A Will Eternal

The four peak lords shot toward the Beastbirth Flower, panting, trembling inwardly. It was as if they had just caught sight of the most precious treasure in the world. The old woman from Irispetal Peak suddenly looked as if her face had even more wrinkles than before....

The other three peak lords were equally excited as they reached out to actually touch the Beastbirth Flower. To them, it was something holy, something that completely filled their field of vision, obscuring everything else in existence.

The surrounding disciples were struck mute. Most of them didn’t even know what a Beastbirth Seed was, and were struck with fear by the actions of the four peak lords.

However, a few of the Inner Sect disciples knew what they were looking at. That was especially the case considering the words the peak lords had just uttered. Those disciples were completely shaken, their hearts battered by enormous waves of astonishment.

“Beastbirth Flower!?!? Heavens! Is that really the flower of a Beastbirth Seed?!”

“That’s a legendary holy object, rarely seen in the world!!”

“I’ve only read about it in the ancient records. Supposedly, they went extinct in ancient times. I can’t believe there’s one sitting right here!!”

The voices grew louder and louder. The tens of thousands of people present soon realized that the seemingly ordinary, although rather large plant, was actually an indescribably valuable object. Everyone was clamoring about the Beastbirth Flower, and soon forgot that they had come to cause trouble for Bai Xiaochun.

It only took a few moments for the area to get extremely noisy, until finally, the old man from Ghostfang Peak turned and gave a harsh look to the crowd. Almost instantly, the voices died down.

Bai Xiaochun stood off to the side, his chin stuck up into the air, looking very much like a lonely hero.

“Humph. Now do you people understand why I, Bai Xiaochun, needed contributions from so many battle beasts? It was all for my Beastbirth Flower!” Bai Xiaochun’s heart was pounding with excitement and pride, but he kept the lonely expression on his face. At the same time, the four peak lords stood there, their expressions going back and forth between enchantment and frustration. In the end though, they were gritting their teeth, and then gnashing them. That was especially true of the old woman from Irispetal Peak, whose eyes were completely bloodshot.

“Bai Xiaochun!!” she cried, sounding both furious and filled with grief. “Don’t you know how valuable this Beastbirth Flower is? Don’t you know that these things are extinct!? Don’t you know what this Beastbirth Flower represents?!?!” The old woman was raving as if mad, her heart figuratively dripping with blood, convinced that if she were the one to have come to possess the Beastbirth Seed, things would have been completely different.

“Of course I do,” Bai Xiaochun answered, surprised. He wouldn’t have riled up the entire north bank if he hadn’t been aware of how valuable it was.

In the moment of the old woman’s sorrow, the other three peak lords looked over at Bai Xiaochun, their gazes as sharp as blades. They knew how indescribably valuable a Beastbirth Seed was. It was like a precious treasure, and from the way they were looking at Bai Xiaochun right now, they were completely and utterly disappointed.

“I can’t believe you planted such a precious seed right here!” the old woman raged. “And now the process is almost complete. It’s going to give birth to a beast soon!

“Y-y-you.... Bai Xiaochun, it’s obvious that your actions led to all the battle beasts in the sect going crazy. But what use was that? All of those beasts had low order bloodlines!!

“Don’t you realize that we could have used that Beastbirth Seed with Elder Sun’s jasper seamonster to give birth to another beast with a third order bloodline?!?! But now, it’s too late! Too, too late....”

Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times and then cleared his throat. “Elder Sun’s jasper seamonster also contributed.”

“You... wait, what?” The old woman was about to continue her tirade, but instead, her jaw dropped. The other three peak lord’s had similar reactions as they looked out into the crowd to find Elder Sun looking back at them with a shocked expression on his face. He had come, not because he had noticed any abnormality in his battle beast, but because of the problem with the disciples’ beasts. It was only in this moment that he suddenly heard that his own jasper sea monster had come to “contribute.”

After a moment of hesitation, the old woman’s fury returned.

“Even Elder Sun’s jasper sea monster would have been a waste of the Beastbirth Seed. Take Elder Chen’s blue sky boa. It only has a third order bloodline, but it might be able to transform into a dragon one day. Furthermore, that clear sky boa is the only one that can--”

Before she could finish, Bai Xiaochun gingerly interrupted. “The blue sky boa also came to contribute.”

The old woman’s eyes went wide. Out in the crowd, Elder Chen gasped and looked down at this bag of beast raising. In that moment, a blue snake stuck its head out and looked in the direction of the Beastbirth Flower, seemingly drunk with passion.

“Elder Chen’s blue sky boa is still strong and young,” said the peak lord from Ghostfang Peak, his voice quavering with rage. “We can breed it even without a Beastbirth Seed. Bai Xiaochun, my own yaksha beast is perfectly suited for a Beastbirth Seed. If only you--”

“Um... Peak Lord Wu, your yaksha beast... also came to contribute.”

Peak Lord Wu wasn’t the only one to gasp. All of the surrounding disciples were completely shocked by what they were hearing.

The other peak lords were about to say more, when Bai Xiaochun edged back a few steps and then carefully said, “All of your beasts came to contribute....”

The four peak lords felt as if they were being struck by lightning. How could they have been completely unaware that their own battle beasts secretly came here? Simultaneously, the surrounding disciples were left gasping to the point where they couldn’t remain silent any longer.

“Heavens, how many beasts came to contribute!?!?”

“This Bai Xiaochun, he... he didn’t even let the peak lords’ beasts off the hook!” action

“How deranged!!”

As the shouting of the crowd grew louder, Bai Xiaochun started to get nervous, and backed up a bit more, keeping his eyes on the four peak lords the entire time. After a moment passed, the old woman from Irispetal Peak intensified her glare.

“Well, it seems I underestimated you, Bai Xiaochun. You even managed to sneak all of the peak lords’ battle beasts over here. Well then, why did you stop there? Why didn’t you bring over the seven-colored phoenix from Irispetal Peak? Our battle beasts have third order bloodlines, but the seven-colored phoenix’s is fourth order. A fourth order bloodline would definitely not be a waste of....” Before she could finish speaking, she noticed the cautious expression on Bai Xiaochun’s face, and her heart flip-flopped. “You... you didn’t....”

“The seven-colored phoenix also came to contribute,” Bai Xiaochun said, sounding a bit wronged.

“What about the three-eyed raven from Archway Peak...?”

“Also contributed,” Bai Xiaochun said, steeling himself. “Plus the lizard from Archway Peak, and the mountain ghost from Ghostfang Peak..... They all came to contribute.”

The peak lords’ eyes went wide, and they gasped in disbelief. Moments later, they produced jade slips, and used some unknown method to communicate with the spirit beast guardians. A moment later, the information was confirmed, although the spirit beast guardians didn’t dare to mention the Heavenhorn ink dragon. Afterward, the peak lords stared at Bai Xiaochun with wide eyes, looking completely incredulous.

The surrounding north bank disciples were also left gasping in shock. Beihan Lie shivered, more convinced than ever of how strong Bai Xiaochun was. Xu Song’s mind was spinning; he was well aware of how terrifying the four spirit beast guardians were, and couldn’t imagine how Bai Xiaochun could possibly have convinced them to offer contributions.

The old woman from Irispetal Peak felt like she was going crazy. She had started out with the intention of teaching Bai Xiaochun a lesson, but the more she spoke, the more she realized she had nothing to say. Bai Xiaochun knew how valuable a Beastbirth Seed was, and had even managed to get the most powerful beasts on the north bank to contribute. Even if she had tried to do such a thing, she might not have been able to pull it off.

However, considering that there were so many disciples watching, all of them completely speechless because of Bai Xiaochun’s explanations, the old woman’s anger grew. Flicking her sleeve, she said, “Still a waste! Bai Xiaochun, don’t you know that if you had given that Beastbirth Seed to one of the prime elders, even the patriarchs would have been shocked? They could have issued a Dharmic decree to arrange for the sect’s holy beast guardian, the Heavenhorn ink dragon, to use that seed to give birth to a new generation! Now that would most certainly have not been a waste. That....” At first, she started getting more and more worked up into a rage, but eventually realized that Bai Xiaochun appeared to be trying to cut in, and stopped talking. Then her heart began to pound....

She wasn’t the only one. The expression on Bai Xiaochun’s face caused the other three peak lords to suck in deep breaths.

Bai Xiaochun blinked a few times, and then quietly said, “Well... I don’t think we need to bother the patriarchs to get a Dharmic decree. Senior Heavenhorn ink dragon came over three days ago. He was more than happy to help, and even contributed more than fifty times....”

The entire area was as silent as death.

The four peak lords were dumbstruck, as were the elders and the disciples. Everyone was staring at Bai Xiaochun, their hearts pounding with astonishment that could shake the heavens and topple the earth.

It was at that point that the Beastbirth Flower suddenly began to wither, and one after another, petals began to fall off. A powerful life force essence appeared within the flower, which grew stronger and stronger by the moment. It didn’t take long before the peak lords, the elders, and the ordinary disciples were all paying rapt attention to the flower.

The spirit beast guardians of the four mountain peaks were all trembling, as if they could sense their own progeny, and countless ordinary battle beasts were all trembling with a similar sensation.

Deep within the Ancient Beast Chasm, the Heavenhorn ink dragon opened its eyes and looked out into the Beast Conservatory with an expression of keen anticipation.

Bai Xiaochun stood off to the side nervously, wondering how things would turn out. The peak lords were close by him, breathing in ragged pants.

Slowly, the Beastbirth Flower continued to wither, and the life force aura grew stronger, as if something were about to burst out from inside. At this point, a vortex appeared up above, slowly spinning round and round, almost as if there were eyes above in the heavens, looking down at the scene playing out below.