Daoist Heavenspan hovered there right in front of the Mortal Renegade’s forehead, his eyes cold but flickering with mixed emotions as he looked out at Bai Xiaochun approaching.

Things had happened just as Bai Xiaochun had suspected. However, not even Daoist Heavenspan could have guessed what would happen after he became a follower of the Vile-Emperor. Everything had changed because of a single black stone.

Because of that stone, he didn’t need the approval of the Eternal Mother to achieve the breakthrough he had long sought. From the moment he acquired it, he knew that there was something inside of the black stone, a will, someone who somehow enabled him to fool the will of the Eternal Mother and become a celestial.

His rapid cultivation base progress in subsequent days had also been because of that black stone. And every so often, the Vile-Emperor would give him another stone.

Eventually, he realized... that he was not himself anymore. And that was when, with the help of the Vile-Emperor, he became aware of the true might of the Mortal Renegade, who hung above in the heavens.

It wasn’t a difficult decision for him. He did not hesitate to betray the Eternal Immortal Domains and become a subordinate of the Mortal Renegade. He was different from the Vile-Emperor, who was only a clone. Daoist Heavenspan became the apprentice of the Mortal Renegade!

He knew that in many ways, he was like the Mortal Renegade. In all the years that had passed, he was the only person from the Eternal Immortal Domains who had chosen to truly submit to the Mortal Renegade, and had thus received his approval.

Therefore, he left Vile-Emperor City and appeared within the body of the Mortal Renegade, where his cultivation advanced with unprecedented quickness. After emulating the Dao of the Mortal Renegade, he gained access to divine abilities and magical techniques that he could never have grasped before.

It was in that manner than he became an archaean, and an even stronger one than the Vile-Emperor had been. Everything he possessed came from the Mortal Renegade. After all, in some ways, the Mortal Renegade was a world unto himself, with a will that could give approval. Just like the Eternal Mother, he could produce powerful experts of his own.

During this process, Daoist Heavenspan lost himself, and knew it. To achieve his goals, he had become completely ruthless, and selfish to the extreme. And yet, he still remembered a time in the past when he had not been like that.

Occasionally, he would reminiscence, and although the memories seemed like those of a stranger, he still remembered that he had a daughter.

“Perhaps that’s just the price I have to pay.” Sighing inwardly, he severed such thoughts, and his eyes glinted with icy coldness.

Up to now, he had been in meditation. But then, the will of the Mortal Renegade had reached out to him, explaining that his mission was to defend against all outside threats.

The now-dead clone had been tasked with the same mission. And if things had gone according to plan, matters would have proceeded smoothly until the Mortal Renegade awoke. But then Bai Xiaochun returned, cut down the imposter Vile-Emperor, and forced the Mortal Renegade to advance his plans.

Then, as the moment of awakening drew near, Bai Xiaochun began to set up a spell formation backed by the Essence of time, which the Mortal Renegade sensed was a major threat. Therefore, Daoist Heavenspan appeared to act as Dao protector, and eliminate the threat.

“Bai Xiaochun!” he growled, his eyes flashing. Striding out toward the incoming Bai Xiaochun, he performed an incantation gesture with his right hand, causing nine sealing marks to appear. Immediately, they began to grow larger, becoming nine gigantic lanterns.

A moment later, one of the nine lanterns was extinguished, causing black smoke to belch out, which became a huge hand that shot toward Bai Xiaochun.

The energy radiating off of the hand was comparable to the peak of the Archaean Realm, a force that far surpassed what the Vile-Emperor had been capable of. And yet, now that Bai Xiaochun’s fleshly body had been tempered by striking the bell of the Eternal Mother, it was so weak that he didn’t even need to think about it!

As the hand approached, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes glittered with hatred for Daoist Heavenspan. Performing a quick incantation gesture, he waved his right hand, causing numerous beams of Archaean Luminescence to shoot out.

And thus, a battle of divine abilities began. Booms rang out as a second lantern was extinguished, then a third and a fourth, sending one black hand after another toward Bai Xiaochun.

Bai Xiaochun performed more incantation gestures, causing the power of both his fleshly body and cultivation base to skyrocket. Then, he unleashed his Undying Sovereign’s Fist, smashing all of the black hands into pieces.

Frowning, Daoist Heavenspan extinguished all of his remaining lanterns, and again formed several black hands. Then, the smoke from the previously shattered hands swept toward them, and all of the hands and smoke merged to create a huge giant that charged toward Bai Xiaochun, howling.

All this took only a few breaths of time. Divine abilities slammed into each other, sending shockwaves out in all directions. As for all of the cultivators down below in the Eternal Immortal Domains, they looked on in complete shock.

“Daoist Heavenspan!!”

“So, he’s with the Enemy from Beyond!!”

“Dammit! If I’d known it would end up like this, I would have killed him years ago!” The celestials belonging to the former Vile-Emperor Dynasty all looked on with cold, murderous gazes.

However, they all knew that this version of Daoist Heavenspan was someone none of them were qualified to fight against. They could only hope that Bai Xiaochun would prevail. Up above, Bai Xiaochun performed an incantation gesture, causing everything around him to distort as he called on the Essence of time. Instantly, the huge giant slowed down, allowing Bai Xiaochun to pierce directly through it. As his Undying Codex regenerated him, he became like a sharp sword stabbing toward Daoist Heavenspan.

Eyes flashing, Daoist Heavenspan waved his hands out and said, “Starry Sky: Nirvanic Extermination!”

In response, an image of a starry sky appeared around him!

It featured innumerable glittering stars, each of which represented worlds filled with people. But then, in a short moment... the entire image began to turn dark!

As it did, the sky of the Eternal Immortal Domains also began to turn completely black.

Meanwhile, Daoist Heavenspan’s voice seemed to contain a will of nirvanic extermination, which turned the dark sky into a huge face that lunged down to consume Bai Xiaochun!

Strangely, although the face resembled Daoist Heavenspan, if one looked closely, it actually looked more like the Mortal Renegade!

The face seemed capable of inflicting nirvanic extermination on anything it touched; even the sky began to wither! This divine ability surpassed anything the Vile-Emperor had used. This... came from the Dao of the Mortal Renegade! It was being wielded by Daoist Heavenspan, but it was still a magic of nirvanic extermination!

As it spread, the spell formation, which had not yet been completely formed, began to show signs of being corroded. Clearly, it would only be a short time before it was completely destroyed.

It wasn’t a matter of the spell formation being weak, but rather, the fact that it was incomplete. Had it been complete, Daoist Heavenspan would have had a very difficult time doing anything to it.

“I have to end this fight quickly!” Bai Xiaochun thought. Without any hesitation, he shot forward, waving his hand.

“Waterswamp!” he shouted. Intense rumbling sounds filled heaven and earth as water vapor roiled out, creating a huge swamp. It was almost like an ocean, and as it formed, a beastly roar rose up from inside of it.