Chapter 318: Have Faith in the Lord Fifth, Gain Eternal Life! (2/2)

Under the influence of the pressure, the magical symbols seemed to transform into tiny people. All of them floated there in front of Meng Hao, and they appeared to be painting something.

There was only a tiny bit of pressure, but it caused Meng Hao’s mind to fill with a roaring sound, and his Spiritual Sense to grow unstable. He suddenly closed his eyes, cutting off his vision and thus ending the technique. Even still, his face was pale, and it took him a while to recover his senses. When he opened his eyes, his right eye was filled with veins of blood.

“Well, did you feel it?” asked the parrot haughtily. “Lord Fifth knows everything. This is nothing but a clump of dirt with a bit of magical symbols in it. If you had encountered the ash created by the true Immortal Talisman that year, you wouldn’t have been struck absentminded, you would have been struck dead!

“You know, soil like this is everywhere in this black-colored land. You can’t say there’s a huge amount, but there is quite a bit. People like you who can actually gaze upon the will of the Immortal Talisman, well, let’s just say you’re as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. Were it not for the fact that this area is suppressed, it wouldn’t have lasted until now.

“If this soil is taken away from this land, then it will become useless. Oh, and let me tell you another secret. If you possess enough fortune and luck, you can collect more soil like this, and then you might gain enlightenment regarding some of the divine abilities within the magical symbols of that almighty senior. Now, please repeat after me in a loud voice: Have faith in the Lord Fifth, gain eternal life! When the Lord Fifth appears, who dares to cause strife! Many years ago, countless people chanted these very lines!” It looked at the pale-faced Meng Hao even more egotistically, apparently more and more convinced of how powerful it was.

Meng Hao ignored the parrot. “Such a powerful aura… especially considering this is just a tiny clump of soil. And yet, it contains such shocking power. To think that there is more of this dirt throughout the Black Lands….” He began to breathe deeply, and his eyes glowed.

He suddenly thought of the words of the Demon Sealing Jade.

“An Immortal of the Ninth Mountain; the pinnacle of brushwork; magical symbols of all creatures; collapse of the Heavens…. The power is fused within this land, transformed into destruction, and filled with Demonic life force. This land… can be used to cultivate… the art of Righteous Bestowal!”

Meng Hao’s eyes glittered. The method for cultivating the art of Righteous Bestowal already existed in his mind. During his time focused on healing his injuries, he’d had no time to work toward enlightenment, but having seen this clump of soil, he suddenly found himself lost in thought.

Time slipped by. Soon, half a month had gone past. The parrot and the meat jelly had disappeared somewhere, and were no longer in the Immortal’s cave. The interchanges between these two old enemies usually involved the meat jelly provoking the parrot in some way. However, the parrot was always able to respond with only a few words that would send the meat jelly shrinking in on itself.

Meng Hao was focused on the art of Righteous Bestowal. Occasionally he would use the vision technique to examine the soil; each time he would come up lacking in some aspect of enlightenment or another. As he continued to study it, he would sometimes take out Ji Hongdong’s bag of holding. The magical sealing symbol was still there, but it was growing weaker. After a few attempts at breaking it, Meng Hao got the feeling that it wouldn’t be long before he would be able to open the bag.

Time slowly passed. Other than research, he spent his time thinking. He didn’t consume the Outlander Pill that Master had given him. True, it could extend longevity, but more importantly, it could be used to suppress the Resurrection Lily.

He could only consume three in his life, and did not wish to squander those opportunities.

As for the Primordial Heavenly Replenishing Pill, it could also extend longevity, but he only had one. At the moment, he didn’t have enough Spirit Stones to duplicate a copy, so after a moment’s thought, he sealed it back up. At the moment, he was completely recovered; his longevity was significantly shortened, but it wasn’t an extreme emergency.

For now, what he was most worried about was the Heavenly Tribulation that would come with his Perfect Gold Core. Right now, he had all the ingredients he needed to make the Perfect Core Pill, except for one plant.

The plant he needed wasn’t extremely rare; Meng Hao guessed that even in the Black Lands, he would most likely be able to get ahold of one.

However, after thinking for quite a long time about the Heavenly Tribulation, Meng Hao still had no idea how he would deal with it, other than the meat jelly.

On one particular day, after gaining a bit of enlightenment regarding the Celestial soil, Meng Hao’s mind suddenly quivered. He sent his Spiritual Sense out roughly fifty kilometers out from his Immortal’s cave. There, he could see Huang Daxian, very cautiously leading a group of grim, malevolent-looking Foundation Establishment Cultivators in his direction.

“Seniors,” he said in a low voice, “up ahead, the four of you will be able to see the place where that guy is staying.” His nose was bloodied, and his face swollen, and it seemed he was even missing a few teeth. His expression was very dispirited.

“Cut the crap,” said one of the four Foundation Establishment Cultivators with a cold snort. “Keep leading the way!”

“I really want to see if this guy truly has the superhuman abilities you claim!” said another. “And then there’s the supposed medicinal pills!”

The four Cultivators’ eyes glittered with avarice. Among the four, one was surprisingly of the great circle of Foundation Establishment. The other three were in the mid Foundation Establishment stage. These four held sway over the region with iron fists, and they were quite well-known. Their bodies were festooned with what could almost be called totem tattoos, very similar to those of Western Desert Cultivators, although not quite the same.

The four of them exchanged glances and began to converse in hushed tones.

“We’ll need to be careful. With so many medicinal pills, he must not be an ordinary person. Make sure not to damage his bag of holding before he dies, otherwise this trip will have been in vain.”

“Right. We’ll all attack at once, and wipe him out. Don’t give him a chance to destroy his own bag of holding before that!”

Huang Daxian looked furious, but didn’t dare to say anything other than to mumble in agreement with them.

Meng Hao retracted his Spiritual Sense. Huang Daxian was branded with his Spiritual Sense, so Meng Hao was aware of all of his activities, including the disaster he had brought upon himself because of the medicinal pill, and how he had been captured.

If he wanted to, Meng Hao could just exterminate all of them. However, after thinking about the Celestial soil which contained the Celestial talismanic symbols, he changed his mind and allowed Huang Daxian to lead them here.

“I need enough Celestial soil. The more the better. That will increase my ability to achieve full enlightenment.” Meng Hao closed his eyes.