed her to use as his blood tribute. He had long since guessed that there were reasons he hadn't understood that prompted her to give herself up to him.

"What's after the Archaean Realm?" he asked.

"After the Archaean Realm?" Gongsun Wan'er smiled, her eyes shining with what appeared to be anticipation.

"After the Archaean Realm is… the Sovereign Realm!"

"Up to now, there have only ever been three sovereigns in our lands. They all existed at the same time, and were the forefathers of all humanity!

"Presumably, you already know about them. After all, the myths and legends that we all talk about in the Eternal Lands are true!" Sighing, she looked up into the sky.

The Giant Ghost King silently did the same, peering up at the huge face and two enormous hands!

Every time the Giant Ghost King and Bai Xiaochun looked up at the strange sky overhead, their hearts and minds trembled.

"Not even I am sure about how to break out of the Archaean Realm and into the Sovereign Realm. Only the two emperors have any clue about that." With that, she shifted her gaze to the Eternal Sea.

Down below, a mist could be seen on the surface of the sea, and beneath it, an enormous shape.

That shape… was the landmass that existed in the very middle of the Eternal Sea.

Perhaps 'island' was the best word to describe it. It was a holy location in the Eternal Lands, the place from which all people had originated!

In the past, three enormous statues had existed there!

After dying, the sovereigns became huge statues!

Bai Xiaochun looked over to where one of those statues had recently stood. The only thing visible there now was a huge footprint.

Back when the Arch-Sovereign had been standing, Bai Xiaochun had lived inside his body, which was the Heavenspan Realm.

No one spoke as the bone lizard battleship shot through the mists.

Eventually, they were past the island and speeding along over the waves of the Eternal Sea. At that point, Bai Xiaochun murmured a single word.

"Sovereign…."

The rest of the trip was made in silence. The Giant Ghost King was thinking about the Wildlands, Bai Xiaochun reminisced about the River-Defying Sect, and Gongsun Wan'er was filled with endless sighs.

After all, she was the focus of the current situation, and the closer she got to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, the more worried she got, although she didn't let it show.

Eventually, they were closing in on the immortal domain belonging to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty. At that point, Bai Xiaochun rose to his feet.

"We're almost there. Gongsun Wan'er, please don't take offense…."

Gongsun Wan'er frowned slightly and nodded. She had known all along that she would be sealed eventually, not to harm her, but to send the right message, and also to make sure that she was eventually traded back to the Vile-Emperor.

Smiling at Bai Xiaochun flirtatiously, she said, "Be gentle, sweetie… don't make it hurt."

Bai Xiaochun's heart trembled in response, and the Giant Ghost King began to pant.

Looking at her, Bai Xiaochun muttered a few words under his breath, then quickly performed an incantation gesture to send an invisible sealing mark into Gongsun Wan'er. After being restricted, her energy faded slightly, and she sat down, ashen-faced and gasping for breath.

And yet, her pitiful state only made her look more attractive.

Not daring to lay eyes on her, Bai Xiaochun kept his eyes focused on the distant immortal domain.

As the land mass grew larger and larger, he shivered inwardly, and then narrowed his eyes. He had just sensed a powerful aura up ahead, something explosive and dangerous, like an unsheathed sword!

In response to it, the sky vibrated, and a screaming wind kicked up, causing the waves on the Eternal Sea to rise to incredible heights. At the same time, a beam of sword qi shot out from the immortal domain!

It was fully 30,000 meters across, and powerful enough to crush anything in its path. As it closed in, the bone lizard shivered, and its eyes began to shine brightly.

The air around the battleship was instantly sealed, causing intense pressure to weigh down that seemed capable of reducing anything and everything beneath it to a bloody paste!

A serious expression appeared on the Giant Ghost King's face, and blood began to ooze out of his mouth. Gongsun Wan'er's expression flickered, and Bai Xiaochun looked out, his heart pounding. A moment later, the sword qi resolved into the shape of a handsome, middle-aged man in a white robe, with long white hair!

It was with ice-cold eyes that he studied the battleship in front of him!

That gaze was as explosive as heavenly lightning!

In response to his presence, the sky shuddered, and the Eternal Sea went still. As for the bone lizard, it didn't dare to keep flying, and immediately came to a halt.

"Gu Tianjun!" Gongsun Wan'er said. She no longer looked cute and charming. Instead, her eyes shone with mysterious light, but at the same time, terror!

The white-robed, white-haired Gu Tianjun looked at Gongsun Wan'er, and then at Bai Xiaochun. Voice utterly calm, he said, "Delivery accepted. Now, please leave."

Rage immediately rose up in the Giant Ghost King's heart, and Bai Xiaochun's eyes flickered with cold light. The pressure weighing down on them, and the words which had just been spoken, crossed the bottom line for the both of them! Gu Tianjun had come… with ill intentions!

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Chapter 1053: Please, Come In!

Gu Tianjun had always looked down on people from the Heavenspan Realm. Back before the body of the Arch-Sovereign collapsed, he had somewhat looked forward to the arrival of the Arch-Emperor Dynasty. But after the collapse, as more people from the Heavenspan Realm became part of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, things changed.

As time progressed, he learned more and more about what had gone on in the Heavenspan Realm.

"Endless chaos and disorder. And they never even raised someone to the Mahayana Realm. Considering how late they are, they're doomed to be little more than servants. Completely useless." Gu Tianjun was the type of person who looked up to those who were more powerful than him, but at the same time, wanted to defeat them and take their place. That was something about him that not even the Saint-Emperor could find fault with.

After all… when it came to bloodlines, Gu Tianjun was also a direct descendant of the original Saint-Emperor.

As for people who were weaker than him, he viewed them like bugs. And there were plenty of bugs in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty. As for people from the Heavenspan Realm…

He placed them beneath the bugs.

A lot of people talked about their abilities with spirit enhancement, and although that was of slight interest to Gu Tianjun, he still viewed it as a mere skill, like pill concocting or equipment forging. With such skills, the people of Heavenspan still only qualified to serve the other two great powers in the lands.

They were doomed to be slaves!

As far as the people he was dealing with right now, they were just two Heavenspan people who didn't even count as bugs. Due to some lucky break, they had managed to kidnap a celestial, but that did nothing to reduce the disdain that Gu Tianjun felt for them.

"They just want help from the Saint-Emperor Dynasty!" After a few breaths' worth of time, Gu Tianjun began to get impatient at the fact that his words were still hanging in the air.

Taking a step forward, he completely ignored Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King, used his shocking sword qi to rip apart the defensive shield protecting the bone lizard battleship, and then landed on the deck in front of Gongsun Wan'er.

One reason for the ease with which he passed through the defenses was the fact that Gongsun Wan'er had already been sealed.

"Hello, Ghostmother," he said, smiling. In contrast to the two Heavenspan cultivators, he was very interested in Ghostmother. Years ago, he had severed her arm, and this was his first time seeing her again since then. Although she was currently in a very weak state, since she was a celestial, he viewed her as being slightly above the other bugs in the world.

Bai Xiaochun stood there staring coldly and quietly at Gu Tianjun. As for the Giant Ghost King, considering how long he had lived, he could easily discern from the coldness being shown how this person looked down upon them. Furthermore, it was obvious that he had no intention of letting them into Saint-Emperor City to hand Ghostmother over.

From the look of things, the supposed blood tribute was turning out to be nothing more than a joke.

Struggling to control himself, he stepped forward, clasped hands, and bowed.

"Greetings, exalted Celestial. We plan to personally escort Ghostmother into–"

"Shut up!" Gu Tianjun said, waving his hand dismissively. "You want a reward, right? Well go back to where you came from and wait. Your reward will come eventually!"

With that, he reached out to grab Gongsun Wan'er. However, before he could, Bai Xiaochun suddenly started laughing coldly.

Inside, he was very nervous. After all, he could sense that Gu Tianjun was on a different level than Ghostmother. He was actually much stronger! But even if he were stronger, Bai Xiaochun would not tolerate him intruding and condescending in this way. And there was no way he would simply let Gongsun Wan'er be taken away.

He didn't waste any time speaking. Blue light flashed as the Greatsword of the North appeared, unleashing heaven-shaking, earth-shattering pressure. Then, he blurred into motion, slashing the sword at Gu Tianjun!

Gu Tianjun's expression flickered as he turned his head to see what was happening. When he saw the Greatsword of the North, his pupils constricted, and he swung his hand from Gongsun Wan'er toward the sword as if to grab it!

When the sword made contact with Gu Tianjun's hand, a huge boom erupted out, along with a massive shockwave. Before Gu Tianjun knew what was happening, he staggered backward and off of the battleship!

Bai Xiaochun felt all of his qi and blood vibrating inside of him from the power of the sword. Any other demigod, and even an ordinary quasi-celestial, would have been seriously injured by it.

But Bai Xiaochun had his Undying Live Forever Technique, and could essentially recover from any injury in the blink of an eye. Therefore, he stood there on the battleship, staring up with a cold, grim expression at Gu Tianjun.

"What incredible gall!" Gu Tianjun said, eyes narrowing. Although he was shocked by Bai Xiaochun's powers of regeneration, he also couldn't help but look greedily at the huge sword he held.

As of this moment, the Giant Ghost King's heart was in his throat. Off to the side, mixed emotions could be seen in Gongsun Wan'er's eyes. Although Bai Xiaochun seemed to be standing there bravely, she knew that he was secretly nervous.

But at the same time, she also realized that he had changed. After all, she knew him better than the Giant Ghost King; in the past, whenever he faced an enemy more powerful than himself, he would try to resolve any tensions. But now, he simply drew his sword and attacked!

"Is he really going to take a stand…?" she thought. As of this moment, Bai Xiaochun seemed as lofty as a mountain as he stood there in front of her.

Bai Xiaochun held his tongue for a brief moment. He knew that this was a very critical moment, and that he only had one chance to succeed. Therefore, he drew on everything he had learned in the Wildlands to quell his nervousness.

"Gall?" he said loudly. "Your name is Gu Tianjun, right? Well let me tell you: you're right. I do have gall!

"If I had no gall, how could I have left a swath of blood and death behind me as I left the Vile-Emperor Dynasty? If I had no gall, how could I possibly have kidnapped a celestial and several demigods?! If I had no gall, I would have just let you steal what is mine!

"So, yes. I have gall. However, you also have quite a bit of gall yourself!" As he spoke, his voice grew louder and louder until his words echoed like heavenly thunder.

Gu Tianjun's expression flickered from the incisiveness of Bai Xiaochun's words. The truth was, there was nothing he could say to refute what had just been said. Eyes glittering with coldness, he prepared to say something, but before he could, Bai Xiaochun spoke in an even louder voice than before.

"I brought this Vile-Emperor Dynasty celestial here, and you blocked my path. Why? Because you lack integrity, Gu Tianjun! Let me ask you a question. Do you serve the Saint-Emperor? Or the Vile-Emperor?!" Gu Tianjun's eyes grew even colder, and yet before he could say anything, Bai Xiaochun continued in thunderous fashion.

"I favor the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, and came here to offer formal greetings. Not empty-handed, but with a gift. But you blocked my path at the front door, Gu Tianjun. And there is one word for that. Rude! Let me ask you another question. What logical basis do you have for your actions?!" With that, Bai Xiaochun took a step forward.

"I fought and killed my way here from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, and now you want to steal my spoils of war? There is one word for that. Immoral! So now I'll ask you a third question, Gu Tianjun. What right do you have to steal my gift?!" Bai Xiaochun took another step forward, taking him off of the battleship and up into the air, where he pointed out with the Greatsword of the North.

"I am the Arch-Ancestor of the Heavenspan Realm. Therefore, in the Eternal Lands, there are only two people who rank as high as me. The Vile-Emperor and the Saint-Emperor. How dare you try to boss me around, Gu Tianjun. There is one word for that. Disrespectful! Therefore, I will now ask you a fourth question. Considering that you are a rude, immoral, and disrespectful creature, and also lack integrity, were the hell did you get that gall of yours?!" As his words echoed out, blue light from the Greatsword of the North shone out to fill the area.

All of the demigods who had accompanied Gu Tianjun from the immortal domain were shaken, and even Gu Tianjun himself felt as if he had been stabbed to the heart by the words which had just been spoken.

"You!!" Never could Gu Tianjun have possibly imagined that this Heavenspan cultivator would have such a sharp tongue. There was literally nothing he could possibly say by way of retort. At this point, anything he said would come across as sounding like a flimsy excuse.

If he were in some remote location where no one was watching, he could simply shrug off what had just been said. But he was here, with many celestials paying attention. Furthermore, he had to consider the reputation of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty as a whole. Therefore, Bai Xiaochun's tirade forced him into a passive position, and caused his face to flush red with embarrassment and anger. And the killing intent in his eyes grew even stronger.

As for the Giant Ghost King and Gongsun Wan'er, they were both staring at Bai Xiaochun, astonished at how domineering he was!

Ignoring Gu Tianjun, Bai Xiaochun swished his sleeve and looked in the direction of Saint-Emperor City. Sweeping his sword in grand fashion, he called out in a voice that boomed like the loudest thunder.

"Saint-Emperor, is this how you treat visitors who come to see you in good faith?!"

The truth was that he was more nervous than could possibly be expressed in words. In fact, he had already decided that, if necessary, he would unseal Gongsun Wan'er and try to flee on the battleship.

However, years of practice at this sort of thing ensured that not even a scrap of such feelings showed on his face. Instead, he looked confident and arrogant to the extreme.

A moment passed, and his anxiety mounted. His heart was pounding, and his scalp was tingling. Even as he prepared to turn and run, a warm, somber voice echoed out into heaven and earth.

"Forgive my negligence, Fellow Daoist Bai. Please, come in!!"

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Chapter 1054: Saint-Emperor City

The voice echoed about in a way that made it impossible to determine where exactly it came from. It almost seemed to surpass the flow of time itself. Those who heard it felt a connection to the voice, as though it contained a strange power that instantly calmed them down.

The Giant Ghost King shivered, and Gongsun Wan'er's breathing began to steady. As for the demigods who had come from the nearby immortal domain, their eyes shone with reverence as they turned in the direction of Saint-Emperor City, clasped hands, and bowed.

Gu Tianjun's expression flickered, and he closed his eyes momentarily. When they opened, there was no trace of killing intent or rage. The only thing that remained was frosty coldness.

"Come with me, Fellow Daoist Bai!" he said coolly.

Bai Xiaochun shivered inwardly at the strange qualities of the Saint-Emperor's voice. At the same time, the sliver of Willpower which had awoken when facing Ghostmother's celestial Daoist magic stirred yet again.

"The Saint-Emperor is so powerful!" he thought. However, he didn't let any emotions show on his face. Smiling broadly, he clasped hands and gave a slight bow in the direction of Saint-Emperor City. Then he returned to the battleship, and stood silently on the prow.

Gu Tianjun cast a cold glance at Bai Xiaochun, but didn't say anything. A moment later, he turned into a beam of sword light that shot back toward Saint-Emperor City. As for the demigods who had come with him, they also looked over at Bai Xiaochun, but this time, their expressions looked very different from before.

"This guy… seems different from the other people of Heavenspan that I've seen!" That was what most of the demigods were thinking. Eventually, they looked away, and followed Gu Tianjun to formally escort the newcomers into the Saint-Emperor Dynasty.

The battleship followed along, leaving the Eternal Sea and heading through the buffeting winds toward Saint-Emperor City.

Everyone felt a lot of pressure, and no one spoke. Two hours later, the effects of the Saint-Emperor's voice began to fade from the Giant Ghost King, whereupon a look of astonishment appeared deep in his eyes.

"From distant Saint-Emperor City, he said a single sentence that put me in a daze for that long?!?!" The Giant Ghost King was shaken, and his fear of the archaean emperors suddenly grew far deeper.

"It's because this is your first time dealing with an archaean," Gongsun Wan'er said, smiling faintly. "And you actually benefited from being a Heavenspan cultivator. Someone from the Saint-Emperor Dynasty would find their Willpower affected for days, during which time they would feel fanatical devotion!" Gongsun Wan'er currently had her cultivation base sealed, but that didn't affect her overall level. She had her Daoseed, and was also from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, and therefore recovered much more quickly, although not as quickly as Bai Xiaochun.

"If it ever happens to you again, you won't be as severely affected, at least not unless the archaean intentionally makes it worse." After finishing with her explanation, Gongsun Wan'er looked over at Bai Xiaochun, who still stood there at the prow of the ship. Curiosity flickered in her eyes; she was truly interested in Bai Xiaochun's uniqueness.

"I wonder if what he said is true," she thought. "Does he really rank as high as the two emperors…. Or does he cultivate some technique that gives him the power to stand up to them!?" As Gongsun Wan'er pondered the matter, the Giant Ghost King regained more of his senses, and also looked over at Bai Xiaochun. All of a sudden, he realized that… maybe Bai Xiaochun really could become the hope of the Heavenspan Realm!

Bai Xiaochun could sense that the two of them were looking at him. Although his expression remained placid, inwardly he was feeling very pleased with himself. That calmness, and the way he remained steady under pressure earlier, was becoming something of a habit.

But then he considered that the emperors of the two dynasties were both experts in the Archaean Realm, and his nervousness mounted.

"This won't do," he thought. "If I start getting nervous every time I think about them, how am I supposed to stay in a good mood?" All of a sudden, his eyes lit up.

"Hold on. These two dynasties have funny names if you think about it. Vile-Emperor Dynasty? Instead of vile, how about smile! Yeah… the Smile-Emperor!

"And instead of Saint-Emperor Dynasty… how about paint? Heh. The Paint-Emperor!" [1]

All of a sudden, he felt much more at ease. He also couldn't help but turn to Gongsun Wan'er and ask, "Wan'er, does everyone from the Smile-Emperor Dynasty like to smile?"

"What?" Gongsun Wan'er replied, stunned. Then her eyes hardened into a glare, and any feeling of wonderment from before vanished. After all, never in her life had she ever heard anyone say Smile-Emperor before.

Gongsun Wan'er's glare caused Bai Xiaochun to feel slightly awkward, so he quickly looked away and went back to trying to seem grand and proud.

Down below, mountains and rivers stretched out in all directions…. The immortal domain they had come to also contained the capital city of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty. Therefore, after a few days of travel, they crossed a wide plain and, as evening fell… caught sight of an enormous mountain off in the distance!

It rose up dramatically into the sky, and had a very distinct outline.

It was definitely the largest mountain Bai Xiaochun had ever seen before in his life, and took up more than half of the prefecture. In fact, it was roughly half the size of the entire Heavenspan Realm!

A mortal who tried to climb this mountain wouldn't be able to reach the top in an entire lifetime!

It was no exaggeration to say that it connected the earth to the heavens!

At the very top of the mountain, there was no peak, only a massive heavenly pond!

Although the pond looked small when compared to the mountain as a whole, it was still huge. Dense mist roiled out from the pond, connecting it to the surrounding clouds and making the entire place seem like a paradise for immortals.

Lotus leaves floated on the surface of the water, each one seemingly as large as an island. In fact, upon closer inspection, all of the lotus leaves actually had spectacularly luxurious buildings on them!

There were thousands of such lotus leaves, all of them floating around something even more shocking, which lay at the very middle of the pond. It was a gargantuan lotus flower!

It was beautiful to the extreme, and emanated a shockingly pleasing aroma. Built onto the petals of the flower were buildings of the most flawless white jade imaginable. This was… the imperial palace!!

The lotus flower was the palace, the lotus leaves were the city. This was none other than the capital of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, a place known as… Saint-Emperor City!

This mountain, this pond, and this city surpassed anything Bai Xiaochun could ever have imagined.

Bai Xiaochun wasn't the only one to be shaken. When the Giant Ghost King caught sight of the heavenly pond, his jaw dropped. It was unlike anything that had ever existed in the Heavenspan Realm.

Gongsun Wan'er was the only one to have little reaction. She had heard of the wonders of Saint-Emperor City before, although in her heart, the capital city of the Vile-Emperor Dynasty was far grander.

Gu Tianjun didn't react to Bai Xiaochun's shock, but the demigods were clearly very proud of their capital city, which was the most holy location in the land.

As the battleship got closer to the pond, Bai Xiaochun noticed numerous dragonfish swimming in the water. Occasionally, they would leap out of the water, and when the evening sun landed on their golden scales, it was a dazzling sight.

This city amongst the clouds actually surpassed any celestial paradise!

Soon, the cultivators who lived in Saint-Emperor City noticed the bone lizard battleship sailing through the air above them.

Within the imperial palace were all of the officials of the imperial court, whom the Saint-Emperor had summoned. When they looked up, some gazes were those of curiosity, while others were hostile. Most were arrogant to the extreme, as if they were the rulers of a massive country looking at common farmers from a tiny nation.

Even as Bai Xiaochun and his allies prepared to enter Saint-Emperor City itself, a piercing voice echoed out from the imperial palace.

"The Saint-Emperor has summoned Heavenspan Realm cultivators Bai Xiaochun and Giant Ghost for an audience!"

1. In this passage I'm trying to keep the spirit of the Chinese, instead of translate it directly. It's a little bit of rhyming wordplay that sounds silly and funny. If you translated it all directly, it wouldn't make much sense in English. In the Chinese, the word for Vile-Emperor rhymes almost perfectly with the word for "crab roe", or at least, the orangeish-yellow soft meat inside of a crab, which is considered somewhat of a delicacy. Then, he picks a word that has a close pronunciation to Saint-Emperor, and also has the character saint as part of the component of one of the characters, but which means "razor clams". All in all, it's pretty funny in Chinese, but doesn't come across in direct translation. Incidentally, Madam Deathblade absolutely loves that orange crab stuff. It's one of her favorite things to eat.

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The Giant Ghost King's actual name was not Giant Ghost.

Clearly, in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, it wouldn't be appropriate to speak the king part of his title aloud. Actually, few people knew the Giant Ghost King's real name, even in the Wildlands. As such, he had known all along that something like this would happen.

"My surname is Zhou, fools!" he muttered under his breath. After the imperial decree was issued, Gu Tianjun turned back to look at Bai Xiaochun. For the first time since their initial meeting, he spoke, his voice as cool as ever.

"The battleship can't go in, Fellow Daoist Bai. Please, follow me."

Bai Xiaochun looked at Saint-Emperor City, and especially the imperial palace on the lotus flower, and could sense that thousands of streams of divine sense were currently locked onto his position.

Taking a deep breath, he straightened out his robe, then waved his hand to send Gongsun Wan'er into his bag of holding. Followed by the Giant Ghost king, he proceeded onward toward the imperial palace.

Chuckling coldly, Gu Tianjun led the way, and soon the three of them were right outside the imperial palace. As they neared, an astonishing pressure erupted from inside, an aggressive blast that prevented Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King from entering.

It was not a deadly attack, but it was terrifying enough to make Bai Xiaochun feel like he was being crushed. At the same time, he realized that within the aura was something that reminded him of the Frigid Matriarch. It was a spirit automaton.

"A world treasure…." he thought, stopping in place. There was also a majestic divine sense that swept over him, confirming both his identity and the Giant Ghost King's. A moment later, the divine sense vanished.

The intense pressure only lasted for a moment, but it caused the Giant Ghost King to begin to sweat profusely, and even gasp for breath. Then he and Bai Xiaochun entered the main gate of the imperial palace to find themselves at the bottom of a staircase so steep and tall it seemed like a mountain!

There were roughly 10,000 stairs, and at the top of them all… was the enormous palace hall!

A huge crowd was gathered, their backs to the staircase. A narrow path led straight through them to a location that Bai Xiaochun could not currently see. However, the aura he could sense surpassed any sort of god, as if that person were the lord of all living things!

"The Saint-Emperor… wait, no. The Paint-Emperor!" Muttering to himself in this way dispelled much of his nervousness. Having calmed himself down, he began to climb the stairs.

As for the Giant Ghost King, his cultivation base was not as high as Bai Xiaochun's, nor did he have Bai Xiaochun's tricks to calm his heart. However, he was one of the four heavenly kings of the Wildlands, so despite the pressure, and despite how much he was sweating, he took a few breaths and managed to calm down a bit.

As he followed Bai Xiaochun up the stairs, the palace hall was slowly revealed in full, including the huge amount of people who were gathered there.

When the two of them stepped off of the last step and into the hall, they found themselves in what was essentially a huge square. At the far end were nine columns decorated with extremely lifelike carvings of dragons and phoenixes.

In the middle of the nine columns was a gigantic green cauldron!

Green smoke curled up from the cauldron, rising into the sky to join the clouds….

There were thousands of people making up the group that filled either side of the hall, all of whom stood motionless, looking respectfully toward the front of the hall.

In front of the crowd were two stooped old men, their hands tucked into opposite sleeves, their heads bowed respectfully as they looked at… the person at the very front of the entire hall!

He did not wear imperial robes, but instead, what seemed to be an ordinary green garment. He sat on a throne, reading an ancient scroll. He was middle-aged and handsome, seemingly genial, as though his smile could cause the spring wind to blow gently through the air. In fact, he seemed so friendly that anyone who looked at him would willingly sacrifice their life for him.

Complete silence reigned. Apparently, until this man spoke, no one else in the hall would dare to do so. Not even Gu Tianjun said anything. He simply clasped hands in formal greeting, then stood off to the side, his head bowed.

No one spoke or even moved, and no one looked at Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King. Everyone was waiting for the green-robed man to look up.

"Well he certainly knows how to show off!" Bai Xiaochun thought, his heart pounding. However, he reminded himself that he couldn't give in to fear. In fact, this Saint-Emperor seemed to be going too far in his attempt to be dazzling.

Thankfully, he didn't keep everyone waiting for too long. Once he sensed Bai Xiaochun's presence, his gaze shifted away from the ancient scroll. Looking at Bai Xiaochun, he smiled radiantly.

It was like the blooming of a hundred flowers, like the most refreshing of breezes. The imperial palace seemed to brighten, and the clouds up above danced in delight. The lotus flower that made up the palace seemed to stretch upward, causing an even more wonderful aroma to spread out. Out in the heavenly pond, the dragonfish swam back and forth in joy.

"I've heard quite a bit about you, Fellow Daoist Bai!" His words seemed to thrum with warmth and friendliness, and his eyes shone with a sincerity that made it seem impossible to doubt him.

Bai Xiaochun held his breath as he was reminded of the first time he had laid eyes on the Arch-Emperor back in the Wildlands. Taking a few steps forward, he clasped hands and bowed deeply, then spoke in a loud voice.

"Bai Xiaochun from the Heavenspan Realm is here to offer greetings, Saint-Emperor! I would also like to offer sincere thanks for your magnanimity. You have my gratitude for keeping the people of Heavenspan safe in your territory, and helping them adapt to life in the Eternal Lands.

"Being unable to pay you back for this favor, Fellow Daoist Giant Ghost and I took a trip to the Vile-Emperor Dynasty. Originally, we planned to apprehend the Vile-Emperor himself and deliver him to you. Sadly, I am too unfamiliar with the Eternal Immortal Domains, and got a bit lost. Therefore, I took a random celestial to offer you as a gift. I know the gift isn't very impressive, but I hope you'll deign to accept it, Saint-Emperor."

During his speech, Bai Xiaochun made sure to add appropriate sighing where necessary, and in the end, plastered a look of deep regret on his face.

In response to Bai Xiaochun's words, the Saint-Emperor's smile stiffened a bit. Despite being a mighty emperor, even he was a bit taken aback by what he had just heard.

If he reacted that way, then there was little need to mention how the rest of the officials responded. Many of them couldn't help but look over at Bai Xiaochun with strange expressions on their faces. Some seemed contemptuous, and others, leery.

They had seen shameless people before, and in fact, being sanctimonious was a key feature of the people of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty. But the way Bai Xiaochun unblinkingly bragged about himself in outrageous fashion… was something none of them had ever seen before.

"He went to capture the Vile-Emperor?!"

"But he didn't know the way, and couldn't find him?"

"How utterly shameless! I can handle a bit of bragging, but this is too much!"

The Giant Ghost King blinked a few times. He had been nervous a moment ago, but when he looked over and saw Bai Xiaochun standing there with a wistful expression on his face, that anxiety melted away. Looking around, he suddenly felt like he wasn't in the Eternal Lands, but rather, back in the Wildlands….

"I bet… that it won't be long before everyone in the Eternal Immortal Domains realizes how shameless he is, and how good he is at causing disasters…."

When Bai Xiaochun caught the reaction of the crowd, and noticed how stiff the Saint-Emperor's smile had become, he felt very pleased with himself. He had been in a completely passive position before, but as of this moment, he had the upper hand. And that meant he had a big bargaining chip in this interchange.

Just as he was trying to decide exactly how to word his next statement, a familiar voice could be heard from the group of cultivators on the left side of the hall.

"This is the Saint-Emperor's Palace, Bai Xiaochun. Don't even think about trying to run your mouth here!" All of a sudden, someone stepped out from the crowd and clasped hands in formal greeting to the Saint-Emperor.

"Your Majesty the Saint-Emperor, I can list 300 crimes that this Bai Xiaochun has committed. But the worst of them is that of deceiving the sovereign! Your Majesty, please punish this Bai Xiaochun for his crimes!"

"Liu Yong!" Bai Xiaochun blurted, his jaw dropping. He hadn't been looking very closely at the crowd earlier, and therefore hadn't noticed that standing right there was Heavenly Marquis Liu from the Wildlands, the very same one who had once listed out 100 crimes! [1]

Heavenly Marquis Liu didn't even look at Bai Xiaochun. He simply stood there, heart pounding with excitement. Back when the people of Heavenspan were teleported into the Eternal Lands, he got lucky, and ended up right in Saint-Emperor City. He was also one of the first to offer his services to the dynasty. He revealed much valuable information to the Saint-Emperor, and was thus given an official position within the bureaucracy.

Although it wasn't a very high position, he was still happy with it. And now here he was, facing the very same Bai Xiaochun who had forced him to flee to the Great Wall in fear. Now, he finally had a chance to finish what he had started in the Wildlands, and get his revenge.

"Even if a millennium passes," he thought, "it is never too late for a gentleman to seek revenge. You slipped through my grasp in the Wildlands, Bai Xiaochun, but you won't do the same here. I'll list out 1,000 crimes if I have to!"

1. Liu Yong accused Bai Xiaochun of numerous crimes in chapter 804

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Chapter 1056: A Duke

Never in Bai Xiaochun's wildest dreams could he have imagined that he would run into this freakish Heavenly Marquis Liu again…. After all, the man had left a deep impression on him back in their original encounter.

Bai Xiaochun would never forget that list of 100 crimes. He could still visualize the man's impassioned speech to the Grand Heavenmaster, and how, after the tables had been turned, he had ended up fleeing to the Great Wall

Much later… the Great Wall fell, and Bai Xiaochun had stopped thinking about the matter, only to have him show up here and proclaim he had a list of 300 crimes….

"Back when the Grand Heavenmaster sent me away from Arch-Emperor City, I was never able to track this guy down. What kind of luck does he have on his side? Fine, he survived the destruction of the Great Wall, and even the entire world. But how did he end up doing even better than Big Fatty Zhang, and becoming an important government official!?!?

"And also… he's lost a lot of weight. His complexion is good, and he even looks younger. He looks even more dignified and imposing than he did in the past, handsomer even…." Bai Xiaochun couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of this Heavenly Marquis Liu. Not only was the man very lucky, he was clearly living a great life here in Saint-Emperor City….

When Heavenly Marquis Liu noticed the expression on Bai Xiaochun's face, and saw all of the other important people in the palace hall looking at him with expressions of praise, his heart swelled with pride. Just as he was preparing to launch into all 300 of the crimes, Bai Xiaochun swished his sleeve, causing Gongsun Wan'er and the other demigods he had captured to suddenly appear in front of him.

"Saint-Emperor, this is the gift I prepared for you." Aware that he couldn't out-talk the glib Heavenly Marquis Liu, he decided to simply jump straight ahead to the main point.

As soon as Gongsun Wan'er appeared, thousands of eyes came to focus on her, especially those in the front of the crowd, who were the other celestials of similar rank to Gu Tianjun.

Even the Saint-Emperor was so interested in Gongsun Wan'er that he forgot all about Heavenly Marquis Liu.

Seeing what had happened, Heavenly Marquis Liu rubbed his nose awkwardly and then melted back into the crowd.

"Fine, you've slipped through my fingers again, Bai Xiaochun. Well done. But sooner or later I'll list out all 1,000 of the crimes I have prepared!"

Gongsun Wan'er looked around calmly at the crowd, and then gave a curtseying bow to the Saint-Emperor. However, she didn't say anything. As a celestial from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, she would show respect for other powerful and important people, but that was it. She was confident that she would not be harmed in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty.

In contrast, looks of despair could be seen on the faces of the trembling demigods. The pressure from the celestials and the Saint-Emperor left them feeling like they might collapse.

A moment passed, and then the Saint-Emperor began to laugh loudly. He rose from his throne, a look of excitement on his face. After all, this was the most impressive gift anyone had offered to him in the history of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty!

He wouldn't kill Gongsun Wan'er, but considering that she was a celestial, he would be able to trade her for significant land concessions. Considering that there were certain prefectures which were the source of much friction between the two dynasties, this was a great opportunity.

Best of all, it wouldn't violate any of his agreements with the Vile-Emperor. After all, this gift had been sent to him, not sought out. Even if the Vile-Emperor wanted to seek revenge, he couldn't blame the Saint-Emperor for any of it.

"Good. Great. Excellent!" Laughing heartily, the Saint-Emperor looked over at Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King at the other end of the square.

"Giant Ghost, step forward to hear my decree!"

Eyes sparkling, the Giant Ghost King stepped forward, and then clasped hands to the Saint-Emperor.

"Henceforth, Giant Ghost shall be the preceptor of Godsifter Prefecture, and shall be given control of the Joss Flame of all the living beings there!"

In the Eternal Immortal Domains, a prefecture was roughly the same size as the entire Heavenspan Realm. As the preceptor of a Godsifter Prefecture, the Giant Ghost King's words would be law!

Such a reward was very fitting for someone of the Giant Ghost King's status, and he was very pleased with it. In fact, the main thing he had hoped to acquire in this venture was a proper location to begin harboring people from the Heavenspan Realm.

Clasping hands, the Giant Ghost King bowed excitedly.

"Thank you, Saint-Emperor!" When he rose from his bow, he somehow seemed different from before. As of this moment, he now had a foundation in the Eternal Lands. He was no longer a roving rogue cultivator, and would no longer be in a constant state of deadly crisis. It was exactly as he had discussed at the outset with Bai Xiaochun!

Bai Xiaochun was also very excited. When he saw that the Giant Ghost King had been given an entire prefecture, he couldn't help but wonder what his own reward would be, considering the greater nature of his role in the events.

With that, the Saint-Emperor looked at Bai Xiaochun, eyes flickering slightly as he said, "Bai Xiaochun, hear my decree!"

Bai Xiaochun put an extremely respectful expression onto his face. He knew when to bow his head at the proper time, and this was one of them. It was no loss of face to do so when reaching one's goal.

"Bai Xiaochun has performed a great service. He is someone of extremely high standing from the Heavenspan Realm, a person of such renown and prestige that none can compare to him!

"Henceforth, Bai Xiaochun shall be conferred with the title… Duke Heavenspan!

"In the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, only celestials may claim the title of king. Under the kings are the dukes. Therefore, Duke Heavenspan shall be the leader of many people, second only to a king!

"Bequeath him with a blessed land within Saint-Emperor City, a single dragonfish from the celestial pond, a ducal robe, and a seven-colored, jeweled belt!" As the Saint-Emperor's words echoed out, very serious expressions could be seen on the faces of the surrounding aristocracy.

It was a very impressive reward. Not only was Bai Xiaochun being named Duke Heavenspan, he was also being given a blessed land, as well as a dragonfish. The ducal robe was a magical item, and the seven-colored belt would ensure that he didn't feel any pressure from the spirit automaton that controlled the imperial palace.

All of it seemed very impressive, and yet in the end… it was an empty reward!

The truth was that Bai Xiaochun really was in a very unique position. The Saint-Emperor had seen fit to give the Giant Ghost King an entire prefecture, but that wasn't a possibility with Bai Xiaochun. The Saint-Emperor didn't want to give the people of Heavenspan an actual location to build a power base!

His goal was to absorb the Heavenspan cultivators into the Saint-Emperor Dynasty. Obviously, it wouldn't make sense to give Bai Xiaochun, the Arch-Ancestor, any substantial level of power!

He wanted Bai Xiaochun to stay in Saint-Emperor City and not cause any trouble. At best, he could be a figurehead. Later on, after all of the people of Heavenspan had been successfully absorbed into the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, Bai Xiaochun's usefulness would end, and he could be disposed of if necessary.

The truth was that, even if Bai Xiaochun hadn't brought his blood tribute, his reward would have been the same. Although the Saint-Emperor was pleased that Ghostmother had been brought to him, inside he was really just sighing in regret.

After all, everyone would be paying close attention to what happened as a result, including the officials in his own dynasty, as well as people from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty. Considering the enormous value of the gift, the Saint-Emperor had to offer some sort of reward. And that was why he had given a prefecture and preceptorship to the Giant Ghost King.

Normally speaking, he would never have given the people of Heavenspan even the slightest chance to do things on their own.

"I'll just wait until the time is right and come up with an excuse to strip this Giant Ghost of his title." Although the Saint-Emperor was chuckling coldly in his heart, his gaze when he looked at Bai Xiaochun was one of deep warmth.

"This is your first time in Saint-Emperor City, Duke Heavenspan, I'm sure it will take you a bit of time to settle in. You don't need to worry for a moment about the Heavenspan Realm or your people. I'll take care of everything!

"Surely you're tired from all the travel, Duke Heavenspan, so please feel free to go take a rest. From now on, you can focus peacefully on your cultivation. I'm sure you'll achieve a breakthrough soon. Once you're a celestial, I'll be more than happy to give you the title of king!"

As the Saint-Emperor spoke, cold gleams could be seen in the somber faces of the crowd. By this point, even Bai Xiaochun could tell that the reward he was being given was mostly a sham.

Of course, he and the Giant Ghost King had conferred with each other along the way, and had guessed that something like this might happen. And in the end, despite their faint hope, it turned out that the Saint-Emperor's plans for them weren't too different than the Vile-Emperor's.

He just went about things differently.

"I bet that without the blood tribute, though, the Giant Ghost King would not have been given a prefecture!" As of now, Bai Xiaochun was absolutely convinced these two emperors were weasels from the same nest.

"One is vicious, the other is a hypocrite…." he thought, smiling faintly. Although he was a bit disappointed, he wasn't too surprised. After all, there was one thing the Saint-Emperor had said that was absolutely correct.

"I'm definitely going to achieve a cultivation breakthrough soon!"

He clasped hands and bowed to the Saint-Emperor, and was just about to say his farewells to the Giant Ghost King, when all of a sudden, Heavenly Marquis Liu shouted, "Your Majesty the Saint-Emperor, you absolutely must not allow Bai Xiaochun to remain within Saint-Emperor City. It will put us all in grave danger!"

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Chapter 1057: Dont Say I Didnt Warn You!

From the tightness of Heavenly Marquis Liu's voice, he seemed extremely nervous. His words almost came out as a scream. In response, the thousands of court officials looked over at him with frowns on their faces.

Bai Xiaochun stopped in place and blinked a few times. As for the Giant Ghost King, his eyes shone with anticipation.

"So, the fellow finally speaks some truth!" Actually, the Giant Ghost King hoped that Heavenly Marquis Liu would convince the Saint-Emperor to change his mind. If Bai Xiaochun were able to avoid being confined in Saint-Emperor City, it would be much more beneficial to their cause.

For the first time, Bai Xiaochun wasn't very annoyed by Heavenly Marquis Liu, and actually looked forward to what he was about to say. He was even secretly cheering him on.

Although the Saint-Emperor wasn't very pleased, he masked such feelings and turned his warm gaze onto Heavenly Marquis Liu.

"My dear Minister Liu. What exactly do you mean?"

Having received the nod of approval from the Saint-Emperor, Heavenly Marquis Liu bowed excitedly, and then spoke out in a much louder voice.

"Your Majesty, you have no idea the kinds of things this Bai Xiaochun did in the Heavenspan Realm. Sir, it didn't matter where he went, he would always cause a massive disaster, and wreak the cruelest of torments upon the people there!

"He toyed with the Spirit Stream Sect, toyed with the Blood Stream Sect, and toyed with the River-Defying Sect to no end! Later, he ended up in the Wildlands, where he shook down clans, stole wives, and accumulated a list of 100 major crimes! Afterward, he nearly destroyed the entire Nine Heavens Cloud Lightning Sect. Voices of discontent could be heard everywhere! Men and gods alike were outraged!" Heavenly Marquis Liu was clearly very worked up, and actually had a lot more to say. But by this point, the gathered officials had begun to laugh openly.

Although they didn't believe Heavenly Marquis Liu to be lying, they most certainly assumed that he was exaggerating. Besides, although Bai Xiaochun had a quasi-celestial cultivation base, he came from a very small world.

In sharp contrast, Saint-Emperor City was the capital city of an entire dynasty!

There were multiple celestials here, as well as the Saint-Emperor himself. Even if Bai Xiaochun were more powerful than he actually was, they didn't see how anything he could do would possibly cause any major problems.

The Saint-Emperor gave a hollow chuckle. He felt the same as everyone else. If you threw a monkey into little garden with no other animals in it, then the monkey would definitely seem tough. But throw that same monkey into a lion's den, and the monkey would have a very different fate.

Waving his hand to interrupt Heavenly Marquis Liu, he rose to his feet, indicating that court was adjourned.

Both the Giant Ghost King and Bai Xiaochun were very disappointed. To some extent, Bai Xiaochun was also nervous. He knew that he had the strange ability to cause major disasters, even when he didn't want to. Therefore, he decided that the best thing to do would be to make sure he had some insurance.

Rushing forward, he called out,

"Your Majesty, wait a moment!"

The Saint-Emperor stopped in place and turned to look at him, as did all of the other court officials.

"Your Majesty," he said cautiously, "what Liu Yong just said is actually true. To be honest, I'm a bit worried that I might break some rules in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty. In fact… if I, Duke Heavenspan, accidentally violate some rules, what would the punishment be?"

The Saint-Emperor's eyes narrowed as he looked back and forth between Bai Xiaochun and Heavenly Marquis Liu, trying to decide if they were working together. From the look of things, both of them were trying to come up with an excuse to get Bai Xiaochun out of Saint-Emperor City.

"As a duke who has performed meritorious service, as long as you don't betray the nation, you will not be punished for any action!" Inside, the Saint-Emperor was chuckling coldly. Considering how important Bai Xiaochun was in controlling the people of Heavenspan, there was no way he would simply let him leave.

Bai Xiaochun was very pleased with the answer he had just been given, but didn't let it show on his face. Frowning and sighing, he left with the Giant Ghost King.

As everyone departed, Heavenly Marquis Liu stood there, crestfallen. As far as he was concerned, the Saint-Emperor had just led the wolf right into the henhouse. In the coming days, Saint-Emperor City would likely descend into tragedy, at least until the drums and gongs were broken out, and the Plague God Bai Xiaochun was driven away.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" he sighed, bemoaning the state of the universe, and pitying the fate of mankind.

Court was adjourned, and the Saint-Emperor had bestowed the rewards. Before Bai Xiaochun left, the two old men who had been standing at the front of the hall approached him.

One of them gave him a jade slip which was essentially a key to the blessed land he had been given.

The other was a colorful belt which would ensure that he didn't feel any pressure from the spirit automaton of the world treasure that was the imperial palace.

He was also given a ducal robe of the finest quality, a magical item with an impressive aura. Lastly, he was given… a dragonfish!

The dragonfish was fully three meters long, and was still alive. It had been bound up so that it couldn't move, and yet its sharp teeth and glaring eyes seemed particularly ferocious.

Bai Xiaochun looked over the rewards and sighed.

"This Saint-Emperor is so stingy…. I guess the robe, immortal's cave, and belt are okay, but what did he give me a fish for…?" Shaking his head, he used the jade slip to go find his blessed land, taking the Giant Ghost King with him. It was located on a lotus leaf that had plenty of buildings on it. His blessed land was right in the middle, in a relatively tranquil and quiet locale.

Although it was called a blessed land, it was actually just a mansion residence. On the upside, the spiritual power of heaven and earth was strong in the area. There were beautiful ornamental rocks, and lovely buildings built in a very impressive and imposing style.

Bai Xiaochun was happy with the residence. Although it was relatively empty and unfamiliar, he didn't mind, and therefore just sat down to meditate and familiarize himself with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth here. As for the Giant Ghost King, he looked around briefly, and then left.

The Giant Ghost King and Bai Xiaochun were very different in some ways. For example, back in the town he had ended up in, Bai Xiaochun never got familiar with anybody. Some of it had to do with the depression he had been in, but some of it was his personality. In contrast, the Giant Ghost King had made friends quickly. From that, it was possible to see how good the Giant Ghost King was at expanding his network. In fact, he could put Xu Baocai to shame.

And that was exactly what he planned to do here. Even as he made preparations to go to Godsifter Prefecture, he made enquiries and gathered information.

Before long, the moon hung high in the sky, and Bai Xiaochun awoke from his meditative trance. After looking up into the sky, and then glancing around at the unfamiliar buildings, he realized that he had truly taken his first major step in the Eternal Immortal Domains.

Sighing, he began to think of many familiar faces.

"Uncle Li…. Bruiser…. Patriarch Spirit Stream….

"Song Junwan…. Mistress Red-Dust….

"Master God-Diviner…. Xu Baocai…." In the end he sighed, thinking about one final name.

"…Du Lingfei…." Bai Xiaochun wasn't even sure if Du Lingfei was still alive. Back in the final moments, Daoist Heavenspan had claimed that she was.

But then the world was destroyed. And the immortal domains were vast and filled with countless people. How could he possibly find her in such an environment?

"What I need to do now is work hard on my cultivation and break through to the Celestial Realm! In terms of cultivation, I need medicinal pills and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth…. I guess I need to familiarize myself with what type of cultivation resources are available in the Eternal Immortal Domains." As he settled his thoughts, his eyes began to shine with both anticipation and focus.

As the night deepened, the Giant Ghost King returned, looking very excited.

"The fish! That dragonfish!"

Surprised, Bai Xiaochun looked over at the dragonfish, which was off to the side, still flipping and flopping a bit. From the look in the Giant Ghost King's eyes, it was like some sort of precious treasure.

"Xiaochun, that's no ordinary fish! The Saint-Emperor really wasn't holding back at all…. Heavenly dragonfish are native only to this heavenly pond. They drink heavenly pondwater, and thus naturally absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. They are also fed with all sorts of precious materials! They're considered the personal property of the Saint-Emperor!

"Any cultivator of the celestial level or lower who eats a heavenly dragonfish will experience a major cultivation base boost. As much as from an immortal pill!!"

"Immortal pill!?" Bai Xiaochun said, his eyes shining. He had just been wondering about where to get the spiritual energy he needed to work on his cultivation. And thus, he and the Giant Ghost King went about roasting the fish….

As it turned a lovely golden-brown color, a wonderful aroma filled the air. Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King salivated as they waited for it to finish cooking. And then… they began to eat.

When he was finished, Bai Xiaochun licked his lips in complete satisfaction and said, "Delicious! Tastes just like spirit tail chicken!"

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Chapter 1058: You Ate It!?

Bai Xiaochun suddenly realized that he missed spirit tail chickens, and yet, the fact that he had found something similar to them in the Eternal Lands was a wonderful thing….

The Giant Ghost King smacked his lips, and then eyed a fish bone for a moment before tossing it into his mouth and crunching it to bits. He then prepared to speak, but before he could, he shivered, and a searing heat rose up inside of him that caused white mist to build up in the area.

"An immortal fish!" he exclaimed. He quickly settled down cross-legged to begin doing breathing exercises.

After the Giant Ghost King experienced such success, Bai Xiaochun waited for a long moment to see if something similar would happen with himself. However, no heat appeared inside of him.

"What's going on? It worked for the Giant Ghost King. Why not me?" Then he looked around, and realized that there were a lot of bones around that they hadn't eaten. After randomly picking up a few, he crunched them up in his mouth and swallowed them, which was exactly when the warm current began to flow through him.

Delighted, he closed his eyes. Soon, the warmth turned into something like a huge wave that pushed his Live Forever Codex further toward completion.

Suppressing his excitement, he focused on the energy in his body. Time passed. Soon, roughly six hours had gone by since Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King began meditating.

At that point, the Giant Ghost King opened his eyes, threw his head back and laughed uproariously. In that short six hours, the Giant Ghost King had made significant progress toward the late Demigod Realm.

"It's too bad we only had one," he said. "If I could eat fish like that more often, I could reach the great circle in no time!"

At that point, Bai Xiaochun also opened his eyes, and they glittered with bright light.

Although he hadn't made as much progress as the Giant Ghost King, that was because he was already further past him in general. Even still, the little bit of progress he had experienced was very exciting.

If he wanted to break through to become a celestial, then he needed to reach the great circle of the Live Forever Codex. Unfortunately, he was still some distance away from that level. And unfortunately, the Live Forever Codex differed from the Undying Codex in that he had not actually personally cultivated it. It had been consecrated upon him.

Although he had developed the divine abilities of the technique all the way to creating his Live Forever Lamp, the truth was that he still didn't really understand how to actually cultivate the technique.

After the gravekeeper consecrated him, he came to the Eternal Immortal Domains and achieved a bit of progress. But it was slow to the point of being almost nothing. At the moment, his Live Forever Codex had reached the point where it was holding him back. He was basically at a major bottleneck.

Based on what he could tell, if he practiced ordinary cultivation with the spiritual energy in Saint-Emperor City, then he couldn't achieve in ten years or more what he had just achieved by eating half of a heavenly dragonfish.

Considering that, it was almost impossible to calculate how long it would take him to break out of the Demigod Realm by ordinary cultivation alone!

His original plan had been to acquire some special medicinal pills or something similar. But now, looking around at the handful of fish bones that were left over, he realized that a new path had just been opened up.

"One fish is worth at least fifteen years of cultivation!!" All of a sudden, Bai Xiaochun's eyes began to shine as brightly as a mouse that hadn't eaten for several years. "If I could get enough of those fish… breaking through this bottleneck would be super easy! I could become a celestial very soon!!"

He was already getting very excited. For one thing, he would have much more longevity and life force after becoming a celestial, and for another, he would have his Daoseed, which meant he could be resurrected if he died. All of a sudden, he had the desire to reach the absolute pinnacle of this strange new world he was in. And it all came down to the heavenly dragonfish.

"I need fish!!" He immediately began to look around and grab up all fish bones he could see. However, the Giant Ghost King seemed to have come to the same conclusion as him, and lunged to interfere!

"Hey, Giant Ghost King, the Saint-Emperor gave me this fish as a reward. Don't you dare fight me over it!" Bai Xiaochun's eyes widened into a glare.

"Like hell! I'm your father-in-law, fool! Haven't you heard of filial piety!?"

At this point, Bai Xiaochun furiously resorted to a trump card. "This is one of my leftovers! I actually licked it already!!"

"Oh yeah? Well I licked all the other ones you already ate! We're related anyway, so it doesn't matter!" Not willing to be outdone, the Giant Ghost King leaned forward and spat toward the fish bones on the ground….

Perhaps it was because of some divine ability that he cultivated, but that one bit of spittle somehow managed to spread out and cover all of the bones….

Bai Xiaochun stood there, stunned at the Giant Ghost King's despicable and yet devastating tactics. Although he had to admit that the man was definitely thicker-skinned and a much better schemer than himself, that didn't explain how he was able to spit out so much saliva in one shot….

As he stood there hesitating, the Giant Ghost King waved his sleeve, collecting all of the fish bones up and depositing them into his bag of holding. With that, he smiled complacently.

"You're too inexperienced to fight with me, kid." With that, he laughed heartily.

Dumbfounded, Bai Xiaochun sighed and was about to say something when both he and the Giant Ghost King realized that someone was approaching the blessed land. A moment later, they heard someone speaking outside.

"Duke Heavenspan, it's Chen Su, here for a visit."

This was the first official visit Bai Xiaochun had received in Saint-Emperor City, and shockingly, the visitor was a celestial! Not only was Bai Xiaochun curious to see who it was, he also didn't want to cause any offenses, so he hurried over, waving his hand to open the main gate. Revealed outside was an old man with gray hair.

He wore a long, blue robe, and bore the demeanor of a transcendent being. Smiling faintly, he clasped hands in formal greeting.

"I was wondering why the birds were singing so happily earlier!" Bai Xiaochun said. "It was because an honored guest was on his way! I never imagined it would be you, Fellow Daoist Chen! Please, come in!" Bai Xiaochun's broad smile and clearly spoken words made him seem completely different than he had moments ago, struggling with the Giant Ghost King over fish bones.

Chen Su laughed heartily at Bai Xiaochun's pleasing words. Nodding, he stepped into the blessed land.

The Giant Ghost King was also curious about this visitor. Neither he nor Bai Xiaochun were cultivators of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, and were considered foreigners. Although they both had official government positions, based on the information he had gathered earlier, he knew that most of the other government officials viewed them with a certain measure of contempt.

And yet, almost overnight, someone had come to pay their respects. Furthermore, Chen Su was one of the four kings of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, someone with a rank similar to Gu Tianjun. Shocked, the Giant Ghost King quickly clasped hands in a greeting of his own.

Chen Su nodded at the Giant Ghost King, but then ignored him. After looking around the courtyard, he made some small talk with Bai Xiaochun, until finally clearing his throat.

"Fellow Daoist Bai, where is the heavenly dragonfish that His Majesty rewarded you with?"

"Heavenly dragonfish?" Bai Xiaochun had been curious about the nature of the visit, so when Chen Su brought up the heavenly dragonfish, he was a bit taken aback.

"Yes, the heavenly dragonfish," Chen Su replied warmly. "If you'd be willing to part with it, Fellow Daoist Bai, I'd love to take it in trade." Chen Su, despite being a celestial, actually had no heavenly dragonfish. After all, they were considered the personal property of the Saint-Emperor, and were rarely given out as rewards. In fact, throughout all history, only a few hundred had ever been distributed.

Each one was considered beyond priceless, and they were commonly referred to as national treasures, which was no exaggeration. In the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, people would pay astronomical prices to acquire even one. One of the main reasons for that was that their blood could be used as an immortal ingredient to concoct immortal pills.

Chen Su was convinced that his proposal would not be rejected. Bai Xiaochun was a newcomer to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, and wouldn't want to offend a celestial over a fish.

Bai Xiaochun hesitated for a moment, then said, "Uh… sorry, Fellow Daoist Chen, you're a bit late. I ate it already."

When Chen Su heard Bai Xiaochun's response, his eyes nearly popped out of his skull.

"Did you just say… you ate it?"

Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times and then nodded. "Yep. Ate it."

As far as Chen Su was concerned, Bai Xiaochun was obviously making up excuses. Voice cold, he said, "Come on, Fellow Daoist Bai. Don't treat me like I'm three years old or something. If you don't wish to part with it, just say so directly. Heavenly dragonfish are national treasures, and precious beyond imagination. Nobody who acquired one would ever possibly eat it! The best thing to do is keep it in a pond and extract its blood occasionally!"

With that, he flicked his sleeve as if to leave.

At this point, Bai Xiaochun sighed and gave the Giant Ghost King a look. The Giant Ghost King, despite not really wanting to, produced some fish bones from his bag of holding.

"See these fishbones, Fellow Daoist Chen…."

When Chen Su looked back and saw the bones, his eyes went wide. When he opened his mouth to speak….

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Chapter 1059: Intolerable Bullying

The fish bones, and the aura of a heavenly dragonfish coming from them, caused Chen Su's heart to seize, and his mind to spin.

As a celestial in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, he had seen heavenly dragonfish given out as rewards before. Whenever it happened, the recipients would keep them in ponds and take good care of them.

This was his first time hearing of someone doing something so shocking as eating a national treasure….

In fact, he almost couldn't process it mentally. After staring blankly at the fish bones for a moment, he shook his head and sighed.

"What a reckless waste!" Unsure of exactly how he felt, he slowly left the blessed land.

After he was gone, Bai Xiaochun and the Giant Ghost King looked at each other in shock.

"It's just a fish, right?" the Giant Ghost King said. "These Saint-Emperor Dynasty people are real weirdos." The truth was that he was actually feeling a bit guilty at having gathered incomplete information the night before. Clearing his throat, he looked up into the evening sky.

"Well, Xiaochun, it's actually a long way to Godsifter Prefecture. I really need to get going. Who knows when we'll meet again." He sighed. The two of them had accomplished a lot since their initial reunion in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, and as he thought back, he realized that there had been many twists and turns in their journey.

The upside was that he now had a firm foundation, and his own path to tread.

Bai Xiaochun was feeling a bit emotional as well as he escorted the Giant Ghost King all the way to the teleportation portal. After the Giant Ghost King faded away, Bai Xiaochun sighed, and then turned to head back to his blessed land.

"With the Giant Ghost King gone, I'm all alone now. I guess it's time to start working hard on my cultivation base breakthrough." A glint of determination could be seen in his eyes as he proceeded along. There were other pedestrians, mostly cultivators, although the occasional mortal could also be seen. And yet, even the mortals seemed to have arrogance baked into them all the way down to their bones.

Everyone in the capital city seemed to have a very high impression of themselves, and the truth was that Bai Xiaochun didn't mind that. As he walked along, he looked around at the buildings, and thought about how Saint-Emperor City rested on enormous lotus leaves. It all made him sigh.

"And to think that it's all built on top of a huge mountain and a heavenly pond." At one point, his path took him toward the very edge of the lotus leaf, where he took the opportunity to look over at the water below.

Heavenly dragonfish swam there, and would occasionally leap up out of the water, their golden scales glistening in the sunlight and making them look particularly beautiful.

Quite a few people were in the area. Although the locals were used to heavenly dragonfish, they were still such an amazing sight that people would come to scenic spots like this to look at them. And of course, passing visitors would always come to do the same thing.

"These are the national treasures of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, heavenly dragonfish!"

"These heavenly dragonfish are the most beautiful spirit creatures I've ever seen in my entire life! If the Saint-Emperor gave one to me as a gift, I would take care of it in my home forever. What an honor to my ancestors that would be!"

Many such expressions of praise could be heard. However, as Bai Xiaochun stood there in the crowd, he was thinking something very different. His mind was occupied with thoughts of how delicious the heavenly dragonfish were, and how beneficial they were to his cultivation base.

He couldn't help but lick his lips. Considering the level of his cultivation base, it was easy for him to get a general idea of how many fish there were in the heavenly pond, and there were a lot. Even as he pondered if it might be possible to catch one, a visiting cultivator in the crowd turned to a friend and asked, "Considering that the heavenly dragonfish are precious national treasures, what would happen if one of them went missing…?"

When Bai Xiaochun heard that, his eyes glittered.

"Missing?" Laughter rippled through the crowd, causing the cultivator who had asked the question to flush in embarrassment.

Standing nearby was an old man with a Nascent Soul cultivation base, a person who had clearly lived in Saint-Emperor City for many years. Looking naturally pompous, he provided an answer.

"All of the heavenly dragonfish here are the personal property of His Majesty the Saint-Emperor. They're all branded with his mark. Who would possibly dare to try to steal one?! It would never happen, trust me. If someone did steal a fish, they would meet a horrific and grisly fate! In fact, forget stealing. It's forbidden to do anything that would even come close to harming a heavenly dragonfish!" In response to the old man's explanation, the visiting cultivator nodded vigorously.

As for Bai Xiaochun, he frowned, slightly frustrated by what he was hearing.

When the old man realized that he was now the center of attention, he proudly continued, "Of course, His Majesty the Saint-Emperor is generous and benevolent, and is not the type to become overly attached to his personal property. Furthermore, he pays close attention to matters regarding destiny. Therefore, he made a proclamation long ago stating that, in addition to acquiring heavenly dragonfish as a personal gift from him, anyone can take them as long as they do so by fishing!"

"Fishing?" blurted one of the other nearby cultivators.

"That's right. Fishing. With a hook and line! Magic isn't allowed. Only ordinary fishing techniques!" The old man cleared his throat before continuing. "Dragonfish are intelligent, and if you are connected to one by destiny, it will allow you to hook it and even eat it." Stroking his beard, the old man pointed to another location at the edge of the lotus leaf, where it was just possible to see someone seated in meditation, but with a fishing pole in his hand.

"Look, over there. That's Preceptor Seadeep. He's been fishing in that exact same spot for over a hundred years. He hasn't changed fishing spots by even an inch. I guess it just goes to show that he isn't connected by destiny to any of the dragonfish." Most of the people in the crowd actually knew all of these things already, and were clearly very proud of them. Eventually, the visiting cultivator offered profound thanks, and the crowd dispersed.

Bai Xiaochun remained behind, peering down at the heavenly dragonfish, and occasionally looking at the demigod, who had been sitting there fishing for over a hundred years.

"This Saint-Emperor really is stuck up!" he thought, rubbing his chin.

Although the Saint-Emperor's decree seemed like an expression of benevolence, the truth was that… it was close to impossible to hook a dragonfish. One would probably be lucky to catch one after fishing for a few decades.

After all, they were intelligent, and were used to eating precious materials of heaven and earth, making them almost like immortal creatures. According to the Saint-Emperor's decree, anyone who was connected by destiny to a fish could eat it, except… that was not something that would happen for most ordinary cultivators. The more Bai Xiaochun thought about it, the more obvious it was. And likely, there were other powerful experts in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty who would realize that such matters of destiny made the prospect of catching a dragonfish basically impossible.

Few people could have the raw determination of Preceptor Seadeep.

Bai Xiaochun was already starting to feel a bit let down. He really wanted to eat some heavenly dragonfish, but it seemed like getting his hands on one would be too difficult.

After thinking about the matter for a while, he decided that it was possible he was thinking too deeply into the subject. Therefore, he went and bought some fishing gear and found a good place to try his hand at it. After several failures, he sighed and gave up.

"There's no way you can hook one of those fish!" The fish in the water would simply pass by his line. Sometimes they would look up at him, and although he couldn't be sure, he was fairly convinced that they were mocking him.

"How dare some fish make fun of me!!" he thought angrily, glaring down into the water as fiercely as he could. However, he soon shivered in defeat.

He usually won staring contests, but now… the mocking gazes of the heavenly dragonfish had him scowling on the verge of tears. Eventually he stomped away from the water's edge.

"Complete and utter bullying!" he thought bitterly. However, he was out of options. Throwing his fishing pole down, he returned to his immortal's cave.

A few days later, an emissary came from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty to discuss the matter of Ghostmother with the Saint-Emperor. In the end, three prefectures were ceded to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty to get her back.

By the time Bai Xiaochun heard about it, the bone lizard battleship was flying off into the distance. He just barely made out Gongsun Wan'er on deck, toward whom he clasped hands and bowed, wishing her well after she got back to the Vile-Emperor Dynasty.

After all, the person returning to the Vile-Emperor was both Ghostmother and… not Ghostmother!

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