Chapter 535: Will of a True Spirit!

　　Patriarch Huyan looked down at the screen which was formed from the dust of the jade slip, and his eyes began to shine brightly. There was something about the person depicted that seemed familiar. He studied the face for a moment, whereupon his aura suddenly grew dark and cold.

　　“It’s him…. The totemic Sacred Ancient of the Golden Crow Tribe. He had a second Demon Spirit which I went after, only to be stopped by that strange woman. She left me with no choice but to flee.”

　　He thought for a moment before his eyes suddenly glittered and he suppressed the grief in his heart. He had suddenly noticed a few odd things.

　　“Before Qing’er died, none of the lifesaving treasures that I gave him activated. That’s the first strange thing.

　　“Furthermore, he clearly died a day ago. However, something was deliberately preventing me from detecting the death until now.

　　“This image is very clear, almost as if this person were deliberately making sure that Qing’er would remember his face.” After thinking for a moment, Patriarch Huyan began to perform an incantation with his right hand. After a long moment passed, he looked up and then vanished.

　　It wasn’t long before he reappeared in the location where Meng Hao had destroyed Sir Wu and the others. He looked around carefully for a while before his eyes began to glow with killing intent.

　　“Wu Huai died here, as well as the others… Clearly, they were killed by a Cultivator of the great circle of the Nascent Soul stage. His battle prowess is beyond ordinary.

　　“However, Qing’er was killed in a different location.” Patriarch Huyan had lived for many years, and was as crafty as a fox. Were he not incredibly intelligent, he would never have been able to achieve the illustrious position of Tribal Patriarch. Based on the clues, he was immediately able to piece together what really happened.

　　It was obvious to him that the great circle Nascent Soul Cultivator had only killed the men in this location. Afterward, he had allowed Huyan Qing to leave.

　　“Let’s check the appearance of the person who killed Wu Huai and the others, and everything will be made completely clear.” Patriarch Huyan waved his sleeve, causing the air to ripple. Moments later, another screen appeared, upon which was visible the image of Meng Hao killing Wu Huai.

　　Although the image was not incredibly clear, Patriarch Huyan recognized Meng Hao at a glance. At the same time, he could see some differences between Meng Hao and the black-robed youth.

　　“So, it wasn’t the totemic Sacred Ancient of the Golden Crow Clan who killed Qing’er.” Now that he understood this, Patriarch Huyan turned and sent his Divine Sense shooting out in all directions across the Violet Sea.

　　Unfortunately, he was incapable of sensing Meng Hao down at the bottom of the sea, nor could he detect the fighting that was occurring a year’s travel away in the Western Desert North region. After searching the immediate area, Patriarch Huyan gave up. Face grim, he began to fly back to the Black Lands.

　　“Although this Meng Hao wasn’t the actual perpetrator, the fact that he was being framed by that strange person shows that the two of them have some sort of connection.

　　“If I can’t track down the true killer, then I need to find Meng Hao. I’ll use Soul Search on him to discover the identity of the killer. That is how to solve this problem!

　　“As for Meng Hao, there’s no need to go looking for him. I can force him to be a good boy and come out! Whether or not he lives through the Soul Search has nothing to do with me. He can only blame… his own bad fortune!” Patriarch Huyan’s eyes flickered with killing intent. His plan to force Meng Hao to show his face was simple; he would simply put some pressure on the Golden Crow Clan.

　　With a cold harrumph, Patriarch Huyan turned; his body flickered as he shot toward the Black Lands.

　　Meanwhile, booming roars filled air in the Western Desert North Region. Meng Hao’s face rose up from the water. His eyes glowed with a bright light as he stared fixedly at the corpse which hovered in mid-air.

　　Soon, the somewhat indistinct face had completely emerged from the water. Beneath it was an enormous column of water that surged up toward the corpse, which was incapable of avoiding it. The column of water instantly enveloped the corpse.

　　There was a boom, and then popping sounds could be heard from inside the body. The corpse’s eyes flickered brightly. It suddenly used some unknown technique to cause its body to shockingly be surrounded by eight glittering magical symbols that resisted the manifestation of the Violet Sea.

　　After the space of four or five breaths, the water cascaded back down into the sea. Trembling, the corpse spit out a large mouthful of life Qi. Its body was beginning to fall apart. One of its legs directly transformed into ash. Its expression was ferocious as it turned and shot off into the distance.

　　Meng Hao’s will was locked onto the corpse. Were his true self here, then the corpse would have no hope whatsoever of getting away. At the moment, his will was fused with the Violet Sea. However, because he had not completed the Demonic Transmigration which would have resulted in him losing himself in the process, then the battle prowess he could wield was not sufficient to restrain the corpse.

　　“If you want to get away, you’ll have to pay the price!” Meng Hao’s face once again appeared on the surface of the water. The eyes of the face flickered, then closed, and suddenly the entire face disappeared. At the same time, drops of violet seawater began to rise up into the air.

　　Meng Hao’s voice then rang out, filled with killing intent: “Blood Rising!”

　　Massive amounts of water shot up, covering the sky as it shot toward the corpse.

　　The corpse’s eyes widened and it immediately began to perform an incantation gesture. Magical symbols poured out of its body, swirling out to meet the incoming seawater. Incredible booming echoed out. The corpse fell back, spitting out mouthfuls of life Qi. In the end, the seawater dispersed, and the corpse heaved a huge sigh. It was just about to continue fleeing off into the distance when suddenly, a gigantic fist shot out from within the sea. The previous mass of water had concealed its presence, so as it moved with incredible speed, the corpse was instantly overwhelmed.

　　Cracking sounds could be heard, and the corpse emitted a miserable shriek. As it tumbled backward, its other leg exploded, forcing it to flee with only half of a body.

　　Unfortunately, even as it made to leave, a huge wave appeared in front of it. The seawater then congealed together into an enormous head. The facial features of this head belonged to none other than Meng Hao. This was not just a face, but a full head, fully three thousand meters wide. It rose up out of the depths of the sea to block the path of the Black Bat corpse.

　　“Dammit!!” The heart of the Black Bat corpse was completely shaken, and its scalp was numb. It began to tremble as it turned and changed directions. It was now thoroughly in fear of Meng Hao. Back when it had planned to frame him, how could it possibly have imagined that even being doubly prepared, it would still be powerless to prevent Meng Hao from killing it.

　　In fact, Meng Hao wasn’t even here in person. By merely fusing his will into the Violet Sea, he was still able to push the Black Bat into this difficult situation. Because of this, it felt incredible fear of Meng Hao.

　　Before it could even employ any divine abilities, a roaring sound could be heard as the sea suddenly began to churn. Two gigantic arms composed of vast quantities of seawater rose up from within a boundless whirlpool. The two arms moved with astonishing speed as they suddenly clapped their hands toward the Black Bat corpse.

　　Each of these speeding hands was several hundred meters long, and kicked up a huge wind, along with mighty waves. It was as if the entire area was sealed. The Black Bat corpse was terror-stricken. The shadow of death seemed to loom up within its heart.

　　In this moment of grave crisis, the Black Bat corpse suddenly lifted its head back and let out a mournful shriek. “Bat Asura True Spirit!!”

　　Suddenly, a black beam shot out of its forehead.

　　As soon as the beam appeared, everything began to tremble. The Violet Sea shook, and something like a ghost image of the entire world suddenly appeared. A power that seemed to stem from an otherworldly aura instantly shot out from the forehead of the Black Bat corpse.

　　Meanwhile… in the starry sky outside of Planet South Heaven was an enormous altar. The altar had been circling around South Heaven for innumerable years. This was Planet South Heaven’s most mysterious…

　　Immortality Bestowal Dais! 1

　　The vast collection of names carved into the Immortality Bestowal Dais suddenly began to flicker with glowing light. An archaic aura was awakening!

　　The rumble of an ancient voice, filled with countless years, suddenly could be heard. “The will of a true spirit. An actualized body in South Heaven…. So, a true spirit Immortal Murdering Sword must have appeared in the world! As to whether or not I am a false Immortal, I should be able to find out after receiving a stab from that sword!”

　　Meanwhile, back in the Western Desert, the Black Bat was letting out a miserable howl. The black beam emanating from its forehead gradually expanded, enveloping its entire head, seemingly growing weaker as it did.

　　At the same time the two arms of seawater grew closer. Two gigantic hands slapped down onto the Black Bat corpse.

　　A huge boom could be heard. An intense aftershock spread out, causing the two hands to collapse into pieces, along with the arms. The water cascaded back down into the sea. The head of Meng Hao, which appeared almost to be bleeding from its orifices, also shattered.

　　Simultaneously, the Black Bat corpse completely exploded, with the exception of its head. Its head continued to emit a black glow as it shot off like a meteor. A shrill, hateful shriek could be heard as it disappeared.

　　The instant it disappeared, the huge waves on the surface of the sea died down. Everything returned to normal. Meng Hao retracted his will from the Violet Sea. Back in the location where his true self sat cross-legged in meditation, a tremor suddenly ran through his body. His face was pale white as he retreated from the Seventh Anima to the First. His eyes snapped open.

　　“It’s too bad I couldn’t completely destroy that Demonic thing. If my true self had been there it would have been a different story…. That having been said, it was seriously injured. It’s going to take it quite a bit of time to recover. Next time we meet, I’ll definitely kill it!” His eyes shone with a bright light, and his jaw was set with determination.

　　“Just what power was it that it used at the end…. It was very strange.” Lost in thought, he looked down at his bag of holding. As of this moment, he could clearly sense that one of his Immortal Murdering Swords was filled with an intense, trembling yearning.

　　“Perhaps I can get some answers about these wooden swords from that Black Bat.” Meng Hao shot up and was about to emerge from the sea when suddenly, his eyes widened and he sank back down. Without hesitation, he fused his will into the Violet Sea, concealing himself.

　　It was at this moment that an ancient Divine Sense from far up in the Heavens suddenly began to sweep across the Western Desert. It seemed to be looking for something, but was thankfully obstructed by the Violet Sea. Because Meng Hao was currently merged with the Violet Sea and also concealed inside of it, the intrepid Divine Sense passed by and didn’t detect him. Instead, it began to move in the direction the Black Bat had fled in.

　　The power of the Divine Sense reminded Meng Hao of the eight Immortals he had seen outside the Realm of the Bridge Ruins that year!

　　“What was it looking for?” he thought, his eyes glittering. He did not leave, but rather, sat there for several more days. During that time, the Divine Sense appeared three more times; clearly it was looking for something. However, after several more days passed, it completely vanished.

　　Meng Hao waited even longer. When he was sure that the Divine Sense was truly gone, he shot up out of the sea to stand on its surface. By this point, he had a vague sense that the Divine Sense from up in the Heavens had been looking for the Immortal Murdering Sword!

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　　This chapter was sponsored by Frank Contreras

　　1. Previous mentions of the Immortality Bestowal Dais were in Chapters 204, 319, 468 and 471