Chapter 1367: No Choice But to Descend!

　　As soon as the words left Xuan Fang’s mouth, glittering light appeared on the 7th Heaven, and then the 8th and the 9th, all the way to the 33rd Heaven.

　　There were still several more months left before they could emerge from their current state. However, they could hear the words uttered by Xuan Fang, and could also see everything clearly.

　　In fact, they had been closely observing the battle as it played out over the past few months, and had already begun preparing special ways to deal with the Mountain and Sea Realm based on what they had seen. Also, they had long since come to the realization of how important the sun and moon were!

　　From what they could tell, the most important between the two was not the sun, but the moon!

　　Of course, with Meng Hao in position on the sun, considering his battle prowess and the fact that he controlled a Paragon puppet, he was fully qualified to tie down two Paragons in battle.

　　A Mountain and Sea cultivator like that was someone the 33 Heavens couldn’t afford to disregard, and they had long since placed him on their list of priority targets to kill.

　　After hearing Xuan Fang’s declaration, the powerful Outsider experts from the 7th to the 33rd Heaven, including the two 8-Essences Paragons, were all completely focused on how things were playing out. Whether it was because of the effort to kill Meng Hao and Ksitigarbha, for the overall strategy of drawing out the battle, or even more importantly, for the safety of Xuan Fang and Mythdragon, what was happening now was of utmost importance.

　　That was also why Xuan Fang had taken immediate, seemingly maddened action after being unsealed. Attacking with all the land masses ensured that he had nowhere to retreat to. Thus… the forces which remained from the 33 Heavens would not hesitate to do everything they could to come to his aid.

　　Only then could this battle not be called a complete failure for him.

　　“As long as I can destroy the sun or the moon, then… this battle won’t have been a total failure.” The starry sky then began to tremble as a beam of light emerged from the main force of the 33 Heavens, which then shot down toward the Mountain and Sea Realm.

　　It moved with incredible speed, and yet, even as it neared, another beam of light rose up from the Ninth Mountain. Those two beams of light shot toward each other, and then collided outside of the Mountain and Sea Realm.

　　As rumbling booms echoed out, an enraged roar echoed out from the 33 Heavens. That light which shot down was blasted into countless shards of light which were now incapable of forming the Immortal-Imprisoning Formation Xuan Fang had spoken of!

　　At the same time, large numbers of cultivators poured out from the Second Mountain to charge into the Outsiders, and began to fight bitterly.

　　Paragon Mythdragon simultaneously began to fight the Paragon puppet, Paragon Sea Dream and the Nine Seas God World Sea Dragon. He was also keeping the Sublime Flow Sword Grotto at bay, and was even pinning down the middle-aged man from the Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite.

　　Of course, he payed a heavy price to do all of that as, almost instantly, blood sprayed out of his mouth. And yet he didn’t back down; rinning viciously, he slapped his hand onto his head.

　　A boom rang out as black light erupted out from him, causing his battle prowess, and that of all his incarnations, to leap to new heights.

　　“Dragondemon Bodysnatching!?!?” said Paragon Sea Dream, her eyes flashing. “That’s an innate divine ability of the Mythdragon Clan, which allows a battle soul to possess the body, making it impervious to divine abilities and magical techniques! However, once the bodysnatching ends, all the wounds he seemingly avoided will suddenly flare up!

　　“That means he’s seeking to die in battle!! His delays led to their defeat, so he’s going to put his life on the line….”

　　Off in the distance, Paragon Xuan Fang saw what was happening, and after a moment of silence, threw his head back and laughed. Eyes flickering with determination, he shot toward Meng Hao. As for Meng Hao, his eyes glittered, and instead of backing up, he advanced, and soon the two of them were battling back and forth with booming divine abilities.

　　Meng Hao was in a slightly inferior position. His cultivation base qualified him to fight with Paragons, but not necessarily to win. However, delaying Xuan Fang was nothing difficult.

　　As for Mythdragon, he was being beaten back by the various methods employed by everyone he was fighting.

　　“Of you two Paragons, one will definitely die here,” Meng Hao said coolly, his eyes flickering with killing intent. This was not his first time fighting Xuan Fang, and in their last battle, he had been pushed to the very limit. But now, he had fully recovered, and was even stronger in terms of battle prowess.

　　Booms rang out from within the army of Outsiders, as well as screams. The Mountain and Sea cultivators were unleashing carnage, and their numbers were swelling as more cultivators joined in the battle.

　　The number of Outsiders from the 2nd to the 6th Heavens vastly outnumbered the group from the initial battle with the 1st Heaven. However, in terms of the damage they were wreaking upon the Mountain and Sea cultivators, it didn’t match up at all.

　　Meanwhile, the forces in the 7th to the 33rd Heavens up above could sense what danger Xuan Fang and Mythdragon were in. Roars of rage echoed out as they attempted to extricate themselves from their current state. However, that state was like a double edged sword; although it had enabled them to escape catastrophe from the sudden attack of the Mountain and Sea Realm, it also left them completely and utterly sealed.

　　In the final analysis, they had never anticipated that the combined power of five land masses… couldn’t even break through the second line of defense in the Mountain and Sea Realm. Furthermore, they were losing so badly in the battle below that they were virtually being massacred.

　　Booms rang out as the 7th through 33rd Heavens all bashed against the invisible sealing barrier. On the battlefield, the Mountain and Sea Realm clearly had the advantage, and the Outsiders were dying in droves. They were shoved back again and again, and seemed incapable of fighting back against the Mountain and Sea cultivators.

　　In front of the Second Mountain, the Second Sea had collapsed, and in its place was a sea of blood.

　　As for Paragon Mythdragon, after utilizing his bodysnatching technique, he was going all out. However, his heart was filled with bitterness because of the failure of the Immortal-Imprisoning Formation. Had it succeeded, he would not be in such a bad situation.

　　He currently had all of the top experts of the Mountains and Seas locked down, but the price was that he himself was stuck in an unimaginably deadly situation.

　　“Xuan Fang, hurry up!!” Mythdragon roared. Xuan Fang was already going all out with his cultivation base. Paragon power erupted out, and yet he was unable to break free from the fight. Not only had he been weakened, Meng Hao had already fought a deadly battle with him before. Meng Hao was used to his fighting tactics, and therefore, breaking free from the fight was not something that Xuan Fang could do quickly.

　　No matter what he tried to do, he simply couldn’t get away.

　　Meng Hao transformed into an azure roc, which whistled through the starry sky, slashing its deadly talons out in attack. He used the One Thought Stellar Transformation, as well as his Supernova Magic.

　　He even unleashed his Demon Sealing Hexing magic, and the backlash wasn’t as bad as it had been in the past.

　　At the moment, the two Outsider Paragons could not flee, and there was no one there to save them. The 7th through 33rd Heavens were getting very anxious. If things kept going as they were, then they needed to be prepared… for one of their Paragons to perish.

　　The 33 Heavens originally had five Paragons. Eegoo was essentially dead. If they lost another, they might still be able to secure a victory, but the price would be one they were hard-pressed to pay.

　　**

　　Currently, Shui Dongliu was on Planet South Heaven, outside the Ninth Mountain, looking up coldly into the starry sky. He appeared to be hesitating, as if he had a very hard decision to make.

　　After a long moment, he murmured, “If you take a step back, you realize that there is no one… who cannot be sacrificed. Even me…. Since that’s the case….” He took a deep breath and then slowly lowered his hand.

　　“Since that’s the case, I will allow you people to open a breach ahead of schedule. That way… you’ll be able to send someone in. However, the price you will pay is that the overall time before the rest of you can emerge from the sealed state will be extended…. Most importantly… those two experts who were possessed by the two powerful forces, they who now have the power of 8-Essences Paragons… will be unable to descend before the seal is completely removed.

　　“This will make things very dangerous for Ksitigarbha, Sea Dream, and the Three Great Daoist Societies. It will be even more dangerous… for Meng Hao….” After a long, thoughtful moment, Shui Dongliu sighed.

　　“In the end, the 33 Heavens don’t count for much. It is those two possessed Paragons… who are the powerful enemies we can’t handle right now!”

　　Outside of the Second Mountain, intense fighting was going on. Mythdragon was suffering successive defeats, and didn’t seem like he could hang on much longer. He had already used the bodysnatching technique multiple times, and was now on the verge of collapsing.

　　Xuan Fang could do nothing to push Meng Hao away and break free, and was getting more and more anxious.

　　However, it was at this point that a huge boom echoed out in the starry sky. It was hard to say what price had been paid by the 7th to 33rd Heavens, but suddenly, everything from the 16th Heaven and below started to flicker, as if the sealing power were becoming unstable. Then, bright lights flashed as the 7th through 16th Heavens… suddenly materialized in the starry sky!

　　Apparently, the 17th Heaven and above had taken on the sealing power which had been restraining the 7th through 16th Heavens, allowing those Heavens to break free!

　　Rumbling sounds could be heard as the 7th Heaven descended, followed by the 8th, the 9th… all the way to the 16th Heaven. In total, ten Heavens rumbled down out of the starry sky toward the Mountain and Sea Realm.

　　At the same time, ten beams of light shot out from those land masses, causing rumbling sounds to echo out as they closed in on the Mountain and Sea Realm. One of those beams of light shot toward Mythdragon, instantly ending his battle with the Mountain and Sea experts and dragging him away. The second beam of light burst onto the scene of Meng Hao and Xuan Fang’s battle, creating a huge wave of qi that separated the two of them.

　　Meng Hao was violently shoved backward toward the Mountain and Sea Realm’s sun. Even as blood oozed out of the corners of his mouth, the fourth beam of light shot with incredible speed toward the sun. There was nothing Meng Hao could do except watch as the beam of light slammed into the sun, instantly transforming 100,000 cultivators into ash….

　　As for the sun, it began to tremble, and then fissures spread out across its surface in completely shocking fashion!

　　Important note from Deathblade: I’ve seen some comments of “why didn’t Meng Hao absorb the World Essence of the other Heavens?” The answer lies in a passage that I actually mistranslated in the original release, and fixed shortly afterward but never mentioned because I didn’t think that people would eventually be asking the above question. If you want to read it in context, it’s in chapter 1345, but I’ll also quote the passage here to make it easy. In that chapter, it said pretty directly regarding the 2nd Heaven: “Not all worlds could give birth to that kind of Essence.” It was also mentioned a few times that the 33 Heavens wanted the Windswept Realm because of its (presumably rare) World Essence. Sorry about the confusion. I often make little changes here and there to past chapters and will mention them if they are plot-related. For example, I recently realized that I mistranslated something about 1,000 chapters ago that actually affects the story now. I’ll include a footnote of that in the relevant chapter. In this case I didn’t anticipate the ramifications of that particular line regarding the World Essence, so again, my apologies.