“It looks like he was in early Foundation Establishment.... Doesn’t look like he was teleported here from the labyrinth. More like a local soul cultivator. Seems like he was fleeing for his life from somebody or something.” Bai Xiaochun wasn’t too worried about that fact. After all, he had already been laying in one place for about half a month without anyone passing by.
As time passed, and Bai Xiaochun continued to watch the corpse rotting away, he picked up on more and more clues.
“Doesn’t seem like a rogue cultivator. Must be from some local cultivator clan....”
“I remember looking at him right before he died. He looked haggard, and defiant. He must have had some aspirations in life that he never fulfilled....”
“Seems pretty young. Smart and good-looking, although not as much as me.”
He often muttered things like this to himself. After all, as he was slowly recovering, he literally had nothing to do except study the corpse.
When he got tired, he would go back to sleep. Eventually, two months later, he was excited to discover that he could move again. The first thing he did was crawl over one of the animals that had been killed because of the Eternal Parasol.
He devoured the entire thing in a single mouthful.
Over the course of the past two months, he had become so hungry he could barely see straight. That was compounded by the fact that his recovery was rapidly emptying him out. Therefore, he ate all of the nearby animals in a single sitting. He even ate the tiny birds, feathers and all.
The more he ate, the warmer he felt, and the more energy he had. In the end, after devouring everything in sight, he rubbed the back of his neck and finally felt alive again.
“I’m back!!” he yelled excitedly. It was a wonderful feeling to escape with one’s life against all odds. As he thought back to everything which had happened in the labyrinth, it truly felt as if he had ended up stepping halfway through the gates of the underworld.
Sighing, he walked over to the corpse.
“Thank you for keeping me company these past two months, my brother,” he said softly. “I guess it was fate that we met here. If I ever have the chance, I’ll do my best to pay you back.” Reaching down, he picked up the bag of holding lying next to the corpse.
Meanwhile, on a barren mountain some distance away from the jungle, someone was sitting cross-legged in meditation, in a cave.
There were seven or eight corpses laid out in front of him, all of them belonging to Foundation Establishment cultivators. They were little more than skin and bones, with their flesh and blood having been absorbed.
Eventually, the cross-legged figure’s eyes opened, although instead of shining brightly, they glimmered with faded life, as if this person had received significant injuries. Ignoring the corpses, he rubbed his forehead and gritted his teeth.
“Even if you’re dead, Bai Xiaochun, one of these days I’ll pay you back for the humiliation you brought upon me. I’ll avenge myself upon your friends and family, a thousand times over!”
He was none other than... Zhou Yixing!
1. Early descriptions of the lands of Heavenspan refer to how the areas between the rivers are devoid of spiritual energy. I think that the idea is that those areas are within the Great Wall, and are more like “dead zones” as opposed to being part of the Wildlands. If anyone remembers any specific passages which seem to contradict this, or contradict the description in this chapter, please let me know so that I can go back to clarify and adjust the narrative.
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Chapter
565: Necromancers!
Bai Xiaochun stood there in the jungle, holding the bag of holding and looking down at the corpse of the young man. For some reason, he really felt as if it had been destiny which teleported him to this location, where this corpse had accompanied him for two months. He sighed.
“Allow me to give you a proper burial, my brother.” Bai Xiaochun could tell that he was recovering rapidly now. However, his spiritual power was still so depleted that he couldn’t even open his bag of holding.
Therefore, he used the Eternal Parasol to dig a pit, into which he lowered the corpse of the young man.
Patting the soil he had filled the grave back in with, he said, “Don’t worry, in a few more days I should have enough spiritual power built up to open your bag of holding. Then we can see what's inside, and maybe I’ll even learn your name. Then I can put up a proper grave marker for you.”
Then he walked back over to the tree he had spent the last two months under and sat down cross-legged to try out some breathing exercises.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t any spiritual power in this part of the Wildlands, so he was forced to rely only on the restorative powers of his own body, and the bits of spiritual energy which had built up in his flesh and blood over the years.
A few days passed. It was early evening, but because of the darkness that blanketed the jungle floor, it seemed like the middle of the night. As Bai Xiaochun sat there meditating, he slowly opened his eyes, and a brief flicker of light could be seen.
“Got some spiritual power back!” His heart was pounding with excitement. After all, he was in a strange land bereft of spiritual power, and that left him feeling very uneasy. Panting a bit, he slapped his bag of holding, which flashed with light as a bottle flew out.
It was a bottle of spirit alcohol!
He excitedly poured the spirit alcohol down his throat, whereupon it turned into warm currents that flowed through his qi passageways in a very pleasing fashion. He was like a dried, parched land that was finally receiving rain, and it caused prickling sensations to fill him.
“That’s the feeling!” he murmured, tears welling up in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he rotated his cultivation base, not allowing a bit of the spiritual power from the spirit alcohol to go to waste.
A few hours later, Bai Xiaochun was laughing madly, his eyes glittering at the small fraction of spiritual power which he had built up, which was only about five percent of his total limit. Although it was only a small amount, it was enough to open his bag of holding numerous times.
Therefore, he opened the bag again to pull out a dozen or so bottles of spirit alcohol, consumed them all, and then sat quietly to perform breathing exercises. For the following three days, rumbling sounds filled him as spiritual power poured through his body.
On the afternoon of the third day, Bai Xiaochun opened his eyes, and tears flowed out.
“I’ve finally recovered completely!! Man, that was hard! Whether it’s in terms of body or cultivation base, I'm back to normal!! You just wait for Lord Bai to get his hands on you, Granny Red-Dust!!” Laughing loudly, he stood up and assessed his spiritual power levels. To his delight, he found that he was actually a bit stronger than before.
Thanks to the deadly battle he had fought, his position within the great circle of the Gold Core stage had advanced, both in terms of fleshly body power and cultivation base.
In fact, when it came to his fleshly body, he felt more than ever that he was on the verge of being able to break through the next shackle!
He couldn’t help but sigh, especially when he thought back to how closely he had brushed with death during his fight with Mistress Red-Dust.
Taking a deep breath, he looked around a bit, which was when his excitement began to wane, and he even started to feel a bit anxious.
“I don’t even have any idea where I am in the Wildlands. Wherever I am, it’s too dangerous here. I need to get back to the Great Wall.” Now that he thought about it, if any of the soul cultivators or savages found out that he was Bai Xiaochun, they would surely skin him alive.
The mere thought of what that would be like left him shivering. Finally, he looked over at the simple grave he had erected, and finally decided to open the bag of holding that had belonged to the young man.