Chapter 307: Fang Mu is Meng Hao!
The moment Ji Hongdong died, something happened on the other side of the Milky Way Sea, on the border of the vast Eastern Lands, atop a white mountain. The mountain had no snow on it; instead, the crags which formed it were completely white in color, seemingly without blemishes or impurities.
In the Eastern Lands, this place was called White Mountain.
Somewhere on White Mountain was a cistern. This cistern was so deep, that according to the legends, the waters within went down as far as the mountain was tall.
Sitting next to the cistern was an old man. He was gaunt, his face expressionless, and in his hand he held a fishing pole. The fishing line descended down into the cistern, and at the moment, it was motionless.
Suddenly, the fishing line went taut. The old man’s expression didn’t change; he simply pulled up with his right hand. A bizarre, miserable shriek pierced the air as the fishing line flew up. Hooked on the end was a globule of light.
If you looked closely at the light, you could see that it was comprised of countless glowing threads. On each of these threads were faces, and in the middle of them all, in the center of the globule of light, was a middle-aged man. His expression was one of terror, and he immediately dropped to his knees and began to beg for mercy.
The old man looked at him and coolly said, “For me to fish your Karma out of all the multitude of living creatures is nothing but good fortune for you, right? Why beg for mercy?” His hand made a clutching motion in mid-air, and the globule of light flew into his hand. As he grabbed it, the middle-aged man within let out a defiant howl, the kind that comes the moment before death. In addition, he emitted the Qi of the great circle of the late Nascent Soul stage.
The old man allowed the Qi to emanate out. Then, he popped the globule of light into his mouth. A few crunching sounds could be heard, and then he swallowed. Some blood oozed out from the corners of his mouth, which he quickly licked up. His eyes filled with a bright glow.
“Ah, the flavor of Karma….” he murmured. After some time passed he looked up into the sky, then suddenly dropped to his knees and prostrated himself.
He kowtowed nine times, then raised himself up and looked at the cistern. After a while, he frowned. He thrust his hand out, and a shattered jade slip appeared in his hand.
“Hmm?” His eyes glowed. “A son of Ji died…. One of the sons of Ji, of my bloodline. Dead in the Southern Domain…?” He pinched down onto the jade slip, and the image of a face appeared in his mind.
The face belonged to none other than Meng Hao!
At the same time, a sharp voice echoed out in his mind.
“Patriarch, the person who killed me is named Fang Mu of the Violet Fate Sect, also known as Meng Hao!” The voice belonged to none other than Ji Hongdong. This was the last bit of will that remained in him before he died. The voice was sad and shrill, filled with intense resentment.
There was no way Meng Hao could possibly have predicted that this would happen. The Ji Clan had a method with which to transmit voices along with their death; Meng Hao was only aware of the ability to transmit images.
Luckily, extracting the Clan blood from Ji Hongdong before his ultimate death had inflicted quite a bit of pain; as a result, Ji Hongdong’s consciousness had been thrown into chaos. The only thing he had been able to do was transmit Meng Hao’s name; he had completely forgotten about the matter of Xu Qing.
“Useless fool,” said the old man with a slight frown. “However, useless as he might have been, the blood of the Ji Clan still flowed within his veins. How could mortals have killed him so easily? Although, the Violet Fate Sect….” Shockingly, this old man viewed Cultivators as mere mortals!
He flicked his wide sleeve, transforming the jade slip into ash. Then, he leaped up into the air, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Only his sinister voice remained, echoing throughout the mountain: “The Southern Domain. I haven’t been there for years.”
———
Outside the Rebirth Cave, eight old men sat cross-legged beneath the banner of the Ji Clan. One by one, their eyes opened. Astonishment and disbelief shined out as they rose to their feet.
Their eyes were filled with veins of blood, and intensely violent killing intent poured out. This shocking sight shook everyone in the area. One by one, Cultivators from the other Sects and Clans looked over in astonishment as they watched indescribable frenzied rage and killing intent rising up from the eight old men.
All of them were Nascent Soul eccentrics, with extraordinary Cultivation bases. Their combined killing intent was enough to shake the Heavens, rock the Earth and change the color of the wind.
“One of the sons of Ji has perished….” The eight men exchanged glances. Amidst their rising killing intent, they could also sense the mutual fear which caused their hearts to tremble.
Based on the laws of the Ji Clan, they knew that if they did not find Ji Hongdong’s killer, then they would be sent to the grave with Ji Hongdong as burial offerings. In fact, all of the Clan members within their sphere of influence would instantly be exterminated.
That was the price to be paid if they did not find the killer and bring him back to the Eastern Lands!
One among the eight men lifted his hand to slap his bag of holding. Immediately, fragments of a jade slip appeared, eight of them. Each of the other old men took one, and then they held them out to join them together. Immediately, a warm glow shone out.
The light climbed up into the sky, and the faces of the eight old men were incredibly grim as they studied it closely. It wasn’t just them; the Cultivators of the surrounding Sects were also closely observing what was happening.
Within the glow appeared a figure; he wore a mask, making it impossible to determine what he looked like. However, the mask overflowed with bloody killing intent. It immediately caused the hearts of all onlookers to tremble.
“That’s….”
“That’s the mask of the Blood Immortal Legacy! That’s the mask of the Blood Immortal of the Ancient Doom Clan!”
“You’re right! During the last Blood Immortal Legacy Tournament, I saw it with my own eyes…. But didn’t the Li Clan say that there was some accident, and that it was lost within the Blood Immortal Legacy zone? Of course, the great Sects didn’t believe them, and conducted their own investigations, however, in the end they determined that the Li Clan didn’t acquire the legacy….”
When the eight old men heard these words, their eyes glittered, and their killing intent grew more intense. They looked at the pillar of light belonging to the Li Clan, causing the Li Clan members’ faces to instantly flicker.
Before any explanations could be made, though, eight beams of light suddenly approached from off in the distance. They screamed forward, and as they approached, it was clear that Li Clan Elders were approaching.
The old man in the lead cried, “Li Clan Dao Child Li Daoyi perished in this place. Fellow Daoists, do you recognize this person?” He waved his hand, and an illusory screen appeared, upon which was the image of Meng Hao.
At the exact same moment, the masked figure within the beam of light protected by the Ji Clan’s had slip suddenly distorted, transforming into another image. Again, it was none other than… Meng Hao!
Right now, the eyes of everyone in the area were fixed on the two glowing screens, and the person depicted there. Their minds reeled.
They reeled because of the news that the Dao Child of the Li Clan had perished.
They reeled because all of the Clans and Sects of the Southern Domain suddenly put the pieces of the puzzle together; now they knew why the Ji Clan had produced the broken jade slip, and why the figure there was the same as that produced by the Li Clan.
One of the Patriarchs from the Golden Frost Clan gasped. “Could it be that… one of the sons of Ji of the Ji Clan….”
“If that’s true, then whoever did it has provoked a great disaster! The Ji Clan of the Eastern Lands…. How could they possibly let this matter rest!?”
“Which Sect is the killer a disciple of…?”
Everything was deathly silent. All of the Cultivators present began to slowly back away.
“That… that looks like that guy Meng Hao who disappeared a few years ago….”
“Meng Hao? The Sublime Spirit Scripture! I remember! That’s Meng Hao!”
“Meng Hao….”
A great buzz of conversation filled the area surrounding the basin. Amidst the uproar, the eyes of the old men from the Ji Clan boiled with killing intent, as did those of the Elders from the Li Clan.
The old man from the Li Clan gritted his teeth and said, “This Meng Hao is still within the Corpse’s illusory land. Let’s seal off the area! Teleportation is prohibited! It doesn’t matter what treasures that little bastard has, he won’t be able to escape even if he has wings!” The surrounding Nascent Soul Elders immediately shot off toward the north, south, east and west.
Clearly, they planned to seal the area and prevent anyone from teleporting away.
“One of the sons of Ji of the Ji Clan has perished here. Fellow Daoists of the Southern Domain, please remain here and wait until all details are brought to light. Until then, no one is permitted to leave.” Immediately, four of the eight Ji Clan Elders dispersed. Obviously, they did not put complete faith in the methods of the Li Clan, and would implement their own sealing measures.
“Apparently this person possesses some arts of transformation,” said another of the old men from the Ji Clan, along with a cold snort. “That doesn’t matter. Having killed a member of the Ji Clan, he has been stained with the Karma of Heaven and Earth. Once he emerges into the world, we will be able to sense him.”
It was at this moment that suddenly, a freezing Qi suddenly blasted out from near the Rebirth Cave. It contained a fearsome potency; the might of Spirit Severing. Slowly, a tall figure strode out from within the basin.
He was a middle-aged man, wearing a long, orange robe. As he strode out, he attracted the attention of all of the surrounding Cultivators from the various Sects. They all immediately recognised him; this was the most powerful expert present among the Ji Clan.
His Cultivation base was at the Spirit Severing level; when all of the other Clan Patriarchs had retreated from the basin surrounding the Rebirth Cave, he had remained behind. He knew that the cave was a fearsome place, even for someone of the Spirit Severing stage, and that unless absolutely necessary, no one would enter it. In fact, none of the Patriarchs from the various local Sects were willing to enter it; at most, they would approach the mouth of the cave.
This man had not retreated, and as such, had engaged in quite a few battles with various strange life forms in the vicinity of the cave. As he emerged from the area, his face was grim. When he reached the eight old men from the Ji Clan, all of them respectfully clasped hands in salute.
The middle-aged man opened his hand to reveal some shattered powder that was all which remained of a jade slip.
“The killer is Fang Mu of the Violet Fate Sect, also known as Meng Hao!” the man said coolly. “That was the message transmitted by Ji Hongdong before his death. This matter has even stirred Patriarch Ji Fang, who is currently hurrying here from the Eastern Lands.” Though his voice was calm, it contained an intense threatening air, which caused the hearts of the members of all the surrounding Sects to fill with trembling. 1
“Fang Mu…. Meng Hao….”
“How could that be possible!? Fang Mu of the East Pill Division of the Violet Fate Sect is also the same guy everyone was looking for throughout the Southern Domain that year, Meng Hao?!?!”
“This…. No wonder no one could ever find Meng Hao. He was hiding in the Violet Fate Sect. He even became a Legacy Apprentice….”
Amidst the commotion, one gaze after another came to fall upon the pillar of light belonging to the Violet Fate Sect. Within, the faces of the Violet Fate Sect Cultivators instantly began to change.
An Zaihai’s face fell. Next to him Lin Hailong gasped and rose to his feet. Wu Dingqiu stared mutely for a moment, and then his face grew incredibly grim. A profound sense of crisis filled the minds and hearts of all the Violet Fate Sect disciples.
It was at this moment that within the Violet Fate Sect’s pillar of light, the eyes of the Spirit Severing Patriarchs slowly opened.
1. Ji Fang’s name in Chinese is 季方 jì fāng – Ji is a family name. Fang is the same Fang as “Fang Mu.