“With so many people going in to look for Elder Brother Zhao and Elder Sister Chen, they should be fine. So I really, really hope they don’t pick me.” After sighing all the way back to the garrison, he sat in his quarters, brooding.
“They’d better not pick me to go into that labyrinth. As soon as the Wildlanders see me they’ll definitely go crazy. Plus, considering how far away from the Great Wall that place is, there might even be cultivators from the five legions who get greedy for the bounty!” The mere thought of the wild reward Mistress Red-Dust had put up for his head, and how numerous cultivators from the five legions had turned to look at him in that moment, caused his heart to grow cold with dread. But then he thought about how Zhao Tianjiao and Chen Yueshan were basically in trouble because of a situation he had caused, and he grew even more anxious.
Before long, the light of dawn filled the sky. However, Bai Xiaochun wasn’t in the mood to go out and do anything. Instead, he stayed inside to fret and pray about the roster.
Meanwhile, Chen Hetian sat grim-faced in the pagoda beneath the huge eye, his mood one of anxiety and regret. After all, if he hadn’t sent his apprentice and daughter into the necropolis, events wouldn’t be playing out the way they were.
His daughter and apprentice had gone through a dangerous mission in the Wildlands, and were coming back safely when he ordered them into further danger. The mere thought of it caused his heart to prickle with pain. Thankfully, his daughter’s life slip was still intact. Furthermore, he had given her a handful of precious treasures to protect herself. Therefore, he wasn’t completely overwhelmed with worry.
He had only agreed to let the two of them go out into the Wildlands after careful consideration and deliberation. He had been worried about them the entire time, and only relaxed a bit when he found that they were on their way back safely.
Never could he have imagined that things would turn out like they did.
He hadn’t revealed the entire truth of the situation to Bai Lin and the generals. Zhao Tianjiao and Chen Yueshan had been in the middle of fleeing from some Wildlands soul cultivators when they stumbled into a restrictive spell that unleashed the eight pillars of light. Only then, when the mountains were crumbling and the earth was shaking violently, did the entrance to the labyrinth appear.
Furthermore, a gravitational force had appeared, which sucked everyone inside. Zhao Tianjiao had only been able to send one quick message out before being cut off, words filled with terror and alarm: “This labyrinth is a land of ghosts! It opens in the evening and closes in the morning....”
“The labyrinth is a land of ghosts....” Chen Hetian had murmured. After the Wildlands army retreated, he vanished for a few hours, which was when he personally went to the location of the labyrinth.
He had even tentatively entered. However, once inside, he realized that not only was the place huge, but there was also something about it that rapidly suppressed his divine sense down to a very limited state. Clearly, there was no way that he alone would be able to search for and find his daughter and apprentice.
Plus, in the short time he had been inside, he had seen things which caused fear to rise up even in him. However, the realization that his daughter and apprentice could be killed at any moment filled Chen Hetian with immense anxiety.
Thus, he had made his agreement with Bai Lin and the other generals. Considering the level of Chen Hetian’s cultivation base, he didn’t care too much about a deva soul. Therefore, for the sake of his daughter and apprentice, he recruited the help of the legions to search the labyrinth.
If he had been in the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect instead of the Great Wall, he could have mustered 3,000,000 cultivators with ease. But he was dealing with the five legions of the Hall of Steel Veins, which answered to the demigod patriarch. When it came to the security of the Great Wall, 30,000 cultivators wasn’t a small number. But the wall could still be manned in their absence, and therefore, a deal had been reached.
Currently, Chen Hetian held a jade slip, within which were the records regarding all of the cultivators in the five legions. Included in the information was a detailed description of each cultivator’s cultivation base, as well as what skills and techniques they were adept with.
As Chen Hetian browsed through the records, he selected one cultivator after another to join the mission.
Most of the cultivators he selected were in the Core Formation stage, skilled with the use of divine sense, and very quick.
He also selected some Nascent Soul cultivators, but was limited in the total number he could pick, and was thus being very choosy.
Before long, the list of 30,000 was almost complete, which was when Chen Hetian’s divine sense locked down onto one name in particular.
“Bai Xiaochun....” he muttered. Bai Xiaochun had only joined the Skin Flayers because of a chance series of events, and had only been a member for a few years. To cultivators, that was a fairly short period of time, and yet, there were plenty of records regarding his accomplishments, many of which came from when he had been unexpectedly sucked out onto the battlefield.
For one thing, he was noted for his incredible speed.
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Chapter
536: Intolerable Bullying!
Chen Hetian paused when he got to Bai Xiaochun’s name. Bai Xiaochun had become very important to the Great Wall in the short time since he had joined the Skin Flayers, and Chen Hetian knew that. Furthermore, he was aware of the close friendship between him and Zhao Tianjiao.
Of course, when evening fell, it wouldn’t just be Chen Hetian and 30,000 cultivators showing up outside the labyrinth. There would be a host of Wildlands savages and soul cultivators....
Deva souls were just as precious to the Wildlanders, who could use them to add extra power to their secret magics. Because of that, Chen Hetian was worried about the Wildlanders contending for the deva soul.
However, of even more concern was the fact that the more soul cultivators and savages who entered the labyrinth, the more likely they would be to encounter his apprentice and disciple.
Therefore, Chen Hetian wanted someone in the labyrinth whom the Wildlanders would be especially drawn to, upon whom they could focus their killing intent. He wanted someone who the Wildlanders would specifically want to track down....
And there was no one who met those requirements more perfectly than Bai Xiaochun.... The Wildlanders hated Bai Xiaochun with a vengeance, and the instant they saw him, would definitely try to chase him down and kill him. After all, the reward on his head was for a complete set of five elements deva beast souls, which was something no one in the Wildlands could remain ambivalent about.
For all intents and purposes, any Wildlander who went into the labyrinth without very specific orders to the contrary would most likely choose to try to hunt down and kill Bai Xiaochun.
Bai Xiaochun’s mere presence would attract the attention of all the Wildlands forces. Not only would that make things safer for other Great Wall cultivators, but it would increase their chances of getting the deva soul.
“Bai Xiaochun....” Chen Hetian murmured, his eyes glittering. The truth was that the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect had long since been working on a way to crack the secret of the Soul Convergence Pill.
Such pills were far too important to the sect to be controlled by any one person. Of course, Bai Xiaochun had also been kept in the dark, to prevent any frustration or defiance on his part.