The meat jelly cleared its throat and then, seemingly without the slightest bit of shame, continued on in a loud voice. “And then there was the second thing you said. Heaven laid its eyes upon you? Do you even know how to talk? What is that supposed to mean? Heaven has eyes? What you should have said is this: ‘Oh Heavens, dig out my eyes, because after seeing a Chosen like this, I don’t need them!’”

The parrot was off to the side, muttering in irritation.

Meng Hao blinked, and couldn’t hold back from coughing dryly.

As for the old lizard, its eyes were as wide as saucers as it stared at the meat jelly. It couldn’t suppress the feeling that it had truly run into a master of speech....

“Remember, when you’re brown-nosing, you have to determine exactly what type of person you’re talking to. Some people like a bit of exaggeration mixed in with the truth. Others like complete and utter exaggeration. Therefore, before you begin brown-nosing, you need to a.n.a.lyze the personality of the person in question. At a single glance, you can tell that Haowie is a clever rogue. With people like that, you can’t rely on ordinary methods. You have to exaggerate, go overboard. The thicker you lay it on, the better. The highest realm of brown-nosing is not the level where you make yourself sick. No, the highest level... is where you actually believe what you are saying is true. That is a level that is not to be trifled with!” As the meat jelly continued to lecture in a very knowledgeable fas.h.i.+on, its expression was very somber. It seemed genuinely irritated at the shortcomings of the old lizard.

The lizard began to sweat nervously.

“And then there’s the last thing you said. It was far too long-winded. Alright, how about this? You just watch me. I’ll show you what the highest level looks like.” A popping sound could be heard as the meat jelly suddenly transformed into a little lizard. Its tongue flicked out of its mouth for a moment, and its eyes began to burn with pa.s.sion. It was even trembling, and smoke began to rise up from its skin.

Its burning gaze seemed capable of melting mountains of ice. It was as if it were looking at the most perfect of all creations. It suddenly plopped down to prostrate itself to Meng Hao, then cried out in the most moving of voices, “Oh exalted one, I absolutely, positively must become your subordinate, sir, and bathe in the radiance of your light. If you dare to refuse me, sir, then I... will kill myself in front of your very eyes. If you try to stop me, I will kill myself this minute!” The meat jelly seemed to be lost in the act. It stuck its tongue out as if in preparation to bite it off if Meng Hao didn't agree.

In fact, it even began to emanate the fluctuations of self-detonation. The parrot stared in shock for a moment, then smacked the meat jelly viciously to remind it that it was acting....

“d.a.m.ned bird!” the meat jelly roared. “Get the h.e.l.l out of my way. I'm the most respected lizard in the entire starry sky of the Vast Expanse! However, as of this day, I have come to understand that my mission in life has been to wait for your appearance, oh master!

“Sir, if you dare to say the word ‘no,’ then I will kill myself immediately!” The fluctuations of self-detonation continued to grow more and more intense. Soon the entire area seemed to be on the verge of being destroyed. Cracking sounds emanated out, and rifts opened up which emanated crimson, destructive light.

Meng Hao’s eyes were wide, and the parrot seemed completely exasperated. Seeing that the meat jelly really did seem to be on the verge of self-detonating, he quickly said, “Yes, I accept. I accept!”

Finally, the meat jelly nodded in satisfaction. The signs of self-detonation faded away, and a popping sound rang out as the meat jelly returned to its usual form. It had been so engrossed in the act that it was completely exhausted. Furthermore, forcibly stopping the imminent self-detonation had resulted in some injuries. However, the meat jelly didn’t seem to care. Looking proudly over at the old lizard, it said, “Now do you see how wrong you were?!”

The lizard remained in place, trembling and panting as it stared at the meat jelly. Suddenly, it was as if it had experienced an epiphany. Countless lightning bolts blasted around in its mind, removing the mists that had blocked enlightenment.

It had never encountered anything like the meat jelly before. Moments ago, it had been more than obvious the meat jelly really had initiated a self-detonation. If Meng Hao hadn’t acted when he did... the meat jelly might have actually blown itself up.

The old lizard took a deep breath, then clasped hands and bowed to the meat jelly, its expression one of deep respect. It was feeling very torn, and was actually considering asking the meat jelly to teach it more when Meng Hao cleared his throat.

“Alright, enough with the ruckus,” he said. “Listen, old lizard, you can follow me for a thousand years if you want. And if not, I won’t force you.” With that, he flicked his sleeve and made his way off into the distance.

The parrot and meat jelly immediately followed after him. After a moment pa.s.sed, the meat jelly looked back ruefully at the lizard.

The lizard hesitated for a moment, then clenched its jaw and flew after them.

It was still feeling somewhat unsettled, and thus didn’t notice that the meat jelly and parrot were apparently transmitting messages to each other.

“Well, what did you think of that?” the meat jelly transmitted proudly. “From now on, Lord Third has some hired muscle. That old lizard’s cultivation base is at the 9-Essences level. Whenever we go out in the future, we can loot anybody we want without a single hitch.”

The parrot rolled its eyes. “You three-counting imbecile! How stupid can you be? Haowie’s Transcended already. With that kind of backing, who needs hired muscle?! Don’t you know the story of the fox who borrowed the tiger’s might? Well don’t you?!”

Inwardly, the parrot sighed, thinking about how lonely it was being Transcendent in terms of wisdom.

The meat jelly gaped mutely as it was struck by the truth of the situation. All of a sudden, it realized that losing itself in the act like it had really had been a waste. It had almost gotten itself killed....

A few days later, Meng Hao led his little group to a desolate land ma.s.s within the starry sky of the Vast Expanse. It seemed completely devoid of any life, and yet, when Meng Hao sent his divine sense out, the pressure caused the land ma.s.s to tremble, and countless termites flew out.

From the very depths of the land emerged a huge termite, larger than any of the others. When it saw Meng Hao, and sensed the terrifying fluctuations emanating off of him, it trembled and bowed its head. This termite was much more straightforward than the old lizard, and immediately chose to acknowledge allegiance.

Taking the peak 9-Essences termite with him, Meng Hao traveled to another area, where there was a huge vortex. As he neared it, his eyes shone with bright light. Instantly, the vortex ceased spinning, and even began to show signs of collapse.

A cry of terror echoed out from within the vortex as a huge head flew out. Before, a vicious expression had covered the head’s face, but now, it was staring at Meng Hao in astonishment.

It remembered Meng Hao from hundreds of years ago, when he had taken away its precious treasure. It had chased after him and tried to kill him, and now, here he was, returned with an aura infinitely more terrifying than before.

“Y-you....”

“Quit stammering!” the parrot barked. “Hurry up and decide, are you gonna acknowledge allegiance or not?!” The parrot looked quite sanctimonious and lofty, almost as if it were the one emanating the aura of Transcendence, and not Meng Hao....

The enormous face smiled wryly and thought back to what it had said last time about what would happen when it met Meng Hao again. It could do nothing but look down.

“I acknowledge allegiance....”

Meng Hao nodded. “I’ve come searching for you and others like you, not to force you to acknowledge allegiance, but to put an end to the Karma from years ago. If you wish to follow me, you can do so for a thousand years.”

What he said was true. He didn't need their fighting power. However, after reaching Transcendence, he got the feeling that he needed to unravel the Karma he had in the starry sky of the Vast Expanse. If he didn’t, it could be used against him as a weapon.

The last place he went was the world that existed inside of the enormous flower.

The flower was no longer in a state of bloom. It looked withered, and sagged in its position within the starry sky. When Meng Hao appeared next to it, he was so miniscule as to be invisible.

As soon as he appeared, though, the flower suddenly trembled. Clearly, the flower had a life force of its own, and it could sense that Meng Hao was a Transcendent cultivator.

He hovered there in front of the flower, thinking back to how helpless he had been last time he came, when he had been forced to simply wait for the flower to open. But now... his expression was calm as he said, “Bloom.”

As soon as that single word left his mouth, the flower trembled even more violently than before, and without the slightest hesitation, bloomed.

Meng Hao entered the world inside the flower. Back then, he had promised to completely seal the fire and ice within the world, to prevent the world from being destroyed.

As he flew across the lands, he looked down to find that things looked somewhat different than before. The ice mountains were melting, and much of the flames were extinguished. As for the area in the middle where the two tribes had lived, it was now losing its vitality.

From the look of things, it wouldn’t be long before this entire world was unsuitable for life. Once the flower closed back up, no one but a Transcendent cultivator could enter, which meant that everyone living inside the world would die.

Meng Hao didn’t attract the attention of Patriarch Icemountain and the Flamephoenix. Unless he wished it, no one in the starry sky of the Vast Expanse would notice him.

Looking down at the lands below, he waved his finger, a seemingly casual gesture that actually altered the natural and magical laws. It changed destiny.

The lands began to rumble as an invisible ripple spread out in either direction. Wherever it pa.s.sed, ice mountains were frozen solid, sending coldness out in all directions that would never fade away. Everything was returned to its previous state.

On the other side, flames leapt to life, sending scorching heat out in all directions.