A Will Eternal

“Well, the Immortal World did give me the last bit of its qi flow. And the Worldly Daoist treated me with great kindness…. His Daoist partner died a horrible death. Emotionally and logically, I know I shouldn’t be fighting her….” Bai Xiaochun was not the type of person to completely ignore matters of justice. Even though this old ghost woman had attacked him over and over again, and clearly wanted to kill him, he still knew the importance of repaying kindnesses.

Taking a deep breath, he suppressed his desire to do battle, and ordered his archaean slave to stop moving. He also forced the ten beams of Archaean Luminescence to pause before they could reach the area of suppressed time and space. Then, he pondered what he could do to stop the woman from trying to chase him down and kill him. Before he could put much thought into the matter, the void seemed to be shattered by the increasingly intense cries of the old ghost woman.

Finally, she appeared within the region of distorted gravity, blurry at first. However, she quickly turned clear, and began to race toward Bai Xiaochun!

She moved with such incredible speed that, within moments she was only a few hundred meters away from the treasured fan. However, that seemed her limit. She was still tied in place by the gravitational distortion, to the point where she looked long and stretched out.

Bai Xiaochun was initially startled, but when he saw that she was temporarily unable of chasing after him, he cleared his throat, walked to the edge of the fan, and then clasped hands and bowed.

“Honored Immortal Imperatrix, I am your Junior, Bai Xiaochun. I inherited the Dao of the exalted Worldly Daoist, and have the last bit of qi flow from the Immortal World. I know that I offended you in the past, ma’am, but I hope that I can do something to make up for that.” Looking very sincere, he yet again clasped hands and bowed.

However, the only response he got was an angered howl. The main difference was that this time, there were sinister words to accompany her shrill cry.

“I want… your soul!” Her words thrummed with murderous intentions, and the most profound of killing intent. Clearly, she wanted to kill Bai Xiaochun, not because of how he had ‘stolen’ her own subordinates, but because of something special about his soul, something that filled her with greed, and the overwhelming desire to consume him.

When Bai Xiaochun heard her words, his eyes glittered, and he flicked his sleeve. Staring at the old ghost woman, he coolly said, “Senior, are you saying that if I don’t give you my soul, you’ll keep chasing me forever until you manage to kill me?”

The only response was a quivering howl of rage that caused his zone of time influence to begin to shatter. Clearly, the old ghost woman was about to break free at any moment.

“The Worldly Daoist, Immortal Imperator, was a bosom buddy of mine. Clearly, the only thing left of you, Immortal Imperatrix, is a tattered, discarnate soul. You have changed, ma'am! You have committed unforgivable crimes!” Without the slightest hesitation, he strode forward, sending his divine sense out and ordering his two archaean slaves to attack immediately. In the blink of an eye, archaean battle prowess was unleashed in devastating fashion.

Even as the rumbling sounds echoed out, Bai Xiaochun released the ten beams of Archaean Luminescence, which glittered dazzlingly as they joined the archaean slaves’ attack on the old ghost woman.

In the exact moment that the old ghost woman struggled free, the divine abilities of the archaean slaves, as well as the deadly Archaean Luminescence, pierced through her!

The ghost woman’s body immediately began to break apart, and then, it exploded!

As her body fell apart, streams of black flame erupted out, sweeping through the area. At the same time, a sea of flames built up behind her, forming into a beautiful face that was twisted with rage, and filled with boundless madness and animosity.

The face screamed, sending out sound waves that caused the black fire to transform into numerous ghost heads, which shot toward Bai Xiaochun with gaping maws and mountain-toppling, sea-draining power.

Bai Xiaochun merely shook his head. Although the Immortal Imperatrix’s powers seemed shocking, and had been so intimidating in the past that he had always fled immediately, now he could sense that they were little to worry about.

“Leave!” he said. “I’ll give you one more chance!” However, the Immortal Imperatrix didn’t fall back. Instead, she sent more ghost faces flying out of the sea of fire.

Bai Xiaochun’s eyes glittered icily, but he didn’t personally attack. Instead, he sent some divine sense into the treasured fan, causing the lonely boat therein to vanish and reappear out in the void. There, it turned into a bright beam of light that swirled around the fan, destroying any ghost face which touched it. After destroying countless ghost faces, it changed directions, heading toward the Immortal Imperatrix.

The anger in her eyes grew more intense as she suddenly shattered, transforming into a hoard of white lamps, the power of which began to spread out, altering the natural laws of the void to turn everything it touched into paper!!

The two archaean slaves were influenced, and the lonely boat, despite not being turned into paper, was significantly slowed down. Dodging the boat, the Immortal Imperatrix shot toward the fan, reaching out toward Bai Xiaochun with a clawed ghost hand.

“Enough!” he said, glaring. He had been holding back this entire time, and now, his patience had run thin. In the end, he was not the Worldly Daoist. Besides, after how things were playing out, he was certain that the tenacious will of the Worldly Daoist was no longer there to affect him. If it were, he would already have noticed its influence.

On the one hand, he had hoped to use this situation to test that very aspect, and on the other hand, hadn’t wanted to repay kindness with enmity. But now, he had reached the point where he couldn't hold back any longer.

He had made his decision. As the vengeful soul of the Immortal Imperatrix closed in, he stepped forward, blurring into motion. He actually moved so fast that he shot through her, and then appeared behind her. Facial expression the same as ever, he raised his hand toward the howling Immortal Imperatrix, and then softly pushed forward.

That simple motion summoned an enormous vortex around his hand, causing rumbling sounds to echo out as the Immortal Imperatrix's soul was pulled toward him.

Her enormous body began to shrink, causing a shrill scream to escape her lips. As Bai Xiaochun hovered there calmly, his archaean cultivation base erupted with power, clearly enough to shake the discarnate soul of the Immortal Imperatrix!

Unable to fight back against this level of power, the discarnate soul shattered, transforming into a huge cloud of smaller souls that began to flee in all directions.

There were tens of millions of them, obscuring everything in sight, and while some of them lunged on Bai Xiaochun, most just attempted to escape. Furthermore, it was impossible to tell which of them was the actual soul of the Immortal Imperatrix, and which were smaller souls that had been buried within her.

Bai Xiaochun frowned, aware that if the Immortal Imperatrix escaped, then she would likely continue to pester him, and if she chased him all the way to the Eternal Immortal Domains, that could cause further unnecessary complications.

Shaking his head, he closed his eyes, whereupon his aura changed, simultaneously spreading out, filling the area with a supreme aura. It was none other than the aura of the Worldly Daoist!

Bai Xiaochi shivered, and the countless souls in the area lurched to a halt. Trembling, the souls turned to look at Bai Xiaochun as his divine sense locked down onto one particular soul!

It was the soul of a woman. She looked ordinary, but there was a black mark on her forehead. Even as she looked at Bai Xiaochun, he vanished, to reappear right in front of her. Reaching out, he grabbed her and tossed her into his bag of holding.

He knew without a doubt that she… was the Immortal Imperatrix!

He didn’t hurt her, he just took her. Afterward, he looked around at the sea of souls surrounding him, his eyes glittering.

“I don’t want to hurt the Immortal Imperatrix, but as for the rest of you… you’ll be a big help with my flame conjuring. I’ll count you lot toward interest.” Clearing his throat, he produced a handful of Soul Convergence Pills which he tossed out into the void as he proceeded to harvest souls.