In almost the same moment that Meng Hao looked over at the statue, the three lucid Dao Realm experts inside could tell, and their faces flickered.

The Patriarch from the ninth bloodline looked at Meng Hao, then at the members of his own bloodline, and especially Meng De, who wore a very complex expression.

The Patriarch from the eighth bloodline had fought briefly with Meng Hao already, so he sat there gritting his teeth, not daring to emerge. However, his heart was filled with antic.i.p.ation at the prospect of the Patriarch from the first bloodline stepping into the fray.

That very Patriarch was the last among the group of three to have awakened. He had long red hair which continuously burned with fire, and he currently sat there cross-legged, a grim expression on his face. After a long moment pa.s.sed, he slowly rose to his feet and stepped forward, appearing outside the statue in front of Meng Hao.

As soon as he appeared outside, the surrounding members of the Meng Clan looked up at him. No one cheered, though; everyone stared at him and Meng Hao.

“You're not part of the Meng Clan,” the red-haired old man said, his voice ancient and sinister.

“Whether I am or not doesn’t matter,” Meng Hao replied calmly.

“That’s true, it’s not important. Old Eighth, Old Ninth, if you don't do something, then our Meng Clan is going to fall to a stranger this day.” Flames burst out around the red-haired old man, a manifestation of Essence of flame which caused the surrounding air to distort.

Back in the statue, the Patriarch from the eighth bloodline gritted his teeth, then finally chose to emerge. The Patriarch from the ninth bloodline, the one who had actually met Meng Hao, also came out.

Three Patriarchs had emerged, and finally, antic.i.p.ation began to s.h.i.+ne in the eyes of the Meng Clan cultivators, as well as excitement. In their minds, even if Meng Hao were stronger than he was now, he still couldn't stand up to the combined might of these three Patriarchs.

“Just the three of you won’t be enough,” Meng Hao said, looking them over. Then his gaze s.h.i.+fted to the two slumbering figures that remained in the statue. “You’ve been awake for a while now, what’s the point in pretending that you’re still asleep?” he said. “You've lost the chance to make a sneak attack, so how about I give you the opportunity to come at me five against one?

“If you win, I’ll give you this treasure.” With that, Meng Hao waved his hand, causing the Lightning Cauldron to materialize up above. It crackled with lightning, and the aura of a precious treasure, causing the three Patriarchs’ eyes to widen, and their minds to spin.

Suddenly, two auras erupted out from within the statue. One of them was not quite at the level of a Dao Lord, but was very close. The other was very much at the Dao Lord level, and apparently was approaching four Essences. However, the little bit that he lacked meant that he was not quite powerful enough to earn the t.i.tle of Dao Sovereign.

These two were the true Patriarchs of the Meng Clan, and the two of the most powerful forces that the Meng Clan had produced in many, many years.

As soon as their auras appeared, the air next to the three Patriarchs standing outside of the statue flickered, and two people appeared out of nowhere. They looked incredibly old and emanated powerful ripples, especially the nearly-4-Essences expert. He wore a long gray robe, and emanated an air of decay. He looked deeply at Meng Hao and said, “What if you win?”

“If I win, then the five of you must swear Dao oaths to protect my grandmother’s bloodline for a thousand years.” Meng Hao stared at the nearly-4-Essences Patriarch, who was one who he deemed most worthy of his attention. He was curious to see if the fully absorbed fourth Nirvana Fruit would enable him to fight four or more Essences.

“Why only a thousand years?”

“Because a thousand years from now,” Meng Hao replied calmly, “as long as I haven’t perished, no one in the Mountain and Sea Realm would dare to harm any of my relatives in the least.” Although his words seemed wildly arrogant to most of the people who heard them, the five Dao Realm Patriarchs’ expressions turned serious.

After exchanging glances, the five of them then nodded. In truth, they had no choice other than to fight. Besides, the stakes that Meng Hao had offered helped to ease the tension a bit. After all, the matter was an internal affair of the Meng Clan, and handling it in this way would be mutually beneficial.

“Very well!” said the 4-Essences Dao Realm expert. Then, he shot high up into the starry sky, followed by the four other Patriarchs. After all, a Dao Realm battle couldn't be fought down below, lest the power of the attacks seep out and lead to widespread destruction in the Meng Clan.

Meng Hao looked over at his grandmother, and could see the care and concern in her eyes. He smiled and nodded, then transformed into a beam of light that shot up into the starry sky.

Instantly, certain members of the Meng Clan utilized various magical techniques to project an image of the starry sky down below so that the other clan members could watch the fight.

What they saw was Meng Hao appearing on the battlefield and then, instantly, the five Patriarchs attacking together!

Rumbling filled the starry sky as soon as Meng Hao arrived. The Patriarch from the first bloodline was slightly quicker than the others. An incantation gesture caused a sea of flames to burst out, which then transformed into a huge hand that reached out toward Meng Hao as if to grab him.

The Patriarch from the eighth bloodline threw his head back and roared, smacking his hands together in front of him, which caused a ma.s.sive windstorm to erupt. That windstorm was backed by the power of his cultivation base and his Essence of wind. It quickly transformed into a huge tornado which swept out in attack.

The Patriarch from the ninth bloodline made a somewhat strange attack. As he performed an incantation gesture, ripples spread out from his feet, filling the starry sky and causing an enormous mirror to materialize.

Those three attacks were the most normal of the group. There were still two Patriarchs left. The one who was close to being a Dao Lord began to glow with the color of blood, a glow that contained a towering will of slaughter.

Shockingly, this was a type of Essence that was very difficult to cultivate, but very powerful... slaughter Essence!

The final Patriarch was the strongest of the group. He took a deep breath, and as he did, a green glow appeared in the void. In the blink of an eye, even his body turned green, and a ring of green-colored lightning appeared around him. This was none other than Green Lightning Magic!

This was the most powerful Daoist magic in the Meng Clan; green lightning filled the area for a thousand meters around the Patriarch, a completely different type of green lightning than that used by Han Qinglei in the Windswept Realm.

Meng Hao’s expression didn’t even flicker. Currently, his fourth Nirvana Fruit was completely absorbed, and a mere thought on his part could summon the Door of the Ancient Realm. However, even if he didn't intend to do so, the powerful ripples of his cultivation base meant it was possible that the door might appear on its own.

“Well,” he murmured quietly, “before I step into the Ancient Realm, let’s see how powerful my battle prowess has gotten!” With that, his eyes gleamed brightly as he shot out toward the Patriarch from the first bloodline. That Patriarch performed a double-handed incantation gesture, causing the enormous, all-powerful hand of flames to speed faster toward Meng Hao.

That hand was formed completely from Essence power, and was so strong that even a Quasi-Dao cultivator who was struck by it would be completely destroyed, let alone weaker cultivators. It could even shatter ma.s.sive asteroids.

It whistled through the void, seemingly capable of burning everything as it bore down on Meng Hao.

“I won’t be unfair,” Meng Hao said. “Since you’re using flame Essence... then I’ll use the same thing to beat you!” As soon as the words left his mouth, fire raged up around him, the complete manifestation of Meng Hao’s Essence of Divine Flame. As it appeared in full, it instantly began to rumble toward the first bloodline Patriarch’s flame essence.

This was fire fighting fire, and it wasn’t a matter of who could control it better. Rather, the question was... whose Essence was stronger!? Whose Essence was more terrifying!?

Meng Hao waved his hand, causing the flame Essence around him to transform into a giant fist made of flames, which then punched out toward the first bloodline Patriarch's flame hand.

BOOOOOOOMMM....

Everything shook as the Patriarch’s flame hand exploded. Meng Hao’s Divine Flame fist also fell apart, but as it did, it revealed the image of a monkey, which threw its head back and roared.

That roar caused all of the fire out in the starry sky to seethe. The power of Divine Flame then swept up together, forming a huge mouth which shot toward the first bloodline Patriarch as if to consume him. However, in the moment before it did, Meng Hao snorted, causing the flame mouth to stop in place, let out howl of defiance, and then slowly fade away.

The Patriarch from the first bloodline coughed up a mouthful of blood and then fell back into retreat, face flickering with shock. This was the first time he had ever been defeated by a similar Essence, and were it not for the fact that Meng Hao wasn’t in a killing mood, then he would have been killed beyond the shadow of a doubt!

“You lose,” Meng Hao said. Then he took another step, placing him directly in front of the eighth bloodline Patriarch and his screaming windstorm, which shot menacingly toward Meng Hao.

“I can’t use wind Essence,” Meng Hao said, shaking his head. He allowed the windstorm to slam into him, a terrifying force that could even kill a Quasi-Dao expert. Even Dao Realm cultivators of the same level would fear that wind. However, as it swept over Meng Hao, although some wounds appeared... that was the extent of the matter. That caused the eighth bloodline Patriarch to gasp, and instantly flee.

“I concede!” he blurted, expression that of astonishment.

The main source of his fear was that he could see that the injuries inflicted by the powerful windstorm couldn't keep up with how quickly Meng Hao’s body was healing itself. Wounds that took two breaths of time to inflict were completely healed up almost instantly....

“What a terrifying fleshly body! How... how do you fight something like this!?!?”

Meanwhile, the members of the Meng Clan were all watching the scene play out on the enormous projection screen.

They could clearly see Meng Hao use flame Essence to defeat the first bloodline Patriarch, and then use his astonis.h.i.+ng fleshly body to defeat the Essence Daoist magic of the eighth bloodline Patriarch.

From the position of the audience, he almost seemed invincible!

“C-compared to last time, it seems like he’s... even more powerful!!”

“What... what cultivation base does he have? He's so young! How could he be... so strong!?!?”

This was the first time for Meng Hao’s grandmother to see how truly powerful he was. As she watched the images on the screen, a broad smile broke out on her face.

As of this moment, she didn't care at all who was responsible for the comeback of the bloodline in the Meng Clan. Whether it was her or Meng Hao didn’t matter. That was because... he was her grandson!