The three Vile-Emperor Dynasty celestials hadn’t anticipated encountering such a large group. They had been lying in wait near the exit, and when they detected strange fluctuations in the distance, had come to investigate.

To their shock, they saw Bai Xiaochun and all of the other celestials from the Saint-Emperor Dynasty. If Virūpākṣa had been there, he might have been able to block their path with force. But Prince Ur-Demon’s cultivation base wasn’t high enough, prompting a gasp on his part.

Reverend Devourer’s eyes went wide, and he even considered just backing down. However, he knew that since Bai Xiaochun was here, along with his allies, if they got through while he himself remained completely uninjured, it would arouse the anger of his fellow celestials, as well as the rage of the Vile-Emperor.

“They have the item His Majesty the Vile-Emperor desires!” he shouted. “Don’t let them through!” By stating everything openly, and also mentioning the Vile-Emperor, he left no wiggle-room for the others. Prince Ur-Demon cursed inwardly, but knew that he had no options. After sending messages to Virūpākṣa and the others, he unleashed the power of his cultivation base.

Gongsun Wan’er sighed. She had no desire to fight with Bai Xiaochun, but they were both on opposing sides at the moment, so she could only power up her cultivation base and join Reverend Devourer and Prince Ur-Demon to try to block the paths of the Saint-Emperor Dynasty celestials.

“Get out of the way!!” Gu Tianjun bellowed, performing an incantation gesture that sent seven swords screaming out in front of him. As they whistled through the air, they transformed into a huge greatsword that slashed toward the three Vile-Emperor Dynasty celestials. Sima Yunhua, Celestial Aged Spirit and Chen Su all knew that time was of the essence, and therefore, resorted to trump cards.

Rumbling booms resounded in all heaven and earth as the two sides clashed. Blood sprayed out of Reverend Devourer’s mouth as he was flung backward, seriously injured. From the way that blood continued to ooze out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, and from how seemed to be tottering on the verge of collapse, it was obvious to anyone that he had done everything he could to hold his own. Unfortunately, he alone was not powerful enough.

Prince Ur-Demon actually wasn’t hurt very badly. Reverend Devourer had intentionally leapt in the way of most of the divine abilities, and if Prince Ur-Demon couldn’t see through the man’s plan, then he didn't deserve to have lived as long as he had.

“Wily old fox!” Obviously, Reverend Devourer hoped that by coming out of the fight injured, he would avoid punishment by the Vile-Emperor. Prince Ur-Demon had considered doing the same thing, but unfortunately, his cultivation base was lower than Reverend Devourer’s, making it impossible.

Although he was coughing up some blood, it wasn’t nearly as dramatic as what was happening with Reverend Devourer. Therefore, he also let out a scream and then slapped himself on the chest.

A muffled boom could be heard as his chest caved in and he tumbled backward. Even Reverend Devourer was impressed.

“What a wily old fox!” Reverend Devourer thought, snorting coldly and trying to look as injured as possible.

Gongsun Wan’er was also coughing up blood, but before anything serious could happen to her, Bai Xiaochun glanced over with a glare and shouted, “I’ll take your life this day, Ghostmother!”

Shifting directions, he shot toward her. Meanwhile, Gu Tianjun and the other celestials continued onward.

Even as Gongsun Wan’er looked on in shock, Bai Xiaochun shot toward her and waved his sleeve, causing black smoke to spread out in all directions. Taking advantage of the cover provided by the smoke, he then took out a chunk of the sovereign flesh and tossed it over to her.

Eyes widening, she caught the chunk of flesh and put it away. At this point, Bai Xiaochun screamed and threw himself out of the black smoke.

“The fight between us isn’t over yet, Ghostmother…!” he shouted, racing to catch up with Gu Tianjun and the others.

Because Reverend Devourer and Prince Ur-Demon were injured, they didn’t notice anything odd about the encounter. But Gu Tianjun and the other Saint-Emperor Dynasty celestials could guess what had just occurred.

As soon as Bai Xiaochun caught up, he realized that Sima Yunhua and Celestial Aged Spirit were looking at him strangely. As for Gu Tianjun and Chen Su, although they weren’t looking at him, it wasn’t possible for them to cover up the awkward expressions that had appeared on their faces.

Blinking a few times, Bai Xiaochun cleared his throat and said, “I’m a bit smitten, so I gave her a chunk of sovereign flesh.”

The other celestials were immediately taken aback by his openness and honesty.

“You… Damn!!” Celestial Aged Spirit said, chuckling. For some reason, he only continued to find this Bai Xiaochun more and more amusing, and realized that his previous impression of him had been formed when they were rivals, and wasn’t really accurate.

Chen Su was smiling and shaking his head, and even Gu Tianjun and Sima Yunhua seemed to be changing their opinion of Bai Xiaochun.

Clearing his throat, Sima Yunhua patted his bag of holding with its chunk of sovereign flesh and said, “You know, Celestial Ghostmother has never had a Daoist partner…. Well, I hope it works out for you, Celestial Bai!”

“You’re looking at it the wrong way,” Bai Xiaochun said, a proud look on his face. Despite the fact that he was flying through the air at top speed, he still managed to flick his sleeve. “You see, I'm really good at picking up girls. So don’t hope that it works out for me, Fellow Daoist, hope that it works out for her. After all, I’m the outstanding, attractive one. Yep. Sometimes I actually fall in love with myself.”

At this point, the other celestials fell into silence, effectively ending the conversation.

None of them were really sure how to talk to Bai Xiaochun.

When Bai Xiaochun saw how speechless they were, he got a bit more excited, and went on. “You don’t believe me? Well, just wait until we’re out of this place. Then I’ll show you all the love letters I got back in the lands of Heavenspan. You know how many I have in my collection? Too many! Probably more than a hundred thousand!”

The rest of the way, he continued to recount his experiences with love. Eventually, not even Gu Tianjun was sure whether to laugh or cry, and was slowly beginning to warm up to him.

Bai Xiaochun bragged his way until they were closing in on the exit. However, that was when a howl of rage could be heard behind them as Celestial Virūpākṣa and the other celestials put everything on the line to try to catch up to them. However, the Saint-Emperor Dynasty celestials were well prepared, and produced medicinal pills that were perfect for the occasion. Aged Spirit even tossed one over to Bai Xiaochun.

“Take this Acceleration Pill,” he said, “For three breaths of time, you’ll be able to move many times faster than normal. It’s an expensive pill, but at the moment, that doesn’t matter!” With that, he popped one of the pills into his mouth, as did the other celestials. Of course, considering Bai Xiaochun’s understanding of medicinal pills, it only took a glance for him to confirm that it wasn’t poisonous. Eyes glittering, he accepted it and popped it into his mouth.

However, Celestial Aged Spirit didn’t realize that, and to him, it seemed more like a reflection of how much Bai Xiaochun trusted him.

It left him feeling deeply moved, although he didn’t say anything. Nodding at Bai Xiaochun, he began to accelerate under the effects of the pill.

As for Bai Xiaochun, as soon as the pill dissolved in his mouth, he felt a potent energy building up in him, something hot and explosive. In the blink of an eye, he was moving at incredible speed!

Five beams of light shot through the air toward the exit, on the other side of which sat the Saint-Emperor and the Vile-Emperor, their eyes glittering brightly.

Of course, the Saint-Emperor’s eyes glittered with delight, and the Vile-Emperor’s glittered with something far different. When Virūpākṣa saw that look in the Vile-Emperor’s eyes, he suddenly pulled out a jade slip and crushed it!

The crushing of the jade slip stimulated his Daoseed, even destroying a fraction of it, all to give him an incredible burst of speed.

Everything around him distorted, almost as if he were manipulating both space and time. Before Bai Xiaochun and his companions could make it through the exit, Virūpākṣa was closing in on them, and reaching out to grab Sima Yunhua!

Of course, he really wanted to grab Bai Xiaochun, but Sima Yunhua was in the way. And Celestial Virūpākṣa knew that if he made a move on the group as a whole, they would all turn to fight him.

Therefore, he targeted a single person. As far as he was concerned, the chances of the other four turning to help that single person were virtually none.

Except… Bai Xiaochun was not the type of person who did things the way Virūpākṣa would expect. Everyone else was concerned about the sovereign-level flesh, but Bai Xiaochun was more concerned about the potential of Sima Yunhua owing him a favor….

When Sima Yunhua saw himself being trapped by Virūpākṣa’s divine ability, his face went dark, and he began to curse in despair. He was convinced that he was done for; not only would he lose any possible rewards, but he would probably end up as a captive of the Vile-Emperor Dynasty.

Enraged, he shouted, “Virūpākṣa, you--”

But before he could say anything else, another shout of rage drowned him out.

“Virūpākṣa! How dare you mess with my good friend!”