A Will Eternal

The sound of Bai Xiaochun’s voice echoing out in the courtyard attracted the attention of Liu Li, Zhao Long, and the others. Expressions flickering, they all rushed out to see what was happening.

As soon as they approached, they could sense the powerful fluctuations in the air, prickling against their skin, apparently the result of something passing by with incredible speed.

Then they saw Bai Xiaochun off in the distance, laughing uproariously, and they gasped, exchanging glances of astonishment and disbelief.

All of them could tell at a glance that Bai Xiaochun must have been testing out some new technique, something that involved moving with incredible speed.

Liu Li looked at Bai Xiaochun a bit more deeply, then murmured to herself, “Who would ever have thought that Apothecary Bai would have a secret magic like that…?”

She, along with Zhao Long and the others, all clasped hands in salute.

Bai Xiaochun was quite pleased to see the astonishment in the eyes of Zhao Long and the others. Clearing his throat, he gave some words of encouragement regarding a few things, then strutted back into his residence.

Zhao Long and the others were significantly affected by what had just occurred. Days later, they would still think back to what had happened, and feel their hearts trembling. That was especially true of Liu Li and Zhao Long. Being in late Core Formation, they felt especially taken aback.

“That speed... it couldn’t just be a secret magic. It would also require shocking levels of fleshly body power....”

“With unbelievable speed like that, an ordinary fist strike would be like a divine ability!”

As time passed, Bai Lin continued to come collect pill furnaces, which he would send over the Great Wall to explode on the battlefield. Each explosion would rouse the hearts of the five legions. That was especially true considering that the power and effectiveness of the exploding furnaces increased every day. Of course, that made them only that much more of a headache for the Wildlands savages.

The pill furnaces mostly targeted the vengeful souls, and didn’t just converge them together in one spot, but rather, wiped them out of existence. The destructive power of the explosions ensured that the once boundless sea of souls outside the Great Wall was slowly showing signs of weakening.

Were it not for the fact that this campaign was backed by ten tribes of savages, as well as soul cultivators and necromancers, then the souls would most likely have already dissipated.

The Wildlands were in a very tight situation at the moment, and couldn’t think of any good strategies to turn the tables. Of course, they had no way of knowing that it was all due to the fact that Bai Xiaochun was now working for the five legions. On one occasion, Bai Lin took Bai Xiaochun up to the wall to experience for himself the power of the exploding pill furnaces. Of course, that was only after Bai Lin swore up and down that there wouldn’t be any danger at all.

As soon as he set foot on the wall itself, he could sense the countless gazes of the cultivators of the five legions, gazes filled with respect and awe.

Bai Xiaochun immediately fell in love with the sensation. Being in the center of the public eye made him feel very much like a true hero....

From that day on, whenever Bai Lin came to take the pill furnaces away, Bai Xiaochun would go along to witness the explosions.

When he saw the blasts of energy, and heard the deafening booms, it lifted his spirits to the maximum. Furthermore, with each explosion, the battle credit in his command medallion rose higher, which got him even more excited.

“This is definitely the place for me!” Bai Xiaochun looked out at all the craters beyond the Great Wall, the infuriated savages, the recoiling sea of souls, and swished his sleeve. “With a single massive snap of my finger,” he mused proudly, “I can destroy anything and everything.”

An entire month flew by, during which time the sea of souls continued to grow thinner. It was something that had not occurred for many years, and got the cultivators in Great Wall City into very high spirits. Conversely, the Wildlands forces were now paying closer attention to the situation than ever.

“I have over 300,000 battle credits!” Bai Xiaochun murmured. Every day, he would check to see how much his battle credit had increased, and was always pleased with the result. From what he could tell, he was definitely making enough to sustain his cultivation.

One afternoon when Bai Xiaochun had just sealed fifty pill furnaces, he didn’t stand there watching them like he usually did. Instead, he swaggered out of the Armory and headed toward the huge pagoda in the middle of the city.

Not only did that pagoda operate the city’s grand spell formation, it was also where the five legions would go to spend battle credit. Therefore, it was a very important place.

It was only natural that a place like that was also the dwelling place of a deva. Generally speaking, cultivators from the five legions could be seen coming and going there on a daily basis.

As soon as Bai Xiaochun showed up at the pagoda, people recognized him. All of them seemed to view him favorably, and would salute him with clasped hands. Bai Xiaochun called out greetings in return, sighing at how popular he was.

Upon reaching the pagoda itself, he sent out some divine sense to check what items were available for purchase. It was in that moment that cries of shock rose up around him, and a bright beam of light appeared up above. That light shot down with incredible speed, surrounded by a frigid coldness that was shocking on a deep level.

“It’s Ji Feng!”

“Of all the cultivators in the great circle of Core Formation in the five legions, he’s the one most likely to get promoted to major general! Ji Feng!”

“I haven’t seen him for a long time. I heard he was sent out on a secret mission outside the Great Wall, to infiltrate the Wildlands and gather intelligence!”

As the discussions went on, the beam of light faded away, and a young man appeared, clad in a blood-colored suit of armor. He had long black hair, and a handsome face that was marred by a long scar which ran from the top of his forehead down to the corner of his mouth, and transformed his good looks into something grotesque! As he hovered there in midair, he completely ignored everyone around him as he stared up at the huge eye atop the pagoda.

Down on the ground, Bai Xiaochun looked up at Ji Feng. He didn’t recognize him, but something about the strength of his cultivation base reminded him of Zhao Tianjiao.

“He must be a famous person like Zhao Tianjiao....” he thought.

Ji Feng had terrifying cultivation base ripples, and a murderous aura that was more powerful than anyone Bai Xiaochun had seen in the five legions other than Bai Lin. And considering that Bai Lin was half a step into the Deva Realm, that was very telling.

“A fiendish killer!” Bai Xiaochun thought with an inner gasp. Although Ji Feng seemed intimidating, Bai Xiaochun wasn’t convinced that he would lose to him in a fight. After all, fiendish killers like this guy were usually the crazy type. Just when Bai Xiaochun was about to look away, Ji Feng waved his hand in the direction of the huge eye.

That motion caused a vast quantity of vengeful souls to pour out of his sleeve. There were more than 10,000 of them, screaming and struggling. However, once the gaze of the eye locked onto them, they were sucked up, and in the blink of an eye, had been absorbed.

Bai Xiaochun’s jaw dropped.

Simultaneously, expressions of astonishment could be heard in the area.

“Elder Brother Ji Feng just offered a sacrifice of 10,000 vengeful souls!”

“Not many people increase their battle credit by offering a sacrifice in such a way. Only top experts like Ji Feng can pull off something like that.”

“There were more than 10,000 vengeful souls, but in terms of quality, they were varied. I’m afraid his battle credit will only increase by a few tens of thousands.”

Even as the discussions continued, Ji Feng turned and blurred into motion, speeding off into the distance. As for Bai Xiaochun, it was only at this point that he finally realized you could earn battle credit in such a fashion.

“What a pity. Right now, my exploding pill furnaces simply tear the vengeful souls to shreds. If I could use Ji Feng’s method, I could earn even more battle credit.” Sighing, he shook his head. After giving a final glance to Ji Feng disappearing in the distance, he poured some divine sense into his command medallion, establishing a link with the huge eye.

A moment later, all sorts of information appeared in his mind.

“I can’t believe you can trade for so much stuff here.... They even have Nascent Soul Pills....” Considering the shocking fact that Nascent Soul Pills were for sale, then it was no surprise at all that they had the type of medicinal pills that could help during the Gold Core stage.

There were also magical items, paper talismans, and medicinal plants of all types. Bai Xiaochun’s heart was already pounding with excitement.

Many of the items were unique to this location, such as soul grasses from the Wildlands, and even... Underworld River water!

The Underworld River was illusory in nature, almost like something that belonged to another world. It had very unique properties, and was difficult to summon. In fact, other than devas, no one could manipulate it.