Chapter 635: Destined To Meet Again

　　“Rainy, what do you think is going on?” murmured the old man toward the girl as she languidly fanned the incense. “Why does the Patriarch suddenly have this feeling that something huge is going to happen?” The old man was obviously ill at ease, and in no mood for meditation.

　　“Maybe you did too many bad things?” replied the girl, glancing over at him.

　　“No, not me! The Patriarch has spent these years cultivating life and spirituality. It’s been a long time since I even stepped outside.” The old man found that his eyelids were twitching even more rapidly, and for some reason, the unease he felt in his heart was growing more intense. He stepped down from his throne and began to pace back and forth inside the palace.

　　The uneasy feeling kept growing stronger, leading him to believe that something akin to a disaster was just around the corner.

　　If the other members of the Footloose Sect saw his current appearance, they would be truly shocked, as if the Heavens had fallen. They would all drop to their knees to kowtow immediately. That was because this old man was none other than the Patriarch of the Footloose Sect.

　　In the entire Footloose Sect, his position was the highest, and absolutely without compare. In fact, he was the founding Patriarch of the entire Sect.

　　The Footloose Sect paid special attention to seniority; it was actually a Sect rule that he had established. People with different levels of seniority were required to show proper respect to those above them, which made a clear distinction between everyone.

　　As for him, he was Patriarch Footloose, a position without compare. In all of Saint’s Island, he was the most supreme existence. A mere word from him could determine the existence or destruction of the entire island.

　　“Something fishy is going on! Something is definitely about to happen!

　　“I’m feeling more and more nervous, more and more jumpy!” The old man’s face flickered, and the girl suddenly looked a bit suspicious.

　　“Something big is definitely about to happen,” he said. “The Patriarch’s premonitions cannot be wrong!” With that he suddenly stopped in place and looked up. A glow appeared in his eyes that seemed capable of splitting Heaven and Earth.

　　At the same time, an indescribably majestic Divine Sense suddenly spread out from him. It swept out in all directions, the mountaintop palace being the point of origin.

　　In the blink of an eye, the Divine Sense had covered the entire island. Every inch of dirt, every scrap of rock, every district, every person, every life.

　　Whether it be flying creatures in the sky, or the plants or animals on the ground, everything on the island was scanned and examined carefully by the Divine Sense.

　　“Nothing out of the ordinary?” said the old man. Now he looked even more baffled. He scanned back and forth several times, but couldn’t detect anything that should make him anxious. Then, without even thinking about it, he caused the divine sense to expand out a bit further, to cover the sea area surrounding the island.

　　It was at this point that a tremor suddenly ran through the old man’s body. His eyes went wide, and he looked off in a certain direction, a look of disbelief on his face.

　　In that direction, he could see a ship with his Divine Sense, a ship currently on its way toward the island.

　　In the prow of the ship was a man with gray hair, a pale face, and a long white robe. As soon as the old man saw him, his heart was thrown into chaos.

　　Beads of cold sweat began to pour down his forehead, and he started panting in unprecedented fashion. He almost didn’t seem capable of believing what he was seeing. He rubbed his eyes vigorously a few times, just to make sure he wasn’t mistaken. Then, he let out a mournful wail.

　　“Dammit, dammit, dammit….”

　　Eyes filled with disbelief and blankness, he stared at the white-robed man. Although he looked different than before, the old man instantly recognized who he was.

　　“Meng Hao!!!” The old man gnashed his teeth, and a vicious expression appeared on his face. His entire body began to shake, as if he were infinitely furious.

　　“I hid here from you, and you, you, you… you actually tracked me down, you bastard!?!?

　　“You actually came from the Southern Domain looking for me?

　　“You, you, you….

　　“Won’t you ever give up?! The League of Demon Sealers is a bunch of bastards! Yeah, that’s right. All bastards! Stinking bastards!!”

　　This old man… was none other than Patriarch Reliance!

　　The so-called Saint’s Island was in fact the former State of Zhao. However, it had been transformed into something completely new by Patriarch Reliance, to the point where even the residents of the State of Zhao would never recognize it.

　　As for the State of Xiao, it was the new name for the old State of Zhao….

　　Regarding the Footloose Sect… it was nothing less than the old Reliance Sect. The Cultivators who made up the Sect were all previous members of the old Sects that had existed in the State of Zhao. After having fled the Southern Domain, the old turtle Patriarch Reliance had forced them into a corner, and they had joined the new Footloose Sect.

　　Hundreds of years had passed, so by now, they were all fully integrated into the Footloose Sect, and followed Patriarch Reliance’s orders without question. As for Patriarch Reliance, in his efforts to hide himself from Meng Hao, he had changed his name to Patriarch Footloose.

　　In his mind, he had been conned all those years ago, and had been given no choice but to become the Dao Protector of the Ninth Generation Demon Sealer. With the Demon Seal in place, he couldn’t fight back, and definitely couldn’t harm Meng Hao.

　　However, even though he couldn’t fight, what he could do, was hide. In his mind, hiding within the vast Milky Way Sea meant that he would most likely never meet Meng Hao again in his life. In that way, he could live a happy, footloose life. That was how he had come up with the new name Patriarch Footloose.

　　However, after seeing Meng Hao, everything changed in the blink of an eye.

　　“AAAARRGGGHHHHHHHH!” roared Patriarch Reliance. “The Patriarch’s life is filled with suffering! I hide out here, and… dammit, I hide out here and the bastard can still find me!?” All the lands trembled slightly, and the seawater surrounding the island began to churn. It almost seemed as if there were some enormous creature under the water, flailing about.

　　“How could I possibly end up running into that Heaven-damned little bastard again?! That year in my Immortal’s cave, he took away all of my treasures, all of my savings! He took my good luck charm, my Thunderclap Leaf, my Outlander Tree, my divine spirit plants, my Spirit Stone mountain!!” Patriarch Reliance was obviously stingy to the extreme; he still clearly remembered everything that Meng Hao had taken from him hundreds of years ago. 1

　　In response to Patriarch Reliance’s angry ravings, the beautiful girl next to the incense burner suddenly looked up. A look of reminiscence appeared in her lovely eyes.

　　She thought back to all those years ago, to the vow made by the young man on the shore, who wanted to help the North Sea turn into a real sea.

　　“Meng Hao….” said the girl, covering her smile with a hand. She started to laugh, and then, without even looking at Patriarch Reliance, flew into the air. The instant she emerged from the palace, she saw an old boatman leaning up against the wall, looking at her with a doting expression.

　　“Boat Spirit! Meng Hao is back!” This girl was none other than Guyiding Tri-rain!

　　A look of concentration appeared in the old boatman’s eyes, and then he laughed. The girl shouted out in excitement, and then the two of them began to make their way off into the distance.

　　Patriarch Reliance suddenly looked up and then roared: “You two aren’t going anywhere!”

　　Suddenly, the entire mountain that the palace was located on completely vanished.

　　At least, that is what someone looking from the outside would see. From the perspective of the mountain, everything on the outside disappeared.

　　“Fudge! Do I need to flee again?! 2

　　“Dammit! I lived here footloose and carefree for hundreds of years. Hundreds of years!

　　“No. I need to get away before he finds me. I can’t allow him to figure out that I’m here.” Gnashing his teeth, Patriarch Reliance flicked his sleeve. He was just about to send his Divine Sense back into his true self and then flee before Meng Hao stepped foot on the island, when suddenly, his eyes turned up thoughtfully.

　　“Wait a second. From the look of things, the little bastard doesn’t know I’m here!” Patriarch Reliance’s eyes suddenly grew bright. As for Guyiding Tri-rain, she didn’t look very happy as she returned into the palace with the Boat Spirit. 3

　　“If he doesn’t know that I’m here, then that must mean that he’s not here to look for me, right? He just happens to be passing by!!

　　“If that’s the case, then what do I need to flee for? I don’t! I don’t need to flee! He doesn’t know I’m here, so all I need to do is make sure he leaves without a hitch. As long as he doesn’t detect me, then he won’t have any reason to suspect anything!

　　“Hahaha! It turns out the Patriarch is the cleverest as usual. This way, I can continue to live here footloose and fancy free without any further complications!” The more he continued to talk, the brighter Patriarch Reliance’s eyes glowed. As he paced back and forth within the palace, Guyiding Tri-rain watched on, her face growing increasingly unsightly.

　　“Didn’t you make a promise to the Patriarchs from his Sect?” she asked, unable to hold back. “Why back out? Being his Dao Protector doesn’t mean nothing good will come to you. Why do you have to constantly hide?”

　　“Silly little girl!” said Patriarch Reliance, glaring at her. “You don’t know a damn thing!

　　“Hmm. You know, it was just recently that I remembered something. I feel like a long, long time ago, I met another little bastard who had the same name as this bastard!

　　“That other bastard went way overboard. It was back when I was little, and he bullied and humiliated me to the extreme!!

　　“I almost forgot about it. It wasn’t until recently that it suddenly came to mind!” Patriarch Reliance’s eyes went wide with both humiliation and curiosity. He really had no idea why it was only recently that he had suddenly recalled the matter.

　　In fact, the clearness of the memory also contained haziness.

　　“Have you ever wondered why the Patriarch carries an entire continent on his back? You think I want to? It’s a humiliation!!” It wasn’t clear what Patriarch Reliance was thinking about exactly, but his face was filled with fury.

　　“He must just be here to handle some matter or another. After he takes care of his business, he’ll be gone. Once the little bastard is out of here, then everything will be fine!” Patriarch Reliance took a deep breath, and his eyes flashed like lightning. Having made his decision to get Meng Hao to leave as quickly as possible, he would now spare nothing to accomplish his goal.

　　Meanwhile, evening was approaching and the sky was growing dim. The seawater gurgled as the Zhang Clan ship neared Saint’s Island. Meng Hao stood at the prow, looking at the sandy beach up ahead, and the densely packed docks. Scattered Cultivators flew about above the island, and people bustled about busily on the beach.

　　For some reason, Meng Hao felt as if he weren’t in the Milky Way Sea, but rather, back in the Southern Domain.

　　In the following moment, Meng Hao noticed that the entire island seemed to tremble. His eyes narrowed. At the same time, the surrounding water surged with waves, causing the ship to rock up and down. Everyone on the ship cried out in alarm.

　　Meng Hao was astonished at the sudden appearance of the waves, however, in the space of just a few breaths, they calmed down. His brow furrowed, and he stood there thoughtfully for a moment before sending his Divine Sense out. Although he didn’t detect anything out of the ordinary, he remained vigilant inwardly.

　　Not much time passed before they entered the docks. After the ship was secured, they disembarked, and finally managed to step foot onto Saint’s Island.

　　Meng Hao didn’t know it, but as soon as he stepped foot onto land, Patriarch Reliance’s heart trembled.

　　—–

　　This chapter was sponsored by Jusaz

　　1. Meng Hao took Patriarch Reliance’s treasures in chapter 85

　　2. Please note, “fudge” is not a censored version of “f*ck.” The word used in the original Chinese is a euphemism of the Chinese version of the F word

　　3. Here is your collection of past references to Guyiding Tri-rain and the Boat Spirit. Meng Hao met them for the first time in chapter 44, which is also when he vowed to turn the North Sea into a real sea. Meng Hao almost died, sank to the bottom of the North Sea, and was brought back to life in chapter 66. He learns her name in chapter 89, and their story in chapter 90. He learns the meaning of her name in chapter 95