A Will Eternal

Bai Xiaochun hadn’t been gone very long, and furthermore, everyone had been aware of the purpose behind his departure. As such, the entire sect had been quietly awaiting his return, and wondering what had occurred.

Although everyone had been prepared for the worst, no one had been able to keep from wondering what it would be like if Bai Xiaochun managed to pull off a miracle.

Actually, the patriarchs had already sent word back to the sect about the result. Everyone knew that the River-Defying Sect had acquired one hundred percent of the resources, that the other three sects had been crushed, and that Bai Xiaochun had single-handedly driven countless Chosen crazy.

Therefore, as soon as Bai Xiaochun returned, the entire sect erupted into wild cheering that shook the heavens.

“Elder Brother Bai, you’re incredible!”

“The junior patriarch smashed the Starry River Court and trampled the Polarity River Court. He’s unparalleled under heaven!”

Bai Xiaochun had just stepped off of the Heavenhorn Sword, and when he heard all of the cheering, he was instantly enlivened.

Reaching over excitedly to tug at Frigidsect’s sleeve, he said, “They’re talking about me!”

Frigidsect cleared his throat, but didn’t say anything. Pulling his sleeve out of Bai Xiaochun’s grasp, he headed back toward Mount River Defiance with Master Godwind and Crimsonsoul.

Bai Xiaochun flew out into the air, filled with excitement at the sight of all the disciples in the sect cheering at him. After only a moment of thought, he realized that now was not the time to look icy and cold. Trying to appear as affable as possible, he cleared his throat and headed to the most crowded area he could find.

Over the course of the following days, Bai Xiaochun spared no effort in spreading different versions of the stories of his accomplishments in the legacy zone. However, in each version, he was always incredibly heroic and mighty, and single-handedly crushed his opponents.

Bai Xiaochun could clearly tell how much the disciples in the sect adored him. In fact, there was one occasion when he merely smiled at one of the female disciples, and she literally fainted from excitement.

As of this moment, Bai Xiaochun felt as if the whole world were beaming at him with approval. Even the sun seemed to be grinning….

Bruiser was also the subject of much acclaim, and immediately went to show off to some of the female beasts he spent time with.

Half a month went by before things finally started to calm down. After thinking about everything that had happened in the legacy zone, Bai Xiaochun was more concerned than ever about his cultivation base.

“I need to get stronger….” he thought. With that, he somberly went into secluded meditation to cultivate the Frigid School Will-Evolving Incantation and his Undying Muscles.

The Frigid School Will-Evolving Incantation was a very profound technique indeed. Before, his cultivation of it had mostly consisted of him fumbling around in the dark. He had even been forced to ask some questions of Frigidsect before being able to wrap his mind around it.

“Use the technique to form the Frigid, then use the Frigid to evolve the Will….” Closing his eyes, he did as the mnemonic described, taking a drop of the Heavenspan River water that he had absorbed and transforming it into a power of frigid coldness.

Gradually, frigid qi began to build up around him, until frost appeared on the walls of his immortal’s cave. At the same time, his body began to get colder and colder.

A few more days went by, and finally, he opened his eyes. Deep within, a profound gleam could be seen; as of this moment, Bai Xiaochun was convinced that he had grasped the quintessence of the Frigid School Will-Evolving Incantation.

“First form the Frigid, then evolve the Will. Frigid….” He slowly lifted his right hand and looked at his fingers, the tips of which were covered with white frost.

“I don’t have enough frigid qi. According to the description in the Frigid School Will-Evolving Incantation, people who manipulate frigid qi are divided into four levels. Frigid Acolytes, Frigid Adepts, Frigid Masters, and Frigid Paragons!

“Frigid Acolytes can summon frigid qi and use it to freeze objects within a small area. Frigid Adepts can freeze everything in a 3,000-meter area, and Frigid Masters can create a frigid land 30,000 meters across! Furthermore, those frigid domains can also be used to create clone projections!

“As for Frigid Paragons, they can even freeze portions of the Heavenspan River!” Bai Xiaochun’s eyes shone with a strange light as he contemplated what it would be like to freeze part of the Heavenspan River. Even freezing just a small portion would be an act of power that would leave everyone in awe.

“Right now, I don’t even count as a Frigid Acolyte.” Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath. He knew that this wasn’t a matter that could be rushed. The only thing he could do was slowly absorb Heavenspan River water and accumulate frigid qi.

The frigid qi would build up inside of his Heaven-Dao Gold Core, and once the nine spiritual seas that made up the core were completely transformed into frigid qi, it would indicate that he was at the peak of the Gold Core stage.

“I wonder how many years that will take….” he thought, shaking his head. However, he didn’t feel anxious. After all, he currently had more than a thousand years of longevity to work with.

Therefore, he focused on his Undying Muscles. By this point, he could progress from his big toe to his second toe….

Other than his cultivation, he also had the River-Defying Pill to worry about. Although he now felt comfortable with the concoction process, he still hadn’t been able to come up with a way to solve the life force problem.

Although absorbing some of the qi and blood of the true spirit had improved his confidence, after some tests, he found he still couldn’t succeed.

Most importantly, he still couldn’t come up with enough life force from the Heavenspan River water.

“It must have something to do with my cultivation base. I’m just not strong enough to extract the boundless life force from the Heavenspan River.” He shook his head. For now, worrying about the concocting part wasn’t even worth it; he needed to figure out how to get the life force he needed.

As his train of thought progressed, he looked down at his bag of holding and recalled the idea he’d come up with before going to the legacy zone.

The root of the entire problem was that he needed life force, and he had long since determined where he would get it.

The little turtle!

The undying, indestructible qualities of the little turtle ensured that it had plenty of life force. However, the problem was that the little turtle would definitely not cooperate willingly. That was why Bai Xiaochun had begun to secretly plan how to concoct a certain type of spirit medicine.

He wanted to make a high-level medicine that would knock the little turtle out!

Although it sounded like a simple enough task, it wasn’t. He would only have one chance to succeed; if he somehow tricked the little turtle into taking that medicine, and it worked, then all would be well. But if the medicine didn’t work, then he could only imagine what lengths the feisty turtle would go to in his attempt to get revenge.

“What a headache!” he thought, sighing. After some time passed, he gritted his teeth and continued on with the concocting effort in the same way he had been before. Thankfully, the three sects were supposed to visit soon to delivered the resources they owed, which would surely include a large number of legendary spirit medicines. After some thought, Bai Xiaochun decided that he should definitely go study some of them.

As Bai Xiaochun went about his cultivation and medicine concocting, the cultivation world of the Middle Reaches was astir. Although the three sects had done everything they could to suppress news of what had occurred in the legacy zone, it was virtually impossible to sweep such a momentous event under the rug. Before long, everyone in the Middle Reaches had heard about it, and everyone was thoroughly shaken.

Furthermore, when everyone heard that the task had been accomplished by Junior Patriarch Bai Xiaochun alone, and that not only he had been up against dozens of top Core Formation Chosen, but he had also left a special mark on all of them, it led to a complete uproar. And that was before people heard about the Living Mountain Incantation.

By that point, people were starting to look into his background, and soon, the details about his life began to spread.

He had joined the Spirit Stream Sect as a teenager, and had fought a bitter battle against the Luochen Clan in which he risked his own life to defend his fellow disciples. He took first place in the Chosen battles in his sect, and was also an eccentric genius when it came to concocting medicine. Later, he infiltrated the Blood Stream Sect, and became both a blood master and their Blood Ancestor. He alone had prevented a war between the Spirit Stream Sect and the Blood Stream Sect, and even convinced the two sects to join forces. Then they absorbed the Profound and Pill Stream Sects. In the end, he became the junior patriarch of the newly formed River-Defying Sect!

Any one of the many things he had accomplished would be shocking, let alone all of them together.

It didn’t take long for Bai Xiaochun’s fame to spread throughout all of the cultivation world of the Middle Reaches.

Of course, the River-Defying Sect controlled the information that leaked out about him. They had no desire for the world as a whole to learn his true nature. That was kept secret.

One matter that led to gasps throughout the Middle Reaches was that all of the Core Formation Chosen who had entered the legacy zone had ended up with turtle marks on their bodies and faces.

They were very strange marks, marks that would shine brightly at night, and could not be covered up, even with thick clothing or magical shields….

It was a shocking matter, and no matter how the three sects attempted to erase the marks, they couldn’t. The combined efforts of numerous Nascent Soul cultivators proved useless, to the point where the deva patriarchs of the sects got involved.

Shockingly, not even the deva patriarchs could do anything about the marks. In the end, the entire cultivation world was stunned by the matter.

As for the Core Formation cultivators who had been affected, the matter left them filled with sorrow but unable to weep. Furthermore, they now hated Bai Xiaochun more than ever. Most of them went into secluded meditation and refused to come out into the open. To them, being branded with that turtle mark was like a fate worse than death.

Because of the terrifying nature of Bai Xiaochun’s turtle mark, countless people were terrified, and resolved to never, ever provoke him.