A Will Eternal

Something had happened which not a single person had been aware of. Partially due to monsoon winds, only some of the black smoke had made it into the clouds above Violet Cauldron Peak. The rest had been carried by the wind to Green Crest Peak.

If it had only been a tiny bit, it would eventually have just faded away without doing anything. But considering the daily buildup, it was no surprise that when rain began to fall on Violet Cauldron Peak, the effects eventually spread to Green Crest Peak....

Originally, the disciples from Green Crest Peak had simply watched the events playing out on Fragrant Cloud Peak and Violet Cauldron Peak, shocked, but at the same time, gloating in the misfortune of the other disciples. Furthermore, they had all taken steps to prevent Bai Xiaochun from ever coming to Green Crest Peak.

Third Fatty Hei’s friends had even warned her against taking him in.

But then, the raindrops began to fall. Shocked expressions appeared as people looked up to find that the sky above Green Crest Peak was filled with black clouds.

Although they weren’t as dense as those above Violet Cauldron Peak, once the acid rain began to fall, and the disciples’ clothes began to melt, cries of alarm rose up.

As the screams intensified, numerous beams of sword light shot out from Green Crest Peak toward Violet Cauldron Peak, joining the group of disciples from there who were chasing down Bai Xiaochun.

“Bai Xiaochun!!”

“Dammit! Don’t tell me that Bai Xiaochun secretly came to Green Crest Peak too!”

“He must have! That vile fiend! He definitely snuck over here to concoct medicine!!”

The Green Crest Peak disciples were going mad. Quite a few were already on the verge of losing all of their clothing. Putting on new clothing didn’t do any good. Green Crest Peak devolved into enraged chaos, and the disciples quickly became allies with the Violet Cauldron Peak disciples in their desire to catch Bai Xiaochun.

Shangguan Tianyou was among them. Although his robes were still in one piece, his murderous rage burned hot. At long last, he had found an opportunity to pay Bai Xiaochun back for the events in the Wildweed Mountains.

Rumbling sounds filled the air, along with Bai Xiaochun’s screams. It was bad enough that the disciples of Violet Cauldron Peak were chasing him down, but then Green Crest Peak joined in.

Then he heard what the Green Crest Peak disciples were saying, and he felt more deeply maligned than ever.

“I never went to Green Crest Peak. Really!!”

All of the more than 10,000 disciples from Green Crest Peak were in motion now, speeding along on their flying swords. When they heard Bai Xiaochun’s explanation, though, they only became angrier. “Liar!”

As the sword light bore down on Bai Xiaochun, the Violet Cauldron Peak disciples unleashed countless magical techniques. Bai Xiaochun was so scared he was screaming at the top of his lungs.

“I’ve shed my own blood for the sect--”

BOOM! The attacks of the Violet Cauldron Peak disciples were driving Bai Xiaochun to near madness.

“AIIIIEEEE! I’m a Prestige disciple!!”

BOOOOOOM! As the countless beams of sword light closed in, Bai Xiaochun fluttered the wings on his back, and sweat poured down his face.

“I’m the Junior Brother of the sect leader!”

“Even if you were the son of the sect leader, we’d still beat the daylights out of you!!” The disciples of two mountain peaks joined together in their anger as they chased after Bai Xiaochun with deadly intent.

“You people... you people are so unreasonable! They’re trying to kill me! They’re gonna kill me!!” Bai Xiaochun’s scalp was entirely numb. He had done nothing more than concoct some pills, and these people had gone completely mad.

Looking like he was about to cry, he pushed forward with as much speed as possible as he shot toward Fragrant Cloud Peak. Now, he suddenly felt as if the disciples from there were a lot more easy-going. After all, Fragrant Cloud Peak was his home.

A huge mob was chasing him back toward Fragrant Cloud Peak. He looked like a mouse whose tail had been stepped on as he shot up the mountain, the other disciples in hot pursuit.

Just as the disciples from the other mountains were about to step foot on Fragrant Cloud Peak, an enraged, thunderous snort echoed out from the summit of the mountain.

“Turn your asses around this instant!”

The voice sounded like the boom of thunder. All of the disciples preparing to charge up Fragrant Cloud Peak coughed up mouthfuls of blood and tumbled backward. A massive power roiled out, pushing all of them away. When the shock left their faces, they exchanged glances and quickly realized how impulsive they had been. Bowing their heads, they clasped hands in apology and retreated.

The commotion quickly died down.

As soon as Bai Xiaochun saw what had just happened, he was deeply moved. He almost felt like a young child who had been fighting, and losing, only to have a parent step in to the rescue and wallop the opponent.

“Yeah, that’s right!” he shouted, gesticulating wildly. “Turn your asses around! Especially you people from Green Crest Peak, you--” He was just about to explain how he really hadn’t concocted any medicine on Green Crest Peak when all of a sudden, pressure weighed down on him as Li Qinghou materialized up ahead. Face grim, he waved his sleeve, causing Bai Xiaochun to fly through the air toward him. A moment later, he had Bai Xiaochun by the neck.

“Uncle Li, I-I-I really didn’t go to Green Crest-- AIIIIIEEEE!!” It didn’t matter how fast he blurted the words, he couldn’t finish speaking before Li Qinghou flew up into the air.

The countless disciples from the other two mountain peaks watched in utter joy as the scene played out. As for the Fragrant Cloud Peak disciples, they looked on with odd expressions before letting out long sighs.

“Bai Xiaochun really got unlucky this time!”

“He pissed off the peak lord. He’s really in for it now.”

“He didn’t just piss off the peak Lord, he drove the entire south bank crazy.” As countless disciples looked on in delight, the blood drained from Bai Xiaochun’s face. He had just noticed which direction Li Qinghou was heading. It was none other than....

“10,000.... 10,000 Snakes Valley!!” Shrieking, he said, “I’m sorry, Uncle Li!”

It didn’t take long for Li Qinghou to take the wailing Bai Xiaochun behind Fragrant Cloud Peak to 10,000 Snakes Valley. As soon as they set foot inside, countless vipers looked up and hissed loudly. It was even possible to see the venom dripping from their fangs.

Bai Xiaochun was so scared he started shaking. Most terrifying of all was that Li Qinghou continued toward the cave in the middle of the valley.

“I just wanted to concoct medicine! I didn’t do it on purpose.... Uncle Li, you have to listen to me! I was just doing what you told me. I didn’t concoct medicine on Fragrant Cloud Peak! I---”

All his frantic explanation did, however, was cause Li Qinghou’s expression to grow even darker. He even sped up as he headed deep into the cave.

At first, everything was black, but soon, one pair of cold eyes after another snapped open to stare icily at Bai Xiaochun and Li Qinghou. Because Bai Xiaochun’s cultivation base had advanced so much, he was able to see their auras much more clearly now.

He was petrified to find that this place was far, far more terrifying than he had previously imagined.

That was even more the case now that he had mastered all five volumes of spirit creatures. Even though they were surrounded by darkness, when he circulated his spiritual power, he quickly identified many of the snakes, and recalled the information about them.

“A three steps viper!

“A morningeye anaconda!!

“That’s... a goldsilver verminsnake!” To his shock, Bai Xiaochun found that all of the snakes were venomous, and according to the five volumes of spirit creatures, they were incredibly powerful. In fact, even Foundation Establishment cultivators who didn’t deal with them quickly enough would be killed.

After enough time passed for half an incense stick to burn, Li Qinghou had dragged Bai Xiaochun to the depths of the cave, into a huge subterranean cavern filled with countless hissing snakes. There were even nine that exuded the power of a cultivation base equivalent to the eighth level of Qi Condensation. Their eyes were bright red, and their fangs constantly dripped with shocking venom.

A certain distance into the cavern was a stone hut surrounded by a spell formation that kept everything within thirty meters clear of snakes. That was where the snakes piled up en masse. Despite their distance from the hut itself, Bai Xiaochun still felt an intense sensation of deadly crisis.

A thump could be heard as Li Qinghou waved his sleeve, sending Bai Xiaochun tumbling down next to the stone hut.

“Want to concoct medicine? Do it here. There’s earthflame and a pill furnace. And take this. At least here you won’t disturb any of the other disciples!” Snorting coldly, Li Qinghou tossed a bag of holding over to Bai Xiaochun. “You’ll find plenty of medicinal plants and food in there. Stay here and stay out of trouble. After you’ve had some time to think, I’ll come take you out.” With a final glare at Bai Xiaochun, he did a final check to make sure the spell formation was working, then flew away. Having no other choice, he had finally resorted to using this place to try to grind away some of Bai Xiaochun’s mischievousness.

Of course, deep down, he truly cared for him, and was careful to make sure the spell formation was in good order. Based on his understanding of Bai Xiaochun, he was certain that he wouldn’t step out of the spell formation.

Bai Xiaochun appeared to be on the verge of tears as he watched Li Qinghou leave. Moments later, without the pressure from Li Qinghou to suppress them, the snakes started to slither about here and there. They bared their fangs, and even tried to break through the spell formation shield, sending venom splattering about in all directions.

Further off in the distance were some snakes in the eighth level of Qi Condensation who eyed Bai Xiaochun coldly, almost as if they wished to swallow him up. Bai Xiaochun began to pant.

“Those are bloodgod cobras! I can’t believe they’re in the eighth level of Qi Condensation. One drop of their venom could kill ten thousand people!”

Heart pounding with fear, he looked around a bit more, and realized that there were three snakes who were comparable to the ninth level of Qi Condensation, and there were even two in the great circle.

The fluctuations that emanated from them were not the same as those from cultivators. These were deadly venomous snakes!

Most heart-pounding of all was that there was one set of fluctuations that seemed even more powerful than the rest. And all of them seemed to be staring at him.

Soon, the sky outside grew dark, and Bai Xiaochun sat there, sighing miserably.

“What do I do now...?”