A Will Eternal

One of the reasons he wanted to go see who was impersonating him was because he was angry. The other was because he was worried. As far as he was concerned, there could only be two types of people who might impersonate him: either a friend, or an enemy!

If it was a friend, he might still be angry, but would still need to determine who it was, and why they were doing something so stupid. If that person was still alive, and deserved saving, then he would save them.

If this person was an enemy… then he still wanted to know who exactly it was!

Furthermore, he was confident that after all the spirit enhancements his mask had received, it was definitely powerful enough that a demigod wouldn’t be able to see through it. As long as he didn’t slip up accidentally, no one would be able to determine his true identity.

At the moment, he was a very important person in the Wildlands. He was the former inspections commissioner of Arch-Emperor City, as well as an earthly necromancer. Either one of those positions was one that would put him in a position to trample the Wildlands beneath his feet.

“I can’t just go off by myself. The best thing would be to go with Mistress Red-Dust and the Giant Ghost Legion. Going with them… will make my cover impossible to break.” Having made his decision, he calmed himself down, and then left with Song Que and Zhou Yixing, borrowing the Underworld River Restricted Area brigade’s heavenly airship.

He didn’t pause for even a moment along the way. The Underworld River Restricted Area was located in the central Wildlands, not very far from the eastern regions. In the very moments in which Mistress Red-Dust was making her final preparations for departure, he transmitted a polite message to her indicating that he wished to escort her along her way.

At first, she was inclined to ignore him. However, she was still angry about what had gone on between her and Bai Hao in the Inspections Manor, and decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to teach him a lesson or two.

Smiling coldly, she agreed to meet up. And thus, only a few days later, Bai Xiaochun arrived at the appointed meeting location with Mistress Red-Dust.

It was one of the many ordinary teleportation portals scattered throughout the Wildlands, a place guarded year-round by powerful soul cultivators. As soon as Bai Xiaochun arrived, everyone recognized him, and offered respectful greetings.

Bai Xiaochun was completely wrapped up in thoughts about who was impersonating him, and was in no mood for chatting. He simply waited outside of the teleportation portal for some time until it began to shine with bright, flickering light. Moments later, numerous figures began to pour out of it, who were none other than the soldiers of the Giant Ghost Legion.

They all nodded in greeting upon seeing him, after which they fanned out to seal down the area. After everything was secured, the teleportation portal flickered again, and more forces poured out to reinforce the perimeter. Soon, there were more than 10,000 people present.

Last to emerge were Mistress Red-Dust and her private guard. As soon as Bai Xiaochun laid eyes on Mistress Red-Dust, he thought back to what had occurred back in the Inspections Manor, and cleared his throat. Of course, he was a different person than he was back then. He was now an earthly necromancer, and therefore, he looked over at Mistress Red-Dust and gave her a friendly smile and nod.

She looked at him coldly and let out a snort. She knew that if she wanted to teach him a lesson, she needed to be patient. Furthermore, her main priority was to find Bai Xiaochun. Therefore, she sent some divine sense out into the area to inspect it, and after confirming everything was in order, flew up into the air.

The more than 10,000 members of the Giant Ghost Legion followed her. Under normal circumstances, the fact that she was ignoring him would have prompted Bai Xiaochun to cast a glare back at her. But right now, he was in a precarious political situation. Furthermore, he was very anxious about the matter of the Bai Xiaochun imposter. Therefore, he simply endured the situation and followed the soldiers.

Nobody spoke as they sped along behind Mistress Red-Dust. Anger burned in her beautiful eyes as she proceeded along, a jade slip in hand which constantly gave her updates and news. After a few hours passed, she suddenly pointed off into the distance.

“All clues point to the fact that Bai Xiaochun is still in the east Wildlands. He was last seen in a location roughly 5,000 kilometers from Mount Amity…. Clearly, his next target is none other than that very mountain!” With that, she picked up speed, as did the grim soldiers she led. They became thousands of beams of bright light which streaked through the air at top speed.

“This Zhou Zimo is no good at all at leading soldiers!” Bai Xiaochun thought. “Unless the imposter Bai Xiaochun is a complete idiot, there’s no way he would just stick around waiting for people to come after him….”

He was just about to offer his opinion on the matter when Mistress Red-Dust looked at him with cold eyes.

“The villain Bai Xiaochun has already been in this area for about half a month,” she said. “Every time he shows up, he sticks around in the same area for a certain period of time before leaving. So whatever it was that you were about to say, just stow it!”

Bai Xiaochun felt a bit awkward. It was obvious that Mistress Red-Dust was still brooding over the events in the Inspections Manor. However, he couldn’t help but be shocked by what she had just told him, and, feeling that he had no other choice, he hurried over to speak with her more privately.

“Something’s off here!” he said. “Why would he stay in one place? What if he’s waiting for us? Zimo, this sounds like a trap!” The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Based on what he had been told before, he assumed that the imposter Bai Xiaochun was randomly going around committing crimes. Therefore, this new information seemed very disconcerting.

Mistress Red-Dust snorted coldly. “Of course it’s a trap! That’s why I didn’t come alone. I brought an army with me!”

Now that Bai Xiaochun was getting a better idea of the details of the situation, he was feeling more and more nervous. Taking a deep breath, he decided to offer some more advice, “Hold on. No, something is really off. Zimo, I recommend you hold back. Send in the army to scout around first. Or maybe ask his highness the king to come!”

“Shut up!” Mistress Red-Dust said with an impatient wave of her hand. “Nobody asked you to come along. You came on your own! Besides… who knows Bai Xiaochun better, me or you?”

Inwardly, Bai Xiaochun rolled his eyes about a hundred thousand times. He really wished he could point out to this Zhou Zimo that of course she didn’t understand Bai Xiaochun better than Bai Xiaochun himself!

However, there was no way he could say such a thing, and he merely had to let the fires of frustration burn in his heart as Mistress Red-Dust flew off into the distance.

Of course, it wasn’t as if Mistress Red-Dust hadn’t made any advance preparations. In fact, she felt herself to be completely and utterly prepared. Furthermore, she hated Bai Xiaochun deep in her bones, and wanted nothing more than to kill him. At the moment, she was completely confident that, even if he did have some unknown superhuman abilities, considering she herself was a deva, she should definitely be able to crush him!

“Maybe if he were somewhere else I could ignore it. But this is the east Wildlands! My father the king is right around the corner in Giant Ghost City. If anything unexpected happens… father will come immediately to help me!” Laughing coldly inside, she felt more confident than ever about what was going to happen. Ignoring Bai Xiaochun’s words of warning, she continued on toward Mount Amity.

Bai Xiaochun was already starting to regret how things were turning out. The intelligence reports he had read earlier had been very vague, leaving him mostly in the dark. But now that he knew more, he was in a very tough position. Finally, he stamped his foot in frustration and followed after Mistress Red-Dust, his vigilance growing by the moment.

“If anything weird happens, I’m out of here….” he thought nervously. As he proceeded along, he surveyed the area constantly, both with eyesight and divine sense. To him, everything in the area seemed cold and sinister, which caused a sensation of imminent crisis to rise up in his heart.

“It’s so cold…. It’s a frigid qi that seems… familiar….” Even as he pondered the matter, Mount Amity appeared up ahead!

Mount Amity featured five mountain peaks that looked almost like a hand. It rose up out of the dense jungle into the evening sky, creating a stark silhouette that immediately filled one with a sense of foreboding.

The jungle was extremely quiet, even after the Giant Ghost Legion arrived. As for Bai Xiaochun, he looked around, scalp tingling at the realization that all of the trees in the jungle… were withered up and dead!!

It was almost as if all of their life force had been completely sucked away!

Mistress Red-Dust and the Giant Ghost Legion also noticed this fact, and their expressions turned even more serious than before. However, they didn’t slow down. Instead, they shot out over the jungle toward Mount Amity!

Before they could reach the mountain, however, sinister laughter suddenly erupted from the third of Mount Amity’s looming peaks!!

“Hehehe…. You people certainly took your time…. So few of you…. I’m actually still a bit hungry….” It was impossible to tell whether the voice belonged to a man or a woman. It was piercing, and almost sounded like a man, woman, and child all talking at the same time. Even as the voice erupted out into the open, a figure appeared on the third mountain peak.

It was a young man in a long white robe, with flowing black hair. Shockingly, he had two pupils in each eye, and his mouth was twisted in a bizarre smile. Then, he stuck his tongue out and licked his lips.

As for his facial features, he looked exactly like… Bai Xiaochun!!

However, as soon as Bai Xiaochun saw this person, his mind was battered by tsunamis of shock! He even shivered, and his pupils constricted as he breathed, “Gongsun Wan’er!!”