The news continued to spread. It was such a shocking event that in both the Vile-Emperor Dynasty and the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, it reached the point where everyone had heard about it. It only took a few days for the entire world to be affected.

Among those who heard of it were the scattered refugees from the Heavenspan Realm. In response, eyes went wide, and gasps could be heard. And for the first time, hope blazed within their hearts!

“Bai Xiaochun!” In one huge huge city in a prefecture in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty was an old man in an ordinary-looking robe. He was eating in a restaurant, listening to people talking about a Vile-Emperor Dynasty celestial being kidnapped. Although he didn’t react visibly, inside, he was bursting with excitement.

He looked down to prevent his eyes from shining too brightly, and raised a jug of alcohol to his lips to keep himself from laughing out loud.

“It was the right thing to pay special attention to him all those years ago. I’m waiting for you here in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, Bai Xiaochun!” That old man was none other than... the Grand Heavenmaster from Arch-Emperor City!

Both because of his demigod cultivation base, and his profound ability to scheme and plot, he had managed to keep his identity secret, and was completely safe. From the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, he had been keeping his eye on both of the imperial dynasties that ruled the world.

There were others throughout the Saint-Emperor Dynasty who, much like the Grand Heavenmaster, heard about what had occurred. For example, in another of the immortal domains, in a small county, was Zhou Yixing. Nowadays, he spent much of his time bowing and scraping. By relying on his skills in spirit enhancement, he had managed to build up a small accumulation of spirit stones in his bag of holding.

After all, he wasn’t the Grand Heavenmaster, and couldn’t keep his identity a secret. Therefore, he had chosen to simply take advantage of the so-called benevolence of the people of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty to somehow earn a living.

But now, the news he was hearing had him far more excited than the spirit stones he had saved up.

“Milord really knows how to live. If he hides, he hides, but when he makes a scene... he does something monumental!”

All of a sudden, Zhou Yixing couldn’t wait to build a solid foundation for himself, and then eventually earn his own glory here in the Eternal Lands.

“Nobody here can perform spirit enhancements.... I’m going to become a person of virtue and prestige in this place. I’m going to become a grandmaster that nobody will ever dare to offend!” Taking a deep breath, he strode forward with a bit more confidence, as though his new dream gave him the courage to stand a bit straighter.

In another prefecture quite a distance away from Zhou Yixing was a luxurious courtyard residence. There stood Master God-Diviner, his hands clasped behind his back as he looked up into the sky, a dispirited expression on his face.

“Why am I always down on my luck...?” he thought. “I can’t believe that it was like this in the Wildlands... and here too! I wish I could be like you, Bai Xiaochun, and go around kidnapping celestials. I don’t want this life of luxury....” Even as he sighed regretfully, a flirtatious voice drifted out from the room behind him.

“What are you doing out there, honey?”

Master God-Diviner sighed. Although he looked frustrated, he was actually feeling quite pleased with himself as he turned and entered the room....

The Heavenspan cultivators who had been teleported into the Saint-Emperor Dynasty had it better off than those who ended up in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty. In one of the immortal domains controlled by the latter, in a certain mountainous valley, Patriarch Spirit Stream and Li Qinghou were recovering from a recent battle. They were both weak and wounded, but their eyes shone with excitement.

“That’s him for sure!” Li Qinghou said, looking particularly stirred up. “That’s my Xiaochun! Kidnapped Celestial Ghostmother from the Vile-Emperor Dynasty!”

Patriarch Spirit Stream began to laugh uproariously, and at long last, his eyes flickered with hope.

“You head to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, Qinghou,” Patriarch Spirit Stream said, “I’ll take care of things here.” However, even as he finished speaking, he began coughing, and blood oozed out of the corner of his mouth.

Li Qinghou shook his head. Looking anxiously at Patriarch Spirit Stream, he said, “Xiaochun can take care of himself. He’s doing this to give people hope! We need to hurry up and find as many people as we can!”

“With Big Fatty Zhang to help me, I’ll be fine,” Patriarch Spirit Stream said, his eyes shining with determination. “The Vile-Emperor Dynasty people are definitely going to be worked up into a frenzy because of Xiaochun. Now is the perfect time to strike! I’m the patriarch of the River-Defying Sect! Even here in the Eternal Lands, that hasn’t changed. Our home is gone, but our sect still lives on! It’s my job to find all of our scattered disciples and bring them together!”

Somewhere else in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, in a wilderness area, a bedraggled Song Que was fighting a desperate battle with a local cultivator. After getting the upper hand, he broke the man’s neck, and then sagged in place, gasping for breath.

Wiping some blood off his chin, he looked around at the corpses piled up around him, his murderous aura seething. When he thought about the news he had just learned from the group that now lay dead at his feet, he smiled. Of course, deep within that smile was a bit of a stubborn obstinance.

“Wherever Bai Xiaochun goes, he always gets famous.... The Blood Stream Sect, the River-Defying Sect, the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect, the Wildlands... and now here in the Eternal Lands. Even in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty! Well, I still have a chance to catch up. I can make my own place in this world!” Song Que actually liked how things worked in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty. He enjoyed the fighting and the struggling, and liked how everything usually boiled down to a live-or-die battle!

“Other than people from the Heavenspan Realm... I’ll kill anybody I see!” Taking a deep breath, he prepared to move on, but before he did, he turned to look in a different direction.

Off in the distance was a person he knew, the daughter of the Giant Ghost King and also Bai Xiaochun’s Daoist partner, Mistress Red-Dust. Just like him, she had chosen the path of slaughter and struggle!

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

As a deva, she had made even more of a scene than him, and had killed even more enemies.

“Sooner or later, I’ll be a deva too!” Adjusting his black robe, he turned and sped off into the night.

In the direction he had just looked, some distance away, was a temple to the Eternal Mother, located high in the wild mountains. Mistress Red-Dust sat there cross-legged, drinking a medicinal liquid that looked almost like blood. A handful of Vile-Emperor Dynasty cultivators surrounded her, kowtowing in fear.

“When the cultivators from the nearby city come, I could simply escape, and leave you all dead behind me. Or I could protect you. You know which choice to make.

“I’m running low on life force elixir. Go get me some more immediately. If you can’t find any, bring me life force from your apprentices!” She spoke in a voice as cold as the coldest winter wind, causing the cultivators in her presence to shiver. After voicing their assent to her demands, they hurried away, eyes bloodshot. Their only hopes to stay alive rested in their ability to please this she-devil.

The Vile-Emperor Dynasty was huge, and evil sects such as theirs existed everywhere. To have one wiped out wouldn’t cause too many waves.

“She’s more of a villain than us!” Her methods left even cultivators such as these nearly weeping.

After they left, Mistress Red-Dust took a deep breath and then looked down at her belly. When she did, all of her coldness vanished, to be replaced by warmth and hope.

“I don’t know where the hell that crappy dad of yours is now, but don’t worry, mother will take good care of you!”

Out over the Eternal Sea, Bai Xiaochun sat on the bone lizard battleship. Suddenly, he sneezed.

“Is someone else cursing me now?” Sighing, he looked over at Gongsun Wan’er.

“Wait, are you saying that Big Fatty Zhang is in Vile-Emperor City, and that people are calling him Grandmaster Zhang?”

“That’s right,” Gongsun Wan’er said with a smile. “There’s a lot of detailed information in Ghostmother’s memories about Big Fatty Zhang. After arriving in Vile-Emperor City and revealing his skills in spirit enhancement, he caused a huge stir. Even the Vile-Emperor was shaken. Back then, the Arch-Sovereign’s body hadn’t shattered, and therefore, Big Fatty Zhang quickly became extremely important. Supposedly, he actually performed a spirit enhancement on Vile-Emperor City itself.

“After the Arch-Sovereign’s body shattered, the people of Heavenspan emerged into an abyss of suffering. But by that time, Big Fatty Zhang had already established himself and acquired a significant standing.

“Oh, don’t worry about Hou Xiaomei. Ghostmother did indeed take her as an apprentice. For some reason, she showed particular talent when it came to the Dao of ghosts. In fact, Ghostmother began to groom her to accept the legacy of her unique Daoist magic. She really took a liking to her, so she definitely won’t use her to threaten you.

“However, you won’t be able to see her any time soon. She’s currently practicing secluded cultivation in Ghostmother’s immortal’s cave in Vile-Emperor City. She’s preparing to break through to the Deva Realm!”