1439 Honor Demon's Anger

The East Hall and the West Hall were the two most influential sects in the world, which meant the East Hall was incredibly powerful just like the West Hall. The five of them including Xuan Bing and Jun Yinglian had consumed a huge amount of spiritual energy to destroy the black qi from the hidden demonic source, so they were weakened quite a lot. Therefore, they were not able to put on any destructive attacks on powerful enemies. Many of the cultivators on the union's side weren't in a positive situation for facing the fierce counterattacks from the East Hall people. They weren't going to get any backup soon. This was the worst situation they had ever been through since they started the war against the demons.

However, after flying around and killing a lot of enemies, Ye Xiao got the situation turn better and better! He was taking the upper position!

He flew fast into the crowd and turned the battle situation over before he returned to his original position in the fight. Once again, he wielded the sword that moved with a broad stream of sword light, killing his way toward Wu Fa and Qi Fenglie.

After moving around the battle, he had killed at least seven hundred men with the sword in his hand. The seven dead men were mostly high-level Dao Origin Stage cultivators, who were the elites of the East Hall!

What had happened just then provoked Wu Fa and Qi Fenglie so much that their eyes were widely open in fury. However, they had just got hit by Ye Xiao's full-power attack, so their uncontrolled bodies were still moving backward. Even though they wanted to stop Ye Xiao, they could not. When they had already obtained control of their bodies and stopped backing off, Ye Xiao had already returned after killing many people.

With the twinkling sword light, Ye Xiao slashed over the two enemies' heads with his incredible sword!

He was using the sword in an orderless way while attacking the two superior cultivators as if he was just going to chop some pork ribs into pieces.

In fact, that was extremely treating the two men with scorn! He was totally ignoring those two!

Wu Fa's eyes looked sad like he was in desperation now.

There was a time when he could kill Ye Xiao as many times as he wanted, by casually waving one hand.

Even when back to the time when he got defeated by Ye Xiao, he was still beyond Ye Xiao's league in cultivation. The only reason he would lose the fight was Ye Xiao's special martial art and sneaky weapons, not that he was weaker than Ye Xiao.

However, now as he was fighting Ye Xiao again, he realized Ye Xiao had become a totally different person now. He was now a much more powerful cultivator than he had ever been!

He couldn't imagine how powerful Ye Xiao was! He couldn't believe Ye Xiao could possibly become this powerful!

He realized that although he was recognized as the world's most powerful cultivator, now he couldn't even survive ten rounds in a one-on-one fight against Ye Xiao!

He had claimed that he would end the story of Ye Xiao, but now he knew it was completely a big joke. He understood that a legend like this could never be stopped!

Ye Xiao's sword light shined, and the sword had already arrived.

Wu Fa didn't dare to block the incredibly sharp blade of the Stars Sword, so he dodged aside and stuck his long sword out, like a snake moving out its nest. Unexpectedly, as he just stuck the point of the blade out, the sword had already broken into two pieces.

The next moment, the two halves of his sword had both became dust.

His sword was destroyed, but it was not the only thing that hurt him. When the sword was gone, he finally felt the severe pain in his arm. When he looked down, he realized that Ye Xiao had cut off all the skins and muscles in his arm. What he could see were only the bones!

Not even a single blood at all!.

As he realized what had happened to himself, he lost the feeling of severe pain. All he could feel at the moment was the blankness from the bottom of his heart. He just stayed in the sky, totally forgotten that there was also a big bloody hole in his chest, where his blood kept running out.

His inner organs were all destroyed by Ye Xiao's sword attacking blast. However, he didn't even realize what happened to his chest. He kept staring at Ye Xiao with respect and envy in his eyes.

Eventually, with a hoarse voice, he said, "Ye Xiao… Have you… Have you already… done it? Did you obtained the solid golden core?"

Ye Xiao cracked a cold smile on the face and said, "Well, as the former world's most powerful cultivator, you do know more than others. You got me. That is right. Yesterday, I finally finished the last step!"

Wu Fa got the answer, and he lowered his head. Suddenly, he made a long sigh, showing a fairly weird expression on his face.

It seemed he was relieved, but also despaired—with a bit of desperation.

Suddenly, he made a shout to the sky and said, "The realm of golden core! The highest level in the Qing-Yun Realm, which I can never reach in my life… Hah hah hah… I, Wu Fa, is lucky enough to die in the hands of a golden core superior cultivator. This is…"

He couldn't say any more words after this.

The words that he hadn't said eventually became just a sigh.

His body abruptly broke into several pieces. His head, arms, and legs suddenly separated at the same time. After that, the six pieces of his body broken into smaller pieces. In the end, he eventually became just some granules…

In fact, the granules actually didn't stop separating until nothing was left to be seen in the air.

The world's most powerful cultivator, a peerless legend in the world, Wu Fa, died at this moment.

He was killed by Ye Xiao, the Xiao Monarch, in three attacks!

That sigh was full of envy and admiration, and it drew an end to his satisfied life with resentment.

Qi Fenglie, who still lived was shaking.

He kept staring at the void sky. He couldn't believe this was happening. It was such a shocking truth to him that the world's most powerful cultivator, Wu Fa actually could not withstand a single blow from the Xiao Monarch, Ye Xiao.

Three attacks!

That was all! Only three moves!

The man got defeated and killed in three moves!

The three simple attacks killed Wu Fa when Wu Fa was not alone in this fight!

Qi Fenglie's lips were shaking, and his eyes were full of desperation.

Ye Xiao raised his Stars Sword and the point of the sword was pointing at Qi Fenglie from far away. A drop of blood ran off the blade slowly, and Ye Xiao coldly said, "Qi Fenglie, I wonder if you are tired or bored being the demon's lackey. No matter what, I am going to free you today!"

Qi Fenglie bitterly laughed and shook his head. He murmured and said, "Ye Xiao, you will regret this! You will! The Honor Demon will not let go of this!"

Ye Xiao coldly smiled and said, "Oh, the Honor Demon? Truth to be told, I never think highly of him."

Qi Fenglie shook his head again. It seemed that he wanted to say something, but could not say a word.

"Qi Fenglie, as the prime master of the East Hall—you are so much weaker than I ever imagined." Ye Xiao looked at this prime master of the East Hall and said in surprise, "Is this really the best that you can do?"

Qi Fenglie chuckled and said, "I am surely a lot more powerful than this, but… I have given half of my spiritual power, my soul, and my life to the demonic altars! Ye Xiao, you can kill me today, but it will not change anything!

"I will return and I will get you! I definitely will!"

His eyes suddenly twinkled with some strange colors. He did not move aside, he just kept rushing directly toward Ye Xiao and said, "Ye Xiao, kill me now! Come on! I will show you the miracle of immortality! I will return from the dead tomorrow!"

Ye Xiao didn't hesitate. His sword moved out like a shooting star and accurately stabbed deep into Qi Fenglie's heart. Ye Xiao coldly said, "To be honest, I am looking forward to the miracle of an undying man, but there is something you do not know… Within three thousand miles around this place, the whole area is under the effective zone of the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation! Now, I wonder if the miracle will still happen when we are all covered by the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation!"

Qi Fenglie heard what Ye Xiao said, and his eyes suddenly popped out big, staring at Ye Xiao and said, "You… You!"

Ye Xiao's raging spiritual energy suddenly became a murderous qi that was rampaging inside Qi Fenglie's body. Ye Xiao blandly said, "What we are going to do in this fight, we will make sure none of you leaves alive! Other than that, we will make sure none of your souls, spiritual energy, and life energy, will be converted into the energy of the demon's altars!

"I believe there will be no more miracle of immortality now. Qi Fenglie, it is your time to die now!"

Ye Xiao wielded the Stars Sword and directly cut off Qi Fenglie's head with a clear sound. "It is over!"

A huge explosive sound cracked somewhere afterward.

The entire main hall of the East Hall was sinking. Xuan Bing was displaying her incredible power by thoroughly breaking down the foundation of the entire East Hall. She had also destroyed the energy source under the mountains of this great sect at the same time!

As the energy source was broken, countless streams colorful light started to fly out from under the ground like a rainbow dispersing away in all directions.

"Kill!"

Ye Xiao looked around and watched the battle. After that, he became a long great rainbow with his sword—rushing into the crowd and loudly said, "Nobody of the East Hall survives! Spare no one! Wipe it out, and destroy the altar!"

A series of screeching was heard everywhere. Ye Xiao and his people killed everybody they saw from inside to outside. The Moon Queen, Lei Dadi, and the others were killing their way in from the outer circle, moving to the center.

In the end, the two sides met, and wherever they went over, there were only dead bodies on the floor.

It was done!

"From now on, there is no East Hall in the world anymore!"

Ye Xiao made a long shout and kept a thought in the head that was saying, "Prime Master Yue, Brother Disciple Yue… You must still be around us now. Can you see this? This is all because of you! The credit is yours!"

In his eyes, he seemed to see the face of Yue Changtian again.

He held up a cup of tea and drank it up, with deep emotion searing in his eyes

It seemed he got the console he needed.

It was like he had already seen the day when the Demon Soul Dao was gone for good.

…

This battle shocked the entire world!

When Ye Xiao and his people left the East Hall; within a thousand miles around the East Hall, no living things, not even a rat survived. The East Hall, which had ruled the entire Qing-Yun Realm—known as the two great peaks of the world with the West Hall, became a name in the history.

After the battle was finished, Ye Xiao did not take off the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation immediately.

The demonic dark qi that had been hiding under the East Hall was concerning Ye Xiao all the time.

The dark qi was so powerful that it took five great cultivators, including Xuan Bing to push it down. It was some incredibly powerful energy. Now that the dark qi seemed to be fully destroyed, Ye Xiao was still worried that something might happen if he took down the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation…

After all, the soul energy of the East Hall people who just got killed was still filling the space inside the locking area under the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation.

The soul energy would not disappear in a short time.

In fact, the truth proved him right afterward.

…

In the West Hall.

On the top of a high mountain.

A man in black clothes was standing right there with stiff limbs like a piece of rock.

After a while, he suddenly made a long shout with a laugh. In the resounding laugh, there was his extreme fury!

"Incredible! Ye Xiao! What monarch! Xiao Monarch! We are and will be irreconcilable!"

The short fatty in black clothes who stood right in front of the leader was shivering with fright.

He clearly knew why the leader in black clothes would be so enraged.

The construction of the altars needed too much soul energy. In order to make it easier for Ye Xiao and his people to kill the people in the East Hall, the man in black clothes activated the altar's absorption power to forcibly take away half of the East Hall people's soul energy.

He did it for a simple and savage reason. The East Hall was expendable—Ye Xiao could kill as many people in the East Hall as he wanted.

After all, when Ye Xiao's army was killing the people in the East Hall, his men got killed as well. It was an unavoidable consumption. Even though the East Hall would be destroyed, the altars got at least half of the soul energy from the East Hall people.

If not for the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation, the organization would get roughly one hundred and fifty percent of the soul energy of the East Hall people. If such a huge amount of energy filled in the altars, at least five of the altars could be completed!

The leader of the Demon Soul Dao had a great plan, but what Ye Xiao did was far beyond his expectation.

In the end, when the battle was over, because of the incredible power of the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation that Ye Xiao had set up beforehand, none of the expected soul energy, spiritual energy, and life energy from the dead was received by the altars!

All the sacrifice the men in black clothes made were for nothing. The Honor Demon lost it all in this battle!

He was the only one to blame because he made this stupid plan alone.

That was why it enraged this Honor Demon so much that he even lost control.

"The Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation! It was actually the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation! What a huge move he has made! That man is such a cunning bastard! He was thinking one step ahead of us! For so many times, he kept staying low, but then he played this trick right before the battle against the West Hall… That is smart. The East Hall is the last protective screen for the West Hall, so it is the last battle that he can make use of to deal with me. If he uses the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation in the West Hall, it will not work this well. Playing this in the battle against the East Hall brought him the maximal profit. He has a clear and decisive mind. I underestimated this man!"

The man in black clothes shouted in fury and said, "The Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation… He has killed everybody in the East Hall… Why hasn't he remove it yet? Don't they want their materials back? Don't they want their treasures back? Are they really willing to just leave their precious treasures there?"

The short fatty kept his head low, kneeling on his knees while speaking no words.

However, in his head, he was thinking. [The demonic impact on master's mind is getting worse. He is more and more opinionated. It is impossible that everything goes as you wish. You planned everything perfectly. You knew Ye Xiao had already learned the truth that we gave them information. You knew that many of our people were exposed, but you never sent any backup for them. You let the man kill as many of our people as he wished. You didn't even care weakening ourselves. All you wanted was to sacrifice the strongest force of us, the East Hall.]

[No matter how many things you knew, no matter how good you thought you were, you didn't foresee the possibility that Ye Xiao would use the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation, did you? The union of all sects in Qing-Yun Realm gathered together in this war. They fought alongside each other in every battle before they reached the East Hall. They could set up any array formation as they wanted to! They are powerful! Yet you still don't know why Ye Xiao didn't draw back the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation, do you?]

[Why would he? Do you really think that it is possible that he would remove it?]

[The war between men and demons has come to the last minutes. Why would he care about the resources that he used to put on that great array formation? It is obvious that he should keep the array formation right there in order for safety concern! The man has set up the perfect array formation at the perfect timing. Why would he do something unnecessary and put his near victory at risk? What if anything went wrong and all that he had done was ruined?]

[When you buried a Demon Soul Eye under the East Hall, you want to absorb all the soul energy from both sides. However, our enemy would rather give up a great deal of precious treasures to keep the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation there. It wasted our Demon Soul Eye. Our Demon Soul Eye is sealed inside the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation. The energy of the starlight inside that area was flowing everywhere. No matter how special our Demon Soul Eye is, it wouldn't outlast the starlight inside the array formation!]

[You have done so many plans, and you think you are the smartest, but it turns out you get nothing from any of your perfect plans. Your great plan has eventually become a joke!]

[It is such a stupid joke!]

[You lifted the rock and not only hit your own toe, but also crumbled your own head! Isn't it such an unbearable pain?]

[Why? Now, have you received the answer to what you sacrificed so much for?]

"Send out the best assassins we have in the Demon Soul Hall immediately! Now! We must do our best to kill Ye Xiao as soon as possible!" The master in black clothes was so furious that his hairs all stood up straight.

"Well… Is it… Is it really necessary? There is no need…" The short fatty shivered, and said, "Master, according to the latest message, Ye Xiao and his people didn't rest after killing the entire East Hall. They are… They are heading over to us now."

The man in black clothes stayed silent for a while. After that, his eyes suddenly twinkled with murderous intent, and he nodded fiercely and said, "I see. It saves me a good time then… Since Ye Xiao chose to come by himself, I will make sure he meets death when he arrives. The great demon god blesses me. I hope that we can complete the nine altars in three days! Long live the demon's will!"

"Hah hah hah…" Then he started to laugh like a mad man.

"Master, according to the messages we have received… I am afraid Ye Xiao has already reached the level of the Golden Core!" The short fatty reminded his master.

"Even so, he is still a weak ant!"

The man in black clothes looked fierce and said, "He is at the level of the Golden Core, so what? The only thing he can do is to fill more energy into my altars! Hah hah hah… If he truly has reached the level of the Golden Core, I say it is a good thing for us. The soul of a Golden Core cultivator has much better soul energy. His soul will make up what we lost in the battle of the East Hall. He alone can fill up one altar for us. The best offering for the nine altars are exactly the souls of nine Golden Core cultivators. However, it is just too difficult to find Golden Core cultivators in such a low-level realm—Qing-Yun Realm. That was why I had to kill so many people to make it up! Hah hah hah… Ye Xiao, you take away the energy that I had planned for one altar, but you will make it up by giving yourself to the altar. I accept your sacrifice for the great demon's will!"

The short fatty shivered again. In fact, he was surprised and astounded. [Master… Master doesn't even fear for a great Golden Core cultivator… What level has he reached in cultivation? Aside from that, I didn't know until just now that the nine altars want the soul of the Golden Core cultivators the most. Nine altars need nine Golden Core cultivators. Does it mean a demonic altar is a lot more powerful than a Golden Core cultivator? How horrible is that? How powerful is it going to be? This is… This is unbelievable…]

The short fatty held down the thoughts forcibly because he didn't dare to think more of it. What was happening had gotten beyond his comprehension. Moreover, he started to question the validity of the bright future that the Demon Soul Dao insisted. He was lost…

…

In order to finish the war as soon as possible, Ye Xiao was leading all his superior cultivators toward the West Hall.

On the way to the West Hall, he had been using all kinds of valuable dan beads like they were nothing. All his people, some were hurt, and some were just not feeling all right. They all got the dan beads and returned to their prime states in a day.

When they attacked the East Hall, they were well prepared, and Ye Xiao had killed a lot of the enemies on his own. That was why the battle ended so soon. However, the East Hall was one of the most powerful sects in the world after all. Although it was half weakened, and it was fighting a losing fight, it still caused a great damage to the united force of all sects in the Qing-Yun Realm. Ye Xiao had at least lost thirty thousand people in the fight. These men died on the battlefield, leaving no time for any attempt of treatments.

However, the most important thing was that the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation affected both sides. The souls of the enemies in the East Hall couldn't get out, and so as Ye Xiao's men. The energy from the souls of the dead kept being affected inside the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation. All the souls would eventually be gone.

Ye Xiao couldn't stop taking it badly in his heart.

"Nothing could be perfect in the world. Most of the things don't go as we wish. No matter what, we are in a critical moment. No matter how upset you feel, you should better forget it for now. You will never have time to spend some good time to mourn for the dead unless we win the war and end the calamity in the Qing-Yun Realm." People tried to console Ye Xiao.

There was nothing he could do.

It was so easy for Ye Xiao to remove the Heavenly Cycle Locking Formation. In fact, he only needed to give an order, and somebody would do it for him. However, there was a consequence. All the energy of the souls would go to the altars. The demonic altars would absorb all the energy. That would be doing a great favor for the enemy. Was it really a good thing to do? Did it make the sacrifice of the dead worth?

"To kill the demons and to hold justice, we are willing to die for our great purpose. We have prepared to die in this war." The Moon Queen softly looked at Ye Xiao and said, "The only thought we have that brought us here together is to free the Qing-Yun Realm from the evil. If our children can get rid of the demonic creature's control, we would love to sacrifice our lives for victory. No matter how we may die, we won't regret it. You don't need to take it too hard to yourself."

Ye Xiao nodded and smiled bitterly. "I know… Of course, I know… Where there is war, there is a sacrifice. I just don't understand… The Honor Demon has done a great favor for us. He has even weakened his own people before we arrived at the East Hall. People in the East Hall were in their weakest time. It was a sure victory for us, yet we still suffered such a great loss."

The Moon Queen gently said, "Monarch, you are wrong. The East Hall was still one of the most powerful sect in the world. They had hundreds of thousands of disciples. We only sacrificed thirty thousand people and we won. It was a great victory. You don't need to be sorry. No one could have done better than you!"

"Thank you, Moon Queen." Ye Xiao took a long breath and said, "After this fight, I must do something to commemorate the heroes who died for us. We should take good care of their children, and let their children live with the glory from the heroes."

"Of course, we have to." The Moon Queen looked at Ye Xiao. Her eyes were full of admiration.

Ye Xiao had already thought about consoling and compensating the bereaved families. It meant he was such a kind and generous person.

All sects had the rules about how to compensate the bereaved families, but they barely did it.

When a man died, he died like an extinct candle. When a man was alive, people cared about him. When he died, he was just a dead body, that nobody paid attention to. It sounded cruel, but it was the reality, especially for cultivators in the martial world. If Ye Xiao could keep the word he just said, he would become a role model to the later generations in the world!

"I have reached the Golden Core, which means I am going up to the Human Realm Upon Heavens." Ye Xiao looked serious, and he said, "After I leave, all the wealth that I leave behind should be used for this purpose.

"Not just me, Li Wuliang, Han Bingxue, Jun Yinglian… All valuable things that we will leave behind should be used for the same purpose." Ye Xiao smiled and said, "Moon Queen, I wish you and my three masters should take the responsibility of supervision.

"No infringement. Nobody should humiliate the heroes who died for the Qing-Yun Realm! I don't want our heroes to weep after splashing their blood for the entire world! Nobody desecrates the honor!"

Ye Xiao decisively said.

"I promise you! I will! I will do it!"

The Moon Queen promised seriously.

"Great. The elderly will be taken good care of. The children will be fed. The weak will be supported." Ye Xiao walked forward and said in a low voice. Apparently, he had thought of the same thing numerous times. "It is what we should do to take care of these people, but we can't go too over. I think you understand what I mean, Moon Queen."

"We should take care of the heroes' families, but we can't let any of these people desecrate the late heroes."

"I understand!" The Moon Queen was impressed.

[This man has such a profound view. Everything he plans is practical.]

As the Moon Queen had such thoughts in mind, she truly wanted to go to the Oracle District immediately. She wanted to find Ye Nantian and Yue Gongxue to fix their relationship… which was obviously broken.

…

"The fourth altar…" The Honor Demon, who was wearing black clothes, stood in front of a small altar with his hands behind his back. The altar was small, which was only about three meters wide.

In the middle of the altar, there was a flaming green fire.

The altar looked unblemished but was actually built up with human heads. However, every human head was the same size just like a peanut; with everything a human head had, revealing their white spooky teeth.

Apparently, these heads were downsized by some special power for a certain purpose.

It was only one altar, yet the thickly dotted tiny human heads were telling the death of countless men.

Perhaps, nobody dared to count, or nobody wanted to!

Around the altar; seven men were sitting cross-legged in a circle, who kept their eyes close at the same time, with one hand sticking out in front of them. From each of their hands, there was a stream of white colored essence of their energy going into the altar.

The black-clothed Honor Demon didn't care about the altar of tiny human heads or the seven men who were pouring their energy out to the altar. The only thing he cared was the green flickering flame in the middle of the altar. There was also a ghostly flame flickering inside his eyes as he stared at the green fire.

The Honor Demon seemed to be excited and anxious at the same time.

About three hundred meters away from this altar, there was another altar. That altar had a different color of flame, which was black. It was also flickering. Farther than this one, there were still two altars; one had a white flame, while the other had a red flame.

There were nine altars, and four of them were completed. The fifth one was forming up. Dark qi kept rising up from everywhere and ran into the fifth altar. In the middle of the fifth altar, dark smoke was rising.

It wouldn't be long before the fifth altar obtained its flame.

Each of the nine altars had seven superior cultivators sitting around and kept pouring their pure life qi into the altar. As they slowly poured their life qi into the altar, the altar spread the dark qi to enhance the seven cultivators, who then became more and more demonic…

"Almost all the high-level superior cultivators have joined this war."

"But only four of my altars are completed."

"I have to complete the other five soon, I don't think I have enough people to kill for the five altars…"

The Honor Demon frowned, and stayed deep in his thoughts.

"The battle in the East Hall was surprising… One tiny mistake, and we wasted the energy from the East Hall… Ah. I should have thought of it before it happened…

"Anyway, according to the information, Ye Xiao has reached the Golden Core. As long as I can put him down, I will have more than enough energy to complete the fifth altar…"

"Those Dao Origin Stage cultivators around Ye Xiao together will be a great amount of energy for us… They are not as good as Ye Xiao, but the five of them have almost reached Golden Core. If the information is right, I think I will have enough energy to complete all my altars… Well, if the information is wrong, then the five of them can at least fill up two altars for me…

"In other words, in the worst case—Ye Xiao and his powerful fellows will bring me enough energy to complete at least the seventh altar."

"Aside from Ye Xiao and the five of his friends, there are still hundreds of thousands of high-level Dao Origin Stage cultivators in their so-called united force. These people will be enough to fill up the eighth altar for me."

"As for the ninth altar…"

The Honor Demon's eyes flickered. He thought for a while and said, "The last altar is the most important one. I must make sure it gets more than enough energy. I can risk it… If there are enough enemies to kill, I should give up my own people in the Demon Soul Dao…"

"But… Although each of the former eight altars only needs all the soul power of a Golden Core cultivator, the ninth altar needs all the soul power of a Full Golden Core cultivator. A Full Golden Core cultivator is at least twice as powerful as a Golden Core cultivator. The last altar needs so much soul energy… I don't think those people are enough…"

He kept pacing around heavily, frowning and sighing. After a while, he fiercely said, "Godd*mn bastard! The power from the East! The power that is locked inside that area!"

"I can't believe we are wasting it all!"

"This is bad! This is driving me crazy!"