Chapter 356: How Unforeseen….

　　Flood Dragons are food for ancient Flying Rain-Dragons, who will chomp them down merrily!

　　Meng Hao’s Flying Rain-Dragon phantom flew through the air, its massive illusory frame shaking everything.

　　Dozens of nearby Flood Dragons let out fierce shrieks that were filled with dread. Their bodies trembled, and they were about to flee in all directions when the illusory Flying Rain-Dragon let out another soundless roar. The wolves on the ground began to shake and then lie prone. The enormous blue lions also lowered their trembling heads and let out subservient grunts.

　　The Flood Dragons seemed to be filled with despair. However, they didn’t dare to move. Meng Hao’s Flying Rain-Dragon phantom swooped down and swallowed one of them up.

　　The battlefield was deathly quiet. Everyone gaped in shock at the scene which was playing out in the sky. The Flying Rain-Dragon swallowed one Flood Dragon after another.

　　Soon, each and every Flood Dragon had been swallowed up, after which, the Flying Rain-Dragon flew back to Meng Hao and then vanished.

　　Everything was as quiet as death.

　　Meng Hao cleared his throat, and then proceeded along toward Hanxue Shan. When he arrived in front of her, he saw her face covered with disbelief and dread, as was the face of the young man standing next to her.

　　“I saved your life,” he said, looking a bit embarrassed. “You still haven’t paid me back. Before you do, is it really appropriate to go running off?” He felt a little bit awkward saying words like this to a young woman.

　　Hanxue Shan quivered, her beautiful eyes brimming with terror. In her anxiety, she wasn’t sure how to respond.

　　It was at this moment, however, that her eyes suddenly went wide. It wasn’t just her. Everyone on the battlefield who had been paying attention to Meng Hao were now panting.

　　A roar echoed out behind Meng Hao as a ninety meter tall giant charged toward him, waving its enormous sword in the air.

　　This sword seemed capable of slashing a hole through the air itself. A piercing sound filled the air as it slashed down toward Meng Hao. It didn’t emanate ripples, but instead seemed to be sucking in the surrounding air. The mist surrounding Meng Hao began to churn.

　　All of this takes some time to describe, but actually happened in only a moment. By the time Meng Hao finished speaking, the enormous sword was only about thirty meters away from his head!

　　The sword in its entirety was around three hundred meters long. The giant was ninety meters tall, and bursting with immense power. Although it didn’t have a Cultivation base, it was clearly powerful enough to cause anyone to shake in fear.

　　The sword descended toward Meng Hao’s head, causing the mist surrounding him to roil out in all directions. This made Meng Hao even more conspicuous on the battlefield.

　　However, even as the sword was almost upon him, Meng Hao, without even lifting his head up, reached his right hand out and physically grabbed the sword. A huge boom echoed out.

　　A massive energy shot from the sword into Meng Hao, causing his bones to creak, and massive cracks to appear around him in the ground. The enormous amount of energy even caused his feet to sink about eight inches down into the soil.

　　Meng Hao’s expression never changed. He turned to look at the enormous giant.

　　“Time!” he said coolly, and ten Wooden Time Swords flew out from his bag of holding to form the Lotus Sword Formation. It rotated in the air, circling around the giant.

　　The giant howled and tried to wrench back its sword, but it was astonished to find that no matter how much power it used, the sword remained stuck in Meng Hao’s grip. There was no way to take it back.

　　The giant’s eyes glowed with a green light as it howled. It let go of the sword and then curled its hand into a fist which smashed down toward Meng Hao.

　　“Interesting,” said Meng Hao with a laugh. “It would be a real pity to kill you.” Tossing the greatsword to the side, he retrieved his Wooden Time Swords and then used the Bloodburst Flash to disappear right before the enormous fist slammed down. When he reappeared, he was on top of the giant’s head. He pointed down with the finger of his left hand.

　　“Righteous Bestowal!”

　　Immediately, Meng Hao saw ghost images spring up everywhere on the battlefield. Visible only to him were strand after strand of Qi which rushed to pour into the head of the giant.

　　The giant howled, reaching toward Meng Hao with both of its hands. However, the Bloodburst Flash flickered, and he evaded completely. No matter how many times the giant tried to grab him, it couldn’t, and he continued to use the art of Righteous Bestowal. This sight caused the eyes of all the onlookers to fill with shock.

　　“Receiving Righteous Bestowal is good fortune for you, if you keep resisting….” He pushed his hand down onto the top of the giant’s head, his eyes shining with a strange glow. He could sense the resistance of the giant’s will, but also, a desire for the Demonic Qi that he wielded. The twisting hesitation seemed to be causing it to hold back.

　　Meng Hao could also tell that this giant was not like a human, but more like a type of animal. It had an enormous physical body, but actually couldn’t speak out with language. Its sentience was quite limited and it couldn’t practice Cultivation.

　　However, when it attacked, its physical strength was as explosive as the great circle of the late Foundation Establishment stage. In some ways, such pure physical strength was actually much more frightening than Cultivation base power.

　　Therefore, Meng Hao had decided to test out his art of Righteous Bestowal. He wanted to see whether his speculations regarding its effects were correct…. As a Demon Sealer, he should be able to use Righteous Bestowal on any living creature in Heaven and Earth, give it his approval, and thusly, help it to become Demonic!

　　As the words came out of his mouth, the enormous giant began to shake. The glowing green light in its eyes was gone, as if suddenly, it could think. Its expression was no longer one of ferocity, but rather obedience. Now, it permitted the Demonic Qi to pour into its body.

　　The Black Lands Cultivators didn’t understand exactly what was happening, but the scene was completely shocking nonetheless, although it didn’t seem as incredible to them as what had happened moments ago with the Flying Rain-Dragon.

　　To the Western Desert Cultivators, though, what was happening caused their minds to reel uncontrollably.

　　This was especially true of the three Dragoneers. Their faces filled with unprecedented looks of disbelief, as if their minds had been completely overthrown. Their brains reeled to the point that they were complete blanks.

　　“A Wild Giant actually yielded…. That’s impossible! Wild Giants never yield! Not even Grand Dragoneers can do that. Even our Heavenly Wilds Tribe is only able to use them because of the special arrangement we have with the Wild Giant faction. Other than us, no one in the entire Western Desert can get a Wild Giant to yield!”

　　“It doesn’t have anything to do with Cultivation base. It’s like a rule of the Wild Giants. Their honor and their very blood won’t permit it. So… so, what’s going on…?”

　　The Western Desert Dragoneers were shocked as they saw Meng Hao standing on the head of the giant. He wasn’t paying attention at all to the chaos that his presence had given birth to on the battlefield, nor the shock with which people were looking at him. He didn’t even notice how the mist he had created had risen up into the air and had transformed into a rain of poison.

　　Instead, he was looking down toward the pale-faced Hanxue Shan.

　　“I’ve saved you twice now,” he said with a smile. “You need to think of a way to repay me. Come up here, I’ll take you home.” The giant suddenly reached down toward the ground, placing its hand down flat in front of Hanxue Shan.

　　Everyone around her watched on as she stood gaping up at Meng Hao. Not even sure why she was doing it, she suddenly lifted her foot and stepped up onto the giant’s palm. It lifted her up and placed her on top of its head, where she stood next to Meng Hao. Then, the giant howled and began to stride forward toward Holy Snow City.

　　Up above in the sky, the two Nascent Soul Cultivators who had been locked in battle were now staring at the strange scene which was playing out below. Meng Hao also noticed their attention.

　　The giant charged forward, kicking up a fierce wind and causing the ground to quake. Soon, it neared Holy Snow City’s protective shield. The Cultivators inside had seen everything that had happened, and were now at a complete loss, not sure whether to open the shield or keep it closed.

　　It was at this moment that war bugles suddenly sounded out. The Black Lands Palace and Western Desert Cultivators began to pull back. That included all of the forces surrounding the city, the neo-demons and wild beasts. After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, there were no enemy forces visible near Holy Snow City.

　　This initial probing battle had been intended to give both sides a taste of the other’s prowess. The fighting had been limited to below the Nascent Soul stage. However, Meng Hao’s appearance had thrown everything into chaos. The morale of the Black Lands Palace troops had been damaged, so it was without hesitation that they retreated.

　　A great clamor of joy rose up within Holy Snow City when the Black Lands Palace retreated, although many people understood that the battle had just begun.

　　As for the old Nascent Soul woman, she flew down to hover in front of Meng Hao. As she looked at him, silence reigned around them. The shield still had not opened. All eyes were on Meng Hao.

　　“What do you want?” asked the old woman.

　　“A Frigid Snow Larva,” Meng Hao replied with a smile.

　　“What are you good at?” retorted the woman in an unhurried tone.

　　“I saved her,” said Meng Hao, pointing at Hanxue Shan.

　　The old woman shook her head. “That’s not enough.”

　　“I saved her twice!” said Meng Hao, his voice serious.

　　“Still not enough.” The old woman looked at Meng Hao calmly.

　　Meng Hao hesitated for a moment. “I think I might need to save her again a third time,” he said.

　　“Even if you married her, it still wouldn’t be enough,” said the old woman coolly. “It takes a year to raise a Frigid Snow Larva all the way to the larva stage. Right now, we only have two pupae left in the Clan!”

　　Meng Hao thought for a moment. “I’m good with poison,” he said.

　　The old woman gave him a deep look. “If you concoct poisons for the Frigid Snow Clan for a year, then I will see to it that you get a Frigid Snow Larva. However, if I find out that you have some other motivations, then you’ll never leave the city alive.” With that, she gestured with her right hand, causing Hanxue Shan to fly over to her. Together, they flew back toward the shield.

　　Before passing through the shield, Hanxue Shan looked back at Meng Hao.

　　“Granny gave you her word!” she said. “If you have any evil designs, Heavenly lightning will exterminate your soul. You’d better watch out for yourself!”

　　Meng Hao smiled, and was about to say something when his face suddenly flickered. Without a moment’s pause, his hand lifted up into the air, within which could be seen the Li Clan Patriarch’s soul. A peal of thunder rang out, and a bolt of lightning shot down to slam into the soul embodiment. A miserable cry rang out, followed by vigorous cursing. Meng Hao quickly put the soul away.

　　He looked around to see everyone, even the old woman, staring at him in shock.

　　“Uh, that was weird,” he said with a slight cough, looking embarrassed. “How unforeseen.”

　　—–

　　To see Deathblade’s humorous sketch of the Wild Giant and its sword, check out this post on the wuxiaworld forums.