<strong>Chapter 1028: Stealing My Business?!?!</strong>


    Meng Hao’s eyes flickered as he pped his bag of holding to produce the ck feather, an item he could use to change his aura or appearance, and which he viewed as a crucial part of his inventory.


    However, he was also aware that these ck beetles had unique characteristics. Thest time he was here, it was only by using the feather and working with the meat jelly that he was able to grab a handful of medicinal nts from the area.


    Meng Hao knew that the aura-changing abilities of the feather would only work on the ck beetles for a short period of time before bing ineffective.


    “Unless there’s some way to continuously distract them, then the effect of the feather can be maximized,” he thought, eyes glittering. He had long since noticed that thend mass which held the medicinal nt garden did not remain in a fixed location within the void. Rather, it floated around, almost as if it were not subject to naturalw. In truth, there seemed to be some sort of pattern to its movement.


    After a long moment of thought, Meng Hao’s eyes flickered and he flew into the air. After calcting the trajectory of the medicinal nt gardennd mass, he flew out ahead of it. Whenever he came across a stretch of ruins floating within the void, he tossed out a sealed ck spirit-immortal stone onto it.


    “Based on the speed this medicinal nt gardennd mass is moving,” he murmured, eyes shining brightly, “it should pass by these sets of ruins in theing days.”


    He continued on a bit further, nting about ten spirit-immortal stones in various locations. Then he quickly shot back in the direction of the medicinal nt gardennd mass and hid near the location where he had nted the first spirit-immortal stone. There, he waited patiently.


    Time passed. Soon, after enough time passed for an incense stick to burn, the medicinal nt gardennd mass appeared, floating through the void toward the stretch of ruins Meng Hao was hiding in.


    Meng Hao quickly reviewed his n, then without any further hesitation, performed an incantation gesture with his right hand and pointed at the sealed spirit-immortal stone. The wave of a finger caused the seal on the spirit-immortal stone to be removed, revealing its aura.


    In the moment the aura spread out, the medicinal nt gardennd mass trembled, and countless ck beetles flew up madly into the air. They transformed into a ck windstorm of beetles, tens of thousands in number. Eventually, they took on the shape of a huge hand which shot toward Meng Hao.


    Rumbling filled the air, along with hissing sounds as the ck beetles closed in on Meng Hao. It was at that point that Meng Hao whipped out the feather and activated it.


    Instantly, he changed his appearance to no longer look like a cultivator. Instead, he looked like a ck beetle, with an aura very simr to theirs.


    In that moment, the windstorm-like mass of tens of thousands of ck beetles shot into the ruins he had been hiding in. Meng Hao quickly mixed in with the beetles, heart pounding, trying to look just as fierce and vicious as them. He even roared just like they did, trying to imitate them as closely as possible as they began to fight over the spirit-immortal stone.


    Momentster, the entire stretch of ruins copsed under the explosive power of the tens of thousands of ck beetles, and was then voraciously consumed.


    The cracking sounds that rang out as the beetles chomped up the chunks of stones caused Meng Hao’s heart to thump. From his perspective, not even Fatty’s teeth could measure up to their mandibles.


    As for the spirit-immortal stone, one of the fastest ck beetles managed to consume it, whereupon Meng Hao observed as it let out agonized shrieks. ck light rose up from it, circling around as... a vague Ghost Eye became visible.


    The other ck beetles around it looked over with cold insanity in their eyes, as if they wished to charge over, tear it to pieces, and eat it up. However, before they could even move, the ck beetle with the Ghost Eye looked up and roared. The mere threat of the roar instantly caused the other ck beetles to stand down.


    Meng Hao looked on with surprise. Then, lost in thought, he went along with the army of ck beetles as it flew around a few times and then headed back toward the medicinal nt gardennd mass.


    He remained cautious as he flew along with the beetles. He would asionally click his mandibles, asionally roar, all to make him appear to be exactly like the other ck beetles. After returning to the medicinal nt gardennd mass, he was careful not to attract the suspicion of any of the other ck beetles.


    When everything quieted down, he remained calmly on the ground, prone, eyes shifting about. Eventually, he slowly began to sidle his way over to an area behind where most of the ck beetles were, where a Sun Blossom was growing. A sh of light could be seen as the Sun Blossom suddenly vanished.


    Meng Hao was nervous, but also excited. Afterward, he began to move carefully off in another direction. When he encountered other ck beetle, he would click his mandibles and roar, as if reminding the other ck beetle that he... was just like them.


    Unfortunately, the sound of his roar did not resemble theirs very closely. However, he was an eager study, and constantly imitated them in an effort to sound exactly like they did..


    Anyone who knew Meng Hao and could watch this scene y out would definitely be extremely shocked and feel it was unthinkable. However, Meng Hao was getting very excited.


    “Rich!” he thought. “I’m gonna be rich!” He crawled along past one ck beetle after another, first collecting some Immortality Illumination Vines, and then catching sight of a patch of Divine Spirit Grass. Eyes shining brightly, he crawled over.


    It was in this manner that Meng Hao quickly harvested seven or eight different medicinal nts. The glow in his eyes grew brighter and brighter. At one point, he turned around and noticed a tiny violet tree a few dozen meters away.


    “Violet Lightning Tree!” he thought, licking his mandibles. He had just begun to crawl over when, all of a sudden, one of the nearby ck beetles looked up coldly at him, as if it were hesitating about something.


    Meng Hao froze nervously. He knew that one cry from the ck beetle could instantly incite all of the other surrounding ck beetles into a frenzy.


    In order to prevent them crying out an rm in such a way, Meng Hao had been pretending to be even more fierce and savage than them. He had taken to roaring at them threateningly, as if he were on the verge of attacking them.


    Currently the ck beetle in front of him was shaking as if in rage, and its expression became extremely fierce as it looked at Meng Hao.


    Meng Hao red back, taking a few threatening steps forward and roaring.


    A long momentter, the ck beetle backed down, making room for Meng Hao to pass. Heart pounding, he slowly walked past the beetle, then hurried over to the tiny violet tree. A glow instantly surrounded the tree, and then it vanished.


    The disappearance of the tree apparently tipped the scales in some way, so that the ck beetles finally noticed that something was going on. The wholend mass trembled as one ck beetle after another flew into the air. Looking very agitated, they circled at a low altitude, relentlessly scouring the area.


    Meng Hao also flew up into the air, pretending that he was looking for something.


    More and more beetles began to fly up into the air, causing Meng Hao’s scalp to grow numb. He knew that if the bugs continued to search, they would eventually find him. His heart began to pound when, all of a sudden, up ahead in the void, he caught sight of one of the locations where he had nted a spirit-immortal stone. Immediately, he unsealed the stone and its aura.


    As soon as the aura spread out, rumbling filled the air. The ck beetles surrounding Meng Hao went crazy. Eyes crimson, they turned to the world outside thend mass, and charged forward, Meng Hao in tow.


    Once again, a set of ruins was destroyed and consumed. Another of the ck beetles consumed the spirit-immortal stone, and a Ghost Eye appeared on its back. Then, all the beetles returned to thend mass. Meng Hao once again began to scurry about, collecting medicinal nts.


    Any time the ck beetles detected him, Meng Hao would unseal one of the spirit-immortal stones. It was in this manner that several days passed. Meng Hao had gotten quite familiar with the routine, and had already harvested more than seventy types of medicinal nts.


    Also, after having practiced his roar on numerous asions, it was now almost exactly the same as the ck beetles’.


    “I’ve struck the jackpot this time!” he thought excitedly as he crawled toward a Turtle Spirit Flower. Suddenly, all of the ck beetles around him suddenly began to stir in agitation, and even roar. They also began to lift their heads and look off into the sky, their eyes cold.


    Meng Hao stared in shock, and without even thinking about it, joined the beetles in their roaring. As soon as he saw what they were looking at, his eyes went wide with shock. Far off in the distance, the previously cid void was now disturbed by ripples.


    The ripples spread out like waves on the surface of a pond, and in the middle of them all could be seen a figure, shooting effortlessly through the void, as if... merely walking!


    It was a woman wearing a long, pink gown. Her features were beautiful, and although she didn’t appear to be very old, there was a slight ancient air to her. She held antern in her hand, which shed light all around her as she walked forward.


    She seemed to be a very cautious sort, and as soon as she arrived she looked around to make sure nothing was too suspicious in the area before rxing a bit.


    Almost as soon as the woman appeared, the ck beetles, along with Meng Hao, roared and flew toward her aggressively.


    However, as soon as the ck beetles got close, she lifted herntern high above her head and then opened its side to reveal the candle holder within. Resting on top of the candle holder was a tiny white branch, currently burning and letting off flickering firelight. The woman didn’t pause for a moment; she quickly sliced open the tip of her finger and sshed a drop of blood onto the me.


    When the blood hit the me, it turned into a cloud of smoke which spread out toward the iing ck beetles. In the blink of an eye, the smoke had surrounded all of them, including Meng Hao.


    Instantly, the beetles around Meng Hao stopped in ce, seemingly in a stupor. Meng Hao gaped in shock until he realized that the smoke apparently had no affect on him whatsoever.


    Although it had spread out very quickly, the light quickly began to die down. After a moment of calction, Meng Hao was sure that it would onlyst for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.


    The next thing he saw was the pink-robed young woman looking very pleased with herself as she sped down toward thend mass below. Shended on the ground, sending smoke billowing out wherever she went and causing the beetles that flew up to fall into aa. She proceeded along carefully and began to harvest medicinal nts.


    “Stealing my business?” thought Meng Hao and was instantly enraged. One of the things he hated most in life was when people stole business from him. Earlier, he had been scared out of his mind to harvest medicinal nts in this area. He had used more than ten spirit-immortal stones, and even spent several days pretending to be a bug, and in the end his effort had allowed him to pick about seventy medicinal nts. However, this young woman only used antern and was able to harvest ten nts in one shot! That was something Meng Hao just couldn’t ept.


    “I hate cheaters! This wench is a cheater!” Enraged, Meng Hao gritted his teeth as he watched the young woman quickly harvest medicinal nts. Finally, he shot forward; the smoke that had been used to put the ck beetles into a trance had absolutely no effect on him.


    The instant he flew into motion, the young woman turned toward him and gaped in shock.


    As she looked over, Meng Hao performed the best possible ck beetle roar that he could imitate, a roar that was... remarkably true to life.