A Will Eternal

Along with the demigod patriarch’s words came a powerful force that spread out through the sky and drove away the enormous face of Bai Xiaochun. In response, Bai Xiaochun grunted and staggered backward several paces.

Aura teetering unstably, he looked up at the crystal coffin high above. Meanwhile, Feng Chen, the twin Master Cloud Lightnings, and other devas stared at Bai Xiaochun with slight smiles on their faces.

The surrounding disciples breathed sighs of relief. They had been feeling very shaken by Bai Xiaochun moments ago, but the words of the demigod patriarch had driven away his aura. Now that the disciples were completely recovered, they looked at Bai Xiaochun with expressions of loathing.

Although most of them would secretly take more Fantasy Pills if they could, now that the devas and the demigod were present, the only thing they dared to do was show implacable hatred toward Bai Xiaochun.

“Now that you’re in the north, it doesn’t matter that you’re a deva!” That was what most of the people were thinking. In terms of the three-point covenant having a fourth stipulation added to it, it indicated that the matter with the medicinal pills had come to an end.

The fact that Bai Xiaochun was still confined to the Cloud Order and couldn't concoct medicinal pills left everyone feeling very pleased.

“Fudge!” he thought. “One of these days, I’ll make sure these northerners sweat bullets when they're in front of me!”

As his anger built, he couldn’t help but think about the world treasure the baby girl had mentioned. Although he had been on the fence before, his mind was now mostly made up.

At the moment, however, he had nothing else to do but use his spirit stones to start doing a bit of cultivation. They wouldn’t last for too long, but he was out of other options. Therefore, he set to work cultivating. Ten days went by, but even after plenty of thought during that time, he didn’t have any ideas on how to get out of this new impasse.

It was at that point… that the baby girl woke up for a third time.

Even as he was working on his Sun-Moon Vast-Sky Incantation, her voice echoed quietly into his head.

“Have you made a decision yet?”

Taking a deep breath, he gritted his teeth and spoke out into his mind.

“There are a few things I want to say. First of all, let me just point out that this whole thing is very sudden. I find it hard to believe that you plan to just give me this good fortune and let me become your master. You must have another goal you’re working toward. However, considering where you come from, I guess I have no choice but to just trust you.

“By the way, I want to know why exactly the Celestial wanted you dead. You never explained that.

“Another thing. Patriarch Spirit Stream called you a true spirit, and said that the mission of the Spirit Stream Sect is to keep you safe. But I'm not him…. My mission is to keep the River-Defying Sect safe, keep my friends safe, and keep myself safe. If you do have some other goals you’re working toward, don’t use me to get them! If you try something like that, then let me tell you, you will be bringing a huge amount of trouble on yourself. And it will mean trouble for me too, which I don’t want. Worse, you would turn the thousands of years of protection that the Spirit Stream Sect gave you into an absurd joke!” There was a determination in his words that he was sure would strike a bit of fear into the heart of the baby girl.

Actually, he wasn’t really sure about any of the things he had just said. He just knew that this baby girl seemed suspicious. Therefore, he had long since come up with this little speech to give her.

The baby girl didn’t respond at first. After a long moment passed, she said, “Trouble onto myself? What do you mean?”

Bai Xiaochun had anticipated this turn in the conversation. Eyes brightening, he decided to truly frighten the baby girl, and said, “Do you know who my Master is?”

“No….” the girl responded, sounding a bit surprised.

“The gravekeeper!” Bai Xiaochun replied dramatically.

He was fairly certain that the baby girl was completely shocked by this news. However, before she could say anything else, he continued to speak.

“Do you know who my apprentice is?”

Before she could reply, he provided the answer. “The reigning Hell-Emperor!”

The baby girl was clearly shocked, that much was obvious by the fluctuations he could sense.

At that moment, he felt very proud of his background and status. Of course, it was very disturbing that, despite having such qualifications, and never using them to go around bullying people, the first thing that happened when he came here to the north was that he ended up being severely bullied.

“Therefore, if you lie to me, then you would have an enemy, not just in the Celestial, but in two other powerful people.” The threat in his words was very clear. In response, the baby girl maintained her silence for a moment. The truth was that she had a secret magic which allowed her to assess whether or not his words were true, and therefore, didn’t even need to try to figure out if he was being honest.

A long moment passed. When she spoke into his mind again, her voice was completely calm.

“I am a discarnate soul with incomplete memories. Only by becoming one with the magical item will I be able to recall the true reason why the Celestial wanted me dead.

“As far as you becoming my master, view it as an agreement between the two of us, with the main stipulation being that you have to kill the Celestial!

“I'm not keeping anything secret from you. As for the thousands upon thousands of years that the Spirit Stream Sect has kept me safe, well… I won't bite the hand that feeds me. The only thing I want… is revenge!!”

In response to the baby girl’s strongly spoken words, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes began to shine with determination.

“Very well,” he said. “I agree. I’ll help you fuse with the world treasure. As far as killing the Celestial goes, that will have to wait until my cultivation base is high enough. Besides, I have no personal enmity with him. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure how I’ll be able to make it happen.”

“You will….” the baby girl said, her voice tinged with a profound smile.

Somewhat taken aback, Bai Xiaochun was about to ask what she meant when she changed the subject to explain more about the world treasure.

“The north is my home…. Back when it was a flourishing place, the frigid qi here was the best thing in the world for me.

“In order to fuse with the world treasure, I need to do two things. First… get to the entrance, which is not in the sect itself, but is out in the northern ice plains. When the time comes, I can tell you the specific location.”

Bai Xiaochun’s eyes flickered. He always liked to have everything planned out in detail before doing anything, and it was only because of how badly the northerners were treating him that he made this decision so quickly. The truth was that he still had some reservations.

The main thing he was curious about… was what the baby girl meant when she said you will.

There was something about her words that he found very unsettling.

“The second thing I have to do is open the entrance. I need this true spirit body of mine to awaken for one hundred breaths of time. That will be enough for me to open the entrance.

“To prepare for that… I need you to collect plenty of northern frigid qi….” Even as she spoke into his mind, his bag of holding vibrated. He quickly sent some divine sense inside, and found that a green leaf had appeared out of nowhere. It floated up from the coffin, out of his bag of holding, to appear right in front of him.

“Frigid qi?” he said hesitantly. The four-point covenant stipulated that he couldn't absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. But after some thinking, he realized that frigid qi probably didn't count. After all, spiritual energy came from the Heavenspan Sea, whereas frigid qi naturally filled all of the icy lands of the north.

As he considered this, the baby girl continued to speak into his mind.

“Collect the frigid qi into that leaf. When it becomes an ice leaf… then that means it has enough frigid qi to keep me awake for a hundred breaths of time!

“When you’ve done that, we can go open the entrance to the world treasure. As for how exactly you collect the frigid qi, I’ll leave that up to you.” By this point, the baby girl’s voice sounded very weak.

“My divine soul is very weak. I need to sleep again. Once you create that ice leaf, send it into this coffin, and I’ll awaken…. All my hope rests in you…. You’re on your own now….” With that, the baby girl’s aura faded away.

Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times, and then sighed. The truth was that he hoped his attempt to frighten the baby girl hadn’t caused any friction between them.

The whole matter was actually a good thing for her, for him, and for the River-Defying Sect.

After she was gone, he looked at the leaf and began to consider what to do next.

“How does this leaf absorb frigid qi?” He looked down at the ground beneath his feet. The Cloud Order was built on a massive cloud, a cloud that contained frigid qi. After a bit of thought, he put the leaf down on the ground, but even after waiting for quite some time, he didn't see any frigid qi going into it.

If it weren’t for the four-point covenant, he would have many ways to collect the qi he needed. But now, things weren’t so easy.

Eventually, he sighed and prepared to put the leaf into his bag of holding. However, as he did, his eyes suddenly went wide as he noticed something in his bag of holding that he'd forgotten about. It was… a seed.

“Moonflower…. I can graft the leaf onto a moonflower!” He had discovered the moonflower on the bone galleon, and after some research, had come to realize that it grew by absorbing frigid qi.

“The four-point covenant doesn't say anything about planting flowers….” At this point, his eyes sparkled with excitement.