A Will Eternal

After flying along for a bit in somewhat of a daze, he confirmed… that he really was in the north. During the few short years which had passed, the north had changed so much that it was almost like a dream….

Roughly eighty percent of the north… no longer had any ice plains. Instead, it was covered with rich soil and… a dense jungle.

The entire jungle was actually made of… moonflowers.

Beads of sweat now covered Bai Xiaochun’s forehead as he realized the enormity of what he had done so many years ago…. Although he had known that the moonflower was powerful, he could never have imagined that in a few short years, it would occupy the entire northern Heavenspan River region.

What was even more strange was that the northerners had apparently just let the moonflowers grow freely, and hadn’t cleared them away….

Of course, he had no way of knowing that the northerners had tried many times to do just that. But nothing did any good. Furthermore, as war loomed, the northern demigod and devas eventually didn’t have time to worry about moonflowers. All of their thoughts had been occupied with the upcoming invasion of the Wildlands.

Who could ever have guessed how dramatically the moonflowers would grow in only a few years? Perhaps if action had been taken early on, the northerners might have been able to do something about it. But the matter of the war made that impossible.

Bai Xiaochun was completely shaken. He proceeded along for a while until he caught sight of the Nine Heavens Cloud Lightning Sect…. The changes there weren’t as dramatic as elsewhere. The sect was still surrounded by plains of ice; apparently, it was the only location in the north that still remained that way.

However, the sect was surrounded by countless moonflowers. As for the two ice statues that formed the sect headquarters, they were significantly melted. It was no longer possible to make out their facial features, and they looked like little more than columns of ice….

Bai Xiaochun already felt a bit guilty. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be very convenient to return to the River-Defying Sect without using the teleportation portal in the Nine Heavens Cloud Lightning Sect. Bracing himself, he continued onward.

As he neared, it was to his surprise that he couldn’t sense a single deva in the sect. Neither was the demigod present. In fact, nearly eighty percent of the cultivators were apparently gone….

Most of those left behind were Foundation Establishment cultivators and Qi Condensation disciples…. Because of how few cultivators were present, it made the enormous, mighty sect seem somewhat like a wasteland.

If that were all there were to it, it might not be a big deal. However, virtually all of the scattered cultivators who remained in the sect seemed very unsettled, and were sighing constantly.

Bai Xiaochun’s heart began to pound with a very ill premonition. Without the slightest hesitation, he sped toward the sect. As he neared, the sect’s grand spell formation activated to prevent him from getting too close. At the same time, a sound like an echoing alarm claxon filled the entire sect.

Of course, a huge commotion ensue

“What’s going on?!?!”

“The enemy is attacking!!”

Although the sect’s defensive spell formation was powerful, to Bai Xiaochun’s Undying Hex, it posed little obstacle. In fact, he didn’t even slow down, and a moment later, was in the middle of the sect.

Countless terrified gazes locked onto him, and soon, people recognized who he was, leading to shouts of alarm.

“It’s Bai Xiaochun!!”

“Heavens! What is he doing back? I thought he was missing!?!?”

“Dammit! The demigod patriarch and the devas are all on the battlefield, and now Bai Xiaochun shows up here with killing intent?! What’s he planning to do?!?!”

The buzz in the sect caused Bai Xiaochun’s uneasy feeling to grow stronger. Looking around at the panic, he shouted, “All of you shut the hell up!!”

His voice roared like through the sect heavenly thunder, a deafening sound which instantly silenced all of the clamor.

Pointing urgently at one of the cultivators who was in the great circle of Foundation Establishment, he said, “Tell me immediately why there are so few of you here! Where is Master Cloud Lightning? Where’s the demigod patriarch? Where did everyone go?!”

The cultivator trembled in fear, but immediately clasped hands and bowed in formal fashion. Not daring to hold anything back, he quickly began to provide an explanation.

“The four riversource sects have gone to war with the Wildlands. Everyone else… is in the Wildlands, fighting….”

“WHAT?!?!” Bai Xiaochun shouted, so completely thunderstruck that he didn’t even wait for any further explanation. All of a sudden, his mind was overwhelmed by the thought… of the Wildlands and the Heavenspan region at war!!

Everyone else here was used to the fact that the war had been going on for years now. But this was Bai Xiaochun’s first time hearing about it, and the news immediately caused him to feel very nervous. He thought about his apprentice Bai Hao, the Giant Ghost King, and Mistress Red-Dust. There was no time to waste here in the north. He immediately began to hurry toward the teleportation portal.

Of course, he was already famous in the Nine Heavens Cloud Lightning Sect. The disciples viewed him as some sort of demonic god of pestilence. Therefore, they did everything they could to activate the teleportation portal as quickly as possible. Only after the light began to fade away along with Bai Xiaochun did they breathe sighs of relief.

The teleportation portals in the riversource sects could send people all the way across the Heavenspan Sea to the other riversource sects. Therefore, it only took a short moment for Bai Xiaochun to go from the north to the east, and arrive… in the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect!

The Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect’s teleportation portal was located on the blue rainbow. As soon as it began to shine with light, the disciples manning the portal were shaken, and looked over to see who it was that was arriving.

Xu Baocai was sitting there cross-legged within the group. His cultivation base was high enough to join in the war effort, but he had been seriously injured and sent back to the sect for rest and recovery. However, he knew that it wouldn’t be long before he was sent back to the battlefield.

By this point in the war, he was already weary of all the fighting. He had seen many people die, to the point where any fear in him had burned away, replaced by simple exhaustion.

His injuries had been severe, and were it not for the fact that his opponent had recognized him as being from the River-Defying Sect, and thus held back, he would likely have died.

Despite being shown mercy, Xu Baocai’s cultivation base had been severely damaged, sending him all the way back down to the Foundation Establishment level. Although he had recovered some since then, it seemed unlikely that he would ever return to his previous level.

That realization filled Xu Baocai with grief. He also wondered how much longer the war would go on. It had already been years now, and both sides had suffered casualties.

From what he could tell, the next time he went to the battlefield might be his last. Perhaps he would never return to the east, and would end up dead and buried far from home….

When the teleportation portal began to light up, Xu Baocai noticed, but didn’t pay much attention. After glancing over, he looked away.

Before anyone could even see who was teleporting in, a terrifying pressure filled the air. Divine sense swept out from the teleportation portal in all directions, filling the entire Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect.

It was a divine sense so powerful that nothing in the entire sect could be hidden from it.

Everyone began to tremble where they stood, and Xu Baocai even gasped. He had encountered divine sense like this before on the battlefield, and was certain that this was someone who surpassed a deva. It could only be a demigod patriarch!

“The demigod is back?” Even before Xu Baocai could do anything, a familiar voice entered his ears.

“Xu Baocai?”

“Huh?” Xu Baocai replied, jaw dropping. His mind almost immediately went blank as the air rippled, and Bai Xiaochun stepped out into the open.

Xu Baocai stared in complete shock, unable to do anything as Bai Xiaochun walked up to him. Bai Xiaochun frowned and waved his hand, sending warm energy into Xu Baocai. A moment later, cracking sounds could be heard as Xu Baocai’s injuries were all healed.

When Xu Baocai felt the warmth inside of him, and sensed the fluctuations of his cultivation base, the despair he had felt for so long vanished. His eyes brightened as he rapidly rose back into the Core Formation stage… prompting him to shout, “Bai Xiaochun…? Junior Patriarch!!”