Chapter 1263: Removing Nine Spikes; the Seventh Sea Mobilizes!

　　Of course, Meng Hao was not a Dao Sovereign, nor was he equivalent to such a level. However, if he unleashed his full battle prowess, he could fight any Dao Realm cultivator under the level of a Dao Sovereign. That had to do with this fleshly body, his Paragon magic, and most importantly, the fact that he was an Allheaven Dao Immortal!

　　Because of that, despite the fact that he was merely an Immortal, he could still shake the Dao Realm.

　　“Soon all four Nirvana Fruits will be fully fused. When they become my Dao Fruit, they can help me push open the Door of the Ancient Realm and extinguish my Soul Lamps! The only thing I’m not sure about is exactly how many Soul Lamps I’ll end up with.” Meng Hao’s eyes gleamed with anticipation. Considering that he could already fight the Dao Realm, in his view the Ancient Realm was merely a stepping stone.

　　He hadn’t even considered the possibility of failing, and as far as he was concerned, the Ancient Realm wasn’t even very important. Of course… before Meng Hao, it had been a very, very long time since any Allheaven Dao Immortal had appeared. Virtually no one knew how difficult it was for someone like him to step into the Ancient Realm.

　　Meng Hao, being able to sense that his fourth Nirvana Fruit was nearing a state of complete absorption, was incredibly excited. Currently, he was whistling through the air with Meng Ru and the other young women in tow as he headed back toward the continent where their bloodline waited.

　　Soon, they were back. When the two young women who had just been saved saw how different everything was, they became very excited. Meng Hao went to see his grandmother and granduncles. After he told his grandmother about what had happened when he had rescued the two young women, she asked, “Hao’er, how confident are you that you can fully heal our injuries?”

　　All three of the oldtimers looked at Meng Hao as they waited for his answer.

　　He thought for a moment, then looked up and replied, “I wouldn’t dare to say 100% confident. Perhaps… 80%!”

　　In response to his words, his grandmother began to breathe heavily, and his two granduncles began to tremble. All three of them exchanged glances and then nodded.

　　“Hao’er, use whatever techniques you can. It doesn’t matter how dangerous the process is, we’re willing to risk it!”

　　Meng Hao took a deep breath, then nodded seriously. He had long since come to the realization that if his grandmother and granduncles could recover their cultivation bases, then considering their previous standing within the clan, the bloodline would no longer continue to decline.

　　Time passed. Meng Hao spent his days giving sermons about the Dao and treating his grandmother and granduncles. He also worked on the cultivation bases of his three aunts and two uncles.

　　As the entire group improved, their auras grew more powerful, day by day.

　　As for his two uncles who had previously been so down and out, their eyes burned with life and vigor. Now, they had hope!

　　His three aunts recovered fastest of all. Within about ten days, they already possessed the battle prowess of Immortals. His grandmother and granduncles recovered the slowest, and yet, were gradually beginning to emanate more profound pressure.

　　Because of the strong Immortal qi available for cultivation, all the other bloodline clan members were stabilizing their cultivation bases, and every few days, someone would make a breakthrough.

　　Although all such breakthroughs were within the Spirit Realm, it was still possible to see that the bloodline had excellent latent talent, and the previous hard work they had gone through in their cultivation was now leading to large numbers of cultivation base breakthroughs.

　　Lately, everyone in the bloodline felt full of hope, and whenever they looked at Meng Hao, it was with fervent ardor.

　　In sharp contrast was the ancestral mansion of the Meng Clan.

　　People there were as jumpy as if enemy soldiers lurked around every corner, and the slightest breeze could cause panic. During the ten days which passed, everyone in the nine bloodlines learned of what had happened, much to their shock. The defensive spell formation was constantly on, as if war were expected to break out at any time.

　　Another month passed, and Meng Hao could tell that his fourth Nirvana Fruit had been completely absorbed. A mere thought on his part could summon the Door of the Ancient Realm.

　　Furthermore, his grandmother and the others had reached a critical juncture in the healing process. On one particular day, all of the bloodline clan members ceased meditating and stood guard. It didn’t matter that their cultivation bases were relatively weak, they would still not allow anyone to disturb what was happening.

　　His grandmother and everyone else was out in the courtyard, while Meng Hao sat cross-legged alone indoors. Wisps of white mist rose up from his head, transforming into clouds, within which could be heard the faint sound of thunder.

　　After a moment, Meng Hao’s eyes opened, and they shone brightly. He began to speak, and soon his words were heard by his grandmother and granduncles. “Grandma Meng will go last. Granduncles, you will go just before her. I’ll start with everyone else.”

　　Meng Hao could accept that accidents might happen with the others, but he wanted to be absolutely certain of being able to successfully treat his grandmother. He would use the others to ensure that he was comfortable with the process. That was why the final person he would treat would be his grandmother.

　　Grandma Meng took a deep breath, eyes shining brightly as she extended her hand, pointing toward one of her two sons, who had a very excited expression on his face.

　　That was Meng Hao’s 7th Uncle, who took a deep breath as he entered the room where Meng Hao awaited them. He looked at Meng Hao sitting there cross-legged, then clasped hands and bowed deeply. Finally, he sat down cross-legged in front of him.

　　Meng Hao nodded, then reached out and placed a finger onto his 7th Uncle’s forehead. Then he rotated his cultivation base, and poured the power of an Allheaven Dao Immortal into him. 7th Uncle’s body began to tremble, and he was clearly in pain. Gradually, nine spikes began to emerge from within him.

　　A moment later, a pinging sound could be heard as one of the spikes fell to the ground. In that instant, 7th Uncle’s cultivation base surged with power. Next was a second spike, then a third, until eight of the spikes were removed. In that moment 7th Uncle’s cultivation base was completely restored, and surged with the power of the early Ancient Realm!

　　Meng Hao’s eyes glittered as he pulled his hand back from 7th Uncle’s forehead. As he did, a ninth spike flew out from 7th Uncle’s forehead!

　　7th Uncle shivered, then threw his head back and roared. His cultivation base erupted with explosive power, moving past the mid Ancient Realm. Trembling as he took stock of his body’s condition, he stood up, expression one of complete excitement as he once again clasped hands and bowed to Meng Hao, then turned and left.

　　The process went similarly with the second person in line, and the third, and the fourth….

　　Two uncles, three aunts. All five people had nine spikes stuck in their bodies, which Meng Hao extracted one by one. As of this moment, his grandmother’s bloodline now had five Ancient Realm experts!

　　The highest cultivation base among them belonged to his 5th aunt, who was in the great circle of the Ancient Realm, just on the verge of being able to break through.

　　Around the same time that the spikes were being removed from the five of them, in the Seventh Mountain and Sea, past the invisible barrier which separated it from the Eighth Mountain and Sea, an altar could be seen floating in the starry sky. Suddenly, rumbling booms could be heard coming from that altar.

　　The huge altar had an enormous magical symbol on its surface, and it only took a single glance for one to be able to tell that it was the character Meng. Numerous stone spikes could be seen stabbing into the character, a total of nine of them. The spike in the middle was the largest, with the spikes growing smaller as they neared the edges of the character.

　　Furthermore, all of those stone spikes oozed blood, causing the entire altar to be stained bright red….

　　That was only one of the altars. There were other altars in the area… a total of nine! Apparently, this was a very important part of the Seventh Mountain and Sea, as roughly 100,000 cultivators were standing watch over the area, including nine Dao Realm experts.

　　About the time that Meng Hao removed the spikes from his two uncles and three aunts, rumbling sounds filled the area, and on two of the nine altars, all of the stone spikes suddenly collapsed.

　　The 100,000 cultivators suddenly shivered and opened their eyes. The Dao Realm experts seemed especially affected, and their faces darkened.

　　“Something’s happened in the Eighth Mountain and Sea, in the Meng Clan.”

　　“Someone is tampering with the Lord-Elimination spell formations!”

　　“It doesn’t matter, as long as the master formation isn’t broken, it will be nothing more than an inconvenience….” The nine Dao Realm experts’ faces flickered as they looked at the fifth altar out of the nine respectively. Then they went to action, both stabilizing the altars and also sending their divine sense out in an explosive tempest.

　　As the nine Dao Realm experts were working on the altars, back in the Meng Clan in the Eighth Mountain and Sea, one of Meng Hao’s granduncles walked into the room and sat down cross-legged. A serious expression flickered on Meng Hao’s face, and he placed not just a finger, but his entire palm onto his granduncle’s forehead.

　　Seeing the serious look on Meng Hao’s face, his granduncle laughed heartily and said, “Go all out with your cultivation base, my life isn’t that important!” As Meng Hao’s cultivation base power poured into him, he began to shake.

　　Meng Hao spent more time with him than he had with the previous five combined. As he extracted the spikes, his granduncle’s cultivation base rocketed up madly, and soon was in the great circle of the Ancient Realm.

　　“Last one!” Meng Hao said. He pulled his hand back, and rumbling sounds could be heard. Blood sprayed out of his granduncle’s mouth as the ninth spike few out of his forehead. As it did, it was possible to see a black thread attached to it, which caused Meng Hao’s eyes to flicker. He quickly cut the thread, causing a cracking sound to be heard. His granduncle coughed up another mouthful of blood, and yet, his face began to change. He no longer looked like he had just crawled out of a grave. Although he was still old, his face radiated a powerful life force, and his cultivation base progressed even further. He was now past the great circle, and was comparable to the Quasi-Dao Realm!

　　He laughed heartily as he rose to his feet, his energy surging, and brilliant light shining from his eyes. He was now as he had been before all of the tragedy. He looked down at Meng Hao with a gentle expression and murmured, “It’s high time our bloodline rises to prominence again!”

　　With that, he turned and vanished, reappearing outside, where he took a long, deep breath. Rumbling could be heard as he sucked in a massive quantity of the energy of Heaven and Earth.

　　When that ninth spike was extracted, and the thread was severed, back in the Seventh Mountain and Sea, the stone spikes on another of the nine altars shattered. Furthermore, the altar itself trembled, and cracks spread out across its surface. It looked like it would collapse at any moment.

　　The surrounding cultivators’ faces flickered, and they performed incantation gestures. The nine Dao Realm experts frowned, once again going to work to stabilize the altars. However, before much time passed, the same thing happened to the fourth altar that had just occurred to all the others.

　　That was when the second of Meng Hao’s granduncles had his final spike extracted, and experienced an incredible increase in cultivation base.

　　The nine Dao Realm cultivators’ faces flickered, and one of them roared. “Dammit, we can’t let any more of the altars be cracked. The fifth altar is the primary formation, it mustn’t be interfered with! That will influence the entire offensive. Pour your divine sense into it and stop whoever is breaking the formations!”

　　The other eight had serious expressions in their eyes as they performed incantation gestures and sent their divine sense rumbling out.