How could the Celestial not be aware of what was occurring outside of the necropolis? However, the critical moment in the fusion process had come, and he couldn’t afford to be distracted. At the moment, he wouldn’t care if the entire world and everyone in it died, much less Heavenspan Island. To him, only the task at hand was important!

“Fuse, dammit!” he shouted, sending some of his cultivation base power out to block the sea of fire, and using some of it to try to force Bai Xiaochun and Du Lingfei to fuse together.

“Master!!” Bai Hao cried from within the flames. The first thing he had seen upon entering the necropolis was his Master, unconscious and in the hands of the Celestial, who was trying to force him to fuse with Du Lingfei....

It was a scene that almost immediately drove Bai Hao into utter madness. Howling, he advanced toward Bai Xiaochun with increased speed from within the twenty-two-colored flame. As he did, the rock walls melted, and intense rumbling sounds echoed out.

The burning heat and shocking aura of the flame immediately caused the Celestial’s expression to flicker.

Shockingly, the defensive measures he had thrown up with his cultivation base were absolutely powerless against these flames.

“What kind of fire is that?!?!” The Celestial’s heart was already starting to pound because of this intense flame, the power of which surpassed anything he could ever have predicted.

In the blink of an eye, the fire was inside of the Celestial’s defenses, past Du Lingfei... and right next to Bai Xiaochun!

Then... it let out a blast of power!!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Power which surpassed the limitations of the world created something like a wall of fire that shoved violently against the Celestial!

The Celestial’s face was one of vicious fury, and his eyes blazed with cruelty and madness.

“Feeling suicidal, Bai Hao?!” he roared, unleashing the energy of a quasi-celestial. He hoped to destroy the fire, but it was too hot, and in fact, filled him with a sensation of imminent, deadly crisis!

“Just... just what kind of fire is this?!” Even the Celestial was forced to retreat in the face of the heat. Also pushed away was... Du Lingfei!

She had long since lost consciousness, so as soon as the force pushed against her, she was ripped away from Bai Xiaochun and thrown off into the distance!

Rumbling sounds echoed out continuously as the wall of flames continued to push the Celestial away. Although all of this takes a bit of time to describe, it actually happened in only a split second!

After Du Lingfei and the Celestial were pushed away, the flames once again formed into the shape of Bai Hao, who stood there... right in front of the unconscious Bai Xiaochun!

Because of the shock which came from the interruption of the fusion process, as well as the heat of the flames, Bai Xiaochun suddenly regained a bit of consciousness.

He forced his eyes open, and although they were listless and mostly blank, when he saw the fire and Bai Hao, he weakly murmured, “Hao’er....”

In response, Bai Hao shivered, and his eyes flickered with profound grief. As for Bai Xiaochun, it seemed that his life force was on the verge of being completely exterminated, and he slowly closed his eyes. At that point, the pain Bai Hao felt in his heart reached the ultimate pinnacle.

“I’ll take care of everything, Master!” he said through gritted teeth. By this point, he could sense that his soul was on the verge of vanishing, which meant that the twenty-two-colored flame would only last for a bit longer.

Right now, the most important thing to do was save his Master. And Bai Hao could sense that Bai Xiaochun’s injuries were unprecedentedly severe.... His life force was ninety-nine percent gone!

He only had a tiny scrap of energy left....

Any delay could lead to Bai Xiaochun being killed in body and soul! His body would cease to live, and his Dao would vanish forever!

It was the most critical of moments, and therefore, Bai Hao didn’t hesitate for even a moment. Howling, he retracted the wall of flames, which caused a sudden burst of teleportation power to appear.

He was using twenty-two-colored flame, something that surpassed the limitations of the world itself, to perform a teleportation, and whisk Bai Xiaochun away!

“How dare you, Bai Hao!!” To see all of his hopes about to be taken away caused the Celestial to descend into further rage and madness.

How could he possibly just sit there and watch as Bai Hao saved Bai Xiaochun?!

“Disperse, you trifling sea of fire!”

The Celestial was shocked by the power of the flame, but that didn’t stop the pressure of his will from exploding out. It caused the air to split and rip, and the sky overhead to shake. In fact, all of the lands of Heavenspan began to tremble.

At the moment, the Celestial possessed the power of an entire world, as well as its fury!

His energy skyrocketed, and in the blink of an eye, the seawater began to seethe, and the lands began to quake so hard that crevices opened up everywhere!

The Celestial’s aura, his cultivation base, and all of the pressure roiling off of him reached a fever pitch as he lifted his right foot and then took a step forward!

As he did that, his aura, his cultivation base, and the pressure took physical form. An enormous Dharma Idol materialized, which then lunged toward the flames!

Radiant color shone off of the Dharma Idol, which seemed to encompass the power of wind, rain, thunder and lightning! Shockingly, this was the will of the world itself, which was now attempting to contest with the twenty-two-colored flame!

Energy levels like this could destroy the heavens and extinguish the earth!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The fire which surpassed the limitations of the world suddenly trembled. Inside of it, Bai Hao was shaking visibly, as though an enormous invisible hand were closing around him to crush him out of existence!

Bai Hao wanted to keep his soul burning to power the flame, but the power of the Celestial was too incredible. With every step the Celestial took, the twenty-two-colored flame was forced backward, and also shrank down!

“Nobody can stop me from saving my Master! Not even you... Daoist Heavenspan!!” As the Celestial approached, Bai Hao howled and stretched his arms wide. He glanced back at Bai Xiaochun with a look of sorrow and departure, then decisively waved both hands through the air in front of him!!

“Burn! Burn my soul! Burn all of me!!” Laughing loudly, Bai Hao... ignited the forty percent of his soul that remained!!

He was going all out! He was holding absolutely nothing back!!

The twenty-two-colored flame which the Celestial had been battling against suddenly flared to life with madness. The Celestial’s face fell.

“Noooo!!” he screamed. But the twenty-two-colored flame was just as fear-inspiring as before, despite how he had suppressed it to a certain degree. And now that Bai Hao was burning his entire being, even the Celestial was forced to back away.

His eyes were completely bloodshot, and filled with madness as he watched the power of teleportation building up inside of the sea of fire. At that point, a howl of rage erupted from his lips that everyone in the world could hear.

“Four rivers form the heavenly bones!” All of a sudden, the Heavenspan Realm began to tremble, and ghost images of the four rivers and the lands that bordered them rose up into the sky, almost like enormous souls!

“A golden sea to act as flesh!” Blue veins bulged out on the Celestial’s face and neck as he waved both hands through the air. Instantly, the waters of the Heavenspan Sea began to float up. In the blink of an eye, they connected with the souls of the four rivers. Shockingly, the souls of the four rivers were like bones, and the seawater was like flesh, creating an enormous, golden hand!

The hand emitted an aura that caused all living things in the Heavenspan Realm to tremble. This was... really and truly, the hand of the world!!

And it was now moving toward Heavenspan Island!

It blotted out the heavens as it moved with incredible speed toward the sea of fire on the island, which had still not teleported away!

Despair rose up in Bai Hao’s heart, and he smiled bitterly. Although his burning soul was powerful enough to contend with the hand of the world itself... he couldn’t evade it. The teleportation would be interrupted, and his soul... would be gone. There would be no second chance for escape....

However, it was in that very moment that... from the direction of the eastern Heavenspan River, or more precisely, from the sect headquarters of the River-Defying Sect, a blood qi suddenly appeared...

That raged into the highest heavens!!