He didn't stay very long in the Shuiyue Clan. As evening fell, the cautious and respectful clan members threw a big ceremony. Later, Bai Xiaochun strutted out of the clan, then flew up into the air. A few hours later, he was getting close to the Luochen Mountains.
By now, the idea of finally going home surged strong in his heart. Taking a deep breath, he sped toward the mountains, carefully sending divine sense ahead of him to scan the path. Soon, he realized that there was something different about the mountains.
There was a strange aura lurking within them, something that caused Bai Xiaochun’s heart to jitter fearfully.
“What’s going on...?” he thought. More cautious than ever, he proceeded along until it was late in the night. At that point, he was nearing a ravine that led into the mountain range, and that was when he saw something completely shocking.
A faintly glowing screen of light was visible, stretching high up into the heavens, almost like a gigantic wall!
That wall of light rose up from the mountains, climbing as far as the eye could see, completely separating the territory of the Spirit Stream Sect and the Blood Stream Sect. There was no need for Bai Xiaochun to perform any tests to determine how powerful that wall was. He was sure that if he tried to force his way through it, he would instantly be destroyed in body and soul.
Face flickering, he confirmed that the shield wall contained the fluctuations of Spirit Stream Sect magic.
“The Luochen Mountains are the Spirit Stream Sect’s strongest defense against the Blood Stream Sect!” Heart trembling, he thought back to some of the rumors he'd heard about the Luochen Mountains when he was in the Spirit Stream Sect.
Supposedly, the mountains formed the main line of defense that had been erected by the Spirit Stream Sect 10,000 years ago.
“Back in the Blood Stream Sect, I didn't get the sense that much was happening in the outside world. But the truth is that the war has reached the point that this shocking shield has already been put up. That’s very telling.” After a moment of thought, Bai Xiaochun approached the ravine, then turned back and looked in the direction of the Blood Stream Sect.
A long moment passed. Finally, he checked the area to make sure he was alone, then took a deep breath and slowly reached up and put his hand on his face. After a pause, he removed the mask, revealing his true facial features!
He put the mask away and waved his sleeve to dispel the bloody aura of the Blood Stream Sect. Then he pulled in all the fluctuations of his Undying Live Forever Technique. A moment later, the aura of the Violet Qi Heavenspan Incantation erupted from his spiritual seas, and he began to walk toward the light shield.
When he made contact with the shield, a shocking presence gripped him, something that left him feeling icy and numb. From the feeling he got, he could be wiped out at any moment. He immediately stopped in place, unmoving, his anxiety mounting.
After a few breaths worth of time passed, the icy presence slowly faded away, and he could move again. Taking a step forward, he passed through the shield.
“I doubt that was the divine sense of one of the patriarchs,” he thought. “It was probably the formation automaton of this spell formation!” Fear lingered in his heart as he looked back at the shield. Taking a deep breath, he looked around at vegetation that was no longer crimson, but rather, lush and emerald green.
The feeling he got was completely different than the Blood Stream Sect. Here, he could sense the aura of the Spirit Stream Sect!
“Bai Xiaochun is back!” he murmured. With that, he blurred into motion, flying through the air and simultaneously unleashing the Violet Qi Heavenspan Incantation. As he did, violet light shone out around him, filling the area with the same color.
His third eye opened on his forehead, and his view of the world suddenly became brighter and more colorful. Now that he didn’t need to conceal his techniques, he performed an incantation gesture and pointed out, drawing on Violet Qi Cauldron Summoning. Heaven and earth shook as he waved his sleeve, causing water vapor to roil about, which was the Waterswamp Kingdom.
He threw his head back and laughed uproariously. The feeling of not having to be worried about anything filled him with joy. The pressure and mixed emotions he had felt in the Blood Stream Sect were now gone, and he began to think about everyone he knew in the Spirit Stream Sect.
“Uncle Li, Big Fatty Zhang, Hou Xiaomei, Hou Yunfei, Xu Baocai, Elder Brother sect leader, Bruiser. I'm back!!” Spirits high, he shot through the air at top speed.
Eventually he stopped to rest a bit, and pulled out the turtle-wok. The mere sight of it left him sighing deeply.
“I didn't dare to use it in the Blood Stream Sect. But now, I can finally perform fourfold spirit enhancements!!” Bai Xiaochun was very excited about the prospect. He had already collected plenty of material to create four-colored flame, and therefore, didn't waste any time.
Without any hesitation, he took out all of his magical items and began to perform spirit enhancements. He was especially excited to enhance his signature little wooden sword. After the enhancement, it didn’t look like wood anymore, but rather, gold!
As for the Golden Crow Sword, it didn’t change very much, but the light that shone off of it was more dazzling than before. Before long, almost all of his magical items had been enhanced.
As for the lamp that the Song Clan patriarch had given him, he enhanced that too. As the silver designs glittered on its surface, he held it in his hand, and his soul trembled. The fluctuations coming off of the lamp were terrifying to the extreme.
“I'm so powerful I even frighten myself!” he thought, eyebrows dancing up and down. After carefully putting the lamp away, he savored the experience of proceeding along back to the Spirit Stream Sect.
At one point, he suddenly recalled the little turtle, which he pulled out of his bag of holding, then shook back and forth a bit to produce the usual knocking sounds.
After playing around with it for a bit, he found to his surprise that he could actually grab the tail and stretch it out. When he let go, it would snap back into place with a twang.
“Wow, you can do that!? he said, shocked. He tried the same thing with the turtle’s limbs, and even the head, and they all did the same thing.
He even tried throwing it down, and found that the little turtle could actually be used like a weapon. After finding some boulders, he threw the turtle at them, and they shattered. The little turtle, however, wasn’t even scratched in the process.
Bai Xiaochun was starting to get the feeling that this was no simple turtle. As he made his way back to the Spirit Stream Sect, he would often shake it, stretch it, and throw it around. A few days later, he suddenly realized that a faint aroma was emanating out from the turtle.
It was hard to detect, but after inhaling it, Bai Xiaochun found that his cultivation base suddenly stirred. Then he rotated it, and large amounts of spiritual energy from the area rushed toward him, causing his spiritual seas to emanate shocking fluctuations.
“Whoa!” he exclaimed. He tried to reproduce the effect, but failed. However, after examination, he realized that brief rotation of his cultivation base had resulted in the same progress it would normally take him a month of meditation to produce.
Gasping, he looked closer at the little turtle.
“Don’t tell me this really is the relic of eternal indestructibility...?” he thought, heart thumping in his chest. After thinking about all the marvelous aspects of the little turtle, he once again gently shook it back and forth in his hand.