Meng Hao’s shock only continued to grow as he learned more about the Demon Immortal Sect. He focused on cultivating the Mountain Consuming Incantation and the Heavenly Demon Transformation, although he placed the most emphasis on the former. As for the Heavenly Demon Transformation, he didn’t intend to thoroughly gain enlightenment of it, although he had noticed some similarities between it and his Seven Animas Soul Transformation.
As far as the Soul Divergence Incantation went, it was a shocking art, but something that he would be incapable of success when it came to enlightenment.
Time passed quickly. Soon, Meng Hao had been in the Second Plane for a whole month. During that time, Xu Qing did not leave the Immortal’s cave. She was fully immersed in gaining enlightenment of Daoist magic. Eventually, Meng Hao completely gave up on the Soul Divergence Incantation and the Heavenly Demon Transformation, and instead focused complete attention on cultivating the Mountain Consuming Incantation.
He would also take time to visit the Underworld Cave, where he continued to temper his fleshly body. By now, he could stay inside the Underworld Cave for a full thirty breaths of time. The strength of his fleshly body was now quite obvious.
In fact, when the other silk-pants who had been punished with Meng Hao came to visit him on the Fourth Peak, they were astonished by the huge change that had occurred in the past month.
“After getting punished, I thought of something,” said Meng Hao. “If my fleshly body was strong enough, then maybe that punishment wouldn’t have hurt so much.” When he saw the strange expressions of the faces of the other silkpants, he cleared his throat and then continued on honestly, “I have the feeling that one of these days, I might experience five lashes, maybe even six or more. If I don’t temper my fleshly body enough before that happens, I’ll have no choice but to be lashed into a pulp.” Hearing this, the other silkpants seemed lost in thought. Apparently, what Meng Hao was saying made sense to them.
A while after that, Meng Hao called Xu Qing. Together with the other silkpants, they left the Fourth Peak for the first time in a month. As soon as they appeared outside, a rumbling sound could be heard, and a white lotus appeared up in the air.
When other disciples on the various peaks saw the lotus, they lowered their heads vigilantly. They all knew that the Sect ruffians who had been quiet for the past month, were now going to make another appearance.
Meng Hao stood in the crowd, exchanging greetings with the various friends who approached. It didn’t take long before he was surrounded by over a hundred people. Together, they flew wildly through the Demon Immortal Sect, the sound of their talking and laughing drifting out with the wind. When the others saw that Xu Qing was with Meng Hao, they exchanged understanding smiles, and did their best to pay special attention to her.
Soon, the group neared a squat mountain that was part of the Seventh Peak of the Demon Immortal Sect. This mountain was an unofficial restricted area within the Sect.
It was not officially a restricted area; it was actually a location that the Sect silkpants had taken over to serve as their headquarters. Afterwards, it became a restricted area as far as other disciples of the Demon Immortal Sect were concerned.
On top of the squat mountain was a luxurious temple. Meng Hao sat in the seat of honor, surrounded by a crowd of people. Some arranged themselves in places according to the ranking of their various Clan ancestors. Soon, there were roughly seventy or eighty people seated about. They laugh and chatted about gossip from within the Sect, or their interesting experiences on the outside.
Next to Meng Hao sat a handsome young man with black wings who was embracing a smiling female disciple. “Jiusi,” he said, “my kid brother knows a few Inner Sect disciples who want to join our Demon Entente. I told him to bring them here today for us to have a look at. If there aren’t any problems, we might as well let them in.”
Meng Hao was not unfamiliar with the Demon Entente. He knew from Ke Jiusi’s memories that it was nothing more than an alliance formed by the silkpants. All members who joined would enjoy the protection offered by other silkpants.
Of course, a price needed to be paid, considering that the operation was privately run by the silkpants.
The Demon Immortal Sect turned a blind eye to the matter, and would ignore them, unless they caused too much of a ruckus. After all, the Elders of this Demon Entente were all silkpants who had deep roots within the Sect. Although they might do a lot of absurd things, when it came to loyalty, theirs was far greater than that of the ordinary disciples.