A Will Eternal

The Waterswamp Kingdom was a divine ability that Bai Xiaochun had learned in the Spirit Stream Sect. However, to date, the entirety of his life essence spirit had not yet been revealed. Only after merging with the deva souls he had acquired, and creating his clones, had he been able to reveal the beast's claws, to defend himself against Mistress Red-Dust.

However, the clawed hand visible now seemed much larger than the one that had appeared during his fight with Mistress Red-Dust. The energy surging out seemed to obscure the will of the heavens! Furthermore, down beneath the curved claws was something that looked like a black land mass!

However, it was no land, it was actually the hand of Bai Xiaochun’s life essence spirit!

It was impossible to even imagine what that hand would be like if it appeared fully out into the open. However, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes shone in anticipation of the day when he would be able to fully employ his Waterswamp Kingdom, and see the beast as a whole.

"Even the claws should do....” One day, if that clawed hand ever fully appeared in the open, it would likely blot out the sky, and leave even a deva wallowing in despair.

“It's definitely going to happen one day!” Heart filled with anticipation, Bai Xiaochun simply watched as the curved claws descended onto the chief of the Bai Clan.

Even now, the incredible energy radiating from the gigantic claws seemed to indicate that one day, it would have the power to crush the heavens. From the perspective of the clan chief, those mountain-like claws filled the sky, and caused his heart to be overwhelmed by despair.

“No!!!” he screamed defiantly. In his madness, he held nothing back as he sent his trump card, the enormous ghost head, shooting toward the claws in a futile attempt to block them.

Rumbling sounds filled the air, and at the same time, the world seemed to disappear around him. He screamed shrilly, but soon, the sound was drowned out.

Heaven and earth shook violently, and then, the claws began to fade away. The 30,000-meter swamp disappeared, and in the soil which was revealed, five enormous ravine-like gouges could be seen!

In the middle of them all was a person, blood oozing out of his mouth, his bones shattered, his chest barely moving. Anyone who looked at him would likely take him to be a corpse.

The clan chief had been completely incapable of escaping from the unprecedented power of Bai Xiaochun’s Waterswamp Kingdom. He was a powerful expert in the mid Nascent Soul stage, but Bai Xiaochun, who himself wasn’t even a Nascent Soul cultivator, had been able to best him in battle.

The clan chief was now seriously injured and gasping for breath. However, thanks to his powerful cultivation base and intense life force, he was still alive. Unfortunately, as he struggled to breathe, he realized that so many of his bones were crushed that he couldn’t even move.

He could only glare spitefully as Bai Xiaochun, smiling bitterly, but eyes flashing with indescribable hatred.

“If you have what it takes, you unfilial bastard,” he said, gasping angrily, “then just kill me!!” His grief and indignation were like oceans that completely inundated him. By this point, he refused to believe that this person in front of him was actually Bai Hao, and yet, couldn’t imagine how an imposter could have fooled the clan’s spell formation.

In fact, not even the deva patriarch had seen any clues to indicate that this person was anyone other than Bai Hao.

“Don’t tell me you really are Bai Hao...?” Actually, the answer didn't really matter anymore. Whoever he was, the clan chief wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if he could.

“Asking to be killed?” Bai Xiaochun brushed the dust off his body and then pulled his four clones back inside of him.

Then he walked a slow circle around the clan chief, looking at him closely to see how badly he was injured. Then he squatted down next to him and bopped him on the head. Glaring, he barked angrily, “Behave, alright?!”

“You!!” the clan chief growled, his anger surging again. The unfilial and rebellious behavior on display here was so outrageous that he felt utterly humiliated. Before, the difference between him and Bai Hao had been like that between heaven and earth. But now, it was the opposite, and that feeling pushed him further into madness.

“Unfilial bastard. Unfilial son of a bitch!!” Suddenly, the clan chief coughed up a mouthful of blood and then lapsed into unconsciousness.

“Uh... all I did was bop you on the head. I didn't even use any force.” Bai Xiaochun was already feeling slightly guilty. Considering that this was Bai Hao’s father, it would have been acceptable for him to be killed by the Waterswamp Kingdom in the heat of battle. But to end his life under these circumstances didn’t seem right. Besides, a living clan chief would be a lot more useful to him than a dead one.

“Ah, whatever. I'm not the kind of person who likes all that fighting and killing. I might as well just use him as my personal protective talisman.” Having reached this point in his train of thought, Bai Xiaochun sighed and performed a double-handed incantation gesture, then slapped his hands down onto various random places on the clan chief’s body, putting over a hundred restrictive spells in place. Still not convinced that he'd done enough, he pulled out some medicinal pills and forced them into the clan chief’s mouth.

Next, he helped himself to the clan chief’s bag of holding, within which he found a sturdy rope. After imbuing the rope with some magical power, he bound the clan chief up. Throwing him over his shoulder, he said, “Hahaha! Let’s see if the Bai Clan dares to make a move against me with this protective talisman of mine.”

By this point, he felt prouder of himself than ever, and particularly clever. It was almost like he was able to have his cake and eat it too.

“It’s too bad this guy is in the mid Nascent Soul stage. Doing a soulsearch on him wouldn’t do much good. However, the fact that he was able to track me down so quickly indicates that there’s some sort of branding mark on me. That's the only way they could follow me so easily.” Then he thought back to when the deva patriarch had attacked him, and suddenly his eyes glittered.

“It must have been then. He must have hit me with some sort of seal.” He felt at his mask for a moment. The mask was extraordinary, and could completely change his appearance and aura, but it wouldn't do anything against sealing marks which had been placed on him by exterior forces.

“Well, who cares? When I make a move, I frighten even myself!” Despite trying to work up his own courage, he was still worried. After taking a step forward, he flew up into the air, then looked over his shoulder at the clan chief.

“If Bai Hao's spirit is out there, I doubt he’ll be unhappy with this. I'm his Master, after all!” Clearing his throat, he began to pick up speed.

Soon, the cold wind brought the clan chief to his senses, and when he realized the situation he was in, his eyes clouded with venomous rage.

“You unfilial son of a bitch! You’re going to die in pain!!”

Bai Xiaochun ignored him and kept flying. Three days passed by in a flash, during which time the clan chief’s voice grew very hoarse from the constant cursing and swearing.

In the end, Bai Xiaochun actually started to get angry.

Looking over his shoulder, he said, “Shut up! Aren’t you getting tired of talking!? If you keep yapping I’ll--”

“Kill me!!” the clan chief interrupted hoarsely, glaring at Bai Xiaochun.

“Don’t worry, I'm not going to kill you. But if you say one more word, I’ll strip you buck naked!” The clan chief’s eyes went wide, and he panted furiously. His face even turned bright red. However, he closed his mouth and didn't dare to utter another word.

From what he could tell, the words uttered by his unfilial son were no mere threat. And the thought of being stripped of his clothes and hung out in the open was a level of humiliation that struck him with enough terror that he shivered.

Seeing that his threat had been effective, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes glittered, and he smiled. The clan chief was trembling in rage, but doing his best to suppress it, the act of which seemed to be burning him alive from the inside.

However, he didn’t dare to push the envelope. As the chief of the Bai Clan, if he was humiliated in such a way, then after he died, the Bai Clan would become the laughing stock, not just of Giant Ghost City, but of the entire Wildlands. It would take years to live down such humiliation.

Despite feeling like his scalp was about to explode, the clan chief gritted his teeth and maintained his silence.

“If I had known this would work, I would have done it way earlier!” Bai Xiaochun felt slightly bad for the clan chief, but then he thought about how he’d treated Bai Hao, and his eyes began to shine with cold light.