Chapter 869: Top 32!

　　The boy’s expression flickered, and blue veins popped out on his forehead as he howled at the incoming vulture. Sound waves rippled out that seemed to wish to shatter the air. The boy’s expression was vicious as he raised both hands up, causing a sea of blood to appear and surge out toward Meng Hao.

　　Booms rang out as the two of them fought back and forth in midair. At one point, the boy let out a shrill cry, causing the sea of blood to turn into a blood-colored vortex that tried to suck Meng Hao in.

　　Meng Hao waved his hand, causing numerous mountains to appear, which then linked together to form a mountain range. However, thanks to the black feather, that mountain range actually looked like a huge river, which then surged in counterattack against the blood-colored vortex. The vortex was crushed as easily as dried twigs, shattering into pieces as vulture-form Meng Hao once again slashed through the air, his claws extended toward the boy’s torso.

　　Boom!

　　Blood sprayed from the boy’s mouth as a huge hole was ripped into his chest. He immediately shot backward in retreat, biting the tip of his tongue and spitting out some blood, which twisted in the air to become ten blood drops. Each drop immediately began to expand, turning into ten seas of blood that spread out to cover everything.

　　“Ten Seas, Blood Slaughter!” roared the boy. Meng Hao’s face was calm, and he didn’t retreat. Instead, he advanced, an aura of invincibility exploding out of him. As he faced the ten seas of blood, he clenched his hand into a fist and punched out into the air. Then, he punched again.

　　Two mere punches did not seem capable of fighting back against the ten roaring seas of blood. However, the boy’s face flickered as he realized that something didn’t seem quite right about the two blows, although he wasn’t sure what.

　　In the blink of an eye, and before he had any time to react, Meng Hao attacked a total of nine times. He didn’t even seem to be paying attention to the seas of blood that surrounded him, but instead, was punching directly forward.

　　Nine punches, each one more shocking than the one before.

　　This was… a Daoist magic! Nine Heavens Destruction! 1

　　As soon as the ninth punch exploded out, the boy’s face fell. His pupils constricted as he retreated at top speed. At the same time, a massive boom echoed out, so powerful that cultivators in the surrounding arena matches heard it and were shocked.

　　A gigantic vortex surged out as a result of the nine punches. The blood seas were completely incapable of doing anything except be sucked up by the vortex. As for Meng Hao, he stood next to the vortex, his expression cold as he watched the boy fleeing. Then he raised his hand and stretched it out in a grasping motion.

　　Star Plucking Magic!

　　BOOM!

　　Blood sprayed from the boy’s mouth. An expression of astonishment covered his face as he was dragged back toward Meng Hao, his body completely beyond his own control. In the blink of an eye, he was directly in front of Meng Hao, and was close enough that he could even see the cold look in Meng Hao’s eyes.

　　“You’re looking to die!” howled the boy, his eyes bright red. Suddenly, his skin turned crimson, and black mist began to float up from the top of his head. Shockingly, an enormous image began to form above him.

　　It was a gigantic leech, covered with scales, that emanated an intense pressure. As soon as the cultivators of the Ninth Mountain and Sea saw it, their faces flickered with shock.

　　“Blood Leech Grand Magic!!”

　　“That’s a forbidden magic! That boy’s actually using a forbidden magic!”

　　In the starry sky palace, the various Patriarchs were looking on with strange gleams in their eyes.

　　“That boy has remained undercover this entire time. Considering he cultivates a vicious magic like that, it’s little wonder he could defeat Taiyang Zi!”

　　“However, Saint Blood Leech was exterminated years ago by the Three Great Daoist Societies. Even if some of his Divine Clones survived, they wouldn’t be able to do this alone! It seems this boy must have gotten his hands on one of them. Although it’s only the first form of the Blood Leech Grand Magic, Fang Mu is still in grave danger.”

　　“According to legend, the only thing that can restrain this magic is the Dao of the Blood Demon. Either that, or an incredibly powerful cultivation base.”

　　Back in the arena, a vicious expression could be seen on the boy’s face. This was his trump card, which he had intended to save for someone in the top 4. However, he was now forced into a corner, and had no other choice. His desire to kill Meng Hao now grew even stronger.

　　“Killing you won’t be a waste of my grand magic,” said the boy with a hideous grin. “Considering your reputation, slaying you will make me famous!” The enormous illusory Blood Leech opened its mouth, revealing countless sharp teeth as it pounced toward Meng Hao.

　　Meng Hao frowned slightly. This leech left him feeling as if his blood were unstable, and that it would burst out from inside of him at any moment. He snorted coldly, and rumbling filled the air as his Dharma Idol appeared behind him.

　　Because of the transformative powers of the black feather, the Dharma Idol now looked exactly like Fang Mu. It was three hundred meters tall, and emanated boundless magical light. As soon as it appeared, it stepped forward and punched toward the enormous leech.

　　A boom could be heard, and the boy’s face fell. Blood spurted out all over his body as he tumbled backward. The enormous illusory leech trembled, seemingly on the verge of collapsing to pieces.

　　“I refuse to back down! Fang Mu, DIE!!” The boy howled as countless rips and tears appeared all over his body. At the same time, the image of the leech shattered, transforming into innumerable fragments that shot toward the boy and fused into him. In the next moment, the boy suddenly exploded.

　　In that moment of explosion, the boy’s flesh and blood transformed into numerous blood-colored leeches, a vast cloud of nearly a thousand. Buzzing could be heard as they shot toward Meng Hao. In addition to the leeches, a bloody mist spread out in all directions, making it impossible for onlookers to see what was happening clearly.

　　This new development caused great shock among the onlookers in the outside world. Even the Patriarchs in the starry sky palace were surprised.

　　“The second form!”

　　“I can’t believe this boy has cultivated the Blood Leech Grand Magic all the way to the second form!”

　　Not even the Patriarchs in the starry sky palace could see what was happening inside the red mist. Were this some other location, nothing could block their divine sense. However, these were the Ruins of Immortality, so they could only watch with their eyes, not with their divine sense.

　　Even Ling Yunzi and the other two old men couldn’t do anything but watch. Their faces flickered as they considered the danger Meng Hao was in.

　　The outside world was in tumult.

　　“Don’t tell me Fang Mu is going to perish!”

　　What the people on the outside couldn’t see was that Meng Hao was standing in the middle of the bloody mist, his body glowing with red light as he stared coldly at the more than one thousand incoming Blood Leeches. The leeches were now trembling in terror.

　　The boy’s quivering divine sense emanated out from the leeches.

　　“Blood… Blood Demon Grand Magic? Spare me, Fellow Daoist Fang, spare me….”

　　Meng Hao ignored him. After sweeping his own divine sense across the leeches, he exercised a bit of will, and booms could be heard as one leech after another began to explode. All of them transformed into nothing more than drifting ash.

　　As the bloody mist faded away, Meng Hao walked calmly over to the edge of the arena and sat down cross-legged.

　　The outside world was in an uproar.

　　“That boy’s grand magic was actually defeated!”

　　“There were clearly more than a thousand leeches just a moment ago. Then that red mist covered everything over, and we couldn’t see anything. How exactly did Fang Mu secure victory!?”

　　“Junior Blood Immortal defeated Taiyang Zi, and then Fang Mu defeated Junior Blood Immortal! Fang Mu… is invincible!!”

　　The outside crowds were astonished, and the Patriarchs inside the palace were frowning. They were all looking at Meng Hao with thoughtful expressions.

　　They had been unable to see what had happened inside the red mist, but they knew that the second form of the Blood Leech Grand Magic was incredibly difficult to deal with. The fact that it had been defeated so quickly was quite puzzling to them.

　　As everyone pondered these matters, the old man from the Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite spoke up.

　　“Perhaps the boy’s version of the second form wasn’t stable, and he accidentally self-destructed,” he said slowly, his voice echoing about.

　　This was the only answer that made sense. After all, the second form of the Blood Leech Grand Magic was very difficult to cultivate successfully.

　　Back in the arena, Meng Hao sat there calmly. His battle with the boy just now had caused quite a bit of shock amongst the other competitors, especially the Chosen. The boy had just defeated Taiyang Zi, so the fact that Meng Hao had ended up killing him caused even more attention to be sent his way.

　　The Chosen had been quite shocked just to see the Blood Leech Grand Magic; what had played out after that left them filled with a sense of mystery.

　　Zhao Yifan’s eyes flickered, and his desire to fight grew stronger as he looked over at Meng Hao. He said nothing, but the look flickering in his eyes grew even more intense.

　　Fan Dong’er frowned. On the one hand, she felt some mysterious and unexplainable loathing toward Meng Hao, but on the other hand, she had to admit that he was definitely on her level.

　　Li Ling’er and Sun Hai also looked over at him. Compared to Li Ling’er, Sun Hai’s feelings were far more intense; to him, looking at Meng Hao kept causing him to think about his nightmarish experience on Planet South Heaven.

　　The other matches proceeded along. Now that Meng Hao’s battle was over, there was another intense match that drew quite a bit of attention. That was the masked young man, Li Yan, who was fighting the emaciated youth from the Bones of the Flamedevil.

　　The youth attacked with a monstrous sea of flames, and fire burned within his eyes. As for Li Yan, the fighting had reached the point where he had finally removed his mask, revealing a scar-covered face, and eyes that brimmed with the desire to do battle. They fought with shocking attacks until Li Yan finally ran out of power. However, the Chosen from the Bones of the Flamedevil was also seriously injured.

　　Because of Li Yan’s defeat, Meng Hao now had a much better idea of exactly how powerful he was.

　　The crowds in the Ninth Mountain and Sea were sighing.

　　“What a pity. It seems Li Yan isn’t strong enough to make it into the top 32. However, this was a battle against Chen Hao from the Bones of the Flamedevil, and he’s incredible. Even though Li Yan lost, he still managed to seriously injure Chen Hao.”

　　“You can only chalk it up to bad luck. At least he can feel proud in defeat!”

　　“I wonder how many competitors from the trial by fire will be left in the end. Will the first place spot for the stages of the Nascent Soul, Spirit Severing, and Dao Seeking belong to them, or to the Chosen?!”

　　In the palace among the stars, the Patriarchs were watching the various battles thoughtfully, but their expressions revealed nothing about what they were thinking.

　　In contrast, bets were already being placed in the outside world regarding who would make it into the top 8.

　　Soon, this round of matches was over. The extra three people were eliminated, along with half of the other participants, leaving 32 competitors behind!

　　These 32 were incredibly powerful cultivators!

　　1. Meng Hao got the Nine Heavens Destruction in the Demon Immortal Pagoda in chapter 585. He used it a few times after that, mostly when he was in the Milky Way Sea, and once when he went to the Black Sieve Sect after they took Xu Qing