All living beings in the Eternal Immortal Domains heard the tolling of the bell, and saw the image of Bai Xiaochun, who was at the end of the Eternal River, being shaken by the enormous bell.

He was shocked in a different way than the Saint-Emperor; he had come to find that with each of the nine backlashes from striking the bell, his fleshly body seemed to have been tempered in a strange and unusual way!

He felt like he was a lump of iron, and the tolls of the bell were a hammer, striking at him with full force.

After nine tolls of the bell, he felt extremely weak, and yet, his Undying Codex was hard at work. As it healed him, the tempering which had been accomplished became more evident than ever.

“Striking the bell... actually increased my fleshly body power?” he thought, his breath coming in ragged pants. During his efforts to repair the sealing strip, his Undying Codex had reached a higher level. He had also gained enlightenment of the magic of the five yin organs, which had caused more life force than ever to brim within him.

This realization caused his eyes to sparkle. He might already be an archaean, but his fleshly body power had remained in the celestial level. Ever since then, Bai Xiaochun had wondered what he could do to achieve a breakthrough, and now, he suddenly felt the light of understanding.

Even as everyone in the Eternal Immortal Domains looked on, and the Saint-Emperor stared at him with jaw dropped, Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath, then howled and unleashed a tenth fist strike!

When the heaven-shaking, earth-shattering attack slammed into the semi-transparent bell that surrounded the glowing light of the Eternal Mother, a shockwave rolled out, and a massive backlash bashed into Bai Xiaochun’s arm.

He shivered, grunting as his Undying Codex constantly worked to regenerate him. Blood oozed out of the corners of his mouth, and yet, his eyes shone more brightly than ever. Even as the Saint-Emperor gasped, Bai Xiaochun then went on to throw an eleventh punch!

“Wake up, Eternal Mother!” he roared. Everything in the area shook wildly as, eyes bloodshot, Bai Xiaochun went on to throw three more fist strikes!

The third punch was all he could manage, and when the backlash hit him like floodwaters, he coughed up a huge mouthful of blood and staggered backward several hundred meters. There, he continued to cough up more blood.

However, his eyes shone brightly. Despite being incredibly weak at the moment, his five yin organs were burning with life force, seemingly like a volcano that was on the verge of erupting!!

“Bring it on!” he growled. He knew that if he struck the bell one more time, it would bring him profound good fortune, and would increase the level of his fleshly body. In contrast, if he gave up now, it would be a huge waste. The only option was to keep going. He had to hold on... until the life force in his five yin organs was unleashed!!

Throwing his head back, he roared, charging forward to unleash a sixteenth punch!!

The Saint-Emperor was completely mind-blown by this point, and could only stare blankly as Bai Xiaochun continued to punch at the bell over and over.

“How could he be so strong?!?!” The people in the Eternal Immortal Domains were also completely bowled over, and were completely focused on the mad, raving Bai Xiaochun!

And Bai Xiaochun was really going crazy in his efforts. With every punch he unleashed, blood sprayed out of his mouth, and he sustained vicious injuries. However, it was with his seventeenth fist strike that, at long last... the glowing light that represented the Eternal Mother finally flickered!

The Saint-Emperor’s eyes immediately widened. As for the little turtle, he was watching Bai Xiaochun and thinking that he really had gone crazy; if he hadn’t, why would he be striking the bell over and over again?

“What I said about striking the bell was actually just a guess.... The Eternal Mother has been asleep for years now. Don’t tell me that striking the bell really can wake her up?” The little turtle felt a bit guilty, and also a bit taken aback by the fact that the light of the Eternal Mother was now flickering visibly.

As for Bai Xiaochun, his expression brightened visibly. Although he was in a lot of pain, he gritted his teeth, advanced, and struck out an eighteenth time!

The toll of the bell was quieter this time, but the backlash still caused blood to spray out of Bai Xiaochun’s mouth, and weakened the flame of his life force.

All onlookers, including the Saint-Emperor, looked on with trembling hearts.

“Bring it on!” Bai Xiaochun shouted, his eyes completely bloodshot, but his five yin organs surging with power, and clearly on the verge of a breakthrough.

By now, he wasn’t even thinking about the potential dangers he was facing. After all, when compared to the possibility of the Mortal Renegade killing all living beings, any risk he took was worth it.

Furthermore, he had the distinct premonition that if he didn’t take advantage of this situation to experience a fleshly body breakthrough with this bell, he would never get another chance to do so.

“This is an archaean fleshly body we’re talking about!!” Drawing on every scrap of energy he had left, he threw a nineteenth punch. As a result, his bones shattered, and his flesh and blood sank down on the verge of being destroyed. Blood sprayed out of his mouth, and his vision began to blur.

It was hard to stand up, but at the same time, his eyes glittered. Coughing up more blood, he suddenly began to laugh loudly.

“It worked!” Energy thrummed within him the likes of which could shake the whole world. Bai Xiaochun, who had moments ago been like an oil lamp about to flicker out of existence, suddenly erupted with blood energy that caused the Saint-Emperor to gasp, and the little turtle’s eyes to go wide. As for all of the living beings in the Eternal Immortal Domains, they erupted into cheering!!

His qi and blood were now matchlessly powerful, causing the Eternal River to turn red, and the sky above the Eternal River to shine crimson!

In that moment, Bai Xiaochun could sense his fleshly body power breaking through a bottleneck, and at the same time, felt boundless life force flowing out of his five yin organs and six yang organs!

As that new life force flowed through him, his weary body began to return to its peak, bolstered by the powers of regeneration from the Undying Codex!

The good fortune which had been bestowed upon him by the Arch-Ancestor in the sealing strip now filled him, pushing his Undying Codex to the sixth level!

This was the true and ultimate peak of the Undying Codex!

As his injuries vanished, and he felt immense power building up inside of him, a huge vortex sprang into being.

It affected even the Eternal River, a windstorm that swept violently across everything, with Bai Xiaochun at the center. Floating up off the ground, he extended his hands to either side, emitting... fluctuations which were different from those of an archaean cultivation base.

This was... an archaean fleshly body!!

Acquiring an archaean cultivation base required the approval of a world, but an archaean fleshly body had no such requirements. That belonged only to oneself, and didn’t require approval of any sort. With enough power and strength, it was possible for anyone to break through to the ultimate level of the fleshly body for archaeans!

Rumbling sounds filled Bai Xiaochun, and his eyes shone with bright light. The two types of archaean fluctuations that he emitted overlapped, creating something like the energy of the Arch-Ancestor!!

Off to the side, the Saint-Emperor trembled, and felt an instinctive reaction from his very soul, prompting him to drop to his knees to kowtow. The little turtle gasped, and of course, there was little need to mention all of the people watching this scene out in the Eternal Immortal Domains.

“Archaean cultivation base. Archaean fleshly body....”

“The Arch-Emperor has the aura of the founding ancestor!!”

“That’s... the Ancestor Realm!!” [1]

1. Since many of you readers like to compare this book with Er Gen’s other books, I will point out that this “Ancestor Realm” contains the exact same Chinese characters as a cultivation realm mentioned in ISSTH. However,

they are not the same

. This point is made clear in the following chapter, but in order to forestall a bunch of incorrect speculation, I’m putting this note here. More information about what the “Ancestor Realm” is in AWE will be revealed in the next chapter.