A Will Eternal

Things didn’t stop here. Bai Xiaochun immediately began working on a second tongue of eighteen-colored flame. Time passed. Throughout the course of the night, he conjured a total of ten eighteen-colored flames!!

Every single one succeeded. He didn’t even come close to a failure!!

If word of this got out, the entire Wildlands would be shaken, and countless necromancers would be thrown into a frenzy. No one had ever seen anything like it!

And yet, here, on the banks of the Underworld River, it was happening!!

It would have been impossible for Bai Xiaochun to do this all on his own. And although some of it had to do with the formula, most of it was because of the advice given by the gravekeeper!!

When coupled with Bai Xiaochun’s ability to focus, and his familiarity with medicine formulas, it made things go even more smoothly. In the end, he did something that could shake all of heaven and earth!

He conjured ten high-level flames in a row, without making a mistake!

Perhaps it was because of Bai Xiaochun’s mask, or perhaps because of the gravekeeper, but when those eighteen-colored flames appeared, the only other person who could see them was Bai Hao.

And of course, Bai Hao was overwhelmed with joy. Although he knew that his Master had already succeeded twice in the past, he hadn’t been present the first time, and the second time, he hadn’t dared to come out to observe.

But this time, he could see clearly, and it led him to the realization that nobody in all of the Wildlands could possibly stand on equal footing as his Master. Not even the other three secretive and elusive earthly necromancers could hold a candle to him!

To be able to casually conjure such flame ten times in a row was a completely and utterly shocking matter!!

Bai Xiaochun now had full and unshakable control over eighteen-colored flame!

He was very excited, and yet, he knew that this was only the first step. The ten tongues of eighteen-colored flame that he had just conjured… were the building blocks with which he would conjure a nineteen-colored flame. Unfortunately, those ten tongues of flame represented a massive amount of resources.

Furthermore, he had lost his source of income. Right now, he only had enough to try one time. Although he would still have some resources left over in the end, they would only be about ten percent of what he needed to make another attempt.

“No wonder earthly ranked flames are so rare. It’s not just because of the number of earthly necromancers, it’s because of the vast amount of resources required to make them….” Although he wasn’t sure how other earthly necromancers conjured flame, based on his current skill and experience, he knew that, regardless of what technique was used… the cost would be roughly the same.

Bai Xiaochun sat there quietly for a moment, looking at the ten tongues of eighteen-colored flame. Suppressing his excitement, he closed his eyes for a moment to settle his thoughts. He knew… that the moment of truth had arrived!

“Nineteen-colored flame…. I’ve done months upon months of research, and had help from Bai Hao and Great-Grandpa Gravekeeper. I… have to make it work!!” A moment later, his eyes snapped open. Spreading his hands wide, he pulled the ten tongues of flame together.

Although it didn’t seem difficult to merge them into one, Bai Xiaochun and Bai Hao had spent a huge amount of time working on the various details and steps required. The entire process had been mapped out via augury, with numerous critical issues resolved with advice from the gravekeeper.

Only with hard work and a bit of luck did Bai Xiaochun reach the point where he could so smoothly conjure flame. And thus it was that the ten tongues of eighteen-colored flame slowly merged together in front of Bai Xiaochun, right above the surface of the Underworld River.

His hands flashed constantly with various incantation gestures. Occasionally he would pull out a special soul to add into the mix according to the method that he and Bai Hao had devised. As he made these constant adjustments, the sea of flames gradually became more and more perfect.

Time marched on, and everything went according to plan. However, conjuring a nineteen-colored flame was still no easy task. It required utter concentration on Bai Xiaochun’s part, to the point where his eyes were completely bloodshot. Not daring to make the slightest slipup, he proceeded along carefully for about two hours until all ten tongues of eighteen-colored flame had been perfectly combined.

Although the heat of this sea of fire vastly surpassed that of an eighteen-colored flame, Bai Xiaochun’s ability to control the heat had also increased.

The beads of sweat which popped out on his forehead quickly evaporated. Taking a breath, he drew upon the power of his cultivation base to crush the sea of fire down!

“Compress!”

Rumbling sounds filled the air, and yet, neither Zhou Yixing nor anyone else in the area noticed. As far as they were concerned, the scene on the banks of the Underworld River was the same as ever!

Bai Xiaochun wasn’t aware of that, though. He was fully concentrating on the process of compressing the sea of fire. Meanwhile, Bai Hao remained off to the side, watching nervously.

“Considering all of the auguries we performed, there shouldn’t be any problems….” Although Bai Hao was constantly worrying about what would happen, he didn’t let that show on his face, for fear of it affecting his Master.

His eyes remained fixed on the sea of fire, which writhed defiantly like some primordial beast. However, no matter how it struggled, it couldn’t break free from Bai Xiaochun, and was forced to be tamed.

It took time for the sea of fire to compress, although Bai Xiaochun actually had no idea how much time had passed. All he knew was that his exhaustion was rapidly mounting. Before long, the sea of fire was only 300 meters across!!

That was his limit! His cultivation base had been almost completely sucked dry, and he was so tired that his mind was about to shut down.

“Hao’er!” he cried out.

In almost immediate response, Bai Hao flicked his sleeve, sending a medicinal pill flying out into Bai Xiaochun’s mouth, which he consumed in one gulp!

Warmth immediately began to flow through him, returning his cultivation base to its peak, and settling his mind.

Enthused, and eyes shining brightly, he sent out more cultivation base power, and also shoved his hands closer together. As a result, the beast-like sea of fire struggled as it shrank.

270 meters. 240 meters. 210 meters…. Bai Xiaochun didn’t hold anything back from his cultivation base. The sea of fire struggled mightily, and yet nothing changed. It continued to shrink all the way until it was only 120 meters across!

After that, it shrunk to 90 meters. 60 meters… 30 meters!!

By this point, his cultivation base was again almost completely drained. And yet, that was exactly what his apprentice’s auguries had predicted would happen.

“When it gets down to 24 meters,” Bai Xiaochun thought, “I’ll consume another Heavencleaving Good Fortune Pill. That should be enough! It’s too bad that I can only consume a total of nine Heavencleaving Good Fortune Pills. After that, they won’t work….”

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about the matter now. He had to take advantage of this opportunity. If he could enhance his nascent soul and thus increase his cultivation base, then eventually he wouldn’t need any Heavencleaving Good Fortune Pills! He could just directly conjure nineteen-colored flames!

“Compress!” he growled, his eyes blood red. Rumbling sounds echoed out as the sea of fire shrank down until it was 24 meters across!!

“Hao’er!” Bai Hao knew exactly what to do, and sent a second Heavencleaving Good Fortune Pill over to Bai Xiaochun. After consuming it, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes shone, and he continued to work on shrinking the fire.

RUUUUUUUUMBLE!!

21 meters. 18 meters. Finally… 15 meters!!

It was at 15 meters when the sea of fire began to struggle most viciously. Bai Xiaochun’s cultivation base was being drained rapidly, and his exhaustion was again mounting. However, it was at that point that… another color appeared within the 15-meter sea of fire!!

The fact that he had begun his endeavor with fifteen-colored flames was no waste! As of this moment, there wasn’t a single portion of the nineteenth color, but rather, ten!

That ensured that the chances of success were increased significantly. Although Bai Xiaochun was panting nervously as he stared at the new color, he used the method devised by Bai Hao’s augury to analyze it.

After studying it for about ten breaths of time, his eyes began to shine, and it was without the slightest hesitation that he sent some divine sense power into the fire…. He didn’t make the slightest mistake! His divine sense immediately locked onto the nineteenth color.

RUUUUUUUUMBLE!!

The nineteenth color began to shine with blinding brightness, like a dragon flying up into the heavens. That nineteenth color… soon completely distinguished itself from the other eighteen colors!

“It worked!!” Bai Hao shouted excitedly.

Bai Xiaochun laughed hoarsely, but with passion as he reached out to grab the flame.

“Come to me, nineteen-colored flame!” he shouted. Rumbling sounds echoed out loudly as his hands closed around the fire.

The flame sank down into his hand until it couldn’t even be seen. His fingers trembled slightly, and Bai Hao looked on, completely nervous. Although Bai Hao was convinced that his Master couldn’t fail, he was still worried about what would happen.

Master and apprentice exchanged a glance, and then Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath and… slowly opened his fingers!

As he did, a tongue of nineteen-colored flame was clearly visible above his palm!

Nineteen-colored flame… success!