The parrot's eyes were bright red as it hovered there by Meng Hao. Back when they were first reunited, its memories had been in chaos. However, despite being unable to see things clearly, it knew that Meng Hao was very important, and had thus chosen to return to him.

It saw everything that happened after that, the result being that the shattered memories in its head seemed to increase constantly. It was as if there were a tiny node inside of its mind, a node which contained the image of Meng Hao. After Meng Hao appeared in the flesh, that node burst open, allowing the parrot's erased mind to appear once again.

Eventually, in this moment of deep crisis, its erased memories were fully fused together, and erupted with great power.

RUUUUUUUUUUMBLE!

Memories exploded out into the parrot’s mind. It saw itself meeting Meng Hao for the first time, saw itself facing danger with him in numerous adventures. Everything began to awaken.

Back when its mind had been erased, it had managed to bury that node deep inside of itself, and it was that which eventually gave it the chance to recover!

The parrot was crafty, and although things had ended tragically back then, and it had been filled with grief, it had still managed to devise a backup plan.

“Lord Fifth!” the parrot roared. “Call me Lord Fifth, b.i.t.c.hes!!” It remembered. It remembered everything. It looked over at Meng Hao being devoured by the faces, and suddenly let out a powerful squawk. Meng Hao’s armor shattered, creating countless black sparks that, under the parrot's control, swirled around him, moving faster and faster until they formed a vortex.

The power of the vortex created numerous streams of gravitational force. However, that force didn't affect the world in general, just the faces latched onto Meng Hao. Gradually, they were dragged away from Meng Hao, whose expression brightened. At the same time, the glow of the bronze lamp grew even more intense.

The faces let out bloodcurdling screams at they were ripped off of him. Then they were sucked into the vortex, where they shattered into pieces. That didn’t kill them, though, it just created countless other, tinier faces. More and more of them appeared. There weren't just dozens now, but hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands.

Meng Hao was panting, and his body was dangerously withered. However, now that the faces were no longer consuming him, his battle prowess and cultivation base began to recover quickly. At the same time, he unleashed his own power, causing the vortex to spin even more quickly.

Soon it was a raging tempest, whereupon the parrot let out another squawk, sending it shooting off into the distance.

“Fudge!” it shrieked. “How dare you try to fight Lord Fifth! You might not have any fur or feathers, but Lord Fifth is going to go all out to put you down!” Meng Hao looked over at the parrot, his eyes s.h.i.+ning with excitement. The fact that the parrot had recovered its memories was a momentous thing. Now, parrot and man both unleashed incredible speed to get as far away from the vortex as possible.

However, the tens of thousands of broken and shattered faces immediately gave chase. Apparently sensing that they wouldn't be able to catch up, the faces then merged together into one huge swath of skin!

The skin had no bones, no muscle, and no blood. It was simply a patch of human-shaped skin that whistled through the starry sky toward Meng Hao.

Meng Hao and the parrot fled, and the skin chased them from behind. The parrot let out a mighty squawk, as if it were going to hold nothing back.

“What do we do, Meng Hao? Dammit! Lord Fifth's memories were just restored, only to be pulled into this situation? Whadda we do? Whadda we do??

“We’re outside of the Vast Expanse now. If we delay, the will of Allheaven will fully awaken, and then we’ll be dead for sure. Only a bit of his will is awake now.... We have to get back into the Vast Expanse! The will of Allheaven won’t be able to directly affect us in there.

“Meng Hao, can you create a distraction? Give me the time it takes an incense stick to burn, and I can sacrifice some of the Essence power of the copper mirror to set up a teleportation portal. That will be able to get us back into the starry sky of the Vast Expanse!” Despite the incredible speed with which the parrot and Meng Hao were moving, the patch of skin was moving even faster, and was closing in rapidly.

Meng Hao’s eyes glittered. They were in a deadly trap, a trap set up to target him, and as such, his eyes flickered with killing intent.

“The time it takes an incense stick to burn? I think I can do that....” After a moment of thought, he gritted his teeth. If the parrot hadn’t recovered its memories and taken the initiative to help, he would already have resorted to that one certain magic.

It was his trump card, a magical technique that was not yet complete, and might even sp.a.w.n some unexpected side-effects. As for whether such transformations would be beneficial or detrimental, it was impossible to tell.

At the moment, though, there were no other options. Meng Hao’s eyes glittered coldly as he suddenly spun in place and waved his hand.

“Start setting up the spell formation!” he growled. He and the parrot had worked together for so long that there was no need for deliberation. Instantly, black threads shot out from the parrot and began to spin in place behind Meng Hao in the form of a teleportation portal.

Meng Hao took a deep breath. His eyes shone with a brilliant light as he extended his finger out into the starry sky and murmured, “Ninth Hex!”

What he was about to unleash was none other than... the Ninth Hex! His clone had already completed eight of the sealing marks that would make the final version. Because the final mark wasn't complete, if Meng Hao unleashed the Ninth Hex, it could have some unknown effect on his clone. He wasn’t sure what exactly would happen, but now was not the time to contemplate misgivings.

He performed an incantation gesture with his left hand, and then shoved his hand out.

“First sealing mark!” Rumbling sounds filled Heaven and Earth, and everything shook. The starry sky vibrated as an indescribable power began to converge in front of Meng Hao.

As soon as the sealing mark appeared, the patch of skin suddenly lurched to a halt, and a strange gleam appeared deep in its eyes.

Next, Meng Hao performed another incantation gesture, causing the second sealing mark to appear. It merged with the first sealing mark, causing the energy to rocket even higher, reaching a level ten times higher than before. Then came the third sealing mark, and the fourth. One by one, they all appeared and merged together, and the terrifying energy reached an unbelievable level, causing everything in the starry sky to shake violently.

Next were the fifth, sixth, and seventh sealing marks.... A level of power appeared that the Vast Expanse Shrine had been unable to withstand, a power that would cause even peak 9-Essences cultivators to tremble. With seven sealing marks, it already seemed possible to seal the Heavens.

The patch of skin seemed shocked. For the first time... it began to back up instead of chase. However, it was in that very moment that the light in Meng Hao’s eyes shone, and he threw his arms up. The seven sealing marks formed a dazzling magical symbol that began to speed forward, emanating a will that could seal the Heavens.

The light that shone out from it was majestic to the extreme, a light that seemed capable of sealing anything and everything, that could cause everything bright to grow dark, that could cause all living beings to bow their heads. Rumbling echoed out as the sea of light swept through the starry sky toward the patch of skin.

“What is that...?” Countless howls began to echo out from within the skin. However, no matter how it tried to evade, there was no avoiding the light, which slammed into the skin.

Behind Meng Hao, the parrot gaped in shock at what was happening.

Meng Hao s.h.i.+vered, and blood sprayed out of his mouth. Using the incomplete Ninth Hex in this way could be done only by paying a great cost.

Roaring sounds spread out in all directions, and at the same time, bloodcurdling screams echoed out from the skin as it was shredded to pieces by the light. Numerous bedraggled faces appeared, which immediately began to fly back toward the column they had come from.

Meng Hao’s face was pale, and he was swaying back and forth. The parrot immediately gushed, “Alright, alright, I'm almost ready. We can teleport out in just a moment.”

Meng Hao looked up, and in the iciest of voices said, “How could I flee?”

He took a step forward, and his cultivation base surged with power. “How could I run?”

With that, he transformed into a beam of light which shot at incredible speed toward the pillar that the faces were fleeing to.

“Ever since that b.i.t.c.h Han Bei sent me here, this place has tried to kill me over and over again. First was the illusion with Elder Brother Chen Fan, then the will of Allheaven trying to possess me. Then these five pillars showed up, and the Demonic qi faces tried to eat me....

“After all that, how could I flee? How could I run?” Roaring, he shoved his arms out in front of him, causing boundless light to surge up.

“I’ve been forced into unleas.h.i.+ng my incomplete Ninth Hex. Well then... I'm definitely not going to waste the opportunity!

“In the past, there was the underworld Ghost, the white-haired cultivator of the Immortal G.o.ds, and the Transcendent expert from the Devil Realm. They destroyed three columns, and although I might not be ready to do the same thing, I might as well do a dry run!” Rumbling echoed out as Meng Hao shoved the light of the combined sealing marks directly toward the column of Demonic qi.

As he flew along, the starry sky shattered, and the faces screamed. The light picked up speed, and as it neared the column, killing intent flickered in Meng Hao’s eyes. Then, he performing an incantation gesture and roared, “Eight sealing marks!!”

With that, the eighth sealing mark appeared, glittering brightly. As it merged into the brightness, and fused with the other seven sealing marks, the light began to s.h.i.+ne a bright violet color!

The violet light caused the starry sky to go quiet. Everything began to vibrate in complete helplessness. The faces faded away, screaming, as the light slashed into the pillar representing the Demon.

The sky shattered, and everything was thrown into chaos as the Demon pillar shuddered.

Meanwhile, back in the starry sky of Allheaven, on Planet Vast Expanse, on the first continent, in one of the cities of the mortal world, the ninth reincarnation of Meng Hao’s clone, Little Treasure, suddenly coughed up a huge mouthful of blood. Then he teetered in place for a moment before collapsing onto the ground.

The entire household was thrown into chaos.

He began to s.h.i.+ver and spasm as numerous sealing marks began to s.h.i.+ne brightly on his forehead.