Bai Xiaochi looked a bit suspicious and hesitant. He was absolutely certain that he had sensed the aura of his former master, the Worldly Daoist. But the words he had heard just now seemed exactly like something the shameless and fraudulent Bai Xiaochun would love to say….
The Worldly Daoist had been one of the most powerful sovereigns in existence. How could he possibly say such mind-numbingly shocking things?
But because of that aura, Bai Xiaochi had no way of telling for sure.
As Bai Xiaochi looked on hesitantly, Bai Xiaochun stood there, his eyes closed and expression somber, feeling very pleased with himself. Although the Worldly Daoist’s tenacious will had taken over his body temporarily, he had remained conscious the entire time, viewing everything as though via an out-of-body experience. At first, he had been quite shocked, especially by Bai Xiaochi’s tears. At that time, Bai Xiaochun had snorted in his heart, but paid little attention. He had been more focused on the fear of seeing himself walk into those clouds, and then seeing that lonely-looking ship, and the corpse upon it. Bai Xiaochun had sensed everything that the Worldly Daoist had been able to sense.
All of it had caused him to wail with inward grief and fear; the mists in that valley were simply too dangerous, and had slowly been wearing away at the protective will that surrounded his body. Only after walking out of the mists did the Worldly Daoist’s tenacious will eventually fade away.
From that point on, there was no way for the Worldly Daoist to influence Bai Xiaochun in any way. In the end, it was actually good fortune for Bai Xiaochun. Although the Worldly Daoist’s tenacious will was only with him for a short time, it left behind some of his aura. And Bai Xiaochun could control that aura at will. In some ways, he… had actually become the Worldly Daoist!
Although he didn’t have his battle prowess, he could definitely use that aura to strike fear into the hearts of others.
Even as he realized that, he saw Bai Xiaochi in front of him, looking very torn. Then he thought about Bai Xiaochi throwing his arms around the Worldly Daoist’s legs. It was something he had never experienced before, and therefore, he pretended to be the Worldly Daoist. His ruse startled Bai Xiaochi… but seemed to work perfectly. Hopefully, it would ensure that in the future, it was easier to keep the spirit automaton under control….
Bai Xiaochun was definitely feeling wonderful about how everything had played out, especially considering that he had been able to emerge from the valley unscathed. Now that he was sure he was safe, he kept his eyes closed for a while longer, then opened them.
In order to make the act more realistic, he shrieked, and looked around in alarm.
“What happened?!?! Dammit, why am I standing right here?! I feel like I just fell asleep, then woke up, and can’t remember anything from before!” Face ashen, and eyes filled with horror, he flew at top speed back to the treasured fan.
Bai Xiaochi was actually more suspicious now than before, but had no way to uncover the truth. Therefore, he simply sighed, resigned himself to fate, and followed Bai Xiaochun back to the fan.
Apparently, Bai Xiaochun was worried that he had overacted a bit, which was always one of his weaknesses. Back at the fan, he looked solemnly at Bai Xiaochi, and asked him all sorts of questions about what had occurred after he ‘went unconscious’.
Before, Bai Xiaochi would never have told him the truth, or at least, would not have gone into much detail. Unless Bai Xiaochun resorted to threatening him with the name-changing tactic, then he would never have wasted his time.
But now, the final mission given to him by his master was still on his mind. Therefore, he explained everything, and then gave his own interpretation of the final words of the Immortal Imperator.
“The Worldly Daoist bore you no ill will. In fact, as his tenacious will was fading away, he even praised you.” Bai Xiaochi seemed worried that Bai Xiaochun might be angry at the Worldly Daoist, and therefore, prepared to offer some advice about the situation.
And yet, to his surprise, Bai Xiaochun shivered, waved his hand, and interrupted, “There’s no need to say it. The Worldly Daoist is basically my own Master! Without him, I would have perished. And I would never have reached the Archaean Realm!
“If he wants to use my body, he can do it any time. I’d go through hell and high water for the old man! If the Worldly Daoist, Immortal Imperator, speaks, then I, Bai Xiaochun, wouldn’t even bat an eyelid in response!
“I'm the type of person who knows the difference between gratitude and grudges! And I'm going to remember what he did for me for the rest of my life!” He sounded completely awe-inspiring and righteous, as if he were speaking from the bottom of his heart, with complete and utter sincerity. In response, Bai Xiaochi was visibly moved, and suddenly felt profound respect for Bai Xiaochun.
“Milord!” Bai Xiaochi was simply too naïve, and immediately thought back to all of the things the Worldly Daoist had said about Bai Xiaochun. At that point, he decided that the Worldly Daoist must have affected Bai Xiaochun on a profound level. After all, the Bai Xiaochun of this moment seemed to perfectly match the Worldly Daoist’s earlier description.
Excited, he told himself that he definitely had to do just as the Worldly Daoist had bid him, and do everything he could to take care of Bai Xiaochun.
Filled with enthusiasm, he immediately took control of the treasured fan and, just as Bai Xiaochun had ordered earlier, pushed it out into the void with all the power and speed he could muster.
An encouraging smile could be seen on Bai Xiaochun’s face as all of this happened. Feeling very pleased with how much more awesome he was than before, he sat down cross-legged. As of this moment, he had an archaean cultivation base, and yet, his primary goals had not changed.
He still wanted to conjure thirty-colored flame!
He had reached another bottleneck with twenty-nine-colored flame, a bottleneck that required a higher cultivation base. Now that he was in the Archaean Realm, he focused completely on the formula for twenty-nine-colored flame, and began to perform various auguries and calculations. Now that he could back that with the divine sense of an archaean, everything went far faster and more efficiently than before.
It didn’t take long to make some necessary adjustments to the formula, whereupon he flicked his sleeve and produced a huge quantity of souls.
Back when he was a celestial, his failures had been partly due to the difficulty of the formula, and partly because his cultivation base couldn’t sustain the effort. But now, he had resolved all of the problems. His conjuring efforts went unprecedentedly smoothly. A short month later, just as the fan was flying out of the ruins of the Immortal World, a dazzlingly bright light appeared, which was… a twenty-nine-colored flame!!
“So close. Now all I need… is thirty-colored flame!” After feeding the twenty-nine-colored flame into Bai Hao’s mark on the back of his hand, it was to his delight that he could sense Bai Hao’s life force thrumming with activity. It was as if there were only a slight barrier that needed to be broken through to resurrect him!!
Excited, he was just about to keep pressing forward to try to conjure a thirty-colored flame all in one session, when suddenly his expression flickered. Turning to look out into the void, he waved his finger!
In response, a certain area off in the distance began to sink down as the powers of gravity were unleashed. Time seemed to distort, much to the shock of Bai Xiaochi. But then, even as Bai Xiaochi realized what must be happening, he pushed the fan forward with greater speed. Meanwhile, dozens of beams of Archaean Luminescence shot out into the void.
“Archaean slaves!” Bai Xiaochun shouted, his eyes glittering. His two archaean slaves materialized, then flew off of the fan out into the void!
At around that time, the howl of the old ghost woman echoed out from the spot of distorted time and space!
“Dammit, are you ever going to give up!? I can’t believe you set an ambush for me here!” Before, Bai Xiaochun would have been scared out of his mind. But now, he was in the Archaean Realm, and was filled with confidence. Flicking his sleeve, he looked out into the void, battle spirit boiling!