Chapter 383: An Eternal Breath

　　Larvae are living creatures which cannot produce sound. However, in this instant, the metamorphosed Eyeless Larva emitted sound. This was a sound which would only be heard once.

　　It was the voice of the Larva!

　　When the voice called out, Meng Hao’s ears buzzed.

　　In that instant, the entire world seemed to grow still…. The Eyeless Larva spoke only once, and when it did, it silenced the world!

　　During this space of one breath, everything around Meng Hao, the wind, the people, the sky, the land, everything… grew still….

　　The five thousand running Cultivators, the dust they kicked up, the ripples of the magical techniques, everything in the area. The effect spread out to cover all of the Black Lands.

　　It spread to the Western Desert, covered over the Southern Domain, swept across the Milky Way Sea to enter the Eastern Lands, even the Northern Desert. In this moment… everything grew still.

　　This was an absolute stillness. Nascent Soul, Spirit Severing, even Dao Seeking experts were all the same. In this moment, within this silence… one breath was stolen from all of them!

　　This theft was incredibly difficult to detect!

　　It was a manifestation of the frenzied and indescribable dominance that the Eyeless Larva manifested upon its appearance. The Eyeless Larva had no life force, therefore, it needed to steal it. It plundered life from all existence. All living things which existed in the flow of time… lost one breath.

　　Plants, animals, mortals, Cultivators… all living things. Everything grew still and motionless, and then lost one breath.

　　One breath was not much, but when you combine everything in the entire world, it adds up to a myriad of years!

　　In all of the Southern Domain, all of the Western Desert, all of the Eastern Lands, all of the Northern Desert, there was nothing in existence that sensed this breath being stolen. Even experts at the peak of the Dao Seeking stage had no way to sense the loss of the breath or the stillness in the world.

　　Only Immortals could!

　　Other than Immortals, no one had any clue!

　　Although they could not sense it, their life force now lacked one breath. Their time in the world slipped down; the higher the Cultivation base, the greater the loss.

　　That breath belonged to the Eyeless Larva, and Meng Hao!

　　During the stillness, ripples suddenly emanated out from the Rebirth Cave in the vast lands of the Southern Domain. They spread up into the air, and a figure appeared, formed from countless strands of Qi. It looked toward the Black Lands.

　　“The Eyeless Celestial Larva….”

　　In the vast Western Desert, in a profoundly mysterious location, was a stretch of ruins and rubble. Countless years ago, this place had a name which shook Heaven and rocked the Earth. It was called… the Bridge of Immortal Treading!

　　Now, it was nothing but rubble. Even still, it was one of the most profound and mysterious places in the Western Desert.

　　Currently, within the endless ruins, an incredibly ancient voice heaved a sigh.

　　“Has the Celestial Larva appeared…? It doesn’t seem like it, it seems too weak….”

　　In the Eastern Lands, the Northern Desert, the Milky Way Sea, it was the same. A faint aura appeared and then vanished.

　　During this moment of silence, a gargantuan face flashed across the sky above the Milky Way Sea.

　　On a forested mountain in the Western Desert, an old man sat there painting a picture of the distant mountains and rivers. During this moment of time, his paintbrush suddenly stopped moving and he lifted his head.

　　“The Celestial Larva… and that kid…. So, they’re bound by Karma. I guess I’ll help you once again.” Shaking his head, he waved his paintbrush, causing some ink to fly out and splash onto the ground.

　　This was Shui Dongliu. 1

　　A moment later, in the Eastern Lands, the old man from the Ji Clan who had battled with Pill Demon was holding his fishing rod out over the Pool of Heaven. Suddenly, a bang sounded out as the line snapped.

　　He coughed up a mouthful of blood, and astonishment filled on his face.

　　“What just happened…?”

　　In the Milky Way Sea, there was an island floating among the waves. An entire nation existed on this particular island. There were mountains, the North Sea, Yunjie County, and Cultivators. It was, of course, the State of Zhao.

　　And this was none other than Patriarch Reliance!

　　As the world returned to normal, the island trembled. At the far end of the island, a gigantic head suddenly emerged from the shell and looked up into the sky, shocked.

　　All across Planet South Heaven, things like this happened in various locations, although not many.

　　Back in the Black Lands, Meng Hao was panting as he stared blankly at the Eyeless Larva that rested on his palm. Earlier, when he had fed the Frigid Snow Larva, it had seemed completely normal. But all of a sudden, Meng Hao’s heart was filled with fear.

　　Granted, he had gotten the information regarding how to create the Eyeless Larva by means of interrogation. He knew that perhaps ninety percent was true and ten was false, although it was impossible to determine which parts were which.

　　Therefore, he had done things very carefully.

　　However, even the Black Lands Cultivator who had given him the information would have had no way to know how truly fearsome the Eyeless Larva would be when it appeared!

　　Actually, one of the bits of information that he had intentionally left out was the fact that in order to get the Eyeless Larva to appear, one needed an unimaginably vast amount of Mulberry Thunderclap Leaves. In fact, all the Mulberry Thunderclap Leaves on Planet South Heaven were probably not enough.

　　How could he possibly have imagined that Meng Hao would be so inhuman as to actually be able to metamorphose an Eyeless Larva?

　　It was actually something impossible to do!

　　The truth was, once a Frigid Snow Larva consumed a Mulberry Thunderclap Leaf, if it did not continue to feed until a certain point, then it would explode with shockingly destructive power. The force unleashed would be powerful enough to annihilate everything within a three hundred kilometer radius.

　　That was his true plan. He didn’t covet the legendary Eyeless Larva, but rather the fearsome, destructive power. It was a precious treasure that would give him incredible powers of threat.

　　Meng Hao took a deep breath as he sensed what the Eyeless Larva was doing. It lay there in his palm, unmoving. However, Meng Hao could sense a vast, strong power of life force, incredibly intense. He suddenly thought about that moment of silence.

　　This life force exceeded anything he had ever seen before. Not even the Blood Mastiff could compare to the Eyeless Larva in this respect. Even if he faced up against a Spirit Severing expert, that person would not be able to compare to the life force of the Eyeless Larva.

　　No outsider would be able to sense such an intense life force. Only Meng Hao could do that, because of the unbreakable bond that now existed between the two of them. It had begun with the Frigid Snow Larva. By the time it metamorphosed into the Eyeless Larva, though, the connection was deep-rooted, branded upon the very life of the thing.

　　Because the brand emerged at the same time as it metamorphosed, it was something that exceeded the imaginations of normal people, and the power of magic. You can say that there were very few powers under the Heavens which could extinguish the connection which now existed between Meng Hao and the Eyeless Larva. It was as if the larva was now a part of him. Because of this, Meng Hao could now sense the thick and fearsome life force which existed inside of it.

　　It was because of this life force that, after its metamorphosis, the Eyeless Larva could employ its shocking divine ability!

　　The larva would never be destroyed, and its thread could not be broken. The thread could not be broken, nor could the larva be destroyed!

　　——

　　Note from Er Gen: It took me a long time to write this chapter, and I made a lot of changes in an attempt to get the right feel, that of the combination of a breath’s worth of time, and eternity. However, my ability is limited, and even after all the changes, this is the best I can do. I’m extremely tired now. I’ve pumped out a lot of chapters in the past few days, so please permit me to rest for a bit. Thanks!

　　1. Shui Dongliu is the painter who sealed the Resurrection Lily in chapter 208