Chapter 950: Scraping It Clean
In the moment that the young man died, a sharp cracking sound rang out in the Fang Clan’s Lifeslip Hall in the ancestral mansion. The sound immediately attracted the attention of all the Elders in the ancestral mansion.
As beams of light began to shoot through the air, Fang Xiushan took a deep breath and forced himself into a state of calm. Then, he also flew into the air.
It didn’t take long for multiple Elders to arrive at the Lifeslip Hall. Grand Elder Fang Tongtian was already there, hands clasped behind his back as he studied the shattered lifeslip. His expression gradually grew darker and darker.
People began to crowd into the hall, and agitated expressions appeared on their faces when they saw the shattered lifeslip.
The crowd began to converse in low tones.
“Another one… that’s two lifeslips that have shattered in the past few days. I can’t believe two Elders have perished!”
“Something strange is going on….”
“The strangest thing of all is that it was impossible to determine where exactly the first one died!”
Finally, the Grand Elder turned around and looked out at the crowd. His gaze lingered on Fang Xiushan for a moment.
Fang Xiushan’s heart thumped, but his expression was calm.
“Two Elders have died in succession,” the Grand Elder announced in a dignified voice. “And yet it has been impossible to use the power of their lifeslips to determine where exactly they died…. Where did they go?”
An Elder stepped out of the crowd, clasped hands and bowed. “According to my investigation, both of them went out alone on assignments from the clan.”
“Assignments…? Do you really believe that?” Looking irritated, the Grand Elder flicked his sleeve and started to walk out. “Continue the investigation. Find out exactly how many Elders have gone out on supposed assignments. Furthermore, find out who gave them these assignments. I want all the details! Every single scrap of information!” The Grand Elder’s voice continued to echo out in the hall even after he was gone.
Fang Xiushan felt incredible pressure as he departed along with the rest of the crowd. Suddenly, the Grand Elder’s icy voice sounded out in his ear, transmitted via divine will.
“In our clan, nothing is more important than the clan rules. Therefore, I will be sure to shield Fang Wei from any trouble. However… if a third Elder dies, you had better start thinking of a way to explain all of this to me.”
Fang Xiushan trembled silently.
Back in the ancestral land, the black-robed young man died, and the seven other cultivators with the single extinguished Soul Lamps… all stopped in their tracks.
It was impossible for them to do anything else. All of them had a bloodline jade slip, and had clearly seen the other two suddenly die as soon as they got close to Meng Hao.
The first one could be chalked up to an accident, but two…. If any of these seven still believed that to be an accident, then they didn’t deserve to be called Ancient Realm experts.
The faces of all seven men flickered with shock. They couldn’t imagine what had happened, why two of their group who were supposed to kill a member of the Junior generation, were instead themselves killed.
Their hearts were shaken, and fear of Meng Hao gradually began to build inside of them. All of a sudden, the dot of light that represented Meng Hao seemed strange and mysterious.
Suddenly, the situation on Meng Hao’s jade slip changed, and his mouth twisted into a cold smile. The seven dots of light were no longer closing in on him; in contrast, they were now speeding away from him in different directions.
“I bet you people are also stuck in here for two months. There will be plenty of time for us to have a little game of cat and mouse.” Meng Hao patted the terracotta soldier again, which turned and flew off into the distance with him.
Meng Hao’s eyes gleamed as he looked at the lands speeding by below, and gradually, a bashful expression appeared on his face. “Since I’m here, I need to get my hands on some of this ancestral land’s good fortune, no matter what.”
Up in the air, the Seventh Patriarch saw the gleam in Meng Hao’s eyes, and then nodded to himself.
“Based on the gleam in his eyes, it seems he’s going to go searching for some of the good fortune in the ancestral land. Good, this is what a descendant of the Fang Clan ought to do.” Stroking his beard, he smiled. “The kid looks a bit dainty; although he slaughters enemies ruthlessly, he’s also pure and charming. I wonder what kind of good fortune he’s destined to get here.”
This was the first time the old man had ever seen a gleam like that in Meng Hao’s eyes, and also the first time he had seen him act bashfully….
“Whenever I visit a place, I scrape it clean,” Meng Hao thought, justifying his actions to himself as best he could. “With this terracotta soldier to accompany me, if I let this place off any easier than usual, I would definitely regret it in the future!” With that, the gleam in his eye grew brighter.
Under Meng Hao’s control, the terracotta soldier flew off into the distance.
The ancestral land was laid out in a long strip, and Meng Hao’s current location was at the very beginning. After some time passed, and he had a chance to survey the lands up ahead, he sent some divine will into the terracotta soldier.
The terracotta soldier stopped, and Meng Hao rose to his feet and stared down at the ground. There below was a field of huge boulders. The surface of each boulder was carved with various images that contained natural law.
Meng Hao leapt off of the terracotta soldier and floated down into the field of boulders. As he looked around, his eyes began to shine brightly.
Up in midair, the Seventh Patriarch nodded to himself.
“Excellent. This area is nothing extremely special, but is actually very well suited to him. To gain enlightenment of some magical techniques would still count as good fortune.” The Seventh Patriarch began to smile, but then quickly gaped in astonishment and then in confusion.
Down below, Meng Hao had backed up a bit, then sent his divine will out. Next, the terracotta soldier descended and used both of its hands to reach down and pluck a boulder out of the ground.
Meng Hao’s eyes shone brightly as he quickly stored the boulder in his bag of holding, then sent the terracotta soldier to another boulder. It didn’t take long before the dozens of boulders in the area were all pulled from the ground and placed into Meng Hao’s bag of holding.
Afterwards, Meng Hao flew back up and sat down on the terracotta soldier’s head, then proceeded onward excitedly.
Up in midair, the Seventh Patriarch still hadn’t recovered from his shock. He stared at the dozens of holes in the ground left behind by Meng Hao, then gazed blankly at Meng Hao making his way off into the distance.
“What… what is he doing?” he murmured. “Didn’t he come here to contemplate enlightenment? To gain good fortune?” Meng Hao’s actions left him thoroughly shocked.
Time passed. Meng Hao caught sight of a rather small lake that looked like a mirror. As the sun glinted off of its surface, magical symbols rose up from the water.
Meng Hao waved his hand, and the terracotta soldier chopped down with its greatsword. After a few slashes, it managed to slice all of the ground surrounding the lake. Afterward, Meng Hao struggled mightily to wrench the entire lake out of the ground and then put it in his bag of holding.
He actually had many bags of holding, some larger than others. After laboriously forcing the lake into one of them, he produced yet another bag of holding. Looking around shiftily, he sat back down on the terracotta soldier and proceeded onward.
The Seventh Patriarch was panting, and his eyes were wide as he watched what was happening. He even began to tremble.
As Meng Hao continued on, he saw a small mountain, which he took!
He saw a little pagoda, which he took!
He saw a bamboo forest, which he took!
He saw a log cabin, which he took!
He saw a carved sculpture, which he took!
Everything that he saw, every location that seemed to house good fortune, was taken away by the giant hands of the terracotta soldier, and then put into a bag of holding.
Meng Hao had a vast collection of bags of holding. When he ran out of big ones, he used small ones. If something was too big, he would dismantle the object into smaller pieces and cram it in.
As he sped along, he looked a bit ill at ease, even embarrassed. Up above, the Seventh Patriarch was trembling, and his beard was in disarray. His eyes shone with disbelief, as if he simply couldn’t imagine how such a charming, innocent child… would actually do something like this!
Were it not for the fact that he actually feared the terracotta soldier, the Seventh Patriarch might have instantly slaughtered the treasonous and disgraceful Meng Hao!
“Wha… what is he doing!? He’s not contemplating any enlightenment! He’s just taking all of the various items created and collected by the past Patriarchs… and putting them in his bags of holding!!”
This was especially true considering that, at one point, Meng Hao reached a palace. The Patriarch’s jaw dropped as he watched Meng Hao quickly began to dismantle the entire palace, including the floor tiles. He moved with a precision and accuracy that made it seem as if this was something he did on a daily basis.
This finally seemed to provoke a reaction from the ancestral land. Even as he went about dismantling the palace, stripping away even the columns, leaving it completely stark and bare… roaring could be heard from off in the distance as a pack of giant apes flew toward him.
There were more than a hundred of them, and each one had a cultivation base that was similar to the peak of the Immortal realm. Their bodies were covered with thick coats of luxuriant fur, and their eyes glowed bright red. Apparently, they were the palace guards, and their eyes were fixed hatefully on Meng Hao as they charged forward.
When Meng Hao saw the apes, he didn’t have the terracotta soldier attack. Instead, he slapped his bag of holding, causing the parrot to fly out.
It had apparently been stuffed into the bag of holding for too long, because as soon as it emerged, it flew several circles in the air at top speed. The meat jelly was attached to its foot in the shape of a bell, and immediately began to let out nonstop jingling sounds.
“Lord Fifth is out again!!!
“When Lord Fifth appears, who dares to cause strife!!
“Attention, all furred and feathered concubines, Lord Fifth is here to dote upon you!” Almost as soon as the parrot appeared, its eyes suddenly went wide, and it almost forgot to flap its wings. It even began to drool as it stared fixedly at the luxuriantly furred apes.
“So many concubines….” it said, eyes shining excitedly. Suddenly feeling quite hot and bothered, it squawked and then shot toward the charging apes at top speed.
Meng Hao cleared his throat, then flew back up to sit on the terracotta soldier, which sped off into the distance.
The Seventh Patriarch’s eyes went wide as it watched the parrot and the troupe of apes, and he suddenly felt completely nauseous.
It didn’t take long before miserable shrieks rang out, seemingly filled with indescribable tragedy.
By that time, Meng Hao had reached a location where the land was black. He saw a huge coffin, atop which was a stone statue of a majestic old man!
Beneath the statue were various offerings of tribute. There were chunks of rare Immortal jade, as well as other objects seldom seen in the outside world. There were high-grade spirit stones, as well as three magical items that emanated shocking auras, and even two dark green bamboo lamps.
As soon as Meng Hao saw the coffin and the statue, his expression turned serious. He dropped to the ground, then clasped hands and bowed deeply to the statue.
“Fang Clan member Fang Hao pays respects to you, Ancestor!”
When the Seventh Patriarch saw Meng Hao acting in this way, his expression softened a bit. However, what Meng Hao said next cause him to almost go blind.
“Ancestor,” he said, his tone grave, “I’m not sure which generation Patriarch you are, sir, but… I can’t believe the other Fang Clan members behaved so shockingly. How incredible that none of the previous clan members ever exchanged any of these offerings for new ones!
“Look, sir. These offerings are all dusty! They’ve clearly been sitting here for far, far too long. Patriarch, don’t you worry. I’ll help you to switch them out. As a member of the Junior generation, this is something I simply must do.”