Chapter 673: The Call of the Dawn Immortal

　　“Ten swords constitute a lotus,” thought Saint Sun Soul. “Ten lotuses constitute a formation!

　　“One hundred swords, and an enormous formation, all filled with the power of Time. When the power ripples out, nothing remains unwithered!

　　“Most intriguing of all is that every sword flower contains thousands of variations. When the ten lotuses turn into the massive formation, the variations increase exponentially. There must be tens of thousands of variations hidden within!

　　“Such a large formation requires a shocking level of Divine Sense to control. All of that, however… is merely secondary. Most importantly, the formation requires both a physical form and an internal spirit. His Lotus Sword Formation has both of those things!” Saint Sun Soul’s mind trembled. He already had a high opinion of Meng Hao, but now, he couldn’t stop his pupils from constricting as he realized that he actually had underestimated him.

　　“So, it turns out that he was actually only using a portion of his power in our initial fight. If he used this sword formation, then even I… would have a hard time extricating myself from it!

　　“Time Cultivators are inherently rare, but he is even more shocking than I expected. And then there’s that flagon of alcohol…. I think there’s an eighty percent likelihood it really is from his hometown. The only problem is that I don’t know where exactly that is!” Having personally witnessed the power of Meng Hao’s sword formation, Saint Sun Soul was inwardly shaken. Currently, hundreds of thousands of Sea Demons were now rushing toward them.

　　In the blink of an eye, the sea was completely thrown into chaos. Roaring sounds echoed out as Meng Hao’s sword formation rotated at an incredible speed.

　　Meng Hao was mentally calculating how many Demon hearts were building up with each Sea Demon he killed. Seeing Saint Sun Soul standing there in a daze, he couldn’t help but get annoyed. “Hey, swindler! If you don’t make a move soon then I won’t even give you a thirty percent discount!”

　　Saint Sun Soul gave a snort and then waved his right hand. Instantly, 100,000 magical symbols flew out from his sleeve, swirling around to form into ten magical symbol beasts. They roared as they charged into the surrounding Sea Demons and began to slaughter them.

　　Now that Meng Hao and Saint Sun Soul were working together, the speed of the massacre increased rapidly. Without the stimulus provided by the Resurrection Lily, it would be impossible to kill so many Sea Demons in the Third Ring. Right now, the Sea Demons seemed to have lost any ability to reason and were filled with madness.

　　Blood dyed the sea red as the slaughter continued for approximately an hour, when suddenly four earth-shattering roars echoed out from the surrounding area.

　　It was at that point when, shockingly, four enormous Sea Demons with Whitebone Lilies on them approached, one from each direction.

　　One of the four Sea Demons was a huge jellyfish. Of the other three, one was a gigantic violet sea turtle, and the other two were sea dragons that looked completely identical.

　　As they neared, huge waves rolled out across the sea as the aura of Spirit Severing rippled out.

　　“Two for each of us, huh?” Meng Hao said as quickly as he could. “You want to have a little competition to see who can kill them faster? If I win, the discount will be ten percent. If you win, I’d be willing to set it at forty percent. What do you say?”

　　Saint Sun Soul blinked. He had never met someone so shameless. After directly refusing Meng Hao’s offer, he waved his sleeve, causing two illusory, glowing swords to appear in front of him. They scraped against each other, causing ghost images to appear. Hundreds of swords turned into a sword rain that shot toward the two sea dragons.

　　Seeing that Saint Sun Soul couldn’t be easily fooled, Meng Hao said nothing more. He turned back around and then performed an incantation gesture with his right hand. Immediately, five Time Sword tips flew out, shooting with incredible speed toward the gigantic violet sea turtle. At the same time, the Time Sword Formation vanished and then reappeared, surrounding the jellyfish.

　　Meng Hao was located in the middle of the two formations, surrounded by a tempest of 10,000 magical symbols.

　　“Attack!” he growled. Instantly… the five Time Sword tips circulating around the gigantic sea turtle began to rotate and emit a shocking power of Time. The gigantic sea turtle howled, and the Whitebone Lily on its back began to sway. It was about to rush forward, but when the aura of Time power entered it, it shuddered, and then a look of astonishment appeared on its face. Without any hesitation, it retracted its head into its shell to defend itself.

　　Unfortunately, nothing can remain unwithered under the power of Time!

　　Five sword tips emanated a power of Time exceeding 100,000 years. As the power circulated out, the body of the giant sea turtle rapidly withered. A bloodcurdling shriek could be heard, then a boom. A giant sea turtle which possessed the power of Spirit Severing was instantly turned into nothing but ash and smoke….

　　The speed and savagery of the kill caused even Meng Hao to suddenly focus in concentration. His eyes gleamed with a brilliant light.

　　“My Spirit Stones were not spent in vain!” he thought.

　　At the same time, the jellyfish was trapped in the Lotus Sword Formation. It struggled, but its body was beginning to wither. After the space of about ten breaths, a bang could be heard as the sword formation transformed it into nothing more than ash drifting about in the seawater.

　　By this point, Saint Sun Soul had only managed to kill one of the sea dragons. He jerked his head to look over his shoulder and saw the impressive power of Meng Hao’s Time treasures. His pupils constricted, and suddenly he found Meng Hao to be even more profoundly enigmatic.

　　Time passed. Several hours later, they were still surrounded by densely packed groups of Sea Demons, who charged at them one after another. The seawater was stained red. Even Saint Sun Soul was shocked at the level of carnage.

　　However, as they continued to kill and kill, his excitement only grew greater. He even summoned the three swords of Seahold; wherever they passed, they left nothing but death in their wake.

　　In the end, Meng Hao actually didn’t need to do anything. He just stood there, maintaining the circulation of the sword formation and the magical symbols. Saint Sun Soul was in a frenzy as he slaughtered the Sea Demons. It was almost like he had turned into a different person, flying back and forth and crying out at the top of his lungs.

　　“DIIIIEEEE!!!!” he shouted, laughing the entire time. Despite being under the water, his Cultivation base caused his muffled laughter to fill the entire area.

　　Meng Hao looked at blood-soaked Saint Soul Sun and thought. “In the future, I definitely shouldn’t provoke this guy….” The man’s formerly somber face was twisted ferociously, and his previous taciturn personality was now deranged with madness as he continued rant and rave.

　　“He’s gone crazy….” thought Meng Hao, blinking. “Could it be that the little swindler has just repressed himself for too long?” The more he watched, the more he got the impression that Saint Sun Soul really was a bit crazy.

　　At some point the parrot appeared and perched on Meng Hao’s shoulder. Its eyes went wide when it saw the slaughter being carried out by Saint Sun Soul. “He really has gone crazy….” it said.

　　The meat jelly was off to the side, nodding vigorously. “Don’t offend that lunatic, Meng Hao. I’ve seen people like him before, and they’re all psychos!”

　　“Why aren’t you out there collecting the Demon hearts!?” snapped Meng Hao. The parrot and the meat jelly, eyes glittering, immediately flew out and began to make their way back and forth across the seafloor to pick up the Demon hearts.

　　Saint Sun Soul saw this, but didn’t pay any heed. At the moment, he was happy to be killing things.

　　More time passed. Saint Sun Soul was thoroughly engrossed in the slaughter. He even employed a multitude of magical items, causing the sounds of explosions to fill the air. As for Meng Hao, he was even more idle than before. He finally just sat down cross-legged inside the spell formation and closed his eyes to meditate, focusing on fusing the three portions of Cultivation base power within him.

　　Time passed by. The slaughtering continued for four more hours. Saint Sun Soul’s voice was getting hoarse, and yet his desire to kill had not lessened, but rather, had increased.

　　After a while, Meng Hao opened his eyes. The seawater that surrounded them was now thoroughly red. After glancing at Saint Sun Soul, he closed his eyes again.

　　After enough time passed for an incense stick to burn, a tremor ran through him. He suddenly stood up and turned his head to look at the seafloor off in the distance. A feeling of imminent disaster suddenly washed over him.

　　At the same time, the Resurrection Lily sprang into action, and a feeling of excitement radiated out from it, as if it desired to burst out from inside. Such an omen filled Meng Hao’s mind with a roaring sound. He suddenly strode forward toward Saint Sun Soul and then waved his hand, causing the war chariot to appear.

　　“This is fun!” laughed Saint Sun Soul, his eyes completely bloodshot.

　　“Fun my ass,” Meng Hao immediately growled in exasperation. “Let’s go!” With that, he reached out to grab Saint Sun Soul. Saint Sun Soul’s eyes went wide, but he did nothing to stop Meng Hao, allowing himself to be pulled onto the war chariot.

　　RUMBLE!

　　The war chariot shot out, smashing into countless Sea Demons. After it broke through them and charged towards the water’s surface, a sinister aura rose up from deep within the sea that caused Saint Sun Soul to feel incredibly cold.

　　A faint voice could suddenly be heard within the cold and sinister aura. “My son…. come back… come back….”

　　As the voice echoed out, a huge tentacle shot out from the depths of the sea, like an enormous black shadow. In the blink of an eye, it was upon them.

　　It moved with such incredible speed that it seemed to be on the verge of wrapping around Meng Hao’s war chariot. Meng Hao’s eyes instantly went bloodshot. As fast as possible, he circulated the little bit that remained of the Qi of Immortal Shows the Way.

　　The power of the Qi caused Saint Sun Soul’s eyes to go wide. Then he looked back at the enormous tentacle, and his scalp went numb. However, at the same time, an even stronger desire to go to battle welled up within him.

　　He waved his right hand, causing the three swords that circulated around him to shoot toward the tentacle.

　　Meng Hao looked up, and his eyes flickered with killing intent. He also waved his right hand, causing five Time Sword tips and the one hundred sword Lotus Sword Formation to appear and follow the three swords.

　　A huge boom could be heard. Blood sprayed from the mouths of both Saint Sun Soul and Meng Hao. However, the combined power of the two, and their shocking magical items, caused the tentacle to suddenly pause.

　　Even in the instant in which they called back their magical items, the war chariot started to move. It shot out of the ocean at incredible speed, and then vanished.

　　The Resurrection Lily branch exploded out from the red seawater, but then slowly descended back down. Red waves spread out for a while, but then the water grew calm again.

　　Far away, closer to Seahold, a swishing sound could be heard as the war chariot suddenly appeared. Meng Hao’s face was pale, as was Saint Sun Soul. The two of them exchanged a glance.

　　“Dammit, what the hell was that?!” said Saint Sun Soul through clenched teeth. “And how did you manage to attract its attention? You’re simply too adept at causing trouble. First there’s the 10th Wang Clan Patriarch, and now that damned thing!?”

　　Meng Hao didn’t hesitate at all in responding, “I seem to remember you saying something about you controlling everything in the Third Ring. If you don’t know what it is, then how do you expect me to know?!”

　　The two snorted and then stared at each other angrily. For a moment, neither spoke.

　　Finally, Saint Sun Soul said, “How many Demon hearts did we get?”

　　Meng Hao did some calculations, and then his eyes began to shine. “About twice as many as last time,” he said.

　　When Saint Sun Soul heard this, he instantly smiled. “Let’s go back to Seahold and rest for a few days, then we’ll do it again, alright?”

　　—–

　　This chapter was sponsored by Kevin Ram Mayo, Jules Wada, and XYY