A Will Eternal

“This won’t work!” Bai Xiaochun thought sullenly. He considered approaching the Mountain of Legacy Seals from a different direction, but after a quick survey, was convinced that the other areas were actually more dangerous than this one.

Viewed with the naked eye, all areas surrounding the Mountain of Legacy Seals were possible avenues of approach. However, with his Heavenspan Dharma Eye, Bai Xiaochun could tell that the general area where he and the members of the other three sects were was the only viable option for success.

Other areas were vastly more dangerous, and in fact, the three sects were all staying in roughly the same area, relatively close to each other.

Only by pooling their strength were they gradually making progress. The Dao River Court was strongest, and they were already about 1,500 meters in. On either side of them, and a bit further back were the Polarity River Court and the Starry River Court, the former being over 1,200 meters in, and the latter roughly 900 meters.

Bai Xiaochun was the only person standing alone on the outside.

“Since I’m on my own, there’s no way I can stay inside for long. I’m only going to have a couple chances….” Eyes bloodshot, he produced some more paper talismans and slapped them down on himself and Bruiser. He also pulled out some defensive magical items.

Finally, he turned and whispered to Bruiser, “In a bit, when the right opportunity comes along, I’m going to make my move and try to grab one of the legacy seals. If anything goes wrong, you save me!”

Bruiser immediately nodded. He could see how dangerous the 15,000-meter area was, and although he was very happy to finally be outside on a mission with Bai Xiaochun, he was also very nervous.

Bai Xiaochun stood there staring at the Mountain of Legacy Seals, waiting for his next opportunity. After about ten breaths of time passed, another of the sealing marks suddenly began to glow brightly, then flew out into the air.

It flew a few circles in the 9,000-meter region, then went further out, whereupon the forces of the three sects prepared to begin fighting over it.

However, the sealing mark moved too quickly, and flitted through the grasping hands of the cultivators of the three sects. Bai Xiaochun’s eyes went wide, and then he howled at the top of his lungs as he activated all of his paper talismans, unleashing the explosive power of his Undying Heavenly King Body, and used the Mountain Shaking Bash. Worried that all that might not give him enough speed, he pushed off using the big toe of his left foot. In the blink of an eye, he was nothing but a series of afterimages that shot into the danger zone.

He was moving so fast that he was little more than a blur as he arrived in front of the sealing mark, and then reached out to grab it. However, in almost the exact same instant, the people from the Starry River Court shouted in rage and pooled their power to block his path.

Rumbling sounds echoed out as he was shoved backward, and the Starry River Court’s stream of stars snatched the sealing mark away.

Bai Xiaochun didn’t want to accept it, but was out of options, and had to flee back to safety. Along the way, he was struck by a bolt of lightning, which destroyed most of his his activated paper talismans.

“You big bullies!!” he fumed, glaring back. However, before his anger had much of a chance to flare up, two sealing marks suddenly flickered and flew into the air off of the Mountain of Legacy Seals. The Polarity River Court went all out in their attempt to grab the first, but the second managed to slip past the three sects. Bai Xiaochun’s eyes widened, and then he burst into motion to make another attempt.

More lightning crashed around him, and he had to dodge seas of flames. All of his paper talismans were destroyed, and even his black wok was shattered. However, all of that brought him right up to the sealing mark.

“Beat it!” A cold snort ripped through the air, sending crushing pressure into Bai Xiaochun’s mind. At the same time, rumbling sounds filled the air as the Dao River Court’s illusory giant stormed toward him.

The giant waved its hand, unleashing a terrifying burst of power, a magical technique that was no weaker than the magics of the world itself. Before Bai Xiaochun could do anything, the giant was upon him.

At that point, he drew upon all of his fleshly body power, as well as his Heaven-Dao Gold Core, to fight back. He continued to reach out his hand toward the sealing mark, which was now only nine meters away.

However, that was when the giant’s fist struck out, sending a violent tempest of wind into Bai Xiaochun that carried him away, head over heels.

Blood oozed out of the corners of his mouth as another set of paper talismans was completely destroyed, along with quite a few of his defensive magical items. At the same time, the force of the blow left him temporarily immobilized.

After all, the giant was backed by the power of a whole group of people, whereas Bai Xiaochun was acting alone. After grinding to a halt, he looked up as the giant casually grabbed the sealing mark which he had been just on the verge of taking. At the same time, numerous magics were unleashed by the world around him.

The giant looked over its shoulder at him, expression that of scorn. “You think a bit too much of yourself!”

Then it shot back toward the group from the Dao River Court.

In the moment of crisis in which the magical techniques bore down on Bai Xiaochun, Bruiser let out an angry roar, grabbed Bai Xiaochun’s robe, and started dragging him backward.

However, that was when the stream of stars from the Starry River Court appeared and blocked their path, making it impossible for them to escape. The lightning slammed into Bruiser, causing blood to spray out of his mouth. Thankfully, Bai Xiaochun had recovered by that point, so he grabbed Bruiser and rushed back out toward the safe area.

The people from the Polarity River Court watched Bai Xiaochun and Bruiser flee with contempt. A cold snort rang out and someone said, “The River-Defying Sect isn’t strong enough to get even one sealing mark. Be a good boy and stay outside. Don’t look for trouble in here!”

The Starry River Court people were equally derisive. Chen Yunshan even said, “If you try to mess with us, we might not be able to kill you because of the rules, but the defensive spells here could destroy you. Nobody would care if that happened.”

The evil intentions hidden within those words couldn’t have been more clear!

Even as Bai Xiaochun continued to retreat, a black wind hit him from behind, causing blood to spray from his mouth. When he finally made it to safety, he looked back to see that the cultivators from the other sects were all about 1,500 meters into the zone of defensive spells.

“Complete and utter bullies!!” he thought, anger burning. Then he looked down and saw how hurt Bruiser was, and his rage simmered even hotter. Glaring over at the cultivators of the three sects, he growled, “I don’t care if you snatch the sealing marks away from me, or even if you hurt me. But you hurt Bruiser!

“You people are forcing my hand!” Eyes more bloodshot than ever, he gritted his teeth and gave Bruiser some medicinal pills. Looking back at the situation, he saw that the Dao River Court was now about 3,000 meters in. With that, he blurred into motion, taking Bruiser toward one of the areas he had observed earlier with this Heavenspan Dharma Eye, a place that seemed impossible to pass through.

Meanwhile, outside of the legacy zone, at the border of the stone spell formation, the Nascent Soul cultivators from the four sects were looking at the glowing screen, and the four circles of light which represented the achievements of the disciples.

The Dao River Court’s circle was the brightest, with the Starry and Polarity River Courts also lit up, but not as bright. Only the River-Defying Sect’s circle had remained dark the entire time.

The level of brightness indicated how many sealing marks had been obtained, and therefore, the Nascent Soul cultivators from the Dao River Court were all smiles. Of course, none of this was unexpected. As far as they were concerned, the Dao River Court should be the one to take first place.

The red-haired old man from the Starry River Court laughed heartily and said, “Congratulations, Fellow Daoists. It seems the Dao River Court really will take first place again.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem the Fellow Daoists from the River-Defying Sect are doing very well. Definitely not as well as the Sky River Court did last time. They took second place back then, and almost tied with the Dao River Court.”

The faces of Crimsonsoul, Frigidsect, and Master Godwind, were all very grim. Eventually, they had no choice but to sigh. They had been prepared for defeat from the beginning, but had still hoped that Bai Xiaochun would be able to get at least one sealing mark.

“Fellow Daoist Frigidsect,” the red-haired cultivator said, “what do you say we make a little bet? I’m guessing your River-Defying Sect won’t be able to get more than two sealing marks!”

Frigidsect’s expression darkened even further, and it was the same with the other two patriarchs. As for the Dao River Court and the Polarity River Court, they looked very amused at what was happening.

Suddenly, Master Godwind looked over at the red-haired old man and slowly said, “A bet? What are the stakes?!”

The red-haired old man smiled coldly and said, “I happen to have a Starry Meteor from the Starry River Court, which can unleash an attack with power similar to the Deva Realm. I’ll put that up against one of your River-Defying Sect’s Heavenspan Battleships!”

Frigidsect’s expression flickered, and Master Godwind’s eyes glinted with incisive light. Starry Meteors were in fact spirit treasures from the Starry River Court, and were of similar value to Heavenspan Battleships. However, the Heavenspan Battleships were much more precious to the River-Defying Sect than Starry Meteors were to the Starry River Court. Clearly, this red-haired old man had planned this all along!