There was even a bit of terror within the automaton’s voice....

Meanwhile, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes went wide, and he shivered.

“Dammit, I got too excited and wasn’t paying attention to the time. The spirit automaton is awake! He merged into that big tree last time... if he merges into this lizard, I’m dead!!” Even as he gasped in shock, he could sense the spirit automaton’s divine sense rumbling toward him like ocean water.

There was no time for planning or consideration. Although he had already chopped the lizard’s corpse up limb from limb, he shouted at the top of his lungs, grabbed the Greatsword of the North, and vigorously began trying to chop it up into smaller pieces.

As the spirit automaton’s divine sense closed in, booms rang out as Bai Xiaochun turned the seven or eight pieces into something more like thirteen or fourteen....

“No!!” the spirit automaton cried anxiously, but he wasn’t quick enough.

Just as Bai Xiaochun had suspected, the first thing the spirit automaton did was try to merge into the chunks of the lizard!

The more than one dozen pieces of the lizard suddenly formed back together, but only for a moment before collapsing again.

“Dammit, dammit! That’s from a sovereign’s fleshly body. Are you an idiot, Bai?!?!?” Enraged, the spirit automaton tried again....

Bai Xiaochun’s heart was pounding, but when he realized that the spirit automaton was failing over and over again, he breathed a sigh of relief. The lizard had simply been chopped up into too many parts to be put back together. Feeling very pleased with himself, he laughed heartily.

“What the hell makes you think you can fight with Lord Bai, you little spirit automaton!? Lord Bai can see through your simplistic thoughts with a single glance!” Seeing the chunks of flesh trying to form together again, he stepped forward and kicked them apart.

Grabbing a few chunks and throwing them into his bag of holding, he stood there and looked down at the remaining bits.

Clearing his throat, he said, “Alright, keep going.”

“Bai Xiaochun!!” the spirit automaton howled, gritting his teeth and making another attempt.

Glaring, Bai Xiaochun kicked the pieces apart again, and put a few more in his bag of holding....

“Dammit, this is outrageous!” the spirit automaton raged. “Go challenge the next level, Bai! I won’t interfere, I promise! Get the hell away!!”

Snorting coldly, Bai Xiaochun kicked at the pieces again and took a couple more. At this point, the spirit automaton felt like he was about to collapse.

“Let’s talk this over, Bai Xiaochun....” the spirit automaton wailed, seemingly on the verge of going mad. At the same time, he tried yet again to merge with the corpse. The fleshly body of a sovereign was simply too important, otherwise he would rather have died than negotiate with Bai Xiaochun.

But before he could say anything else, Bai Xiaochun chuckled darkly and kicked the pieces again....

The process repeated itself several times until there were only two chunks of flesh left....

Yet again, the spirit automaton entered them and tried to combine them into one, whereupon Bai Xiaochun snorted and stepped forward.

“Are you done yet, Bai Xiaochun?” the automaton wailed. “Let’s talk this over a bit, alright? Don’t be like this. Listen to me, I--”

Yet again Bai Xiaochun kicked the pieces apart, then took one and put it into his bag of holding.

“Alright, keep going, little automaton!” Bai Xiaochun couldn’t have been more pleased with himself. Considering how much grief the spirit automaton had given him in all the levels in the past, this was definitely good revenge.

He felt even better when he saw the spirit automaton struggling with the final chunk.

“Heaven damn you, Bai Xiaochun!!” the spirit automaton howled. When he saw that Bai Xiaochun was about to take the final piece, he simply couldn’t take it.

“Give me this one piece! If you do, I’ll tell you what’s so special about it!!” The spirit automaton would obviously not say such a thing unless it were absolutely necessary.

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

To have something like this dangled right in front of him, only to be unable to take it, made it feel like his heart was being crushed.

In response to the spirit automaton’s words, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes glittered. However, he didn’t hold back from delivering a vicious kick. Snorting coldly, he said, “Who do you think you’re fooling? That sovereign-level fleshly body was good stuff! I already absorbed all of it!”

Then he delivered another kick, backing it with his mid Celestial Realm cultivation base, and all of the fleshly body power he could muster. It slammed into the chunk of flesh like an entire mountain, instantly shoving the spirit automaton out of it.

When the spirit automaton saw Bai Xiaochun then grab the chunk of flesh and prepare to throw it into his bag of holding, he nearly started weeping. Forcing down his revulsion, he quickly said, “All you got was the quintessence of its flesh and blood! I’m talking about the cultivation base aura hidden within it!!

“Sovereigns have incredible fleshly bodies and cultivation bases! That’s the only way they can reach that incredible level! Listen to me. You must practice some special technique that allowed you to absorb its fleshly body quintessence. But the aura hidden inside it is something that, in all existence, only I can extract perfectly!

“Give me half of the fleshly body, and I... I can give you half of the aura!” Worried that he would speak too slowly, he blurted everything out as quickly as possible.

Even still, Bai Xiaochun looked suspicious. A few breaths of time passed, after which he sighed.

“Forget it. I don’t trust you. Plus, half of it is too much!” Shaking his head, he put away the final chunk of flesh, turned, and prepared to leave.

The spirit automaton truly felt like he was going mad. He had told him the truth, and yet hadn’t been believed. It seemed no amount of explanations would change that. Seeing that Bai Xiaochun was starting to fade away, and would be gone, the spirit automaton shouted, “Give me thirty percent! Thirty percent is enough....

“Dammit, just three pieces! Three pieces is all I need!!

“A single piece! Just give me one....”

The spirit automaton was sinking into the depths of despair. However, it was at this point that Bai Xiaochun suddenly faded back into clarity. Looking torn, he turned to the spirit automaton and asked, “A single piece will do?”

“Yes!!” the spirit automaton replied through gritted teeth, although he tried to make it seem like he was happy with that.

Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times and cleared his throat. The truth was the had been tempted from the beginning to accept, but had felt that the spirit automaton’s demands were a bit excessive. As it turned out, the spirit automaton seemed very clever most of the time, but in critical moments, was actually quite foolish....

Muttering to himself, he pulled out the chunk of flesh and threw it over.

“First extract all of the sovereign aura from this part.... Wait, no, just seventy percent will be fine!” After all, he still had to return and give the remains of the lizard over to the Vile-Emperor and Saint-Emperor. If he took too much from it, it could lead to some major problems later.

To safeguard against the spirit automaton doing something underhanded, he gave him a very small chunk. That way, if he succeeded, all would be well, and he could go on to another piece.

The spirit automaton was cursing inwardly, but had no other options at his disposal. To him, a single chunk of a sovereign’s flesh and blood was an unprecedented level of good fortune. Brightening a bit, he used a secret magic to start extracting the aura from the flesh.

It was impossible to see the sovereign aura, but as it spread out, it caused terrifying weight to press down in all directions.