A Will Eternal

RUMBLE!

The boundless power of the Nascent Soul Pill slammed into him like an enraged wave, pouring into his Gold Core and causing his qi passageways to thrum.

His Gold Core, which was filled with a Heaven-Dao aura and nine spiritual seas, rumbled as the spiritual power of heaven and earth crashed into it, causing his cultivation base aura to immediately begin to rise.

Before, he had been in the late Gold Core stage, and very close to the great circle. The frigid qi within him had already reached the eighty percent level, and once he reached the one hundred percent level, he would achieve the breakthrough he sought.

As the energy of heaven and earth filled his Gold Core and its nine spiritual seas, he unleashed his Frigid School Will-Evolving Incantation, causing frigid qi to pulse out rapidly!

That wasn’t ordinary frigid qi, it was of the Frigid Master level!

Once he entered the great circle; his frigid qi would also break through to the Frigid Paragon level!!

As a Frigid Paragon, he would be able to freeze portions of Heavenspan River water. Furthermore, when combined with his other extraordinary abilities and powers, he would be able to freeze anyone in the Core Formation stage in place, and even kill them with a mere thought.

The aura of a Frigid Paragon could even cause major problems for Nascent Soul experts!

After his breakthrough into the great circle, the power of his Heaven-Dao Gold Core would be able to unleash its true potential. It was the most powerful type of Gold Core, the type which could shake the Nascent Soul stage!

Before, he had only been able to fight the Nascent Soul tribal chief by relying on Godly Vestige Pills and his incredible fleshly body strength. But once he stepped into the great circle, then even if he faced ordinary soul cultivators with divine abilities of the Nascent Soul stage, he would definitely be able to fight them toe to toe!

“The great circle of the Gold Core stage....” Such thoughts filled Bai with anticipation, as well as excitement. He had been waiting for this day for a long time, and therefore, he calmed his thoughts and focused on the Frigid School Will-Evolving Incantation, sending pulses of frigid qi out of his body.

Frigid qi filled the building, instantly freezing everything over. In fact, from the outside, the building almost looked like an enormous ice cube!

As the cracking sounds rang out, Zhao Long and the others who were standing guard looked on in shock. Moments later, even some of the nearby pill furnaces were frozen just like the building.

Thankfully, Bai Xiaochun had warned them ahead of time of what to expect, and they were some distance away. Were they not, they very well could have been in danger of being frozen in place.

“What technique does our exalted colonel cultivate!?”

“That... that frigid qi is so strong! It’s horrifying!!”

Zhao Long and Liu Li exchanged glances, as did everyone else. Even as they looked on, frigid qi filled more than half of the Armory!

Everywhere it went became a world of frozen ice!

Thankfully, during the course of Bai Xiaochun’s rise to prominence, the other grandmasters had all moved away. If they hadn’t, they would also have been frozen in place in their residences.

After enough time passed for half an incense stick to burn, the entire Armory was frozen. It looked like an ice mountain that astonished not only Zhao Long and the others in the regiment, but also the other Skin Flayers in the area.

There were even major generals with Nascent Soul cultivation bases who were astonished, and as for Bai Lin, he personally flew over to see what was happening. After looking down at the Armory, his eyes began to shine with a strange light.

“If he’d possesed frigid qi of this level before, he would have been able to fight his way back to safety much more easily than he did.” Eyes sparkling with approval, he quickly issued orders for more Skin Flayers to come and stand guard as Dharma protectors.

The last to take note was the deva Chen Hetian. A beam of light shot out from the enormous eye to shine upon the Armory, which closely examined the situation before retracting a moment later.

“This seems to be some new transformation of frigid qi....” Chen Hetian murmured thoughtfully.

Time passed. Bai Xiaochun’s session of secluded meditation lasted for several months, during which time fighting resumed outside the Great Wall, but little more than small-scale skirmishes. Nothing like the fighting earlier that year occurred.

Eventually, his months of cultivation led to a crucial moment. The energy of heaven and earth provided by the Nascent Soul Pill had converged in his Gold Core, causing his spiritual seas to vibrate as frigid qi completely froze his Gold Core!

From the look of it, his core was transforming into an Ice Core!

By this point, the Gold Core was more than ninety percent iced up, and pulsed with a freezing aura that left Bai Xiaochun motionless and seemingly frozen.

Another three days passed. That evening, when the final bit of the Gold Core came to be covered with ice, Bai Xiaochun’s Gold Core truly had transformed into an Ice Core!

Rumbling sounds echoed out in his mind as his eyes snapped open. As the same time, boundless streams of energy erupted out from inside of him.

Cultivation base breakthrough!

No longer was he in the late Gold Core stage, he was now in the great circle!

“It worked!” he shouted, his eyes gleaming with strange light. As of this moment, he could sense that the golden Ice Core inside of him contained frigid qi that vastly surpassed anything from before. Furthermore, as that qi flowed through him, it didn’t harm in in the least.

He slowly extended his right hand, causing a stream of frigid qi to emerge from his fingertip. Instantly, the layers of ice around him began to tremble, as though an incredible pressure had suddenly descended onto the existing ice, a pressure from the emperor of all freezing things!

Instantly, more ice began to build up in the armory, causing all of the cultivators who had been standing guard to back up to avoid it.

“Frigid Paragon...?” Bai Xiaochun murmured, his expression the same as ever as he looked thoughtfully at his fingertip. For some reason, it felt as if some unexplainable transformation was occurring to the Ice Core inside of him.

It was almost as if something were growing inside....

A thoughtful expression appeared on his face. Although he couldn’t be sure if something really was inside of the Ice Core, he could definitely sense some familiar fluctuations, and was certain that if he made another breakthrough, the results would be astonishing!

“It almost seems like control power...?” he murmured.

“Wait, I get it. Since I cultivate the Frigid School Will-Evolving Incantation, and have just made a major breakthrough, then I most likely have Will growing inside of the Ice Core!”

Bai Xiaochun already had his own speculations and understanding regarding the so-called Will. After a bit of time, he suppressed his curiosity; the answer would come when his Willpower was eventually brought out into the world. Then he would know for sure.

“My cultivation base is now in the great circle of the Gold Core stage. Next is my Undying Live Forever Technique....” The strength of the Nascent Soul Pill had already pushed him into the great circle, but there was still a bit of power left, which he could transform into life force.

“These Nascent Soul Pills really live up to their reputation. What a pity I don’t have the medicine formula. Of course, based on what I can tell, main ingredient is almost certainly immortal birthing grass!”

Immortal birthing grass was a near-extinct type of medicinal plant whose primary function was to provide life force power. In the legends, that type of life force could be used to become an immortal. Of course, that wasn’t true at all, and yet, it went to show how valuable immortal birthing grass was.

“From what I can tell, as long as I prevent the Nascent Soul Pill from taking my core and forming a Nascent Soul, then I can absorb the life force with my Undying Live Forever Technique, and make a huge advancement!

“The third level of the Undying Codex is the Undying Tendons. I’ve already cultivated it in both arms and both legs, and am lacking only in the torso and head. The requirements for the torso are significant....” After a moment of thought, he looked at the second Nascent Soul Pill, gritted his teeth, and put it in his mouth!

Anyone on the outside who saw him consume a second Nascent Soul Pill would have been completely flabbergasted. For one thing, Nascent Soul Pills were incredibly valuable, and furthermore, few people would ever need to consume more than one to make their breakthrough.

As soon as he consumed the second pill, the energy of heaven and earth erupted out into his qi passageways. Almost immediately, it began to head toward his Ice Core, where normally speaking, it would shatter the core and begin to form a Nascent Soul!

However, as soon as the energy began to speed toward the Ice Core, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes flickered, and he unleashed his Undying Live Forever Technique. Rumbling sounds could be heard as a huge vortex formed in his torso, and a shocking gravitational force sprang into being. In the blink of an eye, all of the energy of heaven and earth veered off course and began to pour into that vortex.