Chapter 1290: Returning to the Heavengod Alliance

　　“Nothing’s impossible,” Meng Hao said with a cold snort. His divine sense exploded out, and the fog within it seethed as though some gigantic, invisible hand were stirring it. It only took a moment for all of the fog to begin to spin around.

　　If it were possible to view the scene from high above, it would appear as if all of the fog in the world had transformed into a vortex, breaking the silence and causing rumbling sounds to echo out in all directions.

　　Meng Hao’s expression was the same as ever as he hovered there in the center of the vortex, his body seemingly ethereal and illusory. At the same time, a powerful aura emanated out from him, the power of his soul, combined with the power of his divine sense!

　　By this point, Meng Hao’s divine sense was at forty percent of the power of a Paragon.

　　Such power might not seem like much, but in truth, it had already reached a shocking level. After all… the power of the divine sense of a 5-Essences Dao Sovereign was only ten percent of that of a Paragon. Even the various powerful Mountain and Sea Lords would at most have thirty percent. Only 6-Essences Dao Sovereigns, at their very peak, could come close to forty or fifty percent.

　　Right now, though, Meng Hao already had the divine sense of a 6-Essences Dao Sovereign, and when it exploded out, wild colors flashed in Heaven and Earth, and the starry sky trembled. After all… a 6-Essences Dao Sovereign was the most powerful entity in existence beneath a Paragon!

　　Furthermore, Paragons were incredibly rare. For the most part, 6-Essences Dao Sovereigns could be considered invincible.

　　Meng Hao’s divine sense rumbled out, and his energy soared. He strode forward, and when his foot fell, he was directly back in front of the asteroid!

　　All it took was a single step!

　　In that instant, a furious roar echoed out from within the void, and the huge hand with red scales stretched out to crush Meng Hao.

　　“Just what I was waiting for,” Meng Hao said with a cold snort. As the hand closed in on him, Meng Hao raised his arms, and his eyes flickered with a cold gleam of killing intent.

　　“Detonate!” As soon as he uttered that single word, this entire world which was suffused with his divine sense exploded out with destructive power that began to tear away at everything, starting at the borders, with Meng Hao’s location in the center.

　　From a distance, it would look as though the edges of the vortex were collapsing, layer by layer, growing closer to the middle. Even the body from which the huge hand extended, which was hidden within the void, was being enveloped by the destructive power of Meng Hao’s divine sense.

　　BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!

　　Massive, shocking rumbling could be heard, and the scaled hand didn’t even have a chance to reach Meng Hao. A miserable scream rang out as it was overwhelmed by divine sense, and then shredded to pieces.

　　At the same time, not too far off from Meng Hao, within the void, an enormous figure became visible. It was just an outline, and was impossible to distinguish clearly, but it was fully 30,000 meters tall, with two horns growing out of its head. It was crimson, and was apparently a unique Greater Demon. As Meng Hao’s destructive divine sense overwhelmed it, it howled.

　　“I’m gonna kill you!!” it shrieked, fighting back against the power of Meng Hao’s divine sense, and even taking a step forward as if to approach him.

　　Meng Hao’s expression was cold as he waved his hand at the figure.

　　“Scram!” All he said was a single word.

　　However, when that single word left his mouth, the power of his divine sense became even more explosive. Now, it didn’t spread out in all directions, it was completely focused on a single point. Instead of shattering his surroundings, he used all of that power to create a tempest which swept over the enormous figure.

　　Massive rumbling sounds echoed out, and the huge creature howled miserably. It was no longer trying to approach Meng Hao, but instead was being shoved back relentlessly by the tempest that was Meng Hao’s divine sense.

　　“I refuse to accept this!” the creature roared furiously. However, it couldn’t prevent itself from being forced backward, and in the blink of an eye, it was far, far off in the distance.

　　“You refuse, and so do I,” Meng Hao said coolly. “Next time… you don’t need to come looking for me, I’ll come find you.” With that, he strode toward the asteroid, floated inside, and then found his fleshly body sitting there cross-legged.

　　His body was withered to an extreme degree, and abounded with an aura of death. He was clearly on the verge of dying.

　　Meng Hao didn’t hesitate for a moment. He quickly approached his body and then sat down cross-legged in the same position. His mind rumbled, and then he fused.

　　Back in the Eighth Mountain and Sea, within that asteroid that no one could see, the cross-legged Meng Hao suddenly trembled. Then his eyes snapped open, and their previously listless gray color changed to a bright gleam. At the same time, his fleshly body reverted from its withered state, and the aura of death vanished from his blood and flesh. His life force gradually began to surge.

　　Meng Hao took a deep breath, then slowly closed his eyes. His first Soul Lamp was now completely extinguished; a wisp of smoke curled up, which almost seemed to possess intelligence as it swirled into his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. In that instant, the extinguished Soul Lamp erupted with a shocking aura that filled Meng Hao.

　　He shivered as his fleshly body was fully restored, and his blood began to flow vigorously. At the same time, his cultivation base rose up. Everything expect the physical aspect of him was rapidly increasing in power.

　　It was the same with his soul and his divine sense. Everything rocketed up. His divine sense increased, although not doubling as he had expected but, rather, increasing by a fraction. Even still, Meng Hao’s energy had now reached a completely shocking level.

　　His aura climbed, and he virtually thrummed with the sensation of increasing power.

　　Three days passed by in the blink of an eye.

　　Suddenly, the void distorted as the previously invisible asteroid once again became visible. Then, it collapsed, although no sound emanated out at all. The entire massive asteroid noiselessly… transformed into ash, as if it had disintegrated.

　　Floating within that ash was a cross-legged figure, Meng Hao. He was surrounded by 33 Soul Lamps… 32 lit, 1 extinguished!

　　Ripples spread out from him that caused the starry sky to tremble, but then quickly vanished. His eye snapped open, and they glowed brightly, and for some reason, even the starry sky seemed to brighten.

　　Meng Hao took a deep breath, causing massive amounts of the energy of Heaven and Earth to rumble into him. Then, he slowly breathed out.

　　“The Ancient Realm…” he said softly, “This is where cultivators can advance by leaps and bounds, a place where the rotten can be changed into the magical. What a mystical Realm!” With that, he rose to his feet, whereupon cracking sounds echoed out from inside him.

　　Meng Hao looked over the rest of the 32 lit Soul Lamps, then slowly shook his head. “Unfortunately, it’s not as I had speculated before. The remaining Soul Lamps will not become more powerful as I do.”

　　Finally, he waved his sleeve, causing the Soul Lamps to grow blurry and fade away.

　　“I need to finish things here in the Eighth Mountain and Sea, and then get to the Fourth Mountain and Sea as quickly as possible… to bring Xu Qing back.” He turned his head to look off in the direction of the Seventh Mountain and Sea, except, what he was looking at was not that Seventh Mountain and Sea, but rather, several Mountains and Seas beyond… to the Fourth Mountain and Sea.

　　“According to the memories of Marquis Lu… war… is not just being fought here.” After reviewing the information he had gleaned from the Soulsearch, he realized that the Seventh Mountain and Sea wasn’t the only Mountain and Sea within the Realm which was invading a neighbor.

　　“The Sixth Mountain and Sea has also started a Mountain and Sea War.

　　“The Seventh Mountain and Sea invaded the Eighth with more than one purpose in mind. They also want use this location as a spot from which to march on to the Ninth Mountain and Sea.

　　“As for the Sixth Mountain and Sea, they have invaded the Fifth Mountain and Sea with exactly the same goal in mind… to lock down a position from which to attack the most powerful of all the Mountains and Seas, the Fourth!” After a moment of thought, Meng Hao took a step forward, heading in the direction of the Heavengod Alliance.

　　Without having to worry about the Meng Clan, he was free to act however he wished. In his view, the best way to end the war was not to simply prevent the cultivators of the Seventh Mountain and Sea from attacking the Eighth Mountain and Sea. Instead… he needed to go to the rift between the two Mountains and Seas, to face the ever-nearing Lord of the Seventh Mountain and Sea!

　　His eyes flickered thoughtfully as he got closer and closer to the Heavengod Alliance. As he did, he could sense familiar fluctuations coming from the Eighth Mountain, which was located within the territory of the Heavengod Alliance.

　　Several hours later, Meng Hao was at one of the entrances to the Heavengod Alliance. The planet that had once existed there was gone; it had become nothing more than rubble filled with corpses and ruins.

　　This was a place the Seventh Mountain and Sea had long since attacked and breached. It had also become their command center, and the ruins stretching out bore strong semblance to the Ruins of Immortality.

　　Both were the crumbled remnants left behind by war.

　　Meng Hao looked around and then proceeded into the territory of the Heavengod Alliance. As he went along, he could sense the ripples that were the remnants of magical techniques, as well as the all-pervasive sensation of blood and gore.

　　Off in the distance, he saw a few dozen figures making their way through the ruins and rubble, searching for cultivators who were feigning death and killing them, then looting their magical items and bags of holding.

　　As soon as Meng Hao appeared, those figures saw him, and almost immediately, their eyes flickered with killing intent. They sent their divine sense out, and when it reached Meng Hao, they could tell that he was only in the Ancient Realm, and vicious smiles broke out on their faces.

　　“So it’s a leftover cultivator from the Eighth Mountain and Sea. Kill him!” As soon as the words rang out, the dozens of cultivators powered up their cultivation bases, and their killing intent surged. Their eyes were red from the months of killing they had already participated in. Unfortunately for them, their cultivation bases didn’t qualify to be able to detect how truly terrifying Meng Hao was. Thinking him to be just another cultivator who had survived the recent battle, they closed in to finish him off.