On the south bank of the Spirit Stream Sect, numerous eyes followed Bai Xiaochun as he flew like the wind toward Mount Daoseed, surrounded by more than a hundred friends.

Occasionally, his laughter could be heard, along with various boasting words.

“Listen, guys, I really experienced some heaven-shaking, earth-shattering things in the past few years. A bunch of people fought me for a Foundation Establishment Pill, and I almost destroyed an entire mountain! One of my flying swords cut down a whole group of Foundation Establishment cultivators! It was completely shocking! My scheming was god-like, and my magic unmatchable!

“Numerous powerful experts stood before me, trembling, their heads bowed. In fact, countless Qi Condensation disciples would look at me with wide eyes, their faces draining of blood as they begged for mercy....” His voice echoed out in all directions, loud and proud.

His friends didn’t believe a word of what he was saying. They laughed and even poked fun at him because of his boasting. However, their faces were all covered with smiles, smiles of affection, wistfulness, and anticipation.

To these people, Bai Xiaochun was both a fellow disciple, and a friend who they would trust with their lives!

He was naughty and mischievous, but in critical moments, he could reverse fate. Although he often caused trouble, when lives were on the line, they would unhesitatingly put all trust in him!

He was a Heaven-Dao Foundation Establishment expert, the legacy echelon-designate, and to them, he didn’t seem wildly arrogant. Although he annoyed people in countless ways, that simply made him less lofty and distant to those close to him. In their hearts, he was always and forever their friend.

That was especially true of Hou Yunfei. Such feelings of friendship were especially strong in him. He looked at Bai Xiaochun, then looked over at Hou Xiaomei, and he smiled broadly, wishing them well in his heart.

Hou Xiaomei’s face was bright red, and her heart was pounding. All she could think about was how Bai Xiaochun had hugged her, and as she looked over at him, her eyes glittered brightly.

In fact, they glittered in much the same way Song Junwan’s had....

Bai Xiaochun was extremely moved to be surrounded by so many familiar faces. One by one, various memories about the Spirit Stream Sect began to flood into his mind.

He truly felt as if he had come home, and had already forgotten about the screams which he had heard moments ago.

Slapping his chest proudly, he said, “You guys don’t believe me? You listen to me. I, Bai Xiaochun, am totally awesome! One time, a Nascent Soul eccentric even praised me! And then guess what happened? He even took me as his adopted son!”

“Oh, we believe you....” Hou Yunfei said, chuckling. Strange expressions could be seen on the faces of Big Fatty Zhang and the others, but they also looked over and assured Bai Xiaochun that they believed him.

Bai Xiaochun was a bit depressed to see them chuckling in such a way. He very much wanted to tell them the truth. He had concocted medicine in the Blood Stream Sect! He had fought to the pinnacle inside the body of the Blood Ancestor! He was the illustrious and infamous blood master of Middle Peak!

But he couldn’t do that. It was very frustrating to not be able to bask in his own glory.

“I’m telling the truth, guys! When I went out to get experience, I got a super impressive title! There was also this super beautiful vixen--” Even as he spoke the words, he looked over and saw Hou Xiaomei’s eyes narrow into slits. “Um, but I didn’t marry her....”

“Which beautiful vixen was that? Please, tell me the details, big bro Xiaochun.”

“Uh....” Bai Xiaochun instantly went on guard. He was almost sure he could sense killing intent rising up in Hou Xiaomei. After all, he had become very sensitive to killing intent due to his experiences in the Blood Stream Sect.

He was just trying to figure out how to change the topic when, all of a sudden, a huge beam of light shot up into the air from Mount Daoseed, fully thirty meters wide.

Lands shook, mountains were rocked, and even the sky vibrated. The countless layers of clouds overhead began to spin into the form of a huge vortex. Rumbling sounds echoed out as something like a white sun appeared!

As the sun became visible within the vortex, something else took form within it: a huge black raven!

The raven’s eyes were closed, and yet, it radiated an energy that could shake heaven and earth. As that energy spread out in all directions, it became a powerful pressure which weighed down on everyone present.

Both the south and north banks of the Spirit Stream Sect went completely quiet.

Even Bai Xiaochun’s face flickered. Apparently, he had his own ideas about what was happening, and his expression became very serious as he looked at the pillar of light. His heart began to pound as he peered at the white sun, and the raven, wondering what exactly would happen.

“I know I have a high position in the sect,” he muttered hesitantly, “but there was really no need to go to such lengths to welcome me back....”

Xu Baocai swallowed hard, looking very nervous. Then he heard Bai Xiaochun’s words, and couldn’t help but quietly say, “I heard the first wave was supposed to leave in a few days. From the look of things, they’re leaving now.”

Bai Xiaochun still didn’t understand what was happening, so he grabbed Xu Baocai’s arm and asked, “What’s going on? What first wave? Where are they going?”

“To the Luochen Mountains!” Xu Baocai replied, his expression grave.

Hou Yunfei’s eyes began to shine brightly. After reaching Earthstring Foundation Establishment, his status in the sect was different than before, and he had even become the apprentice of one of the prime elders. As such, he had access to more privileged information than before. “Xiaochun, you’ve been gone for a while, but surely you’ve heard about the war between the Blood Stream Sect and the Spirit Stream Sect. It’s on the verge of erupting at any moment. However, we can’t let the war be fought within the immediate vicinity of the Spirit Stream Sect. So, the sect has long since made arrangements for a huge spell formation to be erected in the Luochen Mountains, all for the purpose of fighting the Blood Stream Sect!”

Bai Xiaochun was shaken. For some reason, he had felt as if the war were even further away than before.

“After all the initial preparations are complete, they’ll teleport the first wave of cultivators over to the Luochen Mountains!” At almost the same moment that Hou Yunfei finished speaking, a profound and archaic voice echoed out from Mount Daoseed to fill the entire Spirit Stream Sect.

“First wave disciples, step forward immediately!”

Even as the voice rumbled out like thunder, Bai Xiaochun looked around and saw beams of light flying from both the south and north banks toward Mount Daoseed.

Some of them were Foundation Establishment cultivators, others were in the great circle of Qi Condensation. Some of the disciples weren’t capable of flight, and sped along on the ground.

Among the beams of light, Bai Xiaochun spotted Ghostfang and Beihan Lie. Their energy clearly surpassed that of ordinary cultivators, and they flew along like shooting stars toward Mount Daoseed.

Among the more than two thousand cultivators who made up the first wave, a few were prime elders, whose auras erupted out with particular intensity.

Last was a blurry figure who emerged from the vortex up above. He materialized into a middle-aged man, whose cultivation base fluctuations vastly exceeded those of the prime elders, and caused all light to dim.

Bai Xiaochun almost immediately recognized the man. He was the same patriarch who had emerged to help Bruiser, and was also the same person who received the Song Clan patriarch. He was one of the five great patriarchs of the Spirit Stream Sect, Li Zimo!

People around Bai Xiaochun immediately began to cry out in surprise. “The third generation patriarch!!”

It didn’t take long for the cultivators of the first wave to gather behind the peak of Mount Daoseed. Li Zimo waved his right hand, and the pillar of light erupted, causing a blinding glow to spread out and cover the gathered cultivators. Next, the light flickered, and more than two thousand cultivators vanished.

Moments later, everything went back to normal. However, the pillar of light connecting Mount Daoseed to the heavens remained in place, causing faint rumbling sounds to echo out continuously. As for the other mountain peaks, although no light shot up from them, Bai Xiaochun got the sense that they were pulsing with intense energy that could spill out in the form of light at any moment.

Everyone else in the Spirit Stream Sect was shaken. It was at that point that Bai Xiaochun heard Hou Yunfei’s voice again.

“That’s the first wave. It will only be a few days now until the second wave is teleported out. There are a lot more people assigned to the second wave. I’m among them, actually.”

Bai Xiaochun’s heart was already pounding. Looking over at Hou Yunfei, he saw him smiling warmly. At the same time, many of Bai Xiaochun’s other surrounding friends began to chime in to explain which wave they had been assigned to.

Bai Xiaochun quickly realized that every single person present, even the Qi Condensation cultivators, and even Hou Xiaomei, were all going to be fighting in the war.

It was obvious that this war was going to be the last stand for the Spirit Stream Sect!

Big Fatty Zhang could sense the atmosphere turning serious, and quickly said, “I heard my master say that the Spirit Stream Sect has been building a spell formation in the Luochen Mountains for years now, all for the purpose of defending against a Blood Stream Sect invasion. The power of that spell formation has been built up over generations, and is beyond extraordinary. The Blood Stream Sect might be strong, but it’s impossible to say how the fighting will turn out!”

Others began to chime in.

“That’s right! The Blood Stream Sect has pushed things too far. If we had agreed to their demands, we would have been forced to live a life of servitude, just waiting around for them to come back and kill us later!”

“The Spirit Stream Sect has been my home from the moment I joined it. Live for the Spirit Stream Sect, die for the Spirit Stream Sect!”

“We can’t avoid this war. Whether or not we win, we’ll fight to the bitter end!”

Soon, everyone’s eyes began to shine with flickers of killing intent.