When Xiao Luo made his appearance, a cold wind sprang up, causing his hair and robes to flutter. He was clearly male, but there was also something overtly feminine about him. This was especially true when it came to his cheerless eyes, which caused his handsome features to be strangely twisted.

Xiao Luo stood there in the middle of the arena, looking at Meng Hao.

Meng Hao's expression was the same as ever as he stood there looking past the nine upright coffins at Xiao Luo.

"Nine Heavens Asura Squad!" cried Xiao Luo, his eyes flickering with killing intent. He waved his hand, causing rumbling sounds to emanate out of the nine coffins, which then simultaneously opened, causing a thick aura of death to spill out.

The air twisted, and strange colors danced. Nine tall figures appeared within the coffins, nine corpses who abounded with auras of death. Their bodies were not decomposing, but rather, mummified. They wore tattered clothing and had vicious expressions, and it was just possible to tell that seven were men and two were women.

"Kill him!" said Xiao Luo with a vicious chuckle. A ruthless gleam could be seen in his eyes as the nine corpses charged toward Meng Hao, kicking up a foul wind.

They closed in on Meng Hao in the blink of an eye. However, Meng Hao's expression didn't change in the slightest. He extended his right hand, within which materialized the World Tree spear with the bone spearhead. Then, he dashed forward like the wind, the spearhead leading the way.

A bang could be heard, along with an ear-piercing rumble as a huge vortex appeared, spreading out in all directions and instantly interfering with the nine corpses' movement.

Meng Hao moved rapidly, bypassing the corpses and heading directly toward Xiao Luo. In the time it takes a spark to fly off of a piece of flint, Xiao Luo performed an incantation gesture with his right hand and pointed toward the surface of the arena. Immediately, Yin-type qi surged up, transforming into a blast that shot toward Meng Hao like a huge wall.

A boom could be heard as Meng Hao's spear pierced the Yin qi wall. The wall shuddered and then collapsed, after which Xiao Luo waved his hand, causing nine black magical needles to appear. They immediately shot toward Meng Hao like nine black vipers.

At the same time, the nine corpses that were now behind Meng Hao turned, becoming black beams of light that immediately began to surround Meng Hao.

Xiao Luo laughed coldly. He had unleashed his most powerful magic in an attempt to catch his opponent off-guard.

"DIE!"

In this moment of deadly crisis, Meng Hao simply snorted. He stabbed his spear into the surface of the leaf, causing a boom to echo out. Cracks spread out across the surface of the arena as a shocking energy suddenly exploded. It transformed into a storm-like vortex that spread out in all directions, slamming into the corpses. The corpses fell back, trembling, and as for the nine needles, cracking sounds could be heard as they simply fell to pieces mid-flight.

Within the screaming vortex, Meng Hao released his grip on the spear, then transformed into the vulture. There was a flash, and then he appeared directly in front of Xiao Luo and slashed at him viciously.

Boom!

Xiao Luo's face fell, and he quickly performed an incantation gesture, causing the Yin qi to surge, transforming into another wall to block against the vulture's slash. A huge boom could be heard as that wall collapsed, too. Before Xiao Luo could even fall back in retreat, the vulture vanished and Meng Hao reappeared, his leg flashing around in a spinning kick.

A bang could be heard as the kick, seemingly powerful enough to smash mountains, formed a semicircle and slammed directly into Xiao Luo. In that critical moment, Xiao Luo's eyes went wide, and he spit a pearl out of his mouth. The pearl emanated a powerful glow that attempted to block the kick, and yet instantly shattered, completely incapable of standing up to the attack. However, it did manage to give Xiao Luo a moment of breathing room. Coughing up blood, he rapidly fell backward in retreat.

At the same time, Meng Hao increased his speed and levied another attack. Currently, he paid no heed to defending, but rather, attacked like lightning, like a windstorm that could crush anything in its path.

He bore down on Xiao Luo like a tempest, performing an incantation with his right hand and then stabbing his finger out ahead of him. The shocking finger attack caused the air to vibrate, and Xiao Luo's face to fall. This magical battle was unfolding so quickly that Xiao Luo had no time to even breathe. He had to exercise complete and utter attention; the slightest misstep would leave him dead.

Xiao Luo performed an incantation gesture as fast as possible, causing the Yin qi to form into numerous pearls.

"Burst! Burst! BURST!" roared Xiao Luo. Booms rang out as the pearls flew toward Meng Hao and then exploded, transforming into a powerful shockwave that swept out in all directions. A vicious smile appeared on Xiao Luo's face. The Yin qi pearls seemed ordinary, but in fact, they were a secret magic from the Paleo-Immortal Mausoleum. Any one of those explosions was powerful enough to slay a peak Dao seeking expert.

Xiao Luo knew his opponent was powerful, but even a Stone Golem would at least be injured by their detonation.

"I just need to put a bit of distance between us," Xiao Luo thought with a cold laugh. "Then I can send the nine corpses to slaughter him!" Just as Xiao Luo was about to continue to fall back, the air twisted as Meng Hao actually stepped into the explosions. To him, these detonating pearls could do nothing more than inflict flesh wounds. His right hand clenched into a fist and he sent out a punch.

BOOM!

Xiao Luo let out a miserable shriek. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he tumbled backward. In the blink of an eye, Meng Hao was on him again, slamming out with an attack that could shatter rock. Xiao Luo once again fell back, blood pouring from his mouth.

In the blink of an eye, ten more exchanges were made. Meng Hao's shocking energy and will of invincibility made it so that all Xiao Luo could do was fall back and focus all of his energy on defending himself. He wasn't the slightest bit capable of attacking.

Meng Hao's moves were just too swift and too vicious. Booms echoed out in the short span of a few breaths that to Xiao Luo, seemed like a very, very long time. Then, a cracking sound rang out as his leg was broken by Meng Hao.

Intense pain caused his face to go pale. A look of complete astonishment could be seen on his face.

"Dammit," he thought, "I can't let him build up any more energy. Otherwise, I'm going to be defeated for sure!"

The crowds outside watched the semifinal qualification rounds with intense concentration. Many were focusing on Meng Hao, and were completely astonished by what they saw.

"If I were in Xiao Luo's place, I would be just as powerless!"

"This Fang Mu is completely domineering! His attacks are swift and fierce; he's totally incomparable!!"

"You definitely can't let yourself be put on the defensive when facing Fang Mu. Doing that… is just giving him a chance to explode with ferocity and turn the battle into a catastrophe!"

Xiao Luo gritted his teeth, and a look of madness appeared on his face. Roaring, he caused bursts of Yin qi to explode out, which formed into numerous ghostly figures. Just as he was going to attempt to make a counterattack, Meng Hao's fist landed again. All of Xiao Luo's qi collapsed, and he was sent flying backward like a kite with its string cut, blood spurting from his mouth.

Then, with indescribable speed, Meng Hao shot toward Xiao Luo and extended his finger toward his forehead, killing intent roiling.

Xiao Luo's eyes went wide, and his heart was trembling. In this moment of deadly crisis, he bit the tip of his tongue, burning some of his Essence Blood and longevity to unleash a forbidden magic.

"Time to risk it all," he cried. "YIN MOON SEVERING!"

A crescent moon appeared on his forehead, which rapidly transformed into a black-colored moon that shot toward Meng Hao in a slashing motion.

Meng Hao's eyes widened as the moon closed in on him. Suddenly, his Dharma Idol appeared behind him, and its fist shot out to meet the incoming Yin Moon.

A huge boom could be heard, and a tremor ran through Meng Hao as the Yin Moon exploded. Blood oozed out of Xiao Luo's mouth, but he used the short moment of freedom to shoot backward. Face twisted with unprecedented bitterness, he let out a shout.

"Nine Corpses Demon Transformation!" he cried. Immediately, the nine corpses that had continuously been behind Meng Hao and unable to even touch him, began to tremble violently. In the blink of an eye, long black fur began to grow out of their bodies, and their appearance became even more ferocious than before. Furthermore, Demonic qi began to surge within them, although that was something nobody would be able to detect.

As the Demonic qi surged, the nine corpses' cultivation bases began to rise dramatically. In the blink of an eye, they were comparable to false Immortals!!

Nine false Immortals!!

This was Xiao Luo's trump card that he had originally hoped to use to secure first place. It was not something he would casually unleash, but he had been forced into a corner, and therefore, in the frenzy of this fight, he didn't hesitate at all.

"DIE!" he roared as the nine false Immortal corpses bore down on Meng Hao. One by one, they began to lash out with astonishing attacks that caused the crowds out in the Ninth Mountain to reel in shock.

"Heavens! That's false Immortal energy!!"

"What magical technique is that!? He actually gave those nine corpses the powers of false Immortality!!"

"Xiao Luo didn't even use that divine ability in his fight with Fan Dong'er!"

As the outside crowds were in a commotion, the nine corpses closed in on Meng Hao, bursting with explosive energy. As for Meng Hao, an odd expression could be seen on his face.

"Demons…." he thought, his facial expression quickly returning to normal. His right hand suddenly rose into the air, and he performed an incantation gesture. The art of Righteous Bestowal was unleashed. This art was different than the Eighth Hex, and was designed specifically for subduing Demons!

No one got any special feeling when Meng Hao unleashed the art. However, as soon as his hand lowered, the nine corpses suddenly stopped in place and began to tremble. Their previously blank eyes then began to glow with bright light.

Xiao Luo's face fell completely, and he retreated in astonishment, frantically performing incantation gestures in an attempt to regain control of the nine corpses.

However, it was at this point that Meng Hao extended his right hand. A strange light could be seen in his eyes as, under the cover of the transformative powers of the black feather, he unleashed the Seventh Demon Sealing Hex, Karmic Hexing!

Rumbling filled the air as the Karma threads connecting the nine corpses to Xiao Luo began to separate. As that happened, the corpses trembled even more violently, and explosive death auras radiated out of them. Then they toppled over onto their faces.

Xiao Luo was trembling, and he coughed up nine successive mouthfuls of blood. From the look on his face, he was completely gobsmacked. He stared at Meng Hao for a moment, shaking violently.

"I concede!" he yelled, fearful of losing his life in this place.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he was surrounded by flickering lights, and then vanished.

Meng Hao's expression was the same as ever as he picked up his spear and walked off to the side.

He stood there, his energy surging, the focus of attention of all eyes in the Ninth Mountain and Sea.

"Three fights, three wins!!"

"There's one more fight, but Fang Mu is definitely in the semifinals!"

"Not even Xiao Luo was a match for him. From the look of things, Fang Mu hasn't even used all of his power yet. Just… how strong is he?!?!"