Once, long ago, he had taken her to look for clues about her hometown. After much searching, Li Shiqi finally spoke up, her voice soft. “Master, there’s no need to search any more. In this life, you are my Master. I hope that in the next life, you can be my father.”
The song of the pills being concocted continued to echo out. Every single person was moved emotionally; everyone was affected, influenced….
Meng Hao’s expression was blank. These medicinal pills, this batch, this pill furnace and its song, were all filled with reluctance to part from Ke Yunhai, as well as Meng Hao’s desire for that love of a father.
He was completely unaware that at some point, a white-robed figure had appeared behind him. The figure had long hair, and was emaciated. His entire person emanated an aura of time, and archaic ancientness.
It was none other than Ke Jiusi.
He stood behind Meng Hao, staring at the pill furnace as if he could see into eternity.
The medicinal pills were being concocted by Meng Hao. The song of the pills, though, contained the voices of both Meng Hao and Ke Jiusi.
Then, the death knell began to toll. The sound rang out again, and again, and again….
A death knell was not rung upon the passing away of every disciple. Even Conclave disciples did not qualify for something like that, nor Elite Apprentices.
Only people who had rendered incredible services to the Sect would qualify to receive the death knell of the Demon Immortal Sect, as a means of protection on the way to the underworld.
Other than such people… only when a Paragon perished would the ringing of the death knell be heard in the Sect….
When the ninth bell tolled, Meng Hao suddenly trembled. He slowly lifted up his head, as did Ke Jiusi.
“Bells….” he murmured. Fear filled his heart, and suddenly he didn’t care about anything. He didn’t care about the pill concocting, or the illusion, or the ancient times. He didn’t even care if this batch of pills really were Celestial Pills, nor whether or not he succeeded in concocting them.
His body shook, and a realization as dark as night swept over him. Trembling, he rose to his feet.
In that instant a roaring sound could be heard from the pill furnace. The medicinal pills and the furnace itself suddenly exploded; their connection to Meng Hao was broken, and blood sprayed out of his mouth. The blood spattered down onto the exploded remnants of the medicinal pills; this was blood filled with his indescribable thoughts, thoughts that carried his unceasing love for a father.
“Dad….” Without hesitation, Meng Hao rushed outside.
He left the pill concocting workshop, completely unaware that within the shattered remnants of the pill furnace were nine destroyed pills. However, the batch had been a batch of ten. All of the medicinal strength of the nine destroyed pills had merged into the tenth pill.
That tenth medicinal pill appeared, glittering brightly as it began to transform from something illusory into something real!
The pill also absorbed Meng Hao’s blood, which contained his true feelings and emotions. Because of that, the pill… began to thoroughly transmogrify. This was creating something from nothing!
However, it didn’t matter that the medicinal pill was something from nothing, nor that it met all the qualifications that Meng Hao had dreamed of. Within his mind, there was no medicinal pill. There was only his anxiety, an anxiety so intense that he forgot who he was….
He rushed out of the pill concocting workshop, out of the Immortal’s cave, out of the entire area he was in. He transformed into a beam of light that shot with incredible speed toward Ke Yunhai’s Immortal’s cave.
The death knell sounded out throughout the seven great mountain peaks of the First Heaven…. DONG…. DONG…. When the thirteenth toll was reached, Meng Hao arrived at Ke Yunhai’s Immortal’s cave.
Seeing that the door was sealed shut tightly, tears began to pour down Meng Hao’s face. He kneeled in front of the door.
“Father!” His voice wasn’t very loud, but it filled the entire Fourth Mountain. His eyes were wet. He wasn’t sure when, but at some point, he had thoroughly immersed himself into this ancient, illusory world. Ke Yunhai had appeared to fill a void of fatherly love that had existed in his heart since he was young.
That void was something that Meng Hao usually kept carefully hidden away. He did not want anyone to touch it, not even himself.
But then, Ke Yunhai had appeared in this ancient illusion, and that void… had been filled.
Meng Hao’s heart was being ripped into pieces. To him, Heaven and Earth had lost all color. An indescribable feeling surged over him; he felt like his body had been turned into a black hole that was consuming his soul and his life. His everything.
“