<strong>Chapter 1491: Xu Liuyun</strong> [1. This surname Xu is the same as Xu Qing’s surname. Liu means “to leave behind” and yun means “cloud”]


    During thest snowfall of winter on the fourth continent, the curtain opened on the sixth life of Meng Hao’s clone.


    He was born into the prosperous Xu n, which owned lots ofnd and property in the region, and controlled numerous profitable businesses. Most of their ie came from agricultural interests.


    They lived in one of therge cities in the empire of the mortal world, which was situated next to a trade canal. They were fabulously wealthy.


    A child born into a n like that was destined to live a life free from adversity, and to always have everything he needed and wanted.


    Thankfully, in this life, Meng Hao’s clone was not a silkpants like he was in his fourth life. He grew up into an intelligent young man who was quite prominent even as a youth. Soon, he began to assist his father in managing the familypanies.


    As time passed, and he grew older, he came to be in charge of all of the family’s business interests. He ran things well, but at the same time, began to develop a certain ferocity. It was a fierceness manifested, not toward his fellow n members, but toward his business opponents.


    He excelled at hostile takeovers, and soon all of the other businesses in the entire city had been swallowed up by his n. Of course, an aplishment like that couldn’t be made without a bit of killing. Soon, the hands of the clone’s sixth life came to be stained with blood.


    Such methods were contrary to how his father preferred to do things, and in fact, went against the entire n. However, he didn’t take such matters very seriously. He did things how he wanted to, and by the age of thirty, the Xu n hade to be the richest in the area!


    Eventually, he came to realize that he should support the schrs and intellectuals among his n, so he founded a college. As time passed, his support of the schr ss allowed him to influence the imperial court.


    Soon, his plotting extended hiswork to epass even the warrior ss in the empire.


    He married, but felt no attachment to his wife. It had been done as a form of business alliance, with the hope of sending the n’s influence soaring to an even higher level.


    And that was exactly what it did. By the time he was forty, the n businesses were the most sessful in all thends. Over time, he expanded into many types of trade, and yet in the end, their foundation was always agriculture.


    Under his leadership, the n moved to the Imperial City, where they became the official Imperial merchants.


    As the Imperial merchants, it was impossible for anyone topete with them in terms of profits. Of course, in addition to the material benefits, there were other advantages to their new status.


    By the age of forty-five, Xu Liuyun had reached the absolute pinnacle of his life. Numerous n members had be officials within the current dynasty, and many of the schrs he had supported were now members of the government.


    His entire n had soared to incredible heights. Most people would likely be content to just enjoy the fruits of suchbor. At first, he felt a bit confused about what to do next, but then, he realized that a storm was brewing.


    That storm came in the form of a famine that had just taken grip on thend.


    That winter, Xu Liuyun stood in a courtyard in the n estates, looking at the snow falling out of the sky. Behind him were a few dozen members of the n, standing there silently. Some of them were members of the Imperial court, some controlled powerful businesses within the Imperial City, and others were direct bloodline descendants of the n who had been sent out to control other interests in other parts of the empire. There were even some powerful warriors present.


    These were the people who controlled the power in the n, and although it couldn’t be said that their reach stretched throughout the entire empire, they weren’t very far off from that.


    Any one of them could be considered extremely prominent. And yet, as they looked at the man standing in front of them, their hearts were filled with reverence and awe. He was a man who, in the space of a few dozen years, had created an incredible storm of events.


    Although he wasn’t well-acimed in the Imperial court, and was even looked down upon by the emperor, the prime minister, and many others, the important members of the n all knew... the terrifying power he wielded when it came to wealth and profit.


    After a long moment passed, the sixth life of Meng Hao’s clone, the man known to all as Xu Liuyun, finally spoke.


    “This is an opportunity,” he said. “Perhaps the Xu n can take the next step, and actuallye to control the entire empire. Of course, there is also the possibility... that we will be wiped out.” After another long moment, his eyes glittered with ferocity.


    “Execute the operation!”


    As soon as the words left his mouth, all of the Xu n’s power, both within and without the Imperial City, was focused on one task. And that was... barricading off all of their farnds from the public, in the middle of the famine!


    It was a concept that, from the very beginning, seemed soaked in blood. Barricading farnds in the middle of a famine carried the implication of driving up the price of grain goods to exorbitant levels, to the point where many people would be forced to sell their own properties to pay for food.


    It would likely lead to many deaths because of starvation. Families and ns would be destroyed. However, among the ranks of the noble ns, the Xu n would have an incredible opportunity.


    In order to carry out the n, the Xu n used all of the wealth it had umted over the past decades. They plotted, created alliances, and killed enemies. In the end, several months after the famine ended... they controlled so muchnd that their power within the empire was almost without rival.


    They had their own private army, and vast swaths ofnd, bought and paid for with blood.


    By paying out numerous gifts, they managed to appease the noble ss. Theplicated scheming required caused more than a few gray hairs to appear on Xu Liuyun’s head, and yet his mind never ceased to n and plot.


    The peace that followedsted for fifteen years, during which time Xu Liuyun didn’t make much of a stir. That made people less suspicious of him, and gave him a chance to quietly expand the interests of the n.


    One year, when he was sixty, he once again stood in a courtyard watching the snow fall. Behind him, hundreds of n members stood quietly. Anyone who knew the identities and statuses of these people would be shocked; they were people who could shake the entire empire.


    “This is an opportunity....” Xu Liuyun said, his voice hoarse. These were the same words he had spoken fifteen years ago. After a long moment, he nodded.


    The nod of his head sparked a war of session. Ten years passed by in a sh. The sessor he had backed in the war became the emperor, and married a daughter of the Xu n. The young emperor even viewed Xu Liuyun as his foster father.


    Virtually the entire Imperial court was loyal to him, even the prime minister. His word carried more weight with the army than an Imperial edict.


    By this point, he had just as much power as he had had in his second life. Although it wasn’t as obvious as it had been during that life, since he now operated in secret, his cold, calcting eyes could look down on the entire empire.


    During this life, he had been heartless and hical. He had no children, and yet, at the age of seventy, there was not a single person who dared speak to him without subconsciously bowing their heads.


    Five more years passed, and his body began to decline. Eventually, hepsed into aa. Chaos was fermenting in the n, and there were certain members who were itching to fight for control.


    A yearter, during the winter, he awoke from thea. An old servant supported him with his arm as he stood in a courtyard, watching the snow fall. This was the third time in his life that he had been faced with an important decision.


    “After I die, the n will be thrown into unrest. After it passes... there may not be a Xu n in the empire any more.” He knew that the reason for all of that was because he had no male heir.


    “The only option is... to take control of the empire. Use the power of the empire to quell the n turmoil. That way, any chaos will exist, not just in the Xu n, but in the empire as a whole. The result will still be favorable for in the end, though. As for the Xu n, it won’t matter who gains control, at least the n will continue on.”


    Xu Liuyun, the sixth life of Meng Hao’s clone, stood there silently. This time, he spent much more time deliberating than he had on the previous two asions. A long, long time passed. Finally, he sighed, thinking about all of the blood that had been spilt to carry out his first n, and acquire all of thatnd.


    In the end, he chose not to attempt to overthrow the empire. Looking older than he ever had, he gazed at the falling snow, the final snowfall of winter, and closed his eyes. Gradually, his aura faded away.


    The day after he died, the Xu n was thrown into chaos, and that chaos caused the entire empire to be shaken. Soon, the emperor intervened. Over the course of the following months, virtually the entire n was ughtered.


    Eventually the emperor, who was now a middle-aged man, received a message that the final remaining members of the Xu n had returned to the city they hade from, by the canal. They were back in their original ancestral mansion. The glory they had built up over the past hundred years was like a flower in a mirror, or the moon reflected on the waters of ake.


    This was Meng Hao’s sixth life.... His arrival rocketed the Xu n up to the pinnacle of grandeur, and upon his departure, he took that grandeur with him. It was as if time had flowed in reverse, returning the Xu n to its original state.


    When his sixth life ended, the sixth sealing mark wasplete. Meng Hao’s clone entered reincarnation and began his seventh life.


    During those hundred years, Yan’er traveled among the continents, visiting the mortal worlds, searching for the aura of her Master.


    She waspletely and utterly convinced that she would be able to find his reincarnation.


    If she couldn’t find him in one life, she would look for him the life after that, and the one after that... until she found him.


    Meng Hao’s true self was still sitting cross-legged on the flower out in the starry sky of the Vast Expanse, meditating as he waited for the flower to bloom.


    The flower bud appeared to be just on the verge of opening up.


    As for the Sect Leader and the other top experts of the Vast Expanse School, they were once again back in the necropolis, intent on opening the way to the ninthnd mass. Although they weren’tpletely confident, they had to try. If they failed, they would try again, and again after that. They were focused and filled with anticipation as they began their journey.


    At the same time, the Ninth Sect continued to expand, growingrger andrger. By this point, their forces were vast, and included numerous powerful experts. They subdued one Realm and world after another.


    That was when Meng Hao’s seventh life began on the third continent.