A Will Eternal

It was a completely shocking development. There were tens of thousands of people on all of those battleships… and the majority of them had the blood of the Heavenspan Realm in them.

Before the Saint-Emperor could react, Bai Xiaochun exclaimed, “Are you addicted to having kids, Master Snortsnort? You were like this in the Wildlands, and now here in the Eternal Immortal Domains, you’re, you’re… you’re still up to the same thing! You’ve sired an entire sect!”

Bai Xiaochun was simply bowled over. He had once thought Bruiser was impressive, but could see now that Bruiser only qualified to kowtow to Master God-Diviner. The sudden revelation was like a lightning bolt striking from a blue sky.

Then Bai Xiaochun thought about how much trouble it was dealing with only a couple women, whereas Master God-Diviner had tens of thousands to handle…. It seemed they all got along, which filled Bai Xiaochun with mixed emotions, primarily envy.

Master God-Diviner looked a bit embarrassed, and was trying to think of what to say when the Grand Heavenmaster arrived with the other powerful experts from the city. When they saw the Saint-Emperor, they were shocked, and although they weren’t sure why he had come, they quickly offered formal greetings. Then they escorted Master God-Diviner and Lu Yuntao, as well as the tens of thousands of people they had brought with them, into Arch-Emperor City.

Bai Xiaochun looked on, his head spinning. All of a sudden, he thought back to how Master God-Diviner had seemed to want to say something back when he left, and the pieces clicked. Clearly, bringing a family of tens of thousands on a big journey like this had not been an easy task.

On the upside, the shocking arrival of Master God-Diviner had eased some of the tension between Bai Xiaochun and the Saint-Emperor. Considering that Master God-Diviner and the other important officials had already seen that the Saint-Emperor had come for a visit, Bai Xiaochun decided that he might as well invite him down into the imperial palace.

However, the Saint-Emperor was still feeling shaken by the incident with Master God-Diviner. After confirming that the little turtle was not present, he sat down in the imperial palace in Arch-Emperor City to chat further with Bai Xiaochun.

“Second Bro, what did you call that fellow? Master Snortsnort? Now that’s what I call talent! He single-handedly sired an entire sect! Do you mind letting me take this Master Snortsnort back with me, Second Bro? Talent like that is sadly missing in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty!” The Saint-Emperor was truly moved at how this Master Snortsnort had apparently managed to keep such a huge family all happy and harmonious.

Bai Xiaochun wasn’t very pleased by the Saint-Emperor’s reaction. And he was also feeling a bit envious of Master God-Diviner and his abilities. It was all made worse by the bitterness he had endured because of his own Daoist partners.

If the Saint-Emperor hadn’t asked to take Master God-Diviner away, he might have been able to keep a lid on his feelings. But now he was feeling quite irritated.

“You think that’s impressive? Well, it doesn’t quite measure up to me.” With that, he slapped his bag of holding, causing heaps of love letters to whoosh out, forming a small mountain in front of the Saint-Emperor.

Feeling much better, Bai Xiaochun proudly said, “See these love letters? Each and every one is addressed to me! Back in the Heavenspan Realm, all I had to do was nod, and I would have exponentially more wives and concubines than Master God-Diviner!”

To see Bai Xiaochun casually toss out a so many love letters caused the Saint-Emperor to be completely astonished all over again. Some of the letters in the pile were actually yellow with age….

“You… you actually kept them all…? They even survived the destruction of your entire world…?” The Saint-Emperor suddenly felt like his understanding of life had reached a new level. First was Master God-Diviner with his family of tens of thousands, and then Bai Xiaochun with his mountain of love letters.

Bai Xiaochun felt a lot more confident now that the Saint-Emperor had been so flabbergasted by his love letters. But then, just as he was about to go into some more bragging, he sensed three streams of divine sense sweep into the hall….

They belonged to none other than Song Junwan, Zhou Zimo and Hou Xiaomei. Upon hearing that the Saint-Emperor had come, they were nervous, and also worried for Bai Xiaochun, but knew that it wouldn’t be appropriate to come in person. And thus, they sent some divine sense to check on what was happening.

If they were in the imperial palace of Saint-Emperor City, they wouldn’t have been able to use divine sense to look in on an archaean. But this was the imperial palace of Arch-Emperor City, and the spell formations set up made it possible for them to do so.

The first thing that they saw… was a small mountain of love letters.

Almost immediately, their streams of divine sense seemed to grow more powerful, lock down onto the love letters, and then suddenly vanish!

Bai Xiaochun’s face fell, and the Saint-Emperor’s expression flickered.

Clearing his throat, the Saint-Emperor said, “What were you about to say, Second Bro?” 

However, there was no way that Bai Xiaochun could be in the mood for continuing the conversation. Chuckling wryly, he scooped up the love letters and then tried to look calm as he changed the subject and continued chatting.

As for the Saint-Emperor, now that he was sure the little turtle was nowhere nearby, he decided that, considering the sensitive situation in the city, it wouldn’t be good for him to overstay his welcome. Therefore, he took his leave.

Bai Xiaochun absent-mindedly escorted the Saint-Emperor out, his eyes occasionally flitting guiltily back to the palace.

“What’s the big deal? They’re just some love letters. It’s not like I asked for them!” Trying to work up some courage, he headed back to his private chamber, where he planned to spend a few days in secluded meditation.

However, his plan didn’t work…. That very evening, Song Junwan, Zhou Zimo and Hou Xiaomei put aside their differences and joined forces to appear at his private chamber.

Bai Xiaochun was starting to feel even more guilty, especially considering how visibly pregnant Song Junwan and Zhou Zimo were. Although the two of them were smiling broadly, the ill will in their eyes caused him to wail in his heart.

As for Hou Xiaomei, she had no idea whether or not she was pregnant, but for some reason she kept her hands resting on her belly as she stared at him.

Song Junwan was the first one to speak. “Xiaochun, why did the Saint-Emperor come to visit?” 

She spoke in a warm tone, and sounded very mature. If it weren’t for the daggers she was staring, she would have seemed like the picture of womanly virtue.

“Um… well it’s that darn little turtle! He ran away! You know the little turtle, right? You don’t! Well, let me tell you how I met him. You’re actually part of the story, Junwan!” Blinking, Bai Xiaochun prepared to go into detail, but before he could, Zhou Zimo snorted coldly and cut in.

“Don’t try to avoid the elephant in the room, Bai Xiaochun. Come on, tell the truth. Are you jealous of Master God-Diviner?”

“Jealous?!” Bai Xiaochun said loudly. “Are you kidding me?!” Although he was nearly trembling with anxiety, he put on a look of righteous indignation, and even a bit of confusion.

“I would never be jealous of him! Actually, he’s the one who’s jealous of me! Although, now that you mention Master God-Diviner, you have to admit that the poor kid really has it rough. Zimo, do you remember those tribes from the Wildlands? Back when I was heading back to the Heavenspan region, you escorted me some of the way, remember? I--” 

As he prepared to continue with his story, Hou Xiaomei planted her fists onto her hips. Fuming like a hot pepper, she said, “Big Bro Xiaochun, you’re the Arch-Emperor now! Although times are peaceful now, you can’t slack off. You need to work hard on your cultivation. You need to focus!”

“I--” Bai Xiaochun began, but Song Junwan interrupted him.

“Xiaomei is absolutely correct. Xiaochun, you have a lot of important responsibilities! Although the three of us can’t do much in that regard, we can at least help you with some of your menial tasks. Come on. Hand over your love letters. We’ll take care of them from now on.”

“I….” Before he could offer any further explanations, Zhou Zimo, who of course had the worst temper of all of them, stalked over, keeping one arm under her belly as she grabbed his bag of holding. And of course, he didn’t dare to interfere as she… completely emptied out all of the love letters….

His heart was fairly dripping with blood as he looked on, feeling like he was being strangled. It was as if Zhou Zimo wasn’t taking away his love letters, but rather, all the romance that existed in his heart….

Looking very pleased with themselves, the three women left with his love letters, leaving him standing there alone in his private chamber, scowling on the verge of tears. As they left, he reached out morosely as it to grab ahold of something, except, there was nothing to lay his hands on.

“My love letters!”