Chapter 311: Now That is a Cultivator!

　　Meng Hao’s face was grim as he looked around at the roiling fog. He immediately bit down on the tip of his tongue, spitting up some blood. As soon as it flew out into the air, it transformed into a blood mist beneath Meng Hao’s feet.

　　This helped him to amplify his speed by several times; he immediately reappeared five kilometers away, next to the shrinking Immortal’s corpse.

　　The instant he did, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, and his once black hair was now white. Just now, he had used one of the multifarious forbidden techniques of the Blood Immortal Legacy. A Core Formation Cultivator could use this technique to instantly gain speed far beyond the normal capability of his body.

　　It wasn’t quite a minor teleportation, but considering the short distance involved, there wasn’t much of a difference. Minor teleportation was a divine ability of Nascent Soul Cultivators. As for Core Formation Cultivators, they could use this forbidden art only three times throughout their life.

　　As Meng Hao’s body disappeared, the position he had just occupied collapsed, the air shattering because of the forbidden technique. He would never be able to do something like this using only his own skill and power.

　　This was the only way to avoid death!

　　The entire area was locked down with restrictive spells, making teleportation impossible. However, this forbidden art was not a minor teleportation, but rather an explosive increase in speed. However, it caused him to cough up blood, indicating that he had sustained injuries to internal organs. In addition, cracking sounds could be heard from his legs.

　　His face was pale white. However, he didn’t hesitate in the slightest. His pupils glowed violet as he drew from his longevity to heal his injuries.

　　Meng Hao’s longevity had increased after reaching Core Formation; ordinarily speaking, he would be able to live to around four hundred years. However, as of now, he had already wasted a significant amount of that longevity.

　　Because of this price, he still looked young, but his face was pallid, something that could not be altered by the Violet Pupil Transformation.

　　“They’re still gaining.” Around Meng Hao, the Nascent Soul Cultivators from the Ji and Li Clans, despite having been restricted to the great circle of Core Formation, were whistling toward him at top speed.

　　Meng Hao had evaded them just now, causing the eyes of this collection of Elders to flicker. The fact that he had avoided death just now filled them with surprise.

　　Han Bei, Chu Yuyan and the others were watching from a distance, hearts filled with shock.

　　Xu Qing’s hands were balled tightly into fists, and she was gnawing on her lower lip. She watched Meng Hao, her face pale, desiring to help him. However, the panting Meng Hao had just made eye contact with her, and within his gaze was the clear message that he forbade that.

　　Don’t make all my painstaking effort be for nothing, he told her through the look. She watched on, trembling, tears welling up in her eyes.

　　One of the old men from the Li Clan shot forward, glaring at Meng Hao. “It’s not that I look down on you, junior,” he said with a cold laugh. “No wonder you were able to kill our Dao Child. But today, you will not be able to escape! You’ll compensate with your life!”

　　“What a load of crap!” replied Meng Hao, slapping his bag of holding. The blood red mask appeared, and he slipped it on without hesitation. As it melded with his face, a bloody killing aura emanated out. All who saw it were instantly shaken.

　　Chen Fan and the others were shocked, too, but not too badly. As the sinister Blood Qi enveloped the area, they retreated backward a few paces. On the other hand, the faces of the elders from the Ji and Li Clans immediately changed.

　　Meng Hao’s green robe was suddenly bathed by the red light, making it seem as if he were clothed in blood itself. The crimson glow and the red mask, which was featureless except for the two eyes, immediately caused the Nascent Soul Cultivators to recall depictions they had seen in their Clans’ ancient records.

　　The Blood Immortal of the Ancient Doom Clan!

　　It looked exactly the same!

　　Intense killing intent, boiling murderous desire, immediately erupted above Meng Hao’s head into a red-colored Core Qi. It roiled, emanating out in all directions.

　　Beneath Meng Hao, the Immortal’s corpse had shrunk down until it was little more than thirty meters high.

　　The dozen or so old men from the Ji and Li Clans were still approaching at high speed. One of the eight Ji Clan elders, eyes flashing with intense killing intent, said, “You overestimate yourself!”

　　In order to ensure his own safety, he had resolved to personally slay Meng Hao. Without any hesitation, nor having any compunctions about damaging his reputation by bullying someone weaker than him, he shot forward ahead of the others, his killing intent billowing to the heavens.

　　“DIE!!” he cried, his voice sinister. He quickly lifted up his right hand. Normally, Meng Hao wouldn’t even have been able to make out his movements because of the speed. Now, though, he could make out a blur of motion.

　　The man was approaching with rapid speed!

　　“Without a face!” Meng Hao’s eyes were bright red as he waved his right hand. His hair was completely white; however, because it was inundated by the crimson grow, it actually looked red!

　　The Core Qi seethed, immediately transforming into an enormous face. The left eye was bizarre in appearance, whereas Meng Hao existed in the right eye. It flew out, heading directly toward the Ji and Li elders. A boom filled the air.

　　Put life and death on the line! End the opponent to assure your own existence!

　　The instant the boom could be heard, the ground heaved. Everything shook, even the black fog. The explosion was audible even outside of the basin.

　　The eyes of Patriarch Violet Sieve of the Black Sieve Sect glittered. Behind him, the Spirit Severing Patriarch of the Black Sieve Sect had a similar expression. They flew up, and were about to head into the black fog, when suddenly, the two Spirit Severing Patriarchs from the Violet Fate Sect disappeared. When they blinked back, there were directly in front of the two from the Black Sieve Sect.

　　“If you take another step forward, don’t blame us for killing you,” said one of the Violet Fate Sect Patriarchs, his voice grim. His eyes glowed with killing intent and fury.

　　Back within the black fog, the boom continued to echo out. The enormous face which surrounded Meng Hao disintegrated. Blood sprayed from his mouth as nearly half the bones in his body were broken. Countless lacerations shredded his flesh, from which blood spilled out, causing his clothes to truly turn red. The redness of his garments was no longer caused by the crimson glow in the air; now he was actually wearing a robe of blood!

　　His body tumbled backward, falling down onto the Immortal’s corpse. Trembling, he gritted his teeth and rose to his feet. Right now, Meng Hao looked very much like he had when he faced up against Wang Tengfei back in the Reliance Sect 1 … His stubbornness, his tenacity, and his powerful heart would always exist, regardless of whether or not his body was on the verge of collapse!

　　A reddish glow flickered in his eyes. Blood dripped off of his body down onto the Immortal’s corpse beneath his feet, which was now less than fifteen meters tall.

　　As for the Nascent Soul Cultivator from the Ji Clan, his body trembled, and his face had fallen. He was not injured, but he looked at Meng Hao with a serious expression. His attack just now had been backed by the power of the great circle of Core Formation. Even that bit of power should have been more than enough to destroy a Core Formation Cultivator. And yet Meng Hao… was not dead!

　　Immediately, intense killing intent flickered in the man’s eyes, along with greed.

　　He could clearly see that Meng Hao’s Cultivation base was merely at the early Core Formation stage; for him to be able to wield the power he had just now… was only because of the blood-colored mask!

　　He wasn’t the only person who realized this; all of the others at his side began to look toward Meng Hao with flashing eyes.

　　Meng Hao’s attack now had seriously injured himself. However, considering the level of his Cultivation base, the fact that he could withstand an attack from even a suppressed Nascent Soul Cultivator showed how incredibly powerful the mask was.

　　You could easily say that with the mask on, Meng Hao was absolutely, completely different than before.

　　However… despite that, he was still not a match for his opponent. His body was on the verge of collapse, like an oil lamp with no oil left in it. Beneath the mask, his face was pale and covered with wrinkles. And yet, his eyes burned with frenzy, and emitted a violet glow.

　　Again, he burned his longevity to heal himself.

　　He looked at the dozen or so incoming Cultivators, and then suddenly lifted his head to the sky and laughed. His expression contained unyielding pride, the kind of obstinacy which indicated that he would never bow his head.

　　He was Grandmaster Pill Cauldron! He was the Ninth Demon Sealer! He was Fang Mu! He… was Meng Hao!

　　He was born a scholar, but today, he was a Cultivator of the Core Formation stage. He was fighting against a dozen or more experts with Nascent Soul Cultivation bases. They were suppressed, and because of the blood-colored mask he was almost inhuman. But when you consider the Southern Domain as a whole, for the past thousands of years, he was the only person who could possibly do this!

　　Therefore, Meng Hao laughed. It was a laughter of no regrets, a laughter filled with lofty sentiment, a laughter filled with stubbornness that soared to the heavens!

　　Damaging his life force to heal himself, his face beneath the mask rapidly aged. His hair had long since grown completely white. However, from the perspective of an outsider, beneath the crimson glow, his hair was bright red!

　　Such an image immediately burned a deep impression into everyone who was watching. As all of the Chosen of the Southern Domain teleported out from the crumbling mental realm, the first thing they saw was Meng Hao. The image was branded into their minds, something that they would never forget for a hundred years, for a thousand, for their entire lives!

　　At this moment, he was like the sun burning in the noon sky, the representative of a generation. Never again would someone like him appear. Never would someone be able to outmatch Meng Hao.

　　This was what each and every one of them was thinking.

　　Chosen? Dao Child? Wearing his mask, his crimson hair fluttering, facing up against more than ten Nascent Soul Cultivators and laughing…. The rest of them were like insects!

　　“Now that… is a Cultivator!” It was hard to say who muttered the words first, but it only took a moment for them to resonate throughout the minds of all the Chosen.

　　Note from Er Gen: Cultivators have what it takes to stand up to Heaven and Earth. Cultivators have the stubbornness to never bow their heads, no matter how bloody the battle. That is a Cultivator. To me, a Cultivator is someone who stands, covered in blood, hair snow white, facing a host of enemies. And yet, no matter the danger, no matter how difficult the path, a Cultivator will grit his teeth, lift his head up and laugh! In this manner, he will become a legend! That is what a Cultivator is to me.

　　—–

　　This chapter was sponsored by Jeremy Rosehart, Maverick Ly, and Suood K

　　1. Do you remember how Meng Hao picked the bloody fingernails out of his palms after getting beat down by Wang Tengfei? And yet he never backed down. That was actually in chapter 17