About five hundred kilometers from Meng Hao’s current location was a middle-aged man in a long black robe, whose eyes were glittering brightly. “Fang Hao definitely has some sort of valuable treasure. That’s how he was able to kill two Ancient Realm Elders in a row. Most likely, he can’t utilize the power of that magical item for a long time, because his cultivation base isn’t sufficient. And now… Fang Daohong is there…. Since he’s not dead, that means we have a chance!
The man was skinny and had a long, hooked nose, making him look especially sinister.
“A precious treasure that can enable a cultivator nearly in the Immortal Realm to be able to slay an Ancient Realm cultivator….” The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, then looked at the bloodline jade slip again. What he noticed was that two other dots were already moving in Meng Hao’s direction, which caused his eyes to fill with determination.
“I’m the closest, so as long as I’m careful, there shouldn’t be any problems!” Without hesitating any further, the man quickly shot off into the distance.
At the same time, two other black-robed cultivators were nearing from two other directions. They were thinking the same thing as the first black-robed man, and rapidly began to close in on Meng Hao.
As for the other three black-robed men, two of them wavered back and forth a bit before deciding to play it safe. The final black-robed man… was an old man who was standing at the entrance to the ancestral land, where the Dao Guardsman had once been.
He was examining the collapsed mountains; the endless amounts of ruins and rubble that filled the area caused his mind to tremble. Unable to even think of what to say, he just looked at the scene for a while before taking in a deep breath.
“The Dao Guardsman… is gone?” he thought. Great waves of shock filled him, and he began to shiver. A look of astonishment filled his eyes as he suddenly realized that the first Ancient Realm Elder who had been killed… died in this location.
He almost immediately realized why. When the answer occurred to him, he could hardly believe it. However, that answer explained everything, as unbelievable as it was.
“How could Fang Hao have possibly taken control of the Dao Guardsman!?!?” He took out the bloodline jade slip and looked at the fading dot that represented Meng Hao. Then he looked at the three other cultivators who were rapidly closing in on him. There was no way for him to get word to the others while he was in the ancestral land, so he could only watch as the three dots began to converge on Meng Hao, drawn like moths to the flame.
“If those people die, then it will confirm my speculation that Fang Hao has somehow managed to take control of the Dao Guardsman!” The old man panted, unwilling to accept that he was correct, and yet unable to come up with any other explanation.
Time passed by quickly. It was now three days later, and Meng Hao had already been in the ancestral land for about a month. Currently, he sat cross-legged in front of the stone stele, eyes closed, completely motionless.
His aura was extremely weak, and the flame of his life force was almost on the point of being extinguished. His mind crashed with lightning and thunder as the legacy of the Fifth Hex continuously poured into him. The images he saw made him feel like he was descending into some bottomless abyss.
It was as if his mind were being forcibly distended, which led to intense, tearing pain. He felt like he was stuck in a living hell.
Because he was accepting a legacy like this with such a low cultivation base, his Eternal stratum had long since gone to work, and was in a perpetual state of support, ensuring that his mind did not collapse or explode.
As for his true Immortal fleshly body, it was immense help in keeping his mind stable.
As the legacy of the Fifth Hex poured into him, it began to form a pattern like that of a hand that continuously flipped back and forth in his mind.
Sometimes it faced up, sometimes it faced down. That cycle seemed to contain Yin and Yang, as if the entire cosmos was hidden within it! It contained a great Dao of Heaven and Earth!
The 100,000 rifts that surrounded him in the Ancient Burial Ground also went into a cyclical pattern, as if they were breathing. Occasionally they would open, other times they would close. From a distance, it looked like 100,000 eyes, continuously opening and closing.
The cycle continued for three days, never ending.