One month later….

There was no hotter topic in the Southern Domain than the war between the four allied powers and the Blood Demon Sect. After a month, stories about the battle had already spread far and wide.

The peak Dao Seeking Patriarch of the Solitary Sword Sect had fallen in battle, as well as an early Dao Seeking elder!

Patriarch Six-Daos of the Black Sieve Sect had been killed!

A Patriarch of the Golden Frost Sect and the 3rd Li Clan Patriarch were wiped of their memories and transformed into Dharmic Protectors of the Blood Demon Sect!

The Blood Demon Sect's Blood Prince, Meng Hao, had a peak Dao Seeking clone and an undying body. No matter how many times he was killed, his body reformed!

Patriarch Blood Demon's true self was actually beneath the Blood Demon Sect, and was shockingly powerful to the extreme!

All the details were spread throughout the Southern Domain. Soon, all cultivators were shocked by the might of the Blood Demon Sect.

"The Patriarchs of four sects were either killed or enslaved! I can't believe the Blood Demon Sect is actually that powerful!"

"That's nothing. I heard that the Solitary Sword Sect's precious treasure was actually taken away by the Blood Demon Sect's Blood Prince! How bizarre is that!?"

"The number one sect in the Southern Domain is definitely the Blood Demon Sect!"

"Four great powers were defeated, do you really think the Blood Demon Sect will stop now? It won't be long now before another great war unfolds!"

"It's too bad about all those rogue cultivators who enlisted. I heard almost all of them died…."

During the month, discussions raged regarding the battles between the Blood Demon Sect and the four great powers. Soon, people began to realize that… there were suddenly far fewer cultivators in the Southern Domain than there used to be.

Heavy casualties had been sustained by four great powers, as well as a vast quantity of rogue cultivators. Such losses significantly reduced the overall military might of the Southern Domain as a whole.

As the rest of the Southern Domain was marveling about the Blood Demon Sect, the Solitary Sword Sect was awash with misery. They had once been the most powerful sect, with two Dao Seeking Patriarchs. Now, however, both of those patriarchs were dead.

Furthermore, their sect's precious treasure now belonged to someone else. The forces that returned to the sect were less than half of the number who had left to wage war. Virtually all of their Spirit Severing experts had died. Only three returned.

As soon as the Solitary Sword Sect's forces returned, they immediately sealed down the entire sect, activated their grand spell formation and cut themselves off from the outside world.

All of the sect members' hearts were filled with fear and even terror at the thought of reprisals from the Blood Demon Sect.

The Golden Frost Sect was in much the same position as the Solitary Sword Sect. Their Patriarch had died, their Dao Seeking puppet had been destroyed, and virtually all of their Spirit Severing experts had been slain. The only Spirit Severing expert who remained was an Elder of the Second Severing, who was now the most powerful person in the Sect.

Their eighteen grand spell formations were activated one by one. The Golden Frost Sect… also chose to seal their entire sect off from the outside world!

As for the Li Clan, both their 3rd and 5th Patriarchs were dead, and significant injuries and deaths had been inflicted on their forces. It was an incredibly heavy blow to the Clan. Thankfully for the Li Clan, they had existed for many years, and were able to awaken a Third Severing Patriarch. However, he was only one person. Therefore, the Li Clan also sealed itself, its mountain ranges, and all the surrounding areas.

And then there was the Black Sieve Sect…. There was no need for the Black Sieve Sect to seal anything. There were only a handful of disciples left alive. As for the ones who survived the war with the Blood Demon Sect, they didn't return to the sect.

The disciples who had been left behind to guard the sect quickly learned of the death of Six-Daos, and the great victory of the Blood Demon Sect. Filled with terror, they all left. The once flourishing mountains of the enormous Black Sieve Sect were now empty.

Of course, there were some rogue cultivators and small-scale sects who cast their eyes on the spiritual energy and resources within the sect. They snuck in to search for the sect's ancient records, legacies and magical items.

However, something happened that instantly turned the entire Black Sieve Sect into a forbidden zone that no one dared to enter.

About half a month previous, a group of several hundred rogue cultivators were wandering through the Black Sieve Sect when suddenly, a sinister roar could be heard coming from underground, deep beneath the Black Sieve Sect. Then, a voice could be heard.

"I, the Emperor, have been sleeping for so long, and when I finally wake up… well, look at what has happened to this place! Well then, you people will be staying behind!" As the voice echoed out, black fog roiled up from the ground beneath the Black Sieve Sect. It quickly enveloped the entire area, whereupon bloodcurdling shrieks could be heard coming from the rogue cultivators inside. Not a single one was able to escape.

The people who were outside of the fog fled in shock, and then spread word of what had happened.

As the Southern Domain slipped into chaos, the Solitary Sword Sect, the Golden Frost Sect and the Li Clan were all sealed. There was little change in the Song Clan and the Violet Fate Sect. For them, things continued on as normal. They had not participated in the war with the Blood Demon Sect, and therefore sustained no losses whatsoever, and maintained their previous levels of power.

As time passed, more and more Southern Domain cultivators were trying to figure out what the Blood Demon Sect would do next. Would they strike back? If they sought revenge, which sect would they move against first?

In fact, quite a few cultivators lingered near the outskirts of the Blood Demon Sect, awaiting the day they took action.

Finally, one bright and beautiful day, beneath a cloudless sky, a beam of colorful light shot up from within the Blood Demon Sect. It was not just one beam, but hundreds, then thousands, until finally… tens of thousands of beams of light caused Heaven and Earth to tremble.

Instantly, the cultivators lingering outside of the Blood Demon Sect began to get excited.

"The Blood Demon Sect is on the march!!"

"Tens of thousands of cultivators have been dispatched! There's definitely going to be a war!"

"They're absolutely going to strike back, otherwise why would they marshal such an incredible force!?"

The rogue cultivators quickly spread the news. At a sensitive time like this in the Southern Domain, this news about the Blood Demon Sect swept across the entire land like a stormwind.

The Blood Demon Sect was on the move!

Tens of thousands of beams of light shot through the air, with Meng Hao in the lead. His expression was grim as he whistled through the air. Shockingly, he was flanked by two figures wearing blood-colored robes, with blank expressions on their faces. They seemed barely aware of what was going on around them, but their auras were intense, that of peak Dao Seeking.

Behind them were the Spirit Severing experts, then tens of thousands of ordinary disciples, all of them bent on revenge.

They traveled in silence, and with utmost speed. Quite a few Southern Domain cultivators caught sight of them flying through the sky and were shocked, but then began to follow along. Gradually, more and more cultivators were following behind the Blood Demon Sect.

Soon, the buzz of conversation could be heard from the cultivators trailing the Blood Demon Sect.

"The Black Sieve Sect! That's their target! It's the Black Sieve Sect!"

"You're right. Based on the direction, the only target could be the Black Sieve Sect!"

"The Black Sieve Sect has already fallen to pieces. Its disciples are either dead or scattered! The whole sect is in ruins!"

"Did you forget what happened half a month ago, though? There's a fog covering the entire sect, with some mysterious danger lurking inside."

Meng Hao was in the vanguard position, his expression calm, but his eyes flickering with killing intent. Many people had been wounded or killed in the fighting, and his hatred had reached such heights that retribution was absolutely necessary.

As far as the Black Sieve Sect went, Meng Hao had long since planned to destroy it. He didn't just want to kill the disciples of the sect, he wanted to completely rip it up by the roots and erase its name from the Southern Domain for all time.

"After joining the Blood Demon Sect, I have slaughtered countless enemies. Therefore… I might as well be thorough about it!" A bloody glow could be seen in his eyes, and a monstrous desire to kill filled him as he pushed forward at top speed.

RUMBLE!

Several days later, the Blood Demon Sect appeared as beams of light in the sky above the Black Sieve Sect. Shockingly, more than 100,000 additional beams of light were behind them. They… were disciples from other Southern Domain sects, as well as rogue cultivators. They had followed the Blood Demon Sect here to bear witness to the great war.

The Black Sieve Sect no longer looked like the place Meng Hao remembered. What he saw was a vast churning fog, completely black, that covered the Ninety Nine Mountains and exuded an intense aura of death. Its coldness was palpable. Furthermore, the surroundings were caked in layer after layer of bluish ice, as if the area was experiencing a glacial winter.

Meng Hao quickly blinked his right eye several times in succession, and the qi of Immortal Shows the Way spread out into his eye. Now when he looked at the fog, he was able to make out some more vague details.

He could see the ruins of the Ninety Nine Mountains, as well as a group of a few hundred people milling about in the center of them all. Their bodies were stiff, as if they existed in a state somewhere between living and dying.

A black thread was attached to the head of each one of the group of several hundred. The black threads stretched down into the ground into a mass of fog deep below the surface of earth. It was roughly thirty meters wide, and even Meng Hao's gaze couldn't pierce into it.

However, Meng Hao could sense that the ball of fog emanated a Dao Seeking aura.

He gave a cold snort as he rotated his cultivation base. He lifted his right hand and then pushed it down over his right eye. The full power of Immortal Shows the Way poured into his eye, and his pupil began to glow with a golden light. All of a sudden, it was as if a veil had been lifted from the world.

He could now see clearly into the thirty meter ball of fog. He saw a platform in the shape of a lotus, upon which a man was seated cross-legged.

The man wore the robe of an emperor, as well as a crown. His body was shriveled and emaciated, almost like a withered corpse. Hundreds of black threads could be seen on the ground, all of them connected to his head. Bizarrely, the threads were squirming and writhing.

Behind the withered corpse was a door.

The instant Meng Hao laid eyes on the corpse, its eyes opened. A green light appeared there which shot out through the mist to meet Meng Hao's gaze.

"Meng… Hao…." said the corpse, its voice ancient and strange as it echoed back and forth.

Meng Hao's eyes flickered. He did not find it strange at all that this person knew who he was. As for the hundreds of threads, Meng Hao could sense that they were being used by the withered corpse to control the hundreds of people up above. It was something similar to Soulsearch.

"I… don't want… to be… your enem… wait, your aura...?!" The withered corpse didn't even get halfway through its sentence before it seemed to sense something. It looked closely at Meng Hao, and then the flickering green glow in its eyes grew even more intense.

"You're… that Demon Sealer… from that time years ago! Demon Sealer! If I kill you… I can confirm the path to true Immortality!" The withered corpse suddenly shot to its feet. In that instant, the fog covering the Black Sieve Sect suddenly exploded out, shooting directly toward Meng Hao.

Inside of the fog were hundreds of figures, all of them roaring as black mist bored into their bodies. Their cultivation bases surged, and although their eyes were blank, their faces twisted with rage. Their bodies grew severalfold, and black fur appeared on their skin. Their teeth turned into fangs, and dual horns sprung out of their heads.

They no longer resembled people, but rather Demons, roaring as they charged into battle.

Meng Hao's eyes flickered with coldness, and he said, "Looking to die?!"