A Will Eternal

As Murknine County began to collapse, Bai Xiaochun and Gongsun Wan’er flew out of the massive crater. They were the ones bearing the brunt of the massive attack, more specifically, the black smoke Gongsun Wan’er had summoned, which seemingly opened the gates of hell to unleash innumerable vicious ghosts.

However, upon facing the massive blast of force, those ghosts were weak, and couldn’t even fight back. In the blink of an eye, they were crushed out of existence, as was the entire area of black smoke.

The destructive attack continued, smashing into Gongsun Wan’er’s bone battleship. That bone battleship was almost at the same level as a world treasure, and had astonishing defensive properties. Years ago, Bai Xiaochun had only been able to break through it by using the Greatsword of the North, and also severely draining his energy reserves.

As of now, the battleship’s defensive shield sprang up, but all it did was cause the explosive attack to pause for a moment. Then the shield shattered, and the battleship was sent spinning off to the side before Gongsun Wan’er managed to snag it back. Despair was now visible within her eyes; she knew that all of her hopes rested in Bai Xiaochun.

Howling, Bai Xiaochun thrust out the Greatsword of the North. When it hit the windstorm of the attack, heaven-shaking, earth-shattering rumbling sounds echoed out in all directions. The Greatsword of the North was called a world treasure, and right now, it lived up to that name. Despite the fact that this attack surpassed the Celestial Realm, it still managed to stand up to it.

However, the price Bai Xiaochun had to pay was immense. To him, it felt like countless divine abilities slamming into him, causing him to gasp, and his eyes to turn crimson. He howled as the Undying Codex’s powers of regeneration raced through him to resist the destructive power. At the same time, he staggered backward, with Gongsun Wan’er clinging desperately to his arm as he held the Greatsword in front of him defensively.

And yet, in the end, he couldn’t wipe out the power of the attack. After all, that attack was strong enough to destroy all of Murknine County!

The Greatsword of the North held fast for a long moment, but then began to tremble unstably. Meanwhile, Bai Xiaochun struggled to breathe, blue veins bulging out on his face and neck. He knew that he could theoretically bring out his turtle-wok, but it would provide roughly the same protection as the Greatsword of the North at this moment. It could stand up to the power of the attack, but couldn’t vanquish it.

Thankfully, he had been transformed into an enormous fatty moments ago, filled with unimaginable levels of life force. Therefore, no matter how much fuel his powers of regeneration burned, there was more to keep it going.

And thus things went for an indeterminable period of time. Bai Xiaochun held fast before the attack, slowly being pushed backward, his powers of regeneration working like mad the entire time. Eventually, the wind began to fade, and Bai Xiaochun realized that the attack was reaching its end.

By the time it was all over, he felt like he could hardly breathe. He was shaking visibly, as was Gongsun Wan’er. The two of them exchanged a glance, and could both see how relieved they were to have escaped with their lives. Fear still lingered in both of their eyes.

It seemed that the things they had just experienced had taken their relationship to a new, more complicated level. It was something Gongsun Wan’er wasn’t used to, and she quickly averted her gaze and pushed herself away from Bai Xiaochun. As for Bai Xiaochun, he cleared his throat, put away the Greatsword of the North, and then looked off into the distance.

Murknine County was gone. It had been wiped clean of both spiderwebs and dust alike. There was no trace of anything, not even the massive crater. After scanning it with divine sense, neither Bai Xiaochun nor Gongsun Wan’er could detect anything other than a bit of dried up, once-viscous fluid in the spot where the crater had once existed.

Both of them were profoundly unsettled, and felt a sense of impending danger. Whatever being had existed inside of the egg sac was profoundly threatening even to them, and now it was on the loose.

However, the thing hadn’t pressed the attack, leading them to wonder if perhaps there was something wrong with it that was preventing it from harassing them further. Perhaps it had gone into hiding to lick its wounds.

At this point, Gongsun Wan’er looked at the extremely fattened Bai Xiaochun, and thought back to the scene of him absorbing life force from the egg sac. All things said, it seemed that if Bai Xiaochun hadn’t made the decision he had, the two of them would have had much more difficulty escaping the catastrophe which had played out.

Gongsun Wan’er might have ended up slightly better off, considering that the Vile-Emperor had a scrap of her Daoseed. Even if she died, she would have been resurrected. However, she also worried that if she were resurrected, the Vile-Emperor would secretly make an attempt to re-awaken Ghostmother.

On the other hand, Bai Xiaochun was in full possession of his Daoseed, a fact which was now known to the powerful experts of both of the imperial dynasties.

“We need to report this matter as quickly as possible,” Bai Xiaochun said, his heart pounding with lingering fear.

Gongsun Wan’er nodded. They proceeded on their way until they reached a fork in the road, one way leading to Mistysea Prefecture, the other leading in the direction Gongsun Wan’er planned to take. There, they paused for a moment.

Finally, Gongsun Wan’er quietly said, “Thank you.”

Not waiting for a response, she turned and headed back toward her palace of operations.

Under normal circumstances, Bai Xiaochun would have felt very pleased with himself to have Gongsun Wan’er thanking him. But right now, he wasn’t in the mood for anything like that. Although the matter of the deadly mist had been resolved, he had provoked a terrifyingly powerful entity that seemed as powerful as an archaean.

Furthermore, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t actually see his feet when he tried to look down at them. He was simply too fat. However, if he could thoroughly assimilate all of the life force he had gained, then his fleshly body and cultivation base would likely climb to a higher level, which was an exciting thought.

Not having any desire to stick around alone, he headed back toward Mistysea Prefecture.

The Grand Heavenmaster and Giant Ghost King were waiting for him in keen anticipation. After they had parted ways earlier, the mists eventually faded away, but then Murknine County was wiped out in bizarre fashion, leading to shock on the part of everyone who witnessed it.

Afterwards, they had been waiting anxiously on the border in the hopes of making contact with Bai Xiaochun again.

When they saw the enormous sphere of flesh whistling toward them through the air, some of them moved to intercept it, until their divine sense revealed to them who it was. Both the Giant Ghost King and Grand Heavenmaster looked on in complete shock.

“You….”

Bai Xiaochun landed in front of them, teetering back and forth a bit in an attempt to stand upright. Looking a bit embarrassed, he said, “Ate a bit too much back there. Oh, by the way, it was really dangerous. For the time being, don’t let anyone go out there unless absolutely necessary. Alright, I’m heading into secluded meditation. I actually benefited quite a bit from this crisis!”

After that, he resorted to a teleportation to vanish.

The Giant Ghost King and Grand Heavenmaster exchanged awkward glances, as did the other experts present. Not only had Bai Xiaochun not been hurt after entering this critically dangerous area, but he actually came out looking like a huge fatty. It was almost completely unbelievable.

Soon, Bai Xiaochun was back in his blessed land in Mistysea City. He was still feeling very unsettled by the strange entity from the massive crater. Although he had already notified the Saint-Emperor of the situation before investigating on his own, he pulled out two jade slips to provide more detailed information of what he had seen and experienced. One of them he arranged to be sent to Celestial Aged Spirit, the other to Saint-Emperor City.

“Only the archaean emperors can truly handle this situation.” He shook his head. Thankfully he had stabbed the thing with his Eternal Parasol. Presumably, that had left a powerful impression, leaving the thing injured, and preventing it from giving chase.

“Seems I’m safe for now. Hopefully the Saint-Emperor will come to check the situation out himself soon.” He sighed, aware more than ever that time was of the essence. The events of the day yet again proved that not even being a celestial could keep him safe. If he wanted to truly put down roots in the Eternal Immortal Domains, he needed a more powerful cultivation base.

Gritting his teeth, he murmured, “If I assimilate all of that life force, I should break through to the mid Celestial Realm!!” Eyes glinting with determination, he settled down cross-legged in his private chamber and made contact with the damaged fan. A moment later, he was gone.