The Star Plucking Magic suddenly sprang to life, and Fan Dong'er was snatched up and dragged back by Meng Hao before she could escape from the courtyard. A look of vicious hatred could be seen on her face, and she quickly performed a double-handed incantation, causing the conch shell to appear again!

Just when she was about to blow it, Meng Hao flung her forcefully toward the well in the courtyard.

"Why don't you get in that well and blow your shell for my Inky!" he said.

Fan Dong'er's face filled with shock as, before she could blow the conch, she descended into the well, her body completely out of her control.

At the same time, Meng Hao performed an incantation, summoning the Ninth Mountain and sending it rumbling down toward the well.

A miserable shriek rang out from inside the well as the Ninth Mountain slammed down and sealed the mouth of the well, followed by rumbling booms. Meng Hao flitted up to the peak of the mountain, where he sat down cross-legged, his face somewhat pale. The murderous gleam in his right eye vanished, and boundless black mist surged out from within him, which then transformed once again into his second true self.

Blood oozed out from the sides of Meng Hao's mouth, and his second true self's eyes were somewhat dimmer than usual.

This was a result of the backlash from forcing a separation before fully fusing.

Everyone outside the courtyard was thoroughly shocked, and stared at Meng Hao in amazement.

"He… he actually sealed the Goddess of the Nine Seas God World inside a well?"

"If I remember correctly… that head which looks like it's been soaking in water for millions of years… came out from that well!"

"Dammit, I should kill him for treating the Goddess like that!"

As the buzz of conversation filled the air, Zhao Yifan's eyes flickered. He stared at Meng Hao, his desire for combat growing ever stronger. After all, he lived to fight!

"If you're good enough to suppress Fan Dong'er," he thought, "then… I can't wait for day to break so that we can fight!"

Song Luodan couldn't help but gasp in response to what had happened, as did Wang Mu, Li Ling'er, Fang Donghan and many others. When they saw Meng Hao fight Fan Dong'er and then seal her up, it instantly left an indelible impression in their minds.

Taiyang Zi's face flickered, but, not willing to be outshone, he snorted coldly and said, "You finagled your way to victory. If you step foot outside, I'll fuse your bones and blood, burn your soul, and then kill you!"

The Chosen from the other Holy Lands and sects now had a much clearer understanding of who Meng Hao was, as did the Dao Protectors, whose eyes glittered brightly.

The night grew deeper. Meng Hao sat on top of the mountain, listening to Fan Dong'er's shrieks echoing out from down below.

She was inside the well, half submerged in water. Her scalp was numb with terror as inky black hair swirled around her. Although her surroundings were pitch black, because of her incredible cultivation base, she could just barely see the water-soaked head gazing steadily in her direction.

If you think about it, anyone in this situation would feel their blood run cold and their hair stand on end. Fan Dong'er couldn't hold back from screaming.

The tendrils of black hair began to wrap around her, and the soaking head got closer and closer….

"Meng Hao, I won't let you get away with this!" she screamed. However, it didn't matter what divine abilities or magical techniques she used, there was nothing that could get her out of the well. In fact, the more magic she used, the more the black hair wrapped around her, and at one point, the floating head even touched her own head.

An icy sensation spread out across her skin, and Fan Dong'er's scream was even shriller than before.

As Meng Hao sat on top of the mountain, he snorted and said, "Inky, if you take care of this wench for me, then you can have her!"

By now, he had recovered most of his wounds, and he glanced over to look into the temple hall, at the bronze lamp which, thanks to Fan Dong'er's failure to enter the temple hall, had not been extinguished.

A strange light shone in his eyes, and suddenly a bashful gleam could be seen within.

"These Chosen all have lovely treasures on them, don't they…." He licked his lips and smiled, which the crowds on the outside found very surprising.

"What is Meng Hao smiling like that for?"

"Hmm. That smile looks… bashful! Is something fishy going on…?"

Meng Hao flew down off of the mountain and, as everyone watched, dug a hole and carefully put some black-peeled medicinal pills in it. Then, he cautiously stood on top of it, looked up, and extended his hand. The Lightning Cauldron appeared.

Electric light glittered, spreading out across his body, and the bashfulness in his smile grew even more apparent as he looked out at the crowd with anticipation.

"Dammit, Meng Hao's about to pull a con!"

"He has that Form Displacement Transposition cauldron, and black-peeled medicinal pills under his feet. If you step on that pill lightly, nothing happens. But when he switches positions with someone, the slightest force will cause it to explode!!"

"Fudge! How could someone be so evil!?"

"Shameless! I've never seen a bastard as shameless as him!"

Everyone in the crowd began to back up, their faces flickering with various expressions. Meng Hao's eyes finally came to rest on Taiyang Zi, whose face instantly went white, and his eyes wide. Before he could say anything, lighting from Meng Hao's cauldron flashed, and he switched places with Taiyang Zi.

The instant the change occurred, Taiyang Zi appeared in the middle of the courtyard, screaming. Apparently, this method of entering the courtyard did not violate the restrictive spells, so he was not instantly transformed into a pool of blood. However, as soon as his foot made contact with the medicinal pills, four or five of them instantly exploded, and he was engulfed in black mist.

Taiyang Zi let out a bloodcurdling shriek, along with a spray of blood. Meng Hao's second true self instantly closed in on him.

As for Meng Hao, as soon as he appeared outside the courtyard, he instantly produced his war chariot. Rumbling filled the air as he shot back into the courtyard.

Only an afterimage remained in the spot he had just occupied, which was then instantly inundated by various divine abilities and magical techniques.

"Don't be so polite, Fellow Daoists!" he called out, looking back at the crowd and waving. "I don't need your gifts, really!" The ripples from the explosions couldn't catch up with him, leaving the onlookers so frustrated that their gums itched.

"Shameless!!"

"How could he have such a high cultivation base but be so despicable!?" Numerous such curses filled the air.

Meng Hao just smiled nonchalantly and hummed a little tune as he watched his second true self grab hold of Taiyang Zi and restrain him.

When Taiyang Zi saw Meng Hao approaching, he began to tremble, and his eyes shone with a brilliant light.

"I'm from the Holy Land of Mount Sun! Our founder was Patriarch Sun—"

SMACK!

Meng Hao walloped Taiyang Zi directly across the side of the face, causing blood to spray from his mouth, along with a couple teeth. He turned back to look at Meng Hao, a vicious expression of madness on his face.

"From the moment I started practicing cultivation," said Meng Hao, "I've heard Chosen like you say things like that when they're about to die. Do you know how annoying it is!?" Thinking about how often he had heard words similar to those uttered by Taiyang Zi, he kicked Taiyang Zi sharply with his right foot.

"Didn't you just say you were going to burn my bones and blood, then roast my soul?" Meng Hao kicked down again.

The shocked crowd looked on, trembling, as Taiyang Zi's howls entered their ears. The Dao Protectors and other cultivators from Mount Sun were enraged, and several of them flew forward.

"Stay your hand!!"

"Dammit, if you harm him, you'll call a great disaster down on yourself that will affect your entire clan!"

"Once the sun comes up, you're dead! No one will be able to save you!"

The two Mount Sun Dao Protectors stood outside the courtyard, glaring at Meng Hao and threatening him with gruesome words. In response, Meng Hao kicked Taiyang Zi again, provoking another miserable shriek, then turned and stared a the two Dao Protectors.

"I'm from the archaic Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite! My dad is—" Meng Hao suddenly stopped talking and cleared his throat. Quite a few hateful looks appeared among the crowd, especially from the people from Mount Sun. It was quite obvious that Meng Hao had just been mocking Taiyang Zi's words from moments ago.

Meng Hao grabbed Taiyang Zi and dragged him over to the well. He lifted the mountain and then said, "Why don't you and the wench fool around together down there!"

Taiyang Zi's eyes went wide, and he let out a panic-stricken yelp as he struggled against Meng Hao.

Meng Hao cleared his throat and then said, "Alright, I'll give you one last chance. You probably have a lot of magical items on you, right?"

"Let me go, and you can have them all!" Taiyang Zi blurted. He was truly frightened; down below, he could see Fan Dong'er and the soaking head, which was obviously a mysterious evil spirit connected to the Daoist rite temple.

"Hey, I'm a gentleman and a man of my word!" replied Meng Hao sternly. "What makes you think that I would contaminate my Karma by stealing your magical items!?" His expression became colder so quickly that Taiyang Zi gaped in shock. However, it only took a moment for his mind to flash with understanding, and he quickly unfastened his bag of holding and held it aloft.

"Here, I'm giving it to you as a gift!"

Meng Hao took it, opened it up, and looked through its contents. His eyes lit up, after which he turned to look at the command medallion hanging at Taiyang Zi's waist.

"Actually, that looks pretty nice…." he said.

"You can have it!"

"Eee? This thing is pretty nice too."

"You… you can have it!"

"I've never seen one of these before…."

"You can have it…." Taiyang Zi was on the verge of tears as he handed his belongings over to Meng Hao one by one.

Meng Hao's hand closed around a fist-sized chunk of golden-colored stone which emanated an intense heat and blinding light. From the feeling it gave off, it almost seemed like something was sleeping inside. When Meng Hao swept it with his divine sense, the music of a great Dao filled his mind, and he sensed a pulsating aura of danger.

It almost seemed like this rock… was a sun!

Meng Hao's eyes widened as he looked it over. He had never seen anything quite like this particular item.

He slowly pulled the rock out of Taiyang Zi's bag of holding.

Immediately, people on the outside began to comment in astonishment.

"A treasured magical item! It's a treasured magical item from Mount Sun!!"

"Mount Sun is really getting the short end of the stick today…."

Taiyang Zi's face was pale white as he looked bitterly at the rock in Meng Hao's hand. He had never even had a chance to take it out and use it before Meng Hao took it away from him.

Meng Hao closed his eyes as he examined the rock with his senses. After a moment, the heat emanating off of the rock seemed to decrease, and Meng Hao put it away. Then he opened his eyes and looked at Taiyang Zi. Eyes narrowing, he pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from within his robe, then handed them over to Taiyang Zi, whose eyes went wide with shock.