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Chapter 544: The Dao of Emotion Severing
Meng Hao’s expression was calm. He had no time to personally do anything about the effects of the Wheel of Time. He let the flag of three streamers suppress it, then turned and lifted up his hand. The tip of his finger turned bright red.
It then transformed into a red colored totem tattoo. This was the Ji Clan Blood Clone aspect of his Water-type totem. After absorbing it and gaining enlightenment regarding the Blood-type totem, it hadn’t disappeared. Rather, Meng Hao had completely suppressed it inside of his own body.
It was now that, without hesitation, he released the Blood Clone. A bloody light shone out from his finger, flying out into mid-air to transform into the Ji Clan Blood Clone. As soon as it appeared, its body exploded with bloody light that shot up into the sky. It turned its head to look at Meng Hao, as if it planned to attack him. In that moment, Meng Hao gave a cold snort.
The sound of it sent rippling tremors through the body of the Blood Clone, as if it weren’t stable. Actually, when Meng Hao suppressed the clone within his body, he had also branded it with vast amounts of restrictive spells.
An expression of struggle appeared on the Blood Clone’s face for a moment. Then it turned, howling as it shot toward Patriarch Huyan. It seemed it planned to vent its frustration with Meng Hao onto Patriarch Huyan.
The instant the Blood Clone appeared, Patriarch Huyan once again looked shocked. He could not help but tremble inwardly at Meng Hao’s continuous succession of shocking methods. First was his astonishing Seven Animas Soul Transformations, then his Time Sword Formation and the flag of three streamers, and finally this Blood Clone. All of it left Patriarch Huyan thoroughly shaken inwardly.
The Blood Clone shouted as it neared. Together with the Blood Mastiff, it had Patriarch Huyan essentially flanked on both sides. Patriarch Huyan’s face fell. He raised up his right hand and pointed out in front of him. Instantly, the Blood Clone exploded, only to reform a moment later.
“Dammit! It also has a will of undeath!!” Patriarch Huyan’s face flickered as the Blood Mastiff pounced toward him from behind. He was not in a position to evade; the mastiff’s razor sharp fangs sank into his body, ripping open a wound from which blood sprayed out unimpeded.
At the same time, Meng Hao made his move. As he neared, a divine ability suddenly manifested.
“Without a face, a single word, flames of war unify!” More than sixty enormous faces appeared. They superimposed over each other, transforming into a divine ability backed by the power of sixty-four great circle Nascent Souls, a power that could rock Spirit Severing.
The face’s eyes opened, and its mouth moved. Roaring sounds pulsed out within Patriarch Huyan’s mind. Streams of black smoke suddenly rose up from his body, sixty-four in total. They billowed up into the air as Meng Hao’s divine ability closed in.
One man, one clone, one dog, battling Spirit Severing!
Booms continued to explode out. Patriarch Huyan’s aura expanded out to transform into an enormous vortex which slammed into Meng Hao, the mastiff and the clone.
Roaring filled the area and kicked up huge waves on the surface of the sea. The air itself seemed to be on the verge of splitting open. Patriarch Huyan was infuriated. Never since reaching the Spirit Severing stage, had he ever been in such a bad position. His Spirit Severing Area had been shattered, his Wheel of Time stolen. And to top it all off, his opponent… was only a great circle Nascent Soul Cultivator. Even though he had a Spirit Severing Immortal Beast, even though he had a strange Blood Clone, this was all a complete humiliation to Patriarch Huyan!
“My Dao….” said Patriarch Huyan. He took a deep breath, causing all of his emotions to disappear. He became completely calm.
“My Dao of severing emotions…
“When speaking of human emotions, love for one’s family is the most powerful. By Severing family love, one can sever the Dao of a lifetime.” A freezing, emotionless cold suddenly rose up from Patriarch Huyan. This coldness was unfeeling, almost like it was… a funeral for the seven emotions and six pleasures.
“My parents died when I was young,” murmured Patriarch Huyan, “so there was no way to Sever them. My feelings for my beloved are dispensable as far as I am concerned, so that Severing would have been useless…. Only my feelings for my sons would conform to my Dao of severing emotions.
“My First Severing was of that Dao of feelings. It is common knowledge that I have an only son. What is not common knowledge is that I actually had nine sons in total. I killed the first eight with my own hands in order to create my Dao of extinguishing emotions!
“I placed all my hopes in my final son, Huyan Qing, and did everything for him. I concentrated all my fatherly love on him. When that love reached its pinnacle, I would kill him, and the resulting pain would be intense to the extreme. Only by experiencing such pain and grief could I… complete my first Severing and become… totally emotionless!
“By killing my son, you have ruined my Dao! Nothing could possibly compare to the towering hatred which I feel toward you!
“My Dao… is a Severing of emotion!” Patriarch Huyan’s aura suddenly exploded out.
His Spirit Severing Domain, his first Severing, was of emotion!
That emotion was not romantic love, nor friendship. Instead, it was the most powerful of all emotions, the love for blood relatives!
Before Spirit Severing, Patriarch Huyan had been an emotional and loving person. Afterwards… he chose to slaughter his own sons for the sake of his Dao. The only one that remained was Huyan Qing.
His choice for this Spirit Severing Dao was actually very similar to that of Patriarch Hanxue of the Frigid Snow Clan. However, in the end Patriarch Hanxue chose not to continue with the Severing. Patriarch Huyan, on the other hand, was more resolute.
He concentrated all of his fatherly love onto his son, Huyan Qing, holding none in reserve. It was like he took all of the family love that existed within his person and focused it solely on Huyan Qing.
As far as Huyan Qing was concerned, Patiarch Huyan had indulged him in every way, tolerated anything. It had been a boundless fatherly love.
Only in that way could he sever pain, sever his heart, and truly complete his first Severing. By extinguishing family love, he could form… his Dao of extinguishing emotions!
But now, Huyan Qing was dead, killed by another. Because Patriarch Huyan hadn’t killed him, it meant that Patriarch Huyan’s First Severing could not be completed perfectly unless he spent much time reversing the setback.
The easiest method would be to slay the person who had killed Huyan Qing, to get revenge.
But that wasn’t enough. What he needed… was a rain of blood that would allow him to express all of his fatherly love… and release himself from worldly cares.
“Severing emotions,” he said, his voice low. Instantly, everything in the area became extremely cold. An emotionless Domain erupted out from him.
This was a unique divine ability of the Spirit Severing stage, the Domain!
Patriarch Huyan’s Domain was one in which the only thing that could exist was an extinguishing of emotions. Any scrap of emotion or passion would be extinguished inside, dispersed. As the Domain spread out, the Blood Clone trembled. It recovered a moment later, not having been affected very much. That was because it… was innately an emotionless creature.
As for the mastiff, however, it began to shake violently. The bloody light which surrounded it began to flicker. The will of undeath which filled it fought back fiercely, but was clearly not a match. It began to tremble more and more violently, and emit fierce howls.
The one to be affected the most, though, was Meng Hao.
Meng Hao’s mind filled with roaring. Blood oozed out of his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. His eyes shone with confusion. Suddenly, his mind began to fill with images. His childhood and his parents. His friendship with Fatty and the others. The blur that existed between Xu Qing and Chu Yuyan. The emotional connection between apprentice and Master that he felt for Pill Demon.
All of these things completely filled his mind, transforming into a blade that hung there within his mind.
An archaic voice suddenly filled his mind.
“Sever your emotions, and you can exist….
“Emotions are a hindrance, they burn away at your flame of life….
“Sever them….
“Sever them….”
The voice seemed to carry some mysterious power. It caused Meng Hao’s entire body to tremble. He felt as if his soul were about to be shredded into pieces. He couldn’t help but let out a scream of anguish.
At the same time, all the images in his mind, all the people, began to distort. They transformed into black flames that set Meng Hao’s mind on fire. He felt pain…. the kind of pain that comes from watching your parents dying and being helpless to save them!
It was the pain that comes from watching your beloved coldly turn away into the embrace of another!
It was the pain of watching your best friend smile maliciously while plunging a knife into your back!
It was a pain formed from all of those various emotions, rising to the pinnacle!
The pain transformed into black flames which burned at Meng Hao’s very soul.
“Sever them…. Sever the emotions, and you can exist. Refuse… and your soul will be destroyed.” The voice echoed out in Meng Hao’s body as he trembled. It seemed as if he were existing in an illusion, but was unable to distinguish the difference between the illusion and reality.
Confusion filled his eyes. Blood oozed out of his mouth. He lost control and fell down, down into the Violet Sea.
This was Patriarch Huyan’s emotionless Domain, which severed both emotions and pain. It severed the emotions of the enemy, smashed the soul, crushed the fleshly body. Facing Patriarch Huyan with emotions led only to death.
Giving in to the demands of the Domain led to becoming a puppet. Refusing to give in, led to death in body and spirit.
Meng Hao sank down into the Violet Sea. As he did, his mind’s eye was filled with various images from his life. The joys, the sorrows, the partings, the reunions. Pain. Betrayal. They all seemed to swirl into a cycle of pain.
When Meng Hao’s body suddenly hit the seafloor, his eyes opened. As of this moment, they were clear. However, it was a clearness filled with exhaustion.
“Emotions… are not a hindrance,” he murmured. “Emotions… are what make life complete.” He closed his eyes. In the instant that he did, the Violet Sea began to roar, and its surface roiled. The mastiff was trembling in mid-air, its eyes bright red. The Blood Clone was actually not impeded at all. However, as it neared Patriarch Huyan, confusion suddenly filled its eyes.
Patriarch Huyan hovered there in mid-air, his Domain spreading out, filling the entire area. It was at this moment that the Violet Sea began to roar, causing Patriarch Huyan’s brow to furrow.
As he frowned, the waters of the Violet Sea began to collect together. An enormous head suddenly began to emerge, then a body, then two legs. In the shocking blink of an eye, an enormous giant made of seawater rose up from within the Violet Sea.
The giant looked like Meng Hao in every way. Its closed eyes suddenly snapped open. They emanated a bright glow as it lifted up its right hand. The gigantic hand, formed of massive quantities of water, formed into a fist and then punched out toward Patriarch Huyan.
A massive boom echoed out across the waters. Patriarch Huyan’s face fell and he instantly retreated. He managed to avoid the fist, but his Domain was completely shattered.
“Emotionless? You actually transformed into something emotionless…. No! This isn’t you! This is the Violet Sea!! He actually… actually fused with the Violet Sea. This… this….” Patriarch Huyan’s eyes went wide and filled with disbelief. Only emotionless beings could exist within his domain. This Violet Sea Giant, was just such an emotionless creature. After all, the Violet Sea was fundamentally death.
In death, what dies is not just the body, but also emotion.