Bai Xiaochun was some distance away, and still needed at least an incense stick’s worth of time to reach his destination. With how things looked, he didn’t have enough time to come to Gongsun Wan’er’s rescue!

However… in the same moment that the Vile-Emperor’s hand began to descend, a boom rang out that seemed capable of splitting the sky. Massive waves surged across the surface of the sea, and at the same time, the hand-shaped depression in the water began to fill in!!

Shockingly… an enormous hand formed from water was rising up from the sea!

After filling in the hand-shaped depression, it rose up into the air to meet the descending palm strike from the Vile-Emperor!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A deafening explosion filled the air as both the sky and the land vibrated violently.

“Saint-Emperor!!” The Vile-Emperor glared down at the Eternal Sea as a semi-translucent figure appeared, which radiated an archaean aura. It was none other than the Saint-Emperor!

However, he had not come as his true self, but rather, in the form of a clone projection!

“Why this ruthless killing, Vile-Emperor?” he asked, a faint smile visible on his lips. “Gongsun Wan’er is a dear friend of my Second Bro. Before attempting to harm her, you should really take his feelings into consideration.” The Saint-Emperor had come in response to Bai Xiaochun’s frantic message. He had immediately realized that this was a good opportunity to earn a favor, and had thus sent a clone projection to handle the situation.

From what he could tell, all he needed to do was buy an incense stick’s worth of time. A clone projection would obviously be no match for the Vile-Emperor, but in terms of buying time, it should do the trick.

Meanwhile, Gongsun Wan’er sat within her sphere of water, face pale, but glad to still be alive. She had been hiding in the Eternal Sea for a long time, keeping her aura completely concealed. After sensing that someone had taken the Greatsword of the North, she cautiously began to gather information about what was going on in the outside world. She had been excited to find out that Bai Xiaochun had returned, and was just preparing to go find him when the Vile-Emperor made his move!

Moments ago, she had been facing certain death, only to have a new chance at life. Looking over at the Saint-Emperor, she thought back to the rumors she had come across that he and Bai Xiaochun had become sworn brothers.

Currently, waves were still rolling out across the sea from the interchange between the Vile-Emperor and the Saint-Emperor. As for the Vile-Emperor, his expression couldn’t have been grimmer. He had made two big errors in judgement recently, the first being about Bai Xiaochun and his level of power, and the second being about Gongsun Wan’er and her level of preparation. If she didn’t have her spell formation and its sphere of water, and if the Saint-Emperor hadn’t interfered, then he would already have her in his hands.

Not only would that have given him something to threaten Bai Xiaochun with, but it would also have helped with his current lack of celestials.

But now, everything was going awry, and he only had two choices. He could storm off, or… he could fight with Bai Xiaochun again, and perhaps see how much Archaean Luminescence he really had at his disposal. If he won that fight, then he could turn the tables once again.

In fact, he was fairly certain that the Saint-Emperor had not sent his true self was because he also wanted to test Bai Xiaochun out. He also wanted to see how many shots of Archaean Luminescence Bai Xiaochun had!

“Wily old fox! He’s also on guard against Bai Xiaochun, and he’s using me to try to see how far Bai Xiaochun can go. That way, he’ll have a better idea of what the two of them can do together.

“Of course, if Bai Xiaochun proves to be too weak, then he’ll probably come over as his true self to help before he gets killed!” Eyes narrowing, he looked at the Saint-Emperor and snorted coldly.

“I have a third option!” he thought, hovering there in the air and refraining from taking any action. When the Saint-Emperor’s clone saw that, his eyes glittered. He could guess what the Vile-Emperor was planning to do, and as a result, began to curse him inwardly.

The two archaeans didn’t need to wait for long. Soon, screaming whistling sounds echoed out as a beam of light shot into the air, causing the water and the air alike to ripple and distort.

“Still have your Archaean Luminescence, Bai Xiaochun?!” the Vile-Emperor said, his eyes flashing. Even as Bai Xiaochun was still approaching, he performed an incantation gesture and pointed at him. Yet again, his red sun appeared, sending out dazzling light and an archaean aura. It also caused an intense heat wave to surge in Bai Xiaochun’s direction!

“I have one last shot!” Bai Xiaochun shouted in response. Pointing up at the sky, he summoned his thirteenth shot of Archaean Luminescence, which shot forth and pierced a huge hole through the burning, red sun.

Bai Xiaochun shot through the hole and then waved his hand again, summoning another beam of Archaean Luminescence, which blasted the sun another time.

The two beams of Archaean Luminescence had already destabilized the Vile-Emperor’s aura, and as for his red sun, it still hadn't recovered from the previous battle, and was now in even worse shape.

Then the backlash hit the Vile-Emperor, causing intense pain to grip his chest as he staggered backward.

That was when Bai Xiaochun shouted, “I have one last shot!”

Rumbling sounds could be heard as Bai Xiaochun’s actual final shot of Archaean Luminescence materialized, heading directly toward the visibly shocked Vile-Emperor. He quickly performed a double-handed incantation gesture and then shoved his hands out to defend himself against the Archaean Luminescence. The collision caused blood to ooze out of the corners of his mouth as he was once again shoved backward across the battlefield.

There was a method to Bai Xiaochun’s madness. He had carefully calculated the ground he could cover with three successive attacks, and as of this moment, had reached Gongsun Wan’er.

Gongsun Wan’er breathed a sigh of relief; the despair she had felt before was now gone. However, she had overdrawn her own energy to keep her spell formation going, and now was hit by a mountain-toppling, sea-draining feeling of exhaustion. She managed to force out a smile for Bai Xiaochun, then coughed up a mouthful of blood and lapsed into unconsciousness.

As the water sphere collapsed, Bai Xiaochun reached out and wrapped his arm around her waist. Then, he looked up and pointed at the Vile-Emperor. Expression twisted with rage and eyes as cold as ice, he said, “Big Bro Saint-Emperor, why don’t you send your true self here, and the two of us can crush the Vile-Emperor once and for all! I still have a hundred shots of Archaean Luminescence left. That should be more than enough to win the fight!”

In response to Bai Xiaochun’s boldly spoken words, the Saint-Emperor’s clone projection looked on with flickering eyes.

As for the Vile-Emperor, his heart was starting to pound. He didn’t believe that Bai Xiaochun could possibly have a hundred shots of Archaean Luminescence. However, he remembered that he had already used a dozen or so, and moments ago had casually used three more shots, just to save a friend…. It was an overbearing action that finally caused the Vile-Emperor to start questioning his judgement of the matter.

In the end, he sighed inwardly. He knew that he had lost the advantage. Bai Xiaochun had become powerful, and was now allied with the Saint-Emperor. The Vile-Emperor finally feared him, and had no desire to test the limits of his power out.

Not wanting to give the Saint-Emperor any chance to agree to what Bai Xiaochun had just proposed, he unhesitatingly said, “Take Gongsun Wan’er with you, Bai Xiaochun. And I’ll release all of the Heavenspan Realm cultivators I have imprisoned in the Vile-Emperor Dynasty. In fact, I’ll also acknowledge the legitimacy of the Heavenspan Realm’s place in the Eternal Lands, and will allow any Heavenspan Realm cultivators who have set down roots in my lands to leave if they wish!

“But in return… I demand that you return Prince Ur-Demon and Reverend Devourer to me!”

Bai Xiaochun was starting to get nervous. On the one hand, he really was out of Archaean Luminescence, and given the Vile-Emperor’s personality, if he agreed too quickly, the man would surely start to get suspicious. And Bai Xiaochun had already guessed at what the Saint-Emperor was doing.

However, he didn't let any of that show on his face. In response to the Vile-Emperor’s proposed compromise, he simply snorted coldly and then reached up as if to release another shot of Archaean Luminescence.

“Well, Big Bro? Do we fight him, or not? It's up to you!”

Although he seemed to be pulsing with veins of steel, the truth was that he was more nervous than ever.

“You’d be an idiot to agree to fight him, Saint-Emperor!” he thought. “If you do, then you can’t blame me for screwing you over!”