Chapter 1017: Pursued All The Way Out of Planet East Victory
“What are you up to? Hey! What the hell do you want!?!?” wailed Patriarch Reliance.
“I hid all the way out here and you actually found me!? Y-y-you….” Patriarch Reliance felt more aggrieved than he ever had in his entire life.
However, he was very quick, and instantly shot up into the sky. In the blink of an eye, he was off the planet and out into the starry sky, fleeing madly. The person he was least willing to lay eyes on in his entire life was none other than Meng Hao.
He thought about how he had hidden in the Milky Way Sea back in the lands of South Heaven. Eventually, he had gritted his teeth and fled Planet South Heaven to hide on Planet East Victory, nearly halfway across the starry sky of the Ninth Mountain. But then… Meng Hao had actually found him! Patriarch Reliance’s heart continued to fill with grief.
“The world is so big! How… how could you possibly have tracked me down?!?!” he roared, transforming into a beam of light.
“The League of Demon Sealers are all bastards! Damned Demon Sealers! I should have lived footloose and fancy free, but now, I’m not even free to hook up with the ladies!
“The Patriarch is brave and fierce, the number one Immortal turtle in the Ninth Mountain! Fudge! There’s no way I’ll let some little bastard make me his mount! Dammit! Impossible!
“Meng Hao you little bastard, one of these days I’m going to hide somewhere that you’ll never find me!” roared Patriarch Reliance, trembling so badly that it shook the State of Zhao.
Inwardly, he couldn’t possibly be more depressed. Naturally, he was aware of Meng Hao becoming Immortal, and had even watched the shocking scene of him opening all his Immortal meridians, which had left him numb with fright.
However, he had also felt a little bit lucky. After all, Planet East Victory was big, so he had assumed Meng Hao would never be able to find him, or that Meng Hao would even think to look for him there. This caused him to feel a bit smug, believing himself to have a profound understanding of what it meant to be hidden as well as a shadow beneath bright lamplight.
He had been extremely pleased with himself, and had even frequently bragged to Guyiding Tri-Rain about the whole thing.
Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined that Meng Hao would use the technique of ringing that bell to multiply his divine sense dramatically, sweep it across all of Planet East Victory, and then find him.
As soon as Meng Hao’s divine sense locked onto him, he began to moan.
Meng Hao’s eyes began to shine brightly as he stared at Patriarch Reliance. Underneath the influence of the Dao bell, all other living creatures were so shocked that they were temporarily knocked senseless. As for why old turtle Reliance was able to flee and wasn’t affected at all, he wasn’t sure.
However, there the old turtle was, with the State of Zhao on his back like usual. Meng Hao’s eyes gleamed with mad joy.
“Stay right where you are, old turtle!” he roared immediately.
The instant Patriarch Reliance heard those words, he trembled and then picked up speed.
Meng Hao used his next words to frighten and upset Patriarch Reliance, “Old turtle Reliance, if you let me catch you this time, then you can forget about ever getting away! I’ve already figured out a way to use the Demon Sealing Hexes to lock you down!!”
In order to make the threats more realistic, Meng Hao remained calm and pretended as if he didn’t care at all whether Patriarch Reliance fled. At the same time, he lifted his left hand, and ripples of a Demon Sealing Hex appeared, along with a tiny rift in the palm of his hand.
“You can’t escape,” he said, his expression calm and seemingly filled with utter confidence. From the look of things, all he had to do was wave a finger, and the restrictive hexing seal within Patriarch Reliance would be activated.
His confidence and tranquility caused Patriarch Reliance’s eyes to go wide, and his mind to spin. He was bewildered, unable to determine whether or not Meng Hao was putting on an act. However, the intense feeling of the Demon Sealing Hex was like nothing he had ever sensed before, and it caused him to become extremely nervous and alarmed.
“Impossible! How could this be happening!?!?” thought Patriarch Reliance, trembling. Then he recalled the terrifying scene of Meng Hao opening his Immortal meridians to enter the Immortal Realm, and suddenly he realized… that it most certainly wasn’t impossible! And yet….
“I won’t give in!!” he howled inwardly. “No way! I’ll risk everything! I’m GOING to get out of here!”
In the blink of an eye, he was outside of the planet and in the starry sky. Fearful of being pursued by Meng Hao, he gritted his teeth and began to cast a curse.
Rumbling could then be heard as, up ahead of him, glittering light could be seen out in the starry sky. Innumerable motes of light swirled around as they transformed into a gigantic teleportation portal.
In order to form the teleportation portal, Patriarch Reliance even spat out so much blood that it formed a waterfall that surged toward the teleportation portal and stained it bright red.
“You little bastard! See you again… never!” he roared. Then his body flickered as he shot toward the teleportation portal.
Meng Hao’s eyes flickered at the sight of the blood-colored portal, and he was inwardly delighted.
By now, the power of the Dao bell was weakening, and the dazed cultivators would be coming to their senses at any moment. At this point, Meng Hao smiled.
“Patriarch Reliance really is my lucky star!” he thought, taking a deep breath. Just when Patriarch Reliance was about to enter the blood-colored teleportation portal, the starstone in Meng Hao’s left eye began to glitter with starlight.
One Thought Stellar Transformation was the first generation Patriarch’s most powerful Daoist magic. In addition to allowing one to incarnate as a planet, it also contained a type of teleportation magic. That magic… was known as Stellar Teleportation.
Before reaching Immortal Ascension, Meng Hao hadn’t been able to use it. Now that he was the Immortal Realm Paragon, he could just barely manage to force its usage. His plan all along had been to wait until Fang Shoudao was in a daze due to the Dao bell. Then, he would be incapable of keeping Meng Hao locked down, an opportunity Meng Hao could take advantage of to teleport away, and which would also cause Fang Shoudao to be unable to pick up his trail.
Unfortunately, Fang Shoudao was a Dao Realm expert. Meng Hao was confident that his plan could get him off of Planet East Victory, but he wasn’t so confident in being able to elude Fang Shoudao long-term.
The rest of the plan had been to flee at top speed once he got out, then head toward the Nine Seas God World in the Ninth Sea to report in as a disciple.
Although his plan had some weak areas, he had no other choice than to give it a shot.
However, after he saw Patriarch Reliance, he went wild with joy. He could sense how incredible Patriarch Reliance was; considering the old turtle could still move under the influence of the Dao bell, he obviously wasn’t weak, and clearly had numerous ways of escaping.
Therefore, Meng Hao had used words to provoke him, to threaten him, to frighten him. The pure and charming Patriarch Reliance ended up being so terrified that he didn’t hesitate to spit out massive amounts of blood to open a blood-fueled teleportation portal.
At a glance, Meng Hao could tell that the teleportation portal was powerful, and would definitely lead to a distant location, much further than his own Stellar Teleportation could reach.
Almost in the same moment that Patriarch Reliance began to enter the blood-colored teleportation portal, glittering light covered him and began to teleport him away. It was at that point that starlight covered Meng Hao. Then a boom could be heard as he directly exploded.
Unexpectedly, his body transformed into motes of starlight, which then shot away from the Dao bell at incredible speed. When they reappeared, they were in the starry sky, right next to Patriarch Reliance’s blood-colored teleportation portal.
The motes rapidly reformed into Meng Hao, whose face was pale and cultivation base trembling. In the moment he appeared, the teleportation portal suddenly bloomed like a huge blood-colored flower, then vanished.
Meanwhile, the effects of the Dao bell were wearing off of everyone. Fang Shoudao was the first to regain his senses, and in the instant he did, he noticed that Meng Hao was not by the Dao bell, causing his face to fall.
“Not good!” he said, flickered forward to reappear in the starry sky. He sent divine sense shooting out in all directions, rapidly covering all of Planet East Victory as he searched for Meng Hao. Then, he caused his divine sense to expand out into the starry sky, and his face grew very grave as he caught sight of the location where the blood-colored teleportation portal had just vanished.
“Little hoodlum!” he said, grinding his teeth. He looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He chuckled bitterly, and then suddenly realized why Meng Hao had been poring through the ancient records.
A flash of light appeared next to Fang Shoudao, which turned into Fang Yanxu. He also look at the location where the blood-colored teleportation portal had been. After a moment of silent consideration, he couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head.
“He actually came up with this whole plan, just to escape the marriage.” He smiled. “Nice job, Meng Hao.”
“That little hoodlum searched through the ancient records for a whole month,” said Fang Shoudao, sounding a bit helpless. “Now that I think about it, he must have found enough tiny clues to piece together some information about the Dao bell.”
Fang Yanxu sighed in admiration. “To be able to not only find so many clues in the ancient records, but also be able to piece them together and use them to come up with a plan like this shows that Meng Hao is really extremely exceptional.”
“You’re even praising him…?” Fang Shoudao said. “That little hoodlum didn’t concoct any medicinal pill! It was all a feint! His only goal was to become the Lord of the Dao of Alchemy Division so that he could ring the Dao bell. As soon as we were knocked senseless, there was no way to restrict his movement, and he had a moment of freedom.
“Although I’m not sure how he managed to teleport away, from the remnants of starlight here it’s obvious that One Thought Stellar Transformation must have some teleportation Daoist magic that we’re unaware of.
“It might be somewhat of a headache for us that he escaped, but the most important thing is the agreement with the Li Clan. There’s still one more month left… before the little hoodlum and that Li lass are supposed to get married.” Fang Shoudao smiled bitterly.
“Enough, Elder Brother Shoudao. Who else in the Junior generation of the Ninth Mountain and Sea has the skill to escape from right under our noses like he did?
“Since he’s gone, why not just let the matter be?” Fang Yanxu laughed heartily as he accompanied the flummoxed Fang Shoudao back toward Planet East Victory.
Planet East Victory returned to normal. Few people were aware of what had actually happened with Meng Hao, and those who did, did not spread word.
According to public knowledge, after becoming Lord of the Dao of Alchemy Division, Meng Hao had gone into secluded meditation in order to concoct medicinal pills.
However, there were a few people who had guessed that Meng Hao had long since fled. One of those people was Fang Wei, who currently sat cross-legged in the Medicine Immortal Sect, looking up thoughtfully toward the sky above the ancestral mansion.
“You’re probably gone by now, right…?” he thought. Fang Wei had complicated feelings regarding Meng Hao. However, he would never forget his mission. He was the shield of the Fang Clan, and his job was to protect the clan from within the shadows.
After a long moment, Fang Wei closed his eyes. He had cut away his past. After dying and then being resurrected, he had told himself… that he was no longer a Chosen of the Fang Clan.
Back in the ancestral mansion, the Grand Elder was held responsible for the rebellion, and for his poor handling of many other previous matters. His punishment was to spend a hundred years in secluded meditation. He was not allowed to emerge, and had to remain sitting cross-legged in the stony cavern. He had no idea that Meng Hao had already fled, and yet Meng Hao’s image continued to remain imprinted on his heart. Occasionally, he would think about him, and would sigh.
The terracotta soldier continued to stand silently in the Ancestral Land. In the moment that Meng Hao left, it suddenly lifted its head and stared off into the sky, waiting for something.
It was waiting for Meng Hao to fulfil his promise to one day take it away from this place.
Meng Hao was gone, but ever since he had come to Planet East Victory, he had spawned many legends and founded many myths!
When he arrived, nobody took much note. But when he left, he was the Fang Clan’s… Crown Prince!