The hundreds of Rogue Cultivators floating in mid-air didn't leave; they wanted to stay and watch the battle.

Each and every one could tell that this fog was not the work of the Black Lands Palace. Many of these people had lived in the area for a long time. After making some inquiries, they came to find out that the fog belonged to none other that the burgeoning Church of the Golden Light.

They gazed with intense looks as the speed of the fog increased, drawing it ever closer to the defenses of Dongluo City.

15 kilometers, 10 kilometers, 5 kilometers, 2.5 kilometers….

All the way until a massive explosion shook the land and sent vibrations out through the air. When the fog slammed into Dongluo City, sky and earth turned pale. Dongluo City shook as the leaves surrounding it began to glow. The fog churned violently, and an intense rumbling emanated out from it.

Next, the onlookers stared raptly as the fog began to cover over the leaves, slowly enveloping the entirety of Dongluo City.

As of this moment, Dongluo City was no longer visible; the only thing that could be seen was an all-encompassing fog.

However, those who looked closely could see that even though the Dongluo City defensive spell formation was covered by the fog, it hadn't been broken yet, and wouldn't anytime soon. This was not a battle between Cultivators but a struggle between spell formations.

Booming sounds rang out one after another. Suddenly, a thousand enormous phantoms appeared within the fog, causing the hundreds of Cultivators watching on from mid-air to gasp. These phantoms were roughly thirty meters in height, and they ran with incredible speed, black smoke streaming off of their forms.

As they ran, the fog grew thicker, and rumbling booms filled the air.

Furthermore, the top of the fog layer began to churn, and a figure rose up. He wore a long green robe, and his black hair whipped about in the wind. Golden light emanated out from his body; this was none other than Meng Hao.

"Patriarch Golden Light!!"

"So this fog is the work of Patriarch Golden Light! Is he crazy? He's only at the Core Formation stage, but he dares to pick a fight with the Dongluo Clan!"

"That spell formation might be strong, and the Dongluo Clan doesn't have a Spirit Severing Patriarch. However, they do have three Nascent Soul Elders. That's more than enough to hold a solid position in the entire area. Nobody around here dares to provoke the Dongluo Clan!"

Meanwhile, the fog-covered Dongluo City showed no signs of weakening. The countless leaves surrounded the city, within which were about a hundred Rogue Cultivators who had chosen to side with the Dongluo Clan. They were nervous, but having seen the effectiveness of the Dongluo City defenses, they were confident in their decision.

In the second level of the city, the Dongluo Clan Cultivators were breathing sighs of relief. The two Nascent Soul Elders' eyes shone with cold light, and they let out cold harrumphs.

The fact that the city's spell formation could resist this bizarre mist put them in an unassailable position. Even the Dongluo Clan Chief was feeling a bit more at ease.

One of the Nascent Soul Elders pulled out a jade slip. "I'm interested to see how formidable this guy's spell formation really is," he said, smashing the jade slip between his fingers. A green aura swirled up to form a light that shot out toward the city's leaf defense.

In the blink of an eye, the leaf spell formation began to emit a buzzing sound as hundreds of toxic wasps flew out from within. Each toxic wasp emitted a dangerous aura as it flew out from within the spell formation. However, even as they charged forward, the more than seventy Dongluo Clan members in the fog who were under the control of Meng Hao's Righteous Bestowal shot forward to meet them, their eyes glowing with a mysterious light.

"Dammit!" said the Dongluo Clan Nascent Soul Elder, his face falling. Obviously, he was observing the scene outside through the eyes of the toxic wasps. His right hand flickered with an incantation, causing the toxic wasps outside to veer away from the Clan members and search for Cultivators of the Church of the Golden Light.

Within the fog, the parrot let out a sharp squawk; immediately the running phantoms around him changed directions. Instantly, the fog transformed into a vortex, within which danced countless lightning bolts. The parrot's colorful feathers all stood on end and its eyes filled with a feverish look. It pushed the spell formation to the limits of its power in order to break the city's defenses.

"Lord Fifth swore an oath to screw this city!" it screeched, controlling the movements of the spell formation as if it were bewitched. "You just wait, Lord Fifth is coming!" The phantoms ran back and forth, trampling above the city, causing booms to fill the air, and the leaves to tremble.

As the two spell formations fought back and forth, Meng Hao floated in mid-air, looking down through the fog at Dongluo City within.

He lifted his right hand, flashed an incantation, and then pointed down toward the ground.

"Righteous Bestowal!" he said coolly. As his voice rang out, Meng Hao saw ghost images spring up everywhere. At the same time, strands of Qi rose up from all directions to circulate around him. He made a gesture toward the fog, and the Demonic Qi instantly began to coalesce and shoot toward it. It passed directly through the fog and then into Dongluo City's spell formation.

A boom rang out, causing everything to shake violently. Meng Hao continued to make incantation gestures with his right hand. More Demonic Qi surged forth, passing through the fog to slam into the other spell formation.

Everything that was happening caused the observing Rogue Cultivators to shake in their boots. They suddenly realized that Patriarch Golden Light was not someone to be looked down upon in the slightest.

Suddenly, a cold snort rang out from beneath the fog, filled with pride and scorn. "Paltry Church of the Golden Light! Piddling Core Formation child! You dare to use some bizarre fog spell formation to trap my Dongluo Clan members!?" The voice caused the air to shudder, echoing out far beyond the region of the fog.

Another voice rang out, that of an old man. "You don't know the height of the Heavens and the depth of the Earth, you little punk!" Suddenly, Dongluo City's leaf defenses began to emanate a bright green glow, within which, the images of leaves could be seen. It swirled around, emanating a booming sound that caused the fog to vibrate. The running figures inside suddenly began to show signs of weakening.

The parrot let out a squawk, and the fog suddenly began to churn. Rumbling sounds emanated out as the attack on the Dongluo City defenses redoubled.

A proud voice rang out: "The Dongluo City spell formation has been at the top for years. It has never been broken! Even the Black Lands Palace would have to pay a heavy price to get through it, let alone some piddling Church of the Golden Light!

"Your spell formation might be incredible, but how long will it last? Once you can't hold out any longer, I'll personally rip the skin off your body and hang it in my bedroom!" The echoing voice rang out to be heard by the hundreds of observing Cultivators, causing their hearts and minds to tremble.

A coldness glittered in Meng Hao's eyes. The reason he had chosen to use the spell formation to isolate Dongluo City and then use the Dongluo Clan members to attack, was because he knew that the general chaos in the Black Lands would prevent the Dongluo Clan from going all out.

He wanted to send a warning to the Dongluo Clan to not trifle with him. He and they were separate entities, and although blood had been spilled, not all issues needed to be solved with a massacre.

However, the arrogance of the Dongluo Clan showed no signs of lessening. In fact, it seemed to be growing more intense. A cold smile touched the corners of Meng Hao's mouth.

"Well in that case, Meng Hao understands," he thought. Slapping his bag of holding, he produced a black-colored medicinal pill.

As soon as it appeared, it began to emanate a mysterious glow that seemed capable of sucking in one's consciousness.

This was a poison pill personally concocted by Meng Hao, one of the more powerful varieties. With the wave of a hand, crushing the pill into ashy powder. It flew down to be sucked into the spinning fog vortex. After a moment, it began to descend onto Dongluo City's leaf defenses.

As the powder descended, the leaves began to contract and show signs of decay. They even emitted squealing sounds.

At the same time, Meng Hao pulled out another medicinal pill. He crushed this one as well, and as he sprinkled the resulting powder down, a Flame Sea sprang into being. The flames were mysterious and bizarre as they passed through the fog and down toward Dongluo City.

Next, Meng Hao produced a third pill, then a fourth and a fifth. He crushed them all into powder and sent them floating down, three deadly poisons that merged with the Flame Sea to become a five-colored hyper toxic poison.

The hyper toxic poison was something specially designed by Meng Hao using his skill in the Dao of alchemy. Poison pills that he created were not necessarily things that Nascent Soul Cultivators would fear, but anyone under that stage who were infected by them would be incapable of dispelling the poison without Meng Hao's assistance.

This fog was now a poison fog!

Multitudinous hissing noises rose up, and the fog seethed. In the space of an instant, Dongluo City went completely quiet. Everyone inside was looking up at the leaf shield, their faces flickering with various emotions.

The Dongluo Clan Cultivators all looked on with unsightly expressions. Even the two Nascent Soul Elders had looks of shock on their faces.

"This guy's also a poison expert!!"

"Dammit! How come no one uncovered such an important piece of information!?"

"Poison Cultivators are usually less powerful in direct combat, but in large-scale conflicts, their abilities can determine victory or defeat!"

The Dongluo Clan members were shocked, but the hundreds of observing Cultivators could do nothing more than gasp and looked at Meng Hao, their eyes filling with dread.

"Poison is only part one," said Meng Hao, his eyes gleaming with a sharp light. He waved his right hand, and the Lotus Sword Formation flew out toward the fog. Within the fog, it began to spin rapidly, sending out vast ripples containing the power of Time.

As the ripples spread out, it carried fog with them, which in turn contained Time power. The combination of the ten swords was equal to the power of more than ten sixty-year cycles of time.

The poison alone could cause extreme damage. However, combined with the power of Time, it transformed into a sort of terrifying baptism. The ripples spread out, bolstered by the unimaginable power of the fog spell formation. Poison, the power of Time, the imprisoning power of the spell formation, all of these things caused the spell formation to surge with boundless power.

As the Time ripples spread out, a handful of observing Cultivators who were relatively close by could see the vegetation on the ground withering up. Even the soil itself seemed to fill with signs of decay; signs of it could even be seen in the air.

Before the Cultivators who saw this could flee, the ripples hit them, and their faces flickered. They then employed every method possible to get away as quickly as they could. Even still, they weren't fast enough. All of them suddenly transformed from being middle-aged to being old. One of them even began to emanate a faint aura of death.

All of the observers gasped when they saw this, their faces filled with looks of unprecedented shock. Immediately, they began to fall back, fearful of coming into contact with the ripples.

"What magic is that?!?!"

"Time! That's Time, the power of Time! It's a divine ability that can cause you to age almost a whole lifetime in the blink of an eye!"

"Patriarch Golden Light is so powerful…. No wonder he dared to provoke the Dongluo Clan!"