Chapter 844: First Place in the First Stage!

　　He transformed into a wind. A whirlwind!

　　The intense whirlwind swept out in all directions through the void, filled with crackling lightning. It was like a windstorm that swept across everything as it shot toward the incoming eight cultivators.

　　When the windstorm hit them, their divine abilities were shaken, and their expressions became that of shock. Their hearts trembled with astonishment. All of these people had slaughtered their way out of their own respective zones among the platforms, and were essentially the strongest people from those areas. In the outside world, they could be completely domineering in all the Spirit Realm, to the point where it was even difficult for them to outdo each other.

　　No one had ever been able to stand up to them, or outdo them in terms of power. And yet, Meng Hao’s one punch left them feeling as if they had run into a windstorm.

　　This was a windstorm they couldn’t fight back against nor resist. This windstorm… contained the might of Heaven and Earth, limitless destructive power that could rip them to pieces as easily as dried up twigs!

　　This was… a completely and thoroughly crushing power!

　　Intense rumbling rose up, and the whirlwind screamed, filled with never-ending bolts of lightning as it hurtled at top speed toward the eight cultivators. The eight cultivators’ minds filled with roaring sounds, and intense light. The incredible scene instantly drew the attention of other people on the larger battlefield.

　　In that moment, everyone outside in the Ninth Mountain and Sea who was watching the trial by fire stared fixedly at the three vortex screens.

　　On the Ancient Road of the Nascent Soul, massive carnage was visible. The Ancient Road of Spirit Severing was similar. Fatty could be seen there, soaked in blood, roaring as he pounced forward to latch his teeth onto the neck of an enemy. His eyes were bloodshot, and his teeth glittered brightly. He howled as his opponent’s candle was extinguished.

　　Even Fatty didn’t realize how ferocious, and even savage, he appeared. He had already drawn the attention of quite a few sects.

　　Then there were Chen Fan, Wang Youcai, Li Shiqi, and others who Meng Hao knew from the lands of South Heaven. They were all on the Ancient Road of the Nascent Soul. Some died, some were disqualified, others… fought until the very end!

　　Chen Fen held a sword in his hand. His expression was gloomy, seemingly without the slightest bit of life in it whatsoever. He seemed empty and dark, which affected his attacks, causing them to be filled with a similar gloominess. However, a black aura swirled around his sword, and anyone who encountered it would feel their emotions suddenly being affected. Therefore, Chen Fan was also distinguishing himself on the Ancient Road of the Nascent Soul, and drawing quite a bit of attention.

　　Fatty and Chen Fan had both been noticed, as had many others. This was merely the beginning of the event, and if they could continue to perform so stunningly, or even take first place on the Ancient Road of the Nascent Soul, then they would definitely have a chance at good fortune.

　　Of course, what drew the most attention was the Ancient Road of Dao Seeking. The fighting there had given rise to a foul wind and a bloody rain and, having come to its most critical juncture, was definitely the focal point for most of the audience.

　　It was easy to see the contrast with the chaos of the Ancient Roads of the Nascent Soul and Spirit Severing. The Ancient Road of Dao Seeking was filled with a shocking murderous aura. Of the previous ten thousand or more areas, each one was now controlled by a single powerful expert, all of whom were now fighting each other viciously as they attempted to extinguish each others’ candles.

　　Victory or defeat was determined within the space of a few breaths in battles like that, and soon, massive changes to the situation on the battlefield could be seen.

　　“93 candles extinguished! Who is that? I’ve never seen anything like it!!”

　　“Look at that guy in the mask! He’s put out more than almost anyone else. He’s the first to extinguish more than 100!”

　　“Look, the Chosen from the Li Clan has extinguished more than 100 too!”

　　Everyone was in an uproar, and was crying out loudly.

　　“200! The person in first place has put out 200 candles!!”

　　“Things are happening too fast! The suspense is killing me! The guy with the mask, he’s… he’s… he’s actually exceeded 300!!”

　　“He’s the only one who’s exceeded 300. The next four people behind him have around 200 or more. Those five are definitely the most powerful people in this stage!”

　　“Time’s almost up!”

　　The sound of the uproar filled the air.

　　Back on the Ancient Road of Dao Seeking, there were five people who had attracted the most attention from the other cultivators. The cultivators from the Three Sects and Six Churches, the Five Great Holy Lands, and the Three Great Daoist Societies watched the vortex screens, eyes filled with strange gleams. All five of those people shared something in common….

　　They stood completely alone in their respective areas, surrounded by emptiness!

　　Of those five people, the most prominent was the young man wearing the pitch-black mask. His black hair floated around him, and he wore a black robe. He looked almost like a shadow, and he exuded a cold, desolate and deadly aura.

　　His attacks were incisive, and he didn’t even seem to use any divine abilities. The simple wave of a finger would cause the divine will of other peak Dao Seeking cultivators to be destroyed, and their Nascent Divinities would be shattered and perish.

　　There was another person among the five, a young woman. She wore a gauzy violet gown that made her look like the flower of the same name. Her face was obscured by some unknown technique, making it impossible to tell exactly what she looked like. She seemed charming and gentle, but attacked with complete ruthlessness. She was surrounded by countless violet flower petals, and upon each one could be seen a drop of blood. It was an astonishing sight.

　　The third among the group of five was a boy. He was skinny and virtually hairless, but possessed of remarkable speed. Furthermore, his body was covered with countless blue-colored decorative patterns that looked like sealing marks, which appeared to have formed naturally, as opposed to having been added later.

　　He exuded a wild and barbaric aura that he concealed as best he could; however as his blood flowed through his veins, the aura seeped out, and it made him seem like he wasn’t a cultivator, but rather some savage beast from the wilderness.

　　The fourth person was a middle-aged man. His expression was cold and haughty, and he wore a white robe. He was surrounded by a cloud of brown mosquitos, each one of them the size of a fist. Their mouthparts were long and pointed, and buzzing could be heard as they circled around him. The sight was enough to cause anyone’s scalp to go numb.

　　The mosquitos’ bright red eyes and savage bloodthirsty appearance left everyone trembling from fear.

　　The fifth person was extremely peculiar. Sometimes he looked old, sometimes he looked middle-aged, and sometimes he looked like a teenager. It was as if his age were in constant flux. Every time he changed, his battle prowess would surge; he clearly cultivated some strange and bizarre Daoist magic.

　　These five people were currently the focus of most of the attention on the Ancient Road of Dao Seeking. Each one of them had extinguished more than 200 candles, and the masked young man had put out more than 300.

　　Ranked behind them were many other Chosen who weren’t the focus of as much attention. However, this was only the first stage, so it was really impossible to say how things would turn out in the end.

　　“There are less than thirty breaths of time left!!”

　　“These people are the mightiest amongst the mighty! With only thirty breaths of time left, it would be hard to change the outcome. The first stage is essentially over! The results are set!” Most people were thinking this way. Even the cultivators from the major sects felt the same way.

　　It seemed like time was about to expire, but just at this moment the whirlwind created by Meng Hao’s fist swept over the eight people who were attacking him.

　　“Impossible!” cried the woman. Her eyes shone with disbelief, and she performed a double-handed incantation in an attempt to fight back. All of the power she could muster transformed into a mist that blocked the windstorm. However, the mist was instantly shattered, and the woman let out a bloodcurdling scream as she first began to vibrate and then was ripped to shreds by the windstorm, destroyed in spirit and body.

　　The windstorm spread out, accompanied by her shriek. Three more people went all out with their cultivation bases, and yet were incapable of standing up to the crushing power of the windstorm. Popping sounds rang out as they were exterminated.

　　The remaining four people were scared out of their minds, and wanted to flee, but couldn’t. The windstorm surrounded them, and the shadow of death loomed up. Their original intent was to slaughter Meng Hao, but his deadly counterattack left them trembling, minds filled with terror.

　　They were about to plead for mercy, but the windstorm overwhelmed them. Two of them had no time to even speak, and were shattered into fragments. Their candles winked out.

　　“I refuse to accept this!” roared the beast cultivator, the pangolin. His fleshly body was the most powerful among them, but even he could only hold out for a single extra breath of time before his scales were ripped off and his flesh shredded by the windstorm. In an instant, he was nothing more than a skeleton.

　　All eight cultivators were dead!

　　In that moment, Meng Hao’s count of extinguished candles broke past the 100 mark and began to climb toward 200!

　　The windstorm did not fade away. Meng Hao remained in the center position, his expression calm as he punched downward three more times. Then he took a deep breath and punched another three more times.

　　Rumbling filled the air as the windstorm experienced a threefold increase in size. Massive amounts of lightning crackled about, and the sound of thunder was deafening. The gigantic windstorm swept out in all directions, and reached a size of 3,000 meters in the following ten breaths of time.

　　By now, even the people on the outside world had noticed the enormous, lightning-filed windstorm on the vortex-screens.

　　“What’s that!?!?”

　　“I didn’t notice that before! Where did that huge windstorm come from?!”

　　“Heavens! That windstorm is still growing!!”

　　It wasn’t just the crowds who were now paying attention to the windstorm. Even Ling Yunzi from the Ninth Sea God World was eying it. By now, there were only three breaths of time left before the first stage ended!

　　Three. Two! One!!

　　Boom! BOOM!! BOOOMMMM!!

　　In the same instant in which the stage concluded, Meng Hao’s windstorm spread out to a size of 30,000 meters! Simultaneously, it exploded, accompanied by numerous miserable shrieks, cries of alarm, and roars of defiance.

　　Furthermore, the number of candles listed next to Meng Hao’s name rose rapidly!

　　200!

　　300!

　　400!

　　500!!

　　All of the cultivators caught up in the enormous 30,000-meter windstorm were completely wiped out. In the blink of an eye, the entire area of the windstorm was swept completely clean. The only person remaining… was Meng Hao. He stood in the middle of the windstorm, his hair whipping about, his expression calm. However, even the outside audience could sense that deep within the calmness was a vicious ruthlessness.

　　In that instant, the entire Ancient Road of Dao Seeking went completely quiet. The audience outside stared at the vortex screens, eyes wide with disbelief at the sight of Meng Hao standing there, surrounded by complete emptiness.

　　He had come up from behind at the last minute to clinch first place in the first stage!