Chapter 1440: The Five Potentates!

　　The shocking scene which was playing out in front of the cultivators of the Vast Expanse School was something that they would never be able to forget for the rest of their lives. It signified that a fifth Potentate had appeared on Planet Vast Expanse!

　　Before this moment, the planet had four peak 9-Essences cultivators, like four Potentates who no one could possibly shake. Each one of them were at the pinnacle of existence.

　　That group of four consisted of Sha Jiudong, Jin Yunshan, the Sect Leader, and Immortal Bai Muchen. They were the most powerful experts on Planet Vast Expanse, and were all on the cusp of reaching Transcendence.

　　All other 9-Essences cultivators had no choice but to bow their heads in deference to them.

　　But after this battle between Meng Hao and Jin Yunshan, in which Meng Hao transformed into a black roc, in which he unleashed the combined eight Hexes, everyone was completely shaken.

　　Most shocking was what was playing out right at this moment.

　　The world itself attacked, and countless ghosts screamed. Up to now, Jin Yunshan had mostly maintained the upper hand, but at the moment, blood was spurting out of his wounds as he was battered by an unending stream of ghosts. He was tottering on the verge of collapse, and the Essences which he had dispersed into the world were now experiencing an intense force of expulsion!

　　The wind was expelling them, the five elements were expelling them, and it was the same with the land, the sky, and the lightning. The entire world burst with a force of expulsion.

　　Rumbling could be heard as blood sprayed out of Jin Yunshan’s mouth. He tumbled backward, countless ghosts battering at him in complete madness. The air around him twisted and distorted, and Jin Yunshan’s face was completely ashen as he cried out miserably. There was literally nothing he could do to change what was happening.

　　The sensation of deadly crisis within him had reached a fever pitch. There was nothing he could do to fight back, and in fact, he couldn’t even struggle. He might have become the world, but these ghosts were the collective master of that world!

　　And the Emperor of those ghosts was Meng Hao. Meng Hao’s will represented the will of all the ghosts.

　　Massive booms rang out.

　　As the surroundings were physically shaken, Jin Yunshan was mentally shaken. The Essence he had inserted into the wind was being ejected, and before he could do anything to solidify it, a boom echoed out in his mind, and blood sprayed out of his mouth as that Essence was gone.

　　In the blink of an eye, his control over the world was no longer harmonious, and the wind did not belong to him.

　　“Who are you?” Jin Yunshan cried, looking at Meng Hao with complete disbelief. “Just who exactly are you?!?!”

　　As he fell back, the ghosts continued to attack him with complete insanity.

　　It wasn’t that he hadn’t been aware of what happened in the void outside the land mass, when the masses of ghosts rushed forth to offer worship to Meng Hao. The main difference was that the sheer numbers involved couldn’t be compared to each other any more than the light of a firefly could compare to that of the full moon.

　　He simply couldn’t fathom how Meng Hao was possibly capable of such a thing. Even more terrifying was that the number of ghosts only continued to increase, which caused Jin Yunshan’s scalp to tingle in fear.

　　It was then that the land began to quake, and Jin Yunshan felt the Essence he had inserted into it being shaken in violent fashion.

　　Then, the fusion between himself and the land was violently ripped apart. Jin Yunshan felt as if his mind were being torn, and he yet again coughed up a mouthful of blood.

　　Unfortunately for him, there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop any of the things that were happening. He could only look on as his third Essence, which he had sent into the plants, was forcibly ejected.

　　Then, his murderous fourth Essence, which had merged into the world’s fire, experienced the same thing. After that was the water in the world.

　　After those Essences were rejected, the tearing sensation that he felt grew more intense, until he felt completely disharmonious with the entire world!

　　The ghosts were screaming as they swirled around. Among the army were some especially terrifying figures who swept the ghosts forth in attack, giving Jin Yunshan no choice but to continue to fall back.

　　Then, his eighth Essence, which he had merged into the sky, was slashed at as if by an invisible blade, cleaving it away. Then was his ninth Essence, which was in the lightning. Jin Yunshan coughed up a massive mouthful of blood, and his body sagged listlessly. He was no longer mostly transparent, but instead, had been completely rejected by the world.

　　He almost looked as if he had been crushed by a gigantic foot.

　　His most powerful trump card, the Void Divinity Conversion, was crushed like a wet twig by the simple wave of a hand by Meng Hao. He didn’t even have the power to fight back.

　　“If you weren’t in this place, you couldn’t do any of this!!” Jin Yunshan shrieked. After having been rejected by the world, Jin Yunshan fell back again, and yet the ghosts didn’t stop attacking him.

　　Meng Hao’s eyes flickered with the desire to kill, and he extended his right hand and then pointed toward Jin Yunshan. That caused the ghosts to go mad with even more killing intent than before, and rumble toward Jin Yunshan in attack.

　　“NO!!” he screamed. An extraordinary sensation of deadly crisis raged within him. His hands flashed in a double-handed incantation gesture, causing countless shield layers to spring up around him. The shields shattered one by one, and he was shoved backward, an unyielding and yet despairing look on his pale face.

　　Actually, he had spoken correctly just now. Meng Hao would have had a very difficult time dealing with his magical technique were he not in this specific location. Furthermore, he would have been forced to pay a steep price to do so, not simply wave his hand casually as he had just done.

　　Rumbling echoed out as the shields surrounding Jin Yunshan collapsed. It was at this point that the Sect Leader suddenly flew into motion to appear next to Jin Yunshan. He waved his sleeve, unleashing his peak 9-Essences cultivation base power to protect him against the murderous ghosts.

　　At the same time, Sha Jiudong leaped forward, appearing on the other side of Jin Yunshan. His expression was somber as he similarly waved his hand, unleashing cultivation base power that caused a massive sandstorm to rise up to defend Jin Yunshan.

　　But even the combined power of all three of these powerful experts was not enough to rattle the endless army of ghosts. They began to fall back under the battering of the ghosts, their qi and blood boiling, their cultivation bases trembling.

　　“What are the rest of you doing?” barked the Sect Leader, his voice urgent. “Are you just waiting to see Fellow Daoist Jin get killed!?!? Old Ninth, stay your hand!!”

　　Shanguan Hong didn’t say anything, but bitterness filled his heart. He and the others present gritted their teeth and flew out to appear around Jin Yunshan. They poured their own power into the defense effort, unleashing their cultivation bases, creating an intense tempest of force to block the ghosts.

　　That combined force managed to halt the ghosts momentarily. However, these ghosts represented the life force of the entire land mass, and also contained some entities which were extremely powerful. As they continued to attack the tempest of power, it began to flicker like a flame on the verge of being snuffed out.

　　Meng Hao hovered there in the air, a bit unsettled at how things were proceeding as he watched everything that was happening. The ghosts of the necropolis were inherently powerful, which Meng Hao assumed had something to do with the cause of their deaths.

　　“Old Ninth, we need Fellow Daoist Jin!” the Sect Leader said, looking up at Meng Hao. “His magical techniques and divine abilities will help us in the land masses beyond this one. If he perishes here, it will be far, far more difficult to reach the ninth land mass.”

　　Jin Yunshan maintained his silence. His face was ashen as he looked at Meng Hao, mixed emotions clearly visible. Although he didn’t want to back down, he knew that if he didn’t, it was highly likely that he would perish.

　　Finally, he sighed. He was a decisive person, and although he could tell that Meng Hao seemed unwilling to rest until he was dead, he ignored that, clasped his hands, and bowed to Meng Hao. He spoke no words, simply relying on his actions to explain his attitude.

　　Meng Hao frowned. While it was true that he wanted Jin Yunshan dead, and to do that would be a difficult thing once they left the necropolis, the truth was if he actually killed him right here and now, it would earn the ire of everyone else from the Vast Expanse School. That was not an outcome he would willingly choose.

　　Even as he considered the matter, the Sect Leader gritted his teeth and once again spoke out.

　　“Old Ninth, I can understand that you have some misgivings. Therefore, I hereby swear a Daoist oath that if Jin Yunshan provokes you again, I will stand by your side to crush him!”

　　“As do I,” Sha Jiudong said. As of this moment, he had no choice other than to adjust his appraisal of Meng Hao. This battle had proved that he truly qualified to stand on equal footing with the other four Potentates.

　　Jin Yunshan smiled bitterly and nodded his head.

　　Seeing all that, Meng Hao still wanted to kill him, but after considering the matter, he quashed the idea.

　　“Since that’s the case, we’ll let the matter drop,” Meng Hao said coolly. “However, I can’t let things go as simply as that. I almost got killed just now. Fellow Daoist Jin, I demand penance.”

　　Jin Yunshan sighed inwardly. He knew that Meng Hao had the upper hand now, and that there was nothing he could do to fight back against him. Gritting his teeth, he made a grasping motion, causing a bracelet to appear out of thin air.

　　“Take this, Fellow Daoist Meng. This should make up for what happened here.” He waved his hand, sending the bracelet flying out of the tempest to hover in front of Meng Hao. Meng Hao scanned it with divine sense, and found that it contained a holding pocket filled with countless Immortal jades, as well as numerous other precious materials. After looking it over, he nodded and put it away.

　　With that, he waved his sleeve, causing the ghosts to retreat, bowing to him the entire time.

　　Meng Hao hovered there like the Emperor of the entire world. The group from the Vast Expanse School would never forget what had just occurred.

　　This battle had propelled Meng Hao from being the Ninth Paragon into being one of five Potentates of Planet Vast Expanse.

　　His position was now just as high as the Sect Leader’s. In fact, his battle with Jin Yunshan ensured that none of the powerful experts of the Vast Expanse School would ever dare to offend him, at least not within the necropolis.

　　Meng Hao was powerful outside the necropolis, but once inside, he had shown that he was… the monarch!

　　The army of ghosts made him invincible to anyone who had not Transcended.