The cultivator's face twisted, and screams of pain echoed out in all directions. Everyone who heard them was shocked to the core, and could scarcely even imagine how such pain could be possible. It was something almost beyond description.1

At best, you could say it felt like a hand being shoved into your brain and rifling around violently. Blood sprayed from the cultivator's mouth, and he suddenly went as stiff as a board. He was dead.

Despite his death, his corpse still adhered to Meng Hao's hand, and did not fall to the ground.

After a few breaths of time, Meng Hao's eyes glittered.

"Lin Cong, huh...? So you turned your four followers into doppelgängers to try to pull a fast one on me!" He lowered his hand, and the cultivator's corpse dropped toward the ground. Before it could even land, Meng Hao had shot off into the distance.

He sent his divine sense out into a wide area, looking for Lin Cong's true form. However, Lin Cong's magical technique was strange, and Meng Hao could find no weaknesses in it. The remaining four figures sped rapidly off in different directions. Another strange thing was that their auras were all slowly fading. It wouldn't be too long before they would disappear from Meng Hao's divine sense altogether.

Lin Cong's original plan had been to ensure that there was no aura for Meng Hao to detect at all. If he did spend time searching, at most, he would find the four cultivators he had switched bodies with.

However, Lin Cong could never have predicted that Meng Hao would arrive in the Fourth Nation so quickly. Instead of crossing through the other nations, he had chosen to pass directly over the central temple.

That formed a kink in his plan!

However, everything could be resolved as long as enough time passed. Meng Hao gave a cold harrumph. He patted his bag of holding, and numerous blackpod imps flew out, which he sent screaming out in all directions. They were like black bolts of lighting, emanating murderous auras.

Under the control of Meng Hao's divine sense, they sped out in pursuit, whereas Meng Hao did nothing. He did no pursuing whatsoever. He simply hovered there in midair above the Fourth Nation, equidistant from all of the fleeing versions of Lin Cong.

His method for determining which one was Lin Cong was a simple one. He would just wait to see what happened when the blackpod imps tried to possess the four different figures. Success or failure didn't matter; either way he would get some clues.

Soon, he looked up.

"Gotcha!" he said, vanishing.

Meanwhile, near the border between the Fourth and Third Nations, Lin Cong had an extremely unsightly look on his face. He was surrounded by more than ten screaming blackpod imps, all of whom were trying to possess him.

"What are these things!?" Lin Cong had a powerful cultivation base, but right now, he was reduced to about sixty percent of his power. As for the blackpod imps, their possession technique was bizarre. If they failed, they would transform it into a piercing divine sense attack that Lin Cong was having a hard time dealing with. A sensation of deadly crisis welled up in him, and he began to tremble.

As the feeling of imminent death grew stronger, he began to shake even more violently.

"I'm NOT going to die here!!" Filled with regret, he sent a mighty wind blowing out to drive away the seemingly unkillable blackpod imps. Then he gritted his teeth and, despite his weakened form, once again unleashed his Paragon magic!

The golden Holy Requiem Skull materialized in front of him, not as a way to attack the blackpod imps, but as a means of trying to find a way out of his current situation!

Lin Cong's face went pale as he realized there was no such way out.

"Impossible! Heaven never cuts off all paths! There's always hope in every situation!" Eyes gleaming with a vicious look, he bit the tip of his tongue, causing his body to wither rapidly. His hair even turned white.

He went all out, sacrificing even his longevity in an attempt to get his Paragon magic to reveal a means of escape.

Rumbling could be heard, and Lin Cong's body continued to wither, when finally, he found what he was looking for in the Holy Requiem Skull. After he saw it, he gaped in shock, then, laughing maniacally, viciously smacked his own chest. A huge blob of blood spurted out, which then splashed down onto the ground.

His laughter grew more and more intense as he spun around, a look of determination on his face. He then pushed his finger down onto his forehead, sending a tremor through his body. His eyes suddenly went blurry, but rapidly grew clear again. He glanced at the Holy Requiem Skull and realized that he was now missing some of the memories he had had before. Expression serious, he headed off into the distance.

Before too long, he was once again surrounded by blackpod imps. At the same time, a long beam of light appeared in the air not too far off, radiating killing intent.

"Lin Cong!" roared Meng Hao, his voice rumbling like thunder filled with Heavenly might, causing Lin Cong to shake. His divine sense was blessed with twenty percent of the qi flow of the Windswept Realm, transforming his voice into thunder from Heaven, and surrounding his body with a lake of lightning.

Lin Cong was nearly deafened by Meng Hao's voice. His mind spun, and blood sprayed out of his mouth. After reforming his body, he had only possessed sixty percent of his original cultivation base, making it very difficult to use his Paragon magic. In fact, wasting his longevity and life force the way he had just now caused his cultivation base to drop even further, until it was at only thirty percent of its original strength.

It didn't matter how strong he was before. With a cultivation base like that, he was like a candle flickering in the wind. Meng Hao's mere voice shook his heart and caused blood to spray out of his mouth. There was nothing he could possibly do to fight back.

All he could do was scream miserably, and look up with an unyielding expression.

He hated Han Qinglei, and hated the fact that he had greedily tried to snatch the Eighth Nation's World Seal. The end result had been complete ruin.

He also hated fate. The speed of Meng Hao's pursuit had ruined all of his preparations. All he had needed was another hour, and then he would have disappeared without a trace.

But now, everything had changed, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"The Heavens want to destroy me? Well, I'm not willing to die by your hand, Meng Hao!" Lin Cong began to laugh, a loud, shrill laughter.

"You want to know about Xu Qing, well... come on!" he screamed as he hovered there in midair. "Soulsearch me if you want, scrape the information out of my brain! I don't care!

"I just want you give me an honorable death!" He was in the Echelon, and second in power only to the Echelon cultivator from the First Mountain.

He was a blazing sun in the Fourth Mountain, and he was a proud person. Even if he died, he wanted to die with honor!

Meng Hao shot toward him like lightning. Without the slightest hesitation, he reached out and placed his hand onto the top of Lin Cong's head.

Meng Hao wouldn't believe anything that Lin Cong told him about Xu Qing; he needed to see it for himself!

He unleashed his Soulsearch magic, pouring his divine sense into Lin Cong's brain. Images from Lin Cong's life passed through his mind until finally, he saw Xu Qing!

She actually looked exactly the same as she had before entering reincarnation. She wasn't the most beautiful woman in the world, but her face was etched eternally onto Meng Hao's heart.

Lin Cong trembled from the indescribable pain. He clenched his teeth tightly, and didn't groan or moan at all. His eyes began to fade, and his body was shaking. However, his subconscious mind... demanded honor!

A moment later, Meng Hao lifted his hand away, and blood sprayed out of Lin Cong's mouth. His expression was blank, and his body was still trembling. His mind was gone, and apparently, the only thing he had left... was his honor.

Meng Hao said nothing. He now knew that when Lin Cong had said that Xu Qing would die if he did, it had been a complete fabrication. Actually, Meng Hao had already come to the conclusion earlier that such a thing wasn't possible.

He took another look at Lin Cong, then pulled his hand back and tapped his forehead. A massive power poured through him, wiping out any life that was left. Lin Cong shuddered, and for a brief moment, his eyes became bright and lucid. Then he closed them... and died.

His corpse dropped down to the ground, but his bag of holding was snatched by Meng Hao. Inside was the Fourth Nation's World Seal.

"Qing'er…" he murmured, "so, you're a disciple of Ksitigarbha, on the Fourth Mountain....

"Just wait for me, Qing'er. Once I'm out of this Windswept Realm, I'm coming for you!" Then he turned and disappeared in a flash of light.

He left the Fourth Nation, passing back through the central temple region and entering the Ninth Nation. All of a sudden, a tremor ran through him, and he turned to look back at the Fourth Nation.

"Something's off! I killed the Echelon cultivator from the Fourth Mountain. According to the natural law of the Windswept Realm, shouldn't I be rewarded for breaking a previous record…?" Putting his thoughts aside of Xu Qing, he suddenly reviewed everything that had happened with Lin Cong. Finally, his eyes widened.

He then smacked his bag of holding and produced a promissory note. After looking at it carefully, he confirmed that it was Lin Cong's promissory note, and then he suddenly smiled.

"These people definitely deserve to be in the Echelon. Han Qinglei had his schemes, and Lin Cong his plots. It seems that truly killing them won't be easy.

"So, you're not dead, Lin Cong. However, you will have no chances to rise to prominence here in the Windswept Realm. You'll be forced to hide from me, not daring to even stick your head out!

"I may not be able to track you down and kill you, but I've slaughtered your heart. I've planted a shadow there, ensuring that I become your inner Devil!

"You're not the first, nor will you be the last. The Windswept Realm... is the location where I, Meng Hao, will rise to prominence in the Nine Mountains and Seas! I will rise to prominence in the Echelon!

"When I leave this place, I will do so as... the number one in the Echelon!" He did not return to the Fourth Nation to continue searching for Lin Cong. Lin Cong's life or death didn't concern him anymore. With the status Xu Qing currently had in the Fourth Mountain, she was not somebody that could easily be trifled with.

Meng Hao flashed through the air toward Mount Whiteseal. After all of his years practicing cultivation, it was only during these battles that he had gradually formed a unique, domineering style that was all his own!

I have to be honest about something. In the original Chinese, it actually says that the feeling is impossible to describe. However, the following sentence then provides a description.We cleverly inserted the word "almost" to ensure that everything made sense...