The actual time it took all of these things to happen was only ten breaths!

Ten breaths of time earlier, Meng Hao had emerged from within the shield. Ten breaths of time later, one enemy was already dead!

That was a true fatality! Simultaneously taking on three people and killing one of them almost instantly!

It was quick and efficient, without the slightest bit of sloppiness to it. Meng Hao had anticipated every move up to the killing blow precisely and accurately. Not only did it show how ruthless Meng Hao was, and how rapidly he took control of the situation, the fact that he had used so many divine abilities in unison... left all onlookers shocked at the level of his battle prowess.

Yuwen Jian's eyes widened, and he took a deep breath. He had known before that Meng Hao was strong, but he had never imagined that he could actually be... this strong. He asked himself if he could kill that male cultivator in only ten breaths of time, and realized that it would have been difficult. And that was without taking into account the two people trying to interfere.

However, Meng Hao had accomplished it all as smoothly as flowing water. Then, he spun around and attacked the female cultivator, borrowing her power to also knock aside the incoming sword qi at the same time, even utilizing it to increase his speed.

"I can't believe it.... He's not retreating, he's attacking!" When Yuwen Jian saw what was happening, his mind spun. All of a sudden, he realized that the most shocking and terrifying thing about Meng Hao wasn't his power, but rather, his fighting style and domineering air.

Virtually anyone else in his position would take advantage of the moment to flee, to get a bit of distance from the opponent before resuming the fight. Not so with Meng Hao. He took advantage of the situation to attack. He moved with such incredible speed that, within the blink of an eye, he was almost upon the female cultivator.

The fact that he made such a choice caused Yuwen Jian to inhale sharply. In the woman's moment of emotional instability, he chose to attack her to gain an advantage.

"However, that's also the most dangerous decision. If it were me, I would go for Hai Dongqing!"

"DIIIIEEEEEEEEE!" the woman howled madly as Meng Hao closed in. It almost seemed as if she had lost her mind, as if the only thing she could think about was killing Meng Hao, no matter the cost.

She roared as her body burst into flames, then she sacrificed her longevity, exchanging it for a momentary return to youthful vigor. She performed an incantation gesture, causing countless flower petals to swirl around her, which turned into a tempest, a sea of flowers that surged to overwhelm Meng Hao.

In the moment before he was inundated, he suddenly waved his hand, causing a host of black pods to fly out. Popping sounds could be heard as they transformed into tiny imps that sped toward the female cultivator, uttering soundless screams.

Clearly, they hoped to take advantage of her mental instability to possess her.

The blackpod imps bored into her body, attempting to forcibly possess her. She began to tremble, and then her face flickered. A miserable scream rang out, and her divine ability lost stability. In the end, Meng Hao didn't even avoid it, he simply walked through the tempest of flower petals.

Next, he turned into a golden roc. Golden light flashed as he closed in on the woman, then returned to human form and unleashed a fist strike.

A boom could be heard as blood sprayed from the woman's mouth. She flew backward, expression twisted. The blackpod imps were all failing in their possession attempts, and yet upon failure, they would burst out of her and unleash divine sense attacks, causing the already flustered woman to descend further into madness.

All of this happened in the mere time it takes a spark to fly off of a piece of flint. Hai Dongqing's face fell; he couldn't simply allow Meng Hao to kill another person. If that happened, he himself would be in danger. Roaring, he performed an incantation gesture, causing nine illusory swords to materialize around him.

"Subdue Heaven! Nine Stifling Swords!" In unison with his roar, the nine swords began to emit a droning sound. Unexpectedly, in the very middle of the nine swords, the illusory image of an old man appeared. Although his face wasn't clear, he emanated a shocking sword will that exploded out, causing the nine swords to shoot toward Meng Hao.

Meng Hao frowned slightly. At first, the nine swords hadn't seemed very intimidating. However, once the illusory old man appeared among them, they changed, as if they were suddenly intelligent. In fact, their sword aura redoubled.

He could probably dodge the incoming swords, but if he did, he would lose his chance to slay the female cultivator, giving her time to recover and force out the rest of the blackpod imps. If she and Hai Dongqing joined forces to attack together, it would be very troublesome.

These thoughts flashed through Meng Hao's mind, and then a flash of determination could be seen in his eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, he ignored the incoming nine swords, transformed into a golden roc, and shot toward the woman, slashing at her with his talons.

The woman screamed miserably as her flesh was flayed, causing blood to spurt out everywhere. Suddenly, her eyes grew clear, and more blackpod imps were ejected out of her. However, doing so caused more divine sense attacks to be levied against her, making her tremble and cough up more blood.

Enduring the divine sense assault, the woman opened her mouth, causing a blood-colored beam of light to fly out. It immediately transformed into a blood parasol, which spread out to deflect the incoming attacks.

Meng Hao didn't pause for a moment. He waved his right hand, causing a gale-force wind to spring up. A Blood Demon head appeared, roaring as it slashed into the blood parasol. Meng Hao in golden roc form then sped through the illusory Blood Demon head, clenching his right hand into a fist which he lashed out toward the woman's forehead. It was at this point that the first of the nine swords, the fastest, pierced through the void into Meng Hao's back. After stabbing into him, it vanished, transforming into a sword will that slashed around destructively inside him.

He gave a muffled grunt, and his right hand trembled, giving the woman an opportunity to try to dodge. Meng Hao gave a cold snort and continued to deliver the strike, missing her forehead, but connecting with her chest.

Blood sprayed out of her mouth, and her chest collapsed into a mass of gore. She sped back, borrowing the momentum of his blow to force out some more blackpod imps. Her eyes were now even clearer, and as she stared at Meng Hao, she waved her hand, causing a red mist to sweep out and cover her entire body. Behind Meng Hao, three more swords bore down.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Three swords stabbed into him, transforming into destructive sword wills. Blood oozed out of the corners of his mouth, and then suddenly, his left eye glittered. The starstone therein then spread out explosively, causing him to transform into a planet that shot toward the red mist. A moment later, he had smashed through it, and was directly in front of the woman.

The female cultivator's eyes went wide, and her hands flew out, causing numerous magical items to appear. Furthermore, a suit of armor suddenly covered her. However, almost as soon as the magical items appeared, they were crushed by Meng Hao's divine abilities.

Her shields shattered and her armor collapsed into pieces. She appeared to be just on the verge of dying when, all of a sudden, a pendant which hung around her neck began to emanate a soft light.

Bright light covered her, which just barely took on the shape of a man, who then wrapped her up in his arms and flew backward.

That man was none other than the male cultivator Meng Hao had slain moments ago!

It wasn't a clone, but rather a soul fragment, branded into the pendant, which then became a life-saving magical item. It was the last memory of the man that existed for her in the whole world. Once used up, it would vanish forever.

"NO!" Tears streamed down the woman's face. Although she was retreating, her heart was already broken.

Rumbling sounds could be heard as the planet was blocked, incapable of killing the woman. Meng Hao appeared in his usual form, blood oozing out of the corners of his mouth. He sighed softly.

"I wasn't looking to kill anybody, but you people started this fight. If I didn't kill you, you would have killed me. Perhaps you two loved each other, but... why did you have to come here and provoke me?" He shook his head and advanced, forming his right hand into a fist. When he punched out, the illusory man who was protecting the woman began to vanish.

"Well, never mind. Even though we're enemies, if I don't kill you, you'll try to kill me. Considering how you feel about each other, I'll... help you out a bit." With that, he stopped punching, and instead waved his hand to cause Divine Flame to explode out. It transformed into a sea of fire, which he sent to engulf the woman and the soul fragment.

The weakened woman instantly began to be burned up by the flames. Her body rapidly turned into ash, but her Immortal soul didn't vanish. Instead, both of their souls were wrapped up by the Divine Flame, which then began to carry them up into the Heavens.

"This Divine Flame will open the river to the Yellow Springs. The natural laws of the Windswept Realm might be incomplete, but it surely still has an underworld." He then punched upward toward the Heavens, causing the sky to tremble. The Divine Flame ripped open the sky to reveal a huge illusory river, pitch-black, within which flowed numerous sleeping souls.

The souls of the man and the woman entered the black river at the same time. As they sank down into the river, the man's soul fragment turned to look at Meng Hao. There was no longer any hatred in his eyes, but instead a complicated look that eventually turned into gratitude.

Then they vanished.

Meng Hao turned to look behind him. He lifted his hands, and the five remaining incoming swords ground to a halt. They radiated killing intent, but they did not advance any further.

Meng Hao's face was pale white, his cultivation base surging. Seeing Meng Hao block his swords caused Hai Dongqing's face to darken. Forcing down his shock, he let out an enraged shout and then shot forward.

Performing an incantation gesture, he caused 1,000,000 illusory swords to combine, creating a massive, astonishing greatsword. It did not slash or swipe, but instead... stabbed through the air toward Meng Hao.

As the massive greatsword stabbed toward Meng Hao, he lifted his left hand up, clenched it into a fist, and unleashed the God-Slaying Fist, which slammed into the tip of the sword.

BOOOOMMMMMM!

Starting at the tip, the entire sword shattered. In the blink of an eye, it collapsed into millions of swords images. Blood sprayed out of Hai Dongqing's mouth, and a look of surprise filled his face.

"Too strong!" he thought, heart pounding because of Meng Hao's intense power. From the beginning of the fight to this moment, the pressure in his mind had continued to build until he was shaking. The fear that filled him that was the same type he had experienced when facing Dao-Heaven!

As for Meng Hao, after unleashing his God-Slaying Fist, he threw his head back and roared. His body began to grow, and cracking sounds could be heard as the five swords twisted and then exploded. At the same time, the other four swords which had stabbed into him were ejected out.

He was as powerful as a celestial warrior!