Chapter 1049: The Ninth Golden Door!

　　As soon as the words left Fan Dong’er’s mouth, Meng Hao cleared his throat. For some reason, it didn’t feel right to con her in this way. But then he thought about the situation with the Paragon’s blood, and the vast amount of spirit stones and Immortal jade he needed, and he realized that he couldn’t let even the smallest juicy prey escape his grasp.

　　“How many spirit stones do you wanna bet?” he asked her.

　　Fan Dong’er snorted coldly. How could she not tell that Meng Hao was confident in his abilities? Otherwise, he would never have mentioned the possibility of a bet. However, she was equally confident in being able to win, and in fact, was certain that she would. Meng Hao had never been to the Nine Seas God World, let alone entered the golden gate stone steles. However, she was very familiar with them, far more so than Meng Hao.

　　“Alright, Meng Hao, let’s see who cons who this time!” she thought. Her expression cold, she pretended as if she were throwing all caution to the wind. However, inwardly she was actually feeling quite complacent. This time, it wasn’t Meng Hao who had lured her into a bet, it was she who was pulling the strings.

　　At the same time that Meng Hao was scheming about her, she was scheming about him!

　　“In the interests of time, I’m only willing to bet on the first time you enter one of the golden gate stone stele trials by fire,” she said. “If you tried them all, who knows how long it would take for you to finish.

　　“So, only your first try counts. You can select any one of the steles, and if you can get into the top 10, then I’ll give you 100,000 Immortal jades and 5,000,000 spirit stones. Those are the stakes!

　　“Furthermore, you must make your first attempt at the trial by fire today! I don’t have time to sit around waiting for you.

　　“If you get into the top 10, you can take everything immediately. If you can’t, then you must swear an oath upon the Dao that not only will you take this corpse away, you’ll also cancel my promissory note! Plus, every time you meet me, you have to get on your knees and kowtow in greeting!” The way Fan Dong’er gritted her teeth and glared at Meng Hao made it seem like the reason she had added more stipulations was because she regretted her sudden impulsiveness, and was hoping Meng Hao would back out.

　　Meng Hao blinked and looked suspiciously at Fan Dong’er. Then, he slowly nodded his head.

　　“Alright, fine,” he said. “We’re old friends, so even though the bet is a bit unfair to me, I’ll accept it, all because of our relationship. Let’s do it!”

　　Fan Dong’er couldn’t conceal the bright glow in her eyes as she immediately responded, “The agreement is reached…”

　　“…and the Dao bears witness!” replied Meng Hao, without hesitation.

　　Quite a few surrounding disciples overheard what was going on, and were watching closely. That was especially true of some of the male cultivators, who looked at Meng Hao with open hostility. Apparently, they felt that any enemy of Fan Dong’er was their enemy too.

　　When Fan Dong’er heard Meng Hao’s response, she immediately smiled. Now, she no longer made any attempts to cover up her scheming, or the fact that she had been baiting Meng Hao. She was eighty percent certain that Meng Hao was going to lose!

　　When Meng Hao saw Fan Dong’er’s expression, he smiled. Considering his years of experience as a con artist, how could he possibly have failed to notice that Fan Dong’er was leading him along?

　　He didn’t immediately select a stone stele to begin a trial by fire. Instead, he transformed into a beam of light that shot back and forth between the other eight golden gate stone steles as he examined them.

　　Fan Dong’er followed along, as did other disciples of the Nine Seas God World, including quite a few Demonic cultivators. Many of those people sent messages to friends, and soon, word spread about the bet between Meng Hao and Fan Dong’er.

　　Fan Dong’er was the Divine Daughter of this generation of the Nine Seas God World, and was even famous in the outside world. There wasn’t anybody in the Nine Seas God World who didn’t know who she was. Couple that with the fact that she was spectacularly beautiful, and it would be impossible to say conclusively how many of her fellow disciples completely adored her. Naturally, the fact that she had a wager going with someone quickly drew a lot of attention.

　　Of course, Meng Hao was also famous in the outside world. In fact, his name was far more illustrious than Fan Dong’er’s. Be it in terms of his identity or his accomplishments, he was the center of much attention. Furthermore, only half a month ago, he had stood up to and even berated a Dao Realm expert. Word of that had spread throughout the entire Nine Seas God World, which made the matter of his wager with Fan Dong’er that much more intriguing.

　　Demonic cultivators came. Ordinary cultivators came. It didn’t take long before there were fully 10,000 cultivators following Meng Hao around and discussing what was happening. Most of them looked at him with curiosity. However, as would be expected, most of them were inclined to support Fan Dong’er.

　　Around noontime, Meng Hao finished his inspection of the nine golden gate stone steles, whereupon he hovered in midair, muttering to himself.

　　“What’s wrong, can’t decide which one to pick?” asked Fan Dong’er, sneering coldly. “Don’t try to delay things, Meng Hao. We already made the bet. You can only do the trial by fire today!”

　　Meng Hao turned to look at her, then smiled. His eyes flickered with a cold gleam as, without another word, he shot away like lightning. Rumbling filled the air as he headed directly toward… the ninth golden gate stone stele!

　　The first stone stele was a test regarding the pressure of the Ninth Sea, something he wasn’t ready for. After a bit of examination of the other trials by fire, he didn’t feel extremely confident in his ability to win the bet in any of them. However, the ninth stone stele was a trial by fire of the fleshly body. In that, he had faith!

　　Fan Dong’er’s eyes flickered, and inwardly, she was laughing coldly. The ninth stone stele was actually one of three that she had speculated he would select. Therefore, it was no surprise to her at all that he chose that one.

　　“You’re definitely going to lose!” she thought, setting her jaw arrogantly.

　　The surrounding disciples immediately began to discuss the matter.

　　“The ninth stone stele! This Meng Hao has a true Immortal fleshly body, so selecting this stone stele is actually a pretty conservative choice.”

　　“However, he’s also being a bit rash, wouldn’t you say? The ninth stone stele… is very hard!!”

　　“Him losing would be a good thing. Deflate him a bit! After all, this is the Nine Seas God World!” Apparently, none of the disciples believed that Meng Hao would succeed.

　　Heaven and Earth rumbled as Meng Hao shot toward the ninth golden gate stone stele, a beam of prismatic light that split the air. As he neared, it was evident that there were already a large number of disciples gathered there, clearly aware of the wager between Fan Dong’er and Meng Hao. Their eyes glittered as they watched Meng Hao unhesitatingly speed directly toward the huge stone stele.

　　As soon as he touched it, he vanished inside.

　　Subsequently, the more than 10,000 disciples outside of the stone stele all fixed their eyes on the list of names as they waited for any change. Fan Dong’er chuckled coldly. She was very calm, and completely confident that Meng Hao would be defeated.

　　Inside of the golden gate stone stele was an entire world which stretched out in all directions. However, there was no sky or land, just blankness. Meng Hao frowned as he realized that his Immortal meridians were apparently sealed. He could not rotate them in the slightest, making it impossible to utilize any divine abilities or magical techniques.

　　“My magic has been sealed off?” he thought. He sent some divine sense into his bag of holding, and found that even it was affected; nearly all of the items inside were impossible to use. Apparently the natural laws in this place restricted anything related to magic.

　　There were a few Heaven-defying items within his bag of holding that were still available for use. Most shocking of all was that the black pod was still emanating ripples; apparently it was unaffected by the sealing, and could still be used.

　　Even as shock washed through Meng Hao, popping sounds suddenly rang out from up ahead. Next, a tall figure strode out from the within the void.

　　It was a man wearing a mask, with a long head of flowing white hair, and a navy blue robe. Not a single cultivation base ripple emanated off of him as he approached, causing Meng Hao’s eyes to widen.

　　He could sense that the man had a boundless power of qi and blood within him. Although he had absolutely no cultivation base fluctuations, his qi and blood power was towering.

　　Meng Hao’s eyes flickered as he realized what type of cultivation this man practiced.

　　“A body cultivator!”

　　Back when he was doing research in the Fang Clan’s ancient records, he saw information about a common type of cultivation from ancient times. Those cultivators did not cultivate special types of magic, but rather, focused on their fleshly bodies.

　　People like that were referred to as body cultivators!

　　The most unique thing about them was that their bodies did not contain the least bit of spiritual energy. However, their qi and blood could influence the workings of the world around them.

　　The man in front of him hadn’t reached that level yet. However, his qi and blood were still extremely vigorous, shocking to the extreme.

　　As soon as he appeared, he didn’t hesitate for even a moment. He strode forward, and before he was even close, his boundless qi and blood surged, transforming into an incredible pressure that crushed down on Meng Hao.

　　Meng Hao’s eyes glittered, and he couldn’t help but smile.

　　“So I can’t use any magical techniques. I can only rely on my fleshly body. Well in that case, it’s time to see… exactly how far my true Immortal fleshly body can take me!” He took a deep breath, and without any further hesitation, began to stride toward the man.

　　As they closed in on each other, both of them clenched their hands into fists and punched out!

　　A boom rattled out. Meng Hao went all out with his fleshly body, giving rise to a gale force wind. When his blow landed on his opponent, a massive shockwave spread out in all directions. Meng Hao’s hair was thrown into disarray, and yet, he didn’t retreat even half a pace. The initial punch actually got him excited; it felt quite relaxing to be able to unleash such power.

　　As for his opponent, the man trembled, and fell back a few paces.

　　“Time to die!” Meng Hao roared, stepping forward and punching again.

　　The punch landed on nothing, but it caused the void to collapse, kicking up a huge wind that slammed into his opponent. The man’s body shook, and in the blink of an eye, he was completely shattered into bits by the force of the strike.

　　However, in that same moment, two more men appeared within the void. They looked identical to the first man, with navy blue robes, and masks. Their qi and blood were also incredibly powerful, and they immediately charged toward Meng Hao.

　　Meng Hao threw his head back and laughed. He didn’t back up, but instead, went on the offensive. Booms filled the air as the two figures were destroyed. A moment later, four figures appeared, with even stronger qi and blood.

　　This happened over and over again. Meng Hao attacked repeatedly, and a massive energy built up in his body. It was a domineering air, a courageous madness. Rumbling could be heard as the entire world was shaken.

　　4 opponents destroyed. Then there were 8. After 8 were destroyed, there were 16. After 16 were destroyed, 32 appeared!

　　After that there were 64, 128, 256….

　　Each and every time, their qi and blood were even stronger. Vast crowds surrounded Meng Hao, who only continued to laugh. He almost never came across a chance like this, in which magical techniques weren’t important, and he could rely only on his fleshly body. Every time he launched a punch, wild colors flashed about.

　　Furthermore, his name began to rise on the stone stele’s list!