Chapter 1138: Obvious Bait!

　　Meng Hao’s face flickered, and the sensation of an oncoming catastrophe grew even stronger. His eyes glittered, and the threw his head back and roared. Rumbling sounds echoed out as his body grew rapidly from its normal size to 9 meters tall, 21 meters, 30 meters, 60 meters, 90 meters!

　　He was now a 90-meter-tall giant, whose body rumbled as he fought back against the invisible pressure weighing down on him. He stamped his foot onto the ground and transformed into a meteor that shot toward the Emperor.

　　Zong Wuya stepped forward to block his way, causing Meng Hao’s eyes to flicker as he unleashed the God-Slaying Fist with his right hand. Instantly, the two of them began to fight.

　　Booms echoed out, and in a relatively short period of time, the two of them exchanged hundreds of blows. Everything shook violently, and Zong Wuya’s eyes filled with a strange light. He was clearly aware that Meng Hao had just reached a level of power that could cause problems for even himself.

　　“Zong Wuya!” Meng Hao growled. He waved his right hand, unleashing the Essence of Divine Flame. However, Zong Wuya all of a sudden fell back, doing nothing more to interfere with Meng Hao.

　　Meng Hao stared in shock for a moment. However, he had no desire to fight with Zong Wuya to begin with, plus, the sensation of imminent crisis was growing more intense. He waved his hand, sending Divine Flame out in a huge blast toward the Emperor.

　　The Emperor laughed loudly, and didn’t even deign to look at Meng Hao, simply allowing him to approach without even dodging to the side.

　　A boom rang out, and Meng Hao’s face flickered. His Divine Flame, and his attacking palm, were only about a meter away from the Emperor when suddenly, they slammed into some sort of impassable barrier.

　　It almost seemed like the will of the Windswept Realm had sprung up around the Emperor, making him… completely invincible!

　　Not only that, a backlash hit Meng Hao, flinging him backward by about three hundred meters.

　　“No one can alter the Imperial Lord’s plan. There is no power that can interfere with the hopes of the Windswept Realm. Everything… is for the true Dao. For freedom!” He stood there, eyeless, laughing maniacally as he raised both hands into the air. His cultivation base was clearly not very high, but as of this point, there was an astonishing power of will that had come to converge on him.

　　“Hear me, Echelon cultivators from the Immortal World: what you want is nothing other than the natural laws and Essences of the Windswept Realm. As the Emperor… I now give them to you!” The Emperor continued to laugh as he waved a finger toward the sky. The Heavens rumbled, and the sky seemed to shatter. Rumbling sounds echoed out as the Windswept Realm suddenly seemed to lose its sky altogether.

　　In its place was a void, within which, if you looked closely, could be seen a blood-colored vortex, rumbling as it spun. It exerted a massive power that relentlessly pulled the entire Windswept Realm higher and higher.

　　Simultaneously, countless natural laws and Essences that had previously been invisible, were now revealed because of the lack of a sky overhead.

　　The natural laws were visible as flickering magical symbols that formed a huge net which covered everything. In the locations where the threads that made up the net intersected, colorful motes of light could be seen. Sometimes they were transparent, sometimes they shone brightly. They were… Essences.

　　Natural laws and great Daos. For the first time ever… they were directly made visible to all onlookers.

　　All they had to do was send out some divine sense, and they would be able to see the huge net of magical symbols that represented the natural laws. Furthermore, if they touched the colorful motes of light with divines sense, they would be able to detect the presence of Essence.

　　“Natural laws. Great Daos. There they are, right in front of you!” said the Emperor, laughing. “Echelon cultivators of the Immortal World, you may contemplate them as much as you like. However many you get will depend on your own personal good fortune!” The man’s laughter contained derision, contempt, and most of all, disdain.

　　Dao-Heaven was about to leave the area, but suddenly, a tremor ran through him, and he looked up at the huge net up above. He saw the colorful lights, and began to pant. Then he sent his divine sense out in all directions and began to contemplate enlightenment.

　　At the same time, the other Echelon cultivators in the Windswept Realm were completely shaken. When they saw the events transpiring up above, they maintained silence for a moment, but then suddenly began to fly through the air toward the central temple area.

　　Lin Cong was the first to arrive, whereupon he immediately began to contemplate enlightenment.

　　Next was Han Qinglei, then Yuwen Jian. Finally, the pudgy Echelon cultivator from the Fifth Nation came, the one who had been seriously injured by Dao-Heaven, and had subsequently fled. He flew through the air toward one particular corner of the central temple area, then, body trembling, began to contemplate.

　　The Echelon cultivators quickly converged in the central temple area and began to contemplate enlightenment of the Windswept Realm’s natural laws and Essences. Meng Hao was the only one who, despite all of the natural laws and Essences, continued to feel the sense of increasingly intense crisis. He was just about to take another step forward toward the Emperor when suddenly, the eyeless man turned and seemed to look directly at him, despite his lack of eyes. Dark pits of blood stared directly at Meng Hao.

　　“There’s no need to get anxious, Meng Hao. I might have underestimated you, but that won’t happen again. Actually, I hope that you can get stronger…. In fact, I’ll even help you!” The Emperor lifted his right foot up and stamped it down violently, sending a huge boom echoing out through the temple region.

　　The final 300 Essences, which should have remained in the temple, the final prize for the most powerful Echelon cultivator, began to spread out through Heaven and Earth, thanks to the violent stomping of the Emperor’s foot.

　　3,000 natural laws and 3,000 great Daos. That was the complete number, and as for the final number any given cultivator could gain enlightenment of, that would depend on their personal good fortune.

　　A tremor ran through Meng Hao. It wasn’t just the Echelon cultivators who were contemplating enlightenment. Fan Dong’er and the others were also shaken. They immediately sent their divine sense out to contemplate enlightenment of the precious natural laws and Essences.

　　“You are Echelon cultivators of the Immortal World, and yet, the Immortal World treats you too harshly. Ordinarily, it would be a simple thing to acquire these natural laws and Essences. But instead, they make you fight over them.

　　“As the Emperor, though, I won’t be so harsh. The 3,000 natural laws and 3,000 Essences are now all available for you to immediately contemplate!

　　“The more the better! For each one you get, your future Dao path will be made that much easier!

　　“I’ve also prepared another gift for you. It’s… a true and authentic gift that no previous generation of Echelon cultivators ever had a chance to acquire!

　　“Any world will have 3,000 great Daos. That is a law of life, and of the Heavens. However, it is not an absolute!

　　“Actually, in any given world, it is also possible… for a 3,001st Essence to appear! That is one additional Essence, the most supreme of Essences, which provides unlimited opportunities. It is the ultimate Essence!

　　“However, to cause that Essence to appear is very, very difficult. In fact, the only time it can appear is when a world is hovering on the brink of destruction. Only then will it begin to take shape!

　　“That is… a Great Dao Essence, one that the Windswept Realm has been forming for countless epochs!

　　“It is a complete Essence, the soul treasure of the Windswept Realm. In fact, it is… the World Dao!

　　“Anyone who can acquire the World Dao can acquire that most paramount World Essence. With it, you can own the entire world, or even make your own world!

　　“Where is it located, you might ask? In the temple itself!” The Emperor laughed and waved his sleeve. Immediately, a supreme aura erupted out from the temple, causing all nearby natural laws and Essences to grow as dim as fireflies under the shining light of the moon.

　　All of the cultivators instantly sensed the feeling of a supreme Essence, including Meng Hao.

　　“The Echelon cultivator who gains enlightenment of 3,000 natural laws, of 3,000 Essences, can have a chance to fight for… that final, ultimate World Essence!

　　“As Emperor, have I not treated you well!? And you know what, not only have I given you Essences to gain enlightenment of, I’ll help you to speed up the process. I won’t even hold back the qi flow of the Windswept Realm!” Strange laughter rang out from the Emperor’s mouth as numerous beams of light flew down from up above onto each of the Echelon cultivators.

　　After receiving the light of blessing, Dao-Heaven and the others trembled. Even if they wanted to reject it, they couldn’t. The beams of light caused them to feel as if they were fused with the Windswept Realm, giving them a feeling exactly like the one Meng Hao had experienced before.

　　The only difference was that Meng Hao had received the Echelon Heart, whereas they were receiving the help of the Emperor. Although the result might seem the same, the two processes were completely different.

　　In such a state, gaining enlightenment was much easier, enabling them to acquire enlightenment of all 3,000 great Daos in a much shorter time.

　　Each and every one was well aware that this Emperor’s words and actions were obviously some sort of trap. He was essentially offering up bait. And yet… they couldn’t stop themselves from gobbling that bait right up.

　　Only Meng Hao rejected the light without even hesitating a moment, causing it to grow dim and have very little influence on him. However, he was still incapable of resisting the temptation of those final 300 Essences that he needed.

　　He took a deep breath and looked over at the Emperor, his eyes flashing coldly.

　　“Bait, huh? Fine… I’ll bite!” He sent his divine sense out toward the final 300 Essences that he needed, and immediately began to gain enlightenment. Because he already had a Nirvana Fruit inside of him, this process caused it to fuse more fully with him. With each Essence that he gained enlightenment of, the process grew more complete.

　　In the moment that he had all 3,000 great Daos fused into his heart, his second Nirvana Fruit would be eternally melded into his forehead. For all eternity… he would be, fully and completely, an Allheaven Immortal!