When the shield sprang up, the three old men felt their hearts starting to pound, and their faces completely fell. Inwardly, they felt intense regret, and were sure that a misunderstanding was about to occur. Obviously, the shield wouldn’t be able to do anything to hinder an expert who could survive out in the Stormwind Divide. At the most, it might slow him down for a moment, but in the end, the unlucky ones in the whole matter would be themselves.
They were about to try to lower the shield, but before they could, Meng Hao pushed directly into it. Zapping sounds could be heard, but his face was the same as usual as he walked through it.
Most of the others on the ship actually couldn’t see what was happening, but the three old men couldn’t help but gasp with shock. They had never imagined that their shield would be so ineffective in blocking Meng Hao.
What was happening completely exceeded their imaginations; they instantly dropped to their knees and kowtowed.
There were others who noticed the strangeness of the goings on. The two calm youths had been to the Third Ring before, on more than one occasion. Therefore, they understood quite a bit more about the ship than the others. Currently, their faces flickered, and their hearts began to pound.
Meng Hao said nothing. He boarded the ship, looked around, and then sat down cross-legged on the prow.
He didn’t speak at first, and the rest of the people on the ship were as silent as cicadas during winter. The three old men didn’t dare to rise to their feet. The entire ship was quiet.
After a bit of time passed, Meng Hao casually said, “Do you happen to have a map of the Third Ring?”
Without the slightest hesitation, the three old men produced jade slips from their bags of holding and respectfully offered them to Meng Hao.
Meng Hao accepted, glanced at the jade slips, and then eyed the Feng Shui compass off to the side. His eyes glittered, and he nodded.
“You’re going to the Third Ring?” he asked.
“Senior,” replied one of the three old men, “we are currently under orders to pilot this ship and deliver these passengers to the Seahold in the Third Ring.”
“Would it be convenient for you to take me along?” asked Meng Hao coolly.
“Senior, you are most welcome aboard our ship. Many thanks for staying to watch out for us. We members of the junior generation can’t thank you enough.” The three old men were attempting to be as respectful as possible, and in their fear of offending Meng Hao, spoke in a borderline fawning tone.
“Well, let’s get moving,” said Meng Hao, closing his eyes.
The three old men immediately voiced their agreement, then carefully rose to their feet. Inwardly breathing sighs of relief, they sent the ship forward at the highest speed possible. As they proceeded onward, no one dared to speak. The ship was completely quiet.
The ship didn’t move as quickly as Meng Hao could move, but the advantage was the ease with which he could proceed. He sat there cross-legged, meditating for a few days. Then, he suddenly opened his eyes and looked over at the Feng Shui compass. There, he could clearly see that a thousand-symbol spirit was floating not too far off in the distance.
After enough time passed for half an incense stick to burn, the thousand-symbol spirit was close enough to see with the naked eye. It looked like an iron chain floating there in the storm winds. It completely ignored the ship, although it occasionally attempted to consume lightning as it drifted about.
Meng Hao suddenly stood up.
“Stop the ship. Wait for me!” With that, he strode out. The three old men and the other passengers were shocked. They watched on as Meng Hao left the ship. Immediately, the iron chain appeared to sense him. It whipped around in his direction, and an intensely bleak killing will rose up to the Heavens. Suddenly, the lightning in the area turned red and shot whistling through the air toward Meng Hao.
However, before the iron chain could even get near him, Meng Hao performed an incantation gesture. Instantly, the characters for metal, wood, water, fire, and earth appeared. As they surrounded the iron chain, Meng Hao stepped forward and punched.
The iron chain collapsed, sending a thousand magical symbols spreading out in all directions. He then performed another incantation gesture, and the Mountain Consuming Incantation caused a thousand mountains to appear. They covered the magical symbols, then merged together to form a huge mountain peak. Next, the mountain peak shrank down into Meng Hao’s palm, where he sealed it.
After putting it into his bag of holding, he spun around and returned to the ship.
The entire spectacle only took ten breaths of time. Meng Hao’s actions were as natural and unforced as floating clouds and flowing water. Everything was completely efficient, as if he was completely used to doing such things. Everyone who watched on was thoroughly shaken.
The people on the boat stared blankly, and the two Cultivators who had been to th