A Will Eternal

“They're just some little ghosts, right? It’ll only take a bit of thinking for Lord Bai to figure out a way to transform them into nothing but ash!” Bai Xiaochun spent several days wrestling with the problem. At first, he considered using evil-warding talismans, but considering the vast numbers of vengeful souls in the cyan trial by fire, he decided that such a method wouldn’t be very reliable.

Besides, back when he had first faced all the vengeful souls back then, he had plastered a good amount of such talismans on him, and it hadn’t done much good at all.

“Evil-warding talismans aren’t going to work. In that case, I need to concoct a medicinal pill. Only then will I be confident enough to succeed....” At that point, his eyes glittered with anticipation.

After some thinking, he came up with an idea for a new pill formula that he was sure would work. It wouldn’t require many medicinal plant ingredients, and would mostly serve as a vehicle with which to use the powers of gravity and repulsion that he had begun to study in the Spirit Stream Sect.

“I need to concoct a spirit medicine that will cause all of the vengeful souls to gather together in one spot....” He wanted to make something that, as soon as it appeared in the open, would cause all of the vengeful souls in the area to rush toward it at top speed. The mere idea of concocting a pill like that got him fidgeting in excitement.

Eyebrows dancing in anticipation, he began pacing back and forth in his immortal's cave, continuing to analyze his new pill formula. Finally, he slapped his thigh.

“This is definitely going to work. The glowing sphere I made with the powers of gravity and repulsion could rip clothes to shreds, and even form hallucination smoke. I can definitely use it to gather souls together!” Having reached this point in his train of thought, Bai Xiaochun made his decision. He rushed out of his immortal's cave and went over to the Hall of Devil Slayers, where he got quite a large collection of medicinal plants, after which he returned and went into secluded meditation.

Three days later, rumbling sounds filled his immortal's cave. Bai Xiaochun’s eyes were bloodshot as he looked at the white spirit medicine he had just concocted. Taking a deep breath, he drew upon the powers of gravity and repulsion and began to infuse them into the pill. Gravitation and repulsion were not easy to cultivate, but Bai Xiaochun had spent dozens of years on his research, and as such, was able to manipulate them, albeit with some amount of difficulty.

It took several hours, but he managed to infuse the medicinal pill with the powers of gravity and repulsion, after which he excitedly pulled out his copper mirror.

“Imposter Nightcrypt, get out here!”

Imposter Nightcrypt’s soul shivered. He didn’t really have any desire to emerge from the copper mirror, and yet, didn’t dare to refuse. Trying not to cry, he flew out into the open.

“Master, you--”

Before he could finish his sentence, Bai Xiaochun shouted, “Take this!”

And then he crushed the medicinal pill.

A boom rang out, and Bai Xiaochun’s clothes were instantly shredded to pieces, leaving him buck naked. As for imposter Nightcrypt, he instantly screamed, and yet, after a moment, the scream faded into an exclamation of surprise.

“Huh? I'm not hurt! Hahaha! I'm fine!” Imposter Nightcrypt hadn’t been affected at all. Excited, he looked over at Bai Xiaochun, who was looking back at him with his bloodshot eyes twitching a bit. Imposter Nightcrypt shivered, and then slunk off to the side, convinced that Bai Xiaochun was in a very dangerous mood.

Panting, Bai Xiaochun looked down at the crushed remnants of the medicinal pill. Then he completely ignored imposter Nightcrypt, threw on another set of clothing, and began to concoct another pill.

Another three days passed....

“Take this!” Bai Xiaochun shouted, crushing the medicinal pill.

A boom rang out, and this time, his clothes were completely unaffected. However, the force of the explosion slammed Bai Xiaochun into the wall of the immortal's cave, causing cracks to spread out in all directions.

Only after a long moment passed did Bai Xiaochun then fall down to the ground, leaving a human-shaped indentation in the wall. Face ashen, and yet also filled with determination, he gritted his teeth and started working again.

As for imposter Nightcrypt, when he saw what had just happened, he couldn’t help but gasp.

“What... what kind of medicine is he concocting?”

Another four days passed, and another medicinal pill appeared in Bai Xiaochun’s hand. His eyes were so bloodshot that they were almost completely red as he backed up until he was leaning up against the wall. Convinced that this time would be a success, he crushed the pill and shouted, “Alright, take this!”

This time, his clothing was again shredded to pieces, and instead of being pushed backward, he was pulled forward, body completely out of his own control as he slammed into the opposite wall. Popping sounds rang out, and cracks spread out in the wall. Meanwhile, imposter Nightcrypt looked at Bai Xiaochun, shivering violently.

“He’s... he’s not concocting medicine, he’s trying to kill himself!” Imposter Nightcrypt was shaking in fear and anxiety, not at the prospect of Bai Xiaochun dying, but at the fact that Bai Xiaochun had tested the first pill on him. He couldn’t imagine what fate he would meet if Bai Xiaochun succeeded in concocting whatever pill he was planning.

By this point, Bai Xiaochun was furious. After struggling to get out of the wall, he once again began to concoct. A few more days went by, and he had a new version of his spirit medicine. This time, he crawled into one of the holes he had previously punched into the wall, in the hopes that such a position would keep him safe. With that, he gritted his teeth and prepared to crush the pill.

Unable to keep control of himself, Imposter Nightcrypt wailed, “Master, spare me!”

Bai Xiaochun sighed and said, “Trust me, this time it's going to work!”

With that he crushed the pill. Instantly, a huge boom rang out as the powers of gravitation and repulsion erupted out. This time, the pill merely exploded, and Bai Xiaochun, despite being hidden in the wall, was still hit by the blast. The entire immortal's cave even rocked back and forth.

Bai Xiaochun was wrenched out of his position in the wall and slammed into the ground, where he lay for a long moment before struggling back into a sitting position. Then, he yet again began to concoct medicine, seemingly as if his life depended on it.

Imposter Nightcrypt was trembling on the verge of collapse, and couldn't stop wondering what his future held. It was a true torment; every time he saw the tragic results when Bai Xiaochun crushed one of his pills, his terror mounted.

A few more days passed, and Bai Xiaochun started to get ready to perform another test. Wailing, imposter Nightcrypt said, “Master, spare me, please!!”

He truly wished to be spared. He felt like a prisoner on death row, whose head had been placed on the chopping block, only to have the axe veer to the side and miss its mark over and over again. It was a truly agonizing feeling.

“Trust me, this time it's going to work!” Howling, Bai Xiaochun crushed the medicinal pill, causing another boom to echo out....

Time passed. Two whole months. During that time, Bai Xiaochun’s immortal's cave continued to rock and sway on a regular basis. As for Bai Xiaochun himself, were it not for the fact that he had a tremendously powerful fleshly body, he would have been severely injured on several occasions.

Finally, on a day when imposter Nightcrypt was wracked with despair, a boom rang out, and a powerful gravitational force erupted out. Imposter Nightcrypt was instantly grabbed up and, in almost the exact same instant, was sucked over to Bai Xiaochun’s palm.

“Hahaha! Success at last!!” Bai Xiaochun cried, standing there in the wreckage of his immortal's cave, his hair in complete disarray, but his expression one of pure excitement. Clearly, Imposter Nightcrypt hadn’t been the only one to be in torment over the past two months.

As of this moment, he had created a medicinal pill that, when crushed, would unleash the powers of gravity and repulsion, and drag any nearby soul bodies to the location where the pill had been crushed.

“I'm going to call it the Soul Convergence Pill!” With that, he threw his head back and laughed uproariously. Although he was tired, he was almost mad with excitement, and had already decided that he would rest up a bit and then go challenge the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Superstars trials again.

“This time I’m definitely going to show those measly ghosts a thing or two!” Feeling prouder of himself than ever, he concocted some more Soul Convergence Pills, then settled down cross-legged to do some breathing exercises.

Over the following month, Bai Xiaochun went mad concocting Soul Convergence Pills. Whenever he got tired, he would do some breathing exercises, then start work again as soon as possible. As time went along, not only did he build up a shockingly large collection of pills, but because of the constant cycle of exhausting himself and then recovering, his cultivation base began to creep closer toward the late Gold Core stage!

One day when he finished a run of concocting, and had just settled down to do some breathing exercises, he suddenly looked out of his immortal's cave, an expression of surprise on his face.

Soon, three beams of light became visible, flying toward him. They were none other than Master God-Diviner, Chen Manyao, and Xu Baocai, and all of them looked very anxious.

Considering he was at the peak of the mid Gold Core stage, Bai Xiaochun could tell even from a distance that they were upset, and that something was clearly going on.

Even before they reached the immortal's cave, they began to call out at the tops of their lungs.

“Junior Patriarch, Big Fatty Zhang’s in trouble!”

“Xiaochun, hurry up and save Big Fatty Zhang!!”

Upon hearing their words, Bai Xiaochun’s face fell. Swishing his sleeve, he slammed open the door of the immortal's cave and rushed out in a blast of wind.

Grabbing Master God-Diviner by the shoulders, he shouted, “What’s wrong with Eldest Brother?”