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The subcomponents of the precious legacy treasures of the Solitary Sword Sect, Golden Frost Sect, and Li Clan were sullied and fell to the ground. However, because of the heroism displayed by Patriarch Fifth Peak, there was something that occurred which no one noticed, not even Meng Hao. A unique halo suddenly flickered into being around the Solitary Sword Sect’s legacy precious treasure.
Apparently, the halo had always been there, but had been sealed and suppressed. Now that the item was sullied, the seal weakened a bit, allowing the halo to become visible for the first time.
Although this sword not the main treasure, only a subcomponent, the reaction that had begun was like a spark thrown onto a bale of hay. That spark, although tiny, it was impossible to extinguish. Furthermore, it even affected the main treasure in the hand of the black-robed old man up in mid-air, who was currently locked in combat with Patriarch Blood Demon’s clone.
“What’s going on?!” he cried, even in the midst of performing an incantation. Next to him was the true legacy precious treasure of the Solitary Sword Sect, the bamboo sword. Before, it had been matchlessly sharp, and could emanate astonishing pressure. Even Patriarch Blood Demon had to be careful of its potency.
Now, though, the sword was emanating a unique aura. In fact, it was an aura… that seemed like Time power!
When the aura appeared, the bamboo sword became even more astonishing, causing joy to rise in the heart of the black-robed man from the Solitary Sword Sect.
Patriarch Blood Demon frowned. He could spread his power among many clones, or concentrate it in just one. A single clone could easily defeat any peak Dao Seeking cultivator, just as he had done with Patriarch Six-Daos.
Now, however, he was facing three peak Dao Seeking experts, all of whom wielded legacy precious treasures. It was only by increasing the number of clones he was using that he could deal with the sheer number of foes.
Furthermore, deep in his heart, Patriarch Blood Demon had the feeling that someone was watching him, as if a gaze from some unknown place had suddenly come to be fixed on him.
“It’s too bad I can’t let my soul leave the Blood Pond….” he thought with a sigh. However, not even a scrap of fear could be seen in his expression. He was completely confident that no matter what violent upheavals occurred, he could resolve all crises that arose.
That confidence had always existed in his heart, and had not faded in the least, no matter how bad the situation seemed.
The battle in mid-air continued as he used clones to fight three peak Dao Seeking experts, as well as Patriarch Six-Daos, who had used some secret art to burn his longevity and temporarily restore his cultivation base to the point where he could battle Patriarch Blood Demon.
The hatred in his heart for Patriarch Blood Demon had turned into a festering obsession.
RUMBLE!
The fighting on the ground below was also changing.
With the fifth shield layer having collapsed, Patriarch Fifth Peak having fallen, and the three subcomponent treasures sullied, hundreds of thousands of cultivators were left shaken. At the same time, crowds of Blood Demon Sect disciples were waiting behind the fourth shield layer, looking like monstrous, blood-colored swords.
“Storm the breach!” roared the early Dao Seeking cultivator from the Solitary Sword Sect, his eyes sparkling with coldness. He was in the vanguard position, flanked by the Golden Frost Sect puppet and the Li Clan cultivator, as well as numerous Spirit Severing experts. All of them shot toward the fourth shield layer.
“Die!” hundreds of thousands of cultivators joined the charge, their energy surging. Once again, they looked like floodwaters ready to completely submerge and shatter the Blood Demon Sect.
Inside the fourth shield layer, Meng Hao took a deep breath and then strode forward. This time, he was followed by the two Ironblood Patriarchs as well as more than ten thousand Blood Demon Sect disciples, who radiated killing intent.
Their eyes were filled with such decisiveness and determination that Meng Hao knew he could do nothing to prevent them from fighting.
“Since that’s the case, today, we will fight to the bitter end!” He looked up, and his eyes shone with sparkling redness. Time Sword tips swirled through the air around him, transforming into the shape of a lotus that emanated an astonishing power of Time. Even the air seemed to affected by that power.
At the same time, a faint bloody glow became visible around Meng Hao. It started out as what appeared to be a ghost image, but when it moved forward, it became clear that it was a Blood Clone!
The Ji Clan Blood Clone!
“FIGHT!” Meng Hao’s right hand flashed in an incantation and the Time Sword Formation shot forward. The Blood Clone’s eyes glittered, and a blood-colored glow shot up into the sky, along with an evil will. Then it transformed into a streak of red that pounced onto one cultivator after another.
Every time it pounced, its victim would tremble and then let out a miserable shriek. It would only take a moment for that person’s blood to be completely drained. After they became a desiccated husk, the Blood Clone would fly out looking like it had just enjoyed a grand meal. It would then shoot gluttonously toward its next victim.
Gradually, a bit of consciousness seemed to be awakening within the Blood Clone, which was one reason that Meng Hao was hesitant to use it in battle.
On previous occasions, he had dealt with resistance from the Blood Clone, and he was certain that the more blood it absorbed, the harder it would be to control. In fact, there was also the possibility of direct rebellion.
Right now, though, in this battle, Meng Hao did not have the luxury to worry about the future. Therefore, the Blood Clone appeared in the battle, and the glow of blood it cast rose up into the sky. The Blood Clone… could be considered undying, and was bizarre in appearance. Although it did not kill vast numbers of enemies, the sight of it caused quite a few people on the battlefield to be alarmed and bewildered.
“What’s that!?!?”
“Don’t let that blood-colored thing touch you! It’s evil!”
“The Blood Demon Sect only cultivates Demon magic. Malicious magical arts like that are why the Blood Demon Sect deserves to be exterminated!”
Bloodcurdling screams, shouts of anger, cries of madness, and the sounds of explosions fused together into sound waves that shook the entire battlefield.
Amidst the cacophony of sound, the two Ironblood Patriarchs and the ten thousand Blood Demon Sect disciples met the enemy head on.
As for Meng Hao, he single-handedly pinned down the Solitary Sword Sect early Dao Seeking Patriarch, the Golden Frost Sect puppet, and the Li Clan cultivator, as well as several Spirit Severing experts. Golden vortexes of the third level of the Blood Demon Grand Magic spun in all directions. By use of his various magical techniques, he ensured that these powerful opponents could not break out of the area.
The task was a strenuous one for Meng Hao, especially against the old man from the Solitary Sword Sect, who snorted coldly and unleashed natural law. Then he strode forward, and appeared near the two Ironblood Patriarchs, toward whom he leveled a deadly attack.
Meng Hao’s eyes flashed with killing intent.
“Detonate!” he growled, causing one of the Time Sword tips in the Lotus Sword Formation to explode. The power of Time burst out, transforming into a tempest that swept out in all directions.
Peak Dao Seeking experts could disregard such a Time tempest, but not an early Dao Seeking cultivator. The old man’s face flickered, and he forced himself to a stop, then retreated.
“Spirit Severing cultivators!” he cried. “New orders. Pin him down immediately!”
The Solitary Sword Sect’s Spirit Severing cultivators immediately shot forward. The Golden Frost Sect Puppet and the Li Clan cultivator also issued similar orders. It only took a moment for numerous Spirit Severing cultivators to charge toward Meng Hao, unleashing divine abilities and magical techniques to obstruct him.
At the same time, the Golden Frost Sect puppet’s eyes flickered as it attempted to fly past Meng Hao’s position. The Li Clan cultivator was also trying to do the same thing.
It was at this point that a cold glow appeared in Meng Hao’s eyes.
“Detonate. Detonate! DETONATE!”
Three Time Sword tips exploded in quick succession. The Golden Frost Sect puppet and the Li Clan cultivator were forced to halt in place as Time tempests raged out in all directions.
Meng Hao was sparing no cost in this battle. He strode forward, and a vicious expression appeared on his face as he waved his hand.
“DETONATE!” Of the remaining Wooden Time Sword tips, five exploded, leaving only one remaining behind. An enormous tempest of Time power surged out in all directions, causing the entire battlefield to rumble and shake.
Miserable shrieks could be heard as the Spirit Severing experts’ bodies rapidly aged. Several actually ran out of longevity and then directly died, and the others retreated at full speed. However, even as they fell back, Meng Hao transformed into a green smoke that vanished and then reappeared behind one of the men. His right hand shot out, and a crunching sound could be heard as a neck was smashed. Another flicker, and punch. Another enemy killed.
Meng Hao’s shadow flashed back and forth, and in only the space of a few breaths of time, he had killed seven Spirit Severing cultivators.
By this time, the Time tempest had faded away. The early Dao Seeking expert from the Solitary Sword Sect, the Golden Frost Sect puppet, and the Li Clan cultivator all joined forces, releasing their most powerful divine abilities in an earth-shattering attack that threatened to inundate Meng Hao.
BANG!
Meng Hao’s body collapsed, then reformed. His face was pale, and he had the intense premonition that if his body continued to collapse in this way, then it wouldn’t be long… before he actually died.
By now, many of the Blood Demon Sect disciples on the battlefield had been killed, their bodies dead and their Nascent Souls destroyed. Before dying, most chose to self-detonate, causing blood to spatter throughout the battlefield like red flowers.
The bravery shown was grand and spectacular! Inside the fourth layer of the shield, the rest of the Blood Demon Sect disciples’ eyes were bloodshot. Tens of thousands of disciples flew out, along with the three Demonfire Patriarchs. However, considering that they were up against hundreds of thousands of enemies, the best they could do was delay them for a bit. Even then, they couldn’t hold on for very long.
Even Meng Hao was slowly forced to fall back under the repeated onslaught of the Solitary Sword Sect, Golden Frost Sect, and Li Clan experts.
The Ninth Mountain had collapsed.
He was no longer capable of wielding the Black White Pearls.
He had detonated his entire Time Sword formation.
The tentacles of his Spirit Severing treasure, the Resurrection Lily, had been severed, and it was in a sorry state.
His own body was weak to the extreme!
He utilized the Blood Demon Grand Magic over and over again, but by now, whenever the multicolored lights of the magic appeared, people in the area were prepared and quickly evaded.
As for the early Dao Seeking expert of the Solitary Sword Sect, the Golden Frost Sect puppet, and the Li Clan cultivator, the third level of the Blood Demon Grand Magic wasn’t strong enough to thoroughly pin them down.
“The Patriarch said that the Blood Demon Grand Magic’s fourth level was enough to slay early Dao Seeking,” he thought. “Fourth level… I need to achieve the fourth level!” His eyes were bright red as he retreated, once again unleashing the Blood Demon Grand Magic, and once again experiencing the collapse and recovery of his fleshly body.
“I need the vortex to spin faster! If it goes fast enough, it will reach the fourth level! There shouldn’t be a bottleneck before the fourth level; I’m already in the Spirit Meridians stratum. I just need the golden vortex… to rotate faster! Much faster!” His cultivation base exploded with power as he unleashed the Blood Demon Grand Magic and pushed hard toward the fourth level. At the same time, the early Dao Seeking expert from the Solitary Sword Sect, the Golden Frost Sect puppet, and the Li Clan cultivator were aggressively advancing toward him….
Suddenly, Meng Hao’s mind became clear, and everything around him seemed to slow down. He lifted his hand up and pointed forward.
A golden vortex suddenly appeared that was ten times larger than any of the previous vortexes. It appeared right on top of the early Dao Seeking expert from the Solitary Sword Sect, as well as a few dozen other surrounding cultivators.
The golden vortex instantly exploded out with a frenzied gravitational force. Both cultivation base as well as qi and blood were rapidly absorbed, and all the cultivators inside the vortex were instantly turned into corpses, with the exception of the Solitary Sword Sect expert!
As for him, he gave a cold snort and was about to collapse the vortex when suddenly, his eyes went wide. He suddenly realized that this vortex was different than the ones before.
The intense gravitational force had already sucked away at least a third of his cultivation base!
Most importantly, he realized that he… was incapable of freeing himself! He was locked down tight!
“Impossible!” he said, his voice hoarse.
The speed with which objects were pulled by the gravitational force far exceeded the third level of the Blood Demon Grand Magic. Meng Hao had been retreating, but now, he stopped in place and looked up at the Dao Seeking expert stuck in the vortex. Killing intent flickered in his eyes.
“Blood Demon Grand Magic. Fourth level!”
His breakthrough was successful!