Chapter 492: I’ll Be Back!
The Tower of Tang in the State of Zhao!
The year that Meng Hao left the Reliance Sect, he went to the capital city of the State of Zhao. There, he had stood atop the Tower of Tang, fulfilling his lifelong dream of looking out from its enormous height toward the Great Tang in the Eastern Land.
After that, when he was preparing to leave, the sovereign of the State of Zhao and the others prostrated themselves in worship to the Tower of Tang. As he left, he had inadvertently looked over his shoulder to see an enormous vortex appear in the sky. It was something that no one could see but him!
Within that vortex was another world, a battlefield filled with countless corpses, as well as a gigantic black coffin. The whole scene was incredibly shocking. Sitting next to the coffin, a shrivelled figure sat crosslegged. Meng Hao could never forget how as soon as he looked at the withered corpse, it suddenly opened its eyes.
That one look had caused a burning of his life force which lasted for months. Meng Hao now knew the purpose of that magic. It was a seal, locking onto his position. 1
Later, outside the Rebirth Cave, Meng Hao came to understand everything. He knew that the corpse’s name was Choumen Tai. He had acquired Immortal Shows the Way from Choumen Tai, and knew that the world in that vortex was actually an ancient battlefield.
That war had been fought because of the previous Lord of the Ninth Mountain, of the Li Clan, as well as the current Lord of the Ninth Mountain who was of the Ji Clan. It was in the Realm of the Bridge Ruins that Meng Hao put even more pieces together, learning that the war of supremacy regarding the Lordship of the Ninth Mountain also had to do with the Immortal Demon Sect!
As he looked up at the vortex, his mind filled with astonishment as he realized that the world he was looking at was, shockingly… the exact same world he had seen when in the State of Zhao!
However, this time, the ancient battlefield did not contain a coffin, but rather a sea of corpses….
In the very center of the sea of corpses was a huge altar, which was filled with a black mist. The mist made it impossible to see what was inside, but mournful shrieks could be heard coming from the mist. Soon, faces became faintly visible on its surface. It seemed as if they wanted to fly out from the mist, but were unable to. It seemed as if they had been stuck with the mist for countless years, unable to do anything except mourn and cry out.
Among the faces in the mist were Cultivators as well as neo-demons!
Meng Hao’s mind filled with a roaring sound, and something like a powerful call suddenly welled up from his heart. It was actually impossible for him to tell whether this feeling was the black mist calling him, or if it was him calling the black mist!
It didn’t matter at the moment. Meng Hao’s heart and mind trembled as he thought back to the black mist he had seen in the center of the spell formation earlier, as well as what relationship it had with the vortex.
It was at this moment that looks of fanaticism filled the faces of the surrounding Cultivators of the Eight Branch Alliance. All of them kneeled down and began to bow toward the vortex up in the sky.
Even the sixteen Nascent Soul Cultivators up in mid-air also began to prostrate themselves.
At the same time, the redness that filled the ground began to spread out. The mist roiled as it enveloped everyone in the area, including Meng Hao. Vast amounts of Demonic Qi suddenly began to pour out from within the spell formation.
The instant the Demonic Qi appeared, it poured into all of the Cultivators in the area. They continued to act completely crazy, as if they had sunk into some dreamland from which they were unable to emerge. As the Demonic Qi filled them, their faces twisted and distorted.
The Demonic Qi poured into them, causing their bodies to tremble, and their expressions to turn vicious. Meng Hao’s eyes glittered; after closer observation, he could see that the Demonic Qi was actually fusing with the life force of the Cultivators.
Next, all of these people lifted their heads up toward the vortex. At the same time, the sixteen Cultivators in mid air used their incantations to cause the life force fused with Demonic Qi, to shoot toward the whirlpool. It was instantly sucked in and headed toward the black mist inside. The faces in the mist suddenly looked excited, and began to consume it rapidly.
Meng Hao could clearly see all of this happening. He turned to look at Sun Dahai, who remained sitting cross-legged in that particular position. His eyes were closed and he was meditating; his position was one of a few in the area that had no Demonic Qi in it. That location was one of the nexus points of the spell formation; Demonic Qi would not enter it, making him temporarily safe.
“Just what exactly is that mist…?” thought Meng Hao. “Why do I have this feeling of calling? I can tell that it’s not the mist calling me. But rather… somehow I am inadvertently calling the mist.” He looked around as the Demonic Qi continued to pour into the surrounding tens of thousands of Cultivators. It merged with their life force and then shot up into the vortex.
At the same time, the surrounding tens of thousands of Cultivators of the Eight Branch Alliance began to speak in a bizarre language. The sound of it rose into the air, merging together to transform into sound waves that rolled out in all directions.
As their voices sounded out, the mist in the area churned even more violently. More Demonic Qi shot up into the vortex, causing the faces on the black mist to emit excited roars.
The whole scene was incredibly bizarre. That was especially so as the sixteen Nascent Soul Cultivators up in the air shouted out excitedly and performed double-handed incantations to produce sealing marks which flew out.
Even more shocking, totem tattoos suddenly began to appear on the foreheads of the sixteen Cultivators. These totems looked like… faces!
They were the same twisted faces that existed on the black mist in the vortex!
Similar totem tattoos could suddenly be seen appearing on the foreheads of all the tens of thousands of Eight Branch Alliance Cultivators. Each face was different. Some were old, some were young. Some were Cultivators, some were neo-demons.
“Those faces are their totems!” thought Meng Hao, his heart filling with shock. He would never have imagined that the faces filling the black mist in the vortex could be totems.
“This Eight Branch Alliance is incredibly bizarre. Not only do they have a spell formation that can absorb Demonic Qi, as well as Cultivators who actually have Demonic Qi in their bodies, but their totems are connected to things inside the world of that vortex.
“Even stranger… that black mist has something to do with Demon Sealers!” His eyes filled with a strange light.
It was at this moment that the Demonic Qi in the area suddenly began to cover the spell formation nexuses, and Sun Dahai suddenly began to tremble. Demonic Qi was already beginning to bore into his body.
Meng Hao frowned. He lifted his hand, and immediately the Demonic Qi spread away from Sun Dahai. Although it only caused a slight change to the dense Demonic Qi in the area, there were suddenly seven streams of Divine Sense that shot over.
“What?”
“That guy is still conscious!”
“It’s him….”
Almost at the same time that the seven streams of Divine Sense flew over, three of the sixteen Nascent Soul Cultivators up above flickered and began to fly down. It took only a brief moment for them to near Meng Hao.
Of the three, one was the man dressed as a scholar. Killing intent flickered in his eyes.
Meng Hao gave a cold snort. Waving his hand, he caused the Demonic Qi in the area to shoot toward himself. It transformed into an invisible attack which swept toward the incoming three Cultivators.
Amidst echoing booms, the three Nascent Soul Cultivators’ faces filled with shock, and they were forced to stop moving.
“Demonic Qi! That guy can manipulate Demonic Qi!!” Immediately, the astonished Nascent Soul Cultivators began to perform incantations. Illusory faces suddenly appeared in front of them. They pushed out with their hands, causing the three faces to twist with fury. Savage laughter erupted from the mouths of the faces as they shot toward Meng Hao.
The Demonic Qi wielded by Meng Hao had little effect on these three bizarre faces. They even consumed the Demonic Qi as they approached. Even by increasing the power of the Demonic Qi attack, Meng Hao was only able to make one of the three faces grow a bit blurry and fade away. The other two continued to shoot toward him.
A bang could be heard, and ripples spread out in all directions as Meng Hao’s Demonic Incarnation suddenly shot backward. He snatched up Sun Dahai and then continued to fly back.
The faces of the three Nascent Soul Cultivators were grim as they flew in pursuit of Meng Hao.
“Your Cultivation base is definitely extraordinary, but do you really think you can escape from the Eight Branch Alliance!?”
“It might be strange that you can manipulate Demonic Qi. But we’ll catch you and sacrifice you to the Sacred Ancient! The Sacred Ancient will definitely be very happy!”
It was with vigilance that the three Cultivators shot after Meng Hao. At the same time, another from the group up above shot down toward Meng Hao. It was Ou Yunzi, turning the group that was pursuing Meng Hao into a group of four.
Using minor teleportation, the four worked together to employ Divine Abilities. Ferocious, magical faces appeared, shooting toward Meng Hao and devouring Demonic Qi at the same time.
Meng Hao said nothing, nor did he even pay attention to his four pursuers. He held Sun Dahai in one hand and performed an incantation with the other, causing a host of sealing marks to appear on Sun Dahai’s body.
At the same time, he flew away like a specter, completely avoiding the four Nascent Soul Cultivators.
After about ten breaths worth of time passed, Meng Hao placed his hand onto the top of Sun Dahai’s head. Suddenly, a shield appeared around him, whereupon Meng Hao loosened his grip, allowing Sun Dahai to fall into the mist below.
With the shield in place, Sun Dahai would not be affected by the attacks of the Demonic Qi. Next, Meng Hao turned and waves his hand toward his four pursuers. Instantly, Demonic Qi appeared to attack them.
The five of them flitted back and forth with minor teleportations, unleashing endless magical techniques, divine abilities, magical faces, and Demonic Qi. Ou Yunzi and the others were quickly filled with shock. Meng Hao danced back and forth, his attacks bizarre, causing them to feel more and more frustrated.
“Where did this guy come from? How could he be so weird?”
Even as the four of them were beginning to feel more and more frustrated, two more Nascent Soul Cultivators frowned and teleported down from the remaining group of twelve up above. Now, a combined force of six people was attacking Meng Hao. Six enormous faces appeared and then began to merge together. This killing move, combining the power of all six of them, caused a massive rumbling to fill Heaven and Earth. The sky dimmed and the clouds up above seethed. Meng Hao stopped moving as his black cloak was shredded into pieces. For the first time, his body beneath was revealed to the outside world.
It… was not actually a body! It was a mass of Demonic Qi, congealed into the shape of a body. It was a human-shaped body of Demonic Qi that looked like mist!
When the onlookers saw the body of mist, their minds trembled. The eyes of the six attackers, as well as the ten people up in air, went wide. Their expressions filled with astonishment.
“A Mist Clone!!”
“Impossible! What we’ve been working so hard to kill is actually a Mist Clone!!”
“If a mere Mist Clone is so powerful, then what about his true self… He must be completely fearsome!!”
Sixteen Nascent Soul Cultivators’ faces completely fell. This was especially true of Ou Yunzi, whose face went pale when he thought back to his earlier premonition.
Meng Hao’s misty body began to fade away, but his face was filled with derision and coldness.
“I’ll be back!”
“I’m already here!”
The first sentence was uttered by the disappearing misty figure. The second echoed out from far off in the distance, causing a rumbling that shook everything.
To the people who heard it, it sounded like thunder exploding up into the Heavens.
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This chapter was sponsored by Gentleman, Christopher Choi, AM and JB
1. The events back in the State of Zhao happened in chapter 59