Chapter 674: The Wang Patriarch Cometh

　　Saint Sun Soul watched enviously as Meng Hao put away the war chariot. After holding back for a long moment, he finally said, “That treasure of yours is pretty nice, want to sell it?”

　　“NO,” replied Meng Hao without hesitation.

　　“Fine, forget about it!” replied Saint Sun Soul with a cold harrumph. “Crappy thing. I wouldn’t take it if you gave it to me for free.”

　　“If you give me one for free, I’ll take it,” said Meng Hao, blinking.

　　“Screw off!” replied Saint Sun Soul angrily.

　　“Look, swindler, the Demon hearts are all in my bag of holding. Say ‘screw off’ one more time and see what happens!” A bright gleam appeared in his eyes, as if he looked forward to finally be on his own again.

　　Saint Sun Soul opened his mouth, but struggled to control himself and didn’t say anything in response.

　　A long moment passed, and when he finally did speak again, he changed the subject. “Alright, no screwing around. What was that thing back there?”

　　“A damnable, accursed Resurrection Lily,” replied Meng Hao frankly. “Assumably, it resides in the Second Ring.”

　　“Resurrection Lily!” Saint Sun Soul’s eyes narrowed and flickered.

　　Shortly thereafter, the two arrived back at Seahold, undetected. Back in the tower, they divided their spoils. Although Meng Hao frequently conned people, when he gave his word, he would never go back on it. Therefore, he wouldn’t be secretly stingy. Although he was responsible for collecting the Demon hearts, he didn’t hold even a single one back.

　　According to their previous agreement, Meng Hao got ten percent of the Demon hearts and the rest he sold to Saint Sun Soul at a fifty percent discount. A vast amount of Spirit Stones poured into his bag of holding. Meng Hao once again was struck with the realization that Saint Sun Soul… was filthy rich!

　　As he left the tower with his Spirit Stones, Meng Hao once again adopted Steward Zhou’s manner of carrying himself. He returned to his own residence, then gritted his teeth for a long moment. Then he considered how incredible the Time Sword tip was, and finally pulled out the copper mirror to make a duplicate.

　　This time, he made five in one go. Altogether, he now had ten Time Sword tips, which meant that he could utilize the first form of the Lotus Sword Formation!

　　Now that the form was complete, its power was increased exponentially. Meng Hao sent the formation flying back and forth a bit, his expression one of excitement.

　　Then he retrieved his Wooden Time Swords and began to imbue them with more Time power.

　　Several days later, he and Saint Sun Soul once again snuck off to a distant area of the Third Ring and used the same method as before to slaughter Sea Demons. They worked together even better this time. Saint Sun Soul grew more and more excited at the killing, and Meng Hao sat there with eyes closed in meditation, remaining on guard against the Dawn Immortal.

　　A month passed by, during which time the two of them ran amok in the Third Ring. Other Cultivators in the Third Ring were shocked to suddenly find that there were virtually no Sea Demons around.

　　Furthermore, the Third Ring was so often filled with enormous waves that it made it impossible to go out.

　　Of course, the profits made by Meng Hao and Saint Sun Soul Li Tao were incredible. In addition, Meng Hao’s Cultivation base had now been reduced from three portions to two.

　　The day that he could perform his Spirit Severing was just around the corner.

　　Furthermore, the one hundred Wooden Time Swords in his Time Sword Formation were now filled with ten sixty-year cycles. When the formation was unleashed, its power was incredible. Of course, his most deadly killing move was the ten Time Sword tips.

　　Even alone, they were enough to shock Saint Sun Soul. However, if he combined them with the Time Sword Formation, making them the nucleus of the lotus, then Sword Qi would fill the surrounding thousand meter area of Seahold.

　　Meng Hao also purchased a large amount of self-detonating magical items from Saint Sun Soul. Such items were now piled up like a mountain inside his bag of holding.

　　He was now armed to the teeth, and his overall strength was far more than before.

　　They didn’t encounter the Dawn Immortal again, although Meng Hao’s vigilance in keeping guard never lessened.

　　Currently, Meng Hao sat cross-legged within the spell formation. Countless Sea Demons filled the area around them, and Saint Sun Soul was engaged in slaughter. “Just how many Sea Demons are there in the Third Ring?” asked Meng Hao. “We’ve killed so many, and yet every time there are still tons of them.”

　　Saint Sun Soul killed eight Sea Demons with a sweep of his sword and then looked back at Meng Hao. “They’re endless. Actually, there was once a legend floating around the three Sects that three Star Portals exist underneath the Milky Way Sea!

　　“Supposedly, the Star Portals connect to the Ninth Sea, and that’s where most of the Sea Demons come from. Of course, the Star Portals have limitations preventing any incredibly powerful Sea Demons from entering.”

　　A month before, Saint Sun Soul would never have told Meng Hao about the Star Portals. However, they had been working together for a whole month now, and despite their daily bickering, their bond of friendship had actually grown stronger.

　　“Three Star Portals?” said Meng Hao, staring in shock.

　　“One in the Third Ring, another in the Second Ring, and a third in the Inner Ring!” replied Saint Sun Soul.

　　Meng Hao sat there thoughtfully for a moment, and was just about to ask some more questions when suddenly, he sensed a cold, evil aura. Without hesitation, he rose to his feet and started walking forward, pulling out the war chariot at the same time.

　　When Saint Sun Soul saw this, his face flickered and he instantly headed toward Meng Hao, who grabbed him and pulled him into the war chariot.

　　Meng Hao was about to send the war chariot flying off, but then, his eyes flickered. He had just noticed that the reaction of the Resurrection Lily inside of him was strangely different this time.

　　It did not seem active and excited like before. Rather… it was trembling, as if it were terrified. It was almost like it had run into something it considered deadly; it even began to retract its own aura, not letting a scrap of it emanate out.

　　Meng Hao made a light “eee?” sound, and then spurred the war chariot into movement. It was in that moment that he suddenly heard an ancient voice in his ear.

　　“The day the Resurrection Lily blooms in seven colors, the flower blooms, Immortal Ascension, one thousand years….

　　“Immortal Ascension failed, and a Whitebone Lily appeared….”

　　When he heard the voice, Meng Hao’s mind trembled. The Resurrection Lily inside of him trembled even more violently. At the same time, the war chariot shot up out of the sea and then flew at top speed through mid-air.

　　“I was unable to sever the Resurrection Lily,” continued the voice, “so I could only sever myself…. From then on, the Resurrection Lily was no more, and the Whitebone Lilies bloomed from shore to shore ….”

　　Meng Hao took a deep breath and then looked down at the sea beneath him. Then the war chariot split the air as it vanished off into the distance.

　　When it reappeared outside of Seahold, Saint Sun Soul’s face was a bit unsightly. He had been in charge of the city for many years, besides which, the three Sects called themselves the Lords of the Milky Way Sea. However, in recent days he had come to the realization that there were secrets lurking in the depths of the water that even he wasn’t aware of.

　　The voice which Meng Hao had heard just now, he had also heard. Furthermore, every time he and Meng Hao came back from their journeys, he had gone to search through the ancient records. Gradually, he had come to an understanding of the Resurrection Lily.

　　Meng Hao and Saint Sun Soul were silent as they returned to the tower, where they sat down cross-legged on either side of a table.

　　After a moment of silence, Saint Sun Soul looked at Meng Hao. “That Resurrection Lily has most likely been here for many years, but has never made an appearance. Why would it suddenly emerge after you show up?”

　　“Because I have a Resurrection Lily inside of me,” replied Meng Hao coolly. He tossed a bag of holding filled with Demon hearts over to Saint Sun Soul.

　　Saint Sun Soul’s pupils constricted. Meng Hao’s answer to his question was a conclusion he had already speculated about.

　　A long moment passed, after which Saint Sun Soul took the Demon hearts and then produced Spirit Stones to give to Meng Hao.

　　He was just about to say something else when a jade slip began to glow inside his bag of holding. He took it out immediately and glanced it over, then frowned. He looked up at Meng Hao.

　　“Saint Flying Immortal, Saint Sea Divinity, the seventy thousand disciples… even the 10th Wang Clan Patriarch are all emerging from the Stormwind Divide and are on their way here!”

　　Moments ago, countless ships had begun to emerge from the Stormwind Divide that separated the Third and Fourth Rings. Sitting cross-legged atop the ships were crowds of Cultivators. Rumbling sounds filled the air.

　　They were densely packed together, and from a distance their numbers almost seemed endless.

　　Flying in mid-air were two middle-aged men. One wore a blue robe, the other, a white one. Their auras were bright, and their Cultivation bases were shocking enough to fill the sky with a riot of colors. Next to the two flew an old man.

　　That old man was none other than the 10th Wang Clan Patriarch.

　　As soon as they emerged, they contacted Saint Sun Soul, and then began to speed toward Seahold. Behind them, seventy thousand disciples charged along, blotting out the sky.

　　Back in Seahold, Meng Hao’s expression was the same as ever as he listened to Saint Sun Soul. However, deep in his eyes, a bright glow appeared. He stood up.

　　Saint Sun Soul muttered to himself for a moment then waved his right hand, causing a jade slip to fly out, which Meng Hao grabbed.

　　“I’ll do my best to help you,” said Saint Sun Soul. “This jade slip describes an area controlled by the Sun Soul Society. You can hide there temporarily with no problems. After everyone heads out to start searching for you, I’ll arrange for someone to get you out of the Third Ring.

　　“That will make it harder for them to track you down.”

　　Meng Hao looked at the jade slip, then turned to leave without saying another word. Saint Sun Soul looked at his retreating figure, a complicated expression on his face.

　　Just as he was about to step foot out of the tower, Meng Hao stopped.

　　He had suddenly thought of a question he had been contemplating for over a month. “There’s something I’ve been wondering about for a while. Is it just the Sun Soul Society that has such a shocking amount of Spirit Stones, or is it all of the three Sects?”

　　Saint Sun Soul gave a faint smile.

　　“Are you aware of what exists in the Stormwind Divide? A quarry. Inside that quarry are three astonishing veins of Spirit Stone deposits. The Sun Soul Society… doesn’t care at all about Spirit Stones!”

　　“That make sense,” said Meng Hao. “But, would it be possible for you to tell me why you buy so many Demon hearts? What do they do?”

　　This time, Saint Sun Soul hesitated for a long moment. He didn’t really need to answer the question, but after looking at Meng Hao for a long moment, he finally said, “Demon hearts have a far more important function. Actually, it would be best for you not to sell the Demon hearts that remain in your bag of holding. As for what exactly they do, even my understanding is incomplete. However, I can tell you that seventy percent of the Demon hearts collected by the three Sects… end up being sent away from the lands of South Heaven. We use a special method to deliver them to a Sect in the stars who specially collects them.

　　“The price we purchase them for… is actually far lower than the price we sell them for.”

　　Meng Hao nodded, and then his body flickered as he left the tower. Before departing, he found Wei Li and gave her a large sum of Spirit Stones. Then he he took out the war chariot and disappeared over the horizon.

　　Not too long after Meng Hao left, the 10th Wang Clan Patriarch arrived, along with Saint Flying Immortal and Saint Sea Divinity. They moved with incredible speed; in one breath, they were far off in the distance, in the next breath, they were in Seahold.

　　Saint Sun Soul strode out from within the tower, his expression cold. He now looked exactly the same as he had when Meng Hao first met him as he glanced over the three approaching Cultivators.