Stories about Bai Xiaochun’s battle with Celestial Deadfall had long since begun to spread, and therefore, Daoist Heavenspan knew that he was in the mid Celestial Realm. Thus, he immediately resorted to a trump card, holding nothing back to seize the upper hand.
Unfortunately for him, despite his general understanding of Bai Xiaochun’s battle prowess, he had not personally fought him in a long time. And therefore, not even the full power of his nine Daogates were sufficient in this situation!
Bai Xiaochun moved too quickly, and he was too focused on striking a fatal blow. Instead of resorting to fancy tactics, he simply unleashed a vicious fist strike!
It was none other than… the Undying Emperor’s Fist!
It wasn’t a quintuple power version, but rather, quindecuple! Fifteen times the original level!
It was the most perfect fleshly body fist strike possible within the mid Celestial Realm. And yet, things weren’t even close to over. Bai Xiaochun also poured the power of his cultivation base into this fist strike, making it even more effective. The heavens thrummed, and massive winds swept about. Those present in the early Celestial Realm were flabbergasted, and even the mid Celestial Realm experts were visibly stunned. As for those nearby like Celestial Virūpākṣa who were in the late Celestial Realm, they were also unable to conceal their surprise.
Some considered stepping in to interfere, but none of them could possibly do so quickly enough. It took only moments for Daoist Heavenspan’s nine Daogates to shatter into fragments. At the same time, blood began to ooze out of the corners of his mouth as he fell back as quickly as he could.
Bai Xiaochun’s eyes flickered with killing intent. He had attacked in a devastating burst of energy, but Daoist Heavenspan was no ordinary opponent. Although his first nine Daogates had been destroyed, they quickly formed back together into a tenth Daogate.
Howling, Daoist Heavenspan sent it forward to block Bai Xiaochun’s path. At the same time, Celestial Virūpākṣa, Celestial Deadfall, Prince Ur-Demon and Reverend Devourer all rushed forward to do the same.
Under any other circumstances, Gu Tianjun and his fellow celestials wouldn’t have done anything. But with both emperors present, and with Bai Xiaochun holding at least a nominal position as a celestial in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, they had no choice but to suppress their aversion for him and step into the fray. Of course, the objective of the celestials on both sides was not to start a huge battle, but rather, to interfere with Bai Xiaochun and Daoist Heavenspan.
“King Heavenspan, calm yourself a bit!”
“Celestial Du, don’t sink to the same level as that brat!”
Even as they barked various words such as these, Bai Xiaochun looked contemptuously at Daoist Heavenspan’s tenth Daogate, and before anyone could get close to him, pulled out the Greatsword of the North.
“Take this!” he shouted, slashing the sword toward the Daogate. Even as everyone looked on in visible shock, the Greatsword slashed through the Daogate as surely as if it were made of paper. Then, the raging sword qi continued on toward Daoist Heavenspan!
Bai Xiaochun was gambling that the Vile-Emperor Dynasty celestials wouldn’t personally interfere with a shocking sword strike like this simply for the sake of Daoist Heavenspan. And he was right. Daoist Heavenspan’s face fell as Celestial Virūpākṣa and his compatriots simply looked on with furrowed brows.
Of course, there was no way that Bai Xiaochun could fight a battle to the death with Daoist Heavenspan right here and now. Even as his sword continued to fall, a cold snort exploded into heaven and earth.
In the blink of an eye, the Vile-Emperor appeared in front of Daoist Heavenspan. All he had to do was wave his sleeve, and the entire world went dim as an unimaginable power appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and backed by natural law.
That natural law would not permit any magical items to be near the Vile-Emperor. As a result of his mere gaze, heaven and earth seemed to be reversed, and everything trembled violently. For the first time ever, the world treasure that was the Greatsword of the North left Bai Xiaochun’s control. Shivering, it flew backward of its own accord, not willing to even stay in the same place it had just occupied.
Bai Xiaochun was also hit by a backlash. His entire body vibrated, and blood oozed out of the corners of his mouth as he staggered backward several steps. Even as he did, his Undying Live Forever Technique went to work, healing his wounds. A moment later, he came to a stop and looked up, shifting his gaze to focus on the Vile-Emperor.
At the same time, the Saint-Emperor appeared in front of Bai Xiaochun, seemingly there to defend him from the Vile-Emperor.
Clasping his hands behind his back, he snorted coldly and said, “You’re pushing things a bit too far, Vile-Emperor!”
The Vile-Emperor merely chuckled in response. Then he looked at Bai Xiaochun and coldly said, “Still interested in fighting?”
The Saint-Emperor looked on with the slightest of frowns, his eyes narrowed.
Back when Bai Xiaochun had first stepped into the cultivation world, and had little experience in life, he might not have been able to detect the sinister implications in what the Vile-Emperor had just said. But he was not that inexperienced person anymore, and instantly grasped the vicious trap contained therein.
If Bai Xiaochun disregarded the Saint-Emperor and responded directly to the Vile-Emperor, then it wouldn’t matter what he said, it would cause the Saint-Emperor to lose face. On the other hand, Bai Xiaochun did not qualify to refuse to respond to the Vile-Emperor. Only the two archaeans themselves had a high enough position to ignore each other.
As soon as the puzzle pieces clicked into place for Bai Xiaochun, he snorted coldly, looked away from the Vile-Emperor, and took a few steps forward. Turning, he clasped hands and bowed deeply to the Saint-Emperor.
“Saint-Emperor, I await your judgement in the matter!”
In response to his words, the Vile-Emperor’s eyes flickered, and the Saint-Emperor’s narrowed eyes returned to their normal state.
“He might be able to stop things this time,” the Saint-Emperor said coolly, “but he can’t interfere every time. There can only be one ruler of the people of Heavenspan.” That simple statement made his stance clear.
Bai Xiaochun bowed again, then respectfully said, “Thank you for your support, Saint-Emperor!”
Seeing how well Bai Xiaochun was handling things softened the Saint-Emperor’s heart a bit.
“However,” he continued in a kind voice, “now is not the time for such things. Please be patient, King Heavenspan. After we attend to matters at hand, I’ll arrange for you to get the chance you need.”
With that, he looked over at the Vile-Emperor.
The two emperors were old rivals who could each guess what the other were thinking by merely looking into each other’s eyes. The matter between Bai Xiaochun and Daoist Heavenspan was an issue of face only, and compared to the sovereign clone, was inconsequential.
Based on their previous investigations, they had confirmed that the sovereign clone’s cultivation base was only at the level of an archaean, and that it was definitely in the region covered by spiderweb.
“It belongs to whoever finds it first!” the Saint-Emperor said. Then he vanished, to reappear down below on the surface of the spiderweb. The Vile-Emperor snorted coldly and did the same thing, indicating his agreement with the Saint-Emperor.
The power of two archaean cultivation bases were unleashed, instantly punching a hole into what had seemed the nearly impregnable spiderweb. Then, the two emperors became streaks of bright light that vanished inside.
The Vile-Emperor Dynasty celestials all flew down to the hole in the hopes of observing the fight between the two emperors. Obviously, they wouldn’t enter without a direct Dharmic decree issued by the Vile-Emperor.
The Saint-Emperor Dynasty celestials followed suit. As for Bai Xiaochun, he stared coldly at Daoist Heavenspan before joining Celestial Aged Spirit to head down toward the entrance hole.
He tried to catch Gongsun Wan’er’s eyes, but she was pretending not to notice him. However, it was very telling that, back when Bai Xiaochun began to fight with Daoist Heavenspan, and the Vile-Emperor Dynasty celestials interfered, she had placed herself in an unusual position. Although it had seemed like she was blocking Bai Xiaochun’s path, to him, it seemed more like she was preventing Daoist Heavenspan from retreating.
That was enough for him to guess where she stood on the matter. Upon reaching the hole, he settled down cross-legged and looked inside, suspicious about what secrets this sovereign clone possessed.
And thus, the celestials from the two dynasties waited. Hours passed. Eventually, a shriek rang out from the depths of the spiderweb that caused the minds of all of the celestials to tremble. The vibrations of magical combat also reached them from far off in the distance.
Everyone outside of the gaping hole excitedly tried to make out the details of what was happening. Although they couldn’t see the fight itself, they could tell from the fluctuations that a massive, earth-shattering battle was taking place.