A Will Eternal

As Bai Xiaochun stood there hesitating, the ten spears stabbed through Gongsun Wan’er over and over again. Blood sprayed everywhere, and she seemed to be hovering on the brink of exploding completely. Her screams grew more intense, and powerful fluctuations began to roll off of her.

Everyone in the crowd seemed very worked up by what was happening.

“Die, Bai Xiaochun!” Mistress Red-Dust growled through gritted teeth. Then she bit her tongue and spit out a mouthful of blood. Performing an incantation gesture, she waved her finger and sent the ten spears whizzing forward with increased speed, to the point where they burst into flames.

The blood-colored spears shot toward Gongsun Wan’er, who was teetering on the verge of collapse, and then suddenly exploded, releasing a terrifyingly destructive force right onto her.

As everyone watched, Gongsun Wan’er’s body collapsed into pieces!!

The force of the explosion was so intense that not even Mistress Red-Dust was able to control it fully. Everything in the area was destroyed, and all of the Giant Ghost Legion soul cultivators were sent tumbling away.

Many of them were even coughing up blood. Bai Xiaochun wasn't affected very much, but he didn't want to stand out, so he screamed miserably and sent himself tumbling backward before staggering to a stop.

However, deep in his eyes, a complicated expression could be seen that was a mixture of pleasure and concern. Looking over at the area where Gongsun Wan’er had fallen to pieces, he murmured, “Is she really dead? It couldn’t have been that simple….”

His heart pounded with suspicion as exclamations of joy rose up around him.

As for Mistress Red-Dust, her face was pale white, but she forced a smile onto it. Then she took a breath, and was about to go inspect the dead Bai Xiaochun, when suddenly her face fell, and she backed up.

“You….”

Without any warning, an intense beam of blood-red light erupted up into the air from the spot where Gongsun Wan’er had collapsed. It was a vicious, abominable light, accompanied by a terrifying aura that seemed to pulse with rage!!

The sky was stained red, making the entire world seem like a vile ocean of blood!

Mistress Red-Dust had reacted a moment too late, and was affected by the beam of light, causing her to tremble as blood sprayed out of her mouth.

As shouts of alarm filled the air, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes widened to the point where they seemed like they might pop out of his head. Earlier, he had been pretending to be staggering around, but now he really could hardly stand up. Screaming, he fell backward, his heart pounding as he tried to get his mask to make it seem like he was dead….

As Bai Xiaochun tried to fake his death, the blood-red beam of light began to contract. In the blink of an eye, it became a shadowy, blood-colored figure standing right on the spot where Gongsun Wan’er had fallen to pieces. Then, that figure pounced on a nearby Giant Ghost Legion cultivator with speed that vastly surpassed anything which had been on display before.

As the light stabbed through the soul cultivator, he shivered, and his hair turned white. Then his teeth began to fall out, wrinkles filled his skin, and a moment later, he was nothing but a desiccated corpse.

His soul, life force, cultivation base, and everything else that made him up had been absorbed by the blood-colored figure…. And yet, that was only the beginning. The figure became a red streak of light that began to stab through one soul cultivator after another….

Every cultivator it touched screamed before shriveling up into a corpse….

Although all of this takes a bit of time to describe, it actually happened within the blink of an eye. In the shortest of moments… the blood-colored figure that was Gongsun Wan’er stabbed through numerous soul cultivators.

1,000. 2,000. 3,000….

5,000. 6,000. 7,000….

Little more than a red streak was visible, which was almost like an embroidery thread that stabbed through countless soul cultivators, seemingly linking them together.

Bai Xiaochun lay on the ground pretending to be dead, but he could see everything clearly, and his scalp was tingling so hard it felt like it might explode. Any mixed emotions he had felt because of the possible death of Gongsun Wan’er earlier had now completely vanished.

“She can’t see me. She can't see me…. I'm already dead….” That was what he kept muttering to himself as he tried to get the mask to keep up his facade of death. By now, it was very obvious that Gongsun Wan’er… was not someone that Mistress Red-Dust could fight!

“Dead! Only a few people are left of nearly 10,000…. The rest… were killed in an instant!! I told you people! You should have listened to me!” Bai Xiaochun was so nervous he almost couldn’t take it. The sight of Gongsun Wan’er killing so many people had him trembling inwardly, filled with a sensation of deadly crisis to the point where he simply lay there trying not to move, hoping that Gongsun Wan’er wouldn’t notice him.

Perhaps it was because of the mask, or perhaps it was his excellent acting skills, but either way, the red streak that was Gongsun Wan’er didn’t pay any attention to him. Nor did she pay any attention to the handful of people who had been injured earlier and were lying motionless on the ground.

Eventually, the red streak of light shot back up into the air, where it formed back into the image of Bai Xiaochun.

However, by this point, the fluctuations emanating out were no longer that of the Nascent Soul stage, but rather, those of a deva!!

The sky went dim, and winds screamed. Half of the sky was now magenta, and was trying to consume the other half of the sky, which was blood-red.

Of course, the entire sky had once been in the control of Mistress Red-Dust’s will, but now, that control was being wrested away!

“Bai Xiaochun!!” Mistress Red-Dust cried, trembling visibly. The fact that her mind was being driven out of heaven and earth caused a backlash that sent blood spraying out of her mouth. Her eyes shone with murderous light; it wasn’t that she didn’t want to save the men under her command, she was just too slow. Furthermore, the attack she had just sustained from the red beam of light had completely destabilized her own qi and blood. She barely had time to wrest herself under control, let alone go save anyone else.

When Bai Xiaochun heard Mistress Red-Dust yelling his own name, his sighed bitterly inside at how unfair it was that he was being made the scapegoat….

“I have to get out of here,” he thought, his heart pounding. “Fudge! I'm gonna enhance my nascent soul immediately and get into the late Nascent Soul stage…. That way I can keep my poor little life out of danger….” Although the fact that Gongsun Wan’er had shown up wasn’t necessarily a good thing for him, there were at least some benefits to be had.

For example, if he enhanced his nascent soul, then few people would suspect his true identity. After all, they already had their sights set on someone they believed to be him….

“Well there’s no use fantasizing about what will happen. First things first: I have to figure out a way to escape.” Unfortunately, he was currently surrounded by corpses, which meant that if he moved, he would stick out more than ever.

He could only try to keep up his act of being dead, and hope that things ended soon. Once Gongsun Wan’er left, he would probably be able to flee. Or perhaps some other circumstances would arise that would give him a chance to make an escape.

Even as Bai Xiaochun stewed in his anxiety, Gongsun Wan’er looked up and smiled broadly at the shivering Mistress Red-Dust.

“My profound thanks! I'm finally feeling a bit sated. If I eat a few more of you… then I’ll finally be full.” With that, she blurred into motion toward Mistress Red-Dust.

She didn’t move quite as quickly as she had when she was a red streak of light, but she still moved with lightning-like speed. As she closed in, Mistress Red-Dust performed a double-handed incantation gesture, causing her red lotus to swirl around her. However, the mere wave of Gongsun Wan’er’s hand caused blood to spray out of Mistress Red-Dust’s mouth, and she was shoved backward several dozen meters.

“You’ve lost a lot of blood,” Gongsun Wan’er said. “That’s not good. If I eat you now, you won’t taste very good.” As Gongsun Wan’er’s voice drifted eerily across the battlefield, Bai Xiaochun lay there looking at her out of the corner of his eye, his heart gripped with coldness.

Mistress Red-Dust wasn’t a match for Gongsun Wan’er at all. Booms rang out one after another as she was shoved backward again and again, blood spraying out of her mouth constantly until she was in very bad shape.

The magical item that was her red lotus was shattered by Gongsun Wan’er, and eventually turned into ash. Mistress Red-Dust was now pale-faced and teetering back and forth. By now, it looked like she wanted to flee, and yet it was obvious that Gongsun Wan’er was so fast that escape was impossible!