Bai Xiaochun’s voice was hoarse, despondent, and yet filled with indescribable determination. As he spoke, it seemed as though his words resonated with the natural laws of heaven and earth, causing them to echo out in explosive fashion.

Ghostmother was currently absorbing Gongsun Wan’er, and as a result, her facial features were becoming clear. Her eyes, nose, and mouth all appeared, revealing the face of a lovely young woman!

She had fair skin and entrancing eyes, and overall, was incredibly beautiful!

Her previously severed left arm was growing back, and within moments, looked as ordinary as ever. At the same time, a devastatingly powerful aura sprang up from her.

“Are you threatening me?” she asked, looking at Bai Xiaochun with eyes as entrancing as the stars in the sky.

However, Bai Xiaochun was not entranced in the least. Seemingly hovering on the brink of insanity, he grated, “No. Not a threat. Just... a promise!”

Bai Xiaochun wasn’t really thinking about what he was saying. If he were, then considering his personality, he wouldn’t ever dare to say something like this to Ghostmother. But... that was just one of the contradictions that was part of Bai Xiaochun.

Although he feared death, whenever he saw someone he considered to be a friend or family member in trouble, he would not flee or act with cowardice!

In this moment, Bai Xiaochun didn’t even know what fear was. All he knew was that Hou Xiaomei’s life was on the line. In fact, he had already decided that, if he had to, he would call upon his apprentice, and even summon the gravekeeper if necessary, to stop Ghostmother!

From the madness in his eyes, it was possible to tell what he was thinking, and how determined he was.... Ghostmother could see it, and it shook her deeply. She could already sense the will of the world around her thrumming in response to the oath that he had just sworn!

For some reason, her heart began to pound. In her eyes, Bai Xiaochun was nothing but a mere deva. Were it not for the gravekeeper’s command medallion that he had, she could crush him to death without even thinking about it. However, her intuition was telling her... that if she consumed Hou Xiaomei’s soul, then one day in the future, she would end up facing an incredibly powerful foe because of it!

In response to that sudden feeling, Ghostmother’s eyes flickered, and the huge mouth she had summoned to consume Hou Xiaomei’s soul suddenly vanished. Waving her hand, she sent Hou Xiaomei’s soul flying back into her body.

“Not a bad physical body. Plus she’s strangely connected to this kid. I guess she would make a good choice for an apprentice.” Having made her decision, she waved her arm, sending the unconscious Hou Xiaomei flying into her sleeve. With that, she turned back to the bone galleon.

Bai Xiaochun’s eyes nearly welled up with tears of blood, and he was panting heavily.

Meanwhile, the Celestial continued to fall back in the face of the three ghost faces.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

“Ghostmother!” he cried urgently. “We had an agreement! We--”

“We had an agreement?” she interrupted. She laughed. “What a joke!”

The scorn in her eyes couldn’t have been clearer. Before, she had been forced to put on an act, but now, there was no one in this world other than the mysterious gravekeeper who she would possibly fear.

She didn’t even care about this quasi-celestial. Were he not so tied together with the power of the world around him, she might have killed him and turned him into a fourth flag!

“Unfortunately, he is bolstered by the power of the world, which would make him very hard to kill right now.... If only I could break out of the Celestial Realm and into the Archaean Realm.... Then I could ignore the natural laws and kill him. Right now, though, only someone from these lands could kill him without worrying about the blessing of the world.”

To be openly scorned by Ghostmother in front of so many other cultivators caused an unsightly expression to appear on the Celestial’s face.

He was really having a hard time accepting this. Moments ago, victory had been in sight, but now the tables had been completely turned. Not only did his plan to make Gongsun Wan’er a slave fail, but now, Ghostmother was back in a position of power.

“Gravekeeper, you bastard, you’ve blocked me at every turn,” he growled to himself. “You did it in the Wildlands, and now here I can see the traces of your hand.... I refuse to accept this! I vow to escape from this world!! I

rule

this world!!” He truly felt like going mad. After all, if it weren’t for his serious injuries, things would have turned out very different this day.

Before he could say anything else, Ghostmother touched down onto the bone galleon. Although she looked spectacularly beautiful, she also was profoundly scornful.

“Now the time has come to leave his world... and go home. Vile Celestial Bone Galleon: set sail!” With that, she waved her hand, causing rumbling sounds to fill the air, and the entire ship to vibrate. At the same time, the sea of bones surrounding it was transformed into ashes....

Crevices snaked out across the surface of the Deadmire, from within which bone spikes emerged.... In fact, from one of the largest crevices emerged... a sinister bone tail!!

It was almost as if some enormous creature were about to climb out from under the ground! Many of the cultivators that remained felt a massive force slamming into them, causing blood to spray out of their mouths as they were hurled off of the ship!

Bai Xiaochun was included among them....

At the same time, the bone galleon began to rise up into the sky. Countless gasps could be heard as... the main body of the ship, which up to this point had never been seen... became visible!

“This... this....”

“Heavens! The bone galleon is actually only part of something larger! The bigger part... was hidden beneath the surface of the ground!!” Bai Xiaochun was just as shocked as everyone else to see an even larger bone ship rising up from the ground!

More precisely, what had been visible before was only part of the larger bone galleon. Now that the bone sea was destroyed, and the Deadmire was falling apart, the full, ancient ship was being revealed!

Shockingly, it was... an enormous lizard made from bones!!

It was so large that it was almost impossible to look at from one end to the other! Furthermore, the bone galleon which had been visible before... was only part of the lizard’s head!

This shocking development went beyond what anyone could have imagined!

Numerous cultivators, including Bai Lin, Zhao Tianjiao, and others familiar to Bai Xiaochun, were so astonished they coughed up blood.

Rumbling sounds filled heaven and earth as Ghostmother threw her arms wide, causing the sky to distort and a vortex to appear.

Through that vortex, Bai Xiaochun could see what appeared to be another world.... Although it wasn’t clear enough to make out any details, he could sense it beyond the shadow of a doubt!

“Time to go home!!” Ghostmother cried. The Deadmire began to collapse as the huge bone lizard shot up toward the vortex!

From a distance, it almost looked like that lizard was punching a hole into the sky!

It was at that exact same moment that Bai Xiaochun realized that, not only was Hou Xiaomei being taken away, but there were other cultivators stuck on the bone galleon as well. In fact, there were dozens!

And one of them was... Big Fatty Zhang!

Big Fatty Zhang stood on the deck, trembling as he looked up at the vortex. Then he looked at Ghostmother with her upraised arms. At that point, a tremor passed through Big Fatty Zhang, and he recalled the dream he had experienced....

“Is this the new world...?”