Everyone in the Necromancer Kettle was feeling incredibly jumpy. By this point, all of them realized how powerful Bai Xiaochun was, and yet, there were no other options than to try to deal him. After all, they couldn't leave the Necromancer Kettle early. They could only follow the orders of Gongsun Yi and the others, and try to track Bai Xiaochun down.
One by one, they gritted their teeth and continued to search, their main hope being that they could find Bai Hao, surround him, and join forces to kill him.
The Ghost King Orchid was blooming rapidly, and that was their only shot at being able to win it in the end.
As everyone methodically searched for him, Bai Xiaochun was in a valley between two mountains, chest puffed with pride as he looked at the roughly thirty chosen who were all sitting in front of him, glaring at him angrily. He had sealed both their cultivation bases and their limbs, making it impossible for them to do anything other than look at him threateningly.
“If you’re that tough, then just kill us!”
“Hmph! You’ve brought a heaven-level disaster upon yourself, Bai Hao. Not even the Giant Ghost King will be able to keep you safe!”
The eyes of Zhao Dongshan and Little Wolfgod were particularly bloodshot. If looks could kill, then their eyes would long since have reduced Bai Xiaochun to crumbling bone and ash.
“Trying to scare me? You people just wait!” After glaring at the group of thirty, he proudly patted his bag of holding to produce the Eternal Parasol. Then he walked over to one particular young man whose voice had been more threatening than any of the others.
Startled, the young man stared angrily at Bai Xiaochun and said, “What do you think you’re going to do with that?!”
“Oh nothing. Heh heh. The technique I cultivate requires life force, so I’m going to borrow a bit from you….” Clearing his throat, and yet not hesitating for a moment, he… stabbed the Eternal Parasol into the young man’s chest.
The young man let out a bloodcurdling scream that caused the faces of the other chosen to flicker with various emotions. Many of them even began to pant. Shocked, they watched as the young man’s body began to visibly wither. After ten breaths of time passed, his hair had turned white, and he appeared to be little more than skin and bones. At this point, their hearts were starting to pound, and they were looking at Bai Xiaochun with terrified eyes.
The Eternal Parasol exerted a bizarre, almost demonic gravitational force that greedily gobbled up all life force.
That life force in turn poured into Bai Xiaochun, causing him to tremble inwardly. When he decided enough was enough, he retracted the Eternal Parasol. Then, face slightly flush, he ignored everyone else present and sat down cross-legged to meditate and work on the fourth level of the Undying Codex, the Undying Bones!
The life force which had just poured into him rapidly vanished, soaked into his bones as surely as water would soak into parched earth. At the same time, a comfortable expression appeared on Bai Xiaochun’s face.
The scene which was playing out caused Little Wolfgod, Zhao Dongshan, and everyone else to gasp in shock. Their faces drained of blood, and expressions of terror appeared. As for the young man whose life force had just been drained away, he seemed like he was gasping his last breaths. Although he wasn’t dead, his vital energy had been badly damaged.
“What kind of devilish technique does this Bai Hao cultivate?!?!”
“Heavens! He directly extracted that life force to use in cultivation….”
“Now I get why he kidnapped all of us. He wants to use us to further his cultivation!!”
As everyone trembled in fear, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes snapped open, and they brimmed with spirit and joy. “Hahaha! It’s exactly as I predicted. As long as I have enough life force, I can cultivate my Undying Bones at will. Hmmmphh! I'm not going to kill these people, I'm going to suck their life force dry, toss them over to the Giant Ghost King, and then let him deal with the headache!”
Chuckling to himself, he looked around at the flustered chosen, and before any of them could say anything, he rose to his feet and approached one of them.
“Hi there! I sure hope you can cooperate. Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt….” Beaming from ear to ear, he stabbed the Eternal Parasol into the chest of the terrified chosen….
It didn’t take long before he moved from the second chosen to the third, and then the fourth…. It took eight hours to extract the life force from everyone present. As for his bones, thanks to the influx of life force and the cultivation of his technique, they soon reached the point where two thunderous booms spread out inside of him.
At that point, his entire body emitted a black glow that slowly faded away. Then he opened his eyes and expelled a mouthful of impure vital energy. As of this moment, his bones were much more resilient than before.
“The second stratum of Tempered Bones!” Eyes shining with anticipation, he contemplated how all he had to do was reach the next stratum, and he would be able to use the Undying Emperor’s Fist.
“The life force requirements of the Undying Bones are terrifying. Even with all these people, all I could do was reach the second stratum…. Ridiculous. However, at least now I know that it was the right decision to come to the Necromancer Kettle. Having all these chosen here is like having my choice of a whole bunch of high-level medicine!” Radiating health and vigor, he looked at the thirty emaciated and listless chosen, and then quickly threw them back into his bag of holding. Then, he flew back out into the mists.
Bai Xiaochun proceeded along carefully, making sure to stay hidden as he went. Before long, a frown could be seen on his face as he realized that most of the chosen weren’t in groups of five, but rather, ten.
Considering that, it wasn’t likely that he could end a fight quickly. If he got wrapped up in a protracted fight, he would end up getting surrounded like he had in the beginning.
“Hmph! Groups of ten? Well, I can still attack them. Maybe I won’t be able to catch all of them in one shot, but I'm in no hurry. Slow and steady!” After putting a moment of thought into planning, he snorted coldly and melted into the mists. Before long, he had found his target, a group of ten chosen who were doing nothing to conceal the power of their cultivation bases. Although the occasional vengeful soul would appear to harry them, they handled them with ease.
As Bai Xiaochun got closer, his pupils constricted when he realized that one of the chosen in this group was none other than… Miao Lin’er.
He remembered the mystical magical technique she had used during their initial encounter, which had caused all of his injuries to flare up. It was that sudden increase in the severity of his wounds that gave Zhou Hong a chance to hit him with a dangerous attack.
“What a vicious woman! Although my current physical appearance doesn’t quite measure up to what I really look like, I'm still handsome! I never did anything to offend her, and yet she went so far as to attack with complete venom!” Narrowing his eyes, he studied Miao Lin’er a bit more closely. Then he made a few calculations, after which his eyes shone with determination. Without the slightest hesitation, he burst into motion with all the speed he could muster.
In the blink of an eye, he became a streak of light that shot with lightning-like speed that bordered on teleportation. Before anyone could react, he was right on top of Miao Lin’er’s group, where he unleashed a fist strike.
That fist strike became a tempest that descended onto the group with impunity. As for Miao Lin’er and the other chosen, their expressions flickered at the sight of Bai Xiaochun. Some even coughed up blood. However, all of them immediately spread out in specific directions. As for Miao Lin’er, she chuckled and said, “You fell into our trap, Bai Hao! Into formation, everyone!’
Strange gleams appeared in the eyes of the surrounding chosen. At the same time, magical symbols began to pour off of all of them. In the blink of an eye, the symbols linked together to make a spell formation!
Rumbling sounds filled the 300-meter area around them, creating something like a prison that had Bai Xiaochun completely locked down inside of it.
This was the secret plan devised by Gongsun Yi and the other top chosen. All of the groups that were out in the mists were prepared to instantly create spell formations if Bai Xiaochun dared to show his face.
As soon as Bai Xiaochun ended up in the spell formation, the news was passed to Gongsun Yi, Zhou Hong and Xu Shan, all of whom began to rush toward the area.
Zhou Hong was the nearest, and had three people with him, one of whom was Li Tiansheng. Considering the speed they were capable of, it would only take them about ten breaths of time to reach the location where Bai Xiaochun had been caught.
Drastic developments were underway inside of the Necromancer Kettle as all of the chosen raced at top speed toward Bai Xiaochun.
Even as Miao Lin’er’s laughter echoed out, her face suddenly turned pale, and her eyes widened. Despite the fact that Bai Xiaochun was right there in the middle of the spell formation, he didn’t seem flustered at all. In fact, he even had a bit of a scornful look in his eyes. Taking a step toward Miao Lin’er, he quickly utilized his Undying Hex.
Rumbling could be heard as he vanished from within the spell formation, to appear right in front of her.
“Impossible!” Miao Lin’er’s face fell as she tried to fall back. However, before she could, Bai Xiaochun bashed into her like a wild animal. An old saying talked about tender, protective feelings for the fairer sex, but there was none of that in his actions. He unleashed devastating force that caused blood to spray out of her mouth. Her cultivation base was instantly thrown into chaos, and many of her bones shattered. Her nascent soul was on the verge of flying out into the open. Before she could even consider fleeing, Bai Xiaochun reached out and grabbed her arm, sending cultivation base power inside of her to seal her.
It all happened in the time it takes a spark to fly off of a piece of flint. The fact that Miao Lin’er had been captured struck fear into the hearts of the other surrounding chosen, and even Zhou Hong and the other who were rushing over were taken completely by surprise.
Many of the vengeful souls in the surrounding mist were startled, and then turned their bloodthirsty, voracious eyes upon the nearby chosen….
Feeling very proud of himself, Bai Xiaochun took the sensual, voluptuous Miao Lin’er with him as he turned to flee. However, even as he did that, his eyes happened to fall onto one particular vengeful soul within the hordes in the area!!
He suddenly stopped in place, trembling, an expression of complete disbelief on his face. He almost felt like he were being struck by countless bolts of lightning.
Although this vengeful soul looked slightly different from the living person it had come from, it was still easy to tell who it was. Furthermore, it was someone that Bai Xiaochun was very familiar with!
It was a struggle to hold back from shouting the name out loud. “Bai Hao!!!”