Chapter 657: Saint Sun Soul of the Three Sects

　　“I remember Master told me that Reverend Silverlamp came to him seven hundred years before, asking for help in solving the problem of the Resurrection Lily. Master was able to help a bit, but couldn’t truly solve the problem. Then, Reverend Silverlamp returned a few hundred years later, having dispelled the poison of the Resurrection Lily!

　　“Could it be… that these transformations in the Sea Demons in the Milky Way Sea have something to do with Reverend Silverlamp?”

　　Meng Hao’s mind trembled, and his eyes flickered. However, he knew that he could not let himself feel anxious, but rather, needed to allow time for the clues to appear. Right now, the constant slaying of Sea Demons, coupled with the level of his Cultivation base, had left him feeling quite exhausted. Considering how many Sea Demons there were in the area, even if he kept killing them for days, he still wouldn’t be able to kill them all.

　　Also, he knew that since the drastic changes in the sea would cause widespread repercussions, it wouldn’t be too long before outsiders came to investigate.

　　“Well, first I’ll just have to kill you!” he said, turning toward the enormous giant. If the giant hadn’t destroyed the island, then Meng Hao wouldn’t be in his current situation under the water.

　　He quickly exercised control of the magical symbols, sending them spreading out to clear a battlefield. The giant approached, roaring, surrounded by bubbles as it charged.

　　Meng Hao gave a cold snort and then clenched his right hand into a fist.

　　“First Heaven Destruction!” he said, his eyes glittering. An illusory image appeared on his hand; it almost looked as if two hands had appeared and merged together. This was a Daoist magic that Meng Hao had acquired in the Demon Immortal Pagoda, the Nine Heavens Destruction.

　　After leaving the Demon Immortal Sect, he had occasionally contemplated it inwardly. After that, when he met with Guyiding Tri-rain, he was enlightened regarding the matter of vibrations. That caused the seed to sprout in his mind, and he then thoroughly understood.

　　The Nine Heavens Destruction was vibration!

　　The fist descended and water exploded. The bubbles collapsed, and Meng Hao’s fist shot like lightning to slam directly into the giant.

　　Bam!

　　“Second Heaven!” Meng Hao punched again, and the water seethed, exploding out to create gigantic waves.

　　“Third Heaven!” Killing intent flickered in his eyes as the fist descended. The giant let out a bloodcurdling scream that echoed out despite its location on the seafloor. Meng Hao’s fist slammed into the giant’s chest, causing a huge hole to explode out.

　　Within the mangled flesh, a crystalline stone about the size of an infant’s hand could be seen. It almost looked like a heart. Meng Hao’s right hand stretched out to immediately grab the resplendent crystal, then wrench it away. The giant shook violently. At the same time, the illusory Resurrection Lily behind Meng Hao savagely enveloped the giant and then flickered as a ghost image appeared over the Whitebone Lily. It appeared as if some sort of invisible fight were taking place.

　　All of this happened in only the space of a few breaths. Meng Hao grabbed the Demon heart and then backed up. The Whitebone Lily trembled and then shattered into pieces, which the five-colored Resurrection Lily instantly consumed. The Resurrection Lily looked even more ferocious, as if it had been reborn; the five-colored petals all grew even more resplendent.

　　“Time to go!” Meng Hao growled. His voice instantly echoed out to the parrot, who had been silently going around collecting Demon hearts. It instantly flickered, returning to Meng Hao’s side. Meng Hao then transformed into a green smoke and a black moon, which shot up toward the surface of the water.

　　Hordes of Sea Demons tried to obstruct his path, and the jellyfish went into even more of a frenzy, shooting out countless lightning bolts. However, none of it was able to hinder Meng Hao even the slightest bit. He quickly performed an incantation, causing the more than 10,000 magical symbols to spin around him into a tempest that emanated black fog. Then, he directly shot out of the water.

　　In that instant, countless Sea Demons flew out as well. However, they were incapable of stopping him as he shot up into the air, transforming into a beam of light that shot off into the distance.

　　At the same time, he forcefully suppressed the aura of the Resurrection Lily. It didn’t matter whether the Resurrection Lily was willing or not, nor how much it struggled; it was completely pushed down by Meng Hao.

　　He moved with incredible speed until he was around 3,000 meters away. Finally, he was about to check how many Demon hearts he had acquired, when suddenly, his expression flickered as he noticed a red cloud speeding toward him from off in the distance.

　　Shockingly, within the red cloud could be seen a huge face. It rumbled as it shot toward Meng Hao, emanating an aura of Spirit Severing which seemed to cover everything.

　　Meng Hao’s eyes glittered and he raised his hand, causing the magical symbols to shoot up into the air in the form of a tempest, which then moved directly to intercept the red cloud face.

　　A huge boom rattled out. The cloud dispersed, and Meng Hao’s magical symbols collapsed. As they scattered about, Meng Hao shot backward, his face grim. He looked off into the distance to see a middle-aged man wearing a red robe, striding forward with an expressionless face.

　　He glanced coldly at Meng Hao, his gaze sharp. The Spirit Severing aura within Meng Hao could now be seen, his energy pulsing brightly.

　　The red-robed man’s eyes narrowed slightly. Then he saw all of the tempest magical symbols, and he immediately understood that the person in front of him was not weak.

　　However, ‘not weak’ meant little to him.

　　“Your first offense was to cause chaos in the Milky Way Sea!” he said coolly. “I don’t care where you got those symbol spirits, they belong to the three Sects. Outsiders are not permitted to possess them. That is your second offense.

　　“Two crimes. Allow me to explain your punishment….” The red-robed man waved his hand, employing some special technique that instantly caused all of the magical symbol spirits to tremble and then wrest themselves free from Meng Hao’s control and shoot to the side of the red-robed man.

　　“I am a Saint, and these objects belong to me. Thus, I will take them back. Now, produce all of the Demon hearts you acquired and then get the hell out of the Milky Way Sea!

　　“I’ll give you three days. If you’re still in the Milky Way Sea at that time… well, I happen to be lacking a puppet mount.” A cold gleam could be seen in the man’s eyes, as well as a look of superciliousness. His aura was one that invoked profound reverence, and made it seem that his words were like the will of Heaven when spoken out on the Milky Way Sea.

　　Meng Hao’s expression was the same as ever. He had never seen this red-robed Cultivator before, but with a single glance at his Cultivation base, he could tell that he was different from Patriarch Huyan. This man was apparently at the Second Severing level.

　　In that case, the man’s identity was obvious.

　　“Can’t we talk this over?” asked Meng Hao.

　　“No. No talking it over,” replied the red-robed man calmly.

　　“But, I don’t want to hand over the Demon hearts,” said Meng Hao coolly, “nor the symbol spirits.”

　　The red-robed man responded with a cold snort and a cool detachment. He waved his right sleeve, causing more than 100,000 symbol spirits to rush out from within. In the blink of an eye, they blotted out the sky and cast everything into shadow.

　　“Well, then you can just stay behind. Whatever Sect or Clan you belong to can come to me and pay a ransom price to get you back.” With that, the 100,000 symbol spirits spread out into the air and shot toward Meng Hao.

　　As they neared, Meng Hao slapped his bag of holding, causing an enormous bronze wheel to fly out. It was covered with magical symbols which instantly glowed with brilliant light as it began to rotate.

　　At the same time, a sense of the power of Time appeared. It spread out to fill the area, causing the magical symbol spirits to suddenly reveal ancientness. They began to move slower, allowing Meng Hao to casually move forward through their midst.

　　“A Time treasure!” thought the red-robed man.

　　At the same time, Meng Hao performed an incantation and then pointed forward. Instantly, the Time Sword Formation appeared. As it rotated, it transformed into the shape of a lotus, which caused the raging power of Time to sweep out in all directions. It seemed to be working in unison with the Wheel of Time as Meng Hao flicked his sleeve, causing it to fly toward the red-robed Cultivator.

　　“A Time treasure….” the red-robed man said coolly. “It seems I underestimated you.” He waved his right hand through the air, causing a tremor to run through the 100,000 magical symbols. Instantly, 10,000 of them exploded, causing an immaterial explosion to rip through the power of Time. The rest of the symbols continued to shoot toward Meng Hao.

　　“Mountain Consuming Incantation!” Meng Hao proceeded forward, extending his right hand and then pushing it down toward the sea. Instantly, the seawater roiled, and from its depths rose up a trembling mountain. The mountain shattered into countless fragments which then shot out in front of Meng Hao, reforming together into the shape of a small mountain.

　　After coming to the Third Ring, this was Meng Hao’s first time using a real mountain to fight an enemy with the Mountain Consuming Incantation.

　　As soon as the art appeared, the massive collection of 90,000 magical symbols fought back against the mountain. Booming sounds could be heard, but Meng Hao continued to proceed forward. He was now roughly three hundred meters away from the red-robed man.

　　The man frowned, then performed an incantation with his right hand. He pointed up to the sky, causing the bright gleam of swords to shoot up into the sky from nearby Seahold.

　　Three swords flew through the air, emitting a droning sound. Their incredible speed was such that they rapidly became invisible.

　　Many of the Cultivators in the Sea City saw what was happening, and were completely shocked. Their faces flickered as they came to the conclusion that the Saint had encountered a formidable foe!

　　Almost simultaneously, the three swords appeared in front of the red-robed man. They didn’t pause for even a moment, but rather, shot directly toward Meng Hao.

　　The red-robed man’s voice was cool as he said: “These three swords of mine were forged with a Sky-Sun Bone, something rarely seen in the Milky Way Sea, even in ten thousand years. It borrows the power of the stars and refines it into an undying strength that can overcome any obstacle.”

　　As the three swords neared, Meng Hao waved his right sleeve, causing the Time Sword tip to fly out. It moved with incredible speed, piercing through the air, sending out ripples of Time power as it headed toward the red-robed man.

　　Shockingly, a strand of silk was connected to the the sword tip, flashing coldly in the sunlight.

　　“This sword tip of mine comes from a 70,000 year old Spring and Autumn Tree,” said Meng Hao coolly. “The rest of the sword was destroyed by an Immortal, but the tip is eternal. Time did not harm the sword tip, and I refined it into a treasure. It can kill and exterminate countless forms of life, and nothing can stand up to it without withering away.

　　“The silk behind it is something rarely seen in Heaven and Earth. If the silk remains unbroken, I cannot be killed.”

　　When the sword tip appeared, the red-robed man’s three swords seemed to hold back.

　　The red-robed man’s pupils constricted as he stared at the sword tip. He could sense the incredible power of Time emanating off of it. He felt that if he got too near it, he would begin to wither, and his life force and longevity would be reduced.

　　“You’re a Time Cultivator,” said the man, looking at Meng Hao.

　　“You’re Saint Sun Soul of the three Sects!” replied Meng Hao.