[1. This chapter actually has no t.i.tle in the original Chinese.]

The eyes of Meng Hao’s second true self gleamed with killing intent. Although the soul of the second true self was not Meng Hao’s, thanks to the hidden power within the fleshly body, as well as Meng Hao’s divine will, he could control him as if it were his own body.

“Screw off!” said the second true self, his voice cold.

The words did not come with a thunderous roar, nor were there any boundless ripples. There was only monstrous coldness that spread out in all directions, causing everything for hundreds of kilometers to freeze over.

Within the flaming painting, the woman’s eyes widened.

“You really don’t know what’s good for you!” she exclaimed through gritted teeth. She lifted her right hand, causing a tempest of flame to appear, which immediately shot out in all directions to attempt to fight against the region set up by the second true self.

The second true self snorted and then closed his eyes, completely ignoring the rumbling that filled the air. He had completely sealed down everything, making it impossible for the Li Clan to flee.

Time pa.s.sed, and the Li Clan only continued to grow more panicked. No matter what techniques they attempted to use, they were incapable of teleporting away, nor could they break through the seal created by the second true self. Even the face of the woman on the screen was beginning to look unsightly. After all… she was only a strand of divine will, and even if she were stronger than she was now, she was still nothing more than a scroll painting, with a cultivation base at the mid Dao Seeking level, falling short of the peak.

After all, the Li Clan of South Heaven was merely one of many offshoot branches of the main Li Clan on Planet North Reed. If it weren’t for the fact that they had some unique ties to the main clan, they would already have died out. As for their previous heights of glory and their present state of decline, in terms of the complex inner workings of the Li Clan as a whole, it actually didn’t amount to much.

Three days later, rumbling continued to fill the air just as it had the entire time. The woman in the scroll painting was more than half burned away, having gone all out with the power available to her as a divine will clone to bolster the Li Clan’s frantic efforts to break through the seal. As a result, cracks were finally becoming visible in it.

It was at this point that suddenly, tens of thousands of beams of light appeared off in the distance. They shot through the air like a red cloud, radiating killing intent.

It was the Blood Demon Sect’s tens of thousand of disciples who had all been holding themselves back for so long. In the lead was Meng Hao, flanked on the left and right by his Dharma Protectors.

As he neared, the eyes of the woman in the scroll painting glittered; she could tell at a mere glance that this was the true self of the clone.

Her eyes flickered with killing intent, and she was just about to say something, when coldness burst out of Meng Hao’s eyes. Without so much as a word, he waved the index finger of his right hand, and the Golden Frost Sect Patriarch and the 3rd Li Clan Patriarch shot toward the Li Clan, eyes s.h.i.+ning with a glow like blood.

At the same time, the tens of thousands of Blood Demon Sect disciples exploded with a blood-colored glow as they finally unleashed the rage that had been pent up this entire time.

“Kill them!!”

“Spare no one! Kill them all!”

The tens of thousands of Blood Demon Sect Disciples recalled the bitter images from the battle outside their own sect, and their eyes turned red. Bloodthirsty and mad with rage, they charged the Li Clan. In response, the tens of thousands of Li Clan members began to fight back in desperation, looks of hopelessness on their faces.

This was a battle where no quarter would be given; its sole objective was to wipe out an entire clan.

Off in the distance, the hundreds of thousands of rogue cultivators were shaken by what they saw.

“The killing has started….”

“The Blood Demon Sect’s revenge is now truly being carried out!”

“The Li Clan… will be no more in the Southern Domain.”

“The Li Clan is going to be wiped out, and the w.a.n.g Clan was mysteriously destroyed in a single night. The only clan left in the Southern Domain will be the Song Clan!”

“Of the five great sects, the Black Sieve Sect was eradicated and the Solitary Sword Sect surrendered and lost their core Daoist teachings and doctrines. It was only because of Li Fugui that the Golden Frost Sect maintained theirs, but they will not be able to return to their former glory for many years. That just leaves the Violet Fate Sect….”

The slaughter intensified as the shocked rogue cultivators looked on. The left and right Dharma Protectors had lost their conscious wills, and attacked with shocking power. The woman in the scroll painting was defeated in exchange after exchange, and the 9th Li Clan Patriarch’s face was ashen. Blood sprayed from his mouth as his fleshly body was destroyed by the 3rd Li Clan Patriarch. His Nascent Divinity flew out at top speed.

“3rd Patriarch!!” he shrieked miserably.

Unfortunately for him, the 3rd Li Clan Patriarch was not aware of what was happening, and his only reaction was to attack again.

The Li Clan members fought back miserably, but were incapable of standing up to the elite cultivators of the Blood Demon Sect.

Thousands were killed just in the initial salvo.

The battlefield was soon soaked with blood, with slaughter being carried about constantly. Meng Hao didn’t attack, nor did his second true self. They merely observed the battle.

By now, Meng Hao was starting to grow weary of the bloodshed. In all the years since he had begun to practice cultivation, he had never killed so many people…. Even during the migration in the Western Desert, he had not seen such endless slaughter.

He felt a great weariness in his heart, and his expression was somewhat blank.

His ears were filled with the din of slaughter, bloodcurdling screaming, curses uttered moments before death, and battle cries. Despite the sheer volume of these sounds, all of it seemed to transform into a drone that came from very, very far away.

He suddenly realized that he reeked of blood. He could even sense that his heart was changing color… and was almost black.

It was the result of the acc.u.mulation of murderous desires and too much killing. When his heart became completely black, Meng Hao knew that would probably mean… that he had reached the point where the excessive killing didn’t bother him any more.

But was all of this what he really wanted?

He suddenly missed his days back in the Demon Immortal Sect, back during the Western Desert migration, back in the Southern Domain as an alchemist, and even his naive life in the Reliance Sect.

But now, he was surrounded by killing, and he was exhausted because of it. When he closed his eyes, he could sense the countless vengeful spirits of the people he had killed, swirling around inside of him. They engulfed him, transforming into an intense, resentful miasma that was like a curse. A never ending curse.

Meng Hao stood there, taciturn and silent.

He really was… very tired.

“Perhaps this is why I have been unable to push the Blood Demon Grand Magic past the fourth level,” he thought with a sigh.

“After all, I am still not the Devil that Patriarch Blood Demon wishes me to be…. I simply can’t be that cruel and merciless. I just can’t kill and kill without being shaken inwardly.”

After reaching the fourth level of the Blood Demon Grand Magic, he had tried on multiple occasions to achieve enlightenment regarding the fifth level, but all to no avail. It was as if he had reached the end the road.

He looked out at the b.l.o.o.d.y carnage and the twisted expressions of those that were caught up in the slaughter, and the weariness and exhaustion within him surged even higher. Finally he had his answer.

“Perhaps, deep in my heart, I’m simply not truly willing to allow myself to become completely blackhearted. I don’t want my happiness to come from the ghosts of those who I have killed. I don’t want my path to be filled with slaughter. In that case… I guess I’ll never reach the fifth level of the Blood Demon Grand Magic in this lifetime.

“The fifth level requires even more killing. It requires innumerable souls…. It requires more and more vengeful spirits to gather around me to successfully cultivate the magic.

“Only if I concede and become a Devil can I fully embrace the Blood Demon Grand Magic. At all times, regardless of the circ.u.mstances, I must embrace the colors of red and black.

“That is the only way. And it is a way… that I cannot accept.” He stood outside the Li Clan looking at rivers of blood, mountains of corpses, and ruins. Booms filled the air as cultivators from both sides fought back and forth ferociously, almost as if they had lost any semblance of reason.

It was at this point that Meng Hao suddenly came to a realization….

The battle didn’t last very long. With the left and right Dharma Protectors in action, it barely took two hours before the Li Clan’s fate was sealed.

The woman in the scroll painting could not be killed. She was a strand of divine sense that would return to her true self on Planet North Reed upon the painting’s vanishment. As she began to fade away, her cold voice echoed out.

“You chose the path of extermination! From now on, if you step foot outside of Planet South Heaven, the Li Clan will hunt you down wherever you go in the Ninth Mountain, for as long as it takes!”

Meng Hao’s eyes flickered with coldness. His second true self waved its right hand toward the woman in the scroll painting and the fading of her figure was suddenly arrested, and the flames which burned around her died down a bit.

The woman gaped in shock, during which time Meng Hao pointed out his right index finger.

Demon Sealing, Eighth Hex!

Demon Sealing, Seventh Hex!

The combination of these two great hexing magics being unleashed at the same time caused the woman to tremble violently. She was formed from divine will, but all of a sudden, she found herself severed from the divine will of her true self.

“What are you doing!?!?” she cried in shock, her face falling.

Next, Karma enmeshed her, and strands composed of the five elements sealed her inside. Meng Hao lifted his hand, and the woman’s body gradually began to shrink. In the blink of an eye, she became a glowing white sphere which floated down to land on his palm. He immediately crushed it.

A boom echoed out as Karma was shattered. The woman let out a bloodcurdling scream as she was completely destroyed along with her Karma.

Now, she was completely incapable of returning to Planet North Reed and her true self.

“Court death, and you just might succeed,” said Meng Hao coolly. He opened his hand, and countless glowing particles rose up into the air. Meng Hao could now sense another vengeful spirit circulating around him.

No one could see the venomous stares; Meng Hao was the only one who could sense them.

Meanwhile, on one of the four great planets that circulated the Ninth Mountain, Planet North Reed, there was a continent that covered half of the entire planet. The entire continent belonged to one clan, and that was the Li Clan!

According to some legends, this Li Clan was founded by the descendants of Lord Li of the Ninth Mountain and Sea. As to whether or not that was true, it was impossible for any gossipers to determine. Although, if it were true, why hadn’t Lord Ji exterminated this Li Clan?

In the vast lands of the Li Clan was a towering altar, the design of which was very unique; it was shaped like an enormous trident. At the very tip of the trident, a woman sat cross-legged in meditation. She had very long hair that hung down her body, and she was exceptionally beautiful, almost celestial.

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open to reveal a sharp, but confused light.

“The divine sense clone I left behind for my younger brother’s clan on South Heaven just died….”

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Note from Deathblade: The following "sneak peek" is a NON-SPOILER! Feel free to discuss it in this chapter's comments!!!!!

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This chapter was sponsored by Thien Nhien Huynh, Antoine Villatte, and MM