As Bai Xiaochun disappeared from Vile-Emperor City in the Eternal Immortal Domains, so did the Vile-Emperor....

Out in the dark void, the only light to be seen came from the damaged fan, like the shining of countless torches. On the main square, the spirit automaton Bai Xiaochi stood there, looking helplessly at two women and a corpse.

The women were beautiful, and despite being extremely weak, were definitely alive. Unfortunately, despite the vast stores of knowledge which existed in Bai Xiaochi’s mind, he had no idea why their bellies were so large.

“What’s going on here?!?!” he grumbled. “Why did that shameless bastard send a corpse up here...?” Bai Xiaochi was not very happy about what was happening. Unsure of what these two women had to do with Bai Xiaochun, all he could do was squat off to the side, sighing and staring.

Bai Xiaochun hadn’t been gone for very long, to the point where Bai Xiaochi hadn’t even had a chance to sleep. He couldn’t stop thinking about having a new master. After all of the years of freedom he had experienced, it was somewhat of a depressing thought, and was a constant source of sighing.

Suddenly, his expression flickered, and the depressed frown vanished from his face, to be replaced by a wide smile. Looking very ingratiating, he bowed at the waist in a certain direction some distance away on the main square.

Bai Xiaochun was materializing in that very direction. Before the process was finished, Bai Xiaochun shouted out in an anxious voice.

“Activate the defensive formation, little automaton! We’re under attack!!!”

Bai Xiaochi shivered as, right behind Bai Xiaochun, another figure began to take shape. At the same time, an archaean aura erupted out, an aura filled with greed and excitement.

“At long last... I’m back! This sovereign fan is now mine!!”

Shrieking, Bai Xiaochi waved his sleeve to collect up the two women and the corpse. Backing up, he performed an incantation gesture, causing the entire damaged fan to tremble and emit bright light. At the same time, the image on the face of the fan erupted with powerful fluctuations that shot toward the Vile-Emperor.

A whole string of defensive countermeasures were unleashed at the same time. Simultaneously, Bai Xiaochun leaped to join Bai Xiaochi, drawing upon all the powers he had at his disposal to suppress the Vile-Emperor.

The Vile-Emperor was now about half-materialized. His facial features were visible, and his divine sense was already spreading out into the fan. However, as soon as the fluctuations of the defensive countermeasures hit his divine sense, it dissipated. Furthermore, as the Vile-Emperor continued to materialize, he suddenly found a force of expulsion pushing at him!

It was clearly a shock to the Vile-Emperor. Despite having come prepared, he could never have guessed that the fan’s spirit automaton would heed Bai Xiaochun’s orders.

The implications were obvious... and caused a look of incredulity to appear on the Vile-Emperor’s face.

“You actually took control of the damaged fan? Impossible! It’s too difficult to bond with this treasure! A celestial simply couldn’t do it. Not only would you have to pass all one hundred levels, but you would have to deal with resistance from the spirit automaton as well. It’s just too hard!!” Despite the Vile-Emperor’s disbelief, the fluctuations of expulsion only continued to grow stronger. Letting out a growled shout, he performed a double-handed incantation gesture, causing black flames to shoot forth!

Along with the flames came a burst of archaean power, which managed to resist the force of expulsion to some degree.

“Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!!” Bai Xiaochi blurted.

Off to the side, Bai Xiaochun was getting very nervous. “Get him out of here, otherwise we’re finished!! Come on, you’re the spirit automaton, right? This is a sovereign treasure! Is it really that hard to get an archaean out of here?!”

Ignoring matters of propriety, Bai Xiaochi angrily shouted, “Shut the hell up! This is a

living

archaean we’re talking about!! If he was outside the fan it would be one thing. But he’s already halfway inside! Fudge, I’m doing everything I can!!”

Bai Xiaochun didn’t have time to get angry about Bai Xiaochi’s tone of voice. Wracked with anxiety, he yelled, “Let’s join forces! Use that sovereign arm we got! We have to get this bastard out of here!”

Bai Xiaochi was a bit hesitant to agree, but also knew that failure was not an option. Grinding his teeth, he joined forces with Bai Xiaochun, causing the wolfish arm that now existed in the face of the fan to slowly stretch out!

As that happened, the Vile-Emperor gasped.

“The arm of a sovereign!!” he said, shocked. Originally, he had assumed that once he got to the sovereign’s fan, he could easily take control of it. Unfortunately, Bai Xiaochun had already become the new owner, and had turned the entire situation upside down.

The Vile-Emperor was not yet willing to just leave. All of a sudden, his eyes turned pitch black, and a bizarre aura swept out from inside of him. As the aura merged with his archaean cultivation base, he suddenly started growing stronger and stronger.

Black flames raged around him, shoving away the fluctuations of expulsion. As that happened, he began to grow clearer and clearer, and even took a step forward onto the main square. Obviously, he was only moments away from fully materializing.

Both Bai Xiaochun and Bai Xiaochi were going crazy with anxiety. Bai Xiaochun spat out some blood to gain more power, and Bai Xiaochi pushed his divine sense to the point of inflicting harm on himself. Together, they forced the sovereign’s arm to move even faster toward the Vile-Emperor. Before the Vile-Emperor could fully materialize, the arm slammed into him, accompanied by deafening rumbling sounds.

“Get back to where you came from!!” Bai Xiaochun shouted.

The enormous sovereign arm seemed powerful enough to destroy the heavens and crush the earth. As it bore down on the Vile-Emperor, he began to tremble, and yet, his eyes grew even blacker, causing more flames to erupt around him. Soon, they formed together into an enormous flame giant, hundreds of meters tall, that howled as it prepared to fight the incoming sovereign arm.

The flame giant shuddered as the sovereign arm slammed into it. A moment later, it collapsed, revealing the Vile-Emperor. Strangely, because of the bizarre aura that swirled around him, the sovereign arm suddenly lurched to a halt for a brief moment.

Seizing that moment of advantage, the Vile-Emperor roared, forcing himself to fully materialize. As that happened, Bai Xiaochun unleashed all of the cultivation base power he could, as well as his divine sense, forcing the sovereign’s arm to continue its attack.

“Time to go for broke!!” Bai Xiaochi shouted. Blurring into motion, he shot forward to merge into the sovereign arm. A moment later, the arm began to emanate the aura of a sovereign!

The Vile-Emperor’s face fell as the black flames around him began to flicker wildly, as though they might be extinguished at any moment. Although he had fully materialized, the arm was locked onto him, making it impossible for him to flee the incoming attack. Howling, he shot forward to meet it.

The resulting boom caused the entire fan to shake wildly.

“You can’t stay away forever, Bai Xiaochun!!” the Vile-Emperor shouted. He was already returning to where he came from, not of his own accord, but because of the attack from the sovereign’s arm, and the sovereign aura which came with it. To the Vile-Emperor, it was supremely frustrating, like having a door opened up right in front of him, but being unable to enter it.

As the Vile-Emperor vanished, Bai Xiaochi flew head first out from inside the sovereign’s arm, his face pale. Before he even landed onto the main square, he was unconscious.

As for Bai Xiaochun, he coughed up some blood, and then sat down cross-legged to focus on recovery.