Meng Hao stood there, one foot in the exit, a gentle force tugging at him, as if to pull him out. However, there was absolutely no way he would let his other foot step into the exit.

Trembling, he looked back at what was happening in the distant sky. The copper mirror... was something that had changed his life. Inside that mirror was the parrot, who had become his friend, his comrade!

That made him think of the meat jelly. The parrot and the meat jelly were always at each other’s throats, but... they had long since become like his family.

How could he ever forget the meat jelly’s talkativeness, or the parrot’s boasting? How could he forget how they had called themselves Lord Fifth and Lord Third? How could he forget the seafood song?

All of those things were there in his mind, to remain there for all time. In the end, in that critical life-or-death moment, the parrot had been willing to erase its mind for Meng Hao, and the meat jelly had sacrificed its undying life force.

In the end, one of his friend’s consciousnesses was wiped out, and it was taken by those two powerful forces. The other turned into a lifeless husk which was now tucked away deep in Meng Hao’s bag of holding.

“The parrot....” Meng Hao murmured. In that moment, Jin Yunshan whistled past him into the exit, and then vanished. After him was Sha Jiudong, and then the Sect Leader. All of them were rus.h.i.+ng as fast as possible to escape.

As they left, they glanced over at Meng Hao and wondered what he was hesitating about. However, there was no time to ponder the matter, and they quickly left.

Meng Hao stood there, seemingly oblivious to the cultivators from the Vast Expanse School. As they flew past him, his eyes were glued on the copper mirror.

He saw the copper mirror slam into the finger, which trembled in response. Shockingly, the finger tilted back, and cracks began to spread out over its surface. The finger even began to tremble.

A grunt of surprise could be heard, and then the cracked finger flicked the copper mirror.

The copper mirror... shattered.

Nine shards... scattered about in all directions. Eight shards flew out into the starry sky, toward parts unknown. As for the main body of the mirror, it was not shattered, but grew dark and dull as it also flew out into the depths of the starry sky.

However... one of the shards of the mirror... landed on the third land ma.s.s....

Meng Hao saw it very clearly, and when he did, he began to shake. He was suddenly filled with the impulse to go to that third land ma.s.s and find that mirror shard!!

He had the feeling that if he could find that shard, then perhaps... he could once again sense the copper mirror. Maybe he could sense the parrot!

When the mirror shattered, the figure on the ninth land ma.s.s shot toward the finger, radiating grief and madness....

As for what happened to him, Meng Hao didn’t see. He was completely focused on the third land ma.s.s. Most of the cultivators from the Vast Expanse had already escaped. However, there were two 8-Essences Paragons still rus.h.i.+ng toward the exit. They were only about thirty meters away when they suddenly trembled and transformed into dust.

In that exact same moment, the bronze lamp inside of Meng Hao went as dim as if it had been extinguished. Meng Hao could sense that it was a moment of incredible danger, and that death was rus.h.i.+ng toward him.

He knew that he was treading a razor-thin line between life and death, and yet he still chose to open his third eye. Using the third eye, he noted the exact location on the third land ma.s.s where the mirror shard had landed, and committed it to memory.

By that time, death was almost right in front of him, like an invisible mouth preparing to consume him. In that moment, Meng Hao threw his head back and bellowed, stepped fully into the exit, and vanished.

A moment later, the ripples of death inundated the area where he had been standing.

Back on Planet Vast Expanse, in the teleportation portal formation on the half-planet....

Meng Hao materialized, coughing up a mouthful of blood. His face was pale, and yet his eyes were blazing as if with raging flames.

Everyone else looked completely bedraggled. Of the dozens of people who had gone into the necropolis, only twenty came out alive. The rest... had perished inside.

Meng Hao looked over at the Sect Leader and asked, “When can we go back in!?”

“At minimum, one year. However, there’s no guarantee we can go back that soon. Various preparations must be made, and I also need to personally go ask Immortal Bai Wuchen to come with us! With her and the Second Paragon, we will have six peak 9-Essences cultivators. With you included, I'm very confident that we can open the pa.s.sageway to the second land ma.s.s.” The danger they had just faced did nothing to lessen the Sect Leader’s resolve, and in fact, he was even more convinced than ever that they should go back.

With the Transcendence Daises, they all had a hope of Transcending!

Meng Hao stood there silently, then looked down at the teleportation portal upon which he stood. His heart was anything but calm; he had profited to an extreme level in this trip to the necropolis, most importantly, by getting a clue regarding the copper mirror. He was more determined than ever that he had to get back in!

“If I can find that mirror shard, then perhaps I could restore my connection to the copper mirror....” Meng Hao’s eyes gleamed with obsession. After a moment pa.s.sed, he swished his sleeve, sending his two 8-Essences subordinates flying out, looking completely shaken. Although they had been inside Meng Hao’s bag of holding, he had not sealed their ability to sense what was happening in the outside world.

When Meng Hao had stopped at the exit, the two 8-Essences Paragons had felt the extreme, deadly danger of the situation.

Meng Hao’s face was grim as he stepped off of the teleportation portal. He was feeling a bit frustrated, the type that came when keen antic.i.p.ation filled you, but there was no option other than to wait for what you wanted.

As he left the spell formation, Jin Yunshan was there up ahead of him. After returning to the Vast Expanse School itself, he had breathed a sigh of relief. Back in the necropolis, Meng Hao held the advantage. With countless ghosts at his beck and call, it created a deadly threat that gave Jin Yunshan no choice other than to bow his head. But now that they were back in the sect, although he wouldn’t intentionally provoke Meng Hao, he could at least give him a dirty look.

It wasn’t that he fundamentally had the desire to irritate Meng Hao, especially not with the oaths sworn by the Sect Leader and Sha Jiudong. However, after suppressing his feelings for so long in the necropolis, now that he was back in the Vast Expanse School, it was only natural that he would want to let off at least a little bit of steam.

Meng Hao’s performance on the Transcendence Dais had been miraculous, and his battle against the Heavenly might astonis.h.i.+ng. But Jin Yunshan was convinced that Meng Hao had done all that with the help of the ghosts. Following that line of reasoning, it meant that Meng Hao had never unleashed his ninth Essence, and Jin Yunshan... simply couldn’t believe that he didn't actually have one. In his estimation, Meng Hao was keeping it hidden away as a trump card.

Therefore, he had no intention of actually fighting Meng Hao, but had no qualms about giving him a spiteful stare. And thus he did.

Meng Hao’s eyes narrowed in response.

“Get out of my way,” he said.

Jin Yunshan frowned. They were in a very open area, and although he really was standing in front of Meng Hao, it would be very simple for Meng Hao to simply walk around him.

“Trying to start something?” Jin Yunshan replied in a grim voice, his eyes turning even icier than before.

It was a single sentence, and a single cold look. How could Jin Yunshan have ever imagined that in response, Meng Hao’s eyes would turn cold, and he would say, “Yeah, I am!”

Even as the words left Meng Hao’s mouth, he lunged forward and unleashed a powerful fist strike.

That fist strike combined the powers of the Life-Extermination, Self-Immolation, G.o.d-Slaying, and Devil-Butchering fists. Lands shook and mountains were rocked. Colors flashed in the sky. It was a dazzling spectacle.

Jin Yunshan’s face fell. He had sustained serious injuries in the necropolis, and was currently only capable of fighting with seventy percent of his full power. When he realized that Meng Hao was suddenly attacking him, he quickly performed an incantation gesture to counterattack. A cras.h.i.+ng boom echoed out between the two of them.

Jin Yunshan fell back, trembling, feeling more insulted than ever. Blood sprayed out of his mouth, and his eyes gleamed with madness.

The truth of the matter was... he really had no intention of fighting with Meng Hao. In his mind, standing there as he had been was nothing excessive. All he had done was cast a dirty stare in Meng Hao’s direction. He hadn’t done anything deliberately provocative, only acted a bit cold.

Unfortunately for him, he had no idea what kind of a lunatic he had provoked....

He had no idea, and in fact, no one did. The Sect Leader was smiling wryly, and Sha Jiudong groaned inwardly. The Second Paragon’s eyes went wide; although he was aware of how overbearing Meng Hao could be, he had never imagined that he would see something like this happening. Clearly... Meng Hao was in a bad mood, and needed to vent on someone. And that someone turned out to be Jin Yunshan....

Booming sounds rang out. Jin Yunshan felt insulted and enraged. Even as he performed an incantation gesture to unleash a divine ability, Meng Hao transformed into a huge roc. Rumbling sounds could be heard as countless feathers swirled into the air, and at the same time, his Hexing magics combined!

One boom after another rang out. Jin Yunshan was already injured, and had been cowed by Meng Hao in the necropolis. He had no desire whatsoever to fight, and as such, was beaten back no matter what he did.

The Sect Leader shook his head wryly. Finally, he and Sha Jiudong jumped in and separated Meng Hao and Jin Yunshan, who glared angrily at each other as they were pulled back.

“You psycho!” said Jin Yunshan, almost yelling. He felt more insulted and maligned than ever. “You think you can just go around hitting people because you’re in a bad mood? Wasn’t our grudge resolved already? I gave you that bracelet of holding!!”

When Meng Hao recalled the matter of the bracelet of holding, his expression softened, and he cleared his throat. He wanted to say something, but couldn’t think of anything appropriate. In the end... it was true. Because of being in a bad mood, he had been looking for trouble.

With a cold snort, he turned and flew off toward Ninth Paragon City, where he immediately went into secluded meditation.

“Psycho! Madman!” Jin Yunshan glared at the departing Meng Hao, and vowed to himself that he would get revenge somehow. But then he thought about how Meng Hao had lasted for sixteen days on the Transcendence Dais, and about how vastly separated they were in terms of power. Meng Hao hadn’t even used his ninth Essence! Most importantly, he was essentially invincible when in the necropolis, and there were surely many more trips to the necropolis coming in the future. Finally, he gave up on the idea of getting revenge.

“Dammit. I definitely have to make sure not to stand in that psycho’s way in the future!”