In the Golden Frost Sect, it didn’t matter that the whole sect had been sealed. The disciples were still faced with difficult decisions.

Should they continue to defend their position, or should they leave the Southern Domain…?

Should they surrender to the Blood Demon Sect, or die in battle…?

The destruction of the Black Sieve Sect was nothing astonis.h.i.+ng. However, the Solitary Sword Sect’s surrender had been witnessed by hundreds of thousands of Southern Domain cultivators. Word had long since spread, and even the sealed-off Golden Frost Sect had gotten the news.

It didn’t take very long at all for the Golden Frost Sect to grow incredibly alarmed. Of course, the least alarmed of all was Li Fugui. However, despite his lack of alarm, he was still quite nervous. Recent days found him sighing with distress, and at a distinct loss.

The Golden Frost Sect had treated him well, very well, from the very beginning. He had been given many beautiful beloved companions, which left him exhausted, but happy…. On the other hand, Meng Hao had been his brother ever since their days in the Reliance Sect.

They had joined the sect together as Outer Sect disciples. They had caught wild chickens to eat, and had even run the general store together. Meng Hao had looked out for him, and that was something he would never forget.

The two of them were truly brothers.

Now, though, he was in an awkward predicament, and was actually somewhat confused about what to do. His brother was on the way to destroy the Golden Frost Sect, and he wasn’t sure how to handle the situation.

A few days after the surrender of the Solitary Sword Sect, the Golden Frost Sect’s only Spirit Severing expert, along with Li Fugui’s master, personally came to him to discuss the matter.

“Sue for peace?” said Fatty, gaping in shock at the Spirit Severing Patriarch, who looked quite exhausted.

“You’re on good terms with Meng Hao. He’s the type of person who… despite being cruel and merciless, capable of carrying out horrendous ma.s.sacres, and with an unfathomably high cultivation base, is still… someone who cares about past friends.h.i.+ps.

“We can verify that from the news about the Solitary Sword Sect. Based on what happened with Chen Fan, it’s possible to tell a little bit about what Meng Hao is thinking.

“Li Fugui, think about it. How has the sect treated you ever since you joined? We’re now facing imminent catastrophe. Hopefully, you can step forward bravely and use your friends.h.i.+p with Meng Hao to help us weather this storm!

“The Golden Frost Sect is willing to surrender. Our only request is that we don’t become an auxiliary branch, but rather, allies!

“We will do everything in our power to comply with the Blood Demon Sect, but we want to preserve our core Daoist teachings and doctrines, so that our sect will not be wiped away from the Southern Domain. Perhaps years from now, we can once again rise to prominence. We must fight for that chance.”

The Golden Frost Sect’s only Spirit Severing Patriarch clasped hands and bowed deeply to Li Fugui. Li Fugui’s master stood off to the side, looking at him.

Li Fugui was quiet for a moment before nodding seriously.

Another day of nervousness pa.s.sed for the Golden Frost Sect. Finally, the clouds seethed outside of the sect’s grand spell formation, and tens of thousands of beams of light appeared. They were like a towering sea of blood, bright red as they shot toward the Golden Frost Sect.

These were the Blood Demon Sect disciples. They had destroyed the Black Sieve Sect and forced the Solitary Sword Sect into compliance. Now, they turned toward the Golden Frost Sect, their hearts filled with the desire to kill.

Behind them were the rogue cultivators, even more than before. Hundreds of thousands were following the Blood Demon Sect through the Southern Domain to bear witness.

Outside of the Golden Frost Sect was an area where the air did not ripple with the distortions of a defensive spell formation, nor was there any enshrouding fog. Instead, an illusion barrier protected it, revealing only the image of a barren mountain.

As soon as the Blood Demon Sect disciples appeared on the scene, and before they could even react, a beam of light could be seen, and Fatty’s round figure was there on the mountain.

“Don’t attack, don’t attack, it’s me!” he called out at the top of his lungs. Seeing the tens of thousands of Blood Demon Sect disciples, and the hundreds of thousands of rogue cultivators behind them, left Fatty completely frightened.

Meng Hao looked at Fatty, and then glanced over at the Golden Frost Sect. It only took him a moment to figure out what the Golden Frost Sect was planning. Inwardly, he had already been experiencing some doubts regarding how to handle them.

Fatty was here, and Meng Hao knew that no matter what he did to the Golden Frost Sect, it would affect Fatty negatively.

Seeing Fatty suddenly appear, Meng Hao waved his sleeve, causing the air around him to distort. He vanished, then reappeared in front of Fatty. They were then surrounded by a blurriness that prevented anyone from seeing clearly what was happening.

A faint smile appeared on Meng Hao’s face. He looked over Fatty’s rotund figure, then laughed out loud. Fatty heaved an inward sigh of relief, and the two of them embraced.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for Meng Hao’s smile to turn wry.

“Your belly… is too huge,” he said. Fatty was so fat that it made it hard to hug him.

“Yeah, I got fat again,” said Fatty, smiling and rubbing his head. “Recently I’ve been thinking of trying to lose some weight.” He looked past Meng Hao toward the tens of thousands of murderous-looking Blood Demon Sect disciples.

“So, um…. Eldest Brother Meng Hao, what do you say we get down to business?” Fatty looked extremely nervous.

“Oh?” replied Meng Hao, blinking and looking back at Fatty with an enigmatic smile.

Fatty sighed and then just directly explained. “The sect’s Spirit Severing Patriarch sent me here to sue for peace. How about… we don’t fight!? The sect will surrender as long as they can preserve their core Daoist teachings and doctrines….”

As the two of them chatted, the disciples of the Golden Frost Sect looked on nervously from within their sect, wondering what the result would be.

“I wonder if Elder Brother Li will succeed or not…?”

“Meng Hao really values friends.h.i.+p. He shouldn’t have a hard time convincing him.”

“You can’t say for sure. Meng Hao is the Blood Prince of the Blood Demon Sect. He’s killed countless people, and is completely cruel and ferocious. There’s no way he’ll agree to our demands so easily.” Even as they discussed the matter, Meng Hao was listening to Fatty make his demands. An even wider smile broke out on Meng Hao’s face.

“Fatty, you’re working so hard to represent the sect and sue for peace, but what has the sect offered you in return?”

Fatty gaped for a moment, then suddenly slapped his thigh. A look of fury appeared on his face.

“Fudge! You’re right! Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds didn’t offer me anything!! Alright, Meng Hao, don’t agree to anything yet. I’m gonna go back to the sect and tell them that the negotiations didn’t go well. After they offer Young Master Fatty something good, then I’ll come back.”

Meng Hao chuckled and shook his head. Then he flicked his sleeve, causing the blurriness around them to fade away. As it cleared, everyone in the outside world could see the two of them.

Meng Hao’s face darkened, and Fatty’s eyes gleamed. Realizing that it was time to put on the show, he flew into a rage and then roared, “Meng Hao, how could you be like this!?!?”

Burning with rage, he turned and headed back to the Golden Frost Sect.

The faces of the Golden Frost Sect cultivators fell, and their hearts began to thump.

Fatty angrily returned to the sect, and was immediately surrounded by anxious-looking disciples.

“I’m done with that fool! Done!” cried Fatty. “Meng Hao doesn’t care at all about friends.h.i.+p! I’m through trying to reconcile with him!” Hearing Fatty’s ranting caused the Golden Frost Sect cultivators to grow even more alarmed.

The only Spirit Severing Patriarch immediately strode forward and asked, “He didn’t agree?”

“As soon as I brought up the matter of suing for peace, he asked me what authority I had to negotiate for the sect! On what authority?!?! I’m a Golden Frost Sect disciple, dammit! What an insult!” As he spoke, Fatty’s eyes s.h.i.+fted back and forth craftily.

The surrounding Golden Frost Sect disciples had been suppressing themselves for too long now. They had placed all their hope on Fatty, and now that he had failed, they couldn’t suppress themselves any longer.

“Well if he’s going to be like that, then let’s fight!”

“Yeah! It would be better to die in battle than be insulted like this! Even Elder Brother Li couldn’t do anything about it. Let’s fight!”

“FIGHT!!”

Their desire to go to battle soared, and soon, the entire sect was filled with a murderous aura. People even began to rotate the sect’s spell formations into battle readiness.

Fatty was stupefied. He thought he had made things pretty obvious, and was shocked that no one had picked up on his hidden meaning.

The Spirit Severing Patriarch stood there silently, looking at Meng Hao floating in midair off in the distance. He sighed inwardly. He had no desire to go to war; the Golden Frost Sect didn’t even come close to matching up with the Blood Demon Sect. But now… what other options did they have?

Normally speaking, he would have picked up on the hidden message in Li Fugui’s words just now. However, he was so anxious and alarmed that he simply didn’t notice.

“If we’re going to fight, then we should make the first move!” said the Spirit Severing Patriarch, gritting his teeth. “Fight now, and worry about everything else later!”

Fatty’s eyes went wide, and his heart started to pound. Realizing that things were getting out of control, he quickly stepped forward.

“Actually…” he said. “I think there’s still some hope….”

“Elder Brother Li, there’s no need for further discussion. We’re going to fight!”

“Yeah! Junior Brother Li, we’ve been pushed into a corner. The only option now is to fight!”

“We’ll show them who the Golden Frost Sect is! We might be down and out now, but we still have the power to fight!”

Fatty was now extremely nervous. “Hey everybody, you need to listen to me! I think….”

“Li Fugui, there’s no need!” said the Spirit Severing cultivator, his eyes cold. “I made an error in judgement. It seems we’ll have to fight first before we can have a shot at turning this around. Disciples, heed my command….” He flicked his sleeve and was about to issue orders when, all of a sudden, Fatty lifted his head up and roared.

“Patriarch, give me one more chance! I, Li Fugui, will put my life on the line to secure peace for the sect!” He was so nervous that his throat was hoa.r.s.e.

Immediately, everyone turned to look at him in shock, even the Spirit Severing Patriarch.

Li Fugui slapped his chest so hard that it stung, and tears welled up in his eyes.

“You’re an amazing kid,” said the Spirit Severing expert, clearly moved. “You… you really don’t need to put yourself in such danger. We will fight them, and show them the true power of the Golden Frost Sect! That’s our only hope!” With that, he prepared to give combat orders.

Fatty was trembling, and veins bulged out on his forehead. Once again, he let out a mighty roar.

“Don’t worry, Patriarch. I’m a disciple of the Golden Frost Sect. Even if I die the most cruel death, I will help the sect to pa.s.s through this crisis! This time I’ll just tell that Meng Hao that I’m a disciple of the Golden Frost Sect, and its future Golden Prince. If he doesn’t agree to our terms, I’ll kill myself right in front of him!” With that, he flew up into the air, his face calm and unflinching.

A tremor ran through the Spirit Severing Patriarch, and the other disciples were completely moved to see Fatty’s tear-soaked face and calmness in the face of death.

“Regardless of whether or not you succeed,” said the Spirit Severing Patriarch, “you are now the Golden Prince of the Golden Frost Sect!!” By this point, he felt that something fishy was going on, but considering the crisis they were in, he couldn’t focus too much on that.

Fatty immediately started to get excited. In his opinion, it was the time to push things a bit further, so he took a deep breath and then ripped off the top of his robe, revealing his rolls of fat. His expression serious and filled with the determination to die for his sect, he cried out, “Patriarch, please bestow me with a t.i.tular tattoo!

“Please carve the characters ‘Golden Prince of the Golden Frost Sect’ onto my back!”

The Spirit Severing Patriarch stared in shock, and his face twitched.

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This chapter was sponsored by John Doh, Juan S Santana, Nararat Vachiramanap.o.r.n, and Anonymous