A Will Eternal

“How dare you people!!” Patriarch Spirit Stream shouted, simultaneously pouring more power into the spell formation. Patriarch Blood Stream also gasped under the power of the attack, but at the same time, his murderous aura erupted violently.

“Complete and utter bullying!! What crime has our River-Defying Sect committed?!?!”

The one to provide the response was Patriarch Starry River. “When the time came for you to be exterminated, you dared to fight back! That is your crime!”

The patriarch was feeling very excited. He couldn’t help but think about the bedraggled state he had been in when he fled from Bai Xiaochun, and how his revenge was now nigh.

“Get the hell out here and show your face, Bai Xiaochun!!” he shouted.

Gritting his teeth with anger, Patriarch Dao River said, “You listen to me, Bai Xiaochun. I'm going to empty out your River-Defying Sect in the exact same way you emptied out the Dao River Court!”

At the same time, the two patriarchs slammed into the spell formation, causing the River-Defying Sect’s headquarters to tremble violently!

The sect's grand spell formation seemed mighty, but it couldn’t defend against a sustained barrage by multiple devas. As it teetered on the verge of collapse, and the disciples of the River-Defying Sect felt despair gripping their hearts, a voice was suddenly transmitted into the ears of Patriarch Spirit Stream and Patriarch Blood Stream. It was Bai Xiaochun!

“Buy me some time!”

Instantly, Patriarch Spirit Stream waved his hand and sent his voice into the ears of the disciples of the sect.

“All disciples, merge your spirits with the Dire Skybanyan!!”

Shouts filled the air as all River-Defying Sect disciples shot toward the skybanyan and sent cultivation base power pouring into it.

As the disciples fell into place, scintillating light erupted from the huge tree, repairing the cracks in the spell formation shield.

It wasn’t just the lower-ranking disciples who joined in the effort. The Nascent Soul cultivators helped as well, including Patriarch Spirit Stream. The only ones who didn't participate were Patriarch Blood Stream and the Blood Stream Division disciples, who flew into the body of the Blood Ancestor.

Moments later, the Blood Ancestor’s eyes snapped open, and he threw his head back and roared. With the Blood Ancestor awake, he and the glittering shield were the last lines of defense for the sect!

Bruiser was there as well, standing in front of the Blood Ancestor, glaring murderously at the five devas.

Chen Hetian and the other devas stared back with narrowed eyes at the River-Defying Sect. The sect's reaction was shocking to them, both in terms of the speed of reaction, and their tactics. Clearly, they were superior to any of the other Middle Reaches sects!

With the full support of all the disciples of the River-Defying Sect, the shield created by the Dire Skybanyan was something that caused even Chen Hetian and the other devas to frown.

And although Bruiser and the Blood Ancestor weren’t any major threat, they could certainly cause the devas a frustrating delay.

However, all of these were simply minor distractions. As far as Chen Hetian, Li Xiandao and Bai Zhentian were concerned, this curious turn of events wasn't much to worry about. Although it seemed as if they were in a rush, they were actually still feeling very confident.

Furthermore, with Bai Xiaochun around, they knew they had to be careful of a trap related to the spell formation. However, since they had Patriarch Starry River and Patriarch Dao River to take care of that, they weren’t very worried.

One thing they were paying close attention to was a possible escape effort by Bai Xiaochun. If a deva like Bai Xiaochun escaped, it wouldn't be a huge disaster, but could cause complications down the line. However, they didn’t feel that such a thing was likely to happen.

At the moment, Bai Xiaochun was seated cross-legged in his secluded meditation chamber, seemingly on the verge of weeping blood. He couldn’t have been more nervous about what was happening outside; he knew that the River-Defying Sect was in a moment of critical danger.

And yet, he had no other options at the moment. If he went out right now to fight against five devas, he would have no hope of winning. And if he were killed, then the River-Defying Sect would definitely be exterminated.

The only chance… was to successfully conjure a twenty-one-colored flame. The flame of a heavenly necromancer would help him achieve a cultivation base breakthrough, and would enable him to step into the Deva Realm. Only then could he resolve this deadly crisis!

Of course, there was another option…. He could flee. If he escaped, then his existence would be a threat that could likely safeguard the River-Defying Sect to some extent.

But that wasn’t something he would do unless he had no other choice. It was simply too risky. Besides, if his estimation of the situation were incorrect, it could lead to the River-Defying Sect being wiped out.

“Time to conjure some flame!” he said. In recent days, he had attempted to conjure so many twenty-one-colored flames that he’d lost count.

The vast collection of souls he had in his bag of holding was already beginning to run low.

With the skills he had built up as an earthly necromancer, he was able to perform flame conjurings in a very short period of time. Furthermore, all of the failures in the recent days had given him extensive experience. Every time, he had made progress. Now, he was very familiar with the formula, and the process itself. His string of failures had enabled him to solve all of the problems, or at least come up with theories on how to.

“I should be able to succeed!!” Eyes bloodshot, he began working again. He knew that the sect would not be able to hold out for very long, and could hear the rumbling sounds outside.

Taking a breath to calm himself, he performed a double-handed incantation gesture, causing a vast group of souls to spread out around him. The time had come to begin the conjuring!

As the souls merged together and the sea of fire appeared, he took control of it, preventing it from expanding out into a large area. However, it was in that moment that an intense boom reached him from outside. Although he wished to maintain complete focus, he had to send his divine sense outside to see what was happening.

Patriarch Dao River and Patriarch Starry River had joined forces to attack the sect's grand spell formation, causing immense rifts to open up in the shield. As a result, blood sprayed out of the mouths of the River-Defying Sect disciples.

When Bai Xiaochun saw that, he slipped further into madness. The sea of fire destabilized, and immediately lurched toward collapse. Without the slightest hesitation, he flew out into the open, which attracted the attention of Chen Hetian, Li Xiandao and Bai Zhentian.

The instant they looked over, their faces fell as they realized that Bai Xiaochun held a ball of flame that filled their hearts with intense sensations of danger.

“Bruiser, get out of the way!” Bai Xiaochun shouted. Rotating his cultivation base at full speed, he drew upon the power of his fleshly body to hurl the sea of fire out in front of him. It instantly transformed into a massive fireball that passed through one of the cracks in the spell formation shield.

“Get back!” Chen Hetian shouted at Patriarch Starry River and Patriarch Dao River. At the same time, he and the other two most powerful devas rushed forward to try to suppress the fire.

Unfortunately for Patriarch Starry River and Patriarch Dao River, they reacted a bit too slowly. Thunderous rumbling sounds erupted out as the ball of fire exploded, unleashing heaven-shaking, earth-shattering power.

From a distance, it was possible to see the terrifyingly powerful sea of fire transforming everything outside of the River-Defying Sect into blackened ash!

Patriarch Starry River and Patriarch Dao River trembled violently. Blood sprayed out of the mouth of the former, and the nascent divinity of the latter trembled unstably. Both flew backward, but were sustained by the power of Chen Hetian, Li Xiandao and Bai Zhentian. Were it not for that help, both of the two weaker patriarchs would have been grievously injured.

Considering this was Bai Xiaochun’s first time using a fireball in this way, and he had aimed very carefully, the attack had been quite successful. If the enemy had been more prepared, it might not have worked as well.

“Bai Xiaochun!!” Patriarch Starry River shouted. However, even as he looked over, Bai Xiaochun vanished. Back in his secluded meditation chamber, he anxiously began to work on conjuring another flame.

At the moment, he suddenly felt less pressure.

“What an idiot I've been. Who cares if I fail!? When I fail, I can just throw them outside right before they explode!” Bai Xiaochun couldn’t help but marvel at his quick-wittedness. Any other person in his situation would have to be completely focused, and would only appear out in the open in the final glorious moment.

But he was more awesome than that. He didn’t need to wait until he succeeded. With every failure, he would shock everyone on the outside….