A Will Eternal

It was an exhilarating feeling to be leading the 1,000-strong Corpse Trooper Blood Battalion out from the imperial palace. All of the imperial guards trembled in fear at the sight, to the point where they didn’t dare to even breathe, much less get in the way.

By now, everyone in the city knew about Bai Xiaochun’s appointment to the position of inspections commissioner. The additional fact that the Corpse Trooper Blood Battalion had been awakened led to widespread fear.

In fact, word had even spread out into the Wildlands and beyond. Not even Bai Xiaochun knew how famous he was at this point.

Even the four great riversource sects in the Heavenspan River region, the sects who controlled the Great Wall, had heard of the name of Arch-Emperor City’s Inspections Commissioner, Bai Hao.

In Arch-Emperor Dynasty, Bai Xiaochun was the newest dragon to walk the face of the earth, a razor-sharp knife in the hand of the Grand Heavenmaster!

Before long, people were gossiping about Bai Hao’s past in Giant Ghost City. People talked about how he was vicious and merciless, how he had killed members of his own clan, and his daredevil act of kidnapping a demigod expert. Then there were his shakedowns, the fact that he was a wife-stealer, and countless other details. In the end, everyone was left gasping in disbelief at all the stories.

Most people believed him to be… a lunatic. His battle prowess was astonishing, to the point where he had both attacked and captured more than a hundred chosen. Later, he even fought back against a group of hundreds of chosen at the same time.

A person like that could already be considered stunning without even mentioning that he had the backing of both the Giant Ghost King and the Grand Heavenmaster. In fact, he was also the son-in-law of the Giant Ghost King!

Because of all of these various aspects, Bai Xiaochun was now… a very, very important person in the Wildlands!

He was far more famous than Zhou Hong, Gongsun Yi and the other chosen like them.

And now, emboldened by the Grand Heavenmaster, it was with a completely haughty air that he set out with his corpse troopers and their intense murderous aura. A thousand beams of light merged together, causing rumbling sounds to echo out as they shot… toward the Li Clan, right in the middle of Arch-Emperor City!!

“Li Tiansheng, you and Zhou Hong worked together with all those other chosen to cause me endless trouble. You tried your best to see me dead, and I let you off the hook over and over again. But now you’ve gone and really pissed me off. Well let me tell you, when I get pissed off, I frighten even myself!” Bai Xiaochun didn’t have a care in the world, and his eyes shone with keen anticipation as he imagined the reactions of all of the people who had tried to kill him in the past.

“And you’re first on the list, Li Tiansheng!” With that, he accelerated, causing the rumbling sounds to intensify as his 1,000 corpse troopers got closer and closer to the Li Clan.

The sight of Bai Xiaochun brazenly speeding through the air attracted a lot of attention, and many gasps. Furthermore, when people realized what direction he was heading in, coldness gripped their hearts, and speculations began to run wild.

“He’s not doing anything to suppress that murderous aura! What is Bai Hao going to do…?”

“Look at the direction he's heading in. It seems like… Borough 9?”

“Borough 9? That’s where the Li Clan is….”

The Li Clan occupied roughly twenty percent of Borough 9. They had risen to power because of the heavenly marquis in their clan. Not only was their clan populous, they had many outside soul cultivators who were willing to work for them because of how powerful they were. It was a snowball effect that had quickly turned them into a mighty group that few people would ever dare to trifle with.

Even as every looked on in shock, Bai Xiaochun led his 1,000 corpse troopers into Borough 9, toward a sprawling courtyard complex, from within the middle of which rose a 300-meter-tall tower!

That tower was a heavenly marquis pagoda! Within Arch-Emperor City, only heavenly marquis clans had structures 300 meters tall. As for the heavenly dukes, they had pagodas 3,000 meters tall!

Almost as soon as Bai Xiaochun caught sight of the Li Clan’s pagoda, the people in the Li Clan realized that he was heading in their direction. It led to a small-scale commotion, with countless cultivators flying out of the clan to observe his approach.

Li Tiansheng was in the crowd. He was the heir apparent of the clan, and also a chosen, with a very high position. Unless his father was present, he was essentially the clan chief.

“Bai Hao!!” At first Li Tiansheng was startled, but his expression soon twisted into a vicious snarl. The venomous look in his eyes was clear; he had paid a steep price to the Chen Clan to restore his life force after the most recent incident, and the person responsible for that was none other than Bai Xiaochun.

His hatred for Bai Hao was part of his heart, but he was also aware that he was in a very different position now. He was the inspections commissioner, backed by the Grand Heavenmaster, and the fact that he had come surrounded by a murderous aura caused Li Tiansheng’s heart to begin to pound in his chest. Without any hesitation, he issued orders to activate the clan’s defensive spell formation.

Even as he issued the orders, a piercing whistling sound filled the air as Bai Xiaochun arrived with his 1,000 corpse troopers. The murderous aura seething off of the corpse troopers formed something like a black cloud that hovered above the Li Clan.

There were already other soul cultivators showing up in the area to see what was going to happen. All of them were filled with shock, and were starting to come to their own conclusions about how events would play out.

“Could it be that the Grand Heavenmaster is actually going to make a move?! And the Li Clan… is first on the list!!”

“No way! It’s probably just Bai Hao using his status to exact revenge!”

Even as everyone looked on in shock, Bai Xiaochun hovered there grandly, flanked by his 1,000 corpse troopers, looking over the Li Clan cultivators, who were clearly ready for a fight. Then his gaze came to rest on Li Tiansheng, around whom were clustered an unusually large number of clan cultivators.

Glaring, Bai Xiaochun said, “Li Tiansheng, why haven’t you come out to pay respects to the inspections commissioner!?”

As his voice echoed out like thunder, the corpse troopers’ murderous auras grew even more intense.

The Li Clan cultivators’ expressions flickered, many of them growing fiercer. By this point, Li Tiansheng was panting a bit, and his mind was spinning. However, he didn't let that show on his face. Instead, he scowled and yelled, “You’ve got a lot of guts coming here and offending your superiors, Bai Hao. This is the manor of a heavenly marquis, not just some random place where you can go make a scene. Back down immediately!!”

Sticking his chin up, Bai Xiaochun clasped his hands behind his back and brazenly said, “The manor of a heavenly marquis? Heh heh. The main reason Lord Bai came here today is because the Li Clan is the manor of a heavenly marquis. I heard you have a lot of wealth in this clan of yours. I'm just worried that some of your treasures are forgeries, and would like to help you inspect them.”

Inside, he was bursting with happiness, and was very pleased with how amazing his little speech had just been. It was the type of feeling that came with occupying the position of superiority and justice.

Cultivators of the Li Clan were accustomed to being arrogant people, and immediately responded with boisterous, impolite words.

“What gall!!”

“Do you have a death wish or something, Bai Hao? What makes you think you have the right to come cause trouble for our Li Clan?!”

“What a joke! I guess Bai Hao is just a complete moron!”

As for Li Tiansheng, his expression was unsightlier than ever, and he was getting more anxious by the moment. He could tell that something was off about the situation, but was convinced that there was little likelihood the Grand Heavenmaster was interested in making a move against the Li Clan. The most likely possibility… was that Bai Hao had come here to enact personal vengeance. As such, Li Tiansheng’s eyes flickered with cold light.

“That means this is a chance to exterminate this guy once and for all….” Although he was afraid of the Corpse Trooper Blood Battalion, the reserve powers of the Li Clan, along with the fact that his father was Heavenly Marquis Li, gave him plenty of confidence.

“Li Clan cultivators, hear my orders. Anyone who enters Li Clan territory shall be executed immediately!”

The Li Clan cultivators snarled viciously, and their killing intent soared. More people were flying up into the air from inside the clan, many of them clan members, but others being hired soul cultivators. Before long, there were more than 10,000 people visible, all of them surging with the desire to kill. Overall, they actually seemed a bit more impressive than the Corpse Trooper Blood Battalion.

The surrounding onlookers gasped in shock, and even Bai Xiaochun was a bit startled. However, he knew his status, and had his orders from the Grand Heavenmaster. Obviously, the fact that the Grand Heavenmaster had sent him here meant that he didn’t intend for the Li Clan to kill him.

Feeling a bit more confident with that thought, he glared at Li Tiansheng, convinced that he had been acting a bit too softly before. Looking away from Li Tiansheng and the cultivators around him, he turned his gaze to the pagoda.

“Heavenly Marquis Li, I've come here today with orders from the Grand Heavenmaster. I’d like to ask you a question…. Do you admit to your crimes!?!?”

The entire atmosphere in the area changed, and countless gasps could be heard among the onlookers. The Li Clan cultivators were all visibly shocked, and Li Tiansheng’s heart was beginning to pound.