A Will Eternal

Even as the ghost face cursed inwardly, Bai Xiaochun sat there cross-legged in meditation, continuously absorbing the explosive life force into his bloodstream, fueling the growth of his Undying Blood.

Gradually, his Undying Blood neared the ninety percent level…. Then, the following morning, his eyes snapped open.

A blood-colored light gleamed therein, and cracking sounds emanated out from inside of him. At the same time, he radiated an intense energy.

The air around him rippled and distorted, seemingly incapable of withstanding the force, and even the world as a whole trembled.

“Ninety percent!!” Bai Xiaochun’s eyes shone with exuberant delight as he slowly rose to his feet. Because of his progress with his Undying Blood, he could tell that although his blood was still red, his bones were almost completely golden.

According to the description in the Undying Codex, he would reach a point where heaven and earth could be destroyed, but his body could not. As of this moment, he could clearly sense that, not only was his fleshly body powerful to an extreme degree, his regenerative capabilities were astonishing beyond description.

“Unless someone was able to kill me in one shot… I can basically recover from any injury, given enough time! Heavens, so much power….” His heart was already racing with the thought of having one hundred percent Undying Blood in his veins.

“If I’m this strong at ninety percent, I wonder what the great circle of Undying Blood will be like…?” Brimming with excitement, he flew back over to the ghost face.

The ghost face had assumed that the nightmare was over, and had been cursing Bai Xiaochun ever since, and simultaneously swearing oaths of revenge. However, when he saw Bai Xiaochun approaching, his expression flickered dramatically. Then he saw the Eternal Parasol, and his madness transformed into bitter despair….

“Noooo….”

Rumbling sounds echoed out as the Eternal Parasol stabbed into the ghost face, who screamed unceasingly as his life force began to flow out of him. There was nothing he could do to fight back, and as the process continued, his divine soul continued to fade.

On the first day, he had vowed to hang in there. But this time, he couldn’t hang in any longer. Sadly, despite how he tried to struggle, the only thing he could do was scream.

“I hate you, Bai Xiaochun….”

“I was wrong, Lord Bai! I was truly in the wrong….”

“No, it hurts….”

Glaring, Bai Xiaochun bopped the ghost face on the top of his head.

“Calm down! What are you shrieking for!? You were fine yesterday, weren’t you? It’s just a bit of life force. Once you get used to it, you won’t even notice.” The ghost face hollered until he ran out of energy, whereupon he lay there twitching, filled with more grief than could fit into the Heavenspan Sea….

Yet again, he deeply regretted leaving Ghostmother. He regretted letting the Celestial grab him, and regretted delivering himself up to Bai Xiaochun….

“Why is my life so horrible!?!?!? And how can this heaven-damned Bai Xiaochun be so merciless…?” The ghost face’s heart now had enough tears built up to flood the world with torrential downpours….

“I swear, with my last bit of life, with all of my cultivation base, with all of my being, that if I get out of here, then I’ll slowly slice Bai Xiaochun into pieces. I’ll torture him for 10,000 years!!” At some unknown point, the ghost face eventually just passed out.

When he woke up, Bai Xiaochun was gone. The ghost face examined himself, and was shocked to find that he was almost completely empty. He only had about ten percent of his original reserve of life force left.

In the first session, Bai Xiaochun had only taken about ten percent. But in the following two days, he took a full eighty percent. The ghost was simply floored.

His divine soul seemed like it might shatter at any moment, as though it had been trampled underfoot by millions of soldiers.

“Merciless people like him should be killed at birth!!!!!” the ghost face howled.

The truth was that the ghost face wasn’t quite looking at the situation properly. After he passed out, Bai Xiaochun could easily have just taken all of his life force. But Bai Xiaochun couldn’t bring himself to do something that heartless, and had left him with ten percent.

“Well, I’ve tormented the old man quite a bit over the past two years,” Bai Xiaochun had said. “I guess I should show a bit of compassion. Ah, whatever. I’ll let him recover a bit, and then take some more later.” Sighing at how kind he was, he had left to meditate and push his Undying Blood to the great circle.

After absorbing enough life force, his Undying Blood experienced explosive advancement. At long last, the last drop of blood inside of him became Undying Blood, and his entire body filled with intense rumbling sounds.

Undying Blood! One hundred percent!!

Stabbing pain filled every corner of his being, causing his eyes to widen and turn completely bloodshot.

Cracking sounds emanated out from him until it almost looked like his skin was being ripped apart. Underneath the ripped skin, it was actually possible to see his blood flowing in his veins.

His bones, his energy passageways, and everything else about him began to transform, almost as if he were acquiring a brand new body.

After about ten breaths of time passed, the pain grew so intense that he threw his head back and howled. A moment later, his entire body seemed to wither up, and then, explode!

What exploded was merely the surface, though. As the bits flew out in all directions, a brand new Bai Xiaochun was revealed beneath. He was sparkling and almost translucent, like a piece of fine jade. However, the process wasn’t over! He withered again, and then exploded.

Then the process happened a third time, a fourth time, and a fifth time….

Eight times in a row, he withered and then exploded. By that point, he shone with blinding light, and seemed something completely out of the ordinary. If anyone had been able to lay eyes on him in that moment, they would have been completely shocked.

He was clearly not a mortal, and in fact, had surpassed a fleshly body limit for cultivators!

“Demigod… fleshly body!!” he murmured, slowly looking up. His eyes shone like the sun and moon, making him look like a god descended onto the world!

“That means, there’s still one more step….” Eye shining with anticipation, he cast his senses inward… to detect the fifth shackle of the human body, like an enormous mountain weighing down on him.

“After all these years, I’ve finally cultivated the Undying Codex… all the way to the great circle!” He threw his hands up into the air, causing his blood, his bones, his tendons, his flesh, and his skin to all thrum with terrifying, explosive power.

His energy surged like angry waves of the sea, causing heaven and earth to suddenly grow dim in response!

Then he spoke, his voice echoing like heavenly thunder.

“Fifth shackle: break!!”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

The massive, mountainous weight on his shoulders suddenly shattered into pieces, causing the entire world of the magical item to shake violently. Yet again, cracks spread out over his skin, and he withered rapidly. Then, he exploded for a ninth time!

When he reappeared, he had the most perfect of perfect bodies.

“What aura is that?!?!” the ghost face cried in alarm.

In that exact same moment, the face of the baby girl up in the sky opened her eyes and looked over at Bai Xiaochun in shock, apparently recalling complex memories of the past….

His breakthrough in the Undying Codex even affected the outside world. The sky in the north transformed into an enormous vortex which caused all of the lands of Heavenspan to tremble!

Out in the Wildlands, both opposing armies could sense the drastic transformations, and looked over to see massive rifts spreading out in the sky from the north!

It almost looked like the sky was about to shatter!!