The tenth outpost was waiting, its spell formation fully activated in preparation to meet this deadly foe.

It was night now, and the light of the spell formation was not soft, but rather, resplendent. It shone out onto the waters of the sea with brilliant colors. The radiance of the light emanated a mighty aura which made it clear that this spell formation was far more powerful than the formations from the other outposts.

In fact, there was no way to compare them. The spell formation of the tenth outpost seemed so incredibly powerful that it would surely make it very difficult for Meng Hao to break through it.

In the middle of the spell formation, the Cultivators waited vigilantly, their Qi settled and their minds calm.

There were sixteen Nascent Soul Cultivators present who sat cross-legged, meditating. Three were at the peak of the late Nascent Soul stage. Those three sat in three different directions, each sharing a portion of the recoil caused by the spell formation.

There were even more Cultivators maintaining the general operation of the spell formation. The entire outpost was completely silent.

They knew of the destruction of the other nine outposts, and of the slaughter carried out by Meng Hao. They knew that they were about to face up against something completely terrifying.

However, they weren't very afraid. They knew that Patriarch Huyan was coming, and so had made up their minds to not leave the spell formation. They had quite a bit of trust in its strength, and believed that as long as they stuck together, Meng Hao would not be able to quickly break through.

As long as they could hold out until Patriarch Huyan arrived, then the sky would become clear after the storm, so to speak, and everything would return to normal. Meng Hao would assuredly be killed!

Virtually everyone in the tenth outpost felt the same way. Also within the spell formation was a tall rack, upon which hung the corpses of fifty members of the Golden Crow Tribe. Not a single one remained alive. They were all dead….

They had died days before, actually. Especially noteworthy was that one of the dead tribe members had no body, only the head, that of an old man. His Cultivation base had clearly been destroyed before he died, rendering him nothing but a mortal.

Also within the spell formation were two enormous war chariots shaped like crossbows. They glowed with a black radiance, and had an indistinct, fierce aura. Cultivators were mounted on the chariots, ready to use them at a moment's notice.

Time passed. Soon, the deepest hour of night approached. The sky was pitch black. The only sound that could be heard was the gentle rise and fall of the waves. All of a sudden, a beam of bright light appeared in the sky. It instantly caught the attention of all the Cultivators.

"He's here!"

"This Meng Hao has really got some guts. However, it doesn't matter that he dares to attack us. He'll never be able to break through the spell formation!" Quite a few people were looking up with cold smiles on their faces. However, even as they looked up at the red glow….

The Violet Sea around the tenth outpost suddenly surged into a huge whirlpool. The whirlpool spun faster and faster, causing the faces of everyone in the outpost to flicker. The water seethed and the airships bobbed up and down. Booming filled the air.

Next, the bright beam of light in the air neared, and the mastiff's enormous frame became visible. The crowds could also see Meng Hao standing on its head. He wore a long green robe, and his face was extremely grim and dark. An astonishing killing aura rose up around him.

Meng Hao's eyes swept across the tenth outpost, then suddenly came to a stop. His pupils constricted as he stared at the corpses of the Golden Crow Tribe members hanging from the rack, and the head.

When he saw the head, his heart filled with stabs of pain.

It was Gu La!

"Patriarch Huyan…." he murmured. "Heavenly Pursuit Tribe." The killing aura in his eyes changed, becoming ruthlessly dense. He looked down at the tenth outpost and pointed his finger.

Instantly, the Violet Sea roared as the whirlpool that surrounded the tenth outpost suddenly rose up into the air.

A massive pillar of seawater, three thousand meters in area, completely enveloped the outpost. Roaring filled the air. It was like the eruption of a geyser. The outpost's spell formation was utterly incapable of standing up to such power. It immediately exploded.

At the same time, the vast collection of airships began to shatter into pieces. The crowds of Cultivators in the outpost were screaming miserably. They couldn't even control their own bodies as they were swept into the seawater. As soon as they touched it, the death will in the seawater collided with their life forces, causing the power of extermination to erupt.

In the blink of an eye, before any of the Cultivators could even use a divine ability, their bodies burst. The could not fight back, or block, or evade!

All of their power had been focused in defending against attacks from above. All their plans had been based on the reports regarding Meng Hao's Cultivation base and the fearsomeness of the mastiff. They hadn't prepared for… an explosive attack by the Violet Sea!

How could they ever have imagined that someone could actually control… the Western Desert's Apocalyptic Violet Sea!?

It was impossible to believe that someone could even enter into the Violet Sea. Therefore, the outpost's seemingly fierce and powerful spell formation had a fatal flaw: it had no bottom!

Roaring filled the air as the entire tenth outpost was completely scattered and smashed. All the advanced preparations that had been made were crushed like dry weeds under the power of the Apocalyptic Violet Sea. The two war chariots weren't even able to make a single attack before they were crushed by the seawater and destroyed.

Crowds of people died without Meng Hao having to make a single attack of his own. A mere thought on his part caused the Violet Sea to explode out, completely burying the tenth outpost.

This was his home ground!

The Western Desert Violet Sea!

The corpses sank down, and the wreckage floated about. Not a single person in the tenth outpost was capable of existing within the exterminating power of the Violet Sea. All of them… were dead!

Death is oftentimes quite simple.

Life is oftentimes quite fragile.

People who have never witnessed death might not understand these two statements. Sometimes, only after witnessing many deaths can one truly understand life.

Meng Hao hovered in mid-air looking down at the death below him. He said nothing. The waters of the Violet Sea that had shot up into the air now transformed into a violet rain that slowly fell back down onto the wreckage below.

Meng Hao slowly lifted his head to gaze off into the distant sky.

In the gigantic wave on the Violet Sea, there were now more than a hundred living members of the Golden Crow Tribe. The rest… were all corpses.

The living members were only there because Meng Hao had saved them. Had only a few more days passed, all of them would have been dead.

This number of deaths was actually somewhat trivial when compared to how many people had died during the migration. However, these deaths were fundamentally avoidable. Furthermore, the entire matter actually had nothing to do with the Golden Crow Tribe.

Even Meng Hao was a victim in this case. By now, Meng Hao was certain that Patriarch Huyan knew the truth of what had happened.

He stood there silently atop the mastiff, glancing around coldly.

He was waiting. Waiting for Patriarch Huyan to arrive!

Before too much time passed, a black beam appeared in the sky that was even blacker than the night. As it approached it kicked up a shocking windstorm.

Within the windstorm was a middle-aged man dressed in a black robe. His hands were clasped behind his back as he strode through the air.

His long hair whipped about in the wind, and his eyes were piercingly bright. The aura that he emitted made him seem as if he were fused with Heaven and Earth. It seemed to contain its own law of nature that, in the blink of an eye, made the man suddenly translucent.

Suddenly, a Domain which exterminated emotion began to interfere with Heaven and Earth, enveloping everything. Around Meng Hao, black snowflakes suddenly began to flutter down.

This was Patriarch Huyan!

"Meng Hao!" he said coldly as he strode through the air. Cracking sounds could suddenly be heard from the Violet Sea beneath him as layers of ice formed.

Even the surrounding air began to freeze as a black snowstorm surrounded Patriarch Huyan. Another sound rang out, something that was like tens of thousands of voices all calling out Meng Hao's name.

A power Meng Hao had never encountered before suddenly descended. It was like a natural law within the area. It appeared in Meng Hao's mind and then transformed into an unprecedentedly loud noise that exceeded that of thunder and lightning.

It was as if it were calling out to deceased souls, trying to collect together the broken spirits. Actually, Patriarch Huyan's divine ability could better be described as…

A shocking call of broken souls!

The coldness in the area seemed to be filled with emotionlessness1. The coldness of the voices seemed to contain a heavenly might based on the lack of emotion. The sounds fused together, transforming into something like a rule of law… that could not be ignored!

This was the Spirit Severing stage. A simple sound was enough to exterminate all Nascent Soul Cultivators. Even someone of the great circle of the Nascent Soul stage was puny to the extreme in front of a Spirit Severing Cultivator.

Boom!

Meng Hao's mind trembled, and his soul felt as if it were going to shatter and explode out of his body. The flame of his life flickered, as if it were about to be snuffed out. However… he was not an ordinary Nascent Soul Cultivator. He had a Perfect Nascent Soul Cultivation base with Divine Sense that had a range of 29,999 meters.

His seven Nascent Souls sat cross-legged in his dantian region, eyes closed, almost as if sleeping. Suddenly, all of their eyes snapped open.

In that instant, the power of Meng Hao's Divine Sense exploded up within him, fighting back against the power of law that was being levied against him.

Roaring filled the air as Meng Hao retreated backward. He lifted his head up, and his eyes were bright and clear.

"So, you're Patriarch Huyan!" he said slowly, looking at the approaching middle-aged man. Meng Hao's eyes shone with a fierce glow. He had seen this man before, of course. It was the same person who had tried to kill him when he left the Black Lands.

Even as he spoke, Meng Hao's expression began to radiate killing intent. He remembered hearing Zhixiang say that this man… was merely a clone!

Patriarch Huyan's eyes glittered, as if he found it very strange that Meng Hao was able to recover from his power of law. He continued forward nonetheless, not stopping for a moment as he approached Meng Hao.

Such action had a lot to do with his personality, and Huyan Yunming's special fighting style. Any time he fought someone, he would push down on them with an intense pressure.

As he neared Meng Hao, it seemed as if his aura grew even stronger, fusing together with the surroundings, becoming inseparable.

The might of Spirit Severing was impossible to overlook. The surroundings seemed to be changing only because of him.

Patriarch Huyan didn't even look at the wreckage floating on the surface of the Violet Sea, as if he didn't care about it at all. "Answer me. Who killed my only son, Huyan Qing?"

He suddenly stopped in mid-air. His voice echoed out, and his expression was calm, even cool. He glanced over Meng Hao, and then the mastiff. At that point, his pupils constricted.

What I'm translating as "emotionless" could also be translated as merciless, ruthless, apathetic and cold