Immortal Demon Grotto
"Finally finished it!" Meng Hao's joyful voice echoed into the air, his voice rippling with anticipation from what lies ahead of him.
All around him were the large amounts of blood he had acquired from the five men.
He had used the blood to draw mysterious symbols all along the walls and ground. A thick and heavy bloody stench permeated the air.
Each symbol he drew all pulsed with an eerie red light.
Meng Hao had finally completed what those people asked of him.
Feeling excited, Meng Hao began dancing in joy. The sheer thought of him in the future made his mind and soul buzz with a deep sense of happiness.
All of his enemies would be dealt with, and his clan... well, his clan would finally recognize his worthiness. Once they see what he has done and become, then they could forgive him for all of his mistakes.
And he could finally have what he's always wanted from them.
Respect, and love.
He's never had it, not ever since his mother died all of those years ago.
It was his fault, and he knew it was. His father even blamed him for her death, and Meng Hao just accepted it quietly.
Meng Hao took a deep breath and then the image of a stern looking man flashed across his mind.
If he could prove his value to his clan, then all could be forgiven.
He never even thought about if they didn't accept him, no..... he couldn't think that. Or else all he ever done and will do will all end up being for nothing. And that wouldn't be very good for his dao heart.
Thinking of all this, Meng Hao just sat on the blood covered floor and began cultivating.
He began refining his mind and soul, preparing himself for the arrival of those people.
And once they do arrive, he could finally start his new life.
He shot one crazy sinister glance at the young body inside of the chaos crystal, " Soon, soon, you will be mine!"
After that he closed his eyes, there was no need to worry. This place was very well hidden, and no one could find it. Unless they knew the area around it, but that was impossible.
"Heh!" Meng Hao grinned unconsciously.
A sense of foreboding plagued the surroundings inside of the grotto.
Watching all over this, Tao was just numb.
He was numb to this all, everything single thing that has happened and everything that will happen. Tao just didn't care anymore, or at least he was trying to. But he was still failing greatly in this aspect.
Even after everything he's already gone through, the pain and misery of having his soul ripped and shredded. Then sent into different places to live a life like nothing he's ever seen or done before.
Granted he slowly grew accustomed to that lifestyle, but it was a very slow process. And he suffered greatly because of that fact.
So even though he has survived and threaded through the pain, he somehow made it out.
And he survived.
But in his current situation, Tao could find no answer or way to survive.
The only thing he could see as a way out with this, was just one option.
And that was death.
Maybe only by killing himself could he affect this grand plan of the bug man.
Isn't this ironic, he's only just now awoken in this place, and he can't even breath the fresh air of the world. Nor could he taste the wonderful and mysterious essence of spiritual qi.
No fighting for glory or even seeking the dao.
Nope, he was now back in his same position that led him here.
That all too familiar taste of death slowly filled his mind. As it did, something unknown warped in Tao's thinking and personality, he didn't even know it happened, but it did.
His only train of thought now, was to make sure that all.... every single thing of this man's planning went to utter despair and hell!
Tao had some ideas of what to do, imploding his soul was the main one that took importance.
He had learned that in his many lives of living as a cultivator, once you reach a certain stage, you can control soul essence.
Yeah, he has tried that here,and he could use it as a way to see around him and hear the words from the bug man. But he could do nothing else, or else he would have already tried to do so.
But imploding the soul, he wasn't really keen on the idea.
And he wasn't as desperate as he was now, nor did he feel as hopeless as he did at the moment. That's all different now though, he had the necessary strength and courage to do so.
He could do it now, but no!
Tao wanted to do it once all of this man's goals were complete, and everything was ready for him to take Tao's body. Once that happens only then will Tao implode his soul, while screaming fuck you to the bug man.
And so, Tao simply closed his eyes, waiting for when it would be time for his plan to go forward, only waking up when new things and stuff were happening around him.
A few days later, some new people arrived, and Tao knew his plan would soon commence.
....
Sitting down cultivating, Meng Hao was unaware of how insidious the Tao train of thought currently was. And he would be none the wiser to, as to his knowledge, Tao's soul was slumbering and refining itself from the demonic qi Meng Hao fed it.
After all, Tao's body was that of a young child freshly made and not even a cultivator.
So there would be no risk. All of this has led Mang Hao to let his guard down a great deal. He was so lax that he never even saw the small signs of twitching that sometimes happened in Tao's body.
Because if he did, then he would know that Tao's soul was done refining the demonic Qi.
And would soon wake up.
If he knew all of this then would have put Tao's soul under a great spell of stasis.
But no, Meng Ha was entirely too obsessed with his future plans, and too focused on his own thoughts to realize all of this.
At the moment Meng Hao's eyes flashed open as he sensed the warping of space near the entrance of the grotto. His body shot up from his sitting position and shot towards the entrance so that he could welcome his benefactors.
Unknown to him, Tao was watching all of this. Dissecting him and his movements like the bug he was.
Once he made it to the entrance, Meng Hao saw a grey colored triangle opened up in the entrance.
This was a technique from one of the people coming into this place. Meng Hao remembered seeing this exact technique when he was first brought here by these people.
It was a technique that greatly strengthened a cultivators command over space itself.
His mind slowed down as a group of people flew through the open space.
All four were wearing nothing but black cloaks, said black cloaks seemed to be sucking the life out of the surroundings like a parasite.
White vapors could be seen emerging and wiggling around their forms like worms.
They stood like they owned the very heavens and earth themselves. A sense of disdain and great arrogance just simply reeked off of them.
Meng Hao was in a daze seeing and feeling all of this once again. He was in such a daze that he forgot the very reason he was even here.
One of the men softly coughed. It was a soft one that made no waves, but in Meng Hao's ears it was like thunder, blood rushed up his throat and his soul even shuddered from this cough.
Meng Hao damn near died, from just a simple cough.
Greatly pale in the face and horrified, Meng Hao hurriedly took his gaze away from their attire.
He clasped his hands together as he said, "Meng Hao greets seniors, all preparations have been completed, and the array has been halfway completed. Junior only needs benefactors' great power to continue."
All but one of the black cloaked individuals nodded, then one of them suddenly said, " I sense that you only made four blood sacrifices, this is not enough. Go out and bring more, while you do, we shall continue on with the array."
After he spoke, all four individuals ignored Meng Hao and flashed inside the grotto.
Leaving Meng Hao confused and dumbfounded.
But he could only obey, as this was for his future.
As he left Meng Hao thought to himself, "I must have done something wrong, they clearly said before that this array only needed four blood sacrifices. Why does it need more?"
He shook his head and cleared his mind as he set out to complete his orders.