Meng Hao’s hands clenched into fists, and veins of blood appeared in his eyes.
“It’s weak because of me,” he thought. “Otherwise Yan Song and the others could never force it down to this degree. If I leave, I’ll be safe. But if I did that, I would be letting myself down!” He looked at the bird. It was in a grave situation and was about to perish, but it was still watching the great tree. Meng Hao saw its medicinal pill aura waning, and once again thought of his Master.
He wasn’t sure why he suddenly thought of Master a second time, but as of this moment, his eyes filled with determination.
“There are some things that rationally speaking you shouldn’t do, but you still do them anyway….” He lifted his head up and then slapped his bag of holding. The blood-colored mask appeared. He placed it onto his face and immediately a bloody aura billowed out. A blood-colored mist roiled into being around Meng Hao, turning into red sea. As the seawaters undulated, a shocking killing intent exploded out of Meng Hao.
“Without a face, a single word, flames of war unify!” As Meng Hao strode forward, he lifted his right hand. Behind him, an enormous face appeared. Its closed eyes snapped open, along with its mouth, as it uttered a soundless song of mourning. It then shot toward Yan Song and the three others.
Almost the instant the face began to fly forward, Yan Song and the others looked back.
Considering that the shield was just about to burst, Li Tian’s eyes instantly filled with coldness and killing intent. “Are you looking to die!?”
The group of four exchanged glances and then began to unleash divine abilities toward Meng Hao.
As soon as the divine abilities shot forward, the face collapsed into pieces. It was incapable of resisting the power of four Nascent Soul Cultivators. However, it was at this moment that Meng Hao wave his right hand. The flag of three streamers temporarily unraveled from around the body of Ji Nineteen. It unfurled behind Meng Hao, long and black. Immediately, one of the streamers spread out. It was old and dilapidated, but it transformed into a massive black canopy that swept out.
The overwhelming aura caused the faces of Yan Song and the others to flicker. Li Tian’s pupils constricted. Mo and Wang began to pant in shock. All three of them could instantly feel a sudden, intense sensation of deadly crisis.
A massive rumbling filled the air as the black streamer shot forward. Blood sprayed from Yan Song’s mouth as he was sent tumbling backward, his face filled with astonishment.
Li Tian’s right arm was instantly torn into shreds. Blood spouted from his mouth as he shot backward in retreat, face pale and filled with disbelief.
Blood-curdling shrieks could be heard from Mo and Wang; blood shot out from their torsos as they were slammed into each other. Their wounds immediately healed, but their faces were devoid of blood. They shot backward in retreat, staring at Meng Hao with shock.
Thanks to the blood-colored mask, Meng Hao’s Cultivation base had climbed up much higher. Now he could fully utilize the power of the first of the flag’s three streamers. Although he had not been able to slay any of his four opponents with the attack, it was stunning enough to shake Heaven and Earth.
It came at a price, though; Meng Hao’s hair was once again white. However, because of the boundless life force of his Wood character totem, he was not injured on a fundamental level. His face was pale, and blood seeped out of the corners of his mouth. Despite the injuries, after his attack swept Yan Song and the others away, Meng Hao stood with his back to the tree.
Li Tian gritted his teeth against the pain of his lost arm. Wiping the blood from his mouth, he grimly said, “Fellow Daoist Meng, you certainly have some wild ambitions. You want to kill the four of us and then take the medicinal pill for yourself.” Just now, he had attempted to directly stand up to the attack, and had thus received this serious injury.
“Fellow Daoist Meng, you’re going against our agreement,” growled old devil Wang, his eyes thick with killing intent.
Yan Song looked thoughtfully at Meng Hao for a long moment before finally saying, “Fellow Daoist Meng, why are you doing this?”
“This pill has already achieved Demonic Ascension, and yearns for the great tree,” said Meng Hao calmly. “Even if you consume it, it will do you no good. It has no medicinal strength left, because… it’s not a medicinal pill anymore.”
“Pills are pills,” said Yan Song gruffly. “And what’s this talk of Demons? At the most, it has a spirit. Fellow Daoist Meng, you’re a Grandmaster of the Dao of alchemy and have concocted many pills and consumed even more. Don’t you understand? Pills will forever be nothing more than pills!”
Meng Hao was silent as he thought about Grandmaster Pill Demon for a third time. The feeling he got from the Golden Crow continued to seem more and more like… the same feeling he got from Pill Demon.
“There are some things I hesitate to do