Chapter 647: Patriarch Meng Hao
The 10th Wang Clan Patriarch was momentarily stunned by the mention of ‘good fortune.’ Roaring, Patriarch Reliance’s gargantuan head shot toward him at incredible speed.
He moved so fast that ghost images sprang up, and the air itself cracked.
BANG!
Rage flared up in the eyes of the 10th Wang Clan Patriarch. Blood sprayed out of his mouth, and a glittering shield sprang up. However, cracking sounds echoed out, and it began to shatter into small pieces. His face went pale, and he started performing a double-handed incantation, calling the wind and summoning the rain. Instantly, magical power swirled around him, and an incredible magical art shot toward Patriarch Reliance. The 10th Wang Clan Patriarch coughed up more blood and sped backward, having narrowly escaped complete catastrophe.
His mind was overcome with terror; after reaching Spirit Severing, he had never encountered anything that he had feared. That was not to mention his position after reaching Dao Seeking. In all of the lands of South Heaven, he was afraid of nothing; even the idea of double-crossing the Ji Clan didn’t get him scared.
Now, though, he was afraid. He fled without even the slightest bit of hesitation, at the same time producing several dozen magical items. Each of these magical items could be considered a treasure of great value. He had spent years collecting them all. Unleashing them caused a bright light to shine out and swirl around his body as he fled.
However, Patriarch Reliance’s eyes flashed with killing intent. His head shrank back, but then shot out again as fast as lightning.
A bloodcurdling scream echoed out from the mouth of the 10th Wang Clan Patriarch. This time, he couldn’t dodge. His precious treasures were destroyed, and a crunching sound could be heard as half of his body was crushed and ripped away by Patriarch Reliance.
His scream was matchlessly desolate. The Wang Patriarch continued to try to escape with the remaining half of his body. He was clearly in an unprecedentedly horrific and terrible situation.
Blood sprayed about in all directions, and Meng Hao’s eyes glittered. Without stopping to even look back, he waved his arm, causing some of the blood to swirl over to him. Then he continued off into the distance.
Behind him, Patriarch Reliance wasn’t finished venting. Even as his head shot once more toward the 10th Wang Clan Patriarch, he sensed that Meng Hao was getting further and further away. However, his rage did not lessen. Instead, it boiled up from his insides. He instantly changed directions, moving like a bolt of lightning to suddenly appear right next to Meng Hao. His enormous mouth opened as if he were about to consume him.
In that instant of malice, though, layers of restrictive spells flared up around him. Countless magical symbols could be seen, connected together like chains that glittered with bright light. They covered Patriarch Reliance’s entire body, no matter how he strained against them. Even his shell was affected; cracks spread out, as if he were about to be crushed alive.
The pain caused Patriarch Reliance to let out a miserable cry. His head shot back and he glared hatefully at Meng Hao.
“Nothing good ever happens when I run into you!” roared Patriarch Reliance.
“One of these days, Meng Hao’s turtle is gonna beg for me to ride him!” Meng Hao shot back hatefully, looking over his shoulder coldly at Patriarch Reliance as he continued to shoot off into the distance.
Meng Hao’s words seemed to move Patriarch Reliance inwardly. His eyes turned bright red, and he slipped further into madness. However, he didn’t try to consume Meng Hao again. The glowing chains could still be seen on him, causing his entire body to be wracked with pain. The rage inside of him was impossible to describe. Being incapable of doing anything to kill Meng Hao, all he could do was flash back toward the the Wang Clan Patriarch to continue to vent his anger.
The 10th Wang Clan Patriarch was scared out of his mind. Even in his wildest dreams, he could never have imagined that he would run into a Demon Immortal in this place. It completely exceeded his understanding of Planet South Heaven.
“This is impossible! How could there be a Demon Immortal in the lands of South Heaven?! Dammit! The Ji Clan is completely useless! How could they permit a Demon Immortal to hide in the Milky Way Sea!?” By this point, having lost half of his body, the 10th Wang Clan Patriarch knew deep inside that he was going to die. There was no way that he could flee a Demon Immortal.
“Damnable Meng Hao! First, the kid pulls out an Immortal’s sword to kill my clone, and now he has a Dao Protector like this! Just how lucky can one person be?!” The 10th Wang Clan Patriarch almost felt as if he couldn’t accept it. But then, he realized that perhaps it was because Meng Hao had such luck that he was able to form the Perfect Dao foundation.
“Thankfully, this is only a clone. Granted, it’s a flesh and blood clone, and I’ll sustain some damage when it dies. However, I don’t have any other options right now…. Well then, if I’m going to die, I’ll go out fighting this Demon Immortal!” A bright light appeared in his eyes as Patriarch Reliance’s head closed in on him. With a roar, the Wang Clan Patriarch spun around and began to perform an incantation.
Meng Hao was fleeing at high speed. He was going so fast that he barely had time to clasp hands and bow to Guyiding Tri’rain off in the distance. As of now, Meng Hao’s plan had succeeded, and now all that was on his mind was to get away.
Patriarch Reliance’s head was now far away from Meng Hao. He was enraged, and also frustrated. Whenever he encountered Meng Hao, nothing good happened. The first time, he had been forced to leave with the State of Zhao. Now, he had been humiliated into taking action.
The feeling of vexation only served to kindle his fury. Patriarch Reliance felt the overwhelming desire to vent his rage, so it was with intense killing intent that he shot toward the 10th Wang Clan Patriarch.
Booming sounds echoed out along with miserable shrieks. Meng Hao didn’t stop for even a moment. He shot forward at the highest possible speed, transforming into a beam of colorful light. It only took the space of a few dozen breaths for him to reach the border of the sea.
Up ahead were some disciples of the Footloose Sect. When they saw Meng Hao, they were instantly shaken inwardly. There were a couple Cultivators among their number who actually recognized Meng Hao from his time back in the State of Zhao.
“Greetings, Patriarch Meng Hao!” they said, clasping hands and bowing deeply.
Seeing their actions caused the others to realize that the person in front of them was none other than Meng Hao, the person their Patriarch was risking his life to protect. This was the person whose seniority was highest in the entire Sect, second only to the Patriarch himself. Of course, because their Cultivation bases were not high enough, they had no way to know about the matter of Patriarch Reliance trying to consume Meng Hao.
Furthermore, in the Footloose Sect, nothing was more important than matters of seniority. It was built into the Sect rules, and had long since been imprinted deeply in their hearts, and was something that no one would dare to defy. To see Meng Hao and not immediately bow would be far too excessive.
“Greetings, Patriarch Meng Hao!” said the group, all of them clasping hands and bowing. Meng Hao’s eyes glittered, and a smile appeared on his face. He nodded to the group as he shot past them.
When Patriarch Reliance saw this happening, he very nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood, and his rage burned even higher than before. He felt as if he had just hoisted up a rock to crush Meng Hao, only to drop the rock on his own foot. His act from before had been completely convincing to all of the surrounding disciples, leaving them shocked and amazed. It only took a short time for Meng Hao’s name to be spread around the entire area.
“Nothing good ever happens to me around Meng Hao! DAMMIT!!” His rage rocketing to unprecedented heights, Patriarch Reliance bit toward the 10th Wang Clan Patriarch, to begin the torment.
Meng Hao had originally planned to leave, but then he stopped. He considered the act Patriarch Reliance had put on, the relationship between the two of them, as well as the two displays of killing intent just now. Then he decided to pull a quick little con. He turned back to the Footloose Sect disciples.
“Take out all your Spirit Stones and give them to me,” he said. “Later, Patriarch Footloose will repay you a hundredfold! Don’t worry, Patriarch Footloose is willing to give up his life for me, do you really think he cares about some trifling Spirit Stones?” As he spoke, he imbued his voice with his Cultivation base, causing his words to echo about throughout the entirety of Saint’s Island.
When Patriarch Reliance heard the words, his anger burned even hotter. He looked at the 10th Wang Clan Patriarch in front of him, gasping on the verge of death, and had half a mind to go after Meng Hao once again and try to kill him. However, he knew that if he did that, he would be restrained by the restrictive spells. Furthermore, if he spoke up to contradict Meng Hao, then it would be a huge loss of face, and people would suspect his previous actions. Right now, Meng Hao’s words were echoing in the ears of the Footloose Sect members throughout Saint’s Island; it seemed that in the future, Patriarch Reliance would have no choice but to pay back the Spirit Stones for Meng Hao.
“Hmph!” he said, comforting himself. “How many Spirit Stones could a few trifling disciples have? Who cares if I have to pay them back a hundredfold! My spit is worth more than that!” With that, he jerked his head to the side. The 10th Wang Clan Patriarch, who was currently clasped viciously in his jaw, let out a miserable shriek.
The group of Cultivators stared in shock at Meng Hao, then produced their bags of holding and gave him all the Spirit Stones therein. These were all Footloose Sect disciples with extraordinary Cultivation bases. They had quite a collection of Spirit Stones numbering in the tens of thousands. Meng Hao nodded happily as he collected them all together.
“I accept your 100,000 Spirit Stones!” said Meng Hao loudly, his voice echoing throughout Saint’s Island. “Make sure to keep ahold of this receipt!” He quickly tossed out a jade slip, then shot off into the distance.
The group gaped in astonishment. They had clearly handed over less than 50,000 Spirit Stones. How could it have suddenly turned into 100,000? After a moment, their eyes began to glitter as they realized that Meng Hao had blessed them with good fortune. Their hearts filed with joy, and they all bowed deeply to Meng Hao’s retreating figure.
“We bid you respectful adieu, Patriarch Meng Hao!”
Patriarch Reliance heard their words, and began to tremble. Then he let out an indignant bellow.
“MENG HAO!!!”
“Patriarch, there’s no need to escort me away!” cried back Meng Hao. “Disciple will take his leave now. Patriarch, you risked your life for me, leaving disciple very moved! I won’t put you to any more inconvenience!” By this point, he had flown off of Saint’s Island and was over the sea. Further back, the 10th Wang Clan Patriarch’s clone was a mass of blood and gore. He let out a final bloodcurdling screech, and then was shredded into pieces and then swallowed by Patriarch Reliance.
Patriarch Reliance’s head swiveled to glare hatefully at Meng Hao’s retreating figure. After a long moment, he lifted his head up and roared. Massive waves seethed on the sea, forming into huge vortex formed. It swept around Saint’s Island, and, to the shock and alarm of everyone, caused the entire island to speed away with incredible speed.
Wind swept about, and waves crashed. In the blink of an eye, not even a shadow of the island remained. The only thing remaining on the sea was Meng Hao, floating in mid-air.
Meanwhile, back in the Wang Clan in the Southern Domain….
The 10th Wang Clan Patriarch’s true self lay in the coffin in his tomb underneath the mountains. He suddenly opened his eyes and then coughed up a mouthful of blood. He sat up, and as he did, his aged figure grew even older. He became more withered, and his aura was thrown into chaos and disorder.
His archaic, wrinkled face was pale as he grasped the side of the coffin. He looked up, and within his pupils appeared an intense, venomous hatred.
After a long moment passed, his eyes glittered.
“So, there is enmity between that Patriarch Reliance and Meng Hao. He attacked him twice… but was unable to destroy him because of the restrictive spells.
“The only reason he attacked me was because I accidentally offended him.
“In turn, that means that he won’t be helping Meng Hao a second time.
“Next time…. Next time I catch up with him, will be the day Meng Hao loses his Dao foundation!” The 10th Wang Clan Patriarch breathed heavily as a cold glow appeared in his eyes.