A Will Eternal

Half of the trident was stabbed deep into the earth, and the other half rose up into the violet clouds. It was a profoundly astonishing sight.

As for the bone dragon which coiled around it, it was vicious beyond compare. It only had half of a skull left, but it still radiated an intense murderous aura. The bones weren’t stuck to the trident itself, just hanging off of it in shocking fashion.

Despite the fact that he was a celestial, even Bai Xiaochun was shaken by the ferocious scene.

Vile-Emperor City itself was built on the bones of that bone dragon. Numerous buildings and structures could be seen there. As for the skull, it was the foundation of the imperial palace.

The palace itself was in the violet clouds, surrounded by countless bolts of lightning. There was something frantic, even maddened about this city that made it completely different from Saint-Emperor City.

Almost as soon as Bai Xiaochun caught sight of the imperial palace, a stream of divine sense erupted from within it, something profoundly domineering, something that surpassed celestials on the most fundamental level.

His eyes almost hurt because of it, and he began to pant. Obviously, this was the will of the Vile-Emperor!

“So this… is Vile-Emperor City….” Shaken, he looked at the dozen or so cultivators standing around the teleportation formation, hands still clasped in greeting.

Standing behind the Saint-Emperor Dynasty cultivators were two demigods from Vile-Emperor City. They stood there very respectfully, and yet, deep in their eyes was an insufferable arrogance that they did nothing to hide.

As soon as they realized he was looking at them, they also clasped hands in greetings.

“Welcome, Celestial Bai!”

Bai Xiaochun was not in the best of moods, and although the demigods were acting respectfully, he could tell how full of themselves they were. At the same time, it was obvious that they were afraid of him.

As for the other cultivators, they were even more on edge. Muttering to himself, Bai Xiaochun stepped out of the teleportation formation and waved his hand.

“Rise,” he said. The Saint-Emperor Dynasty cultivators breathed sighs of relief as they rose from their bows. They had been working for Sima Yunhua for some time, only to suddenly have a change in ambassadors. To top it off, the new ambassador was the famous King Heavenspan, Bai Xiaochun. None of them knew anything about his temperament, and they were thus very nervous about what could happen.

“Considering that Sima Yunhua didn’t tell me anything about these people, I guess that means he didn’t view them as being very important.” After looking the group over, Bai Xiaochun realized that all of them looked dispirited to some degree, even the demigods. But that made sense, considering that they were from the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, and were stuck in the terrifying Vile-Emperor City.

If true conflict erupted between the two dynasties, this group would be the first to lose their heads.

Shaking his head, he maintained silence as he followed the two Vile-Emperor Dynasty demigods off of the heavenly mountain. As they neared the city itself, Bai Xiaochun could already sense that its population greatly surpassed that of Saint-Emperor City.

The moment he stepped into the city itself, five or six streams of divine sense locked onto him.

Slowing down for a moment, he sent his own divine sense out to make contact with them.

Although no one could see that moment of contact, it left Bai Xiaochun feeling very shaken. After all, those streams of divine sense belonged to the celestials in the city!

However, considering his status as the ambassador from the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, he knew that as long as he didn’t make any mistakes, no one would be able to do anything to him, at least not easily.

And as it turned out, after making initial contact, the other streams of divine sense faded away. At that point, he pulled his own divine sense back in and continued on with the two demigods, who had sensed that something strange was going on, but weren’t sure what.

Bai Xiaochun didn’t hurry. He looked around at the streets, and the people of Vile-Emperor City, and was unsure about how he felt. After all, this place was completely unfamiliar to him.

However, despite the unfamiliar surroundings, he could sense the auras of Heavenspan Realm cultivators, quite a few in fact. Sadly, the auras were weak. He could only imagine how many people were imprisoned here, unable to escape.

Here in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, the prevailing view was that people from the Heavenspan Realm were to be enslaved. And Bai Xiaochun’s cultivation base was not so great that he could simply ignore the laws of the land and do what he wished.

Sighing, he hurried along until the Saint-Emperor Dynasty’s embassy was visible up ahead, on the lower half of the bone dragon’s spine. It was five stories tall, and surrounded by a sprawling courtyard. Overall it was very impressive, especially considering the powerful spell formation fluctuations rolling out from it. At a cursory glance, Bai Xiaochun could tell that even a celestial who wanted to break through that formation would have a difficult time of it. That made him feel a little bit better.

The cultivators who had come to receive him from the embassy were visibly relieved to return.

After entering, the two Vile-Emperor Dynasty demigods left, and Bai Xiaochun sat down in the main hall of the embassy. Looking at his subordinates, who were lined up in front of him, he asked, “So, what are my responsibilities?”

Unsure of what type of person Bai Xiaochun was, they didn’t dare to withhold anything, and quickly gave him an overview of the situation.

“Exalted Celestial, you normally don’t have to do anything. As long as the two dynasties aren’t in conflict, you just need to make a public appearance every once in awhile.

“Occasionally you’ll be summoned by the Vile-Emperor. Since you’ve just taken over as ambassador, it’s likely you’ll soon receive such a summons.

“Exalted Celestial, please be careful here. After all, this is Vile-Emperor City….”

He nodded.

“What’s so dangerous about this place?” he asked.

The assembled cultivators exchanged glances and whispered among themselves for a moment. Then, the highest-ranking demigod stepped forward, clasped hands, and bowed.

“Exalted one, you need to abide by all of the laws and customs of the Vile-Emperor Dynasty. And you need to be careful… of people… intentionally causing problems.” Although the man was being vague, Bai Xiaochun understood what he was getting at. After discussing a few other matters with the group, and coming to understand the city a bit more, he dismissed them, and sat there to think.

“It’s a foregone conclusion that people will try to cause problems for me….” he thought. Massaging his temples, he contemplated the fact that if his cultivation base were high enough, he wouldn’t need to worry about such things.

“Hold on a second!” Suddenly, he smacked his forehead. “Usually, I cause grief for people whenever I go somewhere new. The way it usually works is… I show up, and everything goes like normal for a while. But then, for some unknown reason, things always change….” He suddenly realized that he had been thinking about everything the wrong way. After reminiscing about how many drums and gongs he had heard throughout the years, he blinked a few times, and suddenly felt a lot better.

Clearing his throat, he tried to pump himself up a bit. “This Vile-Emperor must be a complete idiot. The Saint-Emperor wants me to be the ambassador, and he just agreed right off the bat? You know, a lot of people have said that, given the right circumstances, I could easily destroy the world.”

As of now, he felt the tension beginning to melt away, and even felt a bit sorry for the Vile-Emperor.

It was starting to get dark outside, and considering how much better he felt, he decided to take a stroll around the embassy. Eventually, he found a private chamber perfect for practicing cultivation, so he sat down to do some meditation.

“I need to go check out the damaged fan, and pass some more levels there. One of these days, I’ll reach the hundredth level, and when I get that reward, my cultivation will progress a lot faster.” Having reached this point in his train of thought, he closed his eyes and disappeared. When he materialized, he was back on the damaged fan. After calling out a few greetings, he confirmed that the spirit automaton was asleep, whereupon he headed toward the next level.