Chapter 1392: Happy Now?

　　There was a Devil.

　　And there was a God, who was half of an Immortal.

　　Furthermore, there ought to have been a true Immortal!

　　The Paragon Immortal Realm was to be the birthplace of that Immortal. Apparently it had been foreordained that at some point in history, the Immortal would open his eyes, and stride forth to reach the ultimate peak of existence.

　　The Immortal was above the God, and could suppress the Devil!

　　That was the legend which was spoken of. However, the truth was… what was being produced by the Paragon Immortal Realm right now, was not the Immortal.

　　It was…

　　The Demon!

　　The Mountains and Seas were the birthplace, and all the resources of Heaven and Earth were called upon to instigate this change with the Immortal. He had watched his family self-detonate, and the starry sky shook. Amidst laughter and tears, the Immortal became… the Demon!

　　“The Demon…” murmured Shui Dongliu, looking in the direction of Planet South Heaven. “Now the Aeon Span has its Demonic qi….” 1

　　The chaotic aura radiating off of Meng Hao could most rightly be described as… Demonic qi! Because the Immortal had transformed, it was… Demonic qi!

　　As of this moment, Demonic qi raged beyond control!

　　“Now… are you happy?” Meng Hao said, laughing a laughter that seemed like weeping. It was filled with something bizarre and subversive, and a towering rage that shook everything in the Heavens. Fear gripped the hearts of the Outsiders, and as for the cultivators of the Mountain and Sea Realm, their hearts welled up with grief and sorrow.

　　“Now… are you at ease?!” Meng Hao waved his sleeve, and everything in Heaven and Earth trembled as his energy rocketed up.

　　As Meng Hao began to stride forward, his bizarre laughter contained an indescribable multifariousness, a madness, a coldness, the epitome of all contradiction.

　　Even as he took his first step forward, several of his Soul Lamps winked out, and the Fourth Desolation began, the Desolation of the Soul.

　　Normally speaking, the Desolation of the Soul was a tribulation that would be extremely difficult for Ancient Realm cultivators. However, Meng Hao’s soul had already been defiled, so to him, this Desolation counted for little. Both life and death were simply different types of transformations.

　　The Desolation of the Soul was gone in an instant!

　　Of his 33 Soul lamps, only 18 were still lit!

　　Originally, the smoke that came up from the Soul Lamps upon being extinguished should have been green. But now, it was black. As the smoke shot toward Meng Hao, he absorbed it, and his hair grew even longer than before. More black veins snaked out across his skin. His eyes were bright, and he looked even more bizarrely Demonic than before!

　　As he stepped forth, he spoke, voice soft: “If you people are happy now, at ease, then that means it’s time for me to be happy and at ease. It’s time for all of you to die.”

　　As the female Paragon hovered there, her pupils constricted with astonishment. She began to back up, and at the same time, hit her hand down onto the top of her head.

　　Instantly, a swath of mist appeared above her, which transformed into a bell. The bell tolled, causing vibrations to spread out in all directions. Next, the female Paragon lifted her hand up to strike the top of her head again, but before her hand could fall, Meng Hao’s laughter filled her ears. It was like the sound of crying, filled with incredible bizarreness.

　　“Hitting yourself? Let me help.”

　　Even as the words left his mouth, Meng Hao shot toward the female Paragon. The large-headed cultivator’s heart began to pound; gritting his teeth, he shot toward Meng Hao to intercept him, unleashing a fist strike.

　　However, Meng Hao’s body distorted, and unexpectedly… he passed right through the large-headed cultivator, as if he didn’t even exist. Completely ignoring him, he bore down on the female Paragon.

　　“NO!!” she screamed, her eyes widening. Meng Hao’s right hand then lifted up as he prepared to do exactly as he had said, and hit her head.

　　When he struck her, a boom echoed out, and the female Paragon’s head actually exploded. Blood, brain matter, and rotten filth exploded out in all directions. And yet, Meng Hao didn’t stop hitting!

　　“I noticed that you hit yourself a few times. Allow me to help hit you a few more times.” He continued to strike her again, and again, and again.

　　Her body was collapsing, and she was dead, but he kept smashing his palm down over and over again, crying and laughing at the same time.

　　Booms filled the air, and everyone watched as the female Paragon’s body was beaten into a bloody pulp by Meng Hao! Gasps rang out.

　　Her screaming soul flew out from her destroyed body, but before she could flee, Meng Hao’s hand shot out to grab her. She had already managed to put some distance between the two of them, but it was almost as if Meng Hao controlled all of Heaven and Earth, and his hand instantly closed around her.

　　“Do you really dare to kill me!?!?” she screamed, clearly terrified. Meng Hao looked at her with a bizarrely Demonic smile that seemed to contain infinite weeping.

　　“No, I don’t,” he said softly. Then, as all of the Outsiders watched, as the large-headed cultivator and the cultivators of the Mountain and Sea Realm looked on, Meng Hao took the female Paragon’s soul and popped it into his mouth. Simultaneously crying and laughing… he began to chew!

　　He chomped down viciously over and over again as he ate her soul!

　　Her bloodcurdling screams echoed out clear for everyone to hear, and they were left trembling.

　　The members of the Fang Clan stood there quietly. Fatty and Meng Hao’s other friends, as well as his sister, watched with sadness in their eyes. This Meng Hao seemed like a complete stranger to them, and yet they knew why he had changed in such a way.

　　The only person who didn’t have such a look in her eyes was Xu Qing. Her expression was one of staunch determination; she was not shaken at all.

　　Meng Hao looked around, chuckling and whimpering, his expression enough to strike astonishment into the hearts of all onlookers. Then he turned his gaze toward Xu Qing and said, “Want some? It’s yummy!”

　　Xu Qing didn’t hesitate for a moment before nodding.

　　If you are the Immortal, I will join you. If you become the Devil, I will join you. If you become the Demon, I will join you!

　　Meng Hao looked at Xu Qing and laughed. It was hard to tell what he was thinking as he did, but tears could be seen in his eyes. However, those tears didn’t spill. Not a drop fell down.

　　The surrounding Outsiders were trembling, and without even thinking about it, they began to back up. The large-headed cultivator’s heart was pounding, and just as he was preparing to flee, Meng Hao suddenly turned to look at him.

　　“And what about you?

　　“Why were you helping her? I can tell that you have a powerful Karma Thread attached to you. It’s too bad it’s so faint. It’s also too bad that you chose to come looking for death!” As he spoke those last words, Meng Hao’s face twisted viciously. A moment ago, his expression had been a mixture of laughing and crying, but now it was distorted in rage. He looked purely fiendish as a black fog suddenly erupted out from inside of him.

　　Then, he shot toward the large-headed cultivator.

　　The large-headed cultivator’s scalp tingled as he fell back as fast as he could. However, he couldn’t match Meng Hao in terms of speed. In the blink of an eye, Meng Hao had overtaken him, and they were both surrounded by black fog.

　　Screams echoed out, along with Meng Hao’s bizarre weeping laughter. Occasional booms could be heard, which caused all hearts to tremble.

　　It was impossible to tell what was happening inside of the black fog. Not even Shui Dongliu could see through it.

　　The rest of the battlefield was dead silent.

　　All eyes were fixed upon the black fog. Soon, a figure barrelled out. It was the large-headed cultivator. His eyes had been ripped out of their sockets, and one still dangled there, swinging back and forth. His ears had been torn off, and he was covered with wounds. Most shocking of all was that a gaping bite mark could be seen on his neck, which spurted with blood.

　　His face was twisted with fear, and he screamed as he fled. Apparently, whatever had happened inside that fog left him completely and utterly shaken.

　　Everyone looked on at what was happening, completely flabbergasted. Finally, Meng Hao emerged from the fog. He appeared to be injured, and blood was seeping down his chin. However, his laughter and weeping continue to echo out. He spit out a mouthful of blood, and his eyes seemed to glow even redder than before.

　　Chuckling and whimpering, he said, “I can’t actually beat you now, but if you get close enough, I… will eat you!”

　　When the fleeing large-headed cultivator heard his words, he shivered, clearly scared out of his mind.

　　“And then we get to you people,” Meng Hao said, turning his head toward the Outsiders surrounding Planet South Heaven. They were all trembling, and it was hard to say who did it first, but they all began to flee. All of the Outsiders near Planet South Heaven took to flight, surging away from the planet like a receding tide.

　　Meng Hao’s weeping laughter filled the air as he shot toward the retreating army. Instantly, screams began to rise up as countless Outsiders met their end. Those who were far away, he killed. Those who were near, he ate.

　　Blood spread out everywhere, and the gruesome sight of the battlefield filled the Outsiders with such extreme terror that they fled en masse.

　　One single person drove an army of millions of Outsiders away from Planet South Heaven!

　　Meng Hao’s clothes were drenched in blood, and the most piercing sound on the entire battlefield was his weeping laughter. His aura was bizarre and multifarious, and it left Paragon Sea Dream and everyone else completely rattled.

　　As for the rest of the army of Outsiders around the Ninth Mountain, the ones who hadn’t attacked Planet South Heaven, they were looking at Meng Hao with astonishment and terror.

　　“A lunatic. He’s completely insane!!”

　　“His dad and mom died, his clan members were killed, and it drove him crazy!!”

　　“What is he? The Demon? Is he the legendary entity was supposedly going to be born in the Paragon Immortal Realm… the Demon?”

　　“Dammit, this is the Demon that the Immortal God Realm and the Devil Realm were hoping would appear when they changed things!? They’re going to be sorry!!” As the Outsiders trembled, the 8-Essences male Paragon looked at Meng Hao, and an incredible coldness rose up within him!

　　Even Dao Fang was panting as he stared at Meng Hao. He had to admit that, as of this moment, Meng Hao’s energy was completely astonishing.

　　“One person can’t win a war,” Meng Hao said, “but… you people have pushed things too far!” Laughing and crying, his hair whipping about him, looking more bizarre than ever, he bared his teeth and looked at Dao Fang and the 8-Essences Paragon. “I can’t beat you people now, but what I can do… is eat you!”

　　With that, he took a step forward, looking more bizarrely Demonic than ever!

　　—–

　　Note from Deathblade: How cool would it be to have one of the best voice actors in the world, Mark Hamill, do the voice of Meng Hao in an audio version of this chapter? I know the likelihood is virtually 0, but why don’t we give it a shot? If you use twitter, why don’t you reply to my request to Mr. Hamill to do just that. Maybe we can attract his attention. If not, then we can all just imagine how cool it would be to have the voice of the Joker and numerous other roles as Meng Hao the Demon!

　　1. The “Aeon” here has actually been mentioned many times in the story, but was translated differently. It comes from the Demon Sealing mantra, which is very obscure and vague in Chinese, and involved a lot of guessing to translate. Back when I first worked on the mantra, this chapter hadn’t even been released in Chinese, and of course, back then I had no access to Er Gen. In any case, now that the term has shown up in this context, a lot of puzzle pieces can probably be put together, and I’ve finally gone back to all the old chapters to change some things and make sure everything syncs right. The word Aeon itself could also be translated as “kalpa,” a term fans of IET might be familiar with. To quote from wikipedia, a kalpa (Aeon) is “generally speaking… the period of time between the creation and recreation of a world or universe.” Of further note is the fact that within that mantra was a character that was hard to interpret at the time I originally translated it, but becomes clear in the context of later events. The newest version reflects that change, and is pretty relevant. Unfortunately, the full meaning of the Aeon and the Aeon Span will not be explained until later, at that time I will include another footnote with further reminders. If you want to go back to previous chapters to see how I’ve changed things, and then guess what it all means, here is your hit list: The first time the mantra was seen in action was chapter 95. A variation came up in chapter 407. Finally, the “Aeon Span” was actually mentioned already once in the story in chapter 1306, which I’ve since updated to reflect this more correct version of the translation. All other times the Demon Sealing mantra came up, it was a direct quote of the original version, or the original and alternate versions. However, if you want to check those references for context, they are chapters 89, 101, 406, 407, 495–497, 882. Please note that sometimes when I go back to make these changes to the old chapters I tend to miss a passage here or there, or even create new typos, etc. If you notice something like that, I would very much appreciate it if you would report it in the thread for mistakes and typos. I do check the comments here in the chapter, but sometimes comments skip my notice, and I would hate for a mistake to go noticed but unfixed