A massive thunderous rumble surrounded them. Meng Hao charged toward Shangguan Xiu, whose cold eyes flickered radiantly. Shangguan Xiu moved forward as well. More severed heads were crushed into pulp.
“Do you know what the Reliance Sect was called before Patriarch Reliance?” said Shangguan Xiu coolly. “It was called the Demon Sealing Sect!” He suddenly looked toward the peak of Mount Daqing and stamped his foot down. Mount Daqing began to rumble, and then suddenly, an impossible-to-describe aura erupted out from within the mountain. It was only a strand, yet that strand seemed to quiver with the very power of heaven and earth. It was not sentient, but rather, under the control of Shangguan Xiu. It roiled up from the ground beneath Meng Hao’s feet.
Shangguan Xiu suddenly seemed to grow older, as if he had aged ten years. He looked almost like a corpse that had crawled its way out of the grave.
Clearly the magical technique he had just used was extremely difficult to employ, and required a sacrifice of longevity. Originally, he would never have used it, but seeing the level of Meng Hao’s Cultivation base, he decided that he had no other choice. He wanted to bring about a swift end to the battle. After all, all the Cultivators in the State of Zhao were hunting Meng Hao right now.
This battle would surely attract their attention. If he could end the fight quickly, then he would have plenty of time to get his hands on the treasure he sought.
“The Demon Sealing Sect sought out the great Demons of the world, sealed them, released their spirit, and took their power to trample on the Heavens! You just entered the ninth level of Qi Condensation, what could you possibly use to fight me with? If I wanted, I could have reached Foundation Establishment fifty years ago!” As Shangguan Xiu spoke, Meng Hao waved the scroll painting, using it to resist the aura strand that had burst out around his feet.
But as soon as the scroll painting touched the aura, an explosion rang out, and cracks appeared on its surface as it was thrown violently away. The aura strand shot toward Meng Hao.
There was a bang, and Meng Hao coughed up a mouthful of blood. The feathered fan had appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye to shield him. Cracks split the feathers, as Meng Hao took advantage of the moment to evade. Evade he did, but he was still sent tumbling backward, coughing up three mouthfuls of blood.
Only one move had been made, and Meng Hao was already injured. It was clear that Shangguan Xiu possessed unfathomable secrets. He laughed coldly. He had expended some of his longevity to make this attack. Even though it hadn’t killed Meng Hao outright, Shangguan Xiu was still determined to win. He walked forward, stepping over the smashed, bloody remains of the severed heads.
Meng Hao’s mouth was filled with blood, but his eyes shone with viciousness. At the same moment that Shangguan Xiu began to walk forward, Meng Hao lifted his hand, and within the pulp of the severed head, a black aura arose. In an instant, the aura coalesced into a black scorpion. It moved like lightning, so quickly that Shangguan Xiu had no time to pull back his foot, nor to leap away. The scorpion’s stinger sank into the flesh of Shangguan Xiu’s foot.
As the stinger sank in, the scorpion turned into strands of blackness which poured into Shangguan Xiu.
His face twisted. This turn of events was too sudden and unpredictable. The scorpion, of course, was from the rare magical pill that he had acquired that day from Qian and Lu from the Violet Fate Sect. This magical scorpion was hyper toxic!
The black aura entered Shangguan Xiu’s foot, and then merged into his Qi passageways, filling his entire body in an instant. His face turned black and he spit up a mouthful of black-colored blood, which stank like rotten fish.