Chapter 1278: Essence of Reality!

　　The boy’s first four Essences were extraordinary to begin with. His Essence of plants and vegetation was not common, and his Essence of rain was unexpectedly black, indicating that it contained poison. Those two Essences alone were rare.

　　From the nature of these Essences, it could be imagined that just with these four the boy would occupy a position at the pinnacle of 4-Essences Dao Sovereigns. This was without even mentioning his fifth Essence, the Essence of…

　　Reality!

　　That fifth Essence was able to thoroughly transform his other four Essences, immediately conjuring forth from them a power that could shake Heaven and Earth. Currently, rumbling sounds were echoing out, and the starry sky was vibrating. A boundless cultivation base power was now erupting out from the Essence world that the boy had summoned.

　　“In the entire Mountain and Sea Realm,” the boy said, “there are only four cultivators who are 6-Essences Dao Sovereigns!

　　“The most powerful is Ksitigarbha of the Fourth Mountain and Sea, who is at the peak of six Essences. Rumor has it that he’s less than half a step away from becoming a 7-Essences Paragon. As for the other three people, they are the three great Doyens who were entrusted with the three classic Daoist scriptures!

　　“When it comes to 5-Essences Dao Sovereigns, there are a few more than the 6-Essences Dao Sovereigns. However, even in all of the Nine Mountains and Seas, there are no more than fifteen. Among those fifteen, I might not be the strongest, and am weaker than the Mountain and Sea Lords!

　　“However, even still, it doesn’t matter that you’ve stepped into the Ancient Realm as an Allheaven Dao Immortal, and have a bloodline that reaches back to the Paragon Immortal Realm… you still aren’t a match for me!”

　　The boy’s eyes glittered coldly as his voice echoed out. His Essence world rumbled as it surrounded Meng Hao. Boundless greenery grew at an astonishing rate, sending out an intense power of plants and vegetation. Then there was the seemingly infinite black rain, each drop of which emanated astonishing pressure onto Meng Hao.

　　As for the darkness, it was even more terrifying, completely covering Meng Hao, turning him pitch black, as if he were being assimilated by the night.

　　And then there was the Essence of light, which was a power that could actually dispel darkness. It was slowly vaporizing Meng Hao; whereas before it had been illusory, with the Essence of reality, it was now truly capable of harming him.

　　BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!

　　The cultivators of the Meng Clan, as well as the invaders, were so shocked by what they were witnessing that they completely forgot that they had just been fighting and killing each other.

　　All eyes were completely fixed on the battle between Meng Hao and the boy!

　　“5-Essences Dao Sovereign… that boy… is actually a 5-Essences Dao Sovereign!” The five Patriarchs of the Meng Clan were shaking in fear and astonishment. Although all of them were in the Dao Realm, this was actually their first time ever seeing someone brandishing five Essences simultaneously.

　　Although they had previously fought Meng Hao, the battle prowess he had put on display had only led them to speculate about the true limits of his power. However, now that five Essences really were on display, it was impossible to even describe how truly shaken they were.

　　Nowadays in the Mountain and Sea Realm, Ksitigarbha of the Fourth Mountain and Sea was a 6-Essences Dao Sovereign, but the other eight Mountain and Sea Lords were all at the 5-Essences level. The weakest of them all was Lord Ji of the Ninth Mountain and Sea, who hadn’t even reached the 5-Essences level!

　　As such, it was possible to say that 5-Essences cultivators were peak almighty experts in the Mountain and Sea Realm. Any one of those people were the type who were powerful enough to destroy vast swaths of the starry sky.

　　In the Seventh Mountain and Sea, the most powerful people were two 5-Essences Dao Sovereigns, one of whom was the Lord of the Seventh Mountain and Sea, and the other was none other than his boy, Xiao Yihan!

　　Only an almighty expert like him was capable of leading the vanguard in the invasion of the Eighth Mountain and Sea, to begin the Mountain and Sea War!

　　Another reason that only he qualified was that… the reconnaissance carried out by the Seventh Mountain and Sea throughout the years had long since revealed to them that in the Eighth Mountain and Sea, there was only one almighty expert who had reached the level of 5-Essences, and that was the Lord of the Eighth Mountain and Sea. After him, the next strongest were only 4-Essences experts!

　　The next most powerful expert after the Lord of the Eight Mountain and Sea was the Chief Dao Protector of the Heavengod Society, who was technically at the 5-Essences level. However, in Xiao Yihan’s opinion, his fifth Essence was actually borrowed from the Lord of the Eighth Mountain and Sea, and was not something he had personally gained enlightenment of. Therefore, Xiao Yihan wasn’t worried about him at all.

　　“Still not dead!?” Xiao Yihan roared, eyes flickering coldly. The appearance of Meng Hao threw a wrench into their understanding of the power structure of the Eighth Mountain and Sea, which was not something that he could just accept casually. In order to ensure that the Mountain and Sea War went as planned, Xiao Yihan now wanted to kill Meng Hao more than ever.

　　“If I don’t kill him now, and he goes on to successfully extinguish his Soul Lamps, then his battle prowess will only continue to increase. He might even exceed the level of the Mountain and Sea Lords!

　　“So this is an Allheaven Dao Immortal…. Back in the Paragon Immortal Realm, the ultimate terrors, the most powerful of all… were the Allheaven Dao Immortals!

　　“Thankfully, from ancient times until now, not a single Allheaven Dao Immortal has ever stepped into the Dao. All of them died in the process of extinguishing their Soul Lamps in the Ancient Realm. This man will be no exception. However, if I don’t kill him now, he will definitely be a thorn in our side later!” Xiao Yihan looked on with coldly gleaming eyes as his Essence world crushed down like a millstone onto Meng Hao, bent on completely obliterating him!

　　Rumbling sounds echoed out, and the starry sky vibrated. Meng Hao was also shaken; he could sense how the plants were trying to suck away at his life force in order to grow, and how the poison in the black rainwater was trying to eat away at his soul.

　　Most shocking of all was the power of darkness, which seemed to disregard how powerful his fleshly body and cultivation base was as it began to assimilate them. That in turn ensured that when the boy’s power of light assailed him, it was like ten thousand swords stabbing at his heart, filling him with intense pain. Meng Hao felt as if he were being swept over by floodwaters, as if he couldn’t move, as if his blood had stopped flowing. Countless wounds covered his skin, and he was even starting to fade away, as if the power of the five Essences were wiping him out of existence!

　　Meng Hao roared inwardly; the Essence world could put pressure on his body, but not his Soul Lamps!

　　In the critical moment of crisis, rumbling filled him as his cultivation base climbed up again and again! In the moment of deadly danger, Meng Hao’s 28th Soul Lamp flew out of the top of his head like a blossoming flower!

　　And that wasn’t it! It was at this point that a 29th Soul Lamp also appeared!

　　Then, the 30th! Now, a total of 30 ignited Soul Lamps were swirling around Meng Hao, letting off brilliant light. The darkness was dispelled, the light was shoved away, the black rain was cut off, and the vegetation was severed away.

　　Blood oozed out of the corners of Meng Hao’s mouth as his body rapidly recovered. He suddenly looked up at Xiao Yihan, who was now frowning.

　　“You’re definitely strong,” Meng Hao said. “My profound thanks for helping me to understand… what a 5-Essences Dao Sovereign is like!” As he wiped the blood from his mouth, he realized that he was now much more certain of the true level of this battle prowess.

　　“I’m curious,” Meng Hao asked. “That old man from the Heavengod Society also has a 5-Essences cultivation base. Why is the difference between the two of you so great?”

　　If any other person asked this question of Xiao Yihan, he would never answer. However, Meng Hao was so threatening that, even though his cultivation base was not at the same level, his battle prowess was. The terrifying fact that he was an Allheaven Dao Immortal caused Xiao Yihan to consider for a moment, and then say, “You mean the Chief Dharma Protector of the Heavengod Society? He’s really at 4-Essences. His fifth Essence is borrowed.”

　　“Got it,” Meng Hao replied, nodding.

　　Before transcending the tribulation, Meng Hao had believed that his cultivation base was sufficient to fight against a 5-Essences Dao Sovereign, but now he realized that his judgement had been based on the very Chief Dao Protector in question.

　　Most accurately speaking, before he transcended the tribulation, his battle prowess was comparable to the peak of the 4-Essences level, about half a step or so away from the true 5-Essences level. Therefore, during the actual process of transcending the tribulation, when he had faced the four 5-Essences faceless men, he had only been able to handle one of them. After all, they were not truly cultivators, and were actually slightly weaker than real 5-Essences cultivators. Had he been facing someone like this boy, he would not have been able to get past them.

　　Having transcended the tribulation and ignited his Soul Lamps, his cultivation base rose, his Immortal power was converted to Ancient mana, and his Nirvana Fruits became Dao Fruits. At that point, he was truly equipped to battle 5-Essences Dao Sovereigns.

　　“In all of the Mountain and Sea Realm,” he thought. “there are only about fifteen 5-Essences Dao Sovereigns… including most of the Mountain and Sea Lords…. As for the Lords, most of them are at the peak of the 5-Essences level, just a hair away from 6-Essences…. Apparently, I’m still half a step behind people like that. This must be the case, because it seems that Xiao Yihan and I… are about even.” Meng Hao frowned. The root of the problem lay with the Soul Lamps. After all, Soul Lamps really just represented the potential for future power.

　　“Assuming I’m close to the level of the Mountain and Sea Lords, then as I successfully extinguish my Soul Lamps, then I will quickly bridge that gap!” Meng Hao’s eyes shone with a bright light as he began to stride toward Xiao Yihan.

　　Xiao Yihan’s eyes widened. He had already begun to view Meng Hao as a powerful opponent, so seeing him advance in this way caused him to immediately fall back. His hands flashed in a double-handed incantation gesture, causing his Essence world to collapse.

　　As that happened, the fragments of the Essence world formed into five hands. Each of those hands was made of Essence, and they grabbed toward Meng Hao, causing the starry sky to shake and rumbling sounds to echo out in all directions.

　　Meng Hao’s eyes flickered as the copper mirror suddenly flickered in his right hand. It spread out, covering his hand, transforming into the Battle Weapon. At the same time, he performed an incantation gesture with his left hand, causing the Paragon Bridge to rumble out to defend against the five huge hands.

　　A massive boom rang out, shocking everyone. The Paragon Bridge slammed into the hands, causing radiant light to explode out. At long last, the Paragon Bridge was able to erupt out with something approximating its original power.

　　Rumbling sounds continued to echo out as the five hands and the Paragon Bridge pushed at each other, clearly in a deadlock. Xiao Yihan’s face flickered, and he suddenly looked over at Meng Hao and screamed.

　　That scream caused the void in front of Xiao Yihan to shatter, layer by layer, and then sweep toward Meng Hao. When the sound wave attack hit him, he trembled, and was apparently incapable of moving any further forward.

　　Meng Hao snorted coldly, unleashing explosive cultivation base power as a 31st Soul Lamp appeared over his head. Simultaneously, he lifted his right hand up and then chopped it down toward Xiao Yihan.