Bai Xiaochun’s heart immediately began to race. He could feel, not just Mistress Red-Dust’s cultivation base, but the cultivation bases of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Furthermore, this was Arch-Emperor City, the most important location within the Wildlands. Bai Xiaochun was shaking inwardly, shocked at how unreasonable this Mistress Red-Dust was being. In fact, she and her father seemed completely muleheaded…. All he wanted to do was leave, and she wasn’t going to let him?
“Don’t tell me she's trying to goad me into making a break for it? And then she’ll use that as an excuse to kill me? If things played out that way, then I'm afraid even his highness the king wouldn’t be able to complain.” His eyes widened, and his demeanor on the outside seemed just as stubborn as before. But inside, he was considering that he might need to just give in and spend a bit of time in the army camp. After all, as the saying went… a wise man knows when to back down when the odds are against him!
Even as he stood there trying to decide what to do, the Giant Ghost King finally responded to the repeated messages he had been sending. He first offered a few words of comfort, and then said that it was all a big misunderstanding, and that he would talk things over with his daughter.
Having received the response, Bai Xiaochun finally felt a bit more at ease, and decided that he couldn’t let an ounce of fear show.
“It was fairly recently that three heavenly kings and numerous nobles and aristocrats from the imperial city all tried to set a trap for me in the Necromancer Kettle, the purpose being to prevent me from getting the ghost king fruit. I went in alone and captured all of the heirs apparent and chosen, including the Junior Champion King, heir apparent of the War Champion King, Prince Zhou Hong, heir of the Nine Serenities King, and Spirit Advent City’s Princess Xu Shan…. I even did the same to the second prince! I completely dominated the Necromancer Kettle, and nobody could dare say a thing about it!
“Back in his highness the king’s decay period, the deva patriarchs of the Chen, Bai and Cai Clans all tried to chase me down and kill both me and his highness the king. They were joined by a host of Nascent Soul experts, and yet with me to protect the king, he made it safely to the end of his decay period! I escaped every deadly situation I faced in Giant Ghost City, and not even three devas could do anything about me!
“If you don’t like me and want to kill me, Zhou Zimo, then say the word. There’s no need for this disgraceful attempt to humiliate me. And there’s even less need to try to keep me locked up in this camp. I, Bai Hao, am a force to be reckoned with wherever I go. In the big wide world out there, I am like a fish that can become a dragon at any moment. When I flap my wings, I soar to the highest heavens and beyond! Under no circumstances will I allow myself to be the subject of bullying!” His words echoed out like thunder for everyone in the camp to hear, and made it clear that he was the type of person who was not to be trifled with.
Inside of the red command tent, Mistress Red-Dust could be seen frowning. The truth was that she really did want to see Bai Hao dead, but couldn’t really do that because of her father. One reason for it all was the fact that the matter had been arranged without her knowledge, and another was the fact that she didn’t believe that a lowly person like this deserved to have her father’s ear.
However, when it came to the arranged marriage, there was actually a reason why she did want to keep Bai Hao around.
Whether it was in terms of her beauty or her powerful cultivation base, she was one of the blazing suns of the Wildlands, and was the subject of pursuit by countless handsome elites. Of course, she completely ignored the advances of nearly every single one of them. There were only two that she would have a hard time refusing, one being the grand prince, and the other being the Grand Heavenmaster’s highest ranking apprentice, Ouyang Song.
They were also devas, and had very high positions. Despite the fact that she didn’t really like them, she wasn’t in a position to reject them outright. Therefore, if she kept Bai Hao around, she would have a good excuse to avoid them. Plus, if fights broke out between the men, Bai Hao would probably get killed, and she wouldn’t have to do anything.
Her original plan had been to simply intimidate him and then force him to stay in the camp. Never could she have imagined that the seemingly weak and timid Bai Hao would be able to ignore all of the pressure weighing down on him and even fight back with biting words. In fact, not only were his words biting, they contained so much truth that there was nothing she could say in response.
Besides, her father the Giant Ghost King had just sent her a message. First, he had offered some consoling words, and then had said some nice things about Bai Hao. He had also discreetly explained the matter about the restrictive spell.
At this point, Mistress Red-Dust sighed. After communicating back and forth with her father quickly, the two of them came to an agreement. Bai Hao had to stay in the army camp, but only for three months. After that, he would be free to go.
During that time, she would guarantee that nothing untoward happened to him.
Mistress Red-Dust’s secret hope for that plan was that, during the three months, all of the elites who were pursuing her in the imperial city would come to hear that her father had officially arranged for a Daoist partner for her. Although they would realize that she wasn’t happy about the situation, when Bai Hao went back to Giant Ghost City three months later, he would take the hatred of her suitors with him. In the end, she would have the perfect shield to keep them at bay.
Dealing with matters related to his daughter’s romantic relationships was a big headache for the Giant Ghost King. After comforting her, he sent some appeasing words to Bai Xiaochun, and then washed his hands of the matter.
When all was said and done, Bai Xiaochun realized that he really didn’t have any choice in the matter. After all, of the two people he was dealing with, one was a deva and the other was a demigod.
“Trying to use me as a shield, huh? Like father, like daughter. Scoundrels both!”
With the matter resolved, Mistress Red-Dust reigned in her killing intent, and dissipated the pressure weighing down on the army camp. As for Bai Xiaochun, he sighed and followed the female guard to his quarters.
He was placed in a relatively remote location, which he didn’t mind at all. Once inside, he sat down cross-legged and sighed despondently about the situation.
“I, Bai Xiaochun, am a majestic major general. I even fought Mistress Red-Dust once. But thanks to a freak combination of factors, I ended up in the Wildlands as Mistress Red-Dust’s Daoist partner, and her shield….
“How did things end up like this? And then there’s that Giant Ghost King, the villain. He and Mistress Red-Dust are both scoundrels…. I guess there are just too many bad people in this world, and that pure, honest people like myself are just destined to be at a disadvantage.” Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Bai Xiaochun mused that although he wasn’t their match in terms of cultivation base, when it came to morals, he definitely occupied vastly higher ground.
“Well, at least in terms of my safety, the fact that the restrictive spell is still in place will keep Mistress Red-Dust in check to some extent. She definitely won’t let me get killed. Three months…. Fudge! I’ll just hang in there. It's only three months, right?!” Gritting his teeth, he contemplated the fact that he just wasn’t strong enough. He really needed to get more powerful so that he could just ignore Mistress Red-Dust if he felt like it. That way he could come and go as he pleased.
“I need to conjure some flame!” With that, his eyes began to shine brightly, and he decided that for the next three months, he would keep his head down and avoid provoking anyone. He wouldn't leave the army camp; instead he would conjure a sixteen-colored flame and use it to improve his cultivation base. He needed battle prowess that could put devas in their place.