Chapter 649: Spirits Hide in the Divide
“There’s a trick to this Milky Way Sea Stormwind Divide,” Meng Hao murmured. The winds screamed around him, and lightning crackled. The winds could flay any Nascent Soul Cultivator alive, and the lightning could reduce them to powder.
However, all the wind could do to Meng Hao was blow against his face. It couldn’t shake him in the least. As for the lightning, it was like a tonic that helped his Cultivation base rotate a bit faster.
The parrot gripped his shoulder, also completely disdainful of the storm winds. Occasionally it would squawk and fly out into the winds with the meat jelly bell.
Anyone who saw this scene would certainly be astonished. In the entire Milky Way Sea, the only people who would dare to traverse the Stormwind Divide alone were Spirit Severing Cultivators.
And when it came to Spirit Severing Cultivators, there were only three in the Milky Way Sea.
Those were the Three Saints of the three Sects.
Other than those three, no one would dare to try to cross the Stormwind Divide.
The divide was actually huge. Meng Hao had proceeded forward with arms clasped behind his back for more than thirty thousand kilometers, and still had not emerged from the other side. As he continued onward, the winds raged, carrying whimpering sounds with them through the pitch black darkness. It sounded like countless demons and fiends were howling at him.
Lightning danced in sheets, sending rumbling booms out in all directions.
This was a place where Nascent Soul Cultivators fundamentally couldn’t exist. Their fleshly bodies would be destroyed, their Nascent Souls shattered. However, to Meng Hao, none of it counted for anything.
Two hours later, Meng Hao had proceeded along even further, although he wasn’t sure exactly how far. Within the darkness, the wind was like a sharp blade that forced him to slow down a bit. However, because of the strength of his fleshly body, he was still able to proceed onward.
He pushed through the storm winds for another day. They grew more and more astonishing, and lightning struck down everywhere. There were even flickering magical symbols that could be seen in the area. Meng Hao’s eyes flickered when he felt the pressure exuding out from the magical symbols.
At first they were scarce, but the following day, Meng Hao couldn’t help but frown and slow down. The magical symbols around him were no longer flickering, but rather, glowing brightly. Oftentimes, he would see ten or more magical symbols fused together to create spell formations.
At one point, he eyed one of the spell formation with flickering eyes. “This spell formation could cause Spirit Severing Cultivators to tremble!” He did nothing to avoid it, but rather, allowed the magical symbol spell formation to touch him.
A boom rattled out, and his body trembled a bit, but he didn’t retreat. A smile of confidence broke out on his face as the magical symbol spell formation collapsed into pieces right in front of him.
He brushed off his clothes and then continued onward. A few days later within the Stormwind Divide, Meng Hao’s expression flickered. He transformed into a green smoke and shot past a collection of magical symbols that had been shooting toward him.
Rumbling echoed out; the magical symbols seemed to be imbued with a will that could exterminate anything in Heaven and Earth. As they passed by, Meng Hao noticed that the fog in the area dissipated slightly because of the domineering air cast about by the ball of magical symbols.
As the ball made its way off into the distance, it encountered other scattered magical symbols and appeared to consume them, absorbing them into itself.
“That thing was made up of hundreds of magical symbols!” A serious look appeared in his eyes. The spell formation made from hundreds of magical symbols caused him to feel a clear sense of menace. He wasn’t even sure if he would be able to stand up to it were he hit.
“I really can’t afford to underestimate this Stormwind Divide,” he murmured. He sent his Divine Sense out as he proceeded forward.
Gradually, he saw more and more spell formations formed from hundreds of magical symbols. Eventually, they became commonplace, and soon, he caught sight of even bigger spell formations.
Those formations were formed from thousands of magical symbols, and no longer looked like simple spheres, but rather, were formed into the shape of magical items. He saw one that looked like a battle-ax sweeping about through the wind. Other spell formations made from hundreds of magical symbols avoided the battle-ax, and didn’t dare to get anywhere near it.
The battle-ax was dozens of meters tall, and glittered brightly. A bleak, killing will spread out from it, as if it constantly desired slaughter. Looking at it, it appeared completely beyond ordinary.
Meng Hao was able to sense a Spirit Severing aura on the battle-ax, which surprised him. A glow of interest could then be seen within his eyes.
“The magical symbols here are very intriguing. On an individual level, they aren’t very powerful, but in groups of ten, they emit powerful pressure. Hundreds together are something Spirit Severing Cultivators wouldn’t dare to touch, and when thousands coalesce….
“It emanates the aura of Spirit Severing, and is clearly like a Spirit Severing Treasure!” Meng Hao was moved. Based on what he knew of cultivation, after reaching Spirit Severing, in addition to acquiring enlightenment regarding the Domain, one could also create a Spirit Severing Treasure.
This was done by fusing the will of the First Severing blade into a magical item, using the Nascent Divinity to nourish it, and then transforming it into the Spirit Severing Treasure. Such a magical item was created with life force, making it incredibly powerful.
Furthermore, the weakness or strength of the magical item upon its creation would determine the weakness or strength of its later form.
Meng Hao’s eyes glittered, and he did nothing to evade it. After measuring it up for a moment, he lifted his right hand up to perform an incantation. The image of a mountain appeared above his hand, after which he pointed forward. The mountain rumbled out, heading directly toward the battle-ax shaped collection of hundreds of magical symbols.
As the mountain neared, the battle-ax did nothing to avoid it. When the mountain slammed into it, a huge boom could be heard, and the mountain collapsed. There was absolutely no change whatsoever to the battle-ax. However, it suddenly stopped in place, almost as if it had a spirit that was now staring in shock.
It was as if it possessed its own will, and was currently thinking about how nothing in its memory had ever dared to attack it.
Meng Hao frowned. The battle-ax was far more powerful than he could have imagined. It was in this moment that the battle-ax finally reacted; it instantly shot toward Meng Hao, blade first.
Furthermore, a black mist rose up around it, within which two eyes were visible, staring dead at Meng Hao. A furious rumbling sound emanated out from within the battle-ax as it sped toward him.
“Interesting,” he said, smiling. His days spent traveling through the Stormwind Divide had actually been somewhat monotonous, so how could he shrink back from something intriguing like this?
Moments ago, he had just been testing it out. Now that the battle-ax was charging toward him, he suddenly lifted his right hand, causing the illusory image of a mountain thousands of meters tall to appear around him. He then waved both hands outward, causing the mountain to grow until it was 15,000 meters tall. Then, the battle-ax slammed into it.
A boom could be heard that resonated up into the sky. The fog in the area churned, and the sound echoed out into the far regions of the storm winds.
In fact, quite some distance away within the Stormwind Divide was a pitch-black ship that flew a pitch-black flag. As it proceeded through the storm winds, it emanated a bloody aura, as if the ship itself were filled with fresh blood.
Blood-colored magical symbols rose up from the blood, which, in combination with the sails of the ship, allowed it to proceed safely through the winds that would cause even Spirit Severing Cultivators to wince.
The wind could do nothing to the boat, and when the lightning neared it, it didn’t hit the ship, but actually avoided it. Even the balls of magical symbols seemed shaken when they saw the ship, and would sink into dormancy.
There were a dozen or so Cultivators on the ship, pale-faced and panting as they looked out at the terrifying scene outside. Most of them were Nascent Soul Cultivators, with only a couple being of the Core Formation stage.
In charge of the ship were three old men. They wore haughty expressions, and would occasionally glance over at the other passengers with looks of scorn.
“What’s all the fuss about?” said one of them. “We still have a long ways to go. There’s at least six months of travel before we reach our destination.”
“The Sun Soul Society ferry isn’t the fastest in the three Sects, but it’s the safest. Your Spirit Stones will not have been spent in vain.”
In response to the words of the old men, the passengers on the ship forced smiles onto their faces. They were already scared witless by everything they had seen on their journey. There were only two of their number who had calm expressions; it seemed they were already familiar with the frightening sights of the Stormwind Divide.
All of these people were Cultivators on their way to search for good fortune in the Third Ring. This ship was a special vessel to transport them there, for a certain amount of Spirit Stones of course.
In the Milky Way Sea, there was only one way to get into the Third Ring, and that was to go to one of the Sea Cities of the three Sects, pay the price, and then board one of these special ships.
Of course, Meng Hao’s illegal method did not count as a valid method of entry.
The people on the ship had just squeezed out smiles onto their faces when, suddenly, muffled booms could be heard from off in the distance. Immediately, the storm winds in the area rippled, and the lightning twisted. Furthermore, many of the magical symbols twitched and then seemed to awaken from slumber.
The sight caused the faces of everyone on the ship to flicker as they wondered what had just happened.
As for the two people who previously had completely calm faces, they opened their eyes, and a strange light could be seen therein. They exchanged a glance, and then looked off into the distance.
The three old men from the Sun Soul Society who were piloting the boat also looked up. Strange looks could be seen in their eyes, but only for a moment. Then they began to laugh coldly, and expressions of derision could be seen clearly on their faces.
“Someone is trying to rely on their own power to illegally pass through.”
“Whoever it is, they are paying for their unlawful travel with their life! Serves them right!”
“How could somebody possibly pass through the spell formation set up by the ancestors of the three Sects? That person is simply looking to die. Although, to cause such a reaction shows that his Cultivation base is definitely not weak.”
“Who cares? He most likely ran into a ten-symbol formation. If it was a hundred-symbol formation, then he’s definitely dead!”
When the other Cultivators heard the words of the three old men, they began to chuckle. Every year there were always Cultivators who tried to get through on their own power, in order to avoid paying the fee to take a ship. However, nobody ever succeeded; they always died inside.
The Cultivators on the ship had never imagined that they would encounter such a person on their own journey.
“It’s too bad we’re so far away,” said one of them. “Otherwise we could personally witness him dying. It must be a spectacular sight.”
“It’s already perilous enough trying to get into the Third Ring. To place oneself out in the Stormwind Divide is really stupid.”
“Now that I think about it, all those Spirit Stones I spent were really worth it.”
Everyone on board seemed to be a bit more relaxed now.