A Will Eternal

“I want revenge!!” he said, his face a mask of rage. Clenching his hands into fists, his mind began to spin with thoughts of how to do just that.

Of course, he was no fool; he knew that killing everyone wasn’t an option. He was in a very precarious position and situation here in the Wildlands. If he killed one or two of these chosen, it might not be a big deal, but if he killed too many, he would end up offending all of the Wildlands. That would be putting himself in far too precarious of a situation.

And yet, merely killing one or two people would not be the revenge he wanted.

“Besides, me killing some people wouldn’t be a very big deal to the Giant Ghost King. After all, it’s not like he would be directly responsible for their deaths…. In fact, he would probably get super pissed off at me. In the end, I would just be screwing myself by doing that….

“No, I have to think of something better. I have to think of a way to get my revenge, and also make things hard on the Giant Ghost King.” Tugging at his hair in frustration, and eyes completely bloodshot, he continued to ponder the situation for a long moment. Then, his eyes suddenly began to shine, and he gasped.

“I know what to do!!” he thought, instantly perking up. As the moments ticked by, his idea grew clearer.

“I won’t kill them, I’ll kidnap them! Then I’ll hand them all over to the Giant Ghost King. At that point, they’ll definitely blame him for everything inside the Necromancer Kettle. Then he’ll either have to release all of the chosen, and lose a huge amount of face, or refuse to release them, and give the rest of the Wildlands a good reason to join together and cause problems for him! Heh heh….

“These chosen are going to end up like hot potatoes, and when the time comes, the Giant Ghost King isn’t going to be able to go to anybody to complain about it…. And even if he were more domineering than he already is, it would be difficult for him to try to hold all the chosen hostage. That would get everyone completely pissed off. If Lord Bai did something like that, it probably wouldn't cause too much of a stir, but if the Giant Ghost King tried to, it would lead to all sorts of disasters!” Having reached this point in his train of thought, Bai Xiaochun threw his head back and laughed uproariously.

He really couldn’t help but marvel at how intelligent he was to come up with an idea like this. Feeling more proud of himself than ever, he sighed and then began to put more thought into how to carry out his plan.

“I definitely have to think of every possibility. What will I do if that punk the Giant Ghost King actually just decides to release everybody? That’s not a completely impossible outcome. Hmmmphh! Lord Bai will make sure that even if the Giant Ghost King frees everyone, he’ll still pay a painful price for it all!” Looking very excited at the prospect of getting his revenge this way, he did a bit more planning. Soon, his eyes shone with anticipation.

“This isn’t my fault, Giant Ghost King. You screw me over? Well don’t blame me for screwing you right back. Furthermore, Lord Bai is going to take this opportunity to cultivate his Undying Bones!” Although there were some flaws to his plan, Bai Xiaochun knew that he couldn’t account for every possibility. However, he was certain that his overall strategy was perfect.

“I can’t sit around waiting to take vengeance. I need to start now!” With that, he blurred into motion, speeding out into the mists and using the power of his mask to conceal his aura. Not only did the evil ghosts not see him because of that, but he was able to flit about like a spirit from the underworld, passing here and there without making a single noise.

The mists in the Necromancer Kettle were filled with evil ghosts and countless hordes of vengeful souls. To pass by so many of the things left him feeling a bit jumpy.

That was especially true when he realized that the evil ghosts here all had solitary horns jutting out of their foreheads. Furthermore, they seemed to occasionally take corporeal form, which was even more shocking.

“This Necromancer Kettle is a very strange place, and the vengeful souls here are completely bizarre!”

These vengeful souls and evil ghosts were much more brutal than the type outside, and some of them could even utilize magical techniques and divine abilities that drew upon their auras of death. Furthermore, if they saw living beings, they would pounce on them and, if they caught them, immediately begin to extract their life force. Before long, the life force flames of such victims would even begin to flicker unstably.

If cultivators from the Heavenspan River region ran into vengeful souls like this, they would flee in terror. But the chosen here were Wildlanders, people who were well-equipped to deal with hordes of souls. Furthermore, all of them were necromancers of some skill. Despite the fact that the souls and ghosts in the Necromancer Kettle were more brutal than those on the outside, and more fear-inspiring, the chosen could deal with them if they were careful.

The chosen knew that the Necromancer Kettle was a special place, and that although the evil ghosts and vengeful souls there could be taken away, they would be especially hard to subjugate. The best thing to do when running into them was either to destroy them, or flee.

Because of the attacking souls and ghosts, the chosen who had been chasing Bai Xiaochun had already scattered, and were all fighting their own battles. Although, none of them had given up on the search for their quarry either.

All of them were prepared to instantly raise the alarm if they found him, and get everyone to join forces to eradicate him!

“Damned Bai Hao. If he doesn’t die, then none of us will have a chance to get that ghost king fruit!”

“Time is running out!” Everyone pulsed with the desire to kill Bai Hao, especially one young man in a blue robe, who had a very grim expression on his face as he sped through the mists. He was currently being chased by a trail of vengeful souls, and yet, they couldn’t catch up, and were soon left behind.

He was none other than Little Wolfgod, who because of his late Nascent Soul stage cultivation base, was free to move about unless he encountered a huge horde of souls, or perhaps a particularly powerful evil ghost.

“This Bai Hao is fast, but I refuse to believe that he’ll be able to evade so many of us!” Little Wolfgod had originally intended to rely on the power of his cultivation base to help one of the heirs apparent get the ghost king fruit. That was the mission from his clan, and if he accomplished it, he would be handsomely rewarded when he got home.

But Bai Hao had ruined everything. With the restrictive spell in place, nobody could get to the fruit. Both Little Wolfgod and everyone else present got the distinct sensation that this Bai Hao was toying with them.

“There are no grudges between us, but you still have to die!” Chuckling coldly, Little Wolfgod pushed forward with greater speed, sending his divine sense out in all directions to search for his quarry. An hour later, he was still speeding through the mists when he saw a group of several hundred vengeful souls. The vengeful souls caught sight of him in almost the same moment, and began to speed in his direction, eyes glowing with netherworldly light.

Little Wolfgod ignored them; a group of a few hundred vengeful souls wasn’t even worthy of his attention. With a burst of speed, he shot through them. However, even as he emerged on the other side, his face fell as a sensation of profound crisis rose up inside of him. A very strange feeling had just washed through him, making him feel like he had lost thirty percent of his cultivation base power. His cultivation base felt sore, and even sluggish in response.

“What’s going on?!” Before he could ponder the situation, he lurched to a stop, and then backed up. But even as he did so, a cold chuckle could be heard next to him.

“Too late!” A figure blurred toward him from within the vengeful souls, moving as quickly as a lightning bolt, so fast that neither the naked eye nor divine sense could track it. Before Little Wolfgod could react, the figure was right in front of him, where it combined both fleshly body strength and cultivation base power into a powerful fist strike.

Little Wolfgod let out a shout, and drew on all the power he could muster to transform into a half-wolf, half-man. However, before the transformation could be completed, Bai Xiaochun’s fist strike landed.

A rumbling sound could be heard, and a shockwave spread out in all directions. The vengeful souls were shoved away, and the shocked Little Wolfgod had no time to dodge or block, or even unleash his own blow to defend himself. Bai Xiaochun’s fist was like a mountain that slammed into his chest with indescribable force. Little Wolfgod was crushed like a twig, suffering severe internal injuries that caused him to cough up mouthful after mouthful of blood. His cultivation base nearly shattered, and numerous bones in his body were broken.

“Bai Hao!!” He shrieked, scalp tingling with shock. The fist which had struck him contained the violent force of a thunderstorm, and was something Little Wolfgod had never even seen before. Shock and terror rose up in him as blood spilled out of his mouth. This Bai Hao seemed completely different from before, more powerful to an unbelievable degree.

One fist strike had nearly destroyed Little Wolfgod. His injuries were so severe that he could barely see straight, and his nascent soul had nearly been knocked out from inside of him. As for his divine ability of transformation, it was completely interrupted and defeated! Furthermore, the force of the blow sent him tumbling backward like a kite with its string cut, until he was fully 300 meters away.

Snorting coldly, Bai Xiaochun took a step forward to appear right in front of him. “Change shape! You had a lot of fun hitting me with your wolf form, didn’t you? So, change shape! I want to hit the transformed version of you!”

Little Wolfgod was so weak that he had lost all of his will to fight. Seeing that Bai Hao was closing in on him, his eyes turned bloodshot, and despite the wounds he had suffered, he cried, “Bai Hao is right--”

However, before the words could leave his mouth, Bai Hao sealed him and tossed him into his bag of holding, then sped off into the mists.