On this extended journey through the void, Bai Xiaochun’s only goal was to conjure a tongue of thirty-colored flame, and resurrect his apprentice, Bai Hao!
As the years passed, he conjured more tongues of twenty-nine-colored flame, and at the same time, stabilized his place within the Archaean Realm. Along the way, he drew closer and closer to his goal.
His higher cultivation base ensured that his auguries regarding thirty-colored flame achieved success much more quickly. Combined with all of his previous knowledge and experiences, the formula gradually began to take shape in his mind.
He still had no way to know whether or not thirty colors was the ultimate limit. However, he soon reached the point where his formula was complete.
The next step was to use his accumulation of souls to start the conjuring process. With the successive failures that would result, he would eventually perfect the formula and conjure the flame.
He was no longer worried about having enough souls. After capturing the Immortal Imperatrix, and collecting the seemingly innumerable souls that she had collected, he now had more than enough to go about his work.
Failures with thirty-colored flame could have negative ramifications if they occurred near the Eternal Immortal Domains, and thus, he temporarily chose not to return.
“It won’t be long now….” he murmured. Heart pounding with anticipation, he continued his work.
He performed test after test with actual souls, to the point where he failed… dozens of times. Although it was great practice, years and years passed during that time.
As he saw success getting closer and closer, his excitement built. Now that he was an archaean, there were more places within the void that he could actually enter and explore.
He had visited dozens of various ruins throughout the years, although he had simply scanned many smaller areas with divine sense, and not bothered to personally explore them.
One day, he sat cross-legged on the fan, a multi-colored sea of fire swirling in front of him. Suddenly, it winked out of existence, causing a frown to appear on his face.
“Only one last step in the process. But I still keep failing.” He was frustrated, but at the same time, aware that his failure might have something to do with how excited he was.
Convinced that this was the case, he closed his eyes and forced himself into a state of calm. After banishing his worries about possible failures, he reached yet another new understanding of thirty-colored flame.
He spent an entire month reaching a state of utter calm. Just when he was about to proceed with another test, his expression flickered, and he looked down at the mark on his hand. Bai Hao’s mark was pulsing with fluctuations that seemed to indicate that something existed in the area that was profoundly stimulating.
Surprised, Bai Xiaochun looked out into the void, and then sent his divine sense out to scan the area.
At first, the darkness of the void seemed the same as always. But then….
“Eee?” Bai Xiaochun rose to his feet as, far off in the distance, he caught sight of what appeared to be a candle!!
As he got closer, he saw that it wasn’t a candle, but rather, several sources of light, although he couldn’t tell what exactly they were…. This was the first light Bai Xiaochun had seen in the void during his entire journey.
The old ghost woman had her lamp, but that was filled with an aura of death. And although the Immortal World had something of a glow, it was nothing like what he was looking at now, a shining light that seemed to represent life force.
It was quite a surprise. After all, his journeys through the void had revealed to him nothing but death. And he also knew that the Mortal Renegade had slaughtered everything in the starry sky, reducing it to what was essentially a massive cemetery.
The Eternal Immortal Domains were the only place in the entire void where life existed, and therefore, it was quite a surprise to see this flickering candlelight.
“Did some other group of people actually survive?” Curious, he sent the treasured fan closer to the sea of light.
Sure enough, he found ruins, in the middle of which was an area that didn’t seem damaged at all. In fact, there was a large building there, whose dozens of windows were the source of the light!
However, there was something very strange about the light; it didn’t seem particularly bright. And even as he got closer, the intensity of the light didn't seem to change at all.
Bai Xiaochun was immediately suspicious.
He had been to many places in the void, and had seen many strange and unique things. Therefore, as he stood there on the fan, he simply packed away his curiosity and turned the fan to leave.
It didn’t matter that he had an archaean cultivation base, his basic personality had not changed. After seeing something suspicious, he had no desire to investigate it. Furthermore, the fluctuations coming from Bai Hao’s mark had already calmed down. In the end, Bai Xiaochun knew that he had become very strong, but based on everything he had seen, he also knew that this void was a very boundless and mysterious place.
“In a void like this, it's best to keep one's curiosity in check.” Skirting this set of ruins, he sent the fan proceeding along its way, and prepared to continue working on his thirty-colored flame. However, it was at that point that he frowned and looked out into the void ahead with narrowed eyes. There, up ahead, was some light!
And it looked exactly the same as the light from before!
Snorting coldly, he steered the fan around the light, and kept his divine sense spread out to scan the area. However, before long, more light appeared up ahead.
“Well isn’t this interesting,” he murmured, his expression unsightly. After numerous tests, he came to find that no matter which way he turned, or how he tried to skirt the light, it would always appear in front of him. And every time, it was a bit closer than before.
Eventually, he realized that he could see humanoid shapes moving about on the other side of the windows….
By now, he could tell that these ruins had once been sparsely populated, but had been home to a sovereign. And the circular space that he was apparently caught in was the result of spell formations set up by those people.
He had inadvertently entered the area, and would likely not find it easy to escape. As he thought about the problem, he looked at the shining windows, and could hear the faint sound of laughter and conversation from inside. At one point, one of the windows opened, and a woman appeared, pretty and flirtatious, made up, but clad only in her undergarments. Looking out at Bai Xiaochun, she waved her handkerchief in his direction and beckoned for him to approach.
“Hey, come over here….” she said, her voice traveling through the void and into his ears. At this point, his eyes widened, and he looked the entire building up and down.
“Don’t tell me this place is a brothel?” he murmured, blinking. Although he was tempted to go in, he knew that he shouldn’t let his curiosity get the best of him. Snorting, he turned the fan to leave. Unfortunately, he soon realized that the only way to escape was through the central node of the spell formation, which was none other than the brothel itself.
Sighing, he realized that he had no other options at his disposal. And considering he was so powerful that even the old ghost woman wasn’t a match for him, he decided that there was no harm in indulging in some games.
In that moment, the fluctuations coming from Bai Hao’s mark flared, prompting a strange look from Bai Xiaochun. Suddenly, he wondered if his apprentice actually wanted to go into the brothel.
“Hao’er! You've been corrupted!” Clearing his throat, he decided to play it safe, and sent his divine sense out to cover the entire brothel. A while later, he calmed down a bit, convinced that the unique souls inside didn’t pose any threat to him.
“Well, let’s go check it out. Although I'm not really interested, I might as well do it for my apprentice.” Clearing his throat, he summoned his two archaean slave to act as bodyguards, then instructed Bai Xiaochi to be ready to come to his aid at a moment’s notice if anything suspicious happened. Then, under the curious gaze of Bai Xiaochi, he swaggered off of the fan and headed toward the brothel.
As he neared, the sound of singing, dancing, and laughing grew louder. Soon, the front doors swung open, and a women dressed like the madam of the brothel appeared, flowers in her hair. Swaying forward, she looked at Bai Xiaochun with glittering eyes.
“Girls!” she said loudly. “We have a customer!”
An entire group of gorgeously dressed women all rushed forward, flirtatious smiles on their faces.
“Welcome! Come in!”
“The girls here will definitely satisfy your every need, sir!”