A Will Eternal

Bai Xiaochun was starting to get nervous. Therefore, he hurried up to the front lines. Considering that nobody knew what they were doing, he decided to take charge. Waving his hands and gesticulating wildly he said, “No, don’t dig there. Look at the ground. Who would put treasure there?! Look at that oversized vase right next to you. Now that’s a treasure!

“Look at all of you! Seriously…? Come come. Let me tell you how to do it. You 300 go and clear out those boulders over there. And you 300 get rid of the rubble of that temple over there!

“Now, for you 300, well, you have an even more important mission. You head to that restricted area over there and take everything you can get your hands on. Know what it does? Take it. Don’t know? Take it!

“The final 100 of you, come with me and just pick up whatever I tell you to. Oh, hey you… that’s actually not made from spirit stones. It’s just an ordinary floor tile….”

Considering the extensive experience he had shaking down clans in the Wildlands, it didn’t take long before he had the entire group of disciples sweeping over the sect like a hurricane… wiping everything away….

Eventually, he couldn’t help but sigh.

“Listen to me everyone, when you're shaking a place down, you have to pay attention. Do you understand that…? I mean, put some thought into it! If you were a sect patriarch, where would you hide all the treasure?!

“Too complicated? Alright, I’ll summarize. When you're shaking a place down, you have to remember three key words: Fast. Ruthless. Precise. Those are my Three Words of Wisdom I created to pass down as part of my legacy!

“Fast. You have to move quickly in everything you do. Have you people seen locusts before? When you shake a place down, you have to become like locusts!

“Ruthless. Well, that’s simple. Your eyes need to be bloodshot, and you need to grab anything you see. Just imagine you're in a treasure shop where everything is free. The more you can grab, the more you’ll profit. Our motto is… we take everything down to the grass and the roots!

“Finally, is Precise. Like I said, you need to pay attention. To shakedown amateurs who haven’t learned how to pay attention, well, let me tell you the trick. You have to… take everything you see even if you don’t know what it is or whether it’s valuable!

“Just wait until we get back. Then we can appraise everything properly. We just need to make sure we have everything to appraise to begin with.” He spoke loudly, and his eyes danced up and down as he provided this crucial training. His words echoed about in the ruins of the Dao River Court, leaving the rest of the disciples temporarily dumbstruck, and gasping inwardly.

“How can the patriarch be so good at shakedowns?”

“This is my first time hearing the Three Words of Wisdom of shakedowns….”

“He’s… he’s so familiar with shaking places down….”

Strange and even blank expressions could be seen on the faces of everyone present. No one had ever heard of someone making up three words to summarize how to perform a shakedown. Furthermore, it was obvious that such wisdom could only come from someone who had a huge amount of experience in such matters. That would be the only way to distill the action down into three words of wisdom.

In fact, it was something only a professional could do….

The disciples weren’t the only ones to react in such a way. Li Qinghou stared with blank eyes as Bai Xiaochun scurried back and forth, giving direction and pointers everywhere he went.

Thanks to his timely instruction, the disciples quickly excavated all of the treasures of the Dao River Court. As it turned out, the Three Words of Wisdom were truly powerful.

Li Qinghou was both confused and also felt a bit of a headache coming on. Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he looked on helplessly with the realization that… no matter what cultivation base level Bai Xiaochun reached, there would always be something about him to worry about.

“He actually created a summary of how to shake places down…. I guess… he just has a knack for it….” Li Qinghou sighed, unsure of what to even say.

One thing he didn’t notice was how closely Bruiser was paying attention to everything. Years ago, it was the teachings of the black dog which had enabled Bruiser to attract so many female beasts to his side. And it was also from Bai Xiaochun that he had learned the ways of pride.

All of a sudden, a new world seemed to be presented to him, causing his eyes to shine with veneration. In his opinion, this dad of his was simply too awesome. Who could have ever imagined that he had mastered a skill like this?

After observing this special technique of shakedowns first-hand, Bruiser immediately realized that he had a new mission in life, and committed it to memory.

It took about two hours for the disciples to wipe the Dao River Court clean. By the end, their feelings for Bai Xiaochun had changed. Although they still felt deep awe and admiration, there was something else that they just couldn’t put their finger on as well.

Many of them suddenly recalled stories they had heard about things Bai Xiaochun had done years ago, stories that placed them right in the middle of laughter and tears….

“So, this is what Bai Xiaochun is like….”

“Patriarch Bai… ah whatever, I’ll just keep calling him Bai Xiaochun….”

Although all of the disciples were muttering similar things, with Bai Xiaochun’s instructions, they were enlightened regarding the Three Words of Wisdom, and cleaned out the Dao River Court until there wasn’t even any grass left anywhere….

They took most of the boulders, and the remains of most of the buildings…. If the disciples of the Dao River Court ever returned, they would surely be stunned, and would likely think they had taken a wrong turn somewhere…. They would definitely not recognize their sect.

Bruiser ended up helping out quite a bit. Not only was he a quick learner, he could change the size of his body at will, making it easy to get through tiny cracks to find special treasures. Bai Xiaochun sighed in admiration at how smart his son Bruiser was.

“Excellent! You've got real talent, Bruiser. From now on, our shakedown abilities are going to improve dramatically, all thanks to you!” Bai Xiaochun’s words of praise caused Bruiser to virtually glow with pride.

However, as he watched, Bai Xiaochun actually felt a bit displeased. He really missed Zhou Yixing. Zhou Yixing could have dug out all of the treasures much more quickly….

“This isn’t going to work….” he thought. His expression suddenly turned serious. “Yep. It seems I need give them some more training. Everyone in the sect needs to understand the quintessence of shakedowns!

“That way, the River-Defying Sect will have more wealth than ever. All disciples will have plenty of cultivation resources. It will be good tidings for everyone in the sect!” Although it meant that things would be a bit more stressful, at least it gave him a new mission to work on.

People started realizing that Bai Xiaochun had a thoughtful expression on his face, even Li Qinghou. Li Qinghou massaged the bridge of his nose again, a wry smile on his face as he realized that Bai Xiaochun must be coming up with some more plans. Finally, Li Qinghou cleared his throat.

“Alright, Xiaochun. Let’s get back home to the River-Defying Sect.”

Bai Xiaochun agreed, temporarily putting aside his previous thoughts. Waving his sleeve, he led Bruiser, the 1,000 disciples, and Li Qinghou through the air in a grand procession back to the River-Defying Sect.

On the way back, Li Qinghou finally asked Bai Xiaochun about how the fighting had fared in the River-Defying Sect. It was with sparkling eyes that Bai Xiaochun went into vivid detail about the story. When Li Qinghou heard that Bai Xiaochun had fought three devas, and ended up killing one, crippling another, and sending another one fleeing, his heart trembled. Although he had guessed that things played out something like that, to hear the truth personally was still astonishing.

After a bit of time spent chatting, they were closing in on the River-Defying Sect.

Meanwhile, Patriarch Dao River had finally managed to sneak home in nascent divinity form. Actually, he had been waiting some distance away while everything happened in the sect.

It wasn’t until Bai Xiaochun actually left that he dared to actually go back into the emptied sect. There, he looked around in confusion, wondering if he was hallucinating.

“Is this really… the Dao River Court?” After staring around blankly for a while, a tremor ran through him, and he threw his head back and screamed, “You’re pushing things too far, Bai Xiaochun!!!”