A Will Eternal

There was no spare time to ask Bai Xiaochi about who the Immortal Imperatrix was. His scalp simply tingled at the shocking performance the old ghost woman had put on. Clearly, she had upped her game, releasing that shocking sea of black flames that she had never used before.

Strangely, the sea of flames didn’t seem to contain even a scrap of heat, and yet, his divine sense had indicated that it could definitely burn anything that got in its path.

That in itself was enough to cause him to flee for his life. Thankfully, it seemed the old ghost woman wasn’t very stable while in that state, and couldn’t actually pursue him.

He fled for three months straight, not slowing down for even an instant. Whenever he thought back to what had happened, he scowled in frustration and disappointment.

During those three months, Bai Xiaochi didn’t say much, but would occasionally look over his shoulder, his expression that of sorrow and frustration.

Eventually, Bai Xiaochun couldn’t help but ask, “Xiaochi, who’s this Immortal Imperatrix you were jabbering about?”

In a rare display of rage, Bai Xiaochi shouted, “You’re not permitted to sully the Immortal Imperatrix by even mentioning her!!”

Surprised, Bai Xiaochun looked over to see Bai Xiaochi’s bloodshot eyes shining with grief as he looked out into the void. After a long moment passed, he murmured, “The Immortal Imperatrix was milord’s Daoist partner….

“I never saw her in person. But milord would often gaze upon a painting of her. I could see the pain in his eyes, and could see how much he missed her. Due to looking at that painting so many times myself, I eventually committed her features to memory….

“That young woman we saw earlier was the Immortal Imperatrix, and milord was the Immortal Imperator.” As he spoke, his voice grew quieter and quieter. However, he continued to look over his shoulder, as though he could see that black sea of flames, and the woman with the spike in her forehead. The Immortal Imperatrix.

Bai Xiaochun knew that the ‘lord’ Bai Xiaochi referred to was not himself, but rather, that sovereign from the Immortal World. The fact that the old ghost woman had such an impressive origin finally gave him a clue as to why she was so powerful.

“The Daoist partner of a sovereign…. Someone killed her, and not even he could resurrect her? I wonder… who could have done such a thing?” He sat there thoughtfully, thinking about how, despite how long he had traveled within this void, and all of the ruins he had seen, he had never seen anyone alive.

Only the Eternal Immortal Domains were left within this void that had once been a starry sky. It was the only place with life, surrounded by nothing but death and rubble….

That led his train of thought to the fact that the original owner of the treasured fan, the sovereign from the Immortal World who had passed the fan on to him, had once spoken of… a great catastrophe to hit the starry sky!

That in turn caused him to think of the enormous sovereign looming over the Eternal Immortal Domains, that vicious, sleeping entity who was most definitely not dead!

“There is some enormous mystery at play here. A mystery… that I have already begun to unravel.” Bai Xiaochun sat there cross-legged on the fan, looking out at the void, wondering if the Vile-Emperor and the Saint-Emperor knew the truth. Regardless of whether or not they did, based on the clues he had unearthed so far, he was starting to get a general idea of his own.

Some incomprehensibly powerful expert had massacred everything in the starry sky. All peoples, all lives, all other powerful experts. And he was none other than the enormous figure who existed above the Eternal Immortal Domains!

In the final battle over the Eternal Immortal Domains, the Arch-Lord, Saint-Lord, and Vile-Lord, all of them sovereigns, had sacrificed their own lives to seal that enemy, placing him in a state of existence which had lasted until now.

There were still many things Bai Xiaochun didn’t understand. Who was that incomprehensibly powerful expert? Why did he want to massacre everything in existence? Why did he wait until the very end to make his move on the Eternal Immortal Domains? And how could such a powerful expert have been sealed by only three sovereigns?

One would think that an entity strong enough to exterminate everything in the starry sky, including all of the other sovereigns and their people, wouldn’t be so weak as to be sealed by three sovereigns.

At the moment, there was no way to answer such questions. After looking out at the void for a long time, he went back to working on the formula for twenty-eight-colored flame. All the while, the weight of that desolate void seemed to weigh down on him.

Perhaps the battle with the old ghost woman had ended with her paper body being destroyed. Whatever the reason, she never came after them again, leading Bai Xiaochun to breathe a sigh of relief.

A sixty-year-cycle passed. During that time, he would occasionally go back to the Eternal Immortal Domains to spend time with Dabao, Xiaoxiao, Song Junwan, and Zhou Zimo. He also helped the Nine Serenities King and Spirit Advent King, as well as the eastern and northern demigods, to reach the Celestial Realm.

Now the Arch-Emperor Dynasty had eight celestials, making them even more powerful within the Eternal Immortal Domains. Although they didn't control the largest territory in terms of the immortal domains, they were powerful enough that their dynasty truly formed a tripartite balance of power.

The only downside was that, with the exception of Gongsun Wan’er, they were all in the early Celestial Realm. If they could get someone into the late Celestial Realm, then in terms of celestials, they would be the most powerful of the three nations!

Bai Xiaochun had long since allowed the treasured fan to follow its own course.

During the sixty-year-cycle which had passed, he saw one set of ruins after another, and never-ending rubble. There was no other life in this void, making him feel like a time traveler witnessing the aftermath of a cataclysmic destruction.

Slowly but surely, he gained a better understanding of the worlds that had populated the starry sky of the past. Bai Xiaochi also provided details in response to the questions Bai Xiaochun asked.

In addition to that, Bai Xiaochun finally conjured a twenty-eight-colored flame. His cultivation base was now at the peak of the great circle of the Celestial Realm, meaning that he was now extremely close to becoming an archaean. It was both a tiny gap, and also a massive one. Unless he got the right opportunity and good fortune, he would not be able to bridge it.

Even still, his battle prowess was even higher than before, and he had better control over his treasured fan. He could now summon two archaean slaves, both of whom could remain outside of the fan for two incense sticks’ worth of time.

His Archaean Luminescence had also improved. He now had more than fifty shots, making it possible for him to defeat archaeans in battle without himself actually being one!

Of course, Bai Xiaochun was not simply happy with how things were. Unless he was an archaean, he couldn’t resurrect his subordinates if they died, which meant that his celestials were like trees with nothing to sink their roots into. If a storm came along, they could be wiped out overnight.

Archaean battle prowess was the backbone of an imperial dynasty, and the divine ability of resurrection was the only way to keep it alive long-term!

Unfortunately, no matter what he tried, he couldn’t come up with any way to bridge that final gap. Furthermore, multi-colored flame had a lot to do with his cultivation base. By now, he realized that it was only with an Archaean Realm cultivation base that he could finish the formula for twenty-nine-colored flame.

Eventually, he gave up all his tests and plans, and settled his heart. Emptying himself out, he looked at the void, until one day, his eyes widened, and he rose to his feet. Bai Xiaochi appeared next to him, and when he looked out, he murmured, “We meet again. This is the ninth time I've seen them….”

Far off in the void were countless glittering lights, which were countless crystalline lamps, eternally illuminating… the coffins upon which they rested!

There seemed to be too many coffins to count, perhaps millions. As they drifted through the void, they almost looked like rain….

As the treasured fan slowed to a halt, Bai Xiaochun stood at its edge, looking out at the majestic scene. As the countless coffins passed by, he could see that inside them were the preserved corpses of both men and women….

Unfortunately, they had existed for so long that many of them had begun to rot away, and seemed to be on the verge of disappearing altogether…. It was a burial rain that continued for a long time. When the last coffin passed by, Bai Xiaochun stood there quietly, aware that this was one of the many peoples that had been involved in the massacres in the starry sky of the past. Before death, they had left this rain of coffins as their memorial within the void.