Rumbling sounds filled Bai Xiaochun’s mind and spread through his entire body. His expression flickered as he realized that boundless life force was flowing through him.

This life force conformed with his Undying Live Forever Technique, and therefore, met no obstacle within him. It almost seemed like it belonged with his cultivation base, and as a result, it only took a brief moment for his withered and nearly destroyed body to be almost completely healed.

During the process, his fleshly body power skyrocketed. In the blink of an eye, he went from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment, and then Core Formation!!

As it happened, his Undying Skin, Undying Heavenly King, and Undying Tendons... all recovered completely. Furthermore, Bai Xiaochun could sense that this version of the Undying Codex was somehow different than what he had cultivated before!

It was... stronger! The life force was more vibrant, and its energy was the type that could shake heaven and earth!

Were it not for his previous experiences, it would have been difficult to detect. But considering how many years he had cultivated the Undying Codex, the sensation of fusing with this new energy left him completely shocked!

If his previous mastery of the Undying Skin had led to him to a level of one hundred percent of his possible battle prowess, then after recovering now, it had increased... to one hundred and fifty percent!!

It was a terrifying upgrade which would make him vastly more powerful than anyone in the same cultivation level as himself. It could only be described as heaven-defying!

And it all came from the two skeletons which had turned into ash, and then become a consummate Undying Live Forever Pill!

Apparently... this amazing pill was not just helping him recover his fleshly body and life force. It was also refining him in an incredible way. Now, his fleshly body power didn’t just match someone who had the pure blood of the Arch-Emperors, it surpassed it!

Cracking sounds echoed out as his Undying Tendons solidified, and he rose rapidly through the levels of the Undying Bones. Within mere moments... he had reached the great circle!

He looked almost completely recovered. His hair was now back, long and full, and instead of being skinny and emaciated, he thrummed with vitality.

The cracks on his skin were gone, and furthermore, he glowed with golden light. Anyone who could see him in this moment would definitely be shaken by the holy air that he exuded.

At this point, he passed from the Undying Bones into the Undying Blood level!

More cracking sounds echoed out as his blood once again transformed into Undying Blood. That in turn aided in his regeneration, making it speed up even more.

The entire third level of the city around him was stained the color of blood, mixed within which was a tinge of gold!

After about ten breaths of time passed, his veins were completely filled with Undying Blood, and a tremor passed through him. As of this moment, the sensation of fleshly body power that existed within him surpassed anything from before!

RUUUUUUUUMBLE!!

Early Demigod realm. Mid realm. Late realm.... Great circle!!

As the cracking sounds continued, his battle prowess rose higher and higher, to degrees difficult to even imagine.

Bai Xiaochun couldn’t be absolutely sure, but he was fairly certain that, despite the fact that he currently had no cultivation base, his fleshly body power... was far, far higher than it had been before!

The last time he had reached the great circle of the Undying Codex, he had only become a demigod in fleshly body, and only the early realm at that. But now.... things were completely different! It came very close to being the same as the difference between heaven and earth!

Although he could feel the pressure of the world weighing down on him, it wasn’t very shocking at all. Furthermore, he felt like, if he wanted to, he could will himself to grow to incredible physical height!

He could become as large... as the original Blood Ancestor!

This was the true Undying Codex!

This was what the descendants of the original Arch-Emperor had cultivated, a technique which gave them the power to prop up heaven and earth!

Bai Xiaochun was even fairly certain... that he was now stronger than the Blood Ancestor himself!! Normally speaking, these developments would have elated him. However, at this moment, his heart was as cold as ice. The death of Bai Hao had filled him with pain that couldn’t possibly be wiped away.

“Things aren’t over yet!” the gravekeeper said softly. “After the Undying Codex is... the Live Forever Codex!”

Even as the words left his mouth, Bai Xiaochun spasmed. Although the medicinal pill had been eighty percent absorbed, there was still twenty percent left, which contained energy that did not belong to the Undying Codex. And now... that power erupted!

It was the energy of the Live Forever Codex!

As that power spread through him, Bai Xiaochun realized that it was familiar. A twinge of pain stabbed through him, the source being that scrap of power from the Live Forever Codex!

“Boo....” he murmured. The life force from the Live Forever Codex poured into the scrap of energy inside of him, which then began to grow.

Within only a few breaths of time, the Live Forever power caused his energy passageways to thrum, and his cultivation base to rise to the Foundation Establishment level!

This type of Foundation Establishment surpassed his previous Heaven-Dao Foundation Establishment. This was... Live Forever Foundation Establishment!

The moment he reached the level of Live Forever Foundation Establishment, he sensed... the five seals of the human body!

A boom echoed out, and the first seal was destroyed!

At that point, the remaining twenty percent of the power of the medicinal pill continued to flow through him, propelling him toward a Live Forever Core!

“Listen well, Bai Xiaochun!” the gravekeeper said as he passed his cultivation base, life force and everything about himself into Bai Xiaochun. Thanks to the power of the magical item that was Arch-Emperor City, he was able to continue to push Bai Xiaochun’s cultivation base higher, even beyond what the energy of the medicinal pill could do.

Then, his voice echoed with focus and determination as he spoke his last words.

“I know you have many questions. And I know you hate me. Furthermore, you are surely curious... why I didn’t just comply with the Celestial, and let him leave this world!

“The reason is that... this world... actually has no Worldgate!

“The so-called Worldgate... is nothing more than a fabrication I invented specifically for the Celestial!!!” His words echoed out like peals of heavenly thunder into Bai Xiaochun’s mind.

“WHAT?!?!” Despite the fact that his cultivation base was rising rapidly, his mind was in complete chaos.

“If there was a Worldgate,” the gravekeeper continued, “I would have opened it long ago, and let the Celestial leave. There would have been no need for this complicated plan of mine!

“The whole reason for all of this is because there is no Worldgate!

“It is entirely possible for the living beings in this world to leave it. In fact... there are actually two ways!

“The first would be for someone with the blood of the Arch-Emperors to cultivate the Undying Live Forever Technique all the way to the Mahayana Realm, and become a celestial. The world net which binds this world would not be able to resist a true celestial, and would collapse!

“However, what would also collapse in that scenario... would be the entire world in which we live! All of the mountains and rivers, all of heaven and earth!

“At that time, the celestial-level Arch-Emperor would gather up all of the living beings from the destroyed world, all of his people... and bring them with him as he left!

“In the wider world outside, the Arch-Emperor Dynasty would then continue to prosper!” The gravekeeper spoke quickly, ensuring that his words battered at Bai Xiaochun’s mind without stop.

Furthermore, they were finally revealing... a profound and tightly-kept secret!!

It was in this moment that Bai Xiaochun’s cultivation base broke through from the Live Forever Foundation Establishment level. At that point, something new appeared within him. It was... a Live Forever Core!

As his Live Forever Core took shape, the second of the seals appeared, and was destroyed!

It was also in that moment that the power of the medicinal pill began to falter. Clearly, it could not push him to the level of a Live Forever Nascent Soul!

Therefore, it was now the gravekeeper’s cultivation base that erupted with power and continued to bolster the power within him that could live forever!