Chapter 1039: I Have Proof!

　　Of the eight Demonic cultivators, three were female. They were extremely beautiful and charming, as it seemed most female Demonic cultivators were. Despite the murderous looks that currently warped their faces, they were extremely attractive.

　　Although they all had various body parts that clearly belonged to sea beasts, that wasn’t distracting, and if anything, enhanced their beauty.

　　The rest of the male Demonic cultivators were all equally handsome.

　　Currently, all eight of these Demonic cultivators were now closing in on Meng Hao.

　　His eyes glittered as he waved his right hand, causing rumbling sounds to echo out as the Mountain Consuming Incantation materialized into the form of a mountain chain which crushed down onto the incoming cultivators.

　　The eight Demonic cultivators were prepared, however. Echoing booms rang out as they performed incantation gestures, causing Immortal qi to surge out. Each and every one was in the Immortal Realm, although none were true Immortals; they were all false Immortals. They fought back against the mountain chain with divine abilities and magical techniques, as well as with their Dharma Idols.

　　Booms rang out in all directions. All of these Demonic cultivators were at the peak of the Immortal Realm. It was with cold harrumphs that they fought back against the Mountain Consuming Incantation, causing the mountain chain to collapse. Furthermore, they arranged themselves in a magical formation, allowing them to swap locations and increase the power of their divine abilities. In the blink of an eye, the Mountain Consuming Incantation’s mountain range collapsed into pieces.

　　The eight Demonic cultivators continued to charge forward, led by a beautiful woman who had no scales at all, and looked almost exactly like a normal cultivator. The only difference was that she stood inside of a gigantic shell that was far larger than her own person.

　　She moved with incredible speed, nearing Meng Hao, eyes flickering with killing intent. She lifted her hand to reveal, shockingly, a beautiful pearl, which was emanating glittering light.

　　“Solidify!” she said. Although her voice was beautiful, it instantly caused the surroundings to grow colder.

　　The glittering light of the pearl emanated strange power as it threatened to lock down Meng Hao.

　　His eyes shone with a bizarre light as he lifted his right hand in response, then pointed up into the air.

　　“A Writ of Karma!” Instantly, black and white light appeared on his hand, which transformed into threads that shot out. Simultaneously, Karma Threads appeared over his head.

　　Almost as soon as the Karma Threads appeared, Meng Hao took a step forward. Instantly, he was directly in front of the shelled female Demonic cultivator. Her expression flickered as Meng Hao’s hand reached out to tap her forehead.

　　The woman’s face fell as an intense sensation of crisis rose up in her heart, and her shell rapidly snapped shut to protect her.

　　However, Meng Hao snorted coldly, which shook her mentally and sent her cultivation base into chaos. The shell stopped in place, and Meng Hao’s finger shot into the shell like lightning to land directly onto the female Demonic cultivator’s forehead.

　　It was a light touch, but it was enough to bind her Karma Threads. He lifted his hand up and tied the Karma Threads that no outsider could see into a knot, linking them together. The knot then turned into a brilliant light in the middle of his palm, which was then transformed by the magical technique into a promissory note!

　　The female Demonic cultivator’s body trembled, and she felt as if something inside of her had been taken away without her volition. Shocked, she tried to retreat, but it took only the blink of an eye for Meng Hao to wave his hand, causing a wild wind to sweep over her. Her body was beyond her own control as she was grabbed by Meng Hao, sealed, and stuffed into his bag of holding.

　　“It worked!” he thought, falling back and taking a moment to examine the Demonic cultivator he had just captured. His eyes rapidly began to glow even brighter. “Demonic cultivators are great! I can sell them off as pets or even mounts. Anything people will buy!

　　“Their entire bodies are treasures; I could carve out random chunks if I wanted and refine them into qi and blood medicinal pills. That giant shell also has a Demon heart!!

　　“Excellent. Excellent. This is much better than all that seafood from the Milky Way Sea.” Meng Hao appeared to be delighted. As far as he was concerned, if the Demonic cultivators viewed him as an enemy, then he might as well treat them as seafood. All of a sudden, he felt intense regret.

　　“Dammit, I shouldn’t have killed that one earlier!” Even in his moment of pain, his body flickered to appear in front of one of the other Demonic cultivators. This time, it was a man whose back stuck out so far it almost looked like a camel. Actually, it was no hump, but a turtle shell. Shockingly, this Demonic cultivator had started practicing cultivation as a turtle!

　　“I hate damned turtles most of all!” Meng Hao murmured. The Demonic cultivator’s face fell, and Meng Hao extended his right hand. A Writ of Karma appeared again, along with intense rumbling sounds, as he forced ties of destiny. The Demonic cultivator trembled and tried to flee, but Meng Hao instantly caused a huge hand to appear and snatch toward him.

　　The Star Plucking Magic rotated as he grabbed the man, sealed him, and stashed him away.

　　He moved with incredible speed, following the same pattern. In a very short period of time, he had captured four Demonic cultivators!

　　This scene caused the surrounding disciples to stare with wide eyes.

　　“What is he doing?”

　　“Oh, I remember. This Meng Hao has a strange hobby of getting people to write promissory notes. He even created a divine ability that can… can force people to be tied to him via Karma!!”

　　“He just captured Junior Brother Jin and Junior Sister Shui!”

　　As for the Demonic cultivators, when they saw what was happening, they were enraged. Roars of fury could be heard as dozens of them charged toward Meng Hao.

　　Apparently, Meng Hao’s actions spurred all of the Demonic cultivators into a rage. After the first dozen charged him, they were followed by hundreds more, all of whom flew into the air straight toward him.

　　Elder Hai Shen’s eyes were bright red, as if new hatreds were being piled onto old ones. Gritting his teeth, he was just about to attack when, all of a sudden, he stopped in place and remained silent.

　　Even if he didn’t attack, there were hundreds of Demonic cultivators attacking. Even though they were all false Immortals, there were hundreds of them attacking at the same time, an attack that even an Ancient Realm cultivator would be forced to avoid. Energy surged, shocking magical techniques were unleashed, and killing intent filled the area.

　　Meng Hao might be powerful, but the sight of it caused even his scalp to tingle. He grabbed a fifth Demonic cultivator, and then began to back up. The man struggled and howled, but Meng Hao quickly sealed him and continued to retreat.

　　BOOM!

　　The place he had just been standing in shattered. Ripples spread out, and hundreds of Demonic cultivators continued chasing Meng Hao with frenzied attacks.

　　“Damn those old farts from the Nine Seas God World!” Meng Hao thought. “Why haven’t they shown up yet!?” He backed up under the onslaught of hundreds of maddened Demonic cultivators, sure that the old bastards were currently watching the spectacle from the sidelines.

　　“I killed someone before, and they still didn’t make an appearance….” he thought as he backed up. Finally, he snorted coldly.

　　“Well, I was in the right. If something really bad happens, the old fogies will have to take responsibility. In that case… I’m going to force them to show their faces!” Eyes flickering, he raised his right hand, within which appeared the Lightning Cauldron.

　　He might fear the combined attacks of all of the Demonic cultivators, but in truth, Meng Hao wasn’t the least bit frightened of fighting outnumbered. In fact, as long as he was careful, such large-scale fighting was the best type of battlefield for him.

　　Electricity danced, and a rumbling sound could be heard as he vanished. When he reappeared, he was right in the middle of all the Demonic cultivators, having switched places with one of their number. In the moment that he fully appeared, and before anyone could react, he reached his hand out and shoved out forcefully. A Demonic cultivator whose body was half covered with scales had its Karma tied up, and was captured.

　　Next, the flash of lightning could once again be seen, and Meng Hao disappeared. He showed up in another location, causing the Demonic cultivators to roar in frustration. Meng Hao was like a loach, virtually impossible to pin down. No matter how much force the Demonic cultivators used in their attacks, they were never able to keep Meng Hao in one place.

　　Of course, in all the chaos, Meng Hao received some injuries. Blood oozed out of his mouth, and yet, his eyes shone as brightly as ever. Often, it would only take one flash of light before he had captured yet another Demonic cultivator.

　　10. 15. 20….

　　Not much time passed before Meng Hao had captured over 30 Demonic cultivators. Finally, there was someone who couldn’t endure the situation any longer. A cold snort echoed out from the very depths of the Nine Seas God World.

　　It was accompanied by Heaven-shaking, Earth-rocking pressure, a pressure which changed natural law and caused the entire Ninth Sea to seethe and roar.

　　When that sound echoed out, Meng Hao’s face fell. Shocking pressure rumbled down as a giant finger materialized in midair, which then pushed down toward Meng Hao.

　　Essence aura also roiled out.

　　“Dao Realm!” Meng Hao’s eyes went wide. He had absolutely no way to fight back against the terrifying might of the Dao Realm. However, almost as soon as the finger appeared, a dry cough echoed out.

　　At long last, the old-timers from the Nine Seas God World couldn’t sit still any longer. The dry cough echoed out to cover everything, transforming into a mighty pressure that prevented all of the Demonic cultivators from attacking.

　　An old man appeared out of thin air. A single step forward, and he was in front of the giant finger that was pushing down toward Meng Hao. He waved his hand out to touch the finger.

　　Rumbling echoed out in all directions as the hand and the finger made contact. The finger trembled and then faded away. As for the old man, he staggered backward a few paces, his face a mass of white and red lines, as if his qi and blood were in chaos.

　　“Elder Brother Wu, there’s no reason to act thus,” said the old man. Meng Hao immediately recognized him! It was none other than Ling Yunzi! He wasn’t the only one to appear. He was followed by seven or eight disciples of the Nine Seas God World, including Fan Dong’er.

　　She looked coldly at Meng Hao, inwardly rejoicing at his misfortune.

　　As soon as Ling Yunzi showed up, all of the disciples of the Nine Seas God World clasped hands and bowed. Even the black-robed Elder Hai Sheng bowed his head.

　　At this point, a cold and ancient voice echoed out in all directions, replying to Ling Yunzi: “He killed a member of my Demonic Cultivator Horde!”

　　“Meng Hao didn’t attack first,” answered Ling Yunzi slowly. “In fact, he evaded twice. Any member of the sect who attacks a conclave disciple has committed a grave offense that cannot be absolved even if they are killed in the counterattack. Even if he had not died, he would have been immediately expelled from the sect.”

　　“I didn’t see any of my Demonic cultivators attack of their own initiative,” replied the cold, ancient voice. “I just saw this kid killing my people. Furthermore, he captured 33 disciples of my Demonic Cultivator Horde. Shouldn’t he immediately set them free?!”

　　This time, Meng Hao didn’t wait for Ling Yunzi to respond. He wasn’t worried about causing a huge ruckus. After all, he was the Crown Prince of the Fang Clan, and was a disciple of all of the Three Great Daoist Societies. If the Nine Seas God World allowed anything unfortunate to happen, it would cause a massive conflict within the Ninth Mountain and Sea.

　　Therefore, full of confidence and courage, he flickered to appear next to Ling Yunzi, then cried, “Those 33 seafood dishes owed me money. HUGE amounts of spirit stones! They can’t pay me back, so they sold themselves to me to pay off the debt! I have PROOF!!” Even as he spoke, he lifted up his hand, within which were a stack of promissory note formed by A Writ of Karma. 1

　　—-

　　Note from Er Gen: Uh… I feel like eating seafood.

　　Note from Deathblade: I don’t particularly feel like eating seafood, although there’s a pretty high-end buffet near my house that has unlimited king crab legs. Okay I changed my mind, I feel like eating seafood!

　　1. The references to seafood in this and later chapters are pretty funny. The second character of the word seafood is a complete homophone for the word “Immortal.” Therefore, when spoken, the word would sound like “Sea Immortal.” However, it would equally sound like “seafood,” which is a really common word. I will go back and forth between “seafood” and “seafood dish” when translating this term, because “seafood” is an uncountable noun and “seafood dish” is a countable noun. Countable and uncountable nouns do not exist in Chinese, making it difficult to stick with one or the other in certain situations. By the way, the original Chinese characters are consistently 海鲜 (seafood) not 海仙 (sea immortal)