A Thought Through Eternity

Their terror was such that their souls practically left and scattered*[1], and their panic reached its pinnacle. In the centre of the gale, their bodies resembled a lone boat amidst raging waves, and in an instant, their bodies were pushed with a strength strong enough to topple mountains and overturn seas. Facing this monstrous force, the duo fell back involuntarily, spurting out fresh blood uncontrollably as they retreated.

The female disciple was bleeding from all seven apertures of the head: the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth; her body seemed to resemble a shuddering sieve. The moment she retreated, her eyes turned bloodshot, and her body was ultimately unable to withstand the crushing force of this imposing power, and unexpectedly, she let out a mournful blood-curdling scream. Instantaneously, her eyeballs raptured, her skull burst, and her body exploded!

Her entire body instantly became a blood mist as it drifted into the distance.

"No!" The male disciple whose entire body was incessantly spurting blood was dumbstruck. It was as if the whole world turned black in a blink of an eye, and he let out a mournful scream. Never in his dreams would he have imagined that the person he provoked would unexpectedly be this much of a ... indescribable person that defies the heavens.

This kind of imposing air, this kind of oppressive power; he had only ever seen it upon the body of a sect elder. Seeing this kind of oppressive power on a Qi Condensation disciple was unprecedented. Even if it was their sect’s strongest Heaven’s Chosen, Fang Lin, he too wouldn’t be able to do so!

“The information is wrong! The information our sect has on him is completely wrong!!”

"Please don\'t kill me! I..." the male disciple pleaded, crying as his body incessantly trembled. His mind was on the verge of collapse. He didn\'t want to die; he was extremely afraid and terrified. However, before he could finish speaking, Bai Xiaochun’s figure came close. Bai Xiaochun headed towards the male disciple with extreme speed, appearing before him in an instant. He then raised his right hand, grasping the neck of the blood-covered youth from the Pill Creek Sect.

“Ah... My Nephew Zhou didn\'t want to die, I too, do not wish to kill people.” Bai Xiaochun muttered. He was not a person of camaraderie or brotherhood, his heart belonged only to Spirit Creek Sect.

Regardless of what happened, he would always side with Spirit Creek Sect, because that was his home! *[2]

Bai Xiaochun’s right hand viciously clamped down. A moment later, the sound of an explosion echoed out; the neck of the Pill Creek Sect youth was completely crushed. The disciple’s eyes bulged, his legs flailed for an instant, and after a few breaths, he died!

The surroundings slowly quietened, and Bai Xiaochun loosened his grip; returning to the South Bank disciple\'s corpse side. He sighed softly.

“Zhou Youdao, I will send you back to the Sect.” Bai Xiaochun said quietly. Once he removed the Dao Bottle, he placed Zhou Youdao’s body within the storage pouch; with the rest of his possessions left untouched.

The Pill Creek Sect’s disciples, however, had all their possessions looted by Bai Xiaochun. Eventually when Bai Xiaochun was a fair distance away, he condensed the grey liquid from the four Dao Bottles. The combined total of the four disciples, compared to the previous amount Bai Xiaochun alone had, filled up half the Dao Bottle.

Likewise, Bai Xiaochun finally got to look at the introduction that the Pill Creek Sect disciples had on him within the information jade slip

“Spirit Creek Sect’s Bai Xiaochun: suspected to be a genius in the way of medicine, and possibly the person behind Spirit Creek Sect’s Turtle medicine symbol. His techniques are unknown and his battle strength is vague; strong at times, other times weak. He is believed to be in possession of many treasures, and suspectedly, Gui Ya conceded in his battle against Bai Xiaochun to hide his strength, hence, Bai Xiaochun became number one in the Heaven’s Chosen War. Compared to his indistinct battle strength, his medicinal skills are the main focus. When fighting against this person, bring two people to encircle him and attack.”

Bai Xiaochun didn’t know how Pill Creek Sect got their information, and after seeing it, he was even more curious about Mysterious Creek Sect’s and Blood Creek Sect’s information of him. Following this, Bai Xiaochun turned around and walked away, only staying for a short period of time.

Four hours later, a youth with an expressionless face walked over. This youth was Pill Creek Sect’s number one Heaven’s Chosen, Fang Lin. The moment he saw the condition of the area, his eyes glimmered as he carefully inspected the place.

Not long after he stood where Bai Xiaochun bellowed, with eyes closed as if in thought, his expression swiftly changed; when his eyes abruptly opened, he was breathing rapidly.

“So strong!”

“Who was it… Song Que, Gui Ya, or was it Jiu Dao?” Fang Lin sucked in a deep breath, a desire to fight slowly appeared in his eyes. After looking around, his gaze stopped at a particular direction. This direction was the exact same direction that Bai Xiaochun had left for. Fang Lin\'s eyes glimmered as he muttered to himself. Unwilling to make contact with Bai Xiaochun at this moment, he switched to another direction.

After 4 hours, another figure arrived. It was a big man who had thunder and fire encircling his whole body, and his figure was huge and towering. The man stood and inspected the area, and after some time, a spirited look slowly appeared in his eyes whilst his chest heaved.

“It’s not Song Que, and it’s also not Jiu Dao. Could it be Gui Ya? Damn it! I don’t want to provoke any of these three!” This burly man was precisely Mysterious Creek Sect’s Lei Shan. He scanned his surroundings and hesitated for a bit. He was unsure in which direction the person who released the terrifying pressure went. Lei Shan clenched his teeth and picked a direction to run towards to.

This direction was exactly the same direction that Bai Xiaochun left for.

Time passed quickly, and in the span of three days, a large number of people passed through this area. Some people could figure out what happened, and these people were endlessly shocked; there were also others who didn’t sense anything and left quickly.

This scene continued until the evening of the third day. Song Que slowly walked over, and his footsteps paused when he walked passed this area. Although most of the marks in this area had dissipated, he immediately sensed that something was wrong. Squatting down, he pressed his right hand to the ground. After a long period of time, a spirited look flashed through his eyes.

“This pressure...isn’t Jiu Dao’s. It isn’t Fang Lin’s either, and definitely isn’t Gui Ya’s. In that case, it can only be… Bai Xiaochun’s!”

Song Que narrowed his eyes and his body blurred as he ran into the distance. At the same time, Bai Xiaochun’s speed during these three days within the Sword World was rather fast. Each time he encountered a Earthen Pulse Fiend Beast, he would immediately make a move and collect the Earthen Pulse Qi.

The grey liquid within the Dao Bottle had slowly accumulated. However, the disparity between the current amount and the forming of the Earthen Pulse Qi Attractor was still far too large. Although the Earthen Pulse Qi obtained from killing a Fiend Beast here was much greater than previously, almost all of the time and energy which was expended was wasted on scouring the area for Fiend Beasts.

Additionally, the Earthen Pulse Fiend Beasts here seemed to dwell between reality and illusion; they could merge into the nothingness in order to hide their tracks. Everytime he made a move on the Fiend Beasts, they would disappear and reappear at random. Were it not for Bai Xiaochun’s sharp senses, it would be extremely difficult to detect them.

The bodies of the Earthen Pulse Fiend Beasts would only appear from the nothingness whenever he approached them, If he didn’t approach them, he would be unable to detect their presence.

“I need to think of a way. It’d be best if I could draw all of the Earthen Pulse Fiend Beasts over here. If not, it’d truly be too slow if this continues. Even if I attacked the disciples of the other sects, although I’ll obtain their Earthen Pulse Qi, it would still be too slow.” Bai Xiaochun muttered to himself. Suddenly, his body paused; a whooshing sound echoed out from the space in front of him as a scaly claw appeared, grabbing only empty space as it missed. The moment it was about to withdraw, Bai Xiaochun’s right hand swiftly moved and grasped the beast claw.

He fiercely pulled it, causing a crashing sound that resembled the sound of a mirror shattering to echo out. An enormous monkey-like Earthen Pulse Fiend Beast- over a zhang tall- was directly pulled out from the nothingness by Bai Xiaochun.

(TL note: 1 Zhang = 10 feet = around 3m)

The monkey had no hair on its body. Instead, its entire body was covered in black scales. The moment it was dragged out of nothingness by Bai Xiaochun, it immediately let out a low roar. A hint of viciousness appeared within its eyes, and it seemed to have little intelligence. Bai Xiaochun’s eyes glimmered as the monkey whirled and continued to pounce at Bai Xiaochun. He immediately raised his left hand and grasped the neck of the monkey. However, Bai Xiaochun didn’t break its neck as he usually did. Instead, he brought it in front of him and carefully examined it. After doing so, a strange glint appeared in his eyes.

“If I could create a spirit medicine which can attract and gather the Fiend Beasts to this area, then it could solve all my problems and allow me to use the quickest possible speed to directly complete the Earthen Pulse Qi Attractor. This speed… would be even quicker than snatching it from other people.”

Bai Xiaochun’s eyes brightened as he thought of this. After looking around, he lifted the struggling monkey as he directly headed towards a valley in front of him.

Within the valley, he found a hidden location. As he looked towards the Fiend Beast in his hands, Bai Xiaochun’s gaze made the unintelligent and seemingly vicious Fiend Beast tremble for a moment. His gaze was incomparably sharp, as if it could penetrate through the body of the Fiend Beast and see through the entire structure of its body.

However, this didn’t mean that Bai Xiaochun was actually able to do it. Instead, his current self had already turned the Fiend Beast into a guinea pig, similar to his research of the snakes when he was in the Thousand Snakes Valley some time ago. If he wanted to create a spirit medicine that was especially effective towards a type of vicious beast, he would have to thoroughly understand the body structure of the Fiend Beast.

Bai Xiaochun’s gaze turned fiery as he patted his storage pouch with his right hand. Instantly, a flying sword appeared within his hand. Bai Xiaochun gently slashed the chest of the Fiend Beast with an obsessed expression, and as soon as he split it open, he started his research.

A day later, both of Bai Xiaochun’s eyes were completely bloodshot as he muttered to himself.

“The body structure of this Fiend Beast isn’t very different from vicious beasts. They both have five viscera and six bowels [3], and the Fiend Beasts has blood as well...however, the instant the Fiend Beast died, all of this will dissipate and turn into Earthen Pulse Qi”.

“However, the body of the Earthen Fiend Beast contains no food... do they not need to eat?” Bai Xiaochun quickly caught another Earthen Pulse Fiend Beast as he muttered to himself. He started his research once more.

After several days, more and more disciples from the four sects gradually appeared in the area, although it was already the lower half of the Sword World. During the time these disciples were either killing other people to snatch Dao Bottles or killing Fiend Beasts while running about, Bai Xiaochun had already conducted research on more than ten Fiend Beasts. The redness in his eyes had gradually increased, and his hair had already become disheveled. Altogether, he seemed slightly mad.

“Their eyes degenerate, and their sense of smell becomes ineffective. However, their senses are still sharp… How do they merge into the nothingness? How were they transformed by the Earthen Pulse Qi? Why do they want to kill cultivators?” Bai Xiaochun was already immersed in the state of medicine refining. As he muttered to himself, he pondered about many questions. During this journey, all the Earthen Pulse Fiend Beasts that he had encountered took the initiative to kill him. The bloodthirstiness of the Fiend Beasts were particularly obvious.

“Hmm?” Bai Xiaochun’s heart started to race. He felt as if he had caught onto something important. Bai Xiaochun suddenly raised his head and hastily continued forward. He wanted to find another Fiend Beast to verify his conjectures.

Finding another Fiend Beast didn’t take a long time. Impressively, a three zhang tall Earthen Huge Bear was standing in front of Bai Xiaochun; its body was full of black scales. The Earthen Huge Bear seemed to have ferociously swallowed one of the surrounding five disciples that were trying to siege it.

The people who were besieging this beast were all wearing blood-coloured Changpaos *[4]. They were all disciples of the Blood Creek Sect, and at this moment, they were all filled with killing intent. Even though their comrade had died, they payed no attention to it and continued attacking.

Bai Xiaochun’s eyes brightened as he gazed at the scene from a distance away. His body turned into a rainbow as he instantly approached. In the instant when the four disciples of the Blood Creek Sect were about to continue their attacks, Bai Xiaochun’s figure had already appeared before the four people. He instantly raised his right hand and slammed it towards the huge bear.

The surrounding disciples of the Blood Creek Sect were stunned. Although they didn’t immediately recognise Bai Xiaochun, they noticed the clothes on Bai Xiaochun which signified his position as a disciple of the Spirit Creek Sect. They gave Bai Xiaochun a mocking gaze as a sneer appeared at the corner of their mouths. As they fought the huge bear, they clearly understood that the Earthen Pulse Beasts within this area were somewhat special and the power of their fleshy bodies were terrifying.

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Sponsored chapter of the week, special thanks to Tennyson Lu, Arien Freymuth and Christian J Wilkes for sponsoring the chapter. We currently owe 20 chapters, however, our translator has returned. As stated before, we will remain at 3 chapters a week until we catch up. We will start to speed up in the next week or two. Sorry for any inconveniences.

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Translator: Sean, Ayu

TLCed by: Sliver

Editors: MantouInv, Ayu

Footnotes:

1: A direct translation would be "Practically their spirit/soul left and scattered." It is an idiom meaning one is terrified out of their minds, and are absolutely terror-stricken.

2: “Home” here is used in the same way as a Country to its countrymen. Kind of like patriotic sentiments, but to his Sect.

3: In Chinese medicine, the internal organs in a human body can be classified into five viscera organs (Wu Zang) and six bowel organs (Liu Fu). (http://www.acupuncture-and-chinese-medicine.com/five-viscera.html)

4: Traditional Chinese clothes worn by men. Female version is Qipao.