Cracks spread out over the surface of the golden sphere, and within the space of a single breath, it shattered. The sound of the cry entered Meng Hao’s ears and caused his mind to tremble. It was like a sharp blade was stabbing into his brain, causing blood to seep out of his eyes, nose and mouth. His mind became a blank.
It only lasted a moment before fading away. As soon as the sound was gone, Meng Hao’s body returned to normal. Zhao Youlan emanated fierce killing intent as she appeared in front of him. Her delicate hand rose up and pushed down onto the Eyeless Larva silk which was surrounding him.
A bang sounded out and Meng Hao tumbled backward, blood spraying from his mouth. Before he could fall backward very far, Zhao Youlan teleported toward him. A white glow rose up from her hand as she pointed her finger out. For some reason, the Eyeless Larva suddenly stopped moving momentarily.
As the finger attack descended on Meng Hao, a bloody hole appeared on Meng Hao’s chest, and strands of black Qi began to spread out through his flesh.
Meng Hao’s mind was spinning. He was sure that her finger hadn’t actually touched him. However, it had injured him, and in a bizarre way at that. The black threads burrowed into his flesh, rapidly sucking away at his life force.
Meng Hao’s face fell. From the time he had left the Southern Domain, be it during his time in the Black Lands or in the Western Desert, he had never been injured like this. Blood sprayed from his mouth as the Eyeless Larva rapidly continued to spin silk. Were it not for the Eyeless Larva, Meng Hao would surely be dead by this point.
Even still, her divine ability just now was something he couldn’t fight back against. He needed a buffer, time with which to retrieve a magical item from within his bag of holding, or perhaps perform an incantation.
However, time was not something that Zhao Youlan would give him. Blood sprayed from Meng Hao’s mouth as she continued to press closer to him, once again raising a finger.
This time, it did not touch him, but he coughed up blood nonetheless. The bones in his left arm shattered, and the black strands continued to spread out through his body. Vast amounts of life force were vanishing, and his hair had turned white. Death Qi filled him.
Zhao Youlan got even closer, her killing intent extremely intense. For a third time, she raised her delicate hand. A sense of deadly crisis washed over Meng Hao like floodwaters. His eyes suddenly glowed with a bright light.
With all the strength he could muster, he roared: “Are you Zhao Youlan, or Demoness Zhixiang!?”
At this moment, Zhao Youlan’s hand suddenly stopped moving.
Taking advantage of this sudden pause, Meng Hao ignored the wounds to his body. He knew that this was a critical moment, and that his best option now was to teleport away. He needed to heal his injuries, otherwise his life would be in danger. However… he did not choose to do that.
When it came to lifesaving measures, he had the Agarwood as well as the Alcohol Core and the Dancing Sword Qi. However, Meng Hao had experienced many things throughout his years of practicing cultivation. As far as this particular deadly crisis was concerned, it had not reached the point where he needed to use those lifesaving methods.
Instead, he chose to use this precious instant of time to slap his bag of holding. The Lotus Sword Formation appeared, rotating rapidly and exploding with the power of Time.
Even Zhao Youlan could never have predicted that during the short moment in which she paused, Meng Hao would actually choose not to flee. Instead, laughing in the face of death, he actually chose to attack.
This caused her to hesitate in surprise. She and Meng Hao were relatively evenly matched. The only reason she had been able to dominate him so easily just now was because she had managed to get the upper hand by taking him by surprise.