Chapter 872: Eruption
In response to Bai Xiaochun’s question, more grief filled Bruiser’s eyes. He couldn’t hide anything from Bai Xiaochun, and in fact, didn’t even have the desire to. All he did was let out a few braying sounds.
The sadness in his voice made Bai Xiaochun’s heart feel like it was being torn apart. The world suddenly grew dark, as though it had become stained with blood!!
“You don’t know where Hou Xiaomei is…? But Uncle Li… was captured?!?!?!” Bai Xiaochun’s expression twisted with rage, not toward Bruiser, but simply pure anger birthed from anxiety and madness. Seeing Bai Xiaochun like this caused Bruiser to emit a few more yipping sounds.
Bai Xiaochun was shaking visibly. Bruiser was no cultivator, and although he was a beast king with extraordinary intelligence, it was difficult for him to express himself clearly in certain matters. Ignoring the surrounding disciples of the three sects, Bai Xiaochun sent his divine sense spreading out in all directions.
Heaven and earth rumbled as he scoured everything in a 500-kilometer area. It only took a moment for him to have the entire locale under his command. His current goal… was to find Zheng Yuandong or other patriarchs of the River-Defying Sect, and get all of the details about Uncle Li!
As his divine sense spread out, all cultivators, both those of the three sects and those of the River-Defying Sect, suddenly felt immense pressure weighing down on them. At the same time, a windstorm sprang up around Bai Xiaochun.
In that same moment, a middle-aged woman appeared off in the distance in the sect headquarters. Her face was pale from serious injury, and she appeared to have just awoken from a coma. She seemed so weak that a breeze might carry her away, and could only walk by being supported on either side by younger female disciples.
Her gaze quickly came to rest on Bai Xiaochun, and a gleam of excitement appeared in her eyes. At the same time, she seemed deeply anxious. Without the slightest hesitation, she raised her voice and cried out, “Xiaochun, hurry up and save your Uncle Li!!”
The instant Bai Xiaochun heard her voice, he jerked his head to look in her direction. He instantly recognized her. She was none other than the former peak lord of Violet Cauldron Peak, the Master of Big Fatty Zhang, and the woman who had fallen in love with his Uncle Li. She was… Xu Meixiang!
“Aunt Xu!” he cried. Trembling visibly, he vanished, to reappear a moment later in front of her. Reaching out, he sent gentle energy streaming into her body, which caused the color to return to her face. However, she still seemed as fragile as before, and her voice was hoarse and scratchy as she went on to provide further explanation.
“Get to the Dao River Court! Your Uncle Li was taken captive by the patriarch from there, about half a year ago!!” Xu Meixiang's sudden outburst caused her injuries to flare up. Blood sprayed out of her mouth, and if it weren’t for the fact that she was being bolstered by Bai Xiaochun’s cultivation base power, she would have perished instantly!
Her words struck Bai Xiaochun like a lightning bolt, causing him to shake violently where he stood. About this time, the patriarchs of the River-Defying Sect, as well as Zheng Yuandong and some other important people, could sense the violent outburst brewing in Bai Xiaochun. Furthermore, Xu Meixiang’s words woke them all from the delighted happiness they had been reveling in moments ago because of the sect being saved.
It wasn’t that they had intended to hide things from Bai Xiaochun, it was just that everything had occurred too quickly. He showed up out of the blue, devastated three devas, crushed the morale of the three sects, and then sent the River-Defying Sect cultivators onto the counter attack. Many people were in a daze from everything that was occurring, and just hadn’t yet thought to inform Bai Xiaochun of certain matters.
Patriarch Spirit Stream hurried over to provide a more thorough explanation!
The true reason everything had happened actually didn’t have anything to do with Li Qinghou. After all, Li Qinghou was only in the Nascent Soul stage. Despite how incredibly talented he was, he wasn’t so outstanding that a deva patriarch would attack him.
The reason for everything… was Bruiser!
The patriarch from the Dao River Court, the very one who had experienced fleshly body destruction and now existed as a nascent divinity, had coveted Bruiser for some time. However, Bruiser was always very careful, and normally never left the sect. Because of that, the deva patriarch had never had a chance to act on his desires.
However, half a year ago, that patriarch… had set up an elaborate trap to kidnap Li Qinghou, and use him to get to Bruiser!
The reason he had targeted Li Qinghou was obvious…. It all had to do with the relationship between Bai Xiaochun and Bruiser. The fact that Li Qinghou was like family to Bai Xiaochun and Bruiser was no secret. And thus, he was the perfect person to use to lure out Bruiser!
And that was exactly what had happened. Bruiser put everything on the line to try to save Li Qinghou, and had come out of the affair with an ugly scar on his neck. In the end, the River-Defying Sect’s patriarchs had interfered, along with the reserve powers of the sect, including the Blood Ancestor.
In the end, the Dao River Court’s ambush was foiled, and Bruiser was saved. Unfortunately… Li Qinghou was taken away. Even now… they weren’t sure if he was alive or not!
The reason they couldn’t tell if he was alive or dead had to do with the special technique he cultivated. He drew his existence from plants and vegetation, and had been studying a way to reconverge his life force. Because of that, he had no life slip in the sect. That made it impossible to determine his current state.
Patriarch Spirit Stream, Zhao Yuandong, and the others used the fastest means possible to impart all of this information to Bai Xiaochun. In the end, his mind crashed as if with thunder, and his heart burned with raging killing intent.
“ARGGGGHHHHH!!” he howled, causing the sky to vibrate and the lands to tremble. Eyes crimson, he didn’t bother to offer any explanation. He simply turned… and began to fly at top speed toward the Dao River Court!!
“Feeling suicidal, Dao River Court!? I'm gonna kill you, Patriarch Dao River!!!” The insane killing intent that raged in his heart and mind was the likes that rarely appeared in him. In fact, it had only been seen once before in his life, when his apprentice went missing in the Wildlands. This… was the second time.
However, this time was actually worse than when Bai Hao had gone missing. Bai Xiaochun almost seemed like a different person, a person who had descended into pure madness.
There was no other reaction he could have. After all… this was Li Qinghou!
His Uncle Li had brought him from Mount Hood to practice immortal cultivation, and had even taught him the fundamentals….
He had passed his magics of plants and vegetation on to Bai Xiaochun, and had sheltered him from one disaster after another related to pill concocting….
The truth was that… they had a relationship like that of a son and a father!
Not even Bai Xiaochun was exactly sure when it was that he had come to view Uncle Li as family!!
There were many people he cared about in the River-Defying Sect, but there was only one who he viewed like a blood relative…. Li Qinghou!
Therefore, how could Bai Xiaochun possibly not go mad!?
His thunderous roar filled the air as he shot off into the distance, followed by Bruiser…. As for Patriarch Spirit Stream and the other leaders, they were shaken by his shout. However, the patriarchs quickly issued orders for a squad of roughly 1,000 River-Defying Sect disciples to follow along as emergency backup.
As far as Patriarch Spirit Stream was concerned, it didn’t matter how powerful the reserve powers and spell formation of the Dao River Court was, they probably couldn’t handle Bai Xiaochun’s towering cultivation base. However, as a member of the older generation, Patriarch Spirit Stream still had to look out for him.
More than 1,000 disciples immediately flew after Bai Xiaochun. Of course, they weren’t a match for him in speed, so Patriarch Spirit Stream gave them airships to use, which whistled through the air at top speed toward the Dao River Court.
And yet, Bai Xiaochun was still the fastest. He drew deeply on his cultivation base, as well as his fleshly body power. He even used the Undying Hex to teleport rapidly through the air!
At his current speed, it would only require the time it takes an incense stick to burn for him to reach his destination!