“Dammit!” Meng Hao’s face fell. Everything that had happened moments ago seemed almost like a dream. When Qian Duoduo drew out his Devilish will, it influenced Meng Hao on an emotional level, and had also changed his personality. Although he had seemed calm and cool-headed, it was merely an external thing. He had actually lost any sense of what was going on around him.
Situational awareness was something incongruous with the Devilish will.
And now, here he was being ejected from the arena into the outside.
Because of the intense power he had just unleashed, the Devilish will had been completely set aboil, and because of the force that caused him to shoot out of the arena, it had dissipated by more than half. Because of that, Meng Hao’s consciousness was not being interfered with any more; it was almost as if he had awoken from a dream.
There was no time to worry about expelling the rest of the Devilish will. Meng Hao was now in the middle of a maelstrom of danger. As soon as he left the arena, the half-headed man closed in and grabbed ahold of him.
His hand was ice-cold, and as soon as it latched onto Meng Hao, Meng Hao’s entire body turned icy. He was just about to try to struggle when, all of a sudden, his face flickered. This was a result of something the half-headed man did, a magical art that he unleashed that Meng Hao was very familiar with!
It was… the Eighth Demon Sealing Hex!!
In an instant, Meng Hao was completely confined, incapable of even the slightest movement. At the same time, his life force, his cultivation base, everything was instantly sent toward the half-headed man, as if he wanted to voraciously consume it.
Meng Hao’s mind was reeling as the half-headed man instantly shot off into the distance with Meng Hao in tow, to disappear into the mists.
It all happened too quickly. Meng Hao was gone before anyone on the Dao Tree could react.
Ling Yunzi’s face fell, and he flew up into the air. However, when he looked out into the boundless void, despite his anxiety, he knew… it was impossible for him to go out into the mists.
The other two old men also had dark looks on their faces as they stared out at the spot where Meng Hao had disappeared into the mists.
Everyone on the Dao Tree gaped in shock.
Everything had happened too quickly, and it was something nobody could have predicted. As for Zhao Yifan, he now lay crumpled on the ground beneath the Dao Tree, unconscious and hovering on the brink of death.
Outside in the Ninth Mountain and Sea, the cultivators who had been watching the battle now felt their minds trembling. Expressions of disbelief appeared on their faces as they watched the half-headed man take Meng Hao away.
“He… he got first place, but….”
“What’s going on? How could something like this happen? This is impossible!”
“Dammit! He got first place! He defeated Zhao Yifan! He got first place in the trial by fire, and then first place in the arena matches. He’s supposed to become famous in the Ninth Mountain and Sea. How come… how come it had to end up like this!?!?”
“I can’t believe the Ruins of Immortality are this dangerous! Why did they have to hold the arena matches in a place like this!?!?”
Many people in the crowds outside in the Ninth Mountain and Sea were furious. They had all just witnessed Fang Mu’s rise to prominence. Many had even come to view him as a future Paragon, and yet all of it disappeared in an instant.
There were some people who actually breathed sighs of relief. Fang Mu was far too powerful, to the point where cultivators of his generation felt stifling pressure. For him to simply disappear was the best outcome, as far as they were concerned.
“Fang Mu is definitely dead. That half-headed man took him away to experience an untimely death.”
“What an unlucky Chosen. Well, now there’s one less person for me to challenge in the future.”
While the crowds in the Ninth Mountain and Sea were abuzz, the Patriarchs in the starry sky palace looked on in shock. The Patriarchs from the Three Great Daoist Societies also wore grim expressions as they slowly rose to their feet. First, they looked toward the spot where Meng Hao had disappeared, and then they turned their attention to the white-robed woman who hovered above the Dao Tree.
The woman glanced down at the unconscious Zhao Yifan, then turned her head to look out into the void. She appeared to be muttering to herself for a moment, and then suddenly she turned and disappeared in the same direction Meng Hao had gone.
After seeing this, the Patriarchs from the Three Great Daoist Societies were extremely excited.
“Perhaps… Fang Mu isn’t dead!”
“Perhaps… we really will succeed this time!!”
“Ah the Echelon. In the great Nine Mountains and Seas, only the Ninth Mountain and Sea have yet to send someone into the Echelon….”
Meanwhile, outside of Planet East Victory, Patriarch Reliance floated among the stars, his eyes wide with astonishment, breathing heavily as he looked at the vortex screen.
“Is the little bastard going to die just like that? Impossible! If the little bastard was that easy to get rid of, well wouldn’t that be poetic justice? Although, how come… how come that half-headed man… looked so familiar…?”
The 10th Wang Clan Patriarch sat cross-legged on an asteroid shooting through the starry sky, watching silently as the events played out on the vortex screen up ahead.
In the Kunlun Society, Pill Demon was trembling, and a brilliant light shone from his eyes. Although he didn’t believe Meng Hao could be killed so easily, it was the Ruins of Immortality….
Chu Yuyan was also shaking. Her breath came in ragged pants, and her face was pale white. She didn’t dare to believe that Meng Hao was really dead. All of the energy seemed to drain out of her, and she staggered back a few steps. Tears began to stream down her face.
“He won’t die….”
On Planet South Heaven, in the vast Eastern Lands, Meng Hao’s parents sat in the Fang Clan, their faces pale, holding hands tightly. Fang Xiufeng’s expression was calm, but in his heart, a monstrous desire to kill had risen up.
After a few deep breaths, he growled, “Hao’er is not the type of person to die young. He won’t be killed. But if he does perish… then I, Fang Xiufeng, vow that I will continue to guard this planet. However, after the 100,000 years have passed, then I will personally open the door to release the evil Devils, and ensure that the Three Great Daoist Societies are buried together with my son!
“Furthermore, those Ruins of Immortality… will serve as burial objects!”
When Chen Fan, Fatty, and Li Shiqi saw what had happened, they trembled in disbelief.
All of the Ninth Mountain and Sea was in an uproar. Meng Hao had just earned first place, and then… had disappeared to who knew where!
**
Naturally, Meng Hao was not dead.
The half-headed man grasped him tightly as they shot through the mists. Meng Hao trembled as his life force, cultivation base, and aura were absorbed by the man.
Slowly, the flesh and blood of the man’s head began to heal. His aura gradually moved away from death, and a bit of life force could be detected. However, he still seemed to be lacking in terms of consciousness, as if he had no mental faculties, and was only acting on instinct.
Meng Hao couldn’t move, and his thoughts were sluggish. Icy coldness filled him. However, as his life force was sucked away, the remaining Devilish will inside of him was also absorbed.
As the half-headed man absorbed more and more of the Devilish will, he suddenly stopped in place, and black flames flickered on his body.
The man had feared the flames of the Devilish will before, and now that he was absorbing Meng Hao’s cultivation base and life force, he himself began to burn, and an expression of anguish appeared on his face.
In that instant, Meng Hao was suddenly able to move again. He also recovered his mental faculties, and was instantly shocked.
“He… he can use the Eighth Demon Sealing Hex!” he thought. “Who is he? Don’t tell me… he’s also from the League of Demon Sealers!?
“That sword contains the Sixth Demon Sealing Hex, and it’s stuck into his side. If he’s from the League of Demon Sealers, then either there was infighting within the League of Demon Sealers, or… he stabbed the sword into himself, as a sealing!!” Numerous speculations ran through Meng Hao’s head, but in this critical moment of danger, he had no time to think too much about it.
Eyes glittering, Meng Hao took advantage of the moment to unleash his cultivation base. His Immortal meridian began to emanate Immortal qi, which he attempted to use to struggle against the half-headed man. Unfortunately, the man was far too powerful, and Meng Hao’s efforts were in vain.
However… Meng Hao was not interested in battling the man. Instead, he used the brief moment in which he could move to suddenly reach out and grab the sword that was stabbed into the man’s side.
As soon as he touched the sword, the ancient Demon Sealing Jade in his bag of holding began to vibrate madly. At the same time, the half-headed man began to let out a miserable shriek. As this happened, Meng Hao used every scrap of power he could muster to yank the sword out from the man’s side.
As he pulled the sword out of the man… a stream of black blood sprayed out with it. The man trembled, releasing Meng Hao, who then backed up at top speed, face pale and blood spurting out of his mouth.
He had lost a lot of life force, and his cultivation base was in chaos. He was in very sore straits, and yet, he didn’t pause for even the least bit, but instead, unleashed every bit of speed that he could to escape.
The half-headed man trembled, and pushed his hand down onto his wound. However, no matter what he did, blood continued to stream out of the wound.
“Who am I…? Who… who am I?” the man murmured, a confused expression on his face. His mind seemed to be in chaos as his words echoed out.
“My sword… my sword….” As his words rang out, the blood flowing from his body suddenly congealed together to form into blood snakes. Their bodies were covered with long feelers, and they looked extremely vicious. More and more of them continued to pour out of the man’s wound, until they filled the area, nearly a thousand of them.
Meng Hao’s scalp was going numb.
It was at this point that a shrill whistling sound could be heard from off in the distance. A black wind was approaching, along with the decomposing roc, the same things Meng Hao had seen outside of the Dao Tree. The roc closed in greedily, heading straight toward the half-headed man.
As it neared, the man murmured something, and then his eyes glittered, and he performed an incantation with his right hand, then pointed at the roc.
Eighth Demon Sealing Hex!
That one wave of a finger caused the huge roc to stop in place and then fall downward.
Meng Hao’s mind was trembling.
Next, the mists began to churn as more and more figures appeared. One of them was the naga cultivator, and all of them were staring greedily at the vicious blood snakes that were boring out from within the man’s wound. From the look in their eyes, it was as if they were staring at treasures. In the blink of an eye, they charged forward madly.
“I am… the Sixth Generation Demon Sealer….” the half-headed man said. He looked around blankly at the incoming figures. His hand was pressed onto the wound at this side as he attempted to prevent the blood snakes from emerging. Within his eyes, a gleam of clarity suddenly appeared.
“Sixth Demon Sealing Hex… Life-Death Hexing!”
With that, he waved his finger.