A Will Eternal

In the Spirit Stream Division’s mountains in the River-Defying Sect, the monkey sat there with an alcohol flagon, sipping occasionally, a glint of pleasure in his eyes as he looked up at the face of Patriarch Spirit Stream.

“To be able to see this makes it all worth it. Even if I end up paying a steep price for returning… it was all worth it!” The monkey laughed heartily, and then looked in the direction of the Blood Stream Division, not at Bai Xiaochun, but rather… at the rabbit, who was on one of the mountains, a blank look in his eyes.

Occasionally, the rabbit came to his senses, and at other times, he was muddle-headed. At the moment, he was clearly in possession of his faculties, and was feeling deeply moved.

Cheering filled the sect. Bai Xiaochun was feeling very pleased. Plus, now that Patriarch Spirit Stream was a deva, it took a lot of the pressure off him.

He could now leave the River-Defying Sect and go to the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect without worrying too much about what would happen in his absence. Of course, considering his own high position within the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect, that made the River-Defying Sect’s position as a subsidiary sect even more stable.

With Patriarch Spirit Stream there, the only thing that could possibly be a threat to the sect would be a demigod. Anyone else would think twice, three times, or even four times before causing problems!

Furthermore, demigod experts were not common at all. In all of the Heavenspan River region… there were only four, all of them being patriarchs in the riversource sects.

Three days passed by in a flash. As news about Patriarch Spirit Stream spread through the Middle Reaches cultivation world, the other three great sects, none of whom currently had a deva, didn’t dare to cause any trouble. In fact, in their veneration, they sent tribute to the River-Defying Sect, and willingly bowed their heads in acquiescence….

If the three other largest sects acted in such a way, it almost wasn’t necessary to mention the other smaller sects and cultivator clans. Word also spread to the Lower Reaches, where veneration for the River-Defying Sect grew more widespread.

Of course, in the Lower Reaches, many of the sects fell under the jurisdiction of the other three Middle Reaches sects. But right now, the River-Defying Sect was the number one sect in the Middle Reaches, and therefore, the small sects in the Lower Reaches knew that there would be dire consequences for offending them.

Although the River-Defying Sect hadn’t completely unified the Middle Reaches, Lower Reaches, and delta regions, they had most certainly reached the ultimate level of power.

The matter was of course noted by the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect. Under normal circumstances, they probably would have interfered to prevent a single organization from having so much power. After all, a situation like that would influence the resources available to the other deva patriarchs in the sect.

Unfortunately for them, Bai Xiaochun had accumulated so much glory in battle that he had received acknowledgement by the demigod patriarch himself. Because of that, Chen Hetian, Li Xiandao and Bai Zhentian could do nothing other than grit their teeth and accept the situation. None of them offered even a single word of disagreement, not because they didn’t consider it, but because they feared Bai Xiaochun too greatly.

There was another deva who was very torn about the situation, and that was the child deva from Sky Quarter. Theoretically speaking, the River-Defying Sect was under his control. However, when war had broken out, the child deva came up with endless excuses to refrain from offering help.

Later, a second crisis developed, and the Hall of Steel Veins took action, whereas the child deva did not. After it was all over, the child deva pondered whether or not to increase his yearly tribute requirement from the River-Defying Sect.

After much consideration, he sighed and abandoned such thoughts. After all, he had heard about how terrifyingly powerful Bai Xiaochun was, and feared he might regret the consequences of trifling with him.

Without anyone causing any problems for the River-Defying Sect, it thrived, growing more powerful and expanding its territory. Two months passed.

Bai Xiaochun spent most of that time in secluded meditation, researching the Undying Blood, and thinking about what new technique he should cultivate now that he was a deva. After all, the River-Defying Sect was only a Middle Reaches sect. If he wanted deva techniques, he really needed to go to the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect to get one.

Although the Spirit Stream Division had once been the Frigid School from the northern Heavenspan River, they had only escaped to the east after suffering heavy losses. The fact that the Frigid School Will-Evolving Incantation had survived was almost a miracle.

Although the sect did have some incomplete deva techniques hidden away, Patriarch Spirit Stream refused to give any of them to Bai Xiaochun, stating that they weren’t suitable. Instead, he urged Bai Xiaochun to go to the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect to make his choice.

Although he had no good deva technique, he did make progress with his Undying Blood, and actually succeeded in creating an entire drop.

That drop of invincible blood was not red, but gold, and as it flowed through his veins, it glittered brightly, and sent a holy aura out through him that left him feeling very pleased.

“Those medicinal pills made up for just about all the life force I have in me, and yet, that only got me one drop of blood….” He frowned. On the up side, he was neither very fat nor very muscular. If he was… then he might not have any hope of completing the Undying Blood.

Thankfully, the Undying Blood also came with a secret magic!

The other levels of the Undying Codex had the Throat Crushing Grasp, Mountain Shaking Bash, Undying Hex, and Undying Emperor’s Fist. As for the fifth level’s secret magic, it was called… the Godkiller!

The point of the Godkiller was… to kill demigods!

With the Godkiller technique, he could accelerate with indescribable speed. In much the same way that the Undying Emperor’s Fist could quintuple his fleshly body power, the Godkiller technique could increase his speed. It was almost impossible to imagine what such speed would be like.

And of course, the path to such god-slaying was… his indestructible blood!

When cultivating the Undying Blood, one’s blood did not become eternally indestructible until reaching the great circle. Before then, it was possible to fuel the Godkiller technique with Undying Blood, and use that blood magic to reach indescribable speeds!

With such speed, he wouldn’t even need to make an actual attack. As he accelerated with shocking speed, the blood qi which surrounded him would ensure that he could rock mountains by simply running into them. Even more shocking was that if he hit any living thing while using the Godkiller technique, he would be able to absorb some of their life force.

That nearly caused his eyes to drop out of their eye sockets. The Undying Codex really was an evil technique!!

“I almost can’t believe that a simple, pure, honest and kindhearted person like me… would end up cultivating an evil technique like this!” Frowning and sighing, he began to think of how to combine the Godkiller with the other techniques he already had.

For example, if he used the Godkiller and the Mountain Shaking Bash together… well, the mere idea caused his heart to start racing.

“What if I used it with the Throat Crushing Grasp…? If my opponent was still alive, I could follow up with the Undying Emperor’s Fist…. And if the fight kept going, I could combine my Undying Hex with the Godkiller, and nobody would be able to catch me!

“And that’s not even mentioning my divine abilities. If I threw in the Waterswamp Kingdom, my Heavenspan Dharma Eye, or perhaps the Frigid School Will-Evolving Incantation….” He couldn’t help but sigh at the realization of how awesome he was at this point.

“However, using the Godkiller technique wastes Undying Blood…. And right now, I only have one drop in me….” To think of wasting the Undying Blood that required so much difficult work to produce caused him to hesitate about whether to even use the Godkiller.

“The Godkiller obviously isn’t meant to be used in a fight. It’s supposed to be for getting life force!” A few more days passed, and eventually, he decided that the time had come to leave the River-Defying Sect and head for the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect.

After all, there was still the issue of his deva technique.

After making his decision, he said his farewells to Song Junwan, who had long since prepared herself for his departure. She didn’t say much. She gently adjusted his clothing, and then embraced him.

Before he left, Patriarch Spirit Stream came to give him something very important from the Spirit Stream Division!

It was a crystal coffin, within which was… the body of a baby girl!

It was the Spirit Stream Division’s most secret reserve power, the Frigid School true spirit!!

“Keep her safe,” the patriarch said softly. “You’re the only one in the Spirit Stream Division who can do it…. Keep her safe. That is our most important mission!”