A Will Eternal

Bai Xiaochun’s eyes sparkled brightly as he manipulated the shocking sixteen-colored sea of fire. Although his aura was calm, his heart was bursting with excitement. He felt very similar to how he used to feel back in his medicine concocting days, when he would suddenly be struck by inspiration. His heart prickled as surely as if tiny hands were tickling it.

“Seventeen colors!” he roared, throwing both hands wide in a double-handed incantation gesture. The sixteen-colored sea of fire instantly began to spin, and without the addition of any other vengeful souls, began to grow vastly hotter.

And then, as everyone watched, it began to shrink down!!

Soon, it was only 30,000 meters wide, and rapidly shrinking. The power of fire within it was shocking, and the heat caused the air to distort wildly. Nobody in the audience dared to say a single word, and all of them continued to back away anxiously.

Even more cultivators further away could feel the blistering heat, and more city guards were mobilizing to lock the area down.

Bai Xiaochun had become a source of ultimate terror, and everyone knew that if he lost control of the sea of fire, and it exploded, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Zhou Hong trembled in nervousness. Sun Yifan and Sima Tao were also shaking, and looked as ashen as death. At the same time, though, traces of excitement could be seen in their eyes. Although they viewed Bai Xiaochun as competition, they were also celestial necromancers, people who devoted themselves to the study and understanding of flame conjuring. To see a completely unheard-of technique being used right in front of them was definitely a source of major excitement.

Everybody had forgotten about the competition, and were now completely and utterly focused on that figure within the sea of fire!

As the sea of fire spun, rumbling sounds echoed forth, and the fire shrank down. 24,000 meters. 18,000 meters. 15,000 meters. 9,000 meters. Soon, it was only 3,000 meters wide!

It was at that point that within the sea of fire… another color appeared! Under the eyes of all spectators, it became… a seventeen-colored sea of fire!!

All onlookers were struck with shock. Although many of them had guessed that this would happen, to see it occur right in front of them drove them to near madness.

People didn't even know what to think! This was completely overturning all previous traditions; this was a new page in the history of flame conjuring!

At this point, people couldn’t refrain from calling out in surprise.

“He didn’t need any souls to add a seventeenth color to that flame!!”

“Am I seeing things? This is unheard-of!!”

“This Bai Hao is definitely going to be completely famous in the Wildlands! He's creating a new paradigm!!”

As for Sun Yifan and Sima Tao, they were shaking physically; the events of this day would be certain to alter their future path of flame conjuring.

Because everyone was focused on Bai Xiaochun, nobody was paying much attention to Bai Hao, who remained off to the side as he had the entire time. His eyes were fixed on his Master, and they gleamed with excitement and satisfaction. He couldn’t have been happier that his Master was proving that his own theories about the formula for eighteen-colored flame were correct.

It was a critically important factor, and for the sake of the eighteen-colored flame formula, Bai Hao was burning every last detail of these events into his mind. As of now, he was completely confident of being able to finish that formula!

“Eighteen-colored flame….” When it came to that formula, he didn’t really care about the glory or honor that would go with it. He cared mostly about how useful it would be to his Master. With that formula, his Master could become an earthly necromancer!

Although he had come to realize that his Master was somewhat unreliable in certain things, nothing had changed between the two of them. Bai Xiaochun was Bai Hao’s only family!

At this point, numerous streams of deva-level divine sense locked down on the area, and their owners were all completely shaken by what they saw.

However, even as people reacted to what was happening, the cries of astonishment suddenly increased.

“He’s not stopping….”

“He’s not forming it into a tongue of flame. Is he going to…?”

“Don’t tell me he's going to….”

“If he conjures an eighteen-colored flame, he’ll break out of the celestial rank and become… the fourth earthly necromancer in the Wildlands!!” In the blink of an eye, the pandemonium increased by tenfold.

“Earthly rank…. Is Bai Hao really going to become an earthly necromancer?!”

“He’s going to make a breakthrough with tens of thousands of people watching!?!?”

“It actually doesn’t matter if he succeeds. This boldness is worthy of admiration!!”

Sun Yifan and Sima Tao stood there in the middle of the pandemonium, their chests heaving as they breathed, and their hearts filled with shame. By now, they seemed to truly be convinced that Bai Xiaochun was their superior.

“What spirit! He's doing something that we could never do…. This guy is a genius among Wildlander necromancers. How could we possibly do anything to offend him…?” The two of them exchanged a glance, and each could see that the other was thinking the same thing.

Even as speculation ran wild, Bai Xiaochun looked up, his cultivation base surging with explosive power as he spoke in a voice that boomed like thunder, “Eighteen colors!!”

As his voice echoed out, the sea of fire spun down rapidly, accompanied by intense rumbling sounds.

3,000 meters. 2,400 meters. 1,800 meters…. Eventually, the heat radiating out filled everyone with sensations of intense danger.

RUUUUUUUUUUMBLE!

In the blink of an eye, the sea of fire was only 900 meters wide!!

Bai Xiaochun was shaking, his divine sense waning dramatically. Even his cultivation base was having trouble sustaining the conjuring. After all, this type of flame conjuring required the use of the cultivation base to shrink down the flame. His fleshly body power also sustained the effort; were it not for the incredible strength he possessed in that aspect, he would not be able to do this.

“I can still keep going. I’m sure that this method can take the flame from seventeen colors to eighteen…. Even if that eighteenth color is faint… it will prove that my apprentice Bai Hao’s method really is viable!” Eyes completely bloodshot, he threw his head back and roared at the top of his lungs as he forced the 900-meter sea of fire to shrink down.

Intense rumbling sounds could be heard as the sea of fire grew smaller and smaller. 600 meters. 300 meters. 150 meters… 90 meters. 30 meters!

It was at that point that the colors in the flame flickered, making it impossible to tell exactly how many colors it held. However, the power of the fire was clearly undergoing some shocking transformation!!

Nobody in the audience was able to speak a single word. Everyone was completely and utterly focused on the sea of fire as it continued to shrink!

21 meters. 15 meters. 9 meters…. Soon, it was only a single meter across!

It had shrunk from a size of 30,000 meters all the way down to a single meter! It was also clear that the flame no longer had seventeen colors in it. Instead… a new color had appeared, something holy and indescribable!

An eighteenth color!!!

Up above, the clouds surged away to make way for a new set of clouds, heavenly tribulation that instantly caused intense pressure to weigh down on all of Arch-Emperor City!

The entire city trembled, and countless powerful experts could sense the danger. It was at this point that cries of alarm could be heard.

“That’s….”

“Eighteen-colored flame!!!”

Out in the Giant Ghost Legion, Mistress Red-Dust was shaken by the glow of fire which lit up the sky above Arch-Emperor City. When her divine sense locked onto Bai Xiaochun, she was immediately shaken, and almost didn’t dare to believe what she was seeing.

High in the sky in the imperial palace, the Arch-Emperor Dynasty’s Grand Heavenmaster sat in Heavenmaster Hall. His eyes opened, and he looked down at Bai Xiaochun.

“Whoever the Hell-Emperor selects… should be able to conjure eighteen-colored flame. Not a simple feat. Could this person actually be Bai Xiaochun?” A long moment passed, and then the Grand Heavenmaster closed his eyes again. “Ah, Hell-Emperor, just what are you up to…?”

As the winds raged, Bai Xiaochun drew upon his cultivation base all the way to the limit. He was being completely drained as the eighteenth color appeared, and the sea of fire shrank down. However, he could only hold on for three breaths of time… whereupon the sea of fire vanished.

The eighteen-colored flame disappeared as if it had never existed!

Blood sprayed out of Bai Xiaochun’s mouth, and he staggered backward. Everyone looked on silently for a moment. Then, their eyes burning with passion and respect, they clasped hands and bowed to him. Even the city guards!

Although he had failed in the end, he had still done something completely glorious!!

After all, only earthly necromancers could conjure a divine, eighteen-colored flame. Furthermore, Bai Xiaochun had a unique path of flame conjuring, his own way of doing things that didn’t restrict him to using the formulas of others!

He was now half a step into the earthly rank!!

His eighteen-colored flame had only existed for three breaths of time, and had been faint, but it was still shocking to behold. Furthermore, although he could only conjure a faint eighteen-colored flame right now, it was entirely likely that at some point in the future, he would fully succeed! Then he would truly be the fourth earthly necromancer in the Wildlands!!