Chapter 882: 13th in the Echelon!

　　Sixth Demon Sealing Hex, Life-Death Hexing!!

　　The Sixth Generation Demon Sealer pointed out with his right index finger, and instantly two streams qi poured out, one black and one white. They swirled around each other to form a vortex.

　　That vortex… was gray!

　　The gray vortex expanded rapidly; in the blink of an eye it was over 3,000 meters wide, and exerted a gravitational force in all directions. The figures that surrounded the area began to let out miserable shrieks; they trembled as their bodies decomposed, and magical symbols appeared all over them.

　　Those magical symbols were also gray, and they glittered as the figures screamed, then looked blankly toward the Sixth Generation Demon Sealer, dropped to their knees and bowed in worship.

　　Even the powerful naga did so.

　　As Meng Hao watched all this, his scalp tingled, and he continued to back up rapidly. However, it was at this point that the Sixth Generation Demon Sealer slowly turned his head to look directly at Meng Hao.

　　In that instant, the man’s jaw dropped.

　　Meng Hao felt as if his blood were freezing. An intense sensation of deadly crisis appeared, and he suddenly stopped in place and stared back at the Sixth Generation Demon Sealer. He had the sudden feeling that if he continued to back up, the man would attack him.

　　Currently, the Sixth Generation Demon Sealer seemed to be hesitating, thinking.

　　Time seemed to slow down. More and more black snakes poured out of the man’s wound, and they swirled around him, seemingly on the verge of escaping. However, for some reason they also seemed to be locked in one area, unable to leave.

　　After a long moment, the Sixth Generation Demon Sealer began to speak.

　　“End the League of Demon Sealers in exchange for keeping the spirit of Pāramitā asleep,” he murmured, “or… allow fate to run its course, and give hope to the League.” He gazed deeply at Meng Hao for a long moment, and then looked down at the sword Meng Hao held.

　　“Take this chance to contemplate the matter thoroughly,” he said softly, his expression kindly. Then he turned, keeping his hand pressed down onto his wound, and began to walk off into the distance, surrounded by shrieking black blood snakes. The snakes apparently wished to flee from the area surrounding the Sixth Demon Sealer, but were incapable of doing so, and were dragged along with him as he walked off.

　　As for all of the other figures in the area who had been caught up in the Life-Death Hexing, they seemed to have lost all sense of themselves, and slowly began to follow the Sixth Generation Demon Sealer.

　　“Senior!” Meng Hao suddenly cried out. “What happened to you? Where are you going!?!?”

　　“I was defeated in the third Mountain and Sea Tribulation….” The Sixth Generation Demon Sealer’s voice was archaic and ancient. “I am going to search for my final resting place…. As for you… in the future, you will also face the Mountain and Sea Tribulation. If you are defeated, then we will be waiting for you on the road to that final resting place.

　　“Demon Sealers. The League. We are the most powerful in the Nine Mountains and Seas. We are also the ones… who bear the most grief.

　　“It is a rough and bumpy road, so take care of yourself….”

　　Meng Hao looked at the Sixth Generation Demon Sealer’s back as he floated off into the distance.

　　“Defeated?” he said, staring in shock. Then he suddenly thought back to the words uttered by the Eighth Generation Demon Sealer, which were recorded in the jade slip. He had also spoken of transcending the Mountain and Sea Tribulation!

　　“What is the Mountain and Sea Tribulation!?” Meng Hao asked urgently. As he looked at the Sixth Generation Demon Sealer, Meng Hao suddenly had an intense premonition that one day… he could end up just like this.

　　“Ancient Dao; Tenacious Desire to Seal the Heavens, Benefaction for All in the Mountains; Inevitable Dao Tribulation of the Nine Mountains and Seas; Perennial Will!

　　“Ancient Dao; Study Demons of Myriad Variations; Tread not the Path of Immortals; Face the Tribulation of the Nine Mountains and Seas; My Dao is Eternal; the Masses Have Erred, but My Dao Is True; Perennial Will!”

　　Those same two verses!

　　Meng Hao’s mind trembled. They were the same words that had been uttered by the Eighth Generation Demon Sealer.

　　“What happens in the case of success!?” Meng Hao asked. The Sixth Generation Demon Sealer was already far off in the distance, but after a long moment, his ancient voice echoed weakly into Meng Hao’s ears.

　　“With a thought, the Nine Mountains came into existence. With a thought, the Nine Seas appeared. The Nine Mountains and Seas, return to the Essence.”

　　Meng Hao’s face was pale. Everything he had seen since leaving the arena was like a dream. It turned out that the half-headed man was actually… the Sixth Generation Demon Sealer.

　　“If all that happened was that he failed to transcend some tribulation… then what horrifying thing happened to his body? And what were those blood snakes?!

　　“With a thought, the Nine Mountains exist. With a thought, the Nine Seas appear. Nine Mountains and Seas, return to the Essence. Just what does that mean?

　　“Nine Mountains and Seas. The Essence…. The League of Demon Sealers….” Meng Hao was now panting.

　　“Also, how could the Sixth Generation Demon Sealer use the Eighth Hex?”

　　After a long moment, he grew silent and then looked around. Then, doing his best to remember the path the Sixth Generation Demon Sealer had taken to get to this place, he began carefully making his way back.

　　There were far too many dangers lurking in this place, many of which would be fatal to him. All he could do was remain as cautious as possible. The slightest misstep could lead to him perishing.

　　Time passed.

　　**

　　The arena matches were over. A pained expression could be seen on Ling Yunzi’s face. He really had attached a lot of importance to Meng Hao. He couldn’t forget the steadfast expression on his face when he’d retrieved the Feng Shui compass.

　　He left, along with the other two men from the other Great Daoist Societies. They took the cultivators away from the arenas, the Dao Tree, the God corpse, and the Ruins of Immortality. They returned to the starry sky.

　　Some people went home, others were taken in by the sects as disciples. The Three Great Daoist Societies’ trial by fire and accompanying arena matches were officially concluded.

　　Zhao Yifan was taken back to the Sublime Flow Sword Grotto. When he regained consciousness and heard about what had happened, he balled his hand into a fist and slammed it into the ground. Blood spattered out of his fist, and intense regret could be seen in his eyes, along with determination.

　　In the end, Chen Fan was taken in as a disciple of the Sublime Flow Sword Grotto.

　　Fatty went to the Paleo-Immortal Mausoleum. When his master accompanied him back to Planet South Heaven and found out that he had over a hundred beloved concubines, he stared in shock, and was speechless for a very long moment.

　　Li Shiqi joined the Church of the Blood Orchid. Considering her experience fusing with the Blood Orchid, she was immediately put into the running to become Holy Daughter.

　　Wang Youcai’s unsurpassed brutal experience, a madness in which he had destroyed his own eyes, leaving him in a world of darkness, was actually in perfect concordance with the Dao of the Moonset Lake.

　　After moonset, there is no light whatsoever in Heaven and Earth. Before light arrives, when there is no moon, everything is covered by…darkness.

　　In addition to these four, there were quite a few others from Planet South Heaven who participated in the trial by fire and were accepted as disciples into other minor sects. Others returned home in disappointment.

　　Time passed, an entire month. During that month, the name Fang Mu became well-known throughout the Ninth Mountain and Sea. Even cultivators who hadn’t been watching the vortex screens heard of the stories.

　　He was not Immortal, and yet was as powerful as a stage four Immortal!

　　He took first place in the trial by fire and first place in the arena matches. Because of everything that had happened, Fang Mu became a legend. That was especially true when it all ended with him disappearing into the Ruins of Immortality. Because of that, the legend spread even more widely.

　　Meanwhile, Meng Hao plodded along through the Ruins of Immortality, his face pale. He sent his divine sense out, but didn’t dare to send it too far. During the past month, he had already faced several dangerous situations. On three of those occasions, he had almost ended up dead.

　　On more than one occasion, he saw a group of huge floating heads. Each of the heads seemed to be as big as a planet, causing Meng Hao to pant, and his mind to spin.

　　He saw an ancient battlefield, filled with countless corpses. Roving amongst the corpses were people who… feasted on the rotting flesh around them. He had no idea when the battle had actually taken place, but the corpses still had flesh on them, as if they would never rot away.

　　He saw a huge medicinal plant garden, choked with weeds. However, within the weeds, Meng Hao caught sight of some legendary medicinal plants, the sight of which left him panting.

　　They were plants that Pill Demon had spoken of back when he cultivated the Dao of alchemy in the Violet Fate Sect, plants that were supposed to be extinct. However, within that medicinal plant garden, he saw at least a hundred different varieties of such legendary plants.

　　There was something else he saw there that was especially noteworthy… an Immortality Illumination Vine!!

　　The only problem was that there were innumerable black beetles in the area, seemingly without end. If he got too close, they would fly up in great clouds, forcing him to flee off into the distance. If he had been even the slightest bit slower, it would surely lead to his death.

　　He saw something the size of a planet, but covered with tentacles. Even the mere sight of it in the distance caused Meng Hao’s scalp to grow numb, and he immediately fled.

　　At one point, he saw a right hand that was so huge it looked as big as a galaxy….

　　In addition to these things, he saw innumerable corpses floating about in the Ruins of Immortality. There were shattered remnants of buildings, vast stretches of land, and even wild beasts whistling through the air.

　　Compared to these vast and mysterious Ruins of Immortality, Meng Hao himself was tiny and weak. Compared to all of the amazing things he saw, he was nothing.

　　During the month, some of his life force actually vanished. However, his cultivation base was slowly recovering, which gave him some more confidence. Most importantly, the Sixth Generation Demon Sealer’s sword contained some strange power. Any time he faced some danger, the sword would emanate a bright light, which was one of the main reasons Meng Hao was still alive.

　　When he touched the surface of the sword, he was able to feel the Sixth Demon Sealing Hex. However, this hex was a difficult one, and during the month, Meng Hao was unable to gain enlightenment.

　　After walking around for a month, he was unable to find the corpse of the Pāramitā God. Nor did he ever see the Dao Tree. The only way for him to find his path back home was if he found that corpse and that tree.

　　One day, he saw an Immortal’s cave, floating there in the air. It appeared to be in the midst of a phasing teleportation cycle, occasionally there, occasionally not there.

　　It was covered with cracks, as if countless battles had been fought outside of it. When Meng Hao looked at the cracks, his mind spun, as if there were shocking divine abilities and magical techniques inside of them.

　　In the instant that he caught sight of the Immortal’s cave, its door opened soundlessly, and a white-robed woman could be seen sitting there. In that moment, it seemed as if everything else disappeared except for the woman, sitting there all alone.

　　Her gaze was tranquil as she looked off into the distance, and also seemed to be filled with an unending loneliness….

　　She seemed to be the type of person who could elicit the worship of all living things, who could cause the Ruins of Immortality to tremble. She seemed to have lost something that she could never get back, something that only the sad song that had echoed out by the Dao Tree could possibly clearly explain.

　　She slowly looked up, and her gaze fell onto Meng Hao.

　　Meng Hao trembled as he realized that this woman… was none other than the one who had appeared by the ancient Dao Tree, the one who had caused all the other figures to bow in worship.

　　“Henceforth you are 13th in the Echelon,” she said slowly. Her echoing voice sounded as if it was resonating out from ancient times.