“Dao Fang....” he thought. “Once I leave the Windswept Realm and get back home, I’m definitely going to go back to the Ancient Dao Lakes!” Meng Hao’s eyes glittered thoughtfully, and then the intimidating gleam in his eyes vanished. He looked back down at Yuwen Jian and smiled enigmatically.

How could he not have realized that Yuwen Jian could have reached enlightenment much earlier, and had intentionally dragged things out? Clearly, he had been planning something. Although Meng Hao’s use of the ax had seemed completely spontaneous, it was actually designed as a warning for Yuwen Jian.

Seeing Meng Hao’s smile, Yuwen Jian felt even guiltier. Clearing his throat, he smacked his chest heroically and said, “Brother Meng Hao, you are truly courageous and extraordinary. Hahaha. Dao-Heaven's three hired thugs were all incredibly powerful. But in front of you, they were like hired clowns. You crushed them like weeds! You’re definitely destined to be number one in the Mountain and Sea Realm Echelon!” Although Yuwen Jian’s words were blatantly ingratiating, his expression was very sincere, as if every word were spoken from the depths of his heart. [1. There is some word play in this pa.s.sage that doesn't quite translate well. Literally he says, "those three dog-legs (hired thugs/henchmen) of Dao-Heaven were all powerful, but to you they were like dirt-dogs (stray dogs/mole crickets)"]

“Well said, well said,” replied Meng Hao, chuckling. Then he stared evenly at Yuwen Jian. “However, Fellow Daoist Yuwen Jian, you still need to return the World Seal I loaned to you.”

Yuwen Jian’s smile stiffened, and his mind spun with hundreds of ideas. However, when he saw the look in Meng Hao’s eyes, his heart began to pound, and he once again thought about the implications of Meng Hao being rewarded for killing an Echelon cultivator.

“Dammit!” he thought. “The rewards of the Windswept Realm this time are encouraging us to slaughter each other.... I can’t provoke this jinx, otherwise I’ll find myself in a deadly crisis!” Having reached this point in his train of thought, Yuwen Jian unhesitatingly produced the World Seal and sent it back to Meng Hao.

Meng Hao grabbed it and put it away. Smiling just as broadly as ever, he didn't say a single word about the Seventh Nation’s World Seal. Yuwen Jian had intentionally sat out of the fight, and had been plotting the whole time. Had he instead joined in to fight Hai Qingdong and the others, then Meng Hao would naturally have refrained from greedily keeping the World Seal.

However, since Yuwen Jian had clearly been up to something, then Meng Hao didn’t feel guilty at all about turning the tables on him.

Yuwen Jian smiled wryly. Although he was a body cultivator, the fact that he was not only a member of the Echelon, but had also managed to keep his place in it for so long, and at the same time managed to reach such a high level of body cultivation, showed that he was no fool. He might not be considered a genius, he was quite adept at scheming.

It was obvious to even him that Meng Hao had seen through his plan, and had used the ax as a warning. Not returning the Seventh Nation’s World Seal was an additional punishment.

“Well, that’s fine,” he thought. “Since the Windswept Realm seems to be encouraging us Echelon cultivators to wipe each other out, then those World Seals are like signal flares. The more you have, the more likely you’ll be to get killed and have them stolen away. Since I have no World Seal, as long as I’m careful, I’ll actually be much safer.”

Yuwen Jian was now feeling a lot more confident, so he clasped hands and bowed to Meng Hao. Backing up a few steps at the same time, he smiled and said, “Brother Meng Hao, it’s getting late. My place is kind of a mess right now, so I won’t keep you any longer. Take care of yourself on your way back, brother, and when you get a chance come visit again.”

Meng Hao looked at him, and Yuwen Jian instantly braced himself for something bad to happen. After a moment, though, Meng Hao merely smiled, swished his sleeve, and turned to depart.

It was in this moment, however, that a beam of light suddenly rose up from the central temple. It was rapidly expanding, spreading out to fill the entire Windswept Realm.

Shockingly, this light was just like the light from moments before... it was 30,000 meters wide!!

The ma.s.sive pillar of light shot up into the Heavens, causing non-stop rumbling sounds to echo out. The sky shook, and countless ripples expanded out, filling the entire sky. Meng Hao’s eyes went wide, and Yuwen Jian’s face fell.

As the beam of light burst up into the world of mountains and statues, the tallest of the mountains, the one which was now a statue of Meng Hao, suddenly blurred as a ghost image appeared next to it. The image then solidified into a second statue!

That second statue depicted a young man with swirling killing intent. He emanated incredible pressure that caused Meng Hao to pant. Shockingly, that statue was holding a head in its hand!

That head radiated icy coldness, despite being dead.

“Dao-Heaven!!” Yuwen Jian exclaimed. “That’s the Echelon cultivator from the First Mountain!! The head in his hand... is the head of the Echelon cultivator from the Second Mountain!!” His face drained of blood. He well knew that Dao-Heaven had long since taken the Second Nation’s World Seal from that cultivator, who had then managed to flee.

He had previously reached the conclusion that lacking a World Seal would place him in much less danger. He had never imagined that after only a few breaths of time pa.s.sed, his entire line of reasoning would be overturned. The Echelon cultivator from the Second Mountain was now dead, heralding the beginning of what would no doubt be a series of b.l.o.o.d.y and chaotic battles!

It didn't matter whether or not he had a World Seal, he was still in incredible danger!

Next, that cold and ruthless voice echoed out through the Windswept Realm.

“The reward... is an Ancient treasure! Lofty Mountain Immortal Flail!”

All of the Echelon cultivators were instantly shaken. Events were unfolding too quickly. First Hai Qingdong was killed, and then moments later, Dao-Heaven hunted down and killed someone else!

Furthermore, the reward was another Ancient treasure!

Meng Hao stared at the world up above, and Dao-Heaven’s statue. His eyes then began to gleam with an intimidating light. Even though he wasn’t sure how strong this Dao-Heaven was compared to Hai Qingdong, from what he could sense, he was incredibly powerful.

“Dao-Heaven....” he thought, eyes glittering.

Just when he was about to leave, Yuwen Jian suddenly flew up into the air and cried out, “Brother Meng Hao! Hahaha! Look, it’s getting pretty late, there’s no need to hurry off. Why don't you stick around for a few days!?”

Yuwen Jian was scared, so how could he possibly allow Meng Hao to leave so easily? If Meng Hao stayed behind, then there would be two of them to fight against Dao-Heaven if he came looking for them.

Meng Hao ignored him and was just about to speed off into the distance when Yuwen Jian, thoughts racing, clenched his teeth and then blurted, “Meng Hao, I know of a way for you to get the Sixth Nation’s World Seal without even lifting your pinky finger!”

Meng Hao stopped and looked back at Yuwen Jian.

Seeing that Meng Hao had stopped, Yuwen Jian quickly explained, “Listen, Meng Hao. Of the nine World Seals, Dao-Heaven now has three, and you have four. The remaining two are those belonging to the Third Nation and the Sixth Nation respectively. The Echelon cultivator in the Sixth Nation is that kid Hong Bin. We went through some dangerous situations together and became friends. How about I take you to the Sixth Nation and persuade him to give you the World Seal! [2. Hong Bin’s name in Chinese is 洪斌 hóng bīn. Hong is a surname which also means "great” or "big.” Bin means “refined”]”he declared, slapping his chest.

“That way, you’ll have five World Seals, and will definitely have the upper hand!

“As long as you're not scared of Dao-Heaven, then the Sixth Nation’s World Seal is yours!”

Meng Hao stared at him coldly. He didn’t trust Yuwen Jian very much; although they hadn’t known each other for long, he got the feeling that Yuwen Jian was about as unreliable as Patriarch Reliance.

“I don’t trust you,” Meng Hao said slowly.

Looking insulted and a bit angry, Yuwen Jian said, “Brother Meng Hao, it really hurts me to hear you say that. You know what type of person I am? I’m just like the ‘jian 堅’ character in my name. I'm steadfast in conduct, steadfast in word, steadfast in action, steadfast in everything!”

Unmoved, Meng Hao coolly responded, “You told me that you killed Hai Qingdong once.”

Yuwen Jian didn’t seem the least bit embarra.s.sed about that fact. Laughing heartily, he said, “Brother Meng Hao, I've been wanting to reform some of my bad habits for a while now. I really managed to make myself look like a fool in front of you, brother. I'm definitely going to make some changes!”

“Your enlightenment earlier went way too slowly,” Meng Hao said.

“Hahaha! Brother Meng Hao, there’s no need to go out of your way to give me face. I wasn’t slow, I was just distracted. For that, I must apologize. From now on, I definitely won’t daydream anymore!”

Meng Hao wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. He looked closely at Yuwen Jian for a moment, and realized that not only were his words unreliable, but he was also extremely shameless. In terms of doing about-faces, n.o.body else could possibly match up to him.

Yuwen Jian’s expression was extremely sincere. Smacking his chest, he declared, “Brother Meng Hao, this time, you just have to trust me. I really am friends with Hong Bin. I saved his life once!”

After a moment of silence, Meng Hao looked at Yuwen Jian and calmly said, “If you don't get me that World Seal, then you’ll see what happens when I really flip out.”

It was no threat. His calm words instantly caused Yuwen Jian to become nervous, and he nodded.

No more words were exchanged. Yuwen Jian led the way, and the two of them became bright beams of light that shot through the Seventh Nation toward the Sixth Nation. They moved with incredible speed, so it wasn’t long before they arrived.

As soon as they entered the Sixth Nation, intense pressure weighed down on them, a warning of sorts. The boy Hong Bin, currently sat cross-legged on the Sixth Nation’s National Aura Mountain, and as soon as he sensed them, his face flickered. The National Aura Mountain’s s.h.i.+eld sprang up, and Hong Bin was immediately surrounded by several followers, who formed a defensive spell formation.

“Dammit,” he said out loud. “Is it Dao-Heaven? Or is it just someone pa.s.sing through? Either way, keep the spell formation ready. If it's Dao-Heaven, we can teleport out of here!” Hong Bin was extremely nervous. Currently, the two people he feared most were Dao-Heaven and Meng Hao.

Both of them had killed other Echelon cultivators, and had been rewarded with Ancient treasures. How could he not be afraid? He didn't want his own life to be the price paid to get either one of them another Ancient treasure.

As he sat there vigilantly, two streaks of light pierced through the air outside of the National Aura Mountain. Yuwen Jian was in the lead position, and as soon as he got close enough, he urgently shouted, “Hong Bin, old pal, it’s Yuwen Jian, come to pay respects!”

Almost as soon as the words left his mouth, Hong Bin caught sight of Yuwen Jian. Instantly, his eyes blazed with anger, and he shot to his feet.

“Dammit, Yuwen Jian, you duplicitous b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You conned me back then and I never hunted you down about it, but now you have the gall to come looking for me!?

“Hey, who’s that behind you? That’s... dammit! I can't believe you brought him here! I won’t rest until you’re dead, Yuwen Jian!!”

As soon as Hong Bin’s shrill voice echoed out, Yuwen Jian glanced embarra.s.sedly over at Meng Hao. What he saw was Meng Hao looking back at him with an icy smile.

“Brother Meng Hao,” he gushed, “just give me the time it takes half an incense stick to burn. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely succeed!” In a flash, he sped toward the National Aura Mountain!