Chapter 1097: Valiant!

　　Han Qinglei, Echelon cultivator from the Eighth Mountain, was so powerful that Fan Dong’er and Bei Yu were both completely shaken. To them, any person who could rock the Ancient Realm while being in the Immortal Realm well-deserved to be referred to as a blazing sun.

　　As far as Fan Dong’er was concerned, Meng Hao was actually more powerful than those blazing suns. But now that she had met Han Qinglei, she had to admit that he was terrifyingly powerful.

　　The sensation she had experienced when fighting Meng Hao had now appeared for a second time.

　　“Are Echelon cultivators powerful… because they’re in the Echelon, or is it… their power that earns them a place there!?” Fan Dong’er couldn’t quite accept it. She was the Divine Daughter of the Nine Seas God World and before meeting Meng Hao, she had viewed herself as being above all others, the center of all attention. However, Meng Hao’s appearance on the scene had changed everything.

　　Even now, she could remember the first time she had met Meng Hao back on Planet South Heaven. Back then, he hadn’t been as terrifying as he was now. Furthermore, the speed with which he had risen to prominence made the entire situation difficult to accept. Before she could even come to terms with it, he was already far ahead of everyone else. Wherever he went, he became a huge mountain blocking the paths of everyone else.

　　A boom rang out, and blood oozed out of Fan Dong’er’s mouth. She fell back at top speed, waving her hand to cause numerous sealing marks to appear. They merged together in front of her to transform into a magic bottle, which then shot toward Han Qinglei’s hideously grinning clone.

　　Han Qinglei’s clone laughed coldly and performed an incantation gesture with his right hand. Instantly, a flower of white bones materialized. It spun through the air, radiating a white light as it slammed into the magic bottle. Massive rumbling could be heard as Han Qinglei shot forward. As he extended his hand, the flesh and blood suddenly transformed into bleached bones. He touched Fan Dong’er’s forehead and a boom rattled out. Blood sprayed out of her mouth, and she went pale white as freezing cold spread through her. Her vision swam, and a sensation of crisis welled up. Suddenly the air behind her shattered, and a female corpse appeared. Fan Dong’er had kept the corpse hidden up to now, but because the blow had sent her mind into chaos, she could do so no longer. Immediately, an aura of death exploded out, completely astonishing Han Qinglei. Being the cautious person that he was, he immediately fell back.

　　In that same instant, the space he had just occupied was inundated by countless black strands of hair, which then exploded out in all directions.

　　“Interesting,” the clone said, smiling. “It seems I’ll need to take things a bit more seriously.” Off to the side, his second clone was steadily forcing Bei Yu backward.

　　Bei Yu’s divine abilities and magical techniques caused rumbling sounds to fill the air. Her divine sense magical art sent innumerable invisible needles stabbing forward in attack. However, the mere wave of a hand by Han Qinglei’s clone caused a suit of bone armor to appear. He allowed the divine sense to strike him, and it did nothing. Then, the bone-armored clone stretched out both hands, and his fingertips turned into sharp claws which he waved through the air like the weapons of a celestial warrior. Instantly, Bei Yu was put into a very dangerous position.

　　Meanwhile, Han Qinglei’s true form was performing numerous incantation gestures to unleash all sorts of divine abilities. Bright, multicolored lights slammed into the protective shield, causing it to twist and warp. Cracking sounds could be heard, and more fissures spread out.

　　Meng Hao continued to sit there cross-legged beneath the statue. He was currently contemplating the final Essence, and at the same time, was feeling extremely anxious. However, there was nothing he could do but focus all of his power and energy on the enlightenment.

　　All of a sudden, Han Qinglei and his two clones suddenly stopped in place and fell back. All three figures then flew toward each other and, instead of merging together, smiled viciously and then levied palm strikes against each other’s chests!

　　At the same time, the three figures cried out: “Three Body Dao!” At the same time, an unbelievably powerful sound like a crack of thunder rang out.

　　After striking each other with their palms, the three figures’ cultivation bases rocketed up, and their battle prowess increased dramatically! In fact, in this state… they were apparently more powerful than Han Qinglei when he was not split into three!

　　“Bone Tomb Magic!” The three figures split apart and shot toward Fan Dong’er, Bei Yu, and Mount Whiteseal’s shield, bursting with incredible energy.

　　They moved so fast that they looked like black arrows, and in the blink of an eye, one of the figures was in front of Fan Dong’er. He waved his hand, causing countless white bones to descend, which then transformed into the shape of a tomb, with Fan Dong’er stuck in the middle.

　　A similar bone tomb appeared around Bei Yu, and another one descended toward Mount Whiteseal.

　　The three Han Qingleis all cried out together: “Three Body Dao! Bone Tomb Magic! Slaughter By Time!” Their voices echoed out, seemingly ancient and filled with the aura of Time.

　　The three bone tombs rumbled as they began to spin. Shockingly, bone headstones appeared on top of each of them, upon which shapes began to form, as if images of Bei Yu, Fan Dong’er, and Mount Whiteseal were being etched on their surfaces!

　　The image of Bei Yu was the first to be completed. A miserable shriek rang out, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood. Instantly, her body began to wither, and she seemed to be crumbling under intense pressure. She was incapable of escaping, trapped in the pressure of the bone tomb as it pushed her down toward the surface of the ground.

　　It was… turning into a real tomb!

　　Inside the tomb, Bei Yu was ashen, losing consciousness, her body rapidly aging as her life force was sucked away.

　　Fan Dong’er struggled to fight back, but she was no match. Despite the boundless will of death from the female corpse, she couldn’t fight back against the pressure. Rumbling could be heard as Fan Dong’er was forced down toward the ground, crushed by the bone tomb. Her life force slowly began to flow away, and she began to age.

　　“Meng Hao!!” she cried urgently, and yet, her cry was quickly cut short.

　　At the same time, the third bone tomb was crushing down onto Mount Whiteseal’s protective shield. Because of the losing battle on the central battlefield, the shield had been greatly weakened, and so under this attack the already-fractured shield instantly fell to pieces and was destroyed.

　　Fan Dong’er was being crushed. Bei Yu had lost consciousness. Mount Whiteseal’s shield exploded. From all of these, it was possible to see exactly how powerful Han Qinglei was, and also, how strong Echelon cultivators were!

　　Each and every member of the Echelon was an incredibly powerful expert, someone who was above all other blazing suns. Furthermore, the only people of their generation who qualified to fight Echelon cultivators… were other Echelon cultivators!!

　　“Alright, Meng Hao, let’s see how you fight back this time! Killing you like this might be a bit of a bore, but considering that you’re surnamed Meng, even if you aren’t connected to the Meng Clan, I’m elated to have the chance to slaughter you!” Han Qinglei laughed uproariously, and killing intent roiled up from his three bodies. As Mount Whiteseal’s shield shattered, he instantly pounced down toward Meng Hao!

　　However, in almost the exact moment that he closed in, Meng Hao’s right hand slapped down onto his bag of holding. Then, he waved his hand, sending numerous black pods flying out, his eyes tightly shut the entire time.

　　Magic Pod Soldiers!

　　Popping sounds could be heard as the black pods transformed into vicious imps, who screeched as they opened their mouths to reveal long, sharp teeth. There were a total of fifty blackpod imps, and as soon as they appeared on the scene, they shot toward Han Qinglei’s three bodies.

　　“That’s all you’ve got?!” Han Qinglei laughed coldly. Despite his words, he was inwardly vigilant. He had in no way underestimated Meng Hao, as he knew that weaklings would never be able to get into the Echelon.

　　Although he wasn’t sure what exactly was so special about these blackpod imps, the fact that Meng Hao had unleashed them at such a critical point in the battle led Han Qinglei to believe that they were not something to be taken lightly. On the surface, he seemed to be acting rashly, but it was actually his clone that shot forward first, while his true form held back.

　　The fifty blackpod imps screamed as they shot through the air toward the clone. A boom could be heard as more than thirty were sent tumbling away, although they didn’t seem to have received very serious injuries.

　　Han Qinglei was instantly shocked, and his eyes widened. As for the dozen or blackpod imps that remained on the clone, they opened their mouths wide and began to chew into it.

　　Han Qinglei snorted, allowing the clone to block the blackpod imps as his true form and his other clone closed in on Meng Hao.

　　“Those blackpod imps are pretty impressive, Meng Hao. After I kill you, I’ll collect them up as souvenirs!” Han Qinglei and his clone increased their speed as they charged toward Meng Hao.

　　A tremor ran through Meng Hao. He was at a critical juncture, and was just a sliver away from achieving complete enlightenment. Han Qinglei wasn’t giving him enough time! It was at this point that Meng Hao suddenly heard a deep growl, as if something which had long since been sleeping in his bag of holding were finally beginning to wake up.

　　It was a very familiar feeling, and after a moment of considering, Meng Hao realized that it was… the aura of his Blood Mastiff!

　　“Is the mastiff going to wake up?!” he thought, his mind spinning. However, what appeared was not the mastiff. Instead, as his bag of holding opened up, an archaic voice echoed out, accompanied by the sound of flapping wings.

　　“Yo! This mountain belongs to Lord Fifth, the Heavens belong to Lord Fifth, the Earth belongs to Lord Fifth, and this little Haowie is also Lord Fifth’s! Lord Fifth has appeared! Are ya scared?!” The parrot flew out in between Meng Hao and Han Qinglei, one wing flapping madly in place, the other pointing out accusingly at Han Qinglei.

　　On the parrot’s ankle was a bell, upon which the face of the meat jelly appeared, which proceeded to yell in an attempt to sound archaic as well. “That’s right! This mountain belongs to Lord Third too, the Heavens belong to Lord Third, and the Earth also belongs to Lord Third. Haowie is also Lord Third’s. Are ya scared?! Well, are ya?!”

　　“Screw off!” said Han Qinglei, smiling coldly. The killing intent in his eyes exploded to incredible heights. Everything shook, a massive wind kicked up, and the darkness intensified. A huge hand appeared, formed of countless bones and filled with a frigid wind. Surrounded by a sea of bones, it shot forward.

　　The parrot immediately flew forward and slammed into the sea of bones. The result was that several of its remaining feathers, which were already sparse, were knocked off of its body. It watched the feathers floating down toward the ground, and began to tremble. Finally, it threw its head back and let out an unprecedentedly bloodcurdling howl.

　　“Dammit! DAMMIT!” the parrot raged. “Y-y-you… you actually knocked some of Lord Fifth’s feathers off! AAAAGGGHHHHHH! My feathers! AAAAAGHHHHHHH! My beautiful feathers! That’s how I attract lovers…. I’m ruined, I can’t handle this! I’m gonna flip my lid! This is beyond ridiculous!!

　　“Summon the seafood! Seafood dishes, ASSEMBLE!”