Chapter 768: Hellwither Nineruins

　　Boom!

　　The old man’s punch gave rise to an enormous vortex, the center of which was black, like a black hole. A terrifying gravitational force exploded out, distorting the air as it shot toward Patriarch Golden Frost.

　　Patriarch Golden Frost’s expression was blank, but he had a peak Dao Seeking cultivation base. He waved his hand, causing mist to billow out, which then formed together into a mist sword that shot toward the vortex.

　　The 3rd Li Clan Patriarch glided through the air, the glow of spell formations swirling beneath his feet. As he shot through the air, he left behind sealing marks that emanated powerful ripples. In the blink of an eye, he had circled completely around the old man and the crocodile, surrounding them with sealing spells.

　　Meng Hao’s second true self waved his right arm. His eyes glittered as the Wooden Time Sword circled around him, and a river of Time power swept out. He advanced, stepping through the air to appear right next to the crocodile, whereupon he reached his hand out toward the stone cauldron.

　　As for Meng Hao, he slapped his bag of holding to produce the lightning cauldron, then cast a cold glance toward the old man in the animal skin garments, and waited for the right opportunity.

　　The old man’s face was vicious as he lifted his head up and roared. Again, he grew larger, and a mocking smile twisted the corners of his mouth. It was at this point that he actually… self-detonated!!

　　This sudden and unexpected self-detonation of a peak Dao Seeking cultivator was something that nobody in the area could have predicted and prepared for. Such a gambit was something that was fundamentally inconceivable.

　　And yet… it happened!

　　As his fleshly body exploded, roaring filled the air, and shocking ripples surged out in all directions. All the natural law in the area was disturbed, and everything was locked down, making teleportation impossible.

　　Patriarch Golden Frost and the 3rd Li Clan Patriarch quickly fell back and used their full power to fight back against the power of the self-detonation. Meng Hao’s second true self had no choice but to do the same and evade.

　　As for the crocodile, it transformed into a black lightning bolt that shot forward at incredible speed toward the Southern Domain. In the blink of an eye, it was in midair, just about to slam into the ground.

　　The stone cauldron on its back began to emanate black light. The black soil inside the cauldron began to squirm and writhe, and the incense stick… began to spontaneously combust!

　　Smoke swirled up, and the faces of all the Southern Domain cultivators fell.

　　Pill Demon, Patriarch Song and Sun Tao of the Violet Fate Sect all shot back toward it at high speed in an attempt to block it. The old men dressed in black and white laughed and flew forward in pursuit.

　　As for the young boy who continuously stroked the Cinnabar Fruit, he also followed. In the blink of an eye, the entire group was above the Southern Domain, getting ready to attack.

　　When Meng Hao saw the crocodile descending toward the ground, his hand shot up and he pointed forward.

　　Eighth Demon Sealing Hex!

　　Immediately, invisible Demonic qi formed together. It wrapped around the crocodile, which suddenly stopped in place. It struggled to free itself, but before it could, a golden vortex appeared around it.

　　Blood Demon Grand Magic!

　　The golden vortex spun round and round, causing qi and blood, as well as cultivation base, to be sucked out of the crocodile. At the same time, Meng Hao shot forward at top speed. It only took a moment for him to close in on the stone cauldron, and then reach his hand out in preparation to grab it.

　　“Looking to die?!” said the two old men in black and white. With cold snorts, they descended upon Meng Hao, although Patriarch Song and Sun Tao immediately moved to intervene.

　　The boy who stood on the giant’s shoulder laughed coldly, tossed the remaining half of the Cinnabar Fruit off to the side, then flew into the air to charge toward Meng Hao.

　　At this point, the left and right Dharma Protectors immediately approached with all the speed they could manage.

　　A truly chaotic battle was unfolding!

　　Meng Hao was almost on top of the crocodile, and was just about to make contact with the cauldron when suddenly, his eyes widened. A strange feeling arose within him, something he could sense only because of his status as a Demon Sealer; it felt as if some terrifying crises were just at hand.

　　It wasn’t just him who felt it; his second true self also had a similar feeling, which Meng Hao could sense through their connection.

　　It was at this point that a withered hand suddenly burst out from the soil inside the stone cauldron. The hand was clenched into a fist which punched out toward Meng Hao’s grasping hand.

　　An ancient voice echoed out from within the stone cauldron: “Measly Spirit Severing cultivator! Screw off!!”

　　A huge boom exploded out!

　　Meng Hao could sense an incredible power rushing toward him like floodwaters. Cracking sounds immediately sounded out from his body. If he didn’t have a Dao Seeking fleshly body, this punch would have severely injured him.

　　However, his Eternal stratum immediately went to work healing him. Not only did he not fall back, his eyes began to radiate a murderous air. His right hand reached out and grabbed the withered fist, then wrenched at it violently.

　　BOOM!

　　The soil in the stone cauldron exploded out as an old man wearing animal hide garments was jerked out by Meng Hao. When he appeared, the crocodile’s body began to wither even faster. Part of its life force and cultivation base was being absorbed by Meng Hao, but the majority was being sucked up by the old man. As he absorbed the power, he rapidly returned to his previous several-meter-tall appearance.

　　He… wasn’t dead after all!

　　What had self-detonated was not his true self, but a clone!

　　“Dao Spirit Pill!!” exclaimed Pill Demon, his eyes widening.

　　Dao Spirit Pills were rare in the lands of South Heaven. It was a type of ancient medicinal pill, few of which existed. When a Dao Spirit Pill fused into a cultivator’s aura, it produced an incarnation which could not exist for a very long time, perhaps enough time for an incense stick to burn.

　　The self-detonation had been caused by none other than the Dao Spirit Pill incarnation!

　　As soon as the old man in animal skin clothing was wrenched out of the soil by Meng Hao, a look of shocked surprise could be seen in his eyes. However, the expression quickly turned into one of ferocity as he punched out with his left hand.

　　Meng Hao’s eyes glittered with coldness as he also punched out!

　　A huge boom could be heard, and blood oozed out of the corners of Meng Hao’s mouth. He shot backward through midair and then exploded. However, even as the blood and gore began to shoot out, they pulled back together to reform his body.

　　The old man in animal skin clothing laughed loudly and said, “I am the High Priest of the Imperial Bloodline Clan of the Northern Reaches! Fellow Daoists from the Southern Domain, you might be fast, but are you fast enough to stop THIS?!”

　　He reached out and grabbed the stone cauldron, hauled it up into the air, and then threw it toward the ground.

　　The stone cauldron moved with incredible speed. In only a moment, it was less than a thousand meters from the ground.

　　Patriarch Song, Sun Tao and the left and right Dharma Protectors pursued as fast as they could. They wanted to teleport, but the self-detonation of the old man’s clone had sent the area into chaos, making teleportation impossible.

　　That was his plan all along, and it was working perfectly!

　　The two men wearing black and white, as well as the young boy, did everything in their power to prevent the stone cauldron from being blocked. All they needed to do was delay for a few moments. Considering their opponents were of the same stage as them, that was no difficult task!

　　When Meng Hao’s body finished forming back together, his were eyes calm. His second true self neared, and they both flew out together. As the second true self unleashed a river of Time power, Meng Hao produced the lightning cauldron and then pushed down on it, simultaneously looking at a boulder down on the ground.

　　A boom rattled out from the lightning cauldron, and lightning crackled, causing everyone to look over.

　　However, the instant in which they caught sight of Meng Hao… he vanished! In his place was an enormous boulder!

　　At the same time, Meng Hao appeared in the previous location of the boulder, down on the ground. He then shot up into the air and grabbed hold of the stone cauldron!

　　“Impossible!!” The old man in animal skin clothing stared in disbelief. It wasn’t just him, the old men in black and white clothing, as well as the young boy, all stared with wide eyes. They almost couldn’t believe that a Spirit Severing cultivator would be able to do something like this.

　　Furthermore, the smoke from the incense stick swirled out and entered into Meng Hao’s body to wither it. However, his Eternal stratum completely suppressed that power.

　　Meng Hao’s eyes flickered with determination. He could not allow the thing to continue to burn, so he reached out with his right hand to extinguish it. However, even as he grabbed the burning head of the stick between his fingers and squeezed, an incredible power radiated out. Once the incense stick was ignited… it could not be put out!

　　“Fine, I don’t need to put it out….” thought Meng Hao, his eyes radiating coldness. With that, he produced the lightning cauldron, and then looked around. A moment later, his eyes came to rest on the crowds of Northern Reaches cultivators still above the Milky Way Sea.

　　“NOOOO!!” howled the Northern Reaches experts, turning to shoot toward Meng Hao.

　　They were a bit too slow. The lightning cauldron rumbled, and lightning flashed. Meng Hao’s body vanished, to be replaced by a confused looking Northern Reaches cultivator.

　　As for Meng Hao, he was now above the Milky Way Sea, in the middle of the crowds of Northern Reaches cultivators. He immediately tossed the stone cauldron down toward the cultivators on the bridge.

　　His incredible speed made it impossible to obstruct his way. Rumbling sounded out as the cauldron descended and then exploded. Utilizing the force of the detonation, the incense stick burned all the way to the end, releasing boundless strands of gray smoke. The smoke seemed to be sentient, and hungry for flesh and blood. It immediately began to search for nearby bodies, then started boring into the hundreds of thousands of Northern Reaches cultivators. Some of them even bored into the Resurrection Lily, causing some sections of the bridge to turn gray.

　　Miserable shrieks could be heard as the horrified Northern Desert cultivators found smoke burrowing into them and withering their bodies before they could even step foot into the Southern Domain.

　　Meng Hao heaved a sigh of relief, but the sense of danger he felt did not dissipate. Instead… it grew stronger to the point where his scalp was numb!

　　“What’s going on?!” he thought, shooting up into the air as gray smoke swirled toward him. Suddenly, Meng Hao caught sight of something far off in the distance. It was a half-eaten Cinnabar Fruit, falling towards the ground. When he saw it, his eyes went wide.

　　It was almost impossible to tell, but the Cinnabar Fruit… was burning!!

　　If you looked closely, you could tell that hidden almost undetectably inside of the Cinnabar Fruit was an incense stick!

　　Pill Demon also could sense that something wasn’t quite right. The incense smoke that he saw was just like the Hellwither Nineruins Incense that he remembered, but he still had the feeling that they had overlooked something.

　　His face flickered as he looked around and then suddenly saw… the Cinnabar Fruit that the Northern Reaches boy had casually tossed away!

　　“NOT GOOD!”

　　The Cinnabar Fruit itself didn’t seem to be anything extraordinary; the only noteworthy thing about it was that it had been bitten in half. It hadn’t fallen at a high speed, and because of that it had been difficult to detect. By the time it was discovered, it had already landed on the ground.

　　A rumbling sound could be heard as the Cinnabar Fruit shattered into pieces. Hidden inside it was half of an incense stick, much smaller than the incense stick in the stone cauldron. However, it was burning, and as soon as it touched the ground… the ground turned gray. Then, the grayness spread out rapidly. There was no way to stop it.

　　Meng Hao’s face fell!

　　—–

　　This chapter was sponsored by Daniel Rodriguez, Count Grey, Shin, Philipp Schröder, Clement Moriceau, Nam Tran, A.Darkstar, and Jacques-Landry Kengne