As he took the first step, blood and Qi roiled, and he was no longer middle-aged, but a teenager, and he moved three times faster than he had been before.

He took a second step, and his body quivered. His robes fell off, as he had turned into an infant. Again his speed tripled. His body was almost entirely transparent at this point, and a three-colored light began to envelop him.

By his third step, his infant’s body had shrunken into a spinning Core. Again, his speed tripled as he shot toward the vortex exit.

These three people were all Core Formation Eccentrics. Obviously, they would not come to such a dangerous place without taking certain precautions. As for everyone else who had died already, things had just happened too quickly. As for these three, if even one escaped, he could spread word to the experts from the great Sects in the Southern Domain, and they would come to slay Patriarch Reliance.

All of this took some time to describe, but happened extremely quickly. As the three of them attempted to make their escape, Lord Revelation chose to stay put, his eyes flickering. His right hand flashed an incantation sign. The large eye on his robe suddenly seemed to come to life. Light sprang forth from it, s.h.i.+ning out to target, not Patriarch Reliance, but the three fleeing Core Formation Cultivators.

“You’ve overstepped your bounds,” said Patriarch Reliance in an awe-inspiring voice. He stamped his foot into the ground, whereupon ripples spread out to fill the air. A horrified cry filled the air as the Cultivator from the Winding Stream Sect, who was just about to make his escape, was suddenly thrust back down and into the fourth oil lamp.

At the same time, Patriarch Reliance’s right hand slammed onto the ground. It trembled as a restrictive spell appeared, out from which flew a thin band of black of light that turned into a black skull. The skull circled around Patriarch Reliance, and then shot toward the Cultivator who was attempting to escape via teleportation jade slip.

As the ripples of teleportation spread out, the black skull cackled evilly, then disappeared.

Next, Patriarch Reliance lifted his left hand toward the Core which was shooting toward the vortex. Just as it seemed it was about to enter the vortex, a bloodcurdling cry sounded out and the Core exploded. But the power of the explosion remained contained as it flew back toward Patriarch Reliance.

He s.n.a.t.c.hed it out of the air, and within the white glow could be seen the shape of the Cultivator’s body, struggling wildly. Patriarch Reliance squeezed the white glow and it slowly congealed into a three-colored Core. He flicked his sleeve, sending it to light the fifth oil lamp.

At the same time, he waved his left hand, slamming into the light that currently shot forth from the eye on Lord Revelation’s robe.

A boom filled the air, and a large amount of cracks appeared on the restrictive spell that covered the ground. Blood dribbled from the sides of Lord Revelation’s mouth, and his face grew pale, but his eyes didn’t contain the least bit of panic. Instead, they shone with a strange light as he quickly retreated backward.

Ma.s.sive amounts of life force streamed toward Patriarch Reliance, infusing his body. His face was almost completely recovered. He stood there looking at Lord Revelation, hands clasped behind his back.

“Whose Nascent Soul stage clone are you? You dare to mix with these Core Formation whelps who plot against me?”

“You truly live up to your reputation, Patriarch Reliance,” said Lord Revelation with a smile, his voice hoa.r.s.e. “You could tell with a single look that I’m a clone. However, I’m not here to plot against you. Without me, these Core Formation Cultivators wouldn’t have dared to come here. Actually, there is a matter regarding Heavenly fortune that I wish to discuss with you.” His lips quivered a bit as he finished speaking.

Patriarch Reliance frowned, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

Suddenly, something black flashed up above them. The flying skull reappeared. In its mouth was a three-colored Core. It flew to Patriarch Reliance’s side. He flicked his sleeve, and the Core flew to light the sixth oil lamp.

Having seen all this, Meng Hao’s heart trembled. He looked at Lord Revelation. It turned out, he was actually just a clone, and yet was at the Nascent Soul stage! Hearing what he said, Meng Hao realized that the goings-on here were more complicated than he had imagined.

“If his clone is at the Nascent Soul stage, then… what stage is his true self at?” Meng Hao took a deep breath, thinking of the three-colored poison pill, his face twisting.

“Patriarch Reliance,” said Lord Revelation with a smile, “the Southern Domain is doomed to fall into chaos. What are your thoughts on this matter?”

“You mean the c.r.a.p about the Dawn Immortal? I couldn’t care less. But since you’re here with your Nascent Soul, I might as well take the opportunity to replenish myself a bit more.” His eyes glittered as he took a step forward and raised his hand toward Lord Revelation.

“Patriarch Reliance, you really should think things through more clearly. You’re a simple Spirit Severing Cultivator, do you really dare to defy the Dawn Immortal?” Lord Revelation’s face fell as he watched Patriarch Reliance lifting his finger. A boom resounded out as a powerful mist came into being and began to surround him. Patriarch Reliance let out a cold snort.

The mist seethed, and the roaring sound mixed together with the howls of Lord Revelation until it seemed that the Immortal’s Cave would collapse. At first, it seemed as if the restrictive spells nearby would disintegrate, but they began to repair themselves before that could happen.

Meng Hao watched on in shock as the restrictive spells fluctuated between collapse and repair. The mist lifted Lord Revelation higher into the air. He let out a blood-curdling scream as the mist squeezed, causing blood to squirt out of his body and drench his clothes. His eyes were filled with hatred.

“Demonic art, Wolf Smoke!” Patriarch Reliance’s grim voice rang out into the mist. The mist seemed to devour Lord Revelation. Deep inside, a brilliant light shone out, and the vague image of flames and smoke could be seen. Nothing could be seen clearly, though. Only blood-curdling screams could be heard.

“Patriarch Reliance, I can do without this clone, but don’t think it will be so easy to consume me!”

The images and feelings seemed to lash against Meng Hao. This battle could no longer be described in terms of magical techniques. He couldn’t even think of any words that would do. Patriarch Reliance’s powerful voice and the howls of Lord Revelation made Meng Hao realize how much beyond the Core Formation stage this battle was.

He stared blankly, his mind reeling, as if a new door along the pathway of life had been opened. This was what being a Cultivator truly was. This was the true path of defiance against the Heavens. This was the true all-powerful might of a Cultivator.

A short time pa.s.sed, during which the booming continued to sound out. The mist suddenly contracted, then returned to surround Patriarch Reliance. When he looked closely, Meng Hao was shocked to see that Patriarch Reliance’s features now closely resembled Lord Revelation’s.

It was almost as if Patriarch Reliance had occupied Lord Revelation’s body. Then the features began to melt down until Lord Revelation was completely gone, fully absorbed.

An immeasurable amount of black sealing marks rotated around Patriarch Reliance. As he floated there in the air, he exuded an extremely bizarre air.

In his hand he held the small image of a person. Its face was twisted ferociously, but its eyes were shut. It looked … like Lord Revelation!

This was his Nascent Soul!

The mist dispersed, and everything was quiet. No more breakage appeared on the restrictive spells. They seemed to be in the process of restoring themselves rapidly. From the look of it, it wouldn’t take very long for them to recover completely. Patriarch Reliance flicked his sleeve, and Lord Revelation’s Nascent Soul shot into the seventh oil lamp. The Nascent Soul acted as oil, and Lord Revelation’s life force became flames as the lamp burned.

Lamplight filled the Immortal’s Cave, illuminating everything with a flickering light that felt both ghastly and horrific.

Patriarch Reliance looked around, and his gaze came to fall on Meng Hao. He gave him a slight nod, and then turned to head back into the large fissure in the ground.

Meng Hao strode forward several paces nervously. Clasping hands, he bowed, and in a loud voice said, “Patriarch, in order to bring those people here, Disciple consumed some poison pills. Patriarch, can you please dispel the poison?”

“It’s just some poison, I can dispel it as easily as taking a breath. Just wait a bit. I need to absorb this Nascent Soul, as well as this guy’s true self. Then I’ll dispel the poison for you. Don’t worry about it. Oh, you did pretty well. I have a reward for you. Take this. This is your prize.” Without so much as looking back, Patriarch Reliance flicked his sleeve, sending a low-grade Spirit Stone shooting toward Meng Hao. His body had already landed on the ground, and he was beginning to step into the fissure.

Meng Hao stared blankly at the completely ordinary low-grade Spirit Stone. He clenched his jaw and then spoke again.

“The reward is a low-grade Spirit Stone?”

“Low-grade Spirit Stone?” he said coolly. “That’s right. It’s a low-grade Spirit Stone. But if you look closely, is it really a low-grade Spirit Stone?” He jumped toward the fissure.

Meng Hao gaped in astonishment, looking back at the Spirit Stone in his hand. As he watched Patriarch Reliance disappearing into the fissure, he spoke again. “Patriarch, you… how long before you can dispel Disciple’s poison?”

“Not very long. It’ll be soon. I only have three, maybe five hundred years of work to do. Okay, well I need to go into secluded meditation now.” He muttered to himself about the difficulty of dispelling poison, and the fact that his Cultivation base wasn’t completely recovered yet. Based on what it would cost him, it wouldn’t be worth it. Furthermore, he had his master plan to think about. As for the Spirit Stone… it really was just a common low-grade Spirit Stone. He didn’t have any qualms about deceiving members of the junior generation. He had done such things many times in the past. He had cheated many Cultivators back during the days of the Demon Sealing Sect. Giving another dry cough to try to gloss everything over, he lowered his head and disappeared into the fissure. As soon as he entered, it closed up behind him.