Chapter 598: The Third Plane
Meng Hao walked slowly, higher and higher. Soon he was high up in the sky, and almost at the top. He stopped just before he reached the final stair, looking down at the mountain peaks of the Demon Immortal Plane. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, they were filled with resolve.
“Dad, I’m leaving now….” he said softly. Then he strode forward onto the final stair. A shocking rumbling sound filled the air, and the entire world began to shake.
Meng Hao could see and feel the shaking, but all of the Demon Immortal Sect disciples who weren’t from South Heaven had no clue at all that such things were occurring.
The South Heaven Cultivators could feel it, of course, and their faces began to fill with excitement and intense anticipation at the prospect of seeing the Third Plane with their own eyes!
When it came to the Demon Immortal Sect, the first two Planes always appeared. The Third Plane, however, had only appeared a few times throughout all history. It required great destiny or good fortune to make it open.
To be able to personally see the opening of the Third Plane made their hearts burst with passion.
Of course, the only one who could most truly witness the disappearance of the Second Plane and the opening of the Third Plane, was Meng Hao.
As of this moment, he was the only person who stood up in mid-air, looking down at all the people in the world below. When he reached the pinnacle of the great staircase, he looked down at everything, at the increasingly intense shaking, and the ghost images.
The ghost images would only appear for a moment before disappearing.
An invisible, imperceptible, illusory wind sprang up from nowhere. It did not cause anyone’s hair to lift up. Instead, it stimulated time.
Meng Hao watched all Seven Peaks of the First Heaven pass through ten thousand years in the blink of an eye. The lush vegetation on the mountain peaks withered and then bloomed again, completely changing in appearance.
He saw more extravagant buildings erected on the peaks, and he saw countless lives, people being born, growing old, dying. Ten thousand years.
Then he saw everything go pitch black. An enormous hand appeared, covering over the entire world. Within that hand, he could just make out an old man in a gold robe. He waved his sleeve, and the Heavens changed. The land was bathed in redness, and the stars tumbled about.
The ground shook. Meng Hao couldn’t see much within the darkness, but he could see the two Holy Lands collapsing. The three Greater Demon Mountains shattered. The Seven Peaks of the Demon Immortal Sect’s First Heaven split and cracked. Although the mountains were still in place, many parts were destroyed.
Buildings fell to pieces and disciples died. Meng Hao witnessed a great war that shook all of the Ninth Mountain and Sea. The war was fought in the pitch black, so he could not see things clearly, he could only sense them.
Soon everything faded away. After a long time, Meng Hao caught sight of a coffin on the Fourth Peak. A man emerged from within the coffin; he had long black hair and wore a white robe.
He stood silently on the Fourth Peak, as if he were watching over the lands below him, for an eternity.
All of this was tens of thousand of years of history, all passed in the blink of an eye. Meng Hao eventually closed his eyes, and when he opened them, reality had been restored to the world. There were corpses everywhere, just like before, and ruins.
Everything… was back to normal.
Meng Hao quietly closed his eyes again for a while. When he opened them, he was no longer up in the air, but rather, reclining in the coffin on the Fourth Peak, looking up at the sky.
The sky was broken, just like he remembered it had been when he first lay down into the coffin.
It was like everything had been a dream, and now… he was waking up from the dream. Quietly, he recalled the images of everything that had happened in the ancient, illusory world. Eventually, tears began to seep out of the corners of his eyes.
“Was it really all just a dream?” He wasn’t sure how to tell. He slowly sat up and then crawled out of the coffin. As he began to walk away, he suddenly looked back, his mind trembling.
The coffin was familiar to him. It was the exact same coffin that Ke Yunhai had made for him back in the illusory ancient times…. Perhaps it was more accurate to say that he made it for Ke Jiusi, the precious treasure to be able to cultivate the Soul Divergence Incantation.
Meng Hao looked a bit absent minded as he stood there. After a long time passed, he turned and looked over the Fourth Peak. As far as what the place had looked like when he first arrived, he couldn’t quite remember clearly.
Now, though, even though everything was in ruins, it was all familiar to him. Every little thing was something that existed in his memories, unforgettable.
He silently walked to the edge of the top portion of the Fourth Peak, to the place where he had first seen Ke Jiusi. He stood in the same place, his back to the First Peak, and gazed toward the Seventh Peak.
It wasn’t the first time he had stood here. Back in the First Plane, he had wondered what Ke Jiusi was looking at. Now that he stood here looking out in the same direction once again, he knew all too well.
“You were looking at Father Ke’s tomb.” In the Seventh Peak was a mountain valley where one of the most powerful experts in the history of the Demon Immortal Sect had been buried after he perished. It was none other than… Ke Yunhai.
Meng Hao looked away, and then began to walk down the Fourth Peak. All the various details weren’t exactly the same as they had been that year, but even still, Meng Hao was able to find places that he was familiar with.
As he walked, his face flickered with an expression of reminiscence. His heart felt heavy. He was like someone who had just awoken from a dream, a bit distracted, somewhat unsure of what was real and what was not.
The Fourth Peak was filled with ruins, and there were many areas that still had the restrictive spells from before. Just such a place suddenly appeared in front of Meng Hao. Gentle, warm light drifted out. It didn’t look like much, but if he ignored it, or tried to enter it without using the proper method, then it wouldn’t matter how powerful his fleshly body was, he would perish without a doubt.
The restrictive spell blocked Meng Hao’s path. On the other side was a narrow mountain path filled with corpses. Meng Hao was very familiar with this path; it was none other than the way that led to his Immortal’s cave on the Fourth Peak.
He stood outside the restrictive spell, his expression growing more complex. After a long moment, he closed his eyes. When he opened them, he lifted his right hand up and performed an ancient sealing incantation. Ghost images appeared, and he pressed out lightly up ahead of him.
There was no sound. The light of the seemingly eternal restrictive spell suddenly began to flicker rapidly. Gradually it grew thin, until finally, an opening appeared.
Meng Hao sighed, and stepped inside. A melancholy expression appeared on his face as he looked around at the corpses that littered the path. At the end of the path was the Immortal’s cave in which he had lived for so many months in the Second Plane.
The door to the Immortal’s cave was collapsed. The inside of the cave was empty, filled with dust. The Wooden Soldiers that Ke Yunhai had given him in the Second Plane were nowhere to be seen.
“Perhaps they don’t even exist anymore,” he thought to himself as he sat there in the Immortal’s cave. This was the spot he usually meditated in the Second Plane. From here he could see the sky and the lands. He sat there for a long time.
He knew that the other South Heaven Cultivators were using every method at their disposal, including methods gained in the Second Plane, to dig up treasures that remained in the Third Plane.
You could say that the Third Plane was like a Treasure Pavilion that had been broken open. Anyone who came here would be certain to have chances to acquire good fortune.
After a long time passed, Meng Hao finally stood up. He left what had once been his Immortal’s cave, and began to walk toward… Ke Yunhai’s Immortal’s cave.
There were now no restrictive spells here. All of them had been destroyed in the great war. In fact, the door of the Immortal’s cave hung in fragments. Except… the sight of the interior of the Immortal’s cave left Meng Hao gaping.
The layout of the Immortal’s cave looked exactly the same as he remembered it being from the Second Plane….
However, the entire place was untainted by even a speck of dust, as if someone came frequently to clean it.
Meng Hao stood there looking at the Immortal’s cave for a long time, almost as if he wasn’t even aware that time was passing by, and he had forgotten that this wasn’t the illusory Second Plane. Three days later, he finally clasped hands and bowed deeply.
He bowed for the dream. He bowed for the father during that lifetime. He bowed for having fully awoken from the dream.
The feelings for his father during that life were ingrained in the depths of his heart, and were now a part of him. They could not be cut away, or lost.
He rose to his feet, his eyes filled with determination as he walked down the Fourth Peak.
After leaving the mountain, he took a deep breath and then flew into the air. His heart had now recovered by more than half from the experience in the illusion. His eyes glittered as he shot off into the distance.
Rumbling echoed out as he increased his speed. Then, when he was far, far off, he suddenly stopped in place. He looked down at himself, for the first time sparing a moment to examine his body.
“So, the results of the fleshly body cultivation in the ancient illusion… are still there!” His eyes flickered with a bright light. His time spent cultivating his physical body had not been wasted. As of now… even in the First Anima, he had a fleshly body that was as powerful as the Fifth Anima.
“I gained the most in the First Plane. In the Second Plane, I also exceeded everyone else, leading to my superiority and advantage.
“Well then. I think that in the Third Plane… I also need to be the biggest winner!” With that, his body flickered, and a screaming sound filled the air. Before it could emanate out very far, Meng Hao was already nowhere to be seen.
“If my fleshly body cultivation remained in place, then….” He shot forward, his gaze coming to rest at stop off in the distance. He didn’t realize it, but a bright glow had appeared in his eyes. Within his gaze could be seen anticipation, as well as a bit of nervousness.
“Well, I wonder if my plan of burying the Wooden Time Swords… has succeeded!?!?” He took a deep breath. If his plan had succeeded, then the rewards he could acquire would definitely be a defiance of Heaven.
Daoist magics and fleshly body cultivation were all good, and in fact, Meng Hao was quite content. However, what he looked forward to even more were the Wooden Time Swords. If he had succeeded, the he would be in possession of a precious treasure that could slay Immortals.
If he had succeeded with the swords, then Meng Hao would have a much deeper understanding of everything that had occurred within the ancient, illusory world. He would then be able to determine whether or not… he really could change the future.
Although he was aware that the possibility of success was small, he was still filled with expectation. His body flashed as he shot off into the distance at top speed. It didn’t take long for him to find one of the four locations where he had buried a Wooden Time Sword.