Chapter 684: More Power
The giant ghost king truly seemed angry, and also extremely disappointed by Bai Xiaochun’s failure. From the look on his face, if Bai Xiaochun didn’t get Mrs. Chen out of the royal palace immediately, then he would take action and make sure Bai Xiaochun understood what it was like to be punished for making a mistake!
Bai Xiaochun was feeling very wronged, and was inwardly cursing the shameless giant ghost king. However, he simply stood there, giving a level look to the giant ghost king, seemingly unmoved by the anger on display.
“What are you doing just standing there!?” the giant ghost king roared, slapping his hand down onto his throne again.
By now, there was no fawning look on Bai Xiaochun’s face, only a pained expression. Sighing, he said, “Your Highness, don’t worry.... The only parties privy to this matter are heaven, earth, you, and me. There isn’t a third person in the world who knows the truth. Everyone thinks that I, Bai Hao, took a liking to Mrs. Chen, that I’m the one who swept her away and then killed the clan chief....
“Furthermore, no one knows that she is in your side courtyard, sir.” He sighed again, looking at the giant ghost king as if to say... enough with the act, nobody’s fooling anybody here....
The giant ghost king’s eyes went even wider than before, and yet he was a bit at a loss for words. Originally, he had assumed that Bai Hao would flatter him like he usually did, after which he would eventually pretend to give in. He had never imagined that Bai Xiaochun would be so direct about the matter....
Furthermore, the way that Bai Xiaochun put on an air of being wronged caused an embarrassed smile to surface on the giant ghost king’s face. The truth was that this Bai Hao really had suffered a blow to his reputation because of the matter, and nobody else in the world knew the truth of the matter....
Inside, the giant ghost king was actually feeling wonderful about the whole matter, and as of this moment, his opinion of Bai Hao only continued to climb. Although he was delighted at how the matter had been handled, he continued to glare in disappointment.
Finally, he sighed helplessly, shook his head and said, “Ah, whatever. Just don't do this kind of thing ever again, alright?!”
Bai Xiaochun’s face twitched, and he continued to cast a level gaze at the giant ghost king, the expression on his face saying... it’s only the two of us here, there’s no need for the act....
The two of them stared at each other for a moment, after which the giant ghost king started to feel more guilty. Clearing his throat, he said, “The position of majordomo is really just honorary. How about I appoint you as the inspections commissioner of Giant Ghost City? No one will be exempt from investigation, and if you find any indications of rebellion fomenting, you can execute the guilty with impunity!”
The giant ghost king emphasized his last words with the flick of a sleeve, and a very serious expression.
Bai Xiaochun’s eyes sparkled in response. The thought of being the inspections commissioner, a person who could investigate anyone he wanted, was very exciting.
Bai Xiaochun decided to confirm what he had just heard. “What if people offer resistance?”
The giant ghost king chuckled coldly. Considering everything that had occurred during the rebellion, he actually didn’t trust anyone in the city. And that was especially true considering that the nine serenities king had been involved. Therefore, he felt little good will toward anyone. Waving his hand, he summoned a black spear, which he threw over to Bai Xiaochun.
It was like a black bolt of lightning which shot through the air to appear right in front of him. To his shock, as the spear came to a stop in front of him, thrumming loudly, he realized that it had six golden designs on it!
Mind reeling, and eyes as wide as saucers, he gasped and said, “A sixteenfold spirit enhancement!?!?”
“I used that spear a lot in my early days,” the giant ghost king said. “Take it as a reward. If anyone causes any problems, use that spear to execute them!” The decisiveness in his voice was intense and also somber. As he looked at Bai Xiaochun, he recalled the fact that he hadn’t abandoned him despite all of the dangerous situations they faced, and also thought about how there was a powerful magical treasure and a beautiful woman waiting for him in his side courtyard.
“The right hand of the giant ghost statue used to be the palace of operations for Duke Netherworld. Let that be your official mansion from now on.”
Bai Xiaochun’s chest heaved with pride, and his eyes sparkled with excitement. The giant ghost king had officially promoted him, given him a precious treasure, and also provided him with a palace of operations. All of that showed that he was indeed very pleased.... Radiating health and vigor, he clasped hands and loudly said, “Thank you, Your Highness!”
Smiling in approval, the giant ghost king offered a few more words of encouragement, then gave a look that indicated that Bai Xiaochun should take his leave. Bai Xiaochun knew how to behave himself when necessary, and could tell that the old pervert was getting antsy. Therefore, he put the spear he had been given into his bag of holding, then clasped hands and prepared to leave.
Just when he was about to walk out the door, he stopped and looked back at the king. “Your Highness, you don’t happen to have a formula for eighteen-colored flame, do you sir?”
“A formula for eighteen-colored flame? I don’t. Only the earthly necromancers have that formula. There are three of them in all of the Wildlands, and they have incredibly high positions. I couldn’t take the formula from one of them even if I wanted to.” The giant ghost king knew that Bai Hao was a genius when it came to flame conjuring, but what he had just said about the formula for eighteen-colored flame was completely true.
With that, he gave an impatient wave of his hand, and then vanished.
“Old pervert!” Bai Xiaochun cursed inwardly. With that, he left the royal palace and flew in a beam of light to his old residence. Then, he took some of the treasures he had taken from the three great clans and gave portions to Chen Hai and Zhou Yixing.
He also had them distribute rewards to the tens of thousands of soul cultivators who had helped them deal with the three clans. After all, he had long since come to understand the value of rewarding the efforts of the people who worked for you.
Chen Hai was very happy, and Zhou Yixing was equally excited. And as the rewards were distributed to the other soul cultivators, their reverence for Bai Xiaochun grew.
Having accomplished these things, Bai Xiaochun looked up at the palace of operations on the right hand of the giant ghost statue. For a moment, he hesitated; he had a lot of secrets, and it made him nervous to think about being so close to the giant ghost king himself.
But then he stuck his chin up and proudly murmured, “Ah whatever. It’s only a palace of operations. As the majordomo of Giant Ghost City and the inspections commissioner, I can’t just have one single residence.”
With that, he rubbed his bag of holding, within which were more than ten tongues of fifteen-colored flame!
Those fifteen-colored flames had all been taken from the three great clans!
“Although I can’t concoct fifteen-colored flame, with these finished flames in hand to study, perhaps I can reverse engineer my way to success. At the very least, I’ll be able to cut a lot of time off of my research! Plus... with a fifteen-colored flame, I can break through from the early Nascent Soul stage into the mid stage!”
That thought got him even more excited. Once he performed another spirit enhancement on his nascent soul, it would definitely cause another huge stir in the Wildlands.... As if it weren’t bad enough that everyone was searching for him....
“Well, I can’t let that fact hold me back from improving my cultivation base. What am I scared of anyway? As the majordomo of Giant Ghost City and the inspections commissioner, I’m the one in charge of looking for Bai Xiaochun! There’s nothing at all to fear! If I can’t find Bai Xiaochun, then who else could?!” After going back and forth for a few more minutes, he headed to a secluded meditation chamber.
Once inside, he set up some spell formations and also utilized the powers of his mask to make sure he was completely safe. Then he took out his turtle-wok, sat down cross-legged, and sent his nascent soul flying out of his body.
Then, a fifteen-colored flame appeared, and golden light flickered!
Far away in Arch-Emperor City, on the Hell-Emperor Stele, Bai Xiaochun’s name was still in 1st place on the list, with the number fourteen next to it. But then, his name began to shine with dazzling light.
All of Arch-Emperor City was thrown into another commotion as people looked up in shock to see... the number fifteen appear next to Bai Xiaochun’s name!
“Fifteen!?!? Bai Xiaochun performed another spirit enhancement on his nascent soul?!?!”
“Is this guy suicidal or something? He just won’t give up on toying with his life! What a psycho!!”
"I have the feeling that as long as he doesn’t get killed, Bai Xiaochun is going to end up being the successor of the hell-emperor....”
Quite a few people were making that very prediction.... As the city devolved into chaos, Mistress Red-Dust was sitting in meditation in the Giant Ghost Legion. When she found out what was happening, she let out a shrill scream; her hatred for Bai Xiaochun already ran as deep as the depths of the Yellow Springs.
Of course, the news flew out of Arch-Emperor City as surely as if it had wings, and the search for Bai Xiaochun grew more frantic.
All of the chosen in the Wildlands were forced to grit their teeth angrily. It was almost as if they had all been slapped across the face. There in the Wildlands, the Hell-Emperor Stele had been overtaken by a cultivator from the Heavenspan River! It was really driving them mad.
“I'm gonna kill this Bai Xiaochun!!”
“You better hope I don’t find you, Bai Xiaochun, otherwise I’ll crush your bones into powder and throw it into the wind!!” All sorts of curses could be heard throughout the Wildlands.
Although Bai Xiaochun had no way to know for sure how everyone was reacting, he could guess. His nascent soul’s eyes opened, and it flew out of the wok and back into his body. After he carefully inspected it to make sure there were no problems, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hmmmphh. Want to kill me? Why don’t you try and find me first!” Feeling very pleased with himself, he tested out his cultivation base a bit, and was immediately very excited.
His cultivation base was now as boundless as the sea. He was in the mid Nascent Soul stage, far beyond his previous level. In fact, he suddenly felt the impulse to go find someone half a step into the Deva Realm to fight with!