Bai Xiaochun’s face fell. Even as he recalled the words spoken to him from within the jade slip, the little turtle shrieked and flew back into his bag of holding.
“If you die, kid, I’ll burn some incense for you! It’s too bad that Lord Turtle just escaped the clutches of evil, only to get stuck in this place….”
Bai Xiaochun was completely infuriated. Gritting his teeth, he howled, “Shut your mouth!”
However, now was not the time to worry about the little turtle. “Listen up, you big toad! I know you can hear me! Let me go, and I won’t hurt you!
“I agree that the cultivator from ancient times pushed things too far with you. That doesn’t have anything to do with me. I’m innocent, alright!? Let me go! We don’t have any grudges with each other…. Let’s talk things over! There’s no need to hurt each other, okay? When I really attack, I frighten even myself!”
Even as his words were still echoing about, rumbling sounds filled the inside of the huge toad, and intense pressure exploded out. Bai Xiaochun trembled, coughing up a mouthful of blood as his bones creaked ominously.
Within the intense pressure, he could sense a raging malice, as though the hatred the toad felt for the ancient cultivator was now being transferred to Bai Xiaochun. Apparently, no matter what Bai Xiaochun said, it wouldn’t listen at all.
“You….” he said, trembling, a sensation of deadly crisis rising up within him. However, before he could say anything else, the pressure mounted, and the immortal’s cave began to collapse even more quickly. The little turtle was screaming, and Bai Xiaochun was on the verge of going mad.
“You big bully!!” he cried, wounds opening up all over him, soaking his robes with blood. There was no time for rumination. The toad was clearly attempting to kill him. Gritting his teeth, he followed the instructions within the jade slip, reaching out with his right hand to grab the black parasol. Then, he stabbed it viciously down into the ground.
The razor-sharp tip of the parasol slid smoothly into the ground, and then down into the flesh and blood of the toad!
As blood spurted out, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes gleamed, and he tightened his grip on the parasol. With the other hand, he performed an incantation gesture and simultaneously muttered some incomprehensible words of enchantment. Then, just in the moment that the immortal’s cave was about to completely fall to pieces, he roared, “Eternal!”
In response, black light exploded out from the Eternal Parasol. In the blink of an eye, it filled the immortal’s cave, and then began to spread out to cover other parts of the toad’s body.
As the black light spread, it stimulated various restrictive spells which had been placed throughout the toad. The spells began to rumble, and yet, apparently because of the vast amount of time which had passed, most of them were weakened and in complete disrepair. In the end, only a few thousand activated fully. However, each one of that small group alone managed to create a massive gravitational force, something like a black hole!
The thousand or so restrictive spells were like a thousand black holes inside the huge toad, with the Eternal Parasol forming the nucleus of them all.
As the gravitational force spread out, the toad began to tremble, and emit increasingly intense roars. Bai Xiaochun was shaking as, all of a sudden, the black holes began to gobble up the life force of the toad and send it toward the Eternal Parasol!
An indescribably boundless power of qi and blood then began to flow through the parasol into Bai Xiaochun’s right hand!
RUMBLE!
Bai Xiaochun’s mind was spinning. His gaze was vacant, and his hair whipped around him. It felt like his soul was about to fly out of his body. His mind slowly became a blank as the seemingly endless power of qi and blood flowed into him!
Qi and blood could also be considered life force, and as it flowed madly into him, Bai Xiaochun’s Undying Live Forever Technique began to spin of its own accord. It was almost like immortal nectar being poured down onto cracked, parched ground. The technique rapidly advanced until Bai Xiaochun was shaking where he stood. His fleshly body began to grow stronger at an incredible, explosive rate!
A third heavenly demon appeared!
A fourth heavenly demon appeared!
Almost immediately, four heavenly demons appeared behind him, their heads thrown back as they howled, sending boundless might out in all directions. However, the struggling of the toad only intensified.
Unceasing rumbling sounds echoed out as the more than one thousand restrictive spells began to collapse, causing miserable shrieking sounds to echo out inside of the toad’s body.
However, the gravitational force persisted. With every breath of time that passed, boundless life force flowed through the restrictive spells and into the Eternal Parasol, to be absorbed by Bai Xiaochun. As it did, more heavenly demons formed!
A fifth!
A sixth!
The little turtle cautiously peeped out of the bag of holding, and then his jaw dropped. He even started to feel a little jealous.
“Dammit, what kind of luck is this!?!?” Finally, he simply rolled his eyes in a rare moment of speechlessness. By this point, he could tell that, in truth, not even 10,000 Bai Xiaochuns put together would be a match for the huge toad. However, the toad was filled with countless restrictive spells, all of which were focused onto the parasol.
More accurately, Bai Xiaochun wasn’t the one absorbing the toad’s life force, it was the parasol. All Bai Xiaochun had to do was recite the correct enchantment.
“Who exactly put this immortal’s cave here?” the turtle thought. “This kind of thing is really rare!”
Meanwhile, in the wild mountains outside, the huge toad was roaring so loudly that brightly colored light flashed in heaven and earth. A huge wind screamed in all directions, and mountains in the area were collapsing into pieces as the toad flailed back and forth, withering visibly the entire time.
Birds and beasts alike were shaking in fear, and many were killed in the quaking. The entire 5,000-kilometer area was being turned into nothing more than ruins as the toad descended into madness. Beyond that region, the five patriarchs of the Spirit Stream Sect were closing in at top speed, along with the legacy echelon cultivators.
The Heavenhorn ink dragon was with them, leading the way. The founding patriarch’s expression was grave; they had been at a critical juncture in extracting the beast skeleton when the news came in from the dragon. Although they couldn’t stop the process in the middle, they had been able to speed up their work. After successfully collecting the beast skeleton, they summoned the legacy echelon, and then used the Heavenhorn ink dragon scales they all possessed to head over to rescue Bai Xiaochun.
“That toad probably has battle prowess in the late Nascent Soul stage,” the founding patriarch said through gritted teeth. “If it dares to hurt our junior patriarch, I’m going to sever its tendons and skin it alive!!” Patriarch Ironwood, Li Zimo, and the other two patriarchs were all extremely anxious; if something bad happened to Bai Xiaochun, it would be a disaster for the River-Defying Sect.
Although they would still be just as powerful as before, there would surely be schisms and divisions in the near future.
Li Qinghou’s eyes were completely bloodshot, and he radiated icy killing intent as he shot through the air.
The Heavenhorn ink dragon was feeling very nervous, and didn’t dare to say much. All it could do was lead the way as quickly as possible. Soon, they were within the 5,000-kilometer area that was affected by the toad’s rampage. Before the Heavenhorn ink dragon could even comment, intense booms could be heard, and mountains could be seen collapsing. The ground was shaking violently, and countless birds and beasts were dying. The patriarchs and legacy echelon cultivators all gasped.
“What’s going on!?!?”
Shocked, and even more nervous than before, the group headed forward at top speed.