A Will Eternal

Bai Xiaochun was feeling torn in countless directions. On the one hand, he was worried about Hou Xiaomei. On the other hand, his palms itched at the mere sight of the Celestial….

It would be hard for him to be more anxious and more unsure of exactly what to do.

As the Celestial’s energy rose higher and higher, he turned into a series of afterimages that shot toward the faceless woman. Snorting coldly, he said, “Did you think that hiding in the Deadmire would keep you safe, Ghostmother, you old bitch?! Did you really think I wouldn’t be able to get to you?!”

The Celestial attacked, summoning a projection of the entire Heavenspan Realm and sending it shooting toward Ghostmother!

Gongsun Wan’er did the same thing. Together with the Celestial, she attacked Ghostmother with full force!

The sudden turn of events was too sudden. The vanity was instantly blasted to bits, and the resulting shockwave swept out, catching any cultivators who were too slow to react with deadly force. Miserable screams rang out as they were shredded to pieces!

However, Ghostmother managed to evade the attack. Vanishing, she reappeared off to the side, her face featureless, and yet contorted with rage.

“You’re nothing but a quasi-celestial, Daoist Heavenspan. You aren’t even capable of imagining what true celestials are like. The fact that you sacrificed your own people, and came in here in disguise, shows that you don’t even deserve to be a true celestial. True celestials protect their people! Because of that point alone, it’s clear the gravekeeper made the right decision to reject you.

“However, I do have to thank you for bringing this clone back to me, this clone formed from the very arm of mine that Gu Tianjun severed with his sword!

“The whole reason I entered this place to begin with is because of this clone. She is the reason I was suppressed and limited by the gravekeeper and the will of this world. Here in the Deadmire, I’m unable to communicate with the world beyond, and unable to leave…. But now, things are coming to an end. You people have been waiting for me… and I’ve been waiting for you!” Ear-splitting laughter rang out from Ghostmother as she skirted the Celestial, and then shot toward Gongsun Wan’er. Although it was impossible to see her face, she seemed to radiate an air of excitement and anticipation.

“You deserve to be my clone, not the other way around!” shrieked Gongsun Wan’er. “We both want to get out of this world. We both want to get home! This time, I’m going to consume you, and I’m going to become the new Ghostmother!” Instead of evading, she actually sped up toward Ghostmother.

As the two of them began to fight back and forth, the Celestial snorted. He didn’t seem at all affected by Ghostmother’s snide comments from moments ago. Unfazed, he joined in the fighting, causing massive booms to rock the entire battleship. The bedchamber was being destroyed, and any cultivators who attempted to enter it and were struck by the fluctuations were instantly killed.

The battle between these three was the type that was far too dangerous for anyone to be present for. Even Bai Xiaochun, a deva with an incredibly tough fleshly body, was still coughing up blood, and was currently scrambling for the staircase.

That seemed to be the only exit. In fact, the surviving cultivators who could see it were all doing their best to reach it.

The twin Master Cloud Lightnings were among them, as was Guru Spirit Immortal from the Exalted Zodiac Moon Domination Sect. Both of them seemed to be in bad shape.

The fighting between the Celestial, Gongsun Wan’er, and the Ghostmother continued to intensify. At the moment, Heavenspan Seawater was forming into a fist-sized sphere that then began to accelerate toward Ghostmother.

Gongsun Wan’er, for whom this battle was supremely important, suddenly opened her mouth and spat out… a rusted sword! Intense pressure erupted off of the sword as it then shot toward Ghostmother.

This was the third time Bai Xiaochun had seen this sword. The second was during Gongsun Wan’er's battle with the gravekeeper, and the first time… was when he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator! It was… a sword which had fallen from beyond the heavens!!

It was the enormous sword… that contained the so-called Fallen Sword Abyss!!

“So, you took Gu Tianjun’s sword and made it your own…. How amusing.” Chuckling, Ghostmother waved her hands out in front of her, causing ghost qi to erupt out in the form of a huge black hole which expanded out toward the Celestial and Gongsun Wan’er.

As the booms of battle rang out, Bai Xiaochun finally scrambled onto the staircase and, without the slightest hesitation, began to run up it.

Based on the conversation he was hearing, Bai Xiaochun was now getting a fairly good idea of what was going on.

“The Celestial never had any intention of accepting a new apprentice. And this didn’t have anything to do with him restoring his cultivation base. In fact, it didn’t even have anything to do with the four rivers. It was all… a plot revolving around the bone galleon!!

“Because the galleon is in the Deadmire, the Celestial can’t reach it by ordinary means. Therefore, he sent the cultivators of the four rivers into its depths… to find a way to get onto the main part of the ship by other means, and at the same time, remain undetected!”

By this point, Bai Xiaochun was also fairly certain of the origin of the bone galleon, and it left him completely and utterly shocked. After all, it was back in the Wildlands that he had learned… that another world existed beyond the heaven and earth in which he lived!

Many years ago, in that wider world outside, this Ghostmother had been sailing this bone galleon near the border of the Heavenspan Realm, and was then attacked by someone named Gu Tianjun. In the end, she took his sword, but not before he severed her arm!

Because of some strange circumstances, her severed arm somehow fell down into the Heavenspan Realm. That was also how the Fallen Sword World came to be….

Despite losing her arm, and having her cultivation base fall a bit, Ghostmother managed to escape. However, she couldn’t bear to part with her arm, and had paid a spectacular price to re-enter the Heavenspan Realm and begin a search for it.

However, her interference was immediately detected by the gravekeeper, who embodied the will of heaven and earth. Calling upon his profound powers, he had sealed the vicious and crafty Ghostmother in the Deadmire!

There, she had been unable to communicate with the outside world, let alone return to it. At the same time, she was unable to search for her severed arm…. And thus she had remained sealed in the Deadmire for countless years…. Most likely, the gravekeeper had been at the peak of his power and strength when he created the seal which imprisoned her.

As for the enormous sword which had fallen from the heavens, and the Heaven-Dao aura it contained, it ended up the eastern Lower Reaches, were it became a training ground for Foundation Establishment cultivators!

The countless souls that the sword had killed in the past were the banesouls which inhabited the Fallen Sword World. And one of them… was the incarnation of Ghostmother’s arm!

That was the little girl that had possessed Gongsun Wan’er!

The soul that was the severed arm of Ghostmother had long remained inside the sword, unable to awaken, and unable to access its old memories. However, thanks to Bai Xiaochun’s medicinal pills, that girl woke up!

After she recovered her memories, she wished to leave, and yet, had not been willing to return to her true self in the Deadmire. Instead, she entered into an alliance with the Celestial!

That huge battle which had been fought in the Wildlands had all been in the hopes of returning to her home in the outside world while her true form remained sealed!

It was a good plan, until the gravekeeper called upon the Five Yin Organs Secret Magic. That had been enough to seriously injure the girl clone, and send her fleeing from the scene of battle.

The gravekeeper had simply let her go, the reason being… that he had already made an agreement with Ghostmother! The two of them… would give that girl clone no choice but to opt for a second path!

That second path was another plan in which she and the Celestial would somehow sneak into the Deadmire and open a way into the depths of the bone galleon.

Then they would find an opening that led to deck 3! Their end goal was for the clone to consume her true form, become the new Ghostmother, and repay the Celestial in the only way she could…. After returning to her own peak cultivation base state, she would take her ship and the Celestial… to the world beyond!

Clearly, the Celestial had reservations about the clone, and was worried she might have secret plans of her own. Therefore, he had sent a large group of cultivators into a supposed trial by fire. Not only would there be more people to find the passageway they were looking for, but the Celestial would be able to hide among them. In all aspects, it was much safer for him this way!

Furthermore, the reason why he had brought Hou Xiaomei to Heavenspan Island was because she was perfectly suitable to help Gongsun Wan’er hide her aura and arrive undetected by Ghostmother.

And of course, little did the Celestial and the clone know that the entire thing was an elaborate trap!