Long Tianhai smiled lightly at Meng Hao. He had prepared long and hard to force Meng Hao to finally step out of the sect. He had investigated Meng Hao's personality, and was very curious to see what he would decide to do now.

Meng Hao's face darkened. He knew that the Demonic Cultivator Horde was definitely powerful enough to track down Fatty, Chu Yuyan and Chen Fan. After all, they weren't very important people as far as the Demonic Cultivator Horde was concerned, and all it would take to find them would be a bit of time.

However, using them to threaten Meng Hao was a bit childish. Obviously, the easiest way to resolve the situation was to get Granny Nine and the others involved. It wasn't that Meng Hao felt that his friends were unimportant.

He knew that even if he went all out and attacked Long Tianhai, it wouldn't do any good.

The best course of action would be to immediately notify Granny Nine. That would show his view, and would settle the matter just like that. Having reached this decision, he turned to head back into the sect.

"Could it be that the results of my investigation are in error?" said Long Tianhai. "You're so cold-hearted! You don't even care that your old flame from your youth, and your best friends, are being threatened? Well... I guess I should show you something else."

Long Tianhai shook his head and sighed. Then he waved his hand, causing an image to appear. As soon as Meng Hao saw the image, he stopped in place, and his eyes burned with killing intent.

The image depicted a single person. Chu Yuyan. Her face was pale, her hair was in disarray, and her lips were purple. Apparently, she had been poisoned.

She lay prone inside of a huge black shell. The mouth of the shell was as sharp as a sword, and was slowly lowering. It seemed like it wouldn't be long before it sliced Chu Yuyan's head completely off!

Although the image was illusory, Meng Hao was familiar enough with Chu Yuyan to be able to tell that this was no magical illusion. Nor was it some other person transformed to look like her. This was the real Chu Yuyan!

"Are you looking to die?" Meng Hao asked, killing intent exploding within his eyes. He extended his right hand and pointed toward the image. No ripples of a magical technique could be seen, almost as if nothing had happened, causing Long Tianhai to narrow his eyes in confusion and suspicion.

Meng Hao's eyes flickered as he seemed to study the image for a moment longer, and then without any further hesitation, waved his hand, causing a jade slip to fly back toward the sect. Then, he transformed into a prismatic beam of light that shot toward Long Tianhai!

Even if the person in that black shell was not Chu Yuyan, but Fatty, or even Chen Fan, Meng Hao would do the same thing.

Earlier, he had chosen to return to the sect because that had seemed to be the best way to resolve the situation. Granny Nine could take care of everything. After all, he had assumed that his three friends were safe in their sects. The Demonic Cultivator Horde might be malicious, but they wouldn't have enough time to actually harm his friends, simple as that might be for them to do.

But now... it was too late. He was the one without enough time. Therefore, he simultaneously sent a jade slip to Granny Nine, and also let his rage burn to towering heights. Considering he had no other options left... he would pick the one option he had in front of him!

He attacked, killing intent boiling. Long Tianhai smiled slightly as his body suddenly flickered and began to fade away.

"It seems I overestimated you," he said. "Apparently you didn't notice that this is just an illusory projection! Even if I didn't disappear, you still couldn't hurt me. I guess there's no harm in telling you that the Demonic Cultivator Horde didn't originally plan to do anything to your old flame or your other friends. That was my idea, and we nine Sea Realm Demons were the ones who actually kidnapped her." Long Tianhai chuckled and shook his head, seemingly deeply moved by his own methods.

"Go finish your assignment," he continued. "Chu Yuyan is on Seajacket Island. Don't worry, it's not a trick, I can promise you that she's really there. However, if you're not fast enough, if you're even the least bit too slow, she'll die. You only have two hours...." As he faded away, Long Tianhai laughed at the sheer pleasure of seeing Meng Hao like this, and at the joy of being completely confident in his plan.

However, before he faded away completely, Meng Hao snorted coldly.

"You think I can't hurt you?" he said, extending his hand and pointing toward Long Tianhai.

The wave of his finger unleashed his Demon Sealer's aura. Hexing magic spread out, transforming into the Seventh Demon Sealing Hex!

Karmic Hexing!

As soon as the Hex was unleashed, a boundlessly terrifying Karmic power exploded out. Now that Meng Hao had absorbed the blood of Paragon Nine Seals, his Demon Sealing magical techniques were exponentially more powerful. Now, he was the true and authentic Ninth Generation Demon Sealer, the true successor of the League, approved by Patriarch Nine Seals himself!

Therefore, when he unleashed Demon Sealing Hexing magic, it was shockingly powerful!

It didn't matter that he was facing an illusory version of Long Tianhai. There was still Karma. Of course, the greatest Karma was... connected to Long Tianhai's true form.

The illusory version of Long Tianhai suddenly trembled, and his face filled with shock as he suddenly sensed a feeling of intense crisis. Not only could he sense the crisis on his illusory form; currently, his true form, hidden away in his Immortal's cave in the Nine Seas God World, could also sense the feeling of mortal danger.

"What's going on!?!?" Long Tianhai was in his Immortal's cave, and hadn't personally gone to Seajacket Island. He was a sinister and cautious person, and his plan all along had been to personally stay inside the sect. After the plan was carried out smoothly, he would emerge to finish things off.

Now, however, his face fell and his heart seized. He immediately and without any hesitation moved to sever his connection with his illusory clone.

But... he was too late!

The power of the Hexing magic caused a Karma Thread to appear on the illusory Long Tianhai's head, a thread that connected his illusory self to his true self. It stretched out back toward the main gate of the Nine Seas God World, where it eventually led to his Immortal's cave.

Meng Hao's eyes flickered with killing intent. Considering the level of his cultivation base, how could he not have noticed that Long Tianhai was only there in illusory form? However, that didn't matter one bit. Even though he had no way of killing him then and there, he would definitely teach him a profound and unforgettable lesson.

"I'll show you what it means to get hurt!" he said. His fingers twisted into an incantation gesture, and the Karma Thread distorted. The illusory image of Long Tianhai responded, growing more blurry. However, the Karma Thread grew more clear!

In the blink of an eye, it had transformed into a tunnel, a tunnel leading directly toward his true form!

Shockingly, Meng Hao's Karmic Hexing had been developed to the pinnacle. In its current state... he could use Karma Threads to connect the illusory with the corporeal! In the briefest of instants, he could cause the illusory and the corporeal to transpose!

Hurt the illusory, damage the true self!

Between the illusory and the corporeal... exists Karma!

Meng Hao moved with incredible speed to suddenly appear directly in front of Long Tianhai's illusory form. Popping sounds rang out as his hand smacked onto Long Tianhai's illusory chest. He pushed down, and the illusory body began to tremble. Meng Hao's hands moved so fast they were a blur as he hit Long Tianhai nine times in a row.

In the same moment that Meng Hao appeared in front of his illusory form, back in the Immortal's cave in the sect, Long Tianhai's face fell. He lifted his right hand to try to sever the connection, but even as he did....

Outside of the main gate of the Nine Seas God World, Meng Hao's hand smashed into him nine times!

"Nine Heavens Destruction!" His face was expressionless as he uttered the name of the technique!

Booms could be heard as the illusory body was shattered. A miserable shriek rang out, a shriek filled with disbelief and wild astonishment. Simultaneously, back in the Immortal's cave, Long Tianhai sat there cross-legged, blood spewing out of his mouth. His chest was ruptured, collapsed, nine times in a row, until his entire person exploded.

Bits of blood and flesh spattered about as the power of the attack tore him into pieces. The only thing left was his head, which flew up screaming. Long Tianhai wasn't dead. He was a Demonic cultivator, with special inborn powers and an Ancient Realm cultivation base. All of that gave him powerful regenerative abilities that caused a new body to form almost instantly. Of course, this new body was much weaker than his old body.

"Meng Hao, you're DEAD!!!" he screamed, enraged. From the moment he had been born until now, he had never experienced such pain. However, even in the moment of his rage, a cold voice whispered in his ear.

Outside of the main gate of the Nine Seas God World, Long Tianhai's illusory body shattered. At the same time, his new body was forming back in his Immortal's cave, and the Karma Thread which had connected the two began to fade away.

However, Meng Hao's murderous rage toward Long Tianhai could not be wiped away by a mere Nine Heavens Destruction attack. He stepped forward and grabbed ahold of the disappearing Karma Thread, which essentially allowed him to lay his hands on Long Tianhai's soul.

"Demon Sealing, Fifth Hex!" he said coldly. A rift appeared in his right hand, which rapidly opened from a size of a few inches to nearly a meter long. Then, the rift and the Karma Thread both disappeared.

When the rift reappeared, it was directly in front of Long Tianhai in his Immortal's cave. It was like a terrifying, gaping maw that instantly caused Long Tianhai to let out a scream of disbelief. Even as he backed up, the mouth chomped down, transposing Inside and Out. Half of Long Tianhai's body was consumed by the rift, and crunching sounds could be heard as blood sprayed out in all directions.

He now had only half of a body left. Screaming miserably, his inborn abilities kicked in again, causing another bizarre regeneration to occur. However, to restore himself twice in a row in such a way caused his qi and blood to be significantly weaker, by more than half.

Although he had recovered, his face was pale, and he was trembling with astonishment. He had no idea how Meng Hao had been able to injure his true form by hurting his illusory body. In fact, if he had reacted even one bit slower just now... he would have been killed!

Long Tianhai was now terrified, for the first time ever. Meng Hao's bizarre technique gave rise to an unprecedented level of fear in his heart.

"How could he be so powerful? He's far more powerful than my investigation indicated! Dammit! It's only been a month since I saw him last! How could he have gotten so much stronger so quickly!? Could it be that he was hiding his true power all along!?!? No, that can't be. It must be that he's just really skilled with that technique!!" Long Tianhai was trembling; Meng Hao left him completely scared witless.

Outside of the sect, Meng Hao's eyes flickered with killing intent. By means of Long Tianhai's Karma Thread, he could sense Long Tianhai's position, and knew that he was still in the sect. From that, he could tell how cautious Long Tianhai was. Earlier, he had also employed Karmic Hexing in the same way on the image of Chu Yuyan to determine her exact location!

"Long Tianhai, when I return, it won't matter who's protecting you. I'm going to KILL YOU!" With that, his body flickered like lightning as he headed toward Chu Yuyan.