The entire city began to cave in. Many people were sucked along; they wanted to fly away, but suddenly discovered that their Cultivation bases couldn't be rotated at all, as if they didn't even exist.

At the moment, Meng Hao's hand was tightly clasped around the good luck charm. It still required a bit more than ten breaths of time to activate and was already emitting a glow. However, it was then that the ancient voice transmitted into his ear.

"Open your mind and connect with your Thorn Rampart. I am on the verge of death, but can bestow upon you an amazing bit of good fortune. Think of it as my way of thanking you for the kindness of protecting the bloodline of my Clan over these past months."

The ancient, weak voice was the same one that had told Meng Hao how to control the Thorn Rampart. Meng Hao was well aware who this person was, but nonetheless, he hesitated.

With the good luck charm, he was absolutely confident of being able to leave this place safely. If he listened to the ancient voice, he would be facing up against a Spirit Severing eccentric. No matter how cautious and careful he was, it would still be a perilous situation.

"There's no time," continued the voice. "If I wanted to possess you, I wouldn't have waited so long to do so. What are you hesitating for, lad? Do you really think your ancient good luck charm can help you escape from a Spirit Severing Cultivator?!"

"What good fortune is it that you plan to give me, senior?" transmitted Meng Hao, his eyes glittering. An intense power suddenly spread up from below. At the same time, miserable cries filled the air. Meng Hao didn't need to look down; he knew that the city was rapidly sinking down into the Heavenly Pit.

Cultivation bases in the entire area were being restricted; however, Meng Hao's Perfect Gold Core was not one of them. He could still flee of his own volition if he wished.

"I'm going to give you my Spirit Severing enlightenment. It will open a door for you in the future when you reach Spirit Severing. It will also create some hope for my Clan members…."

A huge rumbling interrupted the ancient voice. Holy Snow City was now more than half destroyed by the Heavenly Pit in the ground. Not too far off in the distance, in the area where the city was crumbling into, Meng Hao could see a pitch black abyss. It emanated a sinister aura, which turned black as it circulated around.

It was at this time that Meng Hao's good luck charm finished preparing. Without hesitation, he pushed down to activate it. It was at this time that his face suddenly fell.

The good luck charm didn't work!

A boom filled the air as the rest of the city began to fall to pieces. Miserable cries filled the air. Meng Hao could feel the gravitational force from within the enormous hole growing stronger. The countless strands of black Qi were trying to pull him in.

At this critical moment, a look of determination filled his eyes.

"Junior agrees!" The instant he spoke the words, he opened his mind. At the same time, he sent out his Spiritual Sense to reestablish contact with the remnants of the Thorn Rampart that still existed within the city.

As soon as his Spiritual Sense touched the Thorn Rampart, the withered figure who safely sat cross-legged in the subterranean chamber suddenly performed an incantation gesture, causing a sealing mark to appear.

As soon as the sealing mark appeared, Meng Hao could sense the thorns that existed within the crumbling city expanding. They extended down into the subterranean chamber, which was already beginning to break apart. As they expanded down, they sprouted out with even more thorns, heading directly toward the withered, corpse-like old man who had been sitting there for who knew how many years.

They pierced into him, instantly creating a sort of connection between him and Meng Hao. The two of them were suddenly sharing a single body!

An unspeakably powerful force exploded out into Meng Hao's mind.

A booming sound filled his mind, and veins bulged out all over his body. His face distorted, and his eyes filled with veins of blood. He began to shake, and it felt as if his body were about to be ripped into pieces. Pain stabbed into his soul, and it felt as if his Spiritual Sense were about to shatter!

An intensely powerful aura suddenly surged through him.

This aura was not that of Core Formation or Nascent Soul, but rather… Spirit Severing!!

The instant the aura exploded out, Meng Hao's mind reeled, and he heard a snarling roar.

"I am the Patriarch of the Frigid Snow Clan. I gained enlightenment of the Dao during a great tempest, and performed my First Severing a thousand years ago!"

As the voice echoed out in Meng Hao's mind, an image coalesced. Within the image, Meng Hao saw a tempest that stretched as far as the eye could see, rising from the Earth all the way up to the Heavens. Lightning crackled everywhere, shaking everything. This was a tempest which could flay a Nascent Soul Cultivator into pieces, and yet there in the middle of it all was a figure who exuded immense profundity.

It was a middle-aged man, tall, wearing a long robe. His head was raised toward the Heavens as he let out a powerful roar.

"Clan descendants, remember me! I am Hanxue Bao, sixth generation Patriarch of the Frigid Snow Clan. For my first Severing, I severed familial Love. However, I did not sever my love for my Clan! Severing Love and replacing it with the Dao, accomplished my first Spirit Severing, and incurred a half-Celestial Tempest!" [1]

The image faded, leaving Meng Hao's mind spinning. Around him, a wind suddenly appeared. The wind screamed out from within the giant hole in the ground. The city was now no longer collapsing, and the Cultivators were no longer crying out. The vortex in the Heavenly Pit suddenly calmed. The howling wind filled the hole, pushing the crumbling city back out from within.

The wind was now a tempest, sweeping across everything. An astonishing roar filled the air. The wind seemed capable of crashing through any obstacle; the sky dimmed and the earth quaked.

The beasts that spread out across the land emitted miserable shrieks and fell prone, trembling. The Cultivators from the Black Lands Palace coughed up blood, looks of astonishment on their faces.

The Western Desert Cultivators' faces filled with shock. As for Luo Chong and his group, their expressions also changed, and they began to pant as they looked at the raging tempest that swirled around Holy Snow City.

In contrast, the black-robed, Spirit Severing Cultivator up in the sky was laughing. As his laughter spread out, an unprecedented, black glow shone out from his eyes. At this moment, it really looked as if he were some type of black sun.

"Spirit Severing Will! Patriarch Hanxue Bao, I never realized you would display such courage and power on the verge of death! You transformed your Spirit Severing Will into a legacy brand which you then gave to a Cultivator who isn't even of the Frigid Snow Clan! How sad! You severed Love with your first Severing, and yet, when your son betrayed you, you showed empathy, and didn't kill him! You went against your own Dao, and destroyed yourself!

"Well, since none of your Clan members can accept the legacy of your Spirit Severing Will, it seems it will become good fortune for this member of the junior generation. Unfortunately, in the end, the good fortune will not belong to him. This brand, which contains successive generations of Frigid Snow Clan Grand Dragoneers, will be mine! Only someone as powerful as me would be able to connect with more than three generations. At the most, this infant could connect with one. Any more would kill him instantly!

"Disciple, spit up some of your blood! Watch as Master eradicates your kin for you. Your Dao will be completed, and the day of your Spirit Severing will finally come!" The black-robed Cultivator laughed loudly. Next to him, Hanxue Zong had a complex look on his face. However, without speaking a single word, he slapped his chest and spit up a mouthful of blood.

As soon as the blood shot out from his mouth, the black-robed Cultivator snatched it up. He squeezed it into his hand, whereupon it formed the bloody image of a teenager, a look of fear filling his face, as well as agitation.

It looked very similar to Hanxue Zong.

As soon as the teenager appeared, his eyes filled with hatred. A bloody glow emanated out from him, and he shot down toward the tempest surrounding Holy Snow City.

As it neared, Meng Hao lifted his head up and let out a roar of pain. His will still remained, and was still his, but the instant he saw the youth, his heart filled with agony. The pain was indescribable, filled with sorrow, fury and insanity.

He could sense that the tempest around him was beginning to collapse, and that it was happening because of the blood-colored teenager.

"Zong'er…." said the ancient voice in Meng Hao's head. It echoed about inside him, filled with deep emotions that were impossible to state clearly. All of the tens of thousands of things that needed to be said, were all said in that single name.

As it echoed about inside Meng Hao, the tempest around him began to fill with raindrops. As the rain fell, Meng Hao realized that it was not truly rain, but rather, the tears of the sixth generation Patriarch of the Frigid Snow Clan.

"Regrets…? No, no regrets!" The echoes of the voice resonated in Meng Hao's head as finally, the shocking tempest went mad. It began to collapse, and as it did, it tore everything in its path into shreds, including the blood-colored teenager.

As the teenager shattered into fragments, a new voice suddenly boomed out in Meng Hao's mind.

"I am the fifth generation Patriarch of the Frigid Snow Clan, Grand Dragoneer Hanxue Ding! I grasped the meaning of Will of Heaven atop a snowy mountain and performed my First Severing in the Ten Thousand Dragons Pool!" This voice was clearly different from that of Hanxue Bao's. It was somewhat less domineering, and yet a bit more dignified. As the voice reverberated through Meng Hao, his body filled with an unparalleled, intense pain.1

It felt as if his soul were about to collapse, and his body were going to be ripped into pieces. Up above, the sky grew dim, as if it were about to disappear. Suddenly, the image of an immense body of deep water appeared up above.

Ripples moved across the surface of the water, spreading out in all directions. The sound of a multitude of roars could be heard as countless black dragons burst out from the deep waters, which seemed to hang upside down above everything. The roaring dragons caused all of the beasts on the ground to wail mournfully. As for the Cultivators, looks of astonishment filled their faces, and blood sprayed from their mouths.

This was especially true of the Western Desert Cultivators, whose bodies trembled violently. One of the two Nascent Soul Cultivators looked up, and spoke in a weak voice: "The Ten Thousand Dragons Pool! According to the legends, after the Greatfather of the great Frigid Snow Tribe became a Grand Dragoneer, he took the Ten Thousand Dragons Pool as his own. After that, it disappeared from the Western Desert!!"

Up above, the black-robed Cultivator's face flickered. "So, this kid has managed to support a second legacy brand!!"

The "Ding" in his name is the character for "cauldron"