A Will Eternal

In the moment that Sima Feiru’s voice echoed out, a burst of late Core Formation cultivation base power erupted out from the cistern.

Simultaneously, ten figures shot up into the air from various directions, which were none other than Sima Feiru’s followers. Cold smiles could be seen on all of their faces; clearly, they were confident that anyone who disturbed their Young Lord’s cultivation would meet a grisly fate.

This was not the first time Sima Feiru had staked claim to a cultivation area, nor was it the first time someone had attempted to interfere with him when he did. However, nobody had ever been successful in an attempt to drive him away, and everyone always ended up backing down.

As for Bai Xiaochun, in his anxiety and rage, his eyes flickered with cold light as he performed an incantation gesture with his right hand and pointed down at the freezing cistern.

“Shut up!” he shouted, unleashing the Frigid School Will-Evolving Incantation through his right index finger. Instantly, frigid qi that bordered on the Frigid Master level shot down.

Even as Sima Feiru prepared to burst out of his cistern, the frigid qi poured down like a beam of light, slamming into the water. Instantly, cracking sounds rang out, and the entire cistern was frozen solid!

Not only was the cistern frozen, but the gigantic face was as well, and even Sima Feiru as he prepared to burst out into the open.

Sima Feiru’s face fell; before he could even struggle, he was locked in place, and the terrifying frigid qi that entered him turned him into a statue of ice….

His mouth was stuck open, and his eyes were wide with complete and utter disbelief.

As for his followers in the area, they all gasped, and their eyes went wide.

“How… how is this possible?!?!”

“Is that Bai Xiaochun? Heavens! He only ranks in the 490s, doesn’t he? I can’t believe he sealed Sima Feiru with the single wave of a finger!!”

Sima Feiru’s followers were left with minds spinning as Bai Xiaochun flew past them.

Considering his speed, it didn’t take him long to reach the Hall of Devil Slayers, which he entered without the slightest hesitation. Outside, Bai Xiaochun wasn’t extremely famous, but inside the Hall of Devil Slayers, everyone treated him with the utmost respect. Because of how Feng Youde cared for him, Bai Xiaochun could do virtually anything he wanted. Nobody dared to interfere with him at all, and within moments, he was in front of the main temple.

Upon entering the temple, he immediately caught sight of Feng Youde sitting at the far end. Hurrying over, he clasped hands and bowed deeply. “Bai Xiaochun offers greetings, Daoist Master! Daoist Master, I beg of you to save a life!!”

“What’s wrong this time?” Feng Youde said, a bit begrudgingly.

Bai Xiaochun quickly explained the situation with Big Fatty Zhang, and continued to beg for Feng Youde’s help, bowing over and over again at the waist as he did so.

Feng Youde’s expression soon turned serious. He had never seen Bai Xiaochun acting so earnestly. After hearing the situation, he thought for a moment, and then frowned.

“A Will Core, huh? Very well, I’ll go take a look.” With that, he rose to his feet. Even as Bai Xiaochun continued to bow and scrape, Feng Youde flicked his sleeve, taking Bai Xiaochun away with him in a teleportation.

When they reappeared, they were about 500 kilometers away, whereupon they teleported again. That put them outside of Big Fatty Zhang’s immortal’s cave. To see a teleportation magic like that with his own eyes left Bai Xiaochun shaken, and at the same time, a bit envious.

Feng Youde led the way into Big Fatty Zhang’s immortal’s cave, where Master God-Diviner, Chen Manyao, and Xu Baocai were waiting. When they saw that Bai Xiaochun had brought Feng Youde with him, they quickly bowed and backed away.

Feng Youde cared about Bai Xiaochun, but not the others, so he paid them absolutely no attention. Walking over to Big Fatty Zhang, he put his hand onto his forehead and sent some divine sense into him. After inspecting him for a moment, his expression turned even more grave than before.

When Bai Xiaochun saw that, his heart began to pound, and his face drained of blood.

“It really is a Will Core….” Feng Youde said, withdrawing his hand and frowning. Sighing, he looked over at Bai Xiaochun. “Half a month ago, I might have been able to help. But at this point, he’s a candle flickering in the wind, only a step away from death. I simply don’t have the power to save him.”

Bai Xiaochun felt like he had been hit with a sledgehammer. His heart was pounding, and his face was pale white as he staggered backward a few paces. Grief filled him, pushing him to the point where he felt like he was going to collapse.

Almost immediately, he began to think back to all his memories of Big Fatty Zhang.

“Isn’t there some other way?” he said, looking over at the corpse-like Big Fatty Zhang.

“Who is he to you?” Feng Youde asked, a profound light gleaming in his eyes.

“He’s my Eldest Brother!” Bai Xiaochun replied. From the look in his eyes, he would clearly pay any price to save Big Fatty Zhang. Feng Youde was shaken by the level of determination he saw.

Up to this point, he had only been watching out for Bai Xiaochun because of the promise given him by the Heavenspan emissary. But now, after seeing the look in his eyes, he could sense a level of sentiment in Bai Xiaochun that he hadn’t seen for quite some time.

“Who would have thought that this kid would care so much about his friends…?” he murmured inwardly. Based on the level of his cultivation base, and his years of experience, he could tell that Bai Xiaochun was not putting on a show.

After a moment of thought, he inspected Big Fatty Zhang more thoroughly. Enough time passed for half an incense stick to burn, whereupon he said, “You might still have a chance to save your Eldest Brother. However, the help of a Nascent Soul cultivator won’t do it. You would need a Deva Realm cultivator from the Senior generation. Either that, or the power of a deva. Only then could the chaos surrounding the Will Core be nullified, and the core fully formed!”

A tremor ran through Bai Xiaochun, and his eyes began to shine with bright light. Without the slightest hesitation, he said, “The power of a deva? How do I get that?! I’ll pay all of my merit points if I have to!”

Even Master God-Diviner, Chen Manyao, and Xu Baocai could sense the unswerving determination in his voice.

Feng Youde shook his head. “The power of a deva can come only when an almighty deva gathers some of his or her aura into a talisman, transforming it into a disposable magical item. Usually, devas will give such talismans to their apprentices as a form of protection.

“Such items take years to craft, and are astronomically valuable. They’re not the type of thing you can purchase with merit points.”

Master God-Diviner sucked in a breath and exchanged a glance with Xu Baocai. Based on what they had just heard, it didn’t seem like ordinary disciples would ever be able to get that type of item, something which was normally reserved for the apprentices of devas.

Bai Xiaochun turned even more ashen than before, and yet, he now had hope.

“If you want to get the power of a deva,” Feng Youde continued, “you would have to take a deva as your Master. Either that, or challenge the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Superstars trials, and reach the violet section of the rainbow. At that point, you would receive a boon from the sect, and could request the power of a deva!”

“The violet section of the rainbow?” Xu Baocai said faintly. “Is that even possible…?”

Despite having only been in the rainbow district for a short time, Xu Baocai had learned a bit about the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Superstars, and he knew that reaching the violet portion of the rainbow was indescribably difficult.

The violet trial by fire was the final trial, and in the current generation of disciples, there had long since been only eight in that group. It was only recently that Gongsun Wan’er had become the ninth.

If someone else reached that level, there would be ten!

Xu Baocai wasn’t the only one to be taken aback. Master God-Diviner and Chen Manyao were also shocked. Although all of them had confidence in Bai Xiaochun, when they heard that he needed to get the power of a deva by reaching the violet portion of the rainbow, their faces fell.

Bai Xiaochun stood there quietly for a few breaths of time, then looked up. “How much time do I have?”

Feng Youde sighed. “You’ve made up your mind, then. Very well. I’ll take your Eldest Brother back to the Hall of Devil Slayers to watch over him. Even still, you’ll have no more than twelve hours!”

The look in Bai Xiaochun’s eyes turned as sharp as the edge of blade. “Many thanks, Daoist Master. I’ll leave this instant!”

Without even the slightest hint of hesitation, he turned, rushed out of the immortal’s cave, and sped toward the teleportation portal!

—

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Hey everyone, this chapter is slightly short, coming in at around 1,600 words instead of the usual 2,000.

Someone complained in the last chapter, implying that I censored a comment because it said that 433 was a short chapter (at least I’m pretty sure that was the implication of the complaint. The comment was kind of sarcastic, so I’m not completely sure). First of all, 433 was not a “short chapter” by my standards, and let me explain. Normally, chapters are around 3,000 Chinese characters, but the English version can vary, coming in at around 2,000, give or take a few hundred words. I consider short chapters to be roughly 1,600 words or less, which tends to happen when the chapter is only 2,000 Chinese characters long. Usually those chapters come because Er Gen released an extra chapter or two as part of some event, or maybe he was busy or sick and couldn’t do a full chapter. Another reason a chapter might be short could be because of me cutting out “filler content” during the editing process, which I do more often nowadays. Sometimes there are just a few too “rumbling sounds” and “expressions of shock” even for me.

In order to calculate the length of the chapter in English words, I look at the word count generated by the WordPress page. I do it that way to save time. I know it’s not completely accurate because it includes some text which is not story content, but it provides a very simple standard by which to judge chapter length. Whenever a chapter is calculated by WordPress to be less than 1,700 words, I will leave a note saying that it’s a short chapter. The only time I didn’t do that during AWE was during that big stretch of chapters in which Er Gen had health problems and posted more short chapters than usual. I supposed I might have missed one here or there too when rushing to launch a chapter. Frankly, there is little benefit for me to do this other than to provide a service to you readers. Throughout the years, I often see people asking “are the chapters getting shorter?” and want to make it easy to determine whether they are (or not).

Another thing to point out is that, from what I can tell, the person who made the comment was complaining because their comment got flagged for moderation. Just to be clear, the reason it was flagged was not because of talking about the word count. It was because the commentor edited the comment. Whenever anyone edits a comment, it automatically gets flagged for moderation.