As soon as Meng Hao laid hands on the Demon Spirit, he placed it into his bag of holding. Then he turned, transforming into a beam of colorful light. Moving as fast as lightning, he shot past the group of people who had been forced to fall back by the Agarwood attack.

There were only three people present who could pose a threat to Meng Hao: Zhixiang, Xu Bai, and Chen Mo.

At the moment, though, Xu Bai and Chen Mo were coughing up blood. Their retreat had momentarily cost them the chance to give chase. However, considering they had Cultivation bases at the late Nascent Soul, it wouldn’t be long before they could collect themselves and begin to pursue him.

As for Zhixiang, she was definitely a most formidable adversary, difficult to contend with and worthy of being called Demoness by others.

If all three of them worked together, he would be forced to use the Agarwood and the Dancing Sword Qi. Otherwise, it would be difficult to escape with his life.

Even still, in Meng Hao’s a.n.a.lysis, the end result of such a situation would be mutual loss for everyone.

At the moment, there seemed to be one more possible choice in front of him. That was to take out his Immortality Bridgestone and use it to teleport out of this place.

That option, though, was something he would pick only as a last resort. He had obtained a lot of Celestial soil, but right now it was impossible to tell if he had enough to create his Earth-type totem.

Once he opted to leave, there would be no way to return, and he would have lost this fortunate chance.

Therefore, he whistled off into the distance at top speed, brow furrowed.

Behind him, the eyes of Xu Bai and Chen Mo glittered as they took in deep breaths. After the Agarwood attack and Meng Hao’s sudden departure, they had no time or inclination to heal their wounds. Instead, they unleashed minor teleportation as they began to chase Meng Hao.

They were determined to acquire that Demon Spirit!

As the two of them began to give chase, Zhixiang transformed into a beam of light. Three people, one in the lead, and two bringing up the rear, all shot off with incredible speed in the direction of Meng Hao.

Meng Hao frowned. Right now he had to decide what to do. He could keep ahold of the Demon Spirit for the sake of the Crow Divinity Tribes. The price he would pay would be that he might not have enough Celestial soil. His other choice would be to think about himself first, and abandon the Demon Spirit.

After the s.p.a.ce of a few breaths pa.s.sed, his eyes began to s.h.i.+ne with determination. To make his Earth-type totem become a reality didn’t necessarily require the use of Celestial soil. A mult.i.tude of different types of soil existed in Heaven and Earth. However, right now there was only one Demon Spirit!

The instant he made his decision, he slapped his bag of holding. Immediately, the Immortality Bridgestone appeared. He was just about to crush it when, suddenly, Zhixiang’s voice transmitted into his head.

“Meng Hao, even if you have some more clever moves, considering you’re being pursued by me and two late Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, then the only way to keep your hands on that Demon Spirit is to leave the Realm of the Bridge Ruins. You have no other options.

“However, I can tell that you have some other reasons for coming here. That’s why you don’t want to leave, right?

“Therefore, I have a proposal. Why don’t we team up? I know that our last cooperation didn’t go very well, and that no matter what I say to you right now, you won’t trust me. Therefore, let me present you with a show of good faith!” The instant Zhixiang finished transmitting her words, her body suddenly stopped. She spun in place and then began to perform an incantation with both hands. Two red flowers instantly materialized in front of her.

The two flowers floated toward Xu Bai and Chen Mo. The petals of these two flowers resembled the faces of none other than those two men.

Then, the flowers began to collapse into pieces. In the s.p.a.ce of a single breath, the pieces transformed into gray ashes. Immediately, blood sprayed from Xu Bai’s mouth, and his body sagged. Next to him, Chen Mo trembled and coughed up blood. The two of them immediately stopped in their tracks, their faces filled with both viciousness and astonishment.

Zhixiang wasn’t finished. Her phoenix-like eyes glittered as the two men stopped in place. She lifted her right hand and pointed toward them. Immediately, both Xu Bai and Chen Mo coughed up blood. Looking even more flabbergasted, they began to retreat.

They had realized that even as she had raised her hand, they had already been injured. It was as if they had fallen into a bizarre reality with a new set of rules.

“Injure first, attack second?”

“Everything’s been turned around. It’s a divine ability that bends the rules of reality? That’s a Spirit Severing technique!” Their faces immediately filled with shock, and their minds spun. Without hesitation, they fled at top speed.

Zhixiang lowered her hand and watched indifferently as the two left. Then she turned and shot back toward Meng Hao.

With his Spiritual Sense, Meng Hao could detect some of the things that had just happened. However, he did not stop moving, and kept his Immortality Bridgestone held tightly in hand, ready to crush it at any moment.

“That was my show of good faith,” said Zhixiang. “They won’t be able to heal their wounds in a short period of time, and surely won’t have the gall to continue to pursue further.

“Meng Hao, this time, I sincerely wish to cooperate you. Last time, I truly made some mistakes. This time… why don’t we truly work together in the spirit of cooperation?

“You don’t need to respond, nor tell me your decision. In the easternmost region of this land ma.s.s is a mountain crag that juts out. I will wait for you there for one month. If you come, then we can work together, and you can acquire a lot more Celestial soil. If you don’t wish to come, then I won’t force the matter.” Zhixiang didn’t pursue him. Having finished her transmission, she stopped and watched Meng Hao shoot off into the distance. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking. After a long moment pa.s.sed, she turned and headed toward the east.

Meng Hao frowned. He was having a hard time a.n.a.lyzing Demoness Zhixiang’s words and actions. She was just too changeable. One minute they were fighting each other, the next she was acting like this.

Although he was hesitating, he didn’t reduce his speed at all. He proceeded onward for eight days, until he was absolutely certain that no one was pursuing him. It was only then that he stopped to rest.

Three more days pa.s.sed, and then he proceeded onward. Six days later, he stopped again. By this point, he was about eighty percent certain that Zhixiang was in fact not following him.

“Could it be that she really changed her mind?” he thought with a cold laugh. He was currently sitting cross-legged in an Immortal’s cave that he had carved out. As far as leaving the Realm of the Bridge Ruins, he really wasn’t willing to do so. Eyes glittering thoughtfully, he produced some Celestial soil and sent his consciousness into it, slowly attempting to gain enlightenment.

He used the same method he had used to study the fire. He closed his eyes, and the structure of the Celestial soil appeared in his mind. When the structure was complete, he would be able to use the Earth-type totem seed given to him by the Crow Divinity Tribes to fully congeal his Earth-type totem tattoo. That was the method he planned to use.

Time pa.s.sed. During the following ten days, everything around Meng Hao was quiet and peaceful. No one disturbed him. On the outside, many of the other Western Desert Cultivators had already left this place.

Finally, Meng Hao opened his eyes, and they shone with a bright light. In his mind, he had already completely outlined the basic structure of what could be referred to as a grit formed from Celestial soil.

“Not bad….” he thought, taking in a deep breath. From within his bag of holding, he produced the weak Earth-type totem seed that he had acquired from the Crow Divinity Tribes. It was flickering, and about to fade away; he had been carefully protecting it this entire time. Clenching his teeth, he branded it onto his right arm.

The instant the Earth-type totem seed was branded onto his arm, Meng Hao’s will caused the Celestial soil grit in his mind to merge with the five Crow Divinity Tribes’ Earth-type totem seed.

All of this was controlled by Meng Hao’s will, but even he wasn’t sure if he would succeed. All he knew was that he had used this method with the Fire-type totem, and based on his a.n.a.lysis, it should work similarly with the Celestial soil.

The merging process took a few days. Shockingly, when it was complete, something that looked like an indistinct vortex appeared on his right arm. It was yellowish-brown in color, and as soon as it appeared, an incredible gravitational force emanated out from it.

This gravitational force didn’t attract spiritual energy, but rather, the Celestial soil in front of Meng Hao. Instantly, the Celestial soil was sucked into the vortex and consumed.

Meng Hao’s mind shook. He immediately began to produce more clumps and chunks of Celestial soil. As soon as they appeared, they were sucked into the vortex. A few more days pa.s.sed. Meng Hao had produced every bit of Celestial soil in his bag of holding, and all of it had been sucked into the vortex. Afterwards… the gravitational force was still there!

Furthermore, the force had not lessened, but rather, become stronger, as if it were transmogrifying.

Meng Hao had the intense feeling that if he’d had enough Celestial soil, he could cause this vortex to transmogrify into a totem tattoo. It would be the fourth of the five elements totem tattoos, the Earth-type.

When that happened, his Cultivation base would shoot up again, allowing him to easily crush the early Nascent Soul Stage, and surely defeat the mid Nascent Soul stage. As for the late Nascent Soul stage, he would at least be able to hold his own in a fight.

As of now, he was a truly powerful expert of the Gold Core stage. He was absolutely powerful enough to ignore the divide between the stages. From ancient times until now, he was the only Core Formation Cultivator who could ever do something so shocking.

In order to reach this point, a Perfect Gold Core was required, and the five elements needed to be refined to their ultimate form. Enlightenment based on being a Grandmaster of the Dao of alchemy was also required, not to mention that being a Demon Sealer was a prerequisite!

The only person who could possibly tread this path was Meng Hao. He now had a peak Perfect Gold Core that could battle the Nascent Soul stage!

One could imagine that one day, when he possessed all five elements, and his Cultivation base was at the Perfect Five-Colored Nascent Soul stage, he would be in a realm that completely defied the Heavens. He would absolutely be the most powerful person on South Heaven who was underneath the Spirit Severing stage.

Chosen from all the great Sects, and all the Clans, could be crushed beneath his feet.

Meng Hao’s Nascent Soul path was that of the Five-Colored Nascent Soul, a path forged by himself, a path of Perfection!

“I need more Celestial soil!” he thought. He covered the vortex with his sleeve, but the gravitational force was still there, and growing stronger. Meng Hao’s eyes glittered as he walked out of his Immortal’s cave and transformed into a colorful beam of light that shot through mid-air.

Several days later, he returned to the basin. He stood on the edge, frowning. There was no longer any mist there. All of the palace buildings below had been reduced to ash and wreckage.

Frowning, he walked down into the wreckage, whereupon bits of Celestial soil floated up into the air and then shot toward Meng Hao’s arm. However, the place had been destroyed, and there was not much Celestial soil remaining. After the vortex sucked it all up, its gravitational force grew even more terrifying.

He stood there silently, his face filling with determination.

“When practicing cultivation, Cultivators must not allow dread into their hearts. They must always proceed forward! That Demoness Zhixiang is an Immortal… but for the moment, she’s fallen into the mortal world. There’s no reason not to cooperate with her one more time.”

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This chapter was sponsored by Thad Jostandt and LB