All sorts of questions poured out of their mouths, and after each one, they would cast sidelong glances at the gravekeeper. As long as he didn’t say anything, they could continue the discussion along related subjects.
Eventually, it was with a bit of a begrudging expression that the gravekeeper offered some more advice. Every time he did, Bai Xiaochun and Bai Hao were thrilled. Slowly but surely, all of their issues were being resolved.
With the help of the gravekeeper, Bai Xiaochun’s skill in flame conjuring slowly improved, and Bai Hao’s understanding of the theories involved grew more profound. In fact, Bai Hao seemed to benefit even more than Bai Xiaochun. Everything the gravekeeper said seemed to strike him like lightning, leaving him more confident, and his formulas more complete.
Eventually, he realized that what he was doing was very specific and unique. The formulas he was creating were all based on Bai Xiaochun’s cultivation base, divine sense, and strong suits.
In all of the Wildlands, Bai Xiaochun would be the only person who would actually be able to use this formula to concoct flame.
Another few months sped by. Bai Xiaochun was completely immersed in his flame conjuring research, as was Bai Hao. Although they still took time to rest when necessary, they worked so hard that Bai Xiaochun’s skill grew significantly on a daily basis!
Master and apprentice both advanced by leaps and bounds in a very short period of time. It was almost impossible to describe how much they were benefiting. And although no expression could be seen on the gravekeeper’s face, deep within his eyes was a gleam of a smile. He appeared to be ignoring Bai Xiaochun and Bai Hao, but the truth was that he was actually paying more attention to them than to his fishing.
As Master and apprentice discussed various matters, it was impossible for Bai Hao to hide the reverence and love in his eyes. At the same time, it was also impossible for Bai Xiaochun to disguise how much he cared for his apprentice. When the gravekeeper saw that, the smile deep within his eyes grew wider.
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Chapter
815: Advancing By Leaps And Bounds
Time became a blur as several months passed. The better part of a year had now passed since Bai Xiaochun came to the Underworld River Restricted Area, and most of that time, he and his apprentice had been completely immersed in their flame conjuring research. In fact, neither of them really had any idea how much time had passed.
During the day, they would discuss nineteen-colored flame, and during the evening, they would hurry over to the bank of the Underworld River to continue their discussion in the presence of the gravekeeper, making sure to emphasize all of the difficult areas they had been unable to resolve earlier.
Sometimes the gravekeeper wouldn’t help them with a certain issue. But when that happened, they would continue to chatter about the matter until he gave in and offered some advice.
Both Bai Xiaochun and Bai Hao experienced an increase in their flame conjuring skill, and also grew more confident when it came to nineteen-colored flame. That was especially true of Bai Hao, who knew that he was just on the verge of producing the formula.
As for Bai Xiaochun, he was so immersed in the process that… he knew that as soon as the formula appeared, he would be able to conjure a nineteen-colored flame immediately!
In the past, Bai Xiaochun could never have imagined that he would reach the point of being able to conjure nineteen-colored flame so quickly after mastering eighteen-colored flame. Despite his strong faith in Bai Hao, he had assumed the process would take years.
Nineteen-colored flame was even more rare than eighteen-colored flame. In fact, it was possible to say that while eighteen-colored flame might occasionally be seen at huge auctions in the Wildlands, as for nineteen-colored flame… it only came around once in a hundred years!
For all intents and purposes, nineteen-colored flame was a thing of the past. Any such flames which currently existed would have been conjured by previous generations of earthly necromancers and then hidden away like buried treasure.
Currently, there were only three people in the Wildlands who could conjure eighteen-colored flame. Of those three, two were actually stuck at that level, with only one of them ever having succeed with nineteen-colored flame!
From this it was possible to see how incredibly rare nineteen-colored flames were!
If Bai Xiaochun succeeded, and word spread out into the Wildlands, it would cause a major stir. In fact, it might even cause a greater stir than when he had reached the earthly rank. That mere thought got him even more excited than before.
After all, never before in history had an earthly necromancer made progress as quickly as Bai Xiaochun was right now!
However, he wasn't really thinking about such things at the moment, nor did he have time to feel pleased with himself. He was completely focused on nineteen-colored flame, to the exclusion of almost everything else.
By now, Zhou Yixing, Wu Dao, and the others present were used to seeing Bai Xiaochun muttering to himself on the banks of the Underworld River. Occasionally, people would go eavesdrop, but all they would hear was talk of nineteen-colored flame, most of which was unintelligible even to necromancers such as Zhou Yixing.
Thanks to Bai Xiaochun’s mask, Wu Dao didn’t even notice Bai Hao. The better part of a year passed, and talk of Bai Xiaochun’s escapades within Arch-Emperor City was finally starting to die down.
Of course, all it took was for someone to mention necromancers, or heavenly marquises and dukes, or for someone to say the name of Bai Hao, and it would be easy to see how much he had shaken the city.
During the time which passed, there were certain people in Arch-Emperor City who continued to scheme against him. After all, their hatred for him was not something that would easily dissipate because of a bit of time passing.
That was especially true because… the Grand Heavenmaster continued to enforce the Proclamation of Universal Grace throughout the Wildlands. Slowly but surely, things were stabilizing. Unless something very drastic happened… it would only take a few more years for the very structure of the Arch-Emperor Dynasty to completely change!
No one could say for sure whether that change would be a good thing for the dynasty, or a bad thing. Although the influential clans had seemingly been dismembered, the truth was that the constant struggles of the bastard children and the common people showed… that the Wildlands’ overall battle prowess was as formidable as ever.
There were some people, for example those from the direct bloodlines of important clans, who were becoming more desperate than ever to do something to Bai Xiaochun. However… whenever they tried to send people into the Underworld River Restricted Area, those people went missing!
Not even Wu Dao and his men were aware of that fact. They didn’t even know people had infiltrated the area. If they didn’t know, there was even less need to mention Zhou Yixing or even Bai Xiaochun. No one had any idea how many people had come to the Underworld River Restricted Area to harm Bai Xiaochun, only to vanish.
That was quite a shock to the people who had been plotting against him, and soon none of them dared to do anything further.
No one disturbed Bai Xiaochun as he worked on his flame conjuring. Several more months went by. One night, a look of excitement lit up Bai Hao's face.
Bai Xiaochun was also so excited he was trembling.
“It worked!! Master, we did it!! We created the formula for nineteen-colored flame!! This formula belongs to you and you alone, Master. Even with the formula, no one else would be able to conjure this type of nineteen-colored flame. It's yours, Master!”
Not only was Bai Xiaochun excited, he also knew that the past year had been one of drastic progress in flame conjuring skill. And of course, the main reason for it all was the help of the gravekeeper.