Did You Forget?
Half a month isn’t a very long time. However, as far as Wu Mu was concerned, the fact that he had encountered a certain Cultivator entranced with the idea of studying totems made it an unprecedented period of suffering. From his blood to his bones, from his totem tattoos to his techniques, his entire body was under the complete control of Meng Hao.
The more deeply Meng Hao studied the matter, the more confident he grew regarding the matter of concocting a Nascent Soul. Wu Mu seemed to have been destined to help Meng Hao understand how to fuse the Dao of alchemy with his Cultivation base. At the end of the month, it got to the point where he wasn’t learning anything new from the man, so instead of causing further trouble for him, Meng Hao released him.
Before he left, Wu Mu looked at Meng Hao, trembling. He vowed to himself that he would never run into this man again, then fled as fast as he possibly could.
“I need more totems to corroborate my line of thinking,” thought Meng Hao as he watched Wu Mu leave. Rumbling could be heard from outside the city walls. During the past half month, reinforcements from the Black Lands Palace and the Western Desert had continued to arrive. Every day, it seemed hundreds came whistling through the air to join the force outside.
Currently, there were around five thousand Cultivators amassed outside the city. Holy Snow City was thoroughly isolated. Beasts attacked from the sky, and glowing chariots charged on the ground.
The Thorn Rampart, during the one month in which it would survive, was impervious to any attack laid against it. Eventually, though, under the relentless attacks and explosions, it began to show signs of falling apart. Clearly, it wouldn’t last for very much longer.
A few days later, a contingent of nearly two thousand Black Lands Palace Cultivators appeared, whistling through the air. They were led by a Cultivator wearing a gold mask. It was none other than Black Lands Palace Dao Child Luo Chong! 1
His eyes were grim, and filled with a faintly discernable turbidness. His entire person exuded a strange aura. He had been a vile mood as of late. After being poisoned that year, he had returned to the Black Lands Palace and used every method he could think of to cure himself. Unfortunately, he was unable to dispel the poison. The situation filled his heart with dread; he had the feeling that his life or death all rested in the hands of the person who had poisoned him.
Not daring to publicly reveal that he had been poisoned, he had attempted every method possible to cure himself, all to no avail. After sensing the poison, his Master had even taken an interest in it.
He had invited an Eastern Lands alchemist to examine him. After doing so, a serious expression covered his face and he’d said, “This poison cannot be dispelled by Cultivators. It can only be diffused with medicinal plants.”
The mysterious Demon Lord who had poisoned him became something like a nightmare to him. Every time he thought of the man, intense coldness would fill his heart.
Of course, he had been careful to strictly comply with the man’s instructions, and did not step foot within three hundred kilometers of him.
In order to prevent any mishaps, he had holed up in the Black Lands Palace for quite some time. This was actually the first time he had left since being poisoned. In his estimation, though, there was no way he would possibly run into the fearsome Demon Lord in this backwater location.
He did the best he could to hide the depression in his heart, but some of it still managed to slip out.
“I heard this Frigid Snow Clan has a beauty named Hanxue Shan,” he thought, his eyes shining with debauchery.
Behind him was an old man wearing a silver mask, who emanated the shocking power of the Nascent Soul stage. His presence increased the number of Nascent Soul Cultivators in the battle force to five.
It was difficult to describe how much the addition of one more Nascent Soul Cultivator would change the circumstances of this conflict.
As Luo Chong and the others arrived, quite a few of the Black Lands Palace Cultivators flew up into the air to receive them.
Beneath his golden mask, Luo Chong’s face was filled with a proud look as he gazed at the Thorn Rampart and the heavily damaged Holy Snow City.
“Fellow Daoists of the Frigid Snow Clan. Ladies and Gentlemen of Holy Snow City. I am Luo Chong, Dao Child of the Black Lands Palace. I am not here today to join in the battle, but rather, to issue a challenge to all of the heroes under Heaven!” He strode forward until he was standing right in front of Holy Snow City.
“Anyone who is not of the Frigid Snow Clan that can hold their own against me, Dao Child Luo Chong, for the space of ten breaths, will be allowed to leave unharmed!” His words echoed about in the city.