Chapter 1427: All Ye Shall Call Me Allheaven!
Meng Hao’s mind was reeling. The fluctuations emanating from the bronze lamp grew stronger, and it reached the point where he knew that if he missed this opportunity, it could have grave ramifications in the future.
Even more shocking to Meng Hao was that in his moment of hesitation, it almost felt as if the bronze lamp were going to burst out of him and fly down into the abyss of its own accord.
He didn’t hesitate for even a moment longer. Casting a cold glance at the intense golden light shooting toward him from the golden-robed young man and the Sixth and Eighth Paragons, and looking around at the greedy, brutal figures within the mist, he suddenly shot downward. The light and the mist passed over the spot he had just occupied, and at the same time, he slammed into the giant.
A huge boom rang out, and the three-headed giant screamed miserably. Blood oozed out of Meng Hao’s mouth as he shot downward into the abyss, ignoring the bridge completely.
Of course, to all of the other cultivators on the bridge, it didn’t look like Meng Hao was intentionally heading down into the dark void below. Instead, it seemed as if the golden-robed young man and the other Paragons were forcing him to do so.
“Sha Jiudong! Jin Yunshan!” roared the Sect Leader, enraged. His cultivation base surged as if he were preparing to fight with the other two. 1
However, Sha Jiudong and Jin Yunshan didn’t seem willing to engage in fighting. They immediately fell back, whereupon the three of them began to confer via a method only they could participate in. Eventually, the Sect Leader’s face flickered with disbelief and other mixed emotions.
“Impossible,” he murmured.
As for what happened after that, Meng Hao didn’t care enough to pay attention. As he whistled through the void down into the depths of the abyss, he recalled what the Sect Leader had said about the ramifications of being off of the bridge for an extended length of time. Death would be the result, and as of now, Meng Hao was already seeing evidence of why that was the case.
Astonishingly, the mists around him were growing thicker and thicker, and they were growing ever closer to him. Lurking within those mists was an aura that left his heart pounding.
However, as the mists neared, the bronze lamp within Meng Hao suddenly let out a soft glow. It passed outside of Meng Hao’s body, surrounding him, and when the mists touched it, countless screaming voices could be heard, as if their owners were being melted away by the light.
Meng Hao settled himself. Following the tug of the bronze lamp, he continued downward. Behind him, the three-headed giant roared, apparently not frightened of the lamp at all as it pursued him relentlessly.
The further down he went, the more intense the fluctuations of the bronze lamp became. Before long, Meng Hao caught sight of land down below.
Most accurately speaking, it was a strip of land jutting out from the larger first land mass. Visible there was a statue which had apparently been standing, tucked away, for countless years.
It was tens of thousands of meters tall, and at first glance it almost looked like a mountain.
It depicted a young man clad in a long robe, who was gazing upward. A vicious expression twisted his face, and a brutal air radiated out from him. It almost seems as if he were roaring in rage, and there were even blue veins visible, bulging out all over his face. Upon further examination, Meng Hao realized that he actually resembled the figure he had seen via his third eye, the person sitting on the throne on the ninth land mass.
However, this statue had a stubborn, unyielding expression, as well as an intense focus in his eyes that seemed to be boundless resentment.
Faint tendrils of mist seeped out from him, which was in fact the source of the shocking mist which filled the abyss.
Visible on the statue’s forehead was a rift, into which someone had stabbed a sword.
Whatever force was causing the bronze lamp to be stirred into action was coming from within that rift.
Next to the statue was a cliff, although closer examination revealed that it was no simple cliff. It was actually an enormous… gravestone.
Written on the gravestone was a single line of text.
“My first clone, felled by Allheaven.”
Beneath the line of text was the name of the person who had written it. Unexpectedly, it was… Patriarch Vast Expanse.
Meng Hao felt shaken as he looked at the statue. Although the statue seemed to have been carved out of rock, when he looked closer, it actually seemed to have been formed from flesh and blood.
Before he could study the statue any further, the three-headed giant appeared. Roaring, it launched itself at Meng Hao, its eyes glowing with turbid red light.
Meng Hao frowned and rotated his cultivation base. A vortex appeared around him, which rapidly transformed into a wild tempest. He stepped forward, punching out with the God-Slaying Fist.
A boom rang out. Based on the current level of Meng Hao’s battle prowess, that fist strike would cause an ordinary 9-Essences expert to cough up blood. However, all it did to the three-headed giant was send it staggering backward by a few hundred meters. Roaring, it attacked again.
“That’s some thick skin,” Meng Hao thought, frowning. Killing intent swirled in his eyes as he unleashed another attack. One punch, two punches, three punches. In the blink of an eye, he unleashed dozens of fist strikes. Intense booms rang out, until finally, the three-headed giant coughed up some blood. However, the brutal gleam in its eyes was even more evident than before.
“Looking to die?” Meng Hao growled, waving his sleeve. Numerous mountains appeared out of nowhere, each one of which exuded shocking power as it crushed down onto the three-headed giant. Even as blood spurted out of various wounds, the giant’s three heads let out piercing cries which became an indescribably powerful sound wave that battered against Meng Hao.
A tremor ran through him, and his face paled. And yet, he took a step forward, then another. He took a total of seven steps, each of which caused his energy to rise. Then, when the entire abyss seemed to be shaking violently, his finger slashed out like lightning.
That finger swipe slammed into one of the giant’s heads, causing it to instantly explode. The giant let out a bloodcurdling scream, and the other two heads suddenly seemed to be struggling. For a moment, the giant’s eyes became clear, but then a moment later, a turbid red glow took over. The giant stopped moving, looked at Meng Hao, then launched another attack.
A boom rang out as massive power blasted toward Meng Hao. He fell back several paces, simultaneously performing an incantation gesture with his right hand. Then he waved his finger, unleashing the Eighth Demon Sealing Hex.
Instantly, the Essence of space descended. The now two-headed giant trembled, and then began to struggle against the effects, but that was when Meng Hao closed in and waved his finger again.
A huge boom rang out as another of the giant’s heads exploded. There was only one head left, but now, the turbid glow in its eyes was gone. Instead, they glowed brightly, without a trace of red, and its pupils were now visible.
“Allheaven…” the giant suddenly said. “Allheaven…” Then it howled, and a pained expression twisted its face. It grabbed its remaining head with its hand as if it were slipping into insanity.
“If you think you can control me, well stop dreaming!” the giant screamed. “I’m the subordinate of Vast Expanse, the God Titan!”
As the giant roared, an air of brutality and infinite madness radiated out, accompanied by a feeling of profound ancientness.
A moment later, his clear eyes once again stirred with a turbid glow. He looked down at Meng Hao almost as if for the first time, and an expression of disbelief appeared in his eyes.
“Master… is that… is that you…?” he said. Trembling, he began to charge once again in attack. “Kill me! I’m your God Titan, and I’d rather die than be controlled by Allheaven. Kill me, Master!”
Roaring, the giant headed directly toward Meng Hao, apparently making no defensive preparations whatsoever.
Meng Hao was taken aback. As the giant closed in, its attack built in intensity until a windstorm raged around it. By now, the turbid redness had completely retaken its eyes.
Meng Hao didn’t hesitate at all. His finger shot out again, tapping the giant’s forehead a third time.
A boom rang out, and a massive wound pierced through the giant’s head. As it spread out, filling his body, he trembled. And yet, the turbid glow was now gone, and his eyes were completely clear.
He looked at Meng Hao, his expression one of pain and reminiscence. “So you’re not my Master…?” he murmured. “Well, thank you anyway….
“Allheaven. Allheaven.” Laughing loudly, he closed his eyes, and his body collapsed.
Everything went silent. Meng Hao hovered there quietly for a moment, frowning. The giant’s actions had been odd to say the least, and had become even more odd once the turbid glow left its eyes.
“Who is Allheaven? Allheaven fears the Immortal?” Something seemed off. After looking at the rift in the statue’s forehead again, he approached it to examine it further.
“Killed… by a single sword strike,” he murmured. The statue itself was enormous, so naturally, the rift was as well. It appeared to be at least thirty meters tall.
“The fact that the clone of Patriarch Vast Expanse was interred here by the Patriarch himself… The city and the land masses that became the Ghost City…. The Sect Leader’s description of the legends…. And then this three-headed giant’s words. What mystery is at work here?
“Obviously, it has something to do with the bronze lamp inside of me.” Numerous speculations ran through Meng Hao’s mind. After some more thought, his eyes began to glow, and he flickered into motion. Following the stirrings of the bronze lamp, he entered the rift, and thus, the interior of the statue.
There was no flesh and blood, only a stone tunnel. At first, the tunnel sloped downward, but soon it changed direction and headed upward. As Meng Hao sped along, he felt the fluctuations in the bronze lamp growing ever stronger, and the call from earlier, ever closer.
Several hours later, he came to a stop. Up ahead, the tunnel led into a stone cavern, on either side of which could be seen frescoes carved into the wall. The frescoes themselves were what immediately caught Meng Hao’s attention.
They depicted scenes from countless ages past. Innumerable living beings were depicted, and even wild beasts. All of them were prostrating themselves in worship toward the sky, toward a figure who was approaching, bathed in light.
That figure looked down on all creation…. His upraised right hand held within it a stretch of starry sky, within which could be seen countless heavenly bodies….
As he stared at the frescoes, Meng Hao’s mind and soul, everything about him, seemed drawn to the images. He almost seemed to sink into the world depicted in the frescoes.
It was as if he had become one of those prostrating figures. He could sense how ancient the world around him was, and could detect the boundless nature of Heaven and Earth. Within his ears rang the voice of that figure which looked down upon all creation.
“All ye living beings shall call me… Allheaven.
“Because of mine existence, there is the universe, and thus the starry sky, and thus the heavenly bodies, and thus all of ye people….”
1. Jin Yunshan’s name in Chinese is 金云山 jīn yún shān. Jin is a common surname which also means “Gold.” Yun means “cloud” and shan means “mountain”