A Will Eternal

After delving into the Frigid School Will-Evolving Incantation and the Undying Tendons, Bai Xiaochun was filled with anticipation regarding what was to come in the future. That was especially true after sensing his own flourishing life force. Although he wasn’t completely sure of the limits of his longevity, he had the feeling that it was at least a thousand years or so.

Many people found cultivation to be dull and boring, but he didn’t mind it at all, and quickly immersed himself in the Frigid School Will Evolving Incantation and the Undying Tendons.

After some consideration, he decided that he would begin cultivating the Undying Tendons with the big toe on his left foot.

“I’ll go one toe at a time,” he thought. “That will be the most stable way to go about it!” He was fully convinced that this was the right course. He could already imagine the screams of pain from his enemies when they were completely caught off guard by the power of his toe.

“Only an idiot would start with the fingers. What good are fingers? Everyone is prepared for someone to attack with the hands. Besides, in a critical moment, how could your fingers help you to escape? But toes are different. Not only can they catch people off guard in a sudden attack, they can also be used to run away at full speed. As long as I have my poor little life, I have everything!” Having reached this point in his train of thought, Bai Xiaochun was convinced that he was the epitome of wisdom, intelligence and courage. He was so pleased that he started looking around for a copper mirror to admire himself in, only to discover that there were no mirrors in his immortal's cave.

“That won’t do!” he thought. “I can’t believe there’s not a single mirror in here!” He was feeling more than a little disappointed. However, it was at that point that he thought back to the young woman from the Sky River Court whom he had killed in battle. When he'd scanned her bag of holding, he remembered seeing a mirror.

He quickly opened his bag of holding and began rifling through its contents until he found a round, palm-sized copper mirror. He also looked for the little turtle, but didn't find even a trace of him. However, he was used to the turtle’s mysterious vanishing acts, and thus wasn’t very surprised.

After examining the mirror for a bit, Bai Xiaochun was delighted to discover that it wasn’t just an ordinary mirror, it was actually a useful magical item. Although it wasn’t as extraordinary as his three precious treasures, it was still quite impressive: it could form a magical clone.

However, it wasn’t the type of clone that could be used for fighting, and was more for distracting the enemy. Back when he had been fighting the young woman, he had completely dominated the fight. Plus, his use of the Heavenspan Dharma Eye had made the use of such a clone useless.

“Not bad at all, actually,” he said as he fiddled with the mirror. A moment later, he decided to study the mirror with his third eye. As soon as it opened, he said, “Eee?”

Violet light flickered within the immortal's cave, then disappeared a moment later when he closed his third eye.

“It seems that young woman didn’t even know the true function of this mirror. Not only can it form magical clones, it can also keep souls alive!” Another surprise was that the fluctuations of this mirror were very similar to the fluctuations of the mysterious mask. Although they weren’t exactly the same, they were very close.

After playing with it for a bit longer, he finally put it off to the side and resumed his cultivation. Time passed. Before long, half a month had gone by.

One night when he was in the middle of a session of cultivation, all of the hair on his body suddenly stood on end. Opening his eyes, he noticed that the floor was rippling wildly, and a cold air was building up in the immortal's cave, as if it were being separated from the wider world around him.

At the same time, a red beam of light flew out from his bag of holding, and the mask appeared. Then, an ancient voice spoke, seemingly trembling with anxiety.

“Don’t--”

Bai Xiaochun gasped. Before the voice could say more than a single word, he produced a stack of paper talismans even larger than before, poured his Heaven-Dao Gold Core cultivation base power into them, and then threw them at the mask.

Smacking sounds rang out again, along with a roar of rage from within the mask. Then the mask clattered to the floor, and the ripples vanished.

Only then did imposter Nightcrypt’s soul float out, trembling.

“Finished!” he screamed. “We’re finished! They came again! What do we do? What are we supposed to do...?”

Bai Xiaochun was also terrified, and was convinced that if he’d acted any slower, he would have been placed in extreme danger.

“Damned evil spirit!!” Bai Xiaochun said, grinding his teeth. Then he looked over thoughtfully at imposter Nightcrypt’s soul. After a moment, a gleam of determination appeared in his eyes.

“Imposter Nightcrypt, I'm going to give you a new home, and you need to cooperate. Otherwise I’ll have to throw you into the Heavenspan River along with the mask to feed the fishes!”

Imposter Nightcrypt began trembling again, and it seemed like he wanted to say something. However, considering how bloodshot Bai Xiaochun’s eyes were, he didn’t even dare to open his mouth. He simply nodded, eyes shining with terror.

“I can mop the floor with that old rabbit,” Bai Xiaochun said with a growl, “so I refuse to believe that I can’t handle this wimpy little mask!” Snorting coldly, he pulled the mirror out and studied it a bit further. Then he performed an incantation gesture with both hands and pointed at the mask. Imposter Nightcrypt immediately began screaming, but then Bai Xiaochun glared at him and he quickly shut his mouth.

Bai Xiaochun slipped into complete focus as he unleashed his Heaven-Dao aura. His Gold Core seethed as his cultivation base erupted with power. As a result, his right hand turned completely golden. At the same time, his Heavenspan Dharma Eye opened, shining with intense violet light.

A terrifying shockwave blasted out from Bai Xiaochun. The violet light shining from his Heavenspan Dharma Eye was now tinged with gold as a stream of Heaven-Dao aura raced through it to land onto the mask. Almost instantly, Bai Xiaochun was able to see the areas where imposter Nightcrypt’s soul was connected to the mask itself.

As soon as he saw the connections, he didn’t hesitate for even a moment to chop his hand through the air, causing golden light to flicker brightly.

“Sever!” he growled. Rumbling sounds echoed out as his hand chopped into the connections. The connections trembled; although they were tough, they were now being assaulted by a Heaven-Dao aura, and could only hold firm for a short moment. Then they melted away!

Imposter Nightcrypt immediately let out a bloodcurdling scream as his soul shot out of the mask. Unexpectedly, as soon as he appeared in the open, some powerful force seemed to grab ahold of him as if to drag him away.

Imposter Nightcrypt screamed in terror, and Bai Xiaochun’s jaw dropped. Thankfully, he already had the mirror ready to go. He quickly waved his sleeve, sending the mirror flying toward imposter Nightcrypt. In the blink of an eye, imposter Nightcrypt was sucked inside.

After everything was over, Bai Xiaochun was left gasping for breath. Although the events which had just occurred had seemed simple enough, they had actually been incredibly draining. A quick check confirmed that imposter Nightcrypt was now in the mirror. His soul seemed to have been weakened significantly, and he was unconscious, but not seriously injured. Bai Xiaochun breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, he turned his gaze to the mask. Snorting coldly, he pulled out more paper talismans, which he slapped onto the surface of the mask. In the end, even he wasn’t sure how many restrictive spells were sealing the mask, but there were layers upon layers of them. Finally, Bai Xiaochun felt a bit more at ease.

“Let’s see if you manage to misbehave again now that you’re in that state!” Feeling very pleased with himself, he put the mask away, and then continued with his cultivation.

Another half a month went by, during which time the mask didn’t act up again. Bai Xiaochun was starting to get a bit distracted, and even found himself pondering the issue of the River-Defying Pill.

Half a month later, he couldn’t sit still any longer.

“I'm already in the Gold Core stage,” he thought, “which is already pretty awesome. I need to strike a good balance between hard work and leisure. I can’t just sit around cultivating all the time.” The more he reasoned on the subject, the more it made sense to leave secluded meditation. With that, he opened his immortal's cave and stepped out into the open....

After taking in a deep breath of fresh air, he looked around at the River-Defying Sect, and deep in his heart, a sense of intense pride rose up. Clasping his hands behind his back, he began to stroll through the sect, appreciating the sights as he went.

“It’s been a long time since I saw Big Sis Song,” he thought. “Man, I miss her....” Whenever he thought about Song Junwan’s scorchingly sexy appearance, his heart surged with warm feelings. After blinking a few times, he decided that he should go find her and say some loving things.

As he walked along, the leaves in the trees rustled, and the birds sang. The spiritual energy in the River-Defying Sect was abundant, and the entire place seemed like a celestial paradise. He encountered many River-Defying Sect disciples, including young men and young women, all of whom gazed at him with looks of awe and reverence. Because of his status as junior patriarch, he had one of the highest positions in the entire sect.

Such looks of awe were especially noticeable on the faces of the disciples from the Profound and Pill Stream Divisions, who didn’t actually know very much about him. After all, his pure and fair appearance was quite pleasing to the eye. Plus, he enjoyed putting on a good show in public. The truth was that there were quite a few young female disciples who had taken a liking to him.

At the moment, he was passing through the Profound Stream Division, and ran into some disciples who were offering him greetings. Suddenly, a female disciple flew out from one of the mountains. She was quite a beauty, but was blushing furiously as she hurried over to Bai Xiaochun. To his shock, she bit her bottom lip and averted her gaze as she quickly handed him an envelope. Before he could say anything to her, she turned and hurried away.

Cultivators usually used jade slips to communicate with each other, making handwritten letters somewhat of a rarity. Bai Xiaochun gaped in shock for a moment, and then looked down at the envelope to discover that a heart was drawn on its surface....

“Is this...?” His eyes went wide, and he gasped. Then he began to shiver in excitement.

“A love letter!!!”

Chapter 349: A Love Letter

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Translator: Deathblade. Chinese language consultant: ASI a.k.a. Beerblade. Editor: GNE. Memes: Logan. Meme archives: Tocsin. Transcendent Patrons: Daoist Elder N, BLE, ttre208. AWE Glossary. Xianxia-inspired T-shirts.

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Hey everyone, on Friday night at 8:00 p.m. EST, some fellow wuxia fans and I will be live streaming a full session of Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate on YouTube. I'm starting to get nervous, as the GM has stated that in this session, and I quote, "characters are probably going to get maimed and killed." Crossing fingers that my character Meng Wai's Eighth Hex will get him through alive....