Meng Hao’s eyes glittered as he watched Yan Song fade away. He reached out to take the wooden slip that hovered in front of him, then turned and left.

He didn’t quite trust the man, so he had used his Demonic Qi Clone to meet him.

Of course, Yan Song actually feared Meng Hao quite a bit thanks to the Thorn Rampart. As such, he had also used other means to meet, and hadn’t come in the form of his true self.

“Considering neither of us trust each other, why would he invite me to come along…?” thought Meng Hao as he walked back the way he came. “Of course, there’s no great enmity between us, so why would he go to the trouble of trying to trick me? Could it be that there is a bit of truth to everything he said?”

It was very late at night, and this eastern section of the city was very quiet. The hustle and bustle that had existed before the war started was now gone. Almost everything was in ruins.

He had barely walked three hundred meters, when suddenly he stopped and retreated three paces.

Even as he did, green ripples suddenly emanated out from the spot he had just been standing in. At the same time, the distorted image of a person became visible within the ripples. It was impossible to see the figure clearly; however, within the greenish glow, Meng Hao could sense the emanations of a totemic aura.

“Western Desert Cultivator!” he thought. “The Thorn Rampart isn’t complete in this area! So, Yan Song did have ulterior motives for inviting me here!” A cold light appeared in Meng Hao’s eyes. He shot backward, golden light s.h.i.+ning out from his body. His right hand clenched into a fist as he struck out at the incoming green glow.

A boom filled the air. Meng Hao’s fist did not strike anything; however, a powerful attack shot out, toward the green glow. It seemed preparations had been made specifically for Meng Hao, though. Before his fist attack could strike the green glow, it split into multiple dots of light that spread out into the air. They then shot together, congealing into the image of a green whip that lashed out toward Meng Hao.

Meng Hao grunted in surprise. This was the first time he’d encountered anything that could evade a strike from his right fist. True, the fist attack had been illusory, but for his opponent to dodge it showed that he was definitely beyond ordinary.

“This person didn’t come with Yan Song. Yan Song hid himself, and was clearly aware that I didn’t come in person. However, this Cultivator avoided my fist attack… in a way that made it obvious he wasn’t aware that it was an illusory strike. Therefore, he doesn’t know that this isn’t my true self! If that’s the case, then clearly running into him here was a coincidence…. The chances of randomly running into this guy here of all places in this big city, are not high. From that, I can deduce that however he got into the city… he must not be alone!” Meng Hao let out a cold snort as he allowed the whip to wrap around his body.

A boom filled the air as Meng Hao collapsed into countless Qi fragments that dissipated into the air.

A sound of surprise could be heard as the green whip retreated backward. A bad feeling suddenly welled up in the heart of the Western Desert Cultivator.

However, even as he began to back up, the fragmented Qi that had made up Meng Hao suddenly shot forward and formed back together into a new Meng Hao. His left hand stretched out to grab the whip, which he then pulled toward him.

“Get over here!”

A rumbling roar filled the air. The whip pulled tight, and as it did, the vague image of a fleeing person could be made out within the green ripples.

Meng Hao pulled hard on the green whip, and as he did, it began to whither, and then suddenly turned into flying ash.

Meng Hao watched the ripples disappear into the distance, and coldness flashed in his eyes. “It seems quite certain that it has nothing to do with Yan Song. However, no one can just attack Meng Hao and then run away!” His body grew blurry, then suddenly split into ten more Meng Haos. Immediately, they headed off into different directions in pursuit.

Meanwhile, back in Meng Hao’s courtyard, his true self sat looking at the lotus flowers. Everything here was quiet and peaceful, and he wasn’t paying very much attention to what was going on outside with his Demonic Qi clones.

After enough time pa.s.sed for half an incense stick to burn, he rose to his feet, his expression the same as ever. He walked out slowly into the night, strolling down the street at a steady pace. Soon, he was about three hundred meters away from his courtyard.

It didn’t take long for him to reach a random remote street corner, where he stopped, apparently waiting for something. After the s.p.a.ce of two breaths pa.s.sed, a collection of ripples shot through the air toward him. Behind the ripples were ten figures that looked exactly like him, their faces cold as they pursued the ripples.

Wu Mu was scared witless. He was a member of the Crow Scout Tribe from the Western Desert, and a member of the forces partic.i.p.ating in the Black Lands Palace’s great war [1]. He was one of the several hundred Cultivators who had survived the Thorn Rampart earlier. Because he possessed wood type totems, he had been dispatched into the city this night on an a.s.sa.s.sination mission.

There were a dozen or so who came with him. He wasn’t too sure the level of their Cultivation bases, but he was in the late Core Formation stage. That, coupled with the secret techniques of his Tribe, and his wood type totems, made it so that even a Nascent Soul Cultivator would have a hard time piercing his concealment technique.

How could he ever have imagined that as soon as he entered the city, the first person he ran into would be none other than Grandmaster Meng, the person who had summoned the Thorn Rampart? He had a.s.sumed that because of his wood type totems, the Thorn Rampart wouldn’t be able to detect him, and as such, had chosen to attack.

In his view, if he was able to kill the mysterious Grandmaster Meng, it would count as an incredible battle achievement. After returning to his Tribe, he would definitely be well rewarded. Even if he wasn’t able to kill him, he could at least wound him. Either way, he was completely confident of the safety of making an attack.

How could he ever have guessed that what he attacked was not Grandmaster Meng’s true self, but rather a clone? That in itself caused him to gape in astonishment, and filled his heart with fear. He had fled at top speed, cursing Meng Hao for coming out in the middle of the night in clone form.

After that, his fear had grown even greater when suddenly ten clones of Grandmaster Meng appeared, all of whom chased him relentlessly, cutting him off at every turn. If it weren’t for his special techniques used for concealment and retreat, coupled with his wood type totems, he would have been captured already.

It was as he went all out to flee from the clones when he suddenly saw Meng Hao standing up ahead.

“Dammit,” he thought, “this Grandmaster Meng doesn’t just concoct pills, he also has a lightning technique AND is proficient with using clones. How could someone as inhuman as him exist in the world!?”

He cursed inwardly as he looked at Meng Hao, who stood there with a look of contempt in his eyes.

“Well, he might have some weird techniques, but he’s not good enough to capture me!” Wu Mu snorted coldly, his body flas.h.i.+ng as he waved his sleeve, causing the ripples surrounding him to shoot out toward what he a.s.sumed was another clone. This was the same method he had used previously to disperse other clones.

As Wu Mu descended upon Meng Hao, he suddenly heard him speak. “There really is a lot to learn about the Dao of totems.”

Before Wu Mu could react to the words, he saw the Meng Hao in front of him lift up his hand and point toward him.

A boom resonated out as an invisible, tearing force surrounded Wu Mu. His heart filled with astonishment, and he was about to retreat when suddenly, a b.l.o.o.d.y glow filled the area. The glow permeated his body, ripping away the layers of invisibility around him, revealing him to the world.

“Not a clone!” he thought, his mind spinning. His face was ghastly pale, and he was about to employ another magical technique, when Meng Hao gazed into his eyes. His gaze seemed to contain the power of Time; Wu Mu’s mind reeled, as if he had lost the ability to even think. Everything suddenly seemed to slow down, as if the Time within his body had suddenly changed.

When he came to his senses, he saw Meng Hao’s right hand ripping through the air to latch around his throat. Everything went black as Wu Mu pa.s.sed into unconsciousness.

Meng Hao held Wu Mu up in his hand. The entire time, his expression hadn’t changed. He slowly walked back down the street. Behind him, the ten Demonic Qi clones faded into nothing. At the same time, a wooden slip flew over, which Meng Hao took. He glanced at it, then walked off into the distance, carrying Wu Mu in one arm.

It was not a peaceful, quiet night in Holy Snow City. Over fifty a.s.sa.s.sinations occurred; even some members of the Frigid Snow Clan died.

Eventually the four Grand Elders unleashed the power of their Cultivation bases. Explosions rang out in the night sky, all the way until morning.

The chaos outside didn’t affect Meng Hao in his courtyard. He extracted some blood from Wu Mu and also vivisected his totem tattoos to study them.

He wouldn’t give up on his desire to understand totems. He had the feeling that they were the key to the path of the Perfect Nascent Soul.

“Wood-type totems… can evade the Thorn Rampart. It must have something to do with its wood characteristics.” Meng Hao held a vial in his hand which contained some of Wu Mu’s condensed life force. It emanated wood characteristics, which caused Meng Hao to look down at the man, and the green-colored leaf totem tattooed on his arm.

“Wood is one of the five elements,” he thought, various thoughts congealing in his mind. “Metal, wood, water, fire, earth. Five elements, five colors. White, green, black, red, yellow. Perfection is a Five Colored Nascent Soul…. A wood Nascent Soul would be green. If I could acquire five totems of different properties, cultivated to the ultimate level, then it would be similar to using the five elements pill concoction technique! With five colors, I could concoct a Five Colored Nascent Soul!” This was the result of all the research he had done into totems.

He had come up with the basis of this idea some time ago, but after his recent research, he felt more confident.

“It’s also in accord with my Dao of alchemy. My body is the furnace, my heart is the formula. I will concoct a grand pill of Heaven and Earth, a Five Colored Nascent Soul!” His eyes shone with a bright light. The idea of concocting a Nascent Soul in this fas.h.i.+on was something no one before him had ever done.

Other people used cultivation to produce a Nascent Soul. Meng Hao’s decision, though, was to use pill concocting techniques to concoct a Nascent Soul!

“That is the only way to achieve Perfection!” he thought, his expression one of intense antic.i.p.ation.

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This chapter was sponsored by Zoe-chelsea Okungbowa, Pedro Pulido, Mich.e.l.le Blanco, and Jesper Rasmussen