A strange expression could be seen on Meng Hao's face, but before he could say anything, the Daoist priest glared at the surrounding disciples of the Righteous Noble Sect.

"What are you standing around for? Can't you see that your Elder Uncle is being bullied!? Why aren't you helping him?!" The Daoist priest stamped his foot down, causing the air to rumble. The disciples of the Righteous Noble Sect exchanged wry, helpless glances.

The old man who was the leader of the bunch appeared to be on the verge of tears. He let out a long sigh, unsure of whether or not to attack Meng Hao.

Even as he was going back and forth about what to do, the sound of a whistle could be heard high up in the sky. As it echoed out, all of the snakes on Planet Luo River hissed loudly.

The sound echoed about, and the clouds churned, revealing numerous Cloud Pythons swirling through the air toward Meng Hao.

Simultaneously, countless arrow-like snakes shot up from the ground, eyes sinister, forked tongues flicking.

It wasn't over yet, though. Up above in the sky, an even larger python began to descend. It glowed with brilliant light, and even emanated an aura similar to that of a Paragon.

All of the cultivators in the crowd were completely shaken. As for Meng Hao, when he looked up, his eyes went wide for a moment, and then he actually smiled.

"Finally," he murmured, "I get to see... some of the local Chosen." He was already itching to fight, so as soon as the python appeared, he instantly shot up into the sky, moving so fast a sonic boom echoed out. Relying only on the strength of his fleshly body, he slammed into the Cloud Pythons. By the time that they howled and they collapsed into countless pieces, Meng Hao was already bearing down on the Paragon-like python.

He quickly waved his hand, causing the Essence of Divine Flame to roar out, transforming into a sea of flames capable of burning everything. In response, the huge python opened its mouth and blasted out a huge air channel, making it impossible for the sea of flames to touch it, then opened its mouth to shoot a beam of light toward Meng Hao.

Meng Hao smiled coolly, then clenched his hand into a fist and punched out toward the python and its gaping maw.

First fist, Life-Extermination Fist!

As the fist sailed through the air, Heaven and Earth went wild with flashing colors. A massive wind sprang up, and everything shook violently. The python let out a miserable shriek as the light shattered, and its body then collapsed into pieces.

Meng Hao threw his head back and shouted. Although the sound of it wasn't extremely loud, as soon as it echoed out, the rest of the surrounding pythons began to tremble. Not daring to get any closer, they turned tail and fled.

"Shut the hell up!" someone said imperiously. It was the barbaric woman, riding on a five-colored beam of light that closed in on Meng Hao with incredible speed.

The woman was quite pretty, despite her swarthy skin. She had a very unique air to her, making her look very different from any other female cultivator Meng Hao had ever encountered.

"Lady Dragon-Snake!!"

"It's Lady Dragon-Snake from the Dragon-Snake Fusion Sect! I can't believe she's here on Planet Luo River!"

"The Alliance's bounty on Meng Hao is just too enticing. It even caught the attention of the Dragon-Snake Fusion Sect.... Or maybe it caught the attention of the ever-flamboyant Lady Dragon-Snake herself...."

"If she's here, then presumably the other eight members of the Nine Claws of the Heavengod are on their way too!" As everyone discussed the matter, the old man from the Righteous Noble Sect sighed, inwardly thanking Lady Dragon-Snake for showing up and getting him out of the embarrassing situation. Now he didn't have to decide whether or not to attack Meng Hao.

Looking at his Master out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but smile wryly. Right now, the Daoist priest's eyes were shining brightly, and the old man knew that whenever that look appeared, the Daoist priest was about to do something very muddle-headed....

Meng Hao looked at the woman closing in on him, and his eyes slowly narrowed. At the same time, a smile appeared on his face when he heard what the surrounding cultivators were saying about who she was.

"Nine Claws of the Heavengod. They must be Chosen from the Heavengod Alliance.... Excellent. I've collected on most of my debts from the Ninth Mountain and Sea, and now that I'm here... it's only right and proper to make a killing in the Eighth Mountain and Sea too." Laughing loudly, he suddenly shot directly toward Lady Dragon-Snake.

Her pupils constricted when she realized how powerful he was. However, she didn't attempt to dodge out of the fight. Her right hand flickered with an incantation gesture, causing five-colored light to explode out in all directions, transforming into five pythons which howled as they shot toward Meng Hao.

At the same time, she waved her hand, summoning a string of bells. When she swung the string, melodic chiming could be heard. When that sound entered Meng Hao's ears, though, it was like the roaring of the highest Heavens, and he even felt his psyche trembling.

Meng Hao gave a cold snort. He had cultivated the Dao Divinity Scripture, so as soon as the psyche-shaking sound waves hit him, he sent his divine sense out, which transformed into an invisible tempest and smashed back against them. Lady Dragon-Snake's face fell, and blood oozed out of the corners of her mouth. Alarmed, she fell back.

Before she could do anything else, Meng Hao flashed through the air, transforming into an azure roc, which shot like lightning toward the five pythons. Of course, rocs are the nemeses of dragons and snakes, so as soon as its aura appeared the five pythons immediately shuddered. The azure roc quickly closed in and slashed its claws toward them.

Booms echoed out as the pythons, completely unable to fight back, were ripped to shreds. Meng Hao then closed in on the woman herself.

"Roc Transformation!! You're a disciple of the Heavenly Roc Sect!" The woman's face fell, and she fell back, quickly performing an incantation gesture with her right hand. Then she spit out a mouthful of dark blood, which transformed into a blood-colored sealing mark. The sealing mark writhed, and in the blink of an eye, had transformed into a dragon!

It was a dragon formed from black blood, which made this a Black Dragon. The Black Dragon kicked up a huge wind as it roared and shot toward Meng Hao.

"Is a magical technique like this really worthy of a Chosen?" Meng Hao said, shaking his head. If this was all she could do, this woman wouldn't deserve to have a promissory note and owe Meng Hao money.

He took a step forward, clenching his right hand into a fist and unleashing a punch.

It was his second fist strike, the Bedevilment Fist!

As the fist rumbled through the air, the Heavens seemed to teeter on the verge of collapse. The Black Dragon had just appeared, but was already twisting and distorting. It let out a miserable shriek, as if it were about to collapse into pieces.

In almost the same moment that Meng Hao spoke, Lady Dragon-Snake rotated her cultivation base, causing more than ten Soul Lamps to appear around her, more than half of which were extinguished. Within each of those soul lamps could be seen the image of a person meditating.

All of them wore the same face as Lady Dragon-Snake, except that from the waist down they were snakes. Suddenly, they opened their eyes and looked at the Black Dragon.

"Thirteen Dragon-Snake Augmentations!" she cried in a piercing voice. A tremor suddenly ran through the Black Dragon, and its energy redoubled!

After that, it tripled, quadrupled... in the blink of an eye, the Black Dragon's energy had increased by thirteen times. Now, it seemed absolutely, completely different from before. Furthermore, it even emanated faint traces of the Dao Realm.

Meng Hao was taken aback, but still shook his head.

"That still isn't going to cut it," he said. He was fed up with this fight already, so he immediately unleashed his third fist strike. God Slaying!

As soon as the God Slaying Fist was unleashed, everything began to shake. The Black Dragon, which was now thirteen times more powerful than before, let out a miserable shriek as its body was destroyed. The surrounding cultivators were shocked, and looked over at Meng Hao with wide, astonished eyes.

"The Heavengod Alliance was wrong. The power he can wield... is not that of the Ancient Realm!!"

"H-his... his injuries have healed!!"

"Before he was injured, he could wipe out the entire Blacksoul Society. Even Patriarch Blacksoul himself received terrifying injuries!!"

Even as everyone reacted with shock, Meng Hao strode forward toward Lady Dragon-Snake and extended his right hand. His eyes glittered with an intensely cold light; these cultivators had come here to kill him, so it didn't matter if they were men or women; unless they qualified to have a promissory note, Meng Hao would not go lightly on them.

He closed in on Lady Dragon-Snake, killing intent raging. Her face fell, and both hands flashed in a double-handed incantation gesture. Just as Meng Hao was about to grab her by the neck, she roared, and suddenly transformed into a ghost image.

When she reappeared off in the distance, blood was oozing out of her mouth.

"Eee?" Meng Hao said. In the moment that she had performed her teleportation, he had felt fluctuations of the Dao Divinity Scripture.

He flashed through the air toward her again, and Lady Dragon-Snake's face paled and filled with terror. Even as she backed up, she performed an incantation gesture and then fled via teleportation once more.

His interest piqued, Meng Hao suddenly waved his finger, unleashing the Eighth Demon Sealing Hex. The woman didn't know why, but she suddenly lurched to a stop, and her eyes went wide with despair.

Even as he closed in on her, all of a sudden, a withered hand appeared out of nowhere to claw at Meng Hao.

"Quasi-Dao? Scram!" Meng Hao instantly knew exactly what type of person this was. He waved his hand, causing the aura of the Paragon Bridge to erupt out. The instant the hand made contact with him, it shattered. An old woman staggered out into the void, looking at Meng Hao with an expression of terror. Coughing up blood, she shot toward Lady Dragon-Snake, grabbed her, and fled.

That old woman was Lady Dragon-Snake's Dao Protector, but even she was currently terrified. "Young Lady, we must flee. This man... isn't injured at all!!"

Seeing that Lady Dragon-Snake was fleeing, Meng Hao smiled, although it was an icy smile. He suddenly waved his hand toward the fleeing Lady Dragon-Snake.

"Call upon Karma to form a binding writ. Starting today... you owe me money!" Immediately, Karma Threads appeared above Lady Dragon-Snake. Meng Hao then reached out and grabbed the brightest of the shining threads, and then placed a sealing mark on it!

Rumbling sounds could be heard as Lady Dragon-Snake coughed up blood. Her heart was now filled with an indescribable dread, especially when she saw the glowing piece of paper floating down onto Meng Hao's palm. She suddenly felt as if she had lost something important, and her fear grew.

It was at this point that a cold snort echoed through the sky, and a writhing blood mist descended toward Meng Hao.

"Ah, another one," he said, chuckling. Instead of standing there waiting, he suddenly transformed into a prismatic beam of light that shot up into the sky. However, from a distance it looked like he was actually trying to flee.

Just as Meng Hao was about to blast up into the sky and start fighting, the Daoist priest appeared in mid-air, beaming with a huge smile as he hollered, "Be a good kid, my little disciple, don't run!"