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The Xuanwu turtle’s intense cry echoed out through the Ninth Mountain and Sea into the ears of all individuals qualified to hear it. As the Dao Realm experts entered the Ruins of Immortality, a towering killing intent continued to surge through the Ninth Mountain and Sea.
Kill the Outsiders! That was the will of the Mountain and Sea Realm!
Although Meng Hao could not hear the cry of the Xuanwu turtle, the Demon Sealing Jade inside of his bag of holding was vibrating with unprecedented intensity. It emanated a fervent hatred that merged into Meng Hao. It was as if... the League of Demon Sealers harbored infinite detestation towards all of these so-called Outsiders, a hatred so fierce that it could only be sated by killing any of them that he met!
Meng Hao was the Ninth Generation Demon Sealer, so the feeling was almost overwhelming. However, even without the urging of the Demon Sealing Jade, Meng Hao would still have chosen to kill Yi Fazi. Naturally, the way that Yi Fazi had provoked him and had acted completely shamelessly ensured that Meng Hao would never let him go.
Yi Fazi immediately fell back. Waving his hand, he caused the numerous black bats which had appeared moments ago to fill the sky and then descend onto Meng Hao in an attempt to halt his progress.
Meng Hao snorted coldly and performed an incantation gesture with his right hand. Suddenly, a Blood Demon head appeared, so huge that it completely covered Meng Hao. It shot forward, slamming into the bats, causing miserable shrieks to ring out. In the blink of an eye, the Blood Demon head caused a red glow to spread out, which consumed the bats.
Meng Hao turned into a red beam of blinding light which pierced through the void of the Ruins of Immortality, pursuing Yi Fazi relentlessly.
Yi Fazi's pale face was filled with an expression of terror and shock. He had known Meng Hao to be powerful, but this strength... had surpa.s.sed anything he could have imagined.
“Dammit! DAMMIT!!” Yi Fazi had long since realized that despite revealing his true self, he was still no match for Meng Hao. His time was up and he couldn’t afford to get bogged down here; his Dao Protector was dead, leaving him trembling in fear. He knew that if he was incapable of shaking off Meng Hao’s pursuit, then the only thing that awaited him was... death!
To be killed in body and soul!!
Yi Fazi threw his heads back and roared. His eyes were bright red, and although his wings had been ripped off, he still had three heads left. As the heads roared, black rings of light shot out from their foreheads.
Three rings of light emanated mysterious glows as he jerked his heads, transforming into light beams that shot toward Meng Hao.
“Life Force Light!” he cried, performing an incantation gesture, his eyes s.h.i.+ning with madness.
As soon as the three black beams of light appeared, the flicker of electricity could be seen in Meng Hao’s right hand. The Lightning Cauldron flickered, and in the same moment that the black beams bore down on him, he looked over at Yi Fazi and suddenly, the two of them switched places. Yi Fazi had no idea what was happening.
The beams of light screeched to a stop right in front of Yi Fazi, causing his scalp to go numb. He could do nothing but stare in shock as Meng Hao waved his hand, causing tens of thousands of mountains to appear, which rumbled as they smashed down onto Yi Fazi.
“Meng Hao,” he howled, “if you let me go, then I, Yi Fazi, will owe you a huge favor!!” He performed a double-handed incantation gesture, then stretched both hands out wide. Immediately, the three beams of black light twisted around, transforming into a black tempest that fought back against the tens of thousands of mountains. At the same time, Yi Fazi spun, changing directions and shooting off like lighting.
Meng Hao didn't say a word. When he saw Yi Fazi changing directions, his eyes glittered, and the Lightning Cauldron once again appeared. Electricity danced, and yet, black light surrounded Yi Fazi, fighting back against the transposition power. In a rare turn of events... the Lightning Cauldron failed!
“Eee?!” said Meng Hao. Yi Fazi then exploded with speed, transforming into a colorful streak of light that immediately sped off into the surrounding ruins and corpses floating around this part of the Ruins of Immortality. Meng Hao gave a cold harrumph, waving his right hand and pointing toward the fleeing Yi Fazi.
“Paragon Bridge!” As soon as the words left Meng Hao’s mouth, rumbling filled the air. A Heaven-shaking, Earth-rocking bridge suddenly appeared. As it rumbled down into the Ruins of Immortality, boundless ripples spread out, blocking Yi Fazi’s path. Yi Fazi’s was thoroughly and completely shocked, and he suddenly stopped in place. Even the mere ripples caused him to cough up a ma.s.sive mouthful of blood. A look of madness filled his face.
“Meng Hao!!” He let out a shrill cry, gnas.h.i.+ng his teeth as he performed another incantation gesture. Black light flickered around him, and his three heads all screamed something like a magic curse. Behind him, a gigantic, illusory statue appeared. Shockingly, the statue... depicted an enormous black python. As soon as it appeared, it emanated a terrifying aura.
Apparently, this ent.i.ty was some sort of spirit that had existed in this Realm in previous times. The sense of ancientness it exuded was shocking, and caused the Ruins of Immortality to tremble.
Gradually, a murderous aura built up and then exploded out from the statue.
“Ancestor, I humbly request your presence!” roared Yi Fazi. The statue rumbled, and as it grew more and more corporeal, it opened its mouth and lashed out toward the Paragon Bridge.
A boom could be heard, and the Paragon Bridge trembled and collapsed. In that same moment, though, the illusory python statue was also shattered. A ma.s.sive shock wave spread out in all directions, causing innumerable ruins and corpses to be blasted away. Meng Hao was forced backward several paces, his face flickering in shock.
Blood sprayed out of Yi Fazi’s mouth, and his eyes shone with madness. The python statue might have been destroyed, but Yi Fazi was now surrounded by a gigantic stone egg that completely covered him up as he shot into the distance like a meteor.
His current speed was several times faster than his speed from moments ago.
Just when he seemed on the verge of disappearing, Meng Hao’s killing intent flared. The starstone in his left eye flickered and reappeared in his palm. It then melted into starlight, which rapidly surrounded Meng Hao as he transformed into a planet.
As soon as the planet appeared, it sped through the void with vastly greater speed than Meng Hao had used before. It crushed everything in its path, and its surging energy caused everything to shake violently.
Faster and faster, closer and closer to Yi Fazi!
As for Yi Fazi himself, the pressure weighing down on him reduced his own speed. In the s.p.a.ce of only ten breaths of time, Meng Hao in planet-form had already caught up with him. In the blink of an eye, the planet slammed into the stone egg that was protecting Yi Fazi.
BOOOOMMMMMM!
A huge rumbling sound rose up into the sky, shaking everything. The stone egg shattered, and Yi Fazi let out a miserable shriek. Blood sprayed from his mouth, and of his three heads, the one that was human-shaped, suddenly exploded.
Yi Fazi trembled violently and staggered backward, crying out in despair, “Dad, save me!!”
Even as the sound rang out, he drew upon the flame of his life force to utilize a bizarre magical technique to project his voice through the void and outside of the Mountain and Sea Realm into the Realm from which he had come.
An instant later, a powerful and terrifying pressure began to push down onto the Ruins of Immortality!
At this point, Meng Hao in planet-form shrank down, transforming into his normal appearance and then walking forward. Coldness radiated off of him as he extended his right index finger.
“Demon Sealing, Seventh Hex, Karmic Hexing!”
The wave of Meng Hao’s finger caused countless Karma Threads to appear around Yi Fazi, Karma Threads that no other person would be able to see. However, Meng Hao could see them, spreading out and fusing into the void, where they seemed to be about to touch that terrifying pressure which was weighing down.
Before they could, the tip of Meng Hao’s finger descended, and the Karma Threads began to tremble. In the blink of an eye, they retracted, almost as if they had been locked down, and were now incapable of spreading out from Yi Fazi’s body.
“NO!!” screamed Yi Fazi, his expression one of despair. More blood sprayed out of his mouth, and he backed up further. At the same time, Meng Hao closed in, eyes flickering with the desire to kill as he waved another finger.
“Demon Sealing, Fifth Hex!”
A rift suddenly appeared in front of Meng Hao’s finger, only a few centimeters long. However, in the instant that it materialized, a terrifying power exploded out toward Yi Fazi. It slammed into his second head, which let out a bloodcurdling scream. Then a rumbling sound could be heard as the head appeared to be swallowed up by the void, and then vanished.
“Don't kill me! Meng Hao, spare me, and you’ll sow good fortune with the Spiritstar Realm! I’ll definitely pay you back many times over!!
“I’ll give you endless cultivation resources, endless power! Anything you want, I’ll give it to y–” Yi Fazi’s final remaining head was quivering as he pleaded with Meng Hao. His heart was filled with regret, and his despair had reached the pinnacle.
Meng Hao’s expression was the same as ever as he walked forward, raised his right hand, and waved it toward Yi Fazi. Yi Fazi’s body emitted rumbling sounds as his chest caved in. His right arm exploded into a haze of blood, after which Meng Hao transformed into a golden roc. He slashed at Yi Fazi with his claws, completely shredding half of his body.
Blood oozed out of Yi Fazi’s mouth. However, despite having received such a grievous injury, he was still alive. Trembling, vision swimming, he was about to try to flee, when a strange light began to gleam in Meng Hao’s eyes.
He didn't simply want to kill Yi Fazi. More importantly... he wanted to know the Yi Fazi’s origin, and the secrets he held within him. Therefore, he was gradually weakening him, and not just killing him outright.
Just as Yi Fazi was backing up, Meng Hao took a step forward and appeared behind him. He lifted his hand, and, eyes gleaming with a strange light... slapped his palm down hard onto the top of Yi Fazi’s head.
“Soulsearch!” This was a sinister magical technique he had learned in the ancient Demon Immortal Sect, a way to rifle through the soul and see a person's memories.
Yi Fazi trembled, and his eye bulged as he let out the most bloodcurdling scream he had let out during the entire battle. His body shook violently as indescribable pain wracked him.
At the same time, a tremor ran through Meng Hao. As he Soulsearched Yi Fazi, memories suddenly appeared in his mind.
“This....” he thought, heart trembling. It was as if he were being struck by uncountable bolts of lightning, all of them exploding in his head and shaking his mind.
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Note from Er Gen (not Deathblade): Back to the normal release schedule. The past few days have been exhausting. Thank you for your understanding, brothers and sisters. Thank you!