Chapter 348: Assault on Dongluo City
“Are you sure your spell formation can hold a Nascent Soul Cultivator?” Meng Hao asked coolly as he walked through the fog.
“Of course, no problem,” replied the parrot. Slapping its chest with its wing, it said, “Lord Fifth’s human-powered Celestial spell formation is unique in all the Nine Mountains and Seas. It draws its power from people. Since we have more than a thousand, well, we might not be able to kill a Nascent Soul Cultivator, but we can definitely trap one inside. Child’s play.” Its tone was lofty, as if its actions were doubly efficient.
“Can the spell formation move?” asked Meng Hao, his eyes glittering. He stopped walking for a moment as he caught sight of a Dongluo Clan Cultivator of the early Core Formation stage off in the fog. The man was frantically attacking the mist around him, an expression of terror and despair on his face.
He couldn’t see Meng Hao, but Meng Hao could make him out quite clearly. Meng Hao shifted into motion again, and within a moment was at the man’s side. He waved his hand, and the fog coalesced, surrounding the Dongluo Clan Cultivator, enveloping him. When it dissipated, Meng Hao walked off. Behind him, the Dongluo Clan Cultivator had collapsed unconscious onto the ground.
“Of course it can move. As long as our men keep running, then Lord Fifth’s spell formation can go anywhere, and take the people inside along with it.” An expression of arrogant pride covered the parrot’s face.
Meng Hao nodded and continued to proceed forward. It wasn’t long before he found Dongluo Han. The man’s face was pale and filled with vigilance. He peered around at the fog; his Core Qi was in full play and he was on guard against any changes.
Meng Hao looked at him thoughtfully for the space of a few breaths, then shot over. The fog began to seethe, and Dongluo Han’s face flickered. Before he could react, though, a hand shot out from the fog next to him and pushed down onto his back.
A great power shot through him, sealing his Cultivation base. He didn’t even have the strength to turn his head now. Instead, he fell to the ground, unconscious.
Meng Hao walked out from within the fog and looked down at Dongluo Han. He didn’t kill him; knocking him out was good enough for now.
Meng Hao turned and continued to walk off into the distance. Whenever he ran into Dongluo Clan members, he disabled them and rendered them unconscious.
Some of them, however, ended up in the paths of the running figures. These ones could only perish with miserable shrieks under the power of the spell formation.
After enough time passed for an incense stick to burn, Meng Hao found Dongluo Ling within the fog. Her hair was in disarray, and her beautiful features were filled with hopelessness and anxiety. She had used every method she had at her disposal, but was unable to escape. How could she not feel despair?
She couldn’t see her fellow Clan members; it was as if the entire world had turned into fog, and she was the only person left. When the massive phantoms went running by, they emitted a great pressure which filled her heart with fear.
How could she ever have imagined that the person who pissed her off so much would have such a fearsome spell formation? She didn’t dare to approach the running phantoms; she had already seen a few of her fellow Clan members run into them and instantly be trampled to death.
In fact, she could smell the odor of fresh blood rising up in the air.
Meng Hao looked at her, his eyes cold. He lifted up his right hand, causing the fog to roil and rush toward her. It immediately enveloped her, then slowly dissipated. She was now unconscious on the ground, completely still.
In addition to the Dongluo Clan Nascent Soul Cultivator, there were over seventy Clan Members left in the fog. By now, Meng Hao had already incapacitated about half of them.
After enough time passed for half an incense stick to burn, Meng Hao slowly lifted his hand up from the middle of the back of yet another listless Dongluo Clan member. The man spit up a mouthful of blood and then collapsed unconscious.
“That’s the last one,” said Meng Hao. Turning, he looked off through the mist toward the stranded Nascent Soul expert. He was currently shooting divine abilities off constantly, as well as employing minor teleportation. In his mind, he was traveling forward slowly, but from Meng Hao’s perspective, he was merely going in circles.
Going in circles would not enable him to escape the fog.
“The Dongluo Clan came with malice,” said Meng Hao, “so let’s teach them a lesson. Move the spell formation.” Immediately, the parrot on his shoulder lifted its head up and let out a powerful squawking howl.
The fog around them immediately began to roil. The thousand running Cultivators within no longer ran in a circuitous path. Their eyes were closed, as if their wills were fused with that of the parrot. According to the parrot’s thoughts, the spell formation began to move toward Dongluo City.
Looking at the fog from outside, it was like a roiling sea within the basin. As it churned and seethed, it slowly began to move, climbing out of the basin, growing at the same time.
The fog sea was huge, tens of thousands of meters in diameter. As it passed along, it was as if an enormous beast made of fog consumed everything it touched.
The fog sea moved forward, and as it did, giant figures slowly became visible. Their roaring voices slowly became clearer.
“Have faith in the Lord Fifth, gain eternal life….”
The sound of it rolled out, growing louder and clearer. Eventually, it shook Heaven and Earth, drawing the attention of the Rogue Cultivators who resided in the region surrounding Dongluo City. They stared fixedly with wide eyes at the unbelievable sight of the roiling fog.
More and more people began to watch the mass of fog; it seemed to be moving slowly, but actually proceeded on with great speed. Some of the people flew along in mid-air to watch, panting, eyes wide.
Currently, the fog was about five hundred kilometers from Dongluo City, slowly moving forward. Onlookers had no idea what it was, but they could hear the indistinct voices emanating out from within. The sound of it left them shocked.
“What does it mean?”
“What a huge swathe of fog. It looks like there are people inside running around….”
“No, whatever things are inside are much bigger than people. It looks like they’re more than thirty meters tall! Just what is this fog?”
By now, there were several hundred Cultivators floating up in the air watching. These were all Rogue Cultivators who hadn’t joined any of the local power forces. They stared on with wide eyes, fearfully keeping their distance so that the fog wouldn’t envelop them.
The fog moved along, drawing closer and closer to Dongluo City. 500 kilometers, 400 kilometers, 250 kilometers, 150 kilometers….
The fog billowed up high into the sky, and as it moved along, it emitted a thunderous rumbling sound that shook the ground. Dust flew into the air, and an immense pressure emanated out. The Cultivators who were following along in mid-air retreated further away in fear.
Meanwhile, in Dongluo City everything was relatively desolate. Other than the Dongluo Clan members, the only other Cultivators in the city were a handful of Rogue Cultivators. As they all became aware of what was going on, their hearts began to fill with consternation.
They had no idea what the fog was; all they knew was that Dongluo City clearly lay directly in its path. Given the speed with which the fog was moving, it would arrive in the time it takes an incense stick to burn.
As it neared, the people inside Dongluo City began to shrink back in fear, as if they wanted to flee.
“What happened? Is it the Black Lands Palace?”
“Dammit, how come it’s moving so fast? Just what Black Lands Palace technique is this? This fog is so immense it’s frightening….”
Most of the Dongluo Clan members were gathered up in the second layer of the city. There were roughly five hundred of them, and all of their faces were filled with unsightly expressions. Standing in front of all of them were two old men with grim faces.
These two old men were the other of the three Nascent Soul Cultivators of the Dongluo Clan. Standing next to them was the current Dongluo Clan Chief. He was frowning, and his expression was one of anxiety.
Up above them, three Scarlet Peacocks circled about in the air looking uneasy. They emitted plaintive wails as they eyed the incoming fog.
An oppressive aura had come to rest over the entirety of Dongluo City.
One of the Nascent Soul Cultivators standing next to the Clan Chief, a middle-aged man, said, “According to my investigation, all of the forces that Third Elder took with him to the Church of the Golden Light have gone missing…. After that, the Church of the Golden Light was completely empty…. That’s when this bizarre fog appeared. Its target is clear: Dongluo City!” He paused for a moment, a look of bitterness, fear and reverence on his face. “I arranged for seven men to investigate the mist from various directions as it approached, but…. Regardless of the level of their Cultivation base, as soon as they touched the fog, they were sucked in. After that, we lost all contact.”
The Clan Chief sighed inwardly. He might be the Clan Chief, but even if his opinion differed from that of the Elders, he still had to comply with their wishes. His opinion regarding the Church of the Golden Light had been to cooperate with it and form an alliance.
However, the three Elders viewed the Church of the Golden Light as nothing more than a group of Rogue Cultivators. The Church’s founder, Patriarch Golden Light, was only a Core Formation Cultivator, and therefore not qualified to enter an alliance with the Dongluo Clan. He could either capitulate or be enslaved, those were his only options.
It was under these suppositions that Third Elder had set out.
Now, the Church of the Golden Light was obviously striking back at them, in a way that far surpassed the predictions of the Dongluo Clan. The Black Lands Palace hadn’t even come their way yet, but they were already facing a crisis.
The other Nascent Soul Elder coolly said, “Does a firefly dare to compete with the full moon? Employ the Clan’s Grand Spell Formation. If the Church of the Golden Light wants to attack us with fog, then the Dongluo Clan will break them with our spell formation!”
At this point, the fog was now about 25 kilometers away from the city.
Green beams of light began to emanate out from Dongluo City, transforming into sheets of leaves which covered over the city.
Within the fog, Meng Hao looked out at Dongluo City. His eyes glowed with coldness. Above his head spun the Lotus Sword Formation. Surrounding him were more than seventy Dongluo Clan Cultivators who had previously been unconscious. They were awake now, although, their eyes were filled with blankness. They seemed to have lost their senses, as if their bodies weren’t even under their own control.
Meng Hao had used the art of Righteous Bestowal to take control of them.
“Demon Sealers don’t usually exchange blows with others,” Meng Hao murmured. “The blows are delivered by means of Righteous Bestowal.” He lifted up his right hand and waved it out in front of him.