Chapter 734: Second True Self!
Patriarch Blood Demon opened his eyes and stared in the direction of Blood Prince Gorge.
Outside in the Blood Demon Sect, everyone was astonished.
“What aura is that?”
“How refreshing! I feel incredible!”
“I feel like my cultivation base just advanced a little bit….”
Back in Blood Prince Gorge, Meng Hao took a deep breath. He began to place sealing incantations onto the true Immortal’s soul according to the prescribed method of the Self Character Incantation. It was not done in a forceful manner, but rather oh so gently. This was not a fusing of the soul and the body; rather, what was needed was for the soul to remain inside without struggling or fighting back.
Meng Hao carefully placed the sealing incantations onto the soul and then, filled with anticipation, placed the soul into his second true self with the greatest of care.
In that instant, a tremor ran through his second true self, after which he returned to his previous placid state.
“In eighty-one days, my second true self will awaken!
“There are three phases to incubating my second true self. The first is eighty-one days, the second is eighty-one months, the third is eighty-one years!
“At the end of each of those phases, the second true self will become more and more perfect.” Meng Hao took a deep breath. This was the first time he had ever worked with such a bizarre and strange magic. Finally, he closed his eyes and calmed his mind, then rotated his cultivation base.
A few days later, he opened his eyes again. He was no longer weak. Although he had sustained quite a few unrecoverable losses, the overall impact to him was relatively insignificant.
Compared to the gains, such losses were completely worth it.
“Three months!
“In three months, the first version of my second true self will emerge. I wonder… how powerful it will be!” His eyes shone with persistence and anticipation. He was extremely curious to find out how this combination of the true Immortal’s soul and his second true self… would turn out!
“And now, it’s time for the Nine Heavens Treasured Body Seal!” he thought, his eyes glowing with a bright light. In the underground world beneath the Ancient Dao Lakes, he had acquired thousands of Spirit Severing level magical items. Although he didn’t quite have ten thousand, it was still enough to cultivate the Nine Heavens Treasured Body Seal.
“Ten thousand Spirit Severing magical items will make my fleshly body incredibly tough, and will enable me to break through from the Spirit Severing level to Dao Seeking!” With that, he opened his bag of holding and took out a sword. He placed it onto his arm, and then the Nine Heavens Treasured Body Seal appeared in his mind. After enough time had passed for an incense stick to burn, something like flames appeared in his eyes.
The flame consisted of nine layers, which merged together and then flew out shapelessly from his eyes. It was invisible, but when it touched the sword on his arm, the sword melted, then fused into his body in the blink of an eye.
When the sword fused into him, he felt an intense jolt of pain. He began to tremble, although he did his best to control it. By the time the sword was completely absorbed into him, his body was soaked in sweat.
The pain reminded him of the pain he had felt when his Dao foundation was ripped away.
He took a deep breath and clenched his right fist tightly. Popping sounds rang out, and the air around his fist twisted and distorted.
“I really am a bit more powerful….” he thought. Excitement shone in his eyes. It was painful, but the Nine Heavens Treasured Body Seal truly did make his fleshly body stronger, and that was all he needed.
“One more time!” he thought, his expression one of determination. A great war was on the horizon, and he needed to use every method at his disposal to get even more powerful.
More time passed. Two months later, the four great powers were now completely ready for war. 150,000 cultivators flew out from the Solitary Sword Sect, including ten Spirit Severing cultivators and two Dao Seeking experts.
One of them was none other than the Dao Reserve of the Solitary Sword Sect, the peak Dao Seeking old man who wore a black gown. It was impossible to tell how many countless years he had lived.
The other was an ordinary Dao Seeking eccentric. Although he was only in the early Dao Seeking stage, he was still a Patriarch of the Solitary Sword Sect.
As they flew out, tens of thousand of swords also appeared. Ten of those swords were roughly 3,000 meters in length. Most shocking of all was a 30,000-meter bronze sword.
In addition, there were various valuable treasures that flew along, circulating around the swords. Their glow seemed infinite as the countless cultivators flew through the air.
“Sword, come!” cried the peak Dao Seeking expert in the black robe. He extended his hand toward the enormous stone sword that rose up into the sky above the Solitary Sword Sect. It began to rumble, and then cracks appeared on its surface to reveal a green sword made of bamboo!
As soon as it appeared, wild colors danced in the sky, the wind howled, and a shocking sword qi could be sensed. When the peak Dao Seeking expert grasped the sword, it continued to vibrate with a humming sound.
“The ancestor acquired this treasure in the Ancient Dao Lakes,” the old man said coolly. “Now, it will be used in battle to acquire the true Immortal’s soul, also from the Ancient Dao Lakes. This is Karma! Clearly, the true Immortal’s soul was meant for the Solitary Sword Sect!” With that, he flicked his sleeve, and the 150,000 Solitary Sword Sect cultivators made their way directly toward the Blood Demon Sect.
At virtually the same time, countless armored figures flew up into the air from the Golden Frost Sect. This was a force of 100,000, flying on loom shuttles, surrounded by countless valuable treasures. Shockingly, the huge group began to organize into a spell formation, which transformed into a gigantic puppet, tens of thousands of meters tall.
The huge puppet was completely shocking in appearance, and emanated an indescribably terrifying aura. The peak Dao Seeking expert of the Golden Frost Sect, a red-haired old man, appeared on top of the puppet’s head. He sat there cross-legged, eyes radiating ferocity.
This red-haired old man was the only Dao Seeking expert from the Golden Frost Sect. Apparently, they couldn’t quite match up to the Solitary Sword Sect, which made sense since the Solitary Sword Sect was considered the number one sect in the Southern Domain.
However, that did not mean the Golden Frost Sect was weak. Their offensive techniques, utilizing puppet incarnations which combined the energy of large groups of cultivators, could explode out with multilayered power.
As their puppet strode across the land toward the Blood Demon Sect, it let out a roar, which was actually the combined roar of 100,000 cultivators.
Chen Fan of the Solitary Sword Sect refused to participate in the battle, as did Li Fugui of the Golden Frost Sect. Fatty had a special status, so he had that right. However, Chen Fan was different. Because of his refusal, he was punished by being locked up in the sect dungeon, where he was to be tortured for thirty years.
Even as the Solitary Sword Sect and the Golden Frost Sect mobilized their forces, the Black Sieve Sect emerged in full strength. Patriarch Six-Daos had been waiting for this day for a long time. As soon as he received the notice, countless discarnate souls, as well as all the Black Sieve Sect disciples, flew out.
Han Bei, however, was nowhere to be seen. Neither had she been present the day when Meng Hao came to wipe out the Black Sieve Sect the first time. Apparently, she had gone missing after returning from the ancient Demon Immortal Sect.
As for the Li Clan, they also flew out in formation. Flying up ahead of them was an enormous bronze bell. It emitted a droning sound as well as golden light, which spread out to cover all of the Li Clan members and carry them along through the air.
On top of the bell was the Li Clan’s most powerful expert, their 3rd Patriarch. He sat there cross-legged, his eyes shining with bright, flickering light.
The four great powers all sprang into action at the same time, heading directly toward the Blood Demon Sect.
Earlier, the four powers had distributed declarations of war throughout the Southern Domain, calling for rogue cultivators to join them in punishing the Blood Demon Sect. No small quantity of magical items and medicinal pills had been offered up as rewards!
The declarations of war listed nearly a thousand wicked acts committed by the Blood Demon Sect. The cultivators who perused the list were instantly furious, and felt their hair standing up on end in rage.
In truth, though, everyone also knew that much of the list was a mere fabrication. Even so, nobody would attempt to question it too much.
After all, declaring that they were righting wrongs in accordance with the Heavens, wiping out the Blood Demon Sect to cleanse the Southern Domain, was just a pretext.
Few people believed that the Blood Demon Sect would be able to escape this catastrophe. Everyone felt that they were doomed to be destroyed. All Blood Demon Sect disciples would surely be wiped out, and any who somehow managed to escape would be hunted down and killed. Soon, there would be no more Blood Demon Sect in the Southern Domain.
Therefore, hundreds of thousands of rogue cultivators sprang into action. In their minds, the outcome of this war was a certainty, and they could use the destruction of the Blood Demon Sect cultivators to acquire resources they needed for their own cultivation.
The war was like a massive storm that swept across the Southern Domain, made up of the four great powers and the rogue cultivators, a combined force of 600,000-700,000 cultivators.
The clouds blackened, and the lands grew dark. A great war… would break out at any moment.
In the Blood Demon Sect, all the disciples waited in taciturn silence, their killing intent rising to monstrous heights. They were proud to be Blood Demon Sect cultivators, and even if they were facing an apocalyptic calamity, their faith in the sect was not weakened. They… would fight!
“To battle!!”
“Live or die with the sect!”
“The Patriarch is the Top Expert of the Southern Domain! The Blood Prince is the number one figure in the Spirit Severing stage! So what if we have to fight all the other sects in the Southern Domain!?”
“If we lose, fine. But if we don’t, then we will sweep across the four powers and make the Blood Demon Sect the only sect in the entire Southern Domain!”
Roaring and shouting filled the air in the Blood Demon Sect. It wasn’t necessarily that they were devoted heart and soul to the Blood Demon Sect. Rather, this war… was unavoidable. They had two choices: fight, or die!
No disciple would betray the sect, not even if the destruction of the sect itself was nigh. The terrifying consequences for betrayal had long since been imprinted into the hearts of the disciples.
Seven days later, the Solitary Sword Sect, the Golden Frost Sect, the Black Sieve Sect, and the Li Clan blasted through the air to appear in the region of the Blood Demon Sect, surrounding it on all sides.
These four powers could be seen advancing from all four directions. The sword qi of the Solitary Sword Sect surged. The Golden Frost Sect’s puppet was astonishing. The Black Sieve Sect was sinister to the extreme. The Li Clan was surrounded by golden light.
In actuality, they could have come earlier had they wished. However, they had spent a bit more time en route in order to make sure that they all arrived at the same time. That way they could assure victory in one fell swoop.
They didn’t attack immediately, but instead, began to set up spell formations to block and surround the Blood Demon Sect.
They also began to set up teleportation portals right under the Blood Demon Sect’s noses, which enabled vast crowds of rogue cultivators to teleport to the area from all over the Southern Domain.
The sealing and blockade spell formations thoroughly pinned the Blood Demon Sect down. No one would be able to escape.
The sky above the Southern Domain filled with dark clouds, as did the hearts of the Blood Demon Sect disciples.
All of their own spell formations had long since been activated. The glow of blood circulated through the air in all directions around the sect. From a distance, it looked like an enormous Demon.
The Demonic Incarnation was illusory, but its body was tens of thousands of meters tall; it was bigger than a mountain. It sat cross-legged on the land, clad in black armor. Its green hair floated in the wind, and a golden mask covered its face.
The mask was incomplete, as if it were composed of many parts. On the head of the Demonic Incarnation was a long, curved horn, around which lightning crackled.
The parts of the Demonic Incarnation’s skin that were not covered by armor were crimson, like the color of blood. Anyone who laid eyes on it would be filled with a sense of awe and terror.
This was the Blood Demon Sect’s most powerful spell formation, the Blood Demon Grand Spell Formation!