"Underworld River water...." Although Bai Xiaochun wasn't sure what that type of water could be used for, he could see that a single drop was extremely expensive. Obviously, it was something very useful for cultivators.

"Perhaps cultivators want Underworld River water... the same way Wildlands soul cultivators want Heavenspan River water?" Although Bai Xiaochun hadn't been at the Great Wall for very long, he had heard that in the Wildlands, Heavenspan River water was extremely valuable.

Because of that, quite a few people would smuggle it out into the Wildlands to trade with the soul cultivators. Although the practice was strictly forbidden, it was impossible to prevent it from happening altogether.

There was even a black market within Great Wall City itself. However, Bai Xiaochun wasn't interested in that.

What he was interested in were Nascent Soul Pills!

He quickly found the listing for Nascent Soul Pills, and when he saw the price attached to it, he couldn't help but gasp. Earlier, he had a.s.sumed that he had a good amount of battle credit built up. However, after seeing how expensive things were, he felt really bad for himself.

"Nascent Soul Pills cost millions of battle credits...." Looking sadly at his violet ident.i.ty medallion, he sighed. After all, Nascent Soul Pills had other uses than just breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage. They served the general function of increasing one's cultivation base level, and therefore, could also be used to break through to the great circle of Core Formation.

The reason for that was that the main way Nascent Soul Pills helped with breakthroughs was by means of providing power through the medicinal ingredients. However, only some of those ingredients were specifically for the purpose of forming the Nascent Soul itself. At the moment, what Bai Xiaochun cared most about was the extra power the pills could provide.

"One pill.... With one Nascent Soul Pill, I could probably get to the great circle of the Gold Core stage!" At the moment, Bai Xiaochun had to give up on the idea of purchasing a Nascent Soul Pill. Instead, he bought some other high-grade medicinal pills useful for the Core Formation stage, as well as some magical items he needed, then left.

After returning to his residence, he sealed the place thoroughly and then took out his turtle-wok and performed sixfold spirit enhancements on everything he had just purchased, as well as some other items in his bag of holding.

After he was finished, he looked hesitantly at the numerous designs on the objects he had enhanced.

"I only have two sets of seven-colored flame fuel, and one set for eight-colored flame.... That's all Bai Lin could give me." Back in the Starry Sky Dao Polarity Sect, he had tried to track down fuel for various levels of multi-colored flame, but hadn't been successful. At that point, he had come to understand that seven-colored flame fuel was possible to find, but when it came to eight-colored flame fuel, it was very rare.

It had probably been difficult for Bai Lin just to get this one set.

After a moment of thought, Bai Xiaochun pulled a jade box out of his bag of holding, opened it, and examined the contents. Inside was a fingernail-sized stone that initially seemed completely ordinary in nature. However, it was possible to sense a shocking power within that stone, power that could be unleashed by the smallest bit of friction.

That stone was none other than eight-colored flame fuel!

After studying it for a bit, he carefully closed the lid of the jade box and shook his head.

"I need to hold onto this eight-colored flame fuel," he thought, "and only use it on a really good magical item." After putting away the eight-colored flame fuel, he began to consume the medicinal pills he'd just enhanced.

As he did, spiritual power began to course through him, transforming into strands of frigid qi that gathered inside of his Gold Core.

Another month flew by.

The higher Bai Xiaochun's cultivation base grew, the easier it became to concoct medicine. He continued to produce successful batches of Soul Convergence Pills, and although he wasn't very happy with the outcome, the final versions continued to improve compared to his original version.

Bai Xiaochun was certain that it wouldn't be long before he would be able to produce a satisfactory Soul Convergence Pill. Furthermore, he had decided that the best option was to wait until he made a significant improvement before presenting the pill to Bai Lin.

By now, Bai Xiaochun was very pleased with his life in Great Wall City. Not only did everyone respect him, but the pill furnaces being constantly tossed over the wall and exploding among the enemy caused his battle credits to increase on a daily basis.

His exploding furnaces were now one of the deadliest weapons at the disposal of the Skin Flayers, and were a source of great pressure for the Wildlander necromancers.

Were it not for the fact that this was a large-scale a.s.sault, the Wildlands forces would have long since retreated. Whenever Bai Xiaochun went out to personally witness the devastating effects of his exploding furnaces, he could sense that the fighting was continuing to intensify.

By this point, it wasn't just a single savage tribe who was partic.i.p.ating in the offensive... there were now six of them. Before, there had been about 10,000 savages on the battlefield, but now there were around 80,000. It had been many decades since a battle this large had been fought in the war.

Whenever the savage giants roared and charged into battle, all heaven and earth would shake violently.

Furthermore... more and more soul cultivators were showing up to fight. The cultivators of the five legions took them very seriously, and would often send out their most powerful experts to contend with them.

However, the soul cultivators were always under the protection of large groups of savage giants, and although a few of them were successfully taken down, they never went out without a fierce fight.

Both sides ended up suffering casualties, although it was generally worse for the Wildlands. After all, the five legions had the Great Wall to protect them, and most importantly, the exploding pill furnaces were wreaking havoc on the mostly unintelligent vengeful souls.

Were it not for the pill furnaces, the vengeful souls, who didn't fear extermination at all, would have posed a huge problem for the five legions.

By this point, there was virtually no one among the forces of Great Wall City who hadn't heard of Bai Xiaochun. Also... his name was spreading outside of the Great Wall as well. Many of the savage tribes were now aware of who he was, and that the magical items which were so useful against the vengeful souls were created by none other than him!

In fact, he had already been placed onto the Wildlands' Execution List, and was in the top 100!

All the people above him on the list were incredibly famous individuals who the Wildlands hated deeply.

It couldn't be stated that Bai Xiaochun had completely changed the course of the war. A few exploding furnaces couldn't do something like that. However... he had influenced the state of battle, and that effect continued to grow as time pa.s.sed!

Furthermore, the chiefs of the savage tribes, as well as the necromancers, all hated him with a vengeance!

The chiefs mourned those who had been lost among their various tribes, and the necromancers, who were a proud and lofty lot, were now forced to spend almost all their time keeping the vengeful souls under control.

Generally speaking, controlling these souls should have involved simply directing their momentum. After all, the souls which poured directly out of the Underworld River were particularly fierce. But now... the threat of the exploding furnaces made the souls very difficult to control. Some of them tried to flee, and others even tried to fight back against those controlling them.

Currently, a meeting was taking place on the vast plain with the more than 1,000 black stones. 

Surrounding the black-robed old man on the floating black altar were ten figures. All of them wore gray robes, and emanated terrifying fluctuations which identified them as none other than necromancers!

One of them was speaking to the old man in a raspy voice.

"Exalted emissary, we can't keep going on like this. We have to do something to resolve the situation!!"

In addition to the necromancers, there were also ten giants on the altar, all of whom seemed extremely ancient. They looked different from the other giants, larger and far more intelligent. One of those ancient giants looked at the black-robed old man and slowly said, "I agree, exalted emissary. If things keep going on like this, the warriors of our tribe will lose the protection offered by the tide of souls. Without that protection, they're no match for the cultivators on the wall! Exalted emissary, please use your divine abilities to put an end to this catastrophe!"

Considering what the necromancers and the tribal chiefs were saying, the old man thought for a moment, and then responded in a sinister voice, "We can't waste too much soul power before the appointed time....

"However, don't worry. I've already made some preparations, and I think the time is right to make a move. Pay close attention to the battle tomorrow. I'm going to make Bai Xiaochun's pill furnaces a thing of the past!"