Chen Fei hesitated for a moment, but seeing that Bai Xiaochun seemed to be encouraging him to keep going, he proceeded, “Sect Uncle Bai, I’m not flattering you, I'm just telling you how I really feel! Sect Uncle Bai, you’re a Heaven-Dao Foundation Establishment expert, and the legacy echelon-designate. You’re a future patriarch of the Spirit Stream Sect! You’ll naturally live as long as the heavens, and in the future will surely prove to be invincible in the world!”
“Quit your jabbering!” Bai Xiaochun said, waving his hand and looking very displeased.
Chen Fei felt a bit sick to his stomach, but continued on with the flattery. “Sect Uncle Bai, it’s not just me who thinks this. All of the disciples are talking about it! Everyone is saying that Sect Uncle Bai is as righteous as the heavens. He’s a genius among Chosen, someone who crushes all others in his generation. He’s a qilin incarnate, and one of the most handsome people in existence!”
Bai Xiaochun listened on and felt wonderful. After a while, he felt bad about trying to test out the Human Controlling Grand Magic on Chen Fei, so he simply stuck his chin up in the air, flicked his sleeve, and flew away.
Chen Fei and his two friends breathed sighs of relief. As for the burly men, they looked at Chen Fei with more admiration than ever.
“Elder Brother Chen, you definitely deserve to be regarded as brilliantly divine. If it weren’t for you, we would have faced calamity this day….”
Wiping away the cold sweat on his brow, Chen Fei had to admit that he really had been thinking on his feet. “Humph! You’d have a hard time finding anyone in the sect that understands Sect Uncle Bai better than me!”
Proud of himself, he led his two friends off into the distance.
Bai Xiaochun scoured the south bank, but couldn't find anyone else to practice the Human Controlling Grand Magic on. Next he went to the north bank. By that time it was late into the night. Unfortunately, he still hadn’t found a suitable subject. Sighing to himself about how good-natured he was, he returned to Mount Daoseed. Then, as he was walking along a mountain path, he looked up and saw Shangguan Tianyou flying through the air, wearing the Daoist robe of an elder. As he flew along, he noticed Bai Xiaochun, but simply snorted inwardly and pretended not to see him. The bad feelings between the two caused a cold, arrogant glint to appear in his eyes as he prepared to fly on his way.
When Bai Xiaochun saw the arrogant Shangguan Tianyou, old grievances rose up in his heart. Chuckling, he extended his right hand and mumbled something under his breath as he pointed his finger at Shangguan Tianyou.
A tremor ran through Shangguan Tianyou as his Daoist elder’s robe suddenly constricted around him.
His face fell, and his cultivation base exploded with power as he attempted to stop the clothing from affecting his movements. As for Bai Xiaochun, he poured more power into his efforts. In the blink of an eye, Shangguan Tianyou’s clothing became a battlefield.
Then a boom echoed out, and Shangguan Tianyou staggered backward a few steps. As he did, his robe was shredded into pieces, drifting away in the wind to reveal his naked body.
His jaw dropped.
Bai Xiaochun’s jaw also dropped.
The jaws of nearby Foundation Establishment elders… also dropped.
Shangguan Tianyou let out a piercing howl as he threw another robe on. Eyes bloodshot, hair in disarray, he raved, “Bai Xiaochun!!”
With that, he shot toward Bai Xiaochun, mind filled with only one thought: no matter what happened, he would take Bai Xiaochun down. He didn’t even think about whether or not he was strong enough to do such a thing.
In his mind, Bai Xiaochun was a walking disaster, and if he were left alive, the Spirit Stream Sect would definitely be brought to ruin.
Bai Xiaochun immediately fled. “What’s going on? How come it didn't work?”
When he saw how enraged Shangguan Tianyou was, he actually felt a bit bad, but before he could even explain, Shangguan Tianyou was bearing down on him with murderous intent.
“Sect Nephew Shangguan, this was a misunderstanding!” he shrieked as he sped along. “A misunderstanding, I tell you…!” By that point, he was already back in his immortal's cave. However, when Shangguan Tianyou heard the term ‘sect nephew,’ his rage burned even hotter. He stood outside the immortal's cave, completely livid, howling in rage. Eventually, though, he could do nothing but grit his teeth and leave.
Bai Xiaochun sat in his immortal's cave racking his brains. A few days later, he slapped his thigh.
“I was thinking about it the wrong way!
“Controlling the clothing is definitely not a good idea. Clothing is weak, and can’t withstand the force. Not unless it was made from jewels or something! The true Human Controlling Grand Magic is about controlling the smaller components of a person’s body. For example, their skin, flesh, blood, and bones. When all of that is accomplished, then I’ll truly have control power over my opponent!
“Unfortunately, my cultivation base isn’t high enough yet. I need a much stronger foundation in control power. For now, I need to make some sort of device that has inherent control power built into it!” His eyes began to shine brightly. The more he thought about the idea, the more it made sense. The next day, he scoured the sect for just such a device, but unfortunately, found nothing that worked. Just when he was starting to despair, he suddenly pulled out his Protomagnetic Wings. After studying them for a moment, his eyes began to shine brightly.
“In the arcane pocket realm, I gained some enlightenment of protomagnetic power. Now I can use a bit of repulsion power, as well as a slight gravitational force, to produce that illusory pearl….” After some more thought, his right hand flashed with an incantation gesture, and he pointed out. Instantly, a stream of qi emerged from within the wings, which flowed out onto Bai Xiaochun’s palm and transformed into an illusory pearl.
Upon closer examination, it was possible to see two types of auras inside the pearl, one of them pushing away, and the other pulling in. Their balance formed a cycle that acted as a vessel.
After a moment of thought, Bai Xiaochun’s expression filled with determination.
“Spiritual power is the foundation for all cultivators. Control power comes when the Violet Qi Heavenspan Incantation takes spiritual power and fuses it into one’s will.” Bai Xiaochun attempted to do just that. Pouring his spiritual power into the Violet Qi Heavenspan Incantation caused its fluctuations to change. When those fluctuations entered his own will, it became control power, which he infused into the pearl.
Time passed. A day later, Bai Xiaochun’s face was pale, but his expression was one of excitement. Retracting his hand, he sat down to perform some breathing exercises.
A month later, the result of Bai Xiaochun’s madness was that a terrifying amount of control power had built up in the pearl. Only then did he finally stop.
Looking at the pearl excitedly, he said, “This is definitely going to work. There’s a shocking amount of control power built up in the pearl. Once it erupts out, that power will definitely be enough to drive my Human Controlling Grand Magic!”
Just when he was about to go test it out, he stopped in his tracks, thought for a moment, and suddenly didn’t feel as confident.
“No, it's not ready yet. I need to add some more control power!” Gritting his teeth, he sat down cross-legged. After spending three more months pouring power into it, the amount of control power contained in the pearl was hair-raisingly terrifying. There was so much that it spilled out of the pearl, distorting the air in shocking fashion.
All of the objects within 30 meters of Bai Xiaochun were floating up into the air and emanating cracking sounds. Even the pebbles in the walls of the immortal's cave were affected.
Eyes crimson, Bai Xiaochun cackled madly as he emerged from his immortal's cave.
“Bai Xiaochun’s Human Controlling Grand Magic will finally make its debut in the world!” Laughing uproariously, he searched the area around his immortal's cave, only to find that nobody was around. Even as he was looking around in confusion, he noticed several beams of light shooting through the air toward the summit of Mount Daoseed. Apparently, the sect leader had called a meeting of the Foundation Establishment elders, for reasons unknown.
Puzzled, Bai Xiaochun flew up into the air.
Soon he caught sight of the square outside of the sect leader’s personal hall. A large number of Foundation Establishment elders were gathered there, and all of them were conversing with each other in hushed tones. Somber expressions could be seen on their faces; apparently, something big had occurred.
“What happened?” Bai Xiaochun thought. He had been so focused on his Human Controlling Grand Magic that he hadn’t paid much attention to his jade slips. Flying over to the group, he was just about to start asking questions, when three of the Foundation Establishment cultivators about thirty meters away from him, one of whom was Lu Tianlei, suddenly looked over at him in shock!
They had noticed Bai Xiaochun earlier, as well as his disheveled hair and strange appearance. As soon as he got close enough to them, tremors ran through their bodies, and they completely lost control of their cultivation base power. Energy surged out explosively, causing crushing pressure to weigh down, and simultaneously shredding their robes into pieces.
Shivering, eyes bloodshot, they quickly put on new garments and simultaneously fell back. Enraged, they looked over at Bai Xiaochun, convinced that he was up to more shenanigans!
“What are you doing, Bai Xiaochun?!”
However, even as the words left their mouths, Bai Xiaochun continued forward obliviously. At the same time, all of the Foundation Establishment cultivators within thirty meters of him looked on with wide eyes as their clothing was also shredded.
Before Bai Xiaochun could even react, dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators were robe-less, including Shangguan Tianyou.
“Bai Xiaochun!!”
“Dammit, what’s he doing!?” The Foundation Establishment cultivators burned with rage. Throwing new clothes on, they were about to storm over to Bai Xiaochun to teach him a lesson, when they realized that anyone who got within thirty meters of him would have their clothing destroyed. Terrified, they all backed up.
Shocked, Bai Xiaochun retreated to the main gate of the hall, scalp tingling and heart thumping. He already knew that he had caused a major catastrophe again.
“Don’t blame me!” he said. “It's this pearl!” He nervously held the pearl up into the air, which caused rippling distortions to spread out for thirty meters in all directions. Bai Xiaochun appeared to be the only one unaffected.
It was at this point that Sect Leader Zheng Yuandong heard the commotion outside, and stormed out through the gate with some of the prime elders. As soon as they appeared out in the open, they stepped into the danger zone surrounding Bai Xiaochun.
“No!!” Bai Xiaochun shrieked. “Elder Brother Sect Leader, prime elders! Get back!” Eyes wide, he tried to throw the pearl in the opposite direction, but it was too late.
Zheng Yuandong’s clothing was instantly shredded to pieces and blown away by the breeze, leaving him standing there as shocked as a wooden chicken.
The prime elders’ once solemn faces completely changed when their clothing was destroyed. They tried to unleash power to stop it, but it did no good, and soon they were all standing there naked.
Of course, it had nothing to do with the power of Bai Xiaochun's cultivation base, only the strange properties of the pearl. The clothing was not destroyed directly by Bai Xiaochun, but by the pearl. It wasn’t his fault!
As soon as the naked bodies of the sect leader and the prime elders were revealed, everything went deathly quiet.