Chapter 423: A Fortunate Chance

　　Meng Hao had practiced Cultivation for many years. From the day his journey began on Mount Daqing all the way until now, he had experienced many deadly situations. However, this particular crisis was the greatest he had ever experienced by far!

　　The consequences of killing one of the sons of Ji had been enormous. Recently, he had sensed signs that the Mastiff might be beginning to awaken, which gave him a bit of confidence. Except now….

　　Having seen the old earthworm man’s death, Meng Hao knew that there was absolutely no way for him to fight back against this unheard of Karmic Severing!

　　His face was pale as he realized that everything around him was once again completely still. The members of the five great Tribes, the neo-demons, even the clouds in the sky were completely motionless. Only the fishing line and Meng Hao could move.

　　He shot as quickly as possible through the golden light, passing through the massive doors with all the speed he could muster. He exploded with the power of the great circle of the Gold Core, vanishing inside.

　　However, even as Meng Hao entered the doors, the fishing line came in after him. The speed with which it moved was incredible as it followed him.

　　This door was no teleportation device, but rather a passageway. When Meng Hao emerged from the other side, he saw that he was surrounded by mountains.

　　These mountains were a murky golden color, and a faintly discernible pressure could be felt from them. In the distance in front of him were a collection of mountains that had no peaks, but rather, gaping holes at the top. What appeared to be scorching heat billowed out from the holes; these were volcanoes!

　　In total, there were seven of them, all linked together. This place… was the Crow Divinity Tribes’ Holy Land, and also the domain of the Golden Crow.

　　After entering, Meng Hao didn’t pause for even a moment. However, even as he shot forward, the air around him started to fill with what looked like cracks.

　　The cracks emanated a fearsome Qi. Meng Hao got the feeling that if he ran into one of them, his body would most likely be torn into pieces.

　　Meng Hao could actually sense a strange Qi filling this entire volcanic realm. It was strange and multifarious, as if countless neo-demons were present.

　　As Meng Hao flew forward, he suddenly caught sight of a black wind off in the distance. It seemed as if it sensed his encroachment into this area, and was flying to intercept him. This black wind was actually composed of countless black crows. There were more than a thousand of them, blotting out the sky as they flew. Their speed was incredible, and as they neared, Meng Hao could see that their eyes were bright red and filled with frenzy.

　　In fact, from the Cultivation base ripples emanating out from the more than one thousand crows, Meng Hao could tell that they were level 7, comparable to the early Core Formation stage. There were even ten of them who were level 9!

　　Meng Hao’s face flickered. However, it was at this point that the silver fishing line shot out into the Crow Divinity Holy Land. It emanated an intense rumbling that spread out with the power of stillness. Soon, everything within the Crow Divinity Holy Land… began to grow quiet and still.

　　The grass stopped swaying, and the cracks appearing in the air suddenly seemed to have been slowed to a standstill. As for the approaching flock of black crows, it stopped moving completely. Even the waves of heat erupting from the volcanoes ceased moving.

　　However… up ahead, in the centermost of the seven volcanoes, was a location that seemed to be a point of freedom within all the stillness!

　　“There’s life force there!” thought Meng Hao, his eyes glittering. He immediately began to fly in that direction.

　　Behind him, the silver line pursued at incredible speed. At its end could just barely be seen the glint of what must be a hook!

　　This takes some time to describe, but happened extremely quickly. Meng Hao exploded forward with all the power of his Cultivation base. He used the Bloodburst Flash without hesitation, causing him to flicker in and out of the air as he moved. He moved in jumps of hundreds of meters, not holding anything back in this moment of grave crisis.

　　In the blink of an eye, he was directly next to the flock of motionless black crows. He was just about to continue on his way, when suddenly he felt a tremor in his heart.

　　“Because of the presence of the fishing line, everything has stopped moving, even these neo-demons. You could say that this is the kind of opportunity that comes around only once in a thousand years. In the entire time that the Crow Divinity Holy Land has existed, something like this has most likely never occurred…. It would really be far too much of a shame to let this opportunity slip by. It’s a risk… that I’m willing to take!”

　　His eyes shone with a bright light that transformed into determination. Immediately, he waved his right hand toward the motionless crows. They had absolutely no control of themselves as they turned into beams of blackness that shot into his bag of the Cosmos.

　　That having been accomplished, he once again proceeded forward.

　　Behind him, the fishing line neared!

　　Panting, Meng Hao bit the tip of his tongue and then sprayed some blood out of his mouth. His body flickered as the Bloodburst Flash activated, propelling him off into the distance. His face was pale, but he didn’t hesitate at all. In an instant, he had reached an area that grew thick with grass. There, he could see a group of seven or eight poisonous wasps hovering motionless in mid-air. Behind them was a gigantic wasp nest which was surrounded by dozens more wasps.

　　Seeing them, Meng Hao gritted his teeth, then waved his right hand. Immediately, the wasps and the wasp nest were gathered up. Then, he Bloodburst Flashed again.

　　“This is an extremely rare opportunity, I have to take advantage of it!!” Meng Hao was shouting inwardly, but at the same time, somewhat conflicted. This was a moment of extreme, grave danger, perhaps the most critical he had experienced since he had begun practicing Cultivation. However… this moment of crisis had transformed this Crow Divinity Holy Land into an unprecedented bit of good fortune!

　　This good fortune had caused everything in the area to become motionless, allowing Meng Hao free access to a variety of neo-demons. Such an opportunity caused even Meng Hao’s heart to begin to pound.

　　That was especially true… when he happened to look into the mouth of one of the motionless volcanoes. There he could see an enormous lizard, half emerged from the volcano. It was dozens of meters long. Meng Hao was now even more conflicted.

　　“Put everything on the line!” he roared. His body flickered as he shot toward the lizard. With the wave of a right hand, he collected it into his bag of the Cosmos. Then, he spit some more blood out of his mouth to shoot away at incredible speed. At this moment, it was almost like Meng Hao had forgotten about the danger to his life. Whenever he saw a neo-demon he would shoot toward it and collect it up.

　　One neo-demon horde and super-powerful neo-demon after another, things which had existed for countless years within the Crow Divinity Holy Land, creatures which no one had ever been able to collect even throughout all the years in which the five Tribes had offered sacrifices to the Ancestor, dangerous beasts which normally could only be avoided with special techniques… were all completely motionless, making it extremely convenient for Meng Hao to seize them.

　　A group of more than one thousand green mosquitos were sitting stock still within the mouth of a volcano, apparently just on their way inside to fight a gigantic crocodile that was half submerged in the lava inside.

　　The mouthparts of the mosquitos emitted a mysterious glow, and their bodies were ferocious looking, covered with countless fur-like spikes. They were completely shocking in appearance.

　　As for the crocodile, it was bright red, with two pitch-black eyes. It lay half-submerged in the lava, emanating shocking ripples.

　　“How… how many neo-demon hordes are in this place?!?!” thought Meng Hao, his eyes widening. The twisted feeling inside of him could not be any more intense. Behind him, the silver line whistled toward him with increasing speed. It was no less than a hundred and fifty meters away.

　　“Dammit!” Meng Hao’s eyes were red as he once again utilized the Bloodburst Flash. He reappeared at the mouth of the volcano, where he waved his right hand. Immediately, the mosquitos and the shocking red crocodile were sucked into his bag of the Cosmos.

　　His body flickered once again as he fled away. By now, the silver line was about a hundred meters away from him, and moving even faster through the air.

　　The sense of grave crisis was incredibly intense. Meng Hao’s eyes were completely bloodshot, and he now had no time to consider any surrounding neo-demons. Instead, he continued to head forward toward the apparently active volcano which was his goal.

　　Except… even as he neared it, he noticed that up ahead was, shockingly, a burial mound!

　　The burial mound was covered in cracks, making the coffin inside clearly visible. Inside the coffin was a corpse which was half human and half beast, completely bizarre in appearance.

　　What set Meng Hao panting, however, was that laying on top of the corpse’s chest was a wooden sword!!

　　The instant he saw the wooden sword, his eyes went wide. Meng Hao could tell that this corpse was not in fact dead. In fact, its eyes were open. Also, despite the stillness everywhere, he could still sense a threatening aura coming from it, and a powerful pressure similar to the Spirit Severing stage.

　　“This is the third wooden sword I’ve found!” he thought, breathing heavily. Having seen the sword, he knew that he must have it. Including his duplicate sword, it would increase the number of wooden swords he had to four.

　　As for the origin of this sword, Meng Hao wasn’t sure. But his intuition told him that considering it cost two thousand ultra high-grade Spirit Stones to duplicate, it was obviously beyond ordinary. As for why it hadn’t manifested its true majesty, perhaps it was because he hadn’t acquired enough of them yet.

　　Meng Hao had the intense sensation that if he did not take advantage of this peculiar situation, then he would never again have a chance to snatch the wooden sword from this bizarre corpse.

　　Feeling both miserable and happy, he bit down viciously on his tongue, changing directions and shooting toward the corpse. As soon as he neared the burial mound, his hand shot in through one of the cracks and grabbed the wooden sword. As he wrenched it out, he could faintly hear a snarl of profound rage coming from the corpse.

　　There was no time for any further examination. Meng Hao’s body flickered as he shot toward the volcano in the very center. Almost in the exact moment that he entered it, the pursuing silver line did the same.

　　—–

　　This chapter was sponsored by Grigory Edel and Nicolas Hahn