“The roots cannot be destroyed, the leaves never die. The leaves never die, the roots cannot be destroyed….” Meng Hao’s eyes filled with thought as he put the pieces together. A miraculous life form that inherently displayed the type of relations.h.i.+p between a mother and a son. Rare in the world, almost never seen.

What appeared in Meng Hao’s mind now were words he had heard years ago.

“The larva cannot be destroyed, and the thread cannot be broken. The thread cannot be broken, nor can the larva be destroyed!” These words were describing a creature that, when fed Sieve Net Thunder Mulberry Leaves, would transform from Frigid Snow into the miraculous bug called the Eyeless Larva. [1. The Eyeless Larva and related information were discussed mostly in chapter 165]

“Besides that larva, there’s another way, but their growth isn’t complete….” Meng Hao’s eyes glittered as he thought of his Blood Clones.

Because the nucleus of each Blood Clone was the skin of the meat jelly, as long as he himself didn’t die, they couldn’t be destroyed. Even if they were, they could easily be recreated. It might be a bit of an exaggeration to say that they were eternally indestructible, but the fact remained that it would be very difficult to truly kill them.

However, the Cultivation bases of the Blood Clones were too far removed from his own. They might be difficult to destroy, but when it came time to face the Heavenly Tribulation, Meng Hao knew that the Blood Clones would be defeated.

“Unless I refined nine generations of blood, then added myself in, thus forcing another generation on top of the nine. Then it would be a Blood Spirit. I could not be destroyed, and the spirit would never disperse!”

As Meng Hao sat lost in thought, the haughty parrot once again looked at Meng Hao with disdain. “Don’t even think about it,” it said suddenly. “Only people with incredible luck and amazing fortune can ever have a chance to get a miraculous life form like that. As an example, I, Lord Fifth, once had a miraculous lotus root. Only someone like me could ever get something of the sort.”

Meng Hao ignored the parrot and continued to think. A new thought suddenly flickered in his mind. The parrot’s words had opened up the floodgates of his mind regarding transcending tribulation. After all, he was not in the Blood Immortal Legacy zone; this time, he would be facing the test alone.

He had been thinking about the matter for a very, very long time. The parrot's words just now had lit a virtual fire in his mind; all kinds of thoughts and questions exploded inside of him.

“Regarding miraculous life forms,” he thought, “there’s something else I could do. I could borrow Demonic Qi from Heaven and Earth to create an illusory Incarnation. After all, the Incarnation can carry my will with it to kill people. I wonder if I could use it to defend against Heavenly Tribulation…. It’s too bad the Incarnation is so weak. However, it’s an area that could be explored.” His eyes lit up as he realized that he actually already had three types of miraculous life forms.

“Plus, I have the meat jelly!” he thought. His eyes contained an imperceptible glitter. Using the meat jelly when transcending tribulation would be his last resort. He had long since taken note of its ability to consume lightning.

“Forget it. Just forget it,” said the parrot, looking askance at Meng Hao. It sighed, its face filled with an expression that exuded omniscience. “That method just now was definitely too difficult. In all the Heavens, I think only Lord Fifth could pull off something like that. For other people, well, it could only happen in their dreams.

“Lord Fifth is an erudite, ancient Celestial Bird. Omniscient. Okay, I’ll tell you of another method. This one isn’t very hard. Actually, it’s pretty simple. However, such a method is also only available to people with extraordinary luck and fortune.

“It’s not very complicated. You just need to have a Soul of Lightning next to you. If you do, it will be much easier to transcend the tribulation. However, you’ll have to train the Soul of Lightning yourself. Basically, you start out with the soul of a Cultivator with a very profound Cultivation base. Then, you slowly use lightning to transform its soul embodiment. Over time, you gradually increase the amount of lightning. a.s.suming the soul isn’t destroyed, then you eventually force it to transform into a Soul of Lightning that you can use.” The parrot yawned and then flew out of the Immortal’s cave in a flash of light. Outside, it once again began to instruct the Cultivators about its self-proclaimed Celestial magic.

Meng Hao sat cross-legged in the Immortal’s cave, thinking about what the parrot had said about the Soul of Lightning. A strange expression appeared on his face, and after a while, he slapped his bag of holding. The blood-colored mask appeared in his hand. He sent his Spiritual Sense inside to find the Li Clan Patriarch, who had been forgotten by the meat jelly after the appearance of the parrot.

The Li Clan Patriarch was no longer listless like before. However, as soon as he caught sight of Meng Hao, his entire body began to tremble. Clearly, his fear of the meat jelly had reached the ultimate level.

Meng Hao circled around the Li Clan Patriarch, examining his soul embodiment. After a while, his eyes began to s.h.i.+ne.

The glow in his eyes struck terror into the heart of the Li Clan Patriarch.

“What… what are you planning?!” he asked cautiously. He had a bad feeling, as if something miserable were about to happen to his soul embodiment. After his time spent being tormented by the meat jelly, without even the option of seeking death, he was no longer as proud and haughty as he used to be.

Meng Hao didn’t say anything. After examining the Li Clan Patriarch for a moment, he did something with his Spiritual Sense, and a lightning bolt appeared within the blood-colored mask. It crackled down toward the Li Clan Patriarch, slamming directly onto his soul embodiment.

“Dammit! What the h.e.l.l are you doing?!?!” He trembled, and his soul embodiment flickered as if it were about to dissipate.

Meng Hao nodded, then used his Spiritual Sense again to summon another lightning bolt, and then another. Rumbling booms sounded out as they fell down onto the Li Clan Patriarch, who emitted constant miserable shrieks.

This process went on for about two hours, until the Li Clan Patriarch’s soul embodiment was growing dim.

“You psycho!” cried the Li Clan Patriarch, gnas.h.i.+ng his teeth. “You’re a d.a.m.ned lunatic! And that meat jelly is nothing but a nightmare! One of these days I’ll get my revenge!” He continued to curse, but inside actually felt quite pathetic, and was heaving constant sighs.

In the Immortal’s cave, Meng Hao opened his eyes.

“The Li Clan Patriarch has an extraordinary Cultivation base. He meets all the requirements to become a Soul of Lightning. From now on, I’ll need to use all methods at my disposal to get him accustomed to lightning. I also need an Eyeless Larva. Before that, though, I should head out and collect the last medicinal plant ingredient I need for the Perfect Gold Core.” Having made up his mind, Meng Hao sent his Spiritual Sense out to find Huang Daxian.

He was currently looking on complacently as the parrot flew around above a group of people who were all running around in various patterns. Huang Daxian’s body trembled as Meng Hao’s voice suddenly echoed out in his head. Then, his mind was branded with an image of the plant Meng Hao needed.

Half a month later, Meng Hao was looking down at a jade slip, inside of which was information regarding the medicinal plant he needed, a clue uncovered during the investigation carried out by his group of over a hundred Cultivators. Meng Hao stood and left the Immortal’s cave.

“Dongluo City, member of the United Nine Cities.” Inside the jade slip was also a map of the Black Lands, marked with the location of Dongluo City, which wasn’t very far away. [1]

By now, Meng Hao was familiar with the power structure of the Black Lands, thanks to his more than one hundred followers. Other than the Black Lands Palace and the United Nine, the Black Lands were inhabited completely by Rogue Cultivators. In some cases, groups banded together to form small-scale powers. Some were strong, some were weak, but regardless, they existed in a state of disunity.

As far as the United Nine, it was made up of nine of the Black Lands’ most powerful Cultivator Clans, and the cities that had grown up around them. They had banded together and formed an alliance to stand up against the power of the Black Lands Palace.

The ingredient Meng Hao needed was a Spirit Orchid Leaf, a medicinal plant that wasn’t particularly rare. That having been said, it wasn’t something that the small-scale powers would have. It would only be available in one of the nine major cities.

According to the information he’d received, Dongluo City would be holding an auction soon. Medicinal pills would be up for sale, as well as medicinal plants. As for the Spirit Orchid Leaf, it could actually be consumed directly to treat injuries, so of course people would be willing to purchase it.

Meng Hao flicked his sleeve as he left the region of his Immortal’s cave for the first time in more than a year. Transforming into a beam of prismatic light, he shot like lightning off into the distance.

Thanks to the Primordial Heavenly Replenis.h.i.+ng Pill, his hair was now black once again and his eyes were filled with abstruseness. He wore a green gown, and his features were handsome and refined. On his forehead was mark that looked both like a scale and a feather, and yet was neither. Overall, he appeared completely extraordinary.

As he flew away from the Immortal’s cave, the meat jelly and the parrot followed him.

As they flew along, the parrot continuously chided the meat jelly, who squabbled back endlessly. It went on for a few days, with the two of them occasionally getting into blows. Finally, the parrot used its trump card. It went on with a series of “Do you want to know?” questions, which resulted in the meat jelly transforming into a small bell which the parrot fastened around its leg.

The parrot finally came to rest on Meng Hao’s shoulder, perched there with an arrogant look on its face that said that it was a one-of-a-kind ancient Celestial bird, esteemed in Heaven and Earth, unique in all creation.

The ground beneath them was pitch black, with occasional black-colored plants growing up from the soil. It all looked very sinister. The entire time, Meng Hao didn’t stop once; following the information on the map, he flew straight toward Dongluo City.

On one particular evening several days later, a green city appeared up ahead. It wasn’t grand and majestic, but rather, square in shape, and apparently constructed from vegetation.

The city walls were created from interwoven plants. The greenness created by the plants made the city stick out conspicuously from the black soil.

In the middle of the city, trees grew up. All of the trees had ma.s.sive amounts of branches growing out from them, which were also interwoven to form layers. The city as a whole seemed to be formed of two levels, one on the ground, the other in the sky.

There was a third level, which was formed by a single, enormous tree, the interior of the city. From a distance, the city looked very bizarre. Meng Hao’s eyes began to s.h.i.+ne.

As they approached, they saw the city gate, which was formed by eight giant interlocking trees. Cultivators walked in and out of the gate, and inside the city itself were quite a few Cultivators.

Perched atop the ma.s.sive tree in the center of the city was what appeared to be an enormous phoenix, several dozens of meters in length. It had bright, scarlet feathers, and was incredibly beautiful.

A closer look revealed that it wasn’t actually a phoenix, but a peac.o.c.k.

It would occasionally look around at the city with an arrogant expression. It didn’t emit the power of a Cultivation base, but from a distance it still emanated a powerful, threatening aura that Meng Hao could sense. It caused his pupils to constrict.

The look in the peac.o.c.k’s eyes seemed to say that no one was worthy of its gaze. It looked around arrogantly, seemingly despising all that it saw.

Suddenly, Meng Hao heard the parrot whisper: “You dare to act like that in front of Lord Fifth, b.i.t.c.h!?”

Meng Hao had read some information about this scarlet peac.o.c.k in the jade slip. It was a holy animal of the Dongluo Clan. For some reason unknown to outsiders, it would occasionally take to flight and circle around the city; everyone who saw the spectacle would praise its beauty.

Just as they were about to enter the city, Meng Hao heard the parrot next to him, panting heavily.

“Eee? Now that I’m closer I can see that flirty look in its eyes… Hm, a red bird, I’ve never tried that out before….” Before Meng Hao could react or even think about what it meant, the parrot was gone. Meng Hao watched as ripples spread out in the air, and a multicolored streak shot up through the air toward the peac.o.c.k.