causing a sealing mark to appear.
As soon as the sealing mark appeared, Meng Hao could sense the thorns that existed within the crumbling city expanding. They extended down into the subterranean chamber, which was already beginning to break apart. As they expanded down, they sprouted out with even more thorns, heading directly toward the withered, corpse-like old man who had been sitting there for who knew how many years.
They pierced into him, instantly creating a sort of connection between him and Meng Hao. The two of them were suddenly sharing a single body!
An unspeakably powerful force exploded out into Meng Hao’s mind.
A booming sound filled his mind, and veins bulged out all over his body. His face distorted, and his eyes filled with veins of blood. He began to shake, and it felt as if his body were about to be ripped into pieces. Pain stabbed into his soul, and it felt as if his Spiritual Sense were about to shatter!
An intensely powerful aura suddenly surged through him.
This aura was not that of Core Formation or Nascent Soul, but rather… Spirit Severing!!
The instant the aura exploded out, Meng Hao’s mind reeled, and he heard a snarling roar.
“I am the Patriarch of the Frigid Snow Clan. I gained enlightenment of the Dao during a great tempest, and performed my First Severing a thousand years ago!”
As the voice echoed out in Meng Hao’s mind, an image coalesced. Within the image, Meng Hao saw a tempest that stretched as far as the eye could see, rising from the Earth all the way up to the Heavens. Lightning crackled everywhere, shaking everything. This was a tempest which could flay a Nascent Soul Cultivator into pieces, and yet there in the middle of it all was a figure who exuded immense profundity.
It was a middle-aged man, tall, wearing a long robe. His head was raised toward the Heavens as he let out a powerful roar.
“Clan descendants, remember me! I am Hanxue Bao, sixth generation Patriarch of the Frigid Snow Clan. For my first Severing, I severed familial Love. However, I did not sever my love for my Clan! Severing Love and replacing it with the Dao, accomplished my first Spirit Severing, and incurred a half-Celestial Tempest!” 1
The image faded, leaving Meng Hao’s mind spinning. Around him, a wind suddenly appeared. The wind screamed out from within the giant hole in the ground. The city was now no longer collapsing, and the Cultivators were no longer crying out. The vortex in the Heavenly Pit suddenly calmed. The howling wind filled the hole, pushing the crumbling city back out from within.
The wind was now a tempest, sweeping across everything. An astonishing roar filled the air. The wind seemed capable of crashing through any obstacle; the sky dimmed and the earth quaked.
The beasts that spread out across the land emitted miserable shrieks and fell prone, trembling. The Cultivators from the Black Lands Palace coughed up blood, looks of astonishment on their faces.
The Western Desert Cultivators’ faces filled with shock. As for Luo Chong and his group, their expressions also changed, and they began to pant as they looked at the raging tempest that swirled around Holy Snow City.
In contrast, the black-robed, Spirit Severing Cultivator up in the sky was laughing. As his laughter spread out, an unprecedented, black glow shone out from his eyes. At this moment, it really looked as if he were some type of black sun.
“Spirit Severing Will! Patriarch Hanxue Bao, I never realized you would display such courage and power on the verge of death! You transformed your Spirit Severing Will into a legacy brand which you then gave to a Cultivator who isn’t even of the Frigid Snow Clan! How sad! You severed Love with your first Severing, and yet, when your son betrayed you, you showed empathy, and didn’t kill him! You went against your own Dao, and destroyed yourself!
“Well, since none of your Clan members can accept the legacy of your Spirit Severing Will, it seems it will become good fortune for this member of the junior generation. Unfortunately, in the end, the good fortune will not belong to him. This brand, which contains successive generations of Frigid Snow Clan Grand Dragoneers, will be mine! Only someone as powerful as me would be able to connect with more than three generations. At the most, this infant could connect with one. Any more would kill him instantly!
“Disciple, spit up some of your blood! Watch as Master eradicates your kin for you. Your Dao will be completed, and the day of your Spirit Severing will finally come!” The black-robed Cultivator laughed loudly. Next to him, Hanxue Zong had a complex look on his face. However, without speaking a single word, he slapped his chest and spit up a mouthful of blood.
As soon as the blood shot out from his mouth, the black-robed Cultivator snatched it up. He squeezed it into his hand, whereupon it formed the bloody image of a teenager, a look of fear filling his face, as well as agitation.