It was impossible to say exactly how much time passed. The damaged fan continued to sail through the soundless darkness.
It was a state of seemingly ultimate peacefulness….
Only the light of the damaged fan could be seen, twinkling in the darkness like a star or planet.
However, with the fan’s spirit automaton asleep, and Bai Xiaochun meditating to recover, the glimmering light was not as bright as before. One day, Bai Xiaochi’s eyes opened. He looked very tired as he crawled to his feet and looked around blankly. Back when he had passed out, Bai Xiaochun had only been able to lapse into virtual unconsciousness as he meditated. As a result, the enormous sovereign’s arm had fallen down onto the surface of the fan, instead of going back into the fan face.
Despite not being under anyone’s direct control, the arm was still immensely powerful, and had damaged many of the fan ribs. The fan now looked in worse state than ever….
The sight caused Bai Xiaochi to tremble in grief.
“My home….” he wailed. Within the profound silence, the sound of his wail was particularly ear-piercing, and caused Bai Xiaochun to shiver. Then, his eyes opened, and he leapt to his feet, performing an incantation gesture as he looked around.
When he saw that they were no longer under attack, he breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he hurried over to Song Junwan and Zhou Zimo, who were still unconscious. Off to the side, Song Que’s corpse lay still and unmoving. Because of the strange properties of the fan, his corpse had not yet begun to decompose.
He was surrounded by soft, swirling light, power from the fan itself that Bai Xiaochi had placed over him to protect his body.
Although Bai Xiaochun was relieved to see his corpse in good condition, bitterness filled his heart. Off to the side, Bai Xiaochi was still wailing miserably.
Annoyed, Bai Xiaochun snapped, “What’s with the damn squawking?!”
“Shut up!” Bai Xiaochi shouted back emotionally. “This is all your fault! My home!”
Stunned, Bai Xiaochun looked around. Moments before, he had been too worried about Song Junwan, Zhou Zimo, and Song Que to take a close look at the fan. Now that he looked around, and saw how the sovereign’s arm had smashed into the fan, he rubbed his nose guiltily.
He couldn’t help but feel bad, especially considering that it had only been with Bai Xiaochi’s help that he repelled the Vile-Emperor. Now, seeing Bai Xiaochi looking so sad, Bai Xiaochun couldn’t help but try to comfort him. “Well… you can’t blame me. Ah, whatever. I’ll help you fix it back up….”
Bai Xiaochi blinked a few times in surprise. The truth was that he had immediately regretted his outburst, and was even scared about how Bai Xiaochun might react. Therefore, the words of comfort caught him off guard. He was also a bit excited. However, he knew that he shouldn’t push things too far. Snorting, he joined Bai Xiaochun to put the sovereign’s arm back into the fan face, and then start working to repair the broken fan ribs.
They couldn’t repair them perfectly, but did a fair job. After all, the fan was a starry sky treasure, and was also capable of repairing itself to a certain level. At a certain point, such powers of repair took over.
Afterward, Bai Xiaochun spent more time recovering. Finally, he headed over to Song Junwan and Zhou Zimo. The sight of them sitting there with their swollen bellies, and with the Bruiser totem tattoo on Song Junwan’s arm, caused a warm look to appear in Bai Xiaochun’s eyes.
Feeling very pleased with himself, Bai Xiaochi looked at Bai Xiaochun, then looked at the two women.
“Who are they?”
Bai Xiaochun didn’t even look back at him as he quietly replied, “They’re my Daoist partners. And inside of them… are my children.”
Bai Xiaochi pondered why someone’s Daoist partners would have children in their bellies. It actually sounded somewhat frightening. After some thought, he realized he had another question.
“What about the corpse…?” he asked.
“He was a dear friend….” Bai Xiaochun replied, closing his eyes to prevent the grief from showing.
Deciding that this was a good chance to get some concessions, Bai Xiaochi replied, “Um… hey, Bai Xiaochun, you know, I have a way to make sure that your Daoist partners and children get healthier than before. And there’s also a chance I could resurrect your friend…. Do you think you could maybe change my name back to–”
“What did you just say?!?!” Bai Xiaochun interrupted, vanishing and reappearing right in front of Bai Xiaochi, his eyes shining with madness and excitement.
The damaged fan seemed to respond to his emotions, and began to shine more brightly than before. At the same time, rumbling sounds echoed out as the repair work being done to the fan ribs began to speed up.
Although Song Junwan and Zhou Zimo seemed to be in normal condition, just sleeping, Bai Xiaochun was fairly certain that they had sustained severe injuries to their vital energy. It was only because of the protection provided by Bruiser, and the powerful lives brewing in their bellies, that they had survived their ordeal.
In any case, the injuries they had sustained were the type that Bai Xiaochun would only be able to heal once he was back in completely top shape. Only then could they regain consciousness.
It was the same with Bruiser. As for Song Que, he was dead, with his soul dispersed, nothing more than an empty corpse. Even if Bai Xiaochun became an archaean, he would still be powerless to resurrect him.
Therefore, Bai Xiaochi’s words struck Bai Xiaochun like bolts of heavenly lightning.
“Calm down!” Bai Xiaochi said, backing up a bit in fear. However, worried about the terrifying consequences of saying the wrong thing, he decided to explain everything he knew, and leave nothing out. “Listen, your Daoist partners’ personal Life Essences have been severely damaged. That type of Essence cannot be restored with common life force. Ordinarily, you would need precious materials of heaven or earth to even attempt to do so, and even then, it would be quite difficult.
“But we are not in any ordinary place…. Things are different here. If we put them in the Daoist Tower of Life and Death, then their Life Essence will slowly build back up, and their cultivation bases will also progress!
“As for your good friend… well, let me be perfectly clear right now. I’m not completely sure that I can resurrect him. Years ago, my original master told me that his purpose in creating his Dao Essence of Life and Death was to resurrect someone!
“In the end, he failed. But I think… that the Dao Essence of Life and Death really can resurrect people, although there’s only a small chance of success…. However, there will be a price to pay. If the Dao Essence in the tower is absorbed by your Daoist partners and your friend, then it will gradually weaken. And then, it won’t be as easy for you to practice cultivation there. Furthermore… the end chance of success is small!
“Are you sure you want to do it?”
Bai Xiaochun didn’t hesitate for even a moment. Swishing his sleeve, he picked up Song Junwan, Zhou Zimo, and Song Que, and flew toward the fan face. As the owner of the fan, he actually didn’t need any help from its spirit automaton to enter the fan face. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of the tower atop the mountain in the fan face.
He placed Song Junwan and Zhou Zimo on the second floor. Any further would have been harmful to them, and not helpful.
As for Song Que, he took a deep breath and, ignoring the pain and discomfort it involved, took him to the ninth floor. He couldn’t stay in that location for long. After putting Song Que down, he looked at him, wished him well, and then left, anticipation crawling in his heart.
He also carefully extracted Bruiser from the totem tattoo on Song Junwan’s arm. He wasn’t sure when Bruiser had picked up the ability to transform into a totem tattoo, but considering how talented he was, it wasn’t a surprise. Bruiser was now in the late Deva Realm, very close to reaching the demigod level.
The second floor wasn’t the right place for Bruiser, but neither was the ninth floor. In the end, Bai Xiaochun found that the third floor was ideal.
Having accomplished all of these things, Bai Xiaochun left the tower. After looking back at it for a long moment, he settled down cross-legged to meditate.
He would stand guard… until Song Junwan and Zhou Zimo both woke up.
Based on what Bai Xiaochi had told him, and based on what Bai Xiaochun knew of the Daoist Tower of Life and Death, he was sure that it wouldn’t take very long….
