Chapter 960: Whose Soul Lamp Is It!?

　　He panted, staring dead at the bronze lamp in Meng Hao’s hand. The lamp caused his scalp to grow numb, and terror washed through him as a shocking question filled his mind.

　　“That Soul Lamp… whose is it?!?!”

　　The mist in the Misty Heaven Vault seethed, spreading out to fill the entire ancestral land. The Ancient Burial Grounds, the Nine Nethermountains, the Quasi-Dao Patriarch Tombs, and even the Field of Magic Enlightenment were all submerged in endless mist.

　　The lands almost looked like they had become a sea of mist, concealing all, casting everything into shadow. The area around Meng Hao was the only area of light, which was illuminated by the glow of the Essence of Divine Flame.

　　Meng Hao was panting, and his heart pounded even more strongly than Fang Daohong and Fang Linhe, or the astonished Seventh Patriarch.

　　Taking out the bronze Soul Lamp had been a simple experiment, and in fact, even Meng Hao had assumed the idea to be laughable and virtually impossible.

　　He had always thought that it was nothing more than an ancient bronze lamp…. He had never, ever thought to compare it to the Soul Lamp of an Ancient Realm cultivator.

　　But now, as he looked around at the churning mists, at the path that had been ripped open in front of him, and the tunnel leading toward the pitch-black temple up ahead, his heart pounded with unprecedented intensity.

　　“This Soul Lamp… whose is it?!?!” That was the mind blowing question that rolled around in Meng Hao’s mind as he thought back to that year in the temple hall when he had acquired the bronze lamp.

　　How many years had it been there…?

　　He had kept the lamp alive with his own blood, and when it was extinguished, he had absorbed the black smoke that it emitted. That was what… had caused him to become different than everyone else, to have a true Immortal meridian inside of him.

　　“It’s actually a Soul Lamp. A mere lamp contains such shocking, domineering power that even this Fang Clan ancestral land has no choice but to submit to it!

　　“If this lamp is so powerful… then whatever almighty being created it must be unbelievably powerful!!” Meng Hao was panting at this unbelievable turn of events. It truly was a matter that couldn’t be pondered too deeply, for the more he thought about it, the more it astonished him.

　　“Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite Temple….” Meng Hao’s eyes glowed with intense light as a new sense of determination filled him and he made a firm resolution. “I definitely need to go to the Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite!” The only clues to the story behind this lamp, which he had found in the temple hall in the ruins of Planet South Heaven’s Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite, seemed to lay in the four words ‘Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite’.

　　From the way things looked, grabbing this bronze lamp that year had changed his entire fate in life!!

　　Nearby, Fang Daohong and Fang Linhe were looking on with numbed scalps, and minds that felt as if they were being struck by lightning. Their jaws hung open and their eyes were wide.

　　They simply couldn’t believe or even think of words to describe what they were seeing. It was as if they had been struck dumb. Then, they saw Meng Hao take a deep breath, tightly grasp the bronze lamp in his hands, and step toward the path. That image seemed to shake them to their senses.

　　“How could this be happening…?” thought Fang Daohong as he quietly watched Meng Hao walking toward the path in the mist. He felt like he was in an illusion, a dream or fantasy in his own mind.

　　Fang Linhe punched himself hard in the chest, and the resulting pain caused his eyes to widen with surprise. He felt like the world had been turned upside down. Up ahead was the necropolis of the first generation Patriarch, a place no one had ever entered, and yet Meng Hao… had casually pulled out a bronze lamp, and then… walked right into the mists.

　　Fang Linhe shuddered, and he was suddenly struck with a feeling of rejoicing, rejoicing at the fact that he had attacked someone as terrifyingly inhuman as this, and yet was still alive.

　　Up in midair, the Seventh Patriarch was also panting. In terms of both his inward disposition and his external expression, he was incapable of maintaining his calm. It didn’t matter that his cultivation base was at the peak of the Ancient Realm, he was still profoundly shaken by Meng Hao.

　　“Eldest Brother has a 1 Essence Dao Realm cultivation base and the status of Fang Clan’s Earth Patriarch, and yet he could only advance 39 steps into the mists. However, the lamp that kid is holding can actually scrape a path clean through the Misty Heaven Vault all the way to the necropolis!

　　“If you calculate that path based on the number of steps that can be taken, it must be at least 1,000!!

　　“It’s just a soul lamp, and yet it even exceeds the power of 1 Essence. What was the cultivation base of the person who formed that Soul Lamp? In terms of level, were they a 6 Essences Paragon? Or perhaps a 9 Essences Paragon?!

　　“Impossible, in all the Nine Mountains and Seas, there aren’t even any 9 Essences Paragons at all! The only people who ever entered the 9 Essences level of the Dao Realm were those three Paragons from the legendary age of the Immortal Ancient, during that Heaven-shaking, Earth-rocking war!

　　“I shouldn’t even be thinking about 9 Essences. Even 7 Essences Paragons don’t exist in the Nine Mountains and Seas. The highest cultivation base in this day and age is only 6 Essences!” The shock roiling in the Seventh Patriarch’s heart was impossible to describe. He looked at the scene of Meng Hao striding down the path in the mists with lamp in hand. Then, he took a deep breath, and his eyes began to shine with a strange light.

　　There was no greediness that arose within him. Since Meng Hao possessed the bronze lamp, he was qualified to enter the Misty Heaven Vault. To others, however, this would be the end of the line.

　　Although the Seventh Patriarch couldn’t help but look covetously at the bronze lamp, he did not attempt to snatch it away. He was an elder of the Clan, and furthermore, he was one of its guardian entities. Besides, he had his principles when it came to objects belonging to the members of the Junior generation.

　　Those were the clan rules!

　　They were rules that allowed the clan to multiply and grow, and to withstand the test of time!

　　Members of the same generation could fight and steal destiny from each other. Such things were permitted. But even if the Heavens did not care whether members of the Elder generation stole from the Juniors, it was something that was completely prohibited by the clan rules.

　　Although some people might brave the risks and do such things, the Seventh Patriarch was not that type of person.

　　“From the time the ancient first generation Patriarch passed away in meditation until now, this is… the first time his necropolis has become visible! Could it be that the One Thought Stellar Transformation will make a reappearance in the Ninth Mountain and Sea!?” The Seventh Patriarch looked at Meng Hao’s back as he walked off into the distance. He suddenly felt a premonition deep within him.

　　“His future prospects might not just be limited to the Ninth Mountain and Sea! Perhaps he can lead the Fang Clan to new heights of glory!”

　　Back on the path in the Misty Heaven Vault, Meng Hao’s heart was pounding. He held the bronze lamp in his hand as he slowly walked forward through the mists. Although it appeared as if there was an empty void beneath his feet, the ground was as solid as ever as he trod upon it.

　　The light of flame flickered out from the bronze lamp, and the mists on each side of him churned. Any obstructions ahead dissipated as Meng Hao continued onwards.

　　As he passed in further, the mists closed up behind him, blocking off the path. Any outsider, including Fang Daohong and Fang Linhe, and even the Seventh Patriarch, gradually lost sight of Meng Hao as he disappeared into the mists.

　　Fang Daohong and Fang Linhe exchanged a look, and could see the shock in each other’s eyes, as well as… the astonishment.

　　Their life or death was in Meng Hao’s hands, so to them, the more powerful Meng Hao got, the less chance they ever had to escape. However… as he increased in power, their future prospects… actually grew even more limitless.

　　“Perhaps Fang Xiushan has inadvertently given the two of us a chance to achieve a meteoric rise to success!!” Fang Daohong said hoarsely.

　　Fang Linhe took a deep breath and nodded. “If Fang Hao can get some good fortune in the necropolis, if he can become the only person in the clan who can cultivate the One Thought Stellar Transformation, then his future prospects are limitless!”

　　Their eyes shone with determination as they sat cross-legged outside of the Misty Heaven Vault, acting as Dharma Protectors as they waited for Meng Hao to emerge.

　　Back in the Misty Heaven Vault, the pitch-black temple at the end of the long path didn’t seem to be very far away. However, Meng Hao ended up walking for a long time.

　　One day. Two days. Three days.

　　On the third day, Meng Hao finally began to get close to the pitch-black temple. Although the temple was still about three thousand meters away, he knew.. that he was in the region of the necropolis!

　　Rising up above the pitch-black temple was an enormous statue of a middle-aged man. He wore a Daoist robe, and had an expression that was lofty and imposing, yet exposed no trace of anger, and even contained a hint of debonaire. He sat there cross-legged, eyes closed as if he were doing breathing exercises. It was merely a statue, but when you looked at it, it almost looked alive.

　　He looked somewhat similar to Meng Hao, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that all members of the Fang Clan had some features similar to this statue.

　　That was because he was none other than the first generation Patriarch.

　　He was the peerless, breathtaking man who had risen to become the first Patriarch of a clan!

　　Eighteen enormous coiling dragons could be seen on the steps leading up to the temple, each of which emanated an archaic feel. It almost looked like those eighteen dragons were actually supporting the entire necropolis with their bodies.

　　Simply put, it was a majestic sight!

　　Meng Hao’s heart trembled as he looked at the huge temple; he knew that this was the final resting place of the first generation Patriarch!

　　The first generation Patriarch was how the Fang Clan had come to be. It was because of him that the powerful Fang Clan currently existed in the Ninth Mountain and Sea, and there was no end to the legends and myths about him that circulated in the clan.

　　There was a legend that the first generation Patriarch acquired the bloodline power of the Fang Clan in the Ruins of Immortality, and had followed Lord Li in his campaign to subjugate the Ninth Mountain and Sea to quell the chaos and unify all!

　　There was another story that the first generation Patriarch didn’t actually die, that he had lived a fifth life, in which he disappeared to live a carefree existence.

　　There were various legends that spun in Meng Hao’s mind. He took a deep breath as he passed the 3,000-meter mark, approaching the necropolis itself. When he neared the steps, he looked up at the huge temple doors and bowed deeply.

　　“Junior generation Fang Clan member Fang Hao extends greetings, first generation Patriarch!”

　　As his words echoed, the temple began to tremble, and the ornately decorated temple doors began to slowly open!

　　It was in that exact moment that… outside of the ancestral land, outside of Planet East Victory, Fan Dong’er slammed into the Door of Immortality above the Ninth Sea, causing the door to slowly begin to open. Boundless Immortal light was set free, washing over Fan Dong’er, causing her to gradually become translucent. The holiness that she exuded grew even more intense.

　　She was already beautiful, but as of this moment, her beauty was beyond compare.

　　The cultivators of the Ninth Sea God World stared at her intently, for they knew… that the critical moment had arrived.

　　Now was the time to see exactly how many Immortal meridians Fan Dong’er would open!

　　It wasn’t just the Ninth Sea God World cultivators who were watching closely. All the other sects and clans were using various methods to observe exactly what happened with Fan Dong’er!

　　The old Dao Realm woman stood there quietly, looking up at Fan Dong’er with a slight smile, eyes gleaming with anticipation.