It was a very ghastly scene, made even worse by the flickering lamps which lit the area.
All of a sudden, Bai Xiaochun shivered, and then opened his eyes. As soon as he did, the magical symbols that had been crawling all over him flew back into the water, apparently having been startled.
At first, his expression was blank. However, as he breathed, his eyes began to glitter. Then he looked around at the pool of water, and the bones that made up the spell formation.
He wanted to rise to his feet, but soon found that he couldn’t control his own body. It was impossible for him to leave the pool of water. Apparently, the energy of the Undying Codex and Live Forever Codex in the bones around him created an aura that disturbed his mind.
At that point, a raspy voice filled the air. “Don’t struggle. This pool of water… is made from the blood of countless descendants of the Arch-Emperor, back when I drove his dynasty out of the lands of Heavenspan. It's been fermenting here for many, many years.” Bai Xiaochun then saw the air up ahead ripple, and the Celestial walk slowly out into the open.
The Celestial’s eyes burned with excitement and anticipation as he looked at Bai Xiaochun, as if he were some consummately important medicinal pill to be consumed.
Panting, Bai Xiaochun looked at the Celestial, his heart pounding with foreboding. Just when he was about to say something, the Celestial looked around at the bones and kept talking.
“I killed many of these people myself in the final battle at Arch-Emperor City. And some… are cultivators I ran tests on after I started researching the Undying Live Forever Codex.
“Sadly, despite the fact that the Undying Live Forever Codex is a technique that anyone can cultivate, for some reason, I am not able to. Perhaps it's because I've killed so many people with the blood of the Arch-Emperor in them.
“I can only research it by having other people cultivate the technique. I even exhumed the corpses of these three Arch-Emperors, and brought their skeletons here to learn a thing or two from them.
“You see, I stole the Live Forever Codex from the Arch-Emperor Dynasty. And as for the Undying Codex, the gravekeeper made it public for some reason. Perhaps it was an attempt to resist me, or perhaps an attempt to continue the line of the Arch-Emperor Dynasty. In any case, I added fuel to the fire by making sure the Undying Codex was available in the lands of Heavenspan as well…. The trickiest thing was the Live Forever Codex. It is very, very difficult to cultivate. In fact, few people have ever managed to master it. Most would fail along the way, after which I would place their remains in here to make the best use of them.
“Over all the years, only two people have ever completely cultivated it. One of them was an apprentice of mine, and the other… is my daughter.” By this point, the Celestial didn't really seem to be talking to Bai Xiaochun, but rather, muttering to himself.
As Bai Xiaochun listened, his shock mounted until he felt like his head was being struck by lightning. After seeing Du Lingfei’s bones years ago, he had already begun to suspect the truth. But to hear the Celestial say it out loud was a different matter.
“Sadly, I wasn’t quite prepared last time. Furthermore, my apprentice discovered what was going on. Therefore, my first attempt to concoct an Undying Live Forever Pill was a failure before I even started. But that doesn’t matter. I have a second chance now….”
With that, he turned to look at Bai Xiaochun with glittering eyes.
“Fei’er,” he said.
At that point, Du Lingfei stepped out from behind the Celestial.
Upon seeing Du Lingfei, a bitter smile spread out across Bai Xiaochun’s face. He understood. He understood everything….
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Chapter
1006: Reasons
Or perhaps the truth was slightly different. Upon seeing Du Lingfei, Bai Xiaochun smiled bitterly, and was fairly certain that he understood.
Many years ago, the Celestial rebelled, waging war against the entire Arch-Emperor Dynasty. The forces of the Arch-Emperor were soundly defeated, losing not just the lands of Heavenspan, but also one of their most important legacies, the Live Forever Codex from the Undying Live Forever Technique!
After relocating to the Wildlands, the Arch-Emperor Dynasty only had the Undying Codex. Perhaps in an attempt to resist the Celestial, or perhaps just to foster hope… the gravekeeper had taken steps to allow people who were not direct descendants of the Arch-Emperor to cultivate the Undying Codex. And as the technique became more widespread, incomplete copies eventually showed up in sects in the lands of Heavenspan.
As a result, the Undying Codex lived on. At the same time, everyone in the Heavenspan Realm had a chance to cultivate a secret magic that had once belonged only to the Arch-Emperor.
The Celestial didn’t do anything to stop it, focused as he was on the Live Forever Codex. However, it was only after attempting to actually cultivate the Live Forever Codex, and failing, that he came up with an idea that could only be described as insane.
He would encourage more and more people to cultivate both the Undying Codex and the Live Forever Codex. Then he would fuse those people together and use them to concoct an Undying Live Forever Pill. By consuming that pill, he would then get access to the hidden power offered by the Undying Live Forever Technique.
Both the bones scattered in the necropolis, and the remains of the three Arch-Emperors, had all been used in his extensive research.
Unfortunately for him, the Live Forever Codex was much more difficult to cultivate than the Undying Codex, and also more powerful. Despite all the years which had passed, none of the countless cultivators who had cultivated it had ever succeeded. At most, some of them made superficial progress.
But then his top apprentice came along…. She was the Frigid Matriarch of the north, and once she mastered the Live Forever Codex, the Celestial’s heart began to burn with avarice.
It was at around that time that a mighty hero rose up in the Wildlands, a person called the Blood Ancestor. Perhaps it was his own spectacular talent, or perhaps he had the blood of the Arch-Emperors in him. Either way, he mastered the Undying Codex, and made a spectacular breakthrough, reaching the fleshly body level of a demigod!
If it wasn’t for the fact that the Celestial had brought ruin to the Arch-Emperor Dynasty, it was entirely possible that the Blood Ancestor would have eventually gone on to cultivate the Live Forever Codex.
If the Blood Ancestor had succeeded with both codices, then he would have been able to break through to the Celestial Realm!
He would have met the qualifications enforced by the gravekeeper to leave the Heavenspan Realm!
The Frigid Matriarch should have been the Blood Ancestor’s greatest enemy. But somehow, they fell in love with each other. And when they discovered the truth of the Celestial’s schemes… well, Bai Xiaochun had already been told that story by the Frigid Matriarch herself.
The Frigid Matriarch betrayed her Master, and joined with the Blood Ancestor to try to kill him!
In the end, the Blood Ancestor died, and sank to the bottom of the Heavenspan River, with only one, defiant hand stretching out above the surface of the water…. The Frigid Matriarch also perished. However, she managed to create a soulclone that possessed a true spirit. Afterward, she remained hidden in the Spirit Stream Sect, forever gazing into the distance at the Blood Ancestor… her Daoist partner.
Because of how things played out… the Celestial’s first chance to concoct the pill he desired ended in a failure.