The magical symbols on the giant seemed innumerable, but if you looked closely, you would realize that there were actually only nine. However, those nine symbols were constantly splitting apart into multiple overlapping copies of themselves, making it initially seem as if the symbols were without number.

Nonetheless, those nine symbols emanated an incredible aura that provoked shocking transformations in Heaven and Earth. They seemed completely ancient, and as they flickered, they caused nine protective shields to flicker into place around the giant!

The light of the magical symbol shields made the giant even more impressive than before. He pushed his hands down onto the ground, threw his head back and howled. Everything shook violently, and a massive shockwave spread out in all directions

From a distance, it looked like a raging tempest, with nine swirling magical symbols in the middle of it all. Almost instantly, the giant seemed to have entered a state of invincibility.

Meng Hao examined the nine magical symbols with furrowed brow. From those symbols, he could sense... the aura of Dao Fang! Although he had never laid eyes on Dao Fang, he had met him during his mental journey outside of the Windswept Realm and beyond the 33 Heavens. He had even been attacked by him! The feeling he had experienced back then was the exact same feeling he got from these magical symbols!

"The curse of Dao Fang...." Meng Hao's eyes flickered, but he didn't fall back by even half a step. Instead, he charged forward, punching out with his three fist strikes, unleashing a terrifying power onto the protective shield tempest.

From afar, he looked like an azure sun, the only light in Heaven and Earth. His fist was also azure, and seemingly filled with enough power to annihilate the Heavens and exterminate the Earth.

Rumbling echoed out, and as the fist strikes landed, the giant's tempest shield trembled. Massive booms echoed out, and the tempest exploded. In response, the nine magical symbols glittered radiantly, but didn't collapse. Instead, they simply shrank down a bit. Despite that, the giant had been protected, and wasn't injured at all.

Neither was Dao Fang's aura diminished in the least. It roiled out, transforming into a powerful pressure that crushed toward Meng Hao. He was shoved back, staggering backward seven paces before stopping in place. Then he looked up and let out a roar.

That roar caused his Allheaven Dao Immortal cultivation base to surge with power. It also converged the power of his fleshly body, whereupon he shot forward like a lightning bolt. The air vibrated and the wind screamed, all of which was caused by the magical symbols as they were crushed by Meng Hao's charge.

The giant's eyes flickered with killing intent, and he took a step forward, causing the ground to quake. At the same time, he lifted his right hand into the air.

"Exalted Dao Fang!!" he roared. The sound of it caused the nine magical symbols to glitter radiantly as they... converged together!

That convergence caused the aura of Dao Fang to grow even stronger. In the blink of an eye, the nine symbols turned into a suit of armor that covered the giant, making it look like a powerful deity.

It was ferocious armor, green and covered with bristling spikes and images of screaming, suffering faces which were in the midst of devouring each other. It was almost as if thousands of ghosts had been imprisoned inside of it.

On the chest of the armor was a face which looked... almost exactly like... a monkey!!

The monkey's eyes were closed at first, but then they suddenly snapped open. As the monkey stared at Meng Hao, its eyes gleamed with a viciousness that caused Meng Hao's pupils to constrict.

With this armor on, the giant's energy rocketed up, and the power level of his cultivation base doubled.

Simultaneously, the giant roared, lifting his right hand up and the snatching out viciously. The lands quaked and shook, and numerous crevices opened up below, with the giant at the center. The lands almost looked like they would collapse.

Waves spread out across the ground, causing mountains to rise and valleys to fall, and leaving behind a massive crater. All of this happened in the short space of a few breaths worth of time.

"Return!" That simple word uttered by the giant caused the lands to begin to rise up. Countless motes of dust and ash flew out as something rose up from the ground. It looked almost like a pillar, but in fact...

It was an enormous staff!

The gigantic staff was pitch black, and it was impossible to tell what exactly it was made of. It was 30,000 meters long, a size that any mortal would consider gargantuan, but which was perfectly suited to the giant.

The giant's hand closed around the pitch-black staff, and then swung it into a fighting position. Rumbling sounds filled Heaven and Earth, and everything trembled. The giant's energy once again shot up.

As the giant hefted the enormous staff, his voice rumbled out like thunder. "I shall abide by the decree of the exalted Dao Fang. Immortals are prohibited from taking the flame spark. Any who violate the decree will have their entire clan eradicated!"

Meng Hao, even with his current cultivation base, couldn't help but be terrified by the power which radiated off of the giant. A sense of deadly crisis filled him, and his eyes began to glow with bright light.

"I already absorbed the flame spark," he said coolly. "My life... is not something you can just take away. As for eradicating my clan... you're not qualified to do any such thing." In Meng Hao's judgement, the giant was now as powerful as a 3-Essences Dao Lord, or at the very least, the peak of 2-Essences.

He reached down and slapped his bag of holding, then cried out, "Parrot, meat jelly, get out here!"

Instantly, the parrot and meat jelly shot out in beams of brilliant light. As soon as they appeared and laid eyes on the giant, the meat jelly shrieked, "The aura of Dao Fang!"

Then it tried to fly back into the bag of holding. However, Meng Hao grabbed onto it.

"I'll give you three bullies," he said. "Transform into some armor!"

"Four bullies!!" the meat jelly screamed hysterically. "I want four bullies! I just recently learned that four is more than three. Four bullies, and I'll go all out!" Meng Hao gaped in shock, then nodded.

The meat jelly's eyes turned red as it began to glow, and then spread out from Meng Hao's hand to cover his entire body. At the same time, Meng Hao looked at the parrot.

"Battle Weapon!" he roared. The parrot smiled bitterly. Muttering apprehensively, it turned into a beam of light that shot toward Meng Hao. Then the copper mirror flew out of Meng Hao's bag of holding and merged into the beam of light.

In that instant, Meng Hao's energy rose to an indescribable degree. A massive windstorm sprung up, within which was the meat jelly as a suit of armor, gray and archaic, emanating a sense of indestructibility.

That suit of armor truly couldn't be destroyed. As long as the meat jelly lived, the armor would hold. After all, the meat jelly... was fundamentally impossible to destroy, even in armor-form.

With this armor, Meng Hao's battle prowess shot even higher!

Simultaneously, the parrot and the copper mirror combined on his right arm to form the Battle Weapon!

The Battle Weapon was essentially amorphous, and responded to Meng Hao's will. Shockingly, it was now an enormous, razor-sharp broadsword, fully 3,000 meters long. It radiated sharpness, and even had pulses of strange light dancing about all over its surface. It sent out terrifying ripples that seemed qualified to destroy Heaven and Earth, as well as an aura that seemed capable of making all living things wish to prostrate themselves in worship.

This was the Battle Weapon!

Now that Meng Hao was an Allheaven Dao Immortal, his copper mirror exploded with incredible power. Although this was only the initial stage, it was still a complete and terrifying Battle Weapon!

As Meng Hao's cultivation base rocketed up, his appearance now looked even more domineering than the giant's.

"Mastiff!" he said, waving his right sleeve. Instantly, a blood-colored light appeared, flying out and landing on Meng Hao's back. It was a cape, upon which could be seen a totem. That totem... was none other than the mastiff!

As of this moment, in this state, Meng Hao was truly more powerful than he had ever been since he began to practice cultivation.

"Alright," he said, "let's see how many slashes you can take from my Battle Weapon!" His voice was so ice-cold that the land in the area froze over. As he stepped forward, the giant swung its enormous black staff and roared as it charged. If you looked in the giant's eyes however, you would see a very serious look, perhaps even astonishment. It could now sense something different from Meng Hao, an intense... mortal danger!

As they closed in on each other, the Battle Weapon sliced through the air in a radiant beam of light, heading directly toward the pitch-black staff.

When it struck, the staff trembled. It didn't begin to crack. No... it completely collapsed into pieces, having been utterly destroyed.

"Extermination Essence!!" the giant roared, its expression one of intense shock and disbelief. "What magical item is that? How could it possess the legendary power of Extermination Essence?!?! Impossible! This is impossible!!"

Even as the giant shouted out, Meng Hao pressed the offensive, surrounded by scintillating light.

"NO!!" the giant howled miserably. It suddenly slapped both hands down onto its armor, causing the magical symbols to shoot out to defend against the Battle Weapon. When they slammed into each other, the magical symbols began to shatter!

The first, the second, the third... in the blink of an eye, seven of the nine magical symbols were completely destroyed!

Then... the eighth! And finally... the ninth!

When the ninth magical symbol was destroyed, the giant's armor collapsed into fragments.

The scintillating blade then continued on toward the giant's neck!