Yuwen Jian stared at the spot where Hong Bin had just died, his face ashen, hardly daring to believe what he had just seen.

"This is my fault...." he murmured.

"No it's not," said Meng Hao, grabbing him by the arm. "If we didn't come, he still couldn't have escaped from Dao-Heaven!" He pulled Yuwen Jian back. "We can't keep fighting here, let's go to the Fifth Nation!"

As Meng Hao backed up, Yuwen Jian's expression returned to normal. Burying his guilt and self-blame deep in his heart, he looked over at Dao-Heaven, and the desire to kill flickered stronger than ever in his eyes.

He said nothing, though, and simply joined Meng Hao in retreating.

Dao-Heaven glared at Meng Hao and said, "Flee to the ends of the earth and I'll still kill you today!"

He had been placed in mortal danger twice, all because of Meng Hao. Currently, his desire to kill Meng Hao had reached unprecedented heights. Without a moment's hesitation, he shot after them in pursuit.

Meng Hao and Yuwen Jian fled, and Dao-Heaven pursued.

The three of them shot through the air in beams of light, sending rumbling sounds out in all directions. Dao-Heaven snorted coldly, and the air beneath his feet folded in on itself as he apparently borrowed power to gain a sudden burst in speed. This was clearly the unleashing of some secret magic. In the blink of an eye, his speed increased several-fold, and he was getting closer and closer to Meng Hao and Yuwen Jian.

Meng Hao's eyes suddenly glittered, and he said quietly, "Yuwen Jian, you go on ahead!"

Then he spun and shot back toward Dao-Heaven. Yuwen Jian's eyes flickered; he was an intelligent person, so after a moment of thought, he continued to flee.

Meanwhile, Meng Hao waved his hand, unleashing the Mountain Consuming Incantation. One mountain after another rumbled down, forming together into a mountain range that crushed toward Dao-Heaven.

Dao-Heaven's eyes flickered with killing intent as he waved his hand, causing an explosive, violent wind to spring up. It was a black wind that contained biting coldness, and when it slammed into the mountains, they shattered. Dao-Heaven once again burst forward with incredible speed, nearly ten times as fast as before, to appear directly in front of Meng Hao. He grinned viciously as he jabbed his finger toward Meng Hao.

"DIE!" The finger moved with incredible speed until it was just about to stab through Meng Hao's forehead. However, in that moment, Dao-Heaven's eyes widened, and Meng Hao became nothing more than a ghost image.

Off in the distance, a flash of golden light could be seen, which was Meng Hao speeding away lightning-fast, in golden roc form. He had long since made his escape.

"How devious!" Dao-Heaven said with a cold harrumph. He originally thought that he could succeed with a single attack. He had never imagined that Meng Hao would have prepared in advance to flee in golden roc form, using the Mountain Consuming Incantation as a distraction.

The only thing he had left behind for Dao-Heaven was a fleeting ghost image.

"You can't get away!" he said, licking the blood from his lips and once again shooting after Meng Hao at top speed.

Meng Hao's face had an unsightly expression. He had never encountered anyone of his generation who was as strong as Dao-Heaven. He had to admit that, even in the Immortal Emperor Realm, he was still not a match for him.

"What kind of cultivation does he practice to get so strong? He entered the Ancient Realm nine times, and then pushed himself back down...?" Meng Hao frowned. Seeing that Dao-Heaven was chasing after him, he waved his hand to summon a Blood Demon head, which roared as it shot back toward Dao-Heaven.

Dao-Heaven snorted coldly and did nothing to evade. As the Blood Demon head closed in with gaping maw, he pushed both hands out in front of him and grabbed onto the upper and lower jaw, then began to rip it apart.

The Blood Demon head let out a miserable shriek; it was no longer a mere illusory form, but even still, it was powerless to stop Dao-Heaven. This was the first time Meng Hao had ever seen anyone deal with the Blood Demon head in such a way.

However as soon as the Blood Demon head shattered, a blood mist spread out in all directions. Just as Dao-Heaven was about charge through it, his eyebrows suddenly shot up, and he unhesitatingly shoved his hand out in front of him.

As he made the motion, a fist shot out from within the mist of blood, which instantly made contact with Dao-Heaven's palm.

A huge boom rang out, and Dao-Heaven's face fell. He felt an incredibly powerful force surging out of the fist. He roared, and his body surged with red light as he pushed back against the fist.

The blood mist parted, revealing Meng Hao. The fist strike from just now had been his, and now that Dao-Heaven was resisting it, blood oozed out of his mouth. He backed up a bit, and his eyes went wide as he prepared to pursue. However, Meng Hao did not flee. Instead, he unleashed another punch.

One punch! Two punch! Three punches!

Meng Hao had seemingly gone mad. In rapid succession, he unleashed over ten Life-Extermination Fists toward Dao-Heaven.

The two of them flew through midair, zig-zagging back and forth as they got closer to the border of the Sixth and Fifth Nations.

Blood oozed constantly out of Meng Hao's mouth. After reaching the seventeenth punch, his eyes flickered, and he switched to the Bedevilment Fist.

The punches were delivered with incredible speed, and even as Dao-Heaven countered with his palm, his expression flickered for the third time. His face was even paler than before, and as Meng Hao unleashed yet another punch, he fell back a pace.

As he fell back, Meng Hao shot forward, seizing the initiative. The Bedevilment Fist was once again unleashed with explosive force, once, twice, three times.

Dao-Heaven's face was extremely unsightly. He had now been forced back by two paces, and as Meng Hao's momentum built, he stepped back a third time.

"Are you looking to die!?" Dao-Heaven said coldly. After falling back a third time, he forced himself to step forward again. He lifted both hands into the air, stretched them out toward Meng Hao, and then ripped them apart!

"Heavenly Sundering!" he roared. As he jerked his hands apart, intense pain ripped through Meng Hao; it felt as if some intense power had entered his body and transformed into two massive hands that were trying to rip him into two pieces, starting with his chest.

In this moment of crisis, his eyes were shot with blood. He thought about using his second Nirvana Fruit, but decided against it. Now was not the time. He endured the pain, then sent his divine sense out into the area and, without any more hesitation, clenched his right hand into a fist, merging everything in the area into... the God-Slaying Fist!

God Slaying!

Rumbling could be heard as he growled and punched out. The blow caused Heaven and Earth to tremble in shocking fashion. It was as if all the heavenly bodies had been covered up, and even Dao-Heaven couldn't help but stare wide-eyed in shock.

RUUUUUUMMMMBLLLLE!

The blow screamed toward Dao-Heaven, smashing into the power of his Heavenly Sundering with a boom. Blood sprayed out of Meng Hao's mouth, and he tumbled backward.

Blood spurted out of Dao-Heaven's mouth. As the blood fell to the ground, it turned into another lake of blood. Dao-Heaven then waved his hand, causing it to bubble and boil, and then shoot toward Meng Hao. As for Dao-Heaven himself, his face was extremely unsightly, and his hands had actually been numbed.

"Thankfully I saw you use that fist strike against Lin Cong, and was able to prepare for it," he murmured. "Otherwise, it would have been difficult to deal with." The killing intent in his eyes flickered stronger than ever as he stepped forward to pursue Meng Hao.

Meng Hao sped backward, producing medicinal pills, which he immediately consumed. His Eternal stratum was also hard at work restoring him. Soon, he was near the border of the Sixth Nation. The Nine Nations of the Windswept Realm all had an invisible border region that existed between them.

Any time you passed through the border, your vision would swim, and you would feel pressure weighing down on you.

Meng Hao's eyes flashed as he caught sight of traces of Yuwen Jian's aura near the border region.

Without the slightest hesitation, he shot in the same direction as Yuwen Jian's aura, Dao-Heaven hot on his heels. The several-hundred-meter distance between them was rapidly shrinking.

Soon, Meng Hao passed through the border region, leaving the Sixth Nation and entering the Fifth Nation.

The pressure from the Fifth Nation instantly increased dramatically. Yuwen Jian was waiting just inside the border of the Fifth Nation, and as soon as he saw Meng Hao, he needed no prompting to guess at the plan Meng Hao had in mind. He threw his head back and roared, and his body rapidly increased in size. After a moment of preparation, he began to charge forward, passing Meng Hao and heading toward the barrier region.

Almost in that same instant, Dao-Heaven roared into the same area.

"So you're ambushing me in the border region between Nations, where the pressure is different! Parlor tricks!" Dao-Heaven laughed coldly, and without any hesitation, performed an incantation gesture and pointed out. Immediately, a black lotus appeared, which instantly exploded.

Black fog roiled out, along with an incredible force that slammed into Yuwen Jian. Blood sprayed out of his mouth, and yet, he didn't fall back, but punched out. Dao-Heaven strode forward, waving his right arm, which caused the Immortal Flail to appear on his arm again. He instantly lashed it out toward Yuwen Jian.

Yuwen Jian's eyes flickered as the Immortal Flail closed in. Suddenly, he stretched his hand out and made a grasping motion. Rumbling could be heard as a battle-ax appeared in his hand! It was none other than the Ancient treasure that Meng Hao had acquired!

Meng Hao had delivered it surreptitiously when he had pulled at Yuwen Jian's arm earlier, completely unbeknownst to Dao-Heaven. Yuwen Jian threw his head back and roared, then slashed at Dao-Heaven with the ax, unleashing power that could crush Heaven and Earth.

Dao-Heaven's eyes went wide; this was something that exceeded his powers of prediction. He waved his hand in defense, and yet, almost at the same time, his face fell, not because of Yuwen Jian, but Meng Hao!

After entering the Fifth Nation, Meng Hao slapped his bag of holding and pulled out his second Nirvana Fruit. Even as Dao-Heaven and Yuwen Jian began to fight, he slowly lifted the Nirvana Fruit up and pushed it down onto his forehead.

It sank into him, and he trembled as a terrifying aura erupted out from him.

This was what caused Dao-Heaven's expression to fall yet again.

ROOOOOAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!

Meng Hao threw his head back and roared as his body grew larger. 9 meters. 18 meters. 27 meters.... all the way to 45 meters. 60 meters.... 72 meters!

He was like a giant, with blue veins popping out on his head, his energy bursting up. He now had only one Immortal meridian, and the power of his qi and blood, as well as his cultivation base, caused azure light to shine out from him!

That azure light was a color that embodied respect. That was... the light of the Allheaven!

Dao-Heaven's face fell, and his eyes filled with disbelief. He was panting, and inwardly, he felt the most intense sensation of deadly crisis that he had ever felt in his entire life!!