Not even the deva patriarch had been able to prevent Bai Xiaochun from escaping. The entire Bai Clan was dumbfounded, including the clan elders from the direct bloodline and the clan chief, all of whom were struck with disbelief that defied imagination.

They knew Bai Hao was strong, but he was still only in Core Formation. Despite the fact that their deva patriarch had not appeared in person, and had only sent out a divine ability, he was still a deva!!

Because everything had happened in the time it takes a spark to fly off of a piece of flint, none of them had seen Bai Xiaochun’s three clones fighting back against that divine ability.

As Bai Xiaochun faded away from view, the deva patriarch sat grim-faced in his secret chamber in the catacombs, his eyes shining with intense coldness. Then, he extended his right hand, causing his withered body to fill back in with flesh and blood until he looked like a normal person.

At the same time, his right hand seemed to distort with the power of spatial manipulation, causing rumbling sounds to fill the area as heaven and earth seemed to collapse. Then he looked up in Bai Xiaochun’s direction, clearly intent on trying to grab him a second time.

However, his face fell when he realized that he was grabbing down, not onto Bai Xiaochun, but onto thin air!

Even as he did that, the entire sky above the Bai Clan turned crimson, and fire began to rain down!

That fire was composed of twelve-colored flame!

As soon as the rain of fire began to fall, everyone in the clan began to cry out in alarm.

“A rain of fire!!”

“It was Bai Hao! He was the one who caused the rain of fire last time!!” The mere thought of a twelve-colored rain of fire caused all faces in the clan to fall. That type of fire was so hot it could melt stone and metal, and was already turning everything in the area into a virtual furnace.

Even worse, the grand spell formation had been damaged, and although it was already repairing itself, it was still weaker than the last time. Furthermore, the gaps in it were so large that the fire could obviously make it through them and land on the clan itself!!

If that fire landed on the clan... it would definitely damage it in a very significant way. Casualties would be severe. Even if the deva patriarch took a hand in defending the clan, he wouldn’t be able to save everyone....

The only chance was to stop the rain of fire before it got past the shield!

The deva patriarch had been presented with two choices: either prevent Bai Xiaochun from fleeing, or extinguish the heavenly fire. The deva could only confidently pick one option. If he tried to do both at the same time, it could easily lead to a catastrophic slip-up.

The deva chose to extinguish the heavenly fire. As soon as his hand latched down onto thin air, another huge hand appeared in the sky above the clan. As the rain of fire descended, he reached out to grab it!

It only took the blink of an eye for the hand to grow dramatically in size, until it was fully 300,000 meters across. Conveniently, in addition to covering the flaming clouds above the clan, it also contained Bai Xiaochun within the shadow of its power.

Clearly, the deva patriarch was still not giving up on trying to get to Bai Xiaochun.

However, Bai Xiaochun was not an ordinary Core Formation cultivator. He had reached Heaven-Dao Foundation Establishment, and also the Heaven-Dao Gold Core stage. He had three deva soul clones, and battle prowess that vastly surpassed the Core Formation level. He could even slaughter early Nascent Soul stage experts with ease!

In fact, he could also hold his own against the mid Nascent Soul stage, and if he used his clones, could crush someone in that level!

Thorough preparation can lead to shocking results, and that was exactly what Bai Xiaochun was doing as he made his way toward the Nascent Soul stage!

Just before the hand made contact with him, he vanished, teleported by the Undying Hex to a location outside of the Bai Clan!

As for the flames up above, the hand made contact with them, wiping them away, rain and clouds alike....

Down in the catacombs, the deva patriarch’s expression could not have been more unsightly. Turning to look in the direction Bai Xiaochun had fled, he lifted his foot in preparation to give chase. But then, he looked at the green flames of the seven candles, and gritted his teeth.

“My Seven Life-Locking Candles have reached a critical stage. I can’t just leave....” Taking a deep breath, he sat back down cross-legged and then issued orders to the clan.

“Use my divine will seal and these ships to track Bai Hao down! Get him back here within seven days!” The deva patriarch transmitted the orders with divine sense, causing his words to immediately ring out in the minds of the clan elders. All of the elders were shaken, and quickly clasped hands and bowed in the direction of the catacombs. At the same time, a seal formed from divine sense took shape in their minds.

Those sealing marks would help them determine Bai Xiaochun’s position. Bai Xiaochun had managed to flee, but had been struck by the deva patriarch, who had secretly branded him with a bit of divine will for the purposes of tracking him.

In addition to the divine sense seals, nine soulships flew out from the catacombs. Each of the ships had been forged by the deva patriarch himself, and were capable of speed equivalent to the great circle of the Nascent Soul stage.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

A tremor ran through the clan chief, and his eyes began to shine with intense killing intent and madness. Although he wouldn’t dare to disobey the orders of the patriarch, he knew that just because he had to apprehend Bai Hao didn’t mean that he couldn’t torture him a bit in the process. He had already decided to make sure his unfilial son knew what it was like to experience such pain that you wished to end your own life!!

Flicking his sleeve, he stepped onto one of the soulships, then reached out in the direction of the ancestral shrine hall.

“Patriarch, I request the use of a speed pennant to help me apprehend my unfilial son!”

“Permission granted!” Instantly, a violet beam of light flew out from the shrine hall, which transformed into a small flag that the clan chief grabbed out of the air.

“I don’t care how far you teleport away, you unfilial bastard, you won’t get away from me!” Snarling viciously, he blurred into motion, causing rumbling sounds to echo out as he chased after Bai Xiaochun.

Madam Cai stood in the crowd, trembling, her heart surging with both grief and venom.

“Bai Hao, you son of a bitch, I’m going to skin you alive! I’ll feed you to the dogs! I’ll extract your soul and torture you for lifetimes over!!”

Thanks to the representatives from the other clans and the emissary from Giant Ghost City, news of the drastic upheavals in the Bai Clan would soon spread. It was easy to imagine how, in the near future, all of the territory under the control of Giant Ghost City would be buzzing with gossip.

Although it was a huge humiliation for the Bai Clan, the elders and other members of the auxiliary bloodlines only followed the patriarch’s orders half-heartedly.

In contrast, the direct bloodline raged with killing intent. Everyone who could be mobilized was mobilized, and began looking for clues. Before long, the most powerful experts of the direct bloodline were chasing after Bai Xiaochun.

They needed to catch him within seven days as ordered, and hopefully, nip the rumors in the bud.

**

Deep in a valley not too far away from the clan, the air rippled and distorted, and then Bai Xiaochun flew out at top speed. After landing on the ground, he staggered a few paces, and then coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“I guess I underestimated devas....” he thought, shivering. Back in the clan, he had been fighting tenaciously. But now that he was out here on his own, the terror he felt finally showed on his face.

Taking a few deep breaths, he wiped the blood off of his mouth and chin and then looked around. Lingering fear still prickled in his heart, and yet, he also knew that he still had his demigod soul to use in case of emergency.

“Fudge! In the future, I definitely can’t be so impulsive and trust in risky plans....” Shaking his head bitterly, he had to admit that his actions in the Bai Clan proved how brave he had become. But then, he realized that such thinking was actually mistaken. “There are a lot of important things in the world, but my poor little life is the most important of all....”

He thought back to all of the preparations he had made in order to escape, including the murdersoul spikes, the teleportation talismans, his Undying Hex, and the secret magic of the rain of fire. His timing in everything had been perfect, and yet he still had only escaped death by the skin of his teeth.

If any of his preparations had been lacking in the least, then he would have had no choice but to use his demigod soul. And yet, even still, he was not completely and utterly confident that such a tactic would work.

“Bai Xiaochun, you need to make sure you’ve learned your lesson. Next time you’re in a situation like this, you need to prepare even more thoroughly!” Pulling out some spirit alcohol, he drank deeply to restore his cultivation base, then pulled out a jade slip to make contact with Zhou Yixing and Li Feng and have them wait for him at a predetermined location.

Considering that they had helped him with his caper in the Bai Clan, he was fairly certain he could trust them. And yet, he still didn’t feel comfortable trusting them enough to tell them where he was.

Finally, he looked down at the earth-type deva soul in his bag of holding, and his eyes shone as brightly as fire.