Chapter 39: Patriarch Reliance! (2/2)

At this same moment, Xu Qing and Chen Fan, in their respective enlightenment areas, were also surrounded by the blood-red glow. Their latent talent was beyond ordinary, so their chances of achieving enlightenment were somewhat greater. In Patriarch Reliance’s meditation zone, everything was based on latent talent. So-called luck is the same.

After an indeterminable period of time passed, the red glow around Meng Hao faded, and he began to regain his senses. He seemed to be somewhat at a loss. After some time passed, he had completely recovered, and yet his mind was blank. Not even a scrap of information from the Sublime Spirit Scripture was there.

He sighed, having anticipated this all along. He took out another Blood Crystal and continued to seek enlightenment. Time passed, and even after having used up fourteen Blood Crystals, he still had not succeeded. His heart ached, and he wasn’t sure if he should continue. Gnashing his teeth, he pulled out another large Spirit Stone and duplicated more of the Vorpal Jade Blood Crystals. Once again, he activated the blood-red glow, which then covered his body as he began to seek enlightenment.

By this time, the blood-red glow surrounding Xu Qing and Chen Fan had faded. However, they did not rise, instead choosing to remain seated in meditation, not sure when enlightenment might occur.

As for Meng Hao, he seemed to have gone mad, continuously activating Blood Crystals, trying again and again to achieve enlightenment. Anyone who saw this scene would surely go crazy with jealousy.

After activating the twenty-seventh Blood Crystal, Meng Hao suddenly heard what sounded like a voice murmuring next to his ear in the dream-like trance world. He could clearly hear two words.

“Sublime… Spirit…”

When Meng Hao opened his eyes, they were filled with determination. Without hesitation, he pulled out the twenty-eighth Vorpal Jade Blood Crystal, and once again sought enlightenment.

By this time, Xu Qing and Chen Fan had returned to the altar to wait for Meng Hao. They were a bit surprised when they didn’t see Meng Hao, but they weren’t sure which direction he had headed in, so they couldn’t easily search for him. They decided to sit in front of the altar and wait for him.

By the third day, they were beginning to grow impatient and also a bit worried. Of course, they did not even consider that he might have achieved enlightenment, but rather worried that some sort of accident had befallen him.

“Did something happen to Junior Brother Meng?” said Chen Fan worriedly.

Xu Qing didn’t respond, but she looked worried.

After a bit of discussion, they decided to begin looking for him. Unfortunately, because of the frequent appearance of the automatons, their search went quite slowly.

Meanwhile, Meng Hao sat, hair disheveled, eyes bloodshot, murmuring to himself. His words made no sense; they seemed to simply express his desire for the Sublime Spirit Scripture. He pulled out the forty-third Blood Crystal, and the thick, red glow again surrounded him. In fact, the area he was in never lacked the red glow. Meng Hao had gone all out in his search for enlightenment. If he ran low on Blood Crystals, he simply duplicated more.

As of now, he could clearly hear the voice in his ear, but just couldn’t commit it to memory. He could only continue on in another attempt.

There was something that nobody, not Chen Fan or Xu Qing, nor frenzied Meng Hao, had noticed. After the Blood Crystal ceased to glow, it would transform into a barely discernible blood-red light, which would then enter into the ground and pass into a secret chamber below the catacombs.

There, a withered body sat cross-legged, seemingly lifeless. The room was filled with the feeling of death.

Every time one of the blood-red lights entered the room, the body would assimilate it, and begin to change slightly. By the time the third light entered the body, there seemed to be some shred of life in it.

The light of life was dim, though, and the body was unable to do anything except sit there.

This was Patriarch Reliance. The Vorpal Jade Blood Crystals were congealed from his own blood, and contained his aura. After being activated, they would return to him, continuing his life. Without them, he would be thoroughly dead.

Originally, he had planned to postpone his death in this fashion, until the very last spark of his ruthless and ambitious life was extinguished, where upon he would pass into death. He was already in a state of despair. He spent most of his time in deep sleep, awaking only occasionally, and briefly, whereupon he would sink back into slumber. He had no energy to waste on superfluous matters.

As for the Vorpal Jade, this was an arrangement he had prepared many years ago. Were it not for them, he would have passed into death hundreds of years ago.

“These are the last three pieces of Vorpal Jade…” Now that they had returned, he had regained consciousness. He sighed and went back to sleep, knowing that he would probably never wake up again.

And yet suddenly, a fourth blood-red light entered the secret chamber and fused with his body. He woke again, shocked.

“I am… already out of Vorpal Jade. Could I have remembered incorrectly… Hm?” Even as he talked to himself, a fifth blood-red light appeared, making its way into his body.

He observed, dumbstruck, as a sixth, seventh, eighth blood-red light appeared… By the third day, countless blood-red lights had appeared, one after another, continuously fusing with his body. Patriarch Reliance’s heart surged with excitement, and his face filled with hope. Suddenly, his eyes opened.

“These… holy hell, these are clearly not my blood, but they are definitely my Blood Crystals. What’s going on? What the hell is going on?”