Chapter 569: Ke Yunhai
More and more disciples were rushing toward the Fourth Peak to try to convince Meng Hao of what to do.
His face was pale, and he suddenly felt deeply depressed. How could he ever have imagined that things would end up in this way?
“You think you can convince me to say I’m wrong? Forget about it!” But then, Meng Hao’s eyes filled with determination. He quickly took a deep breath, and then hurriedly continued, “Jiusi was wrong! This time, Jiusi really was wrong!”
The words instantly caused everything to go quiet. Everyone’s eyes went wide as they stared in disbelief at Meng Hao. Although they had all been trying to convince him to admit his fault, they were well aware of the Little Patriarch’s temperament. He would rather die before admitting he was wrong.
And yet, he just had.
It wasn’t just them who were staring in shock. Suddenly, a violent wind whipped down from mid-air in the shape of a gigantic illusory hand. The hand reached down to grab the shocked Meng Hao, wrenching him up toward an Immortal’s cave on the Fourth Mountain.
At the same time, an ancient voice, filled with wrath and even pain, echoed out throughout the Demon Immortal Sect.
“Old Sixth, my son admitted his fault. From now on, if anyone breathes even half a word of this matter, don’t blame me for flipping out!”
The voice was filled with an intensely domineering air as it rumbled out in all directions. The gigantic wind hand dragged Meng Hao into a spacious Immortal’s cave, then slammed him violently onto the ground. When he landed, however, the power dissipated so that, although he tumbled a bit, he wasn’t hurt at all.
His eyes rolled around, and his brain spun in circles. Inwardly, he was worried that his cover might be blown. However, after reminding himself that this was an illusory world, he felt a bit more at ease. Dusting himself off, he stood up and looked around.
The Immortal’s cave was so simple that it couldn’t possibly be any more simple. It was large, but only contained a single stone bed. Sitting cross-legged on top of the bed was a middle-aged man.
This was the Lord of the Fourth Peak of the Demon Immortal Sect. He was one of the Paragons of the First Heaven, a person famous in all the Ninth Mountain. Ke Yunhai. 1
Next to him was an oil lamp that flickered brightly, completely illuminating the entire Immortal’s cave. If you looked closely, you would be able to see that the wick of the lamp was, shockingly, a phoenix, shrunken down so small that it was roughly the size of a finger!
The oil lamp was not crafted from bronze, but rather, was made of a shrunken down golden dragon. This was a real golden dragon, its mouth open, its whiskers undulating. The entire dragon had been transformed into an oil lamp!
With a dragon as the lamp and a phoenix as the wick, were an object like this to be revealed in Meng Hao’s era, it would cause a huge commotion throughout all the lands of South Heaven. It might even cause shock among the starry skies.
The man sitting on the stone bed had handsome features. It was obvious that when he was young, he had been even more dashing. Right now, his expression was dignified, and he wore a long gray robe. Currently, he was frowning a bit helplessly at Meng Hao.
“Did it hurt?” he asked softly.
Meng Hao hesitated for a moment and then, with great caution, nodded his head.
Seeing Meng Hao’s response caused Ke Yunhe to give an exasperated chortle. “Do you know anything about fear? Isn’t there anyone you’re afraid of? Quit pulling this kind of crap with me!
“Fine. For the time being, don’t go near the Sixth Peak. And keep a low profile, too. Jiusi, stop fooling around so much! You’re not a kid any more. Soon, it will be time to find you a beloved and pass on the Daoist magic of mine that you’ve mastered. Got it?!?!” The more he spoke, the more angry he seemed. However, when he looked at his son, he couldn’t help but sigh. His gaze softened, and his anger passed.
“Very well,” he said, his tone warm. “I want you to demonstrate some of the Daoist magic I’ve passed on to you. Go ahead, show it off.”
Meng Hao swallowed hard. He was actually very nervous at the moment, so nervous that he couldn’t control himself. As far back as he could remember, he had never felt such nervousness. As he looked at the middle-aged man in front of him, he couldn’t help but think of his own father.
The memories were blurry, but still there.
“What’s wrong?” asked Ke Yunhe, frowning.
“I… I forgot,” replied Meng Hao, bracing himself. There was really nothing he could do. Ke Jiusi’s memories really did not contain any Daoist magic.
Ke Yunhai stared at Meng Hao for a very long time before sighing again. His eyes flickered with disappointment. However, seemingly worried that his expression would hurt Ke Jiusi, he caused a warm look to cover his face.
“Jiusi, you can’t be like this….” As he spoke, he waved his finger through the air, causing the spiritual energy in the area to condense together. It formed into countless magical symbols in front of him, which then transformed into a jade slip that came to hover in front of Meng Hao.
“This is the Soul Divergence Incantation. Go gain enlightenment regarding it. Go.” As Ke Yunhai stared at him, Meng Hao’s heart began to beat rapidly. He thought about his identity, and all the good fortune that was available within this ancient Demon Immortal Sect. How could he ever have imagined that he would receive some so quickly?
He took the jade slip, then bowed his head and clasped hands. When he turned to leave, Ke Yunhai’s voice could suddenly be heard again, filled with exhaustion and an indescribable feeling of age.
“Lord Li’s Heavenly decree dictates a limit on the longevity of living things. Your father… will not be able to accompany you for your whole life. You need start acting a bit more sensibly….” The love in his words was palpable. Clearly, he carried deep longing that his son succeed in life.
Meng Hao stopped in place. For some reason, he felt moved inwardly. He looked back at Ke Yunhai and suddenly noticed that just in this short period of time, some of the man’s hair had turned white.
“Go,” said Ke Yunhai with a smile. “I’m fine. Go find those friends of yours and have some fun.” He waved his hand dismissively. Meng Hao’s heart trembled, and he left silently.
After emerging from the Immortal’s cave, he looked off into the sky toward the temple of the First Peak. He suddenly had the feeling he understood why the man he had seen on the Fourth Peak of the ancient Demon Immortal Sect had allowed him to come here.
“Was it because of regret…?” he murmured. Moments later, a grim light flickered in his eyes that had nothing to do with Ke Yunhai or Ke Jiusi, but rather, the other South Heaven Cultivators.
“The world of the ancient Demon Immortal Sect is all about competition. Since I’ve acquired this identity, then I should do everything I can to anyone who might be a menace to me. Smother them before they have a chance to sprout.
“The only sad thing is that each one of the peaks has tens of thousands of Inner Sect disciples. It would be impossible to search all of them. However… the Ji Clan has a Conclave disciple, so I should be able to pick up on some clues.” Meng Hao’s eyes flickered as he recalled the brief scuffle involving Ji Mingfeng. Before leaving, he had smiled. However, apparently because Meng Hao had ruined his plans, a bit of killing intent had shone through in that smile.
“You want to kill me? Then you’d better hope I don’t find you first,” smiled Meng Hao. As he continued on his way, quite a few people came to ask about his well-being. Eventually, he was surrounded by a group of more than thirty.
Meng Hao was unable to see the Cultivation base of any of these people. However, what he could sense was unbelievable power. Some of them even had strong killing intent.
Many of them had Demonic Qi which swirled around them freely. Some of them appeared to be ordinary Cultivators, while others were Demonic Cultivators. Those ones had bodies covered with scales or fur, and looked extremely fierce.
“Let’s go around to all the peaks,” he said suddenly. “There’s a Conclave disciple who offended me, and then got away. We’re gonna find him!” The surrounded crowd smiled, as if they didn’t find this strange at all. Obviously, they were used to such things. Rumbling filled the air as Meng Hao and his Junior Brothers and Sisters grouped together and shot up into the air toward the Third Peak.
En route, quite a few people flew out from the Third Peak, all of whom had arrogant and despotic bearings. Clearly very familiar with Meng Hao, they looked toward him and offered greetings, then joined the group. Meng Hao then thought back to what Ke Yuhai had said about finding his friends and having some fun. It seemed these friends of his… were other silkpants from the Demon Immortal Sect.
A young man with a fish scale on his forehead seemed eager to get into action. “Jiusi, should we call some others? I heard there’s a Conclave disciple who offended you. Who the hell does that moronic fool think he is to dare to provoke you?”
Meng Hao immediately nodded in agreement. “Call everyone! Just now when I was getting struck by lightning, he was laughing the hardest!”
The Cultivator from the Third Peak instantly smiled and waved his hands. Immediately, an enormous white lotus appeared up above in the sky, radiating light.
As soon as the white lotus appeared, all of the disciples in the Demon Immortal Sect who saw it felt their hearts trembling. They immediately ducked their heads down as if they had important matters to attend to, and then headed back to their residences.
They understood that when the white lotus appeared, the silkpants fiends were about to appear….
Simultaneously, seven or eight beams of light appeared coming from each of the mountain peaks of the Demon Immortal Sect. There were men and women, all of whom wore luxurious garments. They were people with incredible status, each one of different appearance. Some had wings on their backs, others had enormous swishing tails, and some were incredibly beautiful or handsome Demons. Each and every one of them had ancestors who were powerful experts within the Sect.
When they saw the white lotus, smiles appeared on their faces and they headed in its direction.
Back on the Fourth Peak, Ke Yunhai sat cross-legged on his stone bed. He looked up, saw the white lotus, and shook his head. His expression grew a bit more weary, and his hair, a bit more white.
Not too much time passed before seventy or eighty people neared Meng Hao. He was shocked by this, but it didn’t last long. His eyes glistened as he looked over the people who were under the sway of his power. As of this point, he knew that he really did have the qualifications to sweep over the other South Heaven Cultivators who had come to this place.
“Here, with Ke Jiusi’s identity,” he thought, “even getting the Mountain and Sea Scripture… does not count as an impossibility!” He instantly started to breathe heavily, and his eyes glowed.
“However, the Demon Immortal Sect has three thousand Daoist magics. With the exception of the top 100, the rest can be acquired by performing meritorious service to the Sect. Deeds such as that… are not easy to accomplish.” All of this information resided within the memories of Ke Jiusi that existed within his head. He had quite a good understanding of the Demon Immortal Sect.
The Daoist magics he referred to were not weak, and thus required deeds of merit to acquire. Unfortunately, unless a war was going on, even a Conclave disciple who accumulated merit for years would perhaps be able to acquire two or three at the most.
As far as Inner Sect disciples, it didn’t matter how many meritorious deeds they accumulated, they would never be able to acquire anything other than fundamental techniques.
“If it’s difficult for me, then others will find it even harder,” he thought. “It seems the Second Plane of the Demon Immortal Sect all depends on meritorious service in order to get techniques and legacies.” He continued to think about the matter as he led the group closer to the Third Peak.
1. Ke Yunhai’s name in Chinese is 柯云海 kē yún hǎi – Ke is the same family name as Ke Jiusi. Yun means “cloud,” and Hai means “sea”