“If you people hadn’t showed your faces, none of this would have happened. He wouldn’t have gone to make trouble for you. At any other time, it wouldn’t have mattered. Considering his temperament, he really wouldn’t have paid you any attention. But now… you had to go and mess with his son.
“Messing with his son is like rubbing a cat’s fur backward! Who would dare to do such a thing?”
The remaining six auras were trembling violently. How could they ever have imagined that the Dawn Immortal would actually provoke someone this terrifying? Of these six auras, two ceased falling back, and instead shot high up into the sky, as if to flee the planet itself.
One was the skull, the other was the mountain deity from the Western Desert’s Violet Sea.
“On the path of cultivation, one cannot rely on the protection of others. You haven’t left Planet South Heaven yet in this lifetime. Let me tell you, I’ve seen far too many Chosen who utilize the help of Dao Protectors. By now… each and every one is as useless as a wild chicken or a stray dog.” Meng Hao’s father turned to him and chuckled, then performed an incantation with his left hand, extending his index finger and middle finger together. It almost seemed as if he were wresting away energy from Heaven and Earth, causing a bizarre glow to surround his entire body as he took two more steps forward. With each step, a blast of sword qi shot up into the sky.
A moment later, the mountain deity let out a miserable shriek. Its enormous frame was clearly just about to escape Planet South Heaven. Nonetheless, it collapsed into pieces, which then burned into nothing.
As for the skull, it shot out into the starry sky and was speeding away. Unfortunately for it, even with such speed, it could not outrun the sword qi.
“NO!!” screamed the skull. Then, it was completely destroyed, including its Nascent Divinity.
Meng Hao’s eyes widened, and he stared blankly at his father. He had taken five steps, and unleashed one sword after another. One by one he had slaughtered five terrifying beings as easily as if he were killing baby chickens. Those almighty creatures’ auras were such that any single one would leave Meng Hao dazed; any of them could have slaughtered him easily. And yet, a single beam of sword qi from his father, and they were completely eradicated.
“What… what Realm are they in?” Meng Hao murmured.
The first to reply was his mother. “They have opened their Immortal meridians, solidified their Dao Fruit, and stepped into the peak of the Immortal Realm. They refer to themselves as Dao Lords, but are unable to open the door to the Ancient Realm. They aren’t even true Immortals, and will one day return to the dust.”
“In the Spirit Realm, Dao Seeking is the absolute peak,” said Meng Hao’s father. “In the Immortal Realm, there are two paths. The first path involves offering worship to an ancestor, acquiring that ancestor’s Dao Fruit, and then using it to tread the path to Immortality. On that path, you will never have a Dharma Idol of your own. Immortals like that are referred to as false Immortals. That is because, if that ancestor ever perishes, everyone who worships him will experience a drop in their cultivation base!
“That is the easy path to Immortality, the one which the vast majority of people choose to follow. However, there is another path…. On that path, you worship yourself. Your Dharma Idol is your own. You experience Immortal Tribulation and tread your own path. Others can worship you and tread your path of cultivation as false Immortals. This second path is the path of… the true Immortal!”
Meng Hao’s father moved like the wind as he took two more steps forward. Each step caused the ground to quake. His hair swirled around him in the air, and wisps of mist rose up from the top of his head. He waved his right hand, causing two more beams of sword qi to fly out, one toward the Eastern Lands, the other toward the Western Desert.
In the Ancient Paradise of the Eastern Lands, the tree’s branches were rustling, and its aura surged. Its mind was unprecedentedly focused as it drew upon all the power it could muster. The entire Ancient Paradise began to vibrate. The ground split, and the tree’s roots writhed as it prepared to fight back against the incoming sword qi.
A boom rang out, and the tree wailed. All the power it could muster did nothing to stop the incoming sword qi. The tree was split completely in half, and then began to burn. Screams of pain filled the air as the tree was transformed into ash.
Beneath the surface of the Violet Sea in the Western Desert, the crocodile was trembling. It fled with all the speed it could muster, but the sword qi descended upon it nonetheless. In the blink of an eye, it was right above its head.
The crocodile wore a look of hopelessness.
“I… I can be a mount!” the crocodile cried out. “I don’t qualify to be a Dao Protector, but I… I’m willing to be a mount!”