The instant Meng Hao crushed the Violet Furnace Lord medallion, the moment his Violet Furnace Lord robe began to fade away, something happened in the State of Eastern Emergence, Violet Fate Sect, East Pill Division, on Grandmaster Pill Demon's low mountain.

In one particular building were three racks of jade slips.

On the third rack were nine jade slips. Upon each slip was written a name, and if you looked closely, you would see that they belonged to the nine great Furnace Lords, An Zaihai, Ye Feimu, and the others. These were all of Pill Demon's novitiates.

There was only one jade slip on the second rack. This one belonged to Chu Yuyan, his Personal Apprentice.

The first rack also contained one jade slip, upon which was written two characters. Fang Mu!

His position was the highest. Legacy Apprentice. This jade slip represented the importance of Meng Hao's place in the East Pill Division of the Violet Fate Sect. Suddenly, Fang Mu's jade slip began to tremble. Cracking sounds rang out, and fissures sprang out from the middle of the slip. In an instant… it exploded, transforming into flying ash.

The moment the jade slip collapsed, white-robed Pill Demon was sitting cross-legged on the mountain's peak, looking off into the distance. A tremor ran through his body. He turned his head, looking down into the room with the jade slips. He held his gaze for a long time. His ancient face suddenly seemed to grow older; more wrinkles appeared.

Meanwhile, in the center of the Southern Domain, in the middle of the territory of the Li Clan, was a location that appeared to be just like the dwelling place of Immortals. Suddenly, a roar filled the air. Along with the roar appeared a figure bristling with rage.

As the figure charged out, seven or eight others appeared behind him. The man held a shattered jade slip in his hand. It emitted a bright glow, in the middle of which was a face… it was none other than that of Meng Hao!

This was the reflection stored in Li Daoyi's pupils the moment before he died. Meng Hao's face.

"Daoyi!!" howled the old man, lifting his head to the sky and letting out a howl. A Dao Child of the Clan had been slain. Such a thing was said to have occurred to the Wang Clan years ago, but it turned out to only be a rumor. Even still, it had shocked the Southern Domain. Now, it really had happened to the Li Clan. This time, it was no falsehood; this Dao Child really had met his death.

"I don't care who you are," the old man raged, "you killed a Dao Child of my Li Clan! No matter which Sect you belong to, you shall die!!" He and the eight figures shot off into the distance. Behind them, even more Cultivators of the Li Clan followed, dozens. They transformed into prismatic beams of light that shot toward the Rebirth Cave at such speed it seemed possible they would tear a hole into the sky.

At the same time, in the Wang Clan of the Southern Domain, deep within that endless chain of mountains, was the lava cave of the tenth Patriarch of the Wang Clan. Suddenly, the lid of his coffin shattered into pieces, and the tenth Wang Clan Patriarch slowly rose to his feet.

He walked into the lava, and as he did, it slowly cooled and grew dark, as did the cave.

"As one of the legendary Wang Clan Patriarchs once said, all living things sow Karma. Therefore, Karma must be reaped. With life, comes death…. Today, I will help you. Yes, it's sowing Karma, but in the future, I will consume you, and that is the reaping of Karma that you must pay. Today, you will not die. However, that merely indicates that in the future, you will belong completely to me." The tenth Wang Clan Patriarch laughed hoarsely as a red glow surrounded his body.

"I haven't been out in so long…." he muttered lightly, then disappeared.

———

Near the Rebirth Cave, within the mental realm of the Immortal's corpse, in the depths of the maze, Meng Hao stood next to Li Daoyi's corpse, breathing heavily.

From the moment he had revealed his true features, Meng Hao had been in constant deep thought. Li Daoyi had to die. The instant Meng Hao had heard Ji Hongdong's words, Li Daoyi's fate had been sealed; he must be killed!

Only dead men can truly keep secrets. [1]

Xu Qing had her secret, as did Meng Hao. Were word to get out, Xu Qing would face unspeakable danger to her life…. In fact, her death would be certain.

Therefore, Li Daoyi had to die!

However, there was a polar difference between dying beneath Fang Mu's hand, and dying beneath Meng Hao's.

Meng Hao was no longer the ignorant youth he had been when he first entered the Cultivation world. In his years practicing cultivation in the Violet Fate Sect, his understanding of things had grown exponentially. How could he not understand that the death of a Dao Child of any Sect would instantly be made known to that Sect?

Furthermore, they had techniques to be able to reveal the appearance and aura of whoever did the slaying. Even determining the exact location where it had happened would not be difficult. It might be possible for the meat jelly to help him cover up the truth from the Li Clan. However… Meng Hao wasn't confident enough to take that risk.

Meng Hao was well aware of the situations, and the ramifications…. Therefore, he could not kill Li Daoyi while wearing the face of Fang Mu.

As such… he had no choice but to discard that identity.

As for Ji Hongdong, Quasi-Array member of the number one Clan in all the lands of South Heaven, well, if he died, Meng Hao could only imagine what the reaction of the Ji Clan would be. Any powerful and fearsome Clan would take serious action to handle the slaying of one of their Clan members. That was a necessary reaction to maintain the dignity and power of the Clan.

Killing Ji Hongdong would be like killing the prince of an Empire. An Empire might have many princes, but such a thing would provoke severe catastrophe and endless problems.

The Violet Fate Sect would really have no way to fight back against the Ji Clan. Based on An Zaihai's description, and Meng Hao's personal understanding, although the Violet Fate Sect was a great Clan in the Southern Domain, compared to the Ji Clan, it was like… a tiny mayfly.

If a Violet Fate Sect disciple killed a member of the Ji Clan, that death wouldn't just involve whichever trifling disciple did the killing. Most likely, the entire Sect would collapse because of it.

As Meng Hao's fingers crushed down onto his Violet Furnace Lord medallion, what he was thinking about was his Master. He also thought about the other Violet Furnace Lords. He thought about the green mountains and clear blue waters of the East Pill Division. He thought about all his experiences through the years there.

Despite all that… Ji Hongdong had to die!

If he didn't, Xu Qing would be in incredible danger. Furthermore, if the Ji Clan knew of the existence of a Demon Sealer, well… the mere thought of it caused Meng Hao's scalp to prickle with danger.

Therefore, Ji Hongdong was doomed to perish. Only his death could ensure Xu Qing's safety, and allow her to stay in the Black Sieve Sect and completely fuse with Matriarch Phoenix, without anyone suspecting her.

And so, Meng Hao crushed the Violet Furnace Lord medallion. It represented him casting off all ties with the Violet Fate Sect; he had nothing to do with them now. He was Meng Hao. Fang Mu was merely an alias. Once that information was revealed, the Violet Fate Sect would be able to offer a clear explanation.

Most importantly, destroying the medallion indicated that he was forsaking the Sect. It might even offer implication that Fang Mu was dead.

The only frustrating factor was that when he left this place, the Li Clan would be after his head. There would be nowhere in the vast Southern Domain where he could hide. He would be forced to leave, to truly disappear from the Southern Domain.

Furthermore, before disappearing, he must prepare for what would surely be a vast series of storm-like upheavals.

All of this had been rushing through his mind the moment Xu Qing's identity was revealed to Ji Hongdong. Despite Meng Hao's breakthrough in Cultivation base, he was still hesitant at first. In the end, though, he was filled with resolve.

"Master," he thought, slowly looking off in the direction of the Violet Fate Sect. "I've been unfilial…. Please view Fang Mu as… dead!" His eyes flashed as he looked back at Ji Hongdong. For the first time, they flickered with killing intent. It takes some time to analyze all of the thoughts that went through Meng Hao's head, but in actuality, they flashed through his head in an instant. As they did, they transformed into intense killing intent.

This killing intent caused Ji Hongdong's mind to tremble. This was the first time he had ever seen someone staring at him in such a way. In the past, it didn't matter where he went or which enemy he fought, people would attack him, but never with the desire to exterminate him.

That was because his surname was Ji. The bloodline of the Ji Clan pumped through his veins. In the Southern Domain, in the lands of South Heaven, few people would ever dare to provoke the Ji Clan!

"You want to kill me? Do you dare?!" His eyes glittered coldly as he lifted his right hand and performed an incantation gesture. Immediately Core Qi blossomed above his head. Again, the starfield appeared. This time, there were clearly far more blinking stars than there had been before. They covered everything above them, filling the area, then rushing down toward Meng Hao.

As the bright starlight descended upon him, Meng Hao's killing intent continued to flicker just as before. The stars approached, and he lifted his right hand, striking forward. As he did, his blood-covered fingers caused everything to shake. Suddenly, a massive blood-colored palm appeared beneath him.

The bloody palm grew larger, expanding; next the Blood Death World came to being, within which Meng Hao's Blood Clones could be seen. They faced the incoming starlight and starfield, and immediately moved to defend against it.

The Blood Palm shot upward like the hand of a giant, slamming into the starfield.

A boom filled the air. Meng Hao's entire body trembled, and blood oozed from his mouth. The starfield began to collapse, and the starlight dissipated. However, Meng Hao's Blood Death World also began to disintegrate.

At the moment, Meng Hao hadn't yet cultivated Core Qi. Right now, he was now facing up against a Cultivator who had; however, Meng Hao was vastly different than the last time he had done so, against the azure-masked Black Lands Cultivator. He would not flee; no, he was much more evenly matched now.

Ji Hongdong's expression changed; blood sprayed from his mouth and he staggered backward. A fierce expression washed over his face, and he waved his right hand out.

"Other than that damned crazy lunatic from the Fang Clan, you're the first person to ever injure me! Damn you! Dungeon of Heaven; Incarnate Prison!" As he cried out, his hand flashed an incantation gesture and then waved toward the air above Meng Hao. Immediately, a blue glow appeared, spreading out to cover everything. It transformed into… a blue sky complete with white clouds, its own Heaven.

Even stranger, this sky covered Meng Hao only; everywhere else looked just as it had before.

"Let ring the Bell of the East. Nine exterminations; use the will of the Heavens to destroy the body; use the gaze of the firmament to punish the spirit; use the bloodline of the Ji Clan to punish this person with Heavenly Tribulation!" Veins of blood filled Ji Hongdong's eyes. He lowered his finger, and the blue swath of Heaven above Meng Hao filled with roiling black clouds. Thunder crackled, and even more shockingly, it seemed lightning would soon fall.

"You want to kill me? You're not qualified!" Ji Hongdong slapped his bag of holding, and a silver bell appeared in his hand. Immediately, a clear ring sounded out.

"Use the bloodline of the Ji Clan and the guidance of the Bell of the East to call forth the judgement of the will of the Heavens against this Meng Hao! DIE!" His face distorted with rage as he let out a roar.