“If nirvanic extermination can birth a sovereign,” Bai Xiaochun murmured, “perhaps... the opposite can too!” The words struck his mind and heart like heavenly thunder, completely rocking his world, and at the same time, opening up a new door for him.

Although he had already begun to suspect that this was the case, he had no hard evidence to rely on to prove it true. But the Eternal Mother had confirmed his speculations. Considering what had been proved by the Mortal Renegade’s Dao, he now had a direction to move in!

It was impossible to say whether he would succeed. However, he knew that becoming a half-sovereign was not what he wanted. He wanted... something that would give more hope than a half-sovereign could!

That was the only way he could really go for broke when the Mortal Renegade woke up!

Bai Xiaochun had truly changed on a deep level; by now, he was nearly the complete antithesis of that carefree youngster who had once stood atop Mount Hood. Over the years, he had turned into the type of person who bore incredible weight on his shoulders, weight that forced the youngster he had once been to grow up

Eventually, he left the Eternal River, parting ways with the Eternal Mother and taking the relieved little turtle with him.

The Saint-Emperor stayed behind. Considering that there were no other options, he chose to become a half-sovereign. It wasn’t a selfish choice. He could see that Bai Xiaochun had already picked a new direction, and in order to offer as much assistance as possible in fighting the coming catastrophe, he chose to sacrifice some of his own potential to at least have a measure of power.

As Bai Xiaochun made his way off, the Saint-Emperor took a deep breath and sat down cross-legged in front of the bell. Slowly, the light of the Eternal Mother wrapped him up....

As of this moment, the two most powerful individuals in the Eternal Immortal Domains were doing what they could to protect their homes, their friends, and their families....

Bai Xiaochun returned to Arch-Emperor City and went into secluded meditation, although not for long. Seven days later, he emerged from this private chamber, where he issued an official Dharmic decree as the Arch-Emperor!

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

“Everyone in the Eternal Immortal Domains, whether you are in the Celestial Realm, the Demigod Realm, the Deva Realm, or the Nascent Soul Stage... I need your help to quarantine the Enemy from Beyond!”

Before long, a windstorm of activity overtook the Eternal Immortal Domains.

If the Saint-Emperor had issued such a proclamation, it would also have resulted in activity. However, it would not have had the same result as Bai Xiaochun speaking the words!

All living beings in the Eternal Immortal Domains had witnessed him sealing the Enemy from Beyond, defeating his attempt to bind the world, and awakening the Eternal Mother. He was now the true hope of the Eternal Immortal Domains.

In some respects, his words carried almost the same weight as the Eternal Mother’s. And to many people, he had actually surpassed her! He was... the true ruler of the Eternal Immortal Domains!!

A multitude of cultivators began to converge on Arch-Emperor City. Nascent Soul cultivators, devas, demigods, and even celestials all came.

Before long, more details came to light about Bai Xiaochun’s plan to quarantine the Enemy!

For one thing, he was worried that the sealing strip which currently restrained the Mortal Renegade would not last long enough. And unfortunately, he had no idea how long it would take him to break out of the Archaean Realm.

Perhaps he could do it quickly, perhaps not. Maybe he would fail. Regardless, the only way he could confidently make his attempt was if he had enough time to work with.

He needed to make sure that, even if the sealing strip was destroyed, there was a second sealing magic in place to buy more time.

The seven days he had spent in secluded meditation upon returning had been for the purpose of collecting his thoughts, and planning how to create the perfect spell formation for the situation.

When everyone was gathered, Bai Xiaochun explained the details of his plan.

“The foundation of this sealing formation will be the energy of the Eternal Immortal Domains as a whole. And I will guide it with my magic of the Essence of time, Gravitational Extermination. I will create something like the area outside of a world I once visited, a place I call the Hourglass World. It will be... a grand time formation!!

“It will distort time and space, and seal everything surrounding the Mortal Renegade!

“It will have millions and millions of formation nodes, each one of which will be connected to someone in the Eternal Immortal Domains. In other words... the formation will be powered by the people of our lands!

“If it works... then when the Mortal Renegade awakens, it will at least delay him for a bit longer, and buy us some extra time!”

To a people who were in the grips of despair, this plan truly seemed like the only chance for survival. No one opposed it. Without hesitation, all of the cultivators in the Eternal Immortal Domains agreed to go along with the plan!

In the following days, Bai Xiaochun led the effort to set up the huge spell formation around the Mortal Renegade. Furthermore, he began to work with his Essence of time, breaking it up into innumerable gravitational seeds, which he then delivered into the hands of the cultivators under his command.

The vast group of cultivators absorbed the gravitational seeds, which linked them to the spell formation.

Eventually, even the plants, trees, mountains, rivers, and other physical aspects of the lands were imbued with gravitational seeds from Bai Xiaochun. Slowly but surely, the spell formation was reaching a state of completion.

It did not require any specific materials to create, only the people and physical aspects of the Eternal Immortal Domains. Everyone joined in the effort, including Bai Xiaochun’s family. Bai Xiaochun also linked himself to the spell formation.

After all the preparations were complete, he flew up into the sky, and under the watchful eyes of everyone in the lands, waved his hand, activating his Gravitational Extermination Formation around the Mortal Renegade!!

Looking down, the people, plants, and major terrain features in the Eternal Immortal Domains glowed like stars, and sent streaming starlight up into the sky to power the Gravitational Extermination Formation.

Slowly but surely, the majestic formation began to activate. From the look of it, it would take several hours for the entire process to complete.

But then... even as Bai Xiaochun performed double-handed incantation gestures to spread the effects of Gravitational Extermination, and even as the starlight rose up from the countless locations below... the Mortal Renegade seemed to instinctively sense what was happening, and shivered.

Then, Bai Xiaochun’s face fell as, all of a sudden, a vortex appeared on the Mortal Renegade’s forehead! As it spun, a figure slowly took shape inside it!

He wore a Daoist robe, and was completely expressionless, except for the cruel glint in his eyes. As he walked out, his facial features became clear, causing Bai Xiaochun to gasp, and his eyes to glitter brightly!

“Daoist Heavenspan!!”

It truly was none other than Daoist Heavenspan!!

Truth be told, Bai Xiaochun was not very surprised. He hadn’t ever been able to track down Daoist Heavenspan in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, and had speculated that something like this might have happened. And considering everything that had happened in the Heavenspan Realm, and what Bai Xiaochun knew of the man, he really did resemble the Mortal Renegade in many ways!

The fact that the Vile-Emperor had been a clone of the Mortal Renegade led Bai Xiaochun to certain speculations about what had happened to Daoist Heavenspan. Seeing him now made everything clear. The Mortal Renegade couldn’t personally do anything about the spell formation being set up around him, and therefore, had no choice other than to send Daoist Heavenspan in his stead.

“Well, that’s fine.... It’s time to settle matters between us anyway!” Eyes flashing, Bai Xiaochun flew directly toward Daoist Heavenspan.