When you added in the fact that Meng Hao gave out real medicinal pills as rewards, which to these Cultivators were extremely rare, it arose a zealous fanaticism among them.
In addition, the fact that Meng Hao’s Cultivation base was deeply unfathomable to them also had something to do with it.
As for Huang Daxian, even though his Cultivation base wasn’t very high, he held a special position within the group. At the moment, he stood outside of the Immortal’s cave looking complacently out over the group of people. The meat jelly was perched on his head and the colourful parrot on his shoulder.
“I shall impart to you the words of the Patriarch,” he said. “You did well, and this is your reward.” He produced a small bottle, from within which he distributed a tiny medicinal pill to everyone present. As the Cultivators received their medicinal pill, their faces lit with excitement and they immediately consumed the pills.
Meng Hao didn’t have a lot of low level medicinal pills such as these in his bag of holding. Seeing the increase in the number of people during his month of secluded meditation, he had taken a single medicinal pill and refined it into dozens of smaller pills.
Even still, to these Cultivators, something like that was like a precious treasure, as different from the medicinal elixirs they usually consumed as Heaven was from the Earth.
It was thus not difficult to understand why the area around Meng Hao’s Immortal’s cave attracted a dozen or more Cultivators in one short month, all of them willing to join the group.
In fact, they had settled in the area, constructing simple houses that surrounded the Immortal’s cave and the small mountain. Eventually the mountain itself came to be a sort of holy ground….
Meng Hao had never anticipated that something like this would happen. However, this small-scale power base was providing him with more and more of the soil that he needed.
Because of this soil, Meng Hao ignored everything else. Based on his experience, the Cultivators who took up residence here were doing it not just for the sake of the medicinal pills, but also for protection.
Meng Hao was a formidable person, and although these people hadn’t seen much directly, the ferocity of the vines had been personally witnessed by quite a few eyes. People were able to draw the connection between the two; whoever was able to raise something like the vines must be terribly frightening.
Therefore, they believed this place to be safe.
In the Black Lands, safety was an invaluable treasure.
Actually, at one point during the month, a group of a dozen or so Cultivators belonging to a different local power group showed up. They desired to slay Meng Hao and take his medicinal pills by force. A single cold snort echoed out from within the Immortal’s cave, causing Heaven and Earth to shake, and instantly killing half of the group.
The other half coughed up blood and sustained serious injuries. The most powerful of their number was a Pseudo Core Formation expert. His shock was extreme, and he immediately retreated five kilometers. However, at that point he suddenly lost control of his own body; a powerful force bound him up and dragged him back. After seeing this, other Cultivators immediately swore fealty.
Shocked, even the Pseudo Core Cultivator gave in and became a member of Meng Hao’s group.
On one particular day, Meng Hao sat cross-legged in his Immortal’s cave, a strange light shining in his eyes. Within his pupils, something appeared like a burning fire. This was none other than the East Pill Division’s Everburning Flame legacy.
“Feed it with your Core, ignite the Everburning Flame. With this flame, the Spirit Summoning Incantation can be used, and a great path of the Dao of alchemy can be opened.” Meng Hao took a deep breath and closed his eyes. As he did, tongues of flame appeared on his Violet Core.
They appeared weak, but they did not burn out, and as they flickered there, they gradually grew stronger.
At the exact moment in which Meng Hao ignited his alchemic flame, off in the Southern Domain, within the East Pill Division of the Violet Fate Sect, Pill Demon sat in the limestone cave next to the Everburning Flame, his face devoid of blood.
“So you ignited the Everburning Flame, huh…? Good. With the legacy of the flame passed on, if I, your Master, end up returning to the dust, then he can smile on his way to the underworld.” Pill Demon smiled, a smile filled with kindness, and even more exhaustion. Clearly, he still hadn’t recovered from his battle with Ji Fang.
Pill Demon lifted his head to look at the East Pill Everburning Flame, and memories seemed to flicker within his eyes. “So long as this flame before me is not extinguished, then neither shall I be!”