Chapter 613: Fourth Plane!
Chapter 613: Fourth Plane!
“Hopefully this pit goes even deeper,” thought Meng Hao, his eyes shining. “The best would be if we keep going for about nine or ten days.” His bag of holding didn’t have much else in it other than the vast, random assortment of magical items.
Many of them were things completely useless as far as Meng Hao was concerned. There were even treasures he had acquired when he was in the Qi Condensation stage, but hadn’t discarded even down to this day. He had kept them because… he just couldn’t bear to part with them.
Back in those days, when he was young, he had been completely impoverished, unwilling to even part with a single Spirit Stone. These magical items were each worth dozens of Spirit Stones, so how could he possibly have simply discarded them?
He had always been searching for a way to dispose of them. However, the Black Lands and the Western Desert were both poor and barren places. Therefore, such items had accumulated there within his bag of holding.
If an outsider could glimpse the inside of his bag of holding, they would be completely shocked. The inside was completely chaotic, filled with anything and everything. After all… these were all of Meng Hao’s belongings. Every time he ran out of Spirit Stones, he could still look inside the bag of holding and feel a little bit of contentment.
The opportunity he had now was something completely rare, and had him thoroughly excited. One Cultivator after another gritted their teeth and then called out to purchase magical items, and Meng Hao rushed to peddle them.
Meng Hao wasn’t worried that they would refuse to acknowledge their promissory notes. These people were all Dao Children and Chosen of great Clans and Sects. They didn’t lack Spirit Stones, plus, there was a Dao oath in place. They wouldn’t dare to not pay him back.
Next to Meng Hao was one of the Northern Reaches Cultivators. His eyes were bright red as he glared at Meng Hao, clutching a small, glittering sword in his hand. His voice filled with madness, he cried, “Dammit! Meng Hao!! This is a Qi Condensation magical item! You, you, you… you actually charged me 10,000 Spirit Stones for this! I wouldn’t pay ten Spirit Stones for this thing! You’re such a swindler!”
“Yeah, look at this! This is a magical item for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. You charged me 20,000 Spirit Stones, and I have to pay back 100,000!”
“Look at this fan! What the hell! It’s broken! It might be a Core Formation magical item, but… you charged me 50,000 for this piece of crap!? Why don’t you just outright rob me!”
In response to the ire of the crowd, Meng Hao blinked.
“These things might be trash to you people,” he said coldly, “but I worked hard to collect them! I often went without food and water just to collect together these possessions!
“If you don’t want them, then you can return them. Then, you’ll go onto my list of unwelcome customers!”
The others were fuming with anger, but they could only gnash their teeth and eventually let out long sighs. Then they angrily shoved the magical items onto the surface of the vines, causing them to sink down further.
Eventually, even the Ji Clan members began to call out to Meng Hao. Soon, there were few within the crowd that didn’t owe Meng Hao huge amounts of Spirit Stones. As everyone proceeded on, they looked at Meng Hao with eyes that desired to cry but contained no tears.
They proceeded on impatiently for another day. Eventually, far down below, they caught sight of a glow of light. Finally, they glimpsed the bottom of the pit.
In that instant, those who owed Meng Hao vast quantities of Spirit Stones began to weep with excitement. Meng Hao was the only one who let out sighs of regret.
“How can this pit be so shallow?” he mused with a frown. “If only it were a bit deeper. I never got to start my auction.” He watched as everyone around him excitedly followed along with the vines as they continued on toward the bottom. It didn’t take very long for them to reach the end of the pit.
The bottom of the pit was actually far larger than anyone could have imagined. It seemed that the pit was actually a tunnel, beyond which was an enormous world!
The world seemed to have no end. Even Divine Sense was incapable of finding any borders to it. After everyone reached the bottom and stood there, their minds trembled.
Meng Hao’s pupils constricted, and he began to pant. Next to him, Xu Qing arrived, and her mind reeled.
Nobody spoke. Complete silence reigned. Everyone was completely and thoroughly astonished by what they saw.
A continent stretched out in all directions, sleek and smooth. Its surface was like that of a mirror, which was the source of the light that everyone had seen earlier.
If the continent could be described as a mirror, then the group from South Heaven could be described as standing outside of that mirror. Furthermore, when they looked at the mirror, what they saw was not their own reflection, but rather… an ancient battlefield!
Shockingly, an ancient world existed inside of the mirror. It was impossible to say whether or not it was an ancient world that existed before the time period of the Second Plane, or after. In any case, the group was now staring at boundless, majestic battlefield.
Countless Cultivators could be seen on the battlefield, all engaged in mutual slaughter. Heaven and Earth were filled with riotous colors, and booming echoed out through the sky. Cracks spread out through the land, and the fearsome glow of magical shields covered everything.
In the sky were innumerable war chariots flying about, as well as armored Cultivators who fought each other feverishly. Off in the distance, several gigantic dragons could be seen, as well as countless Demon beasts, hunkered into various positions throughout the land.
Many things could be seen.
A person could be seen waving a hand. A huge chunk of the earth collapsed, and then an enormous land mass flew out. It turned into a shooting star which smashed out into the air.
A person could be seen punching. Stars collapsed, and countless flames burned the world.
A person could be seen surrounded by millions of magical items. They formed a tempest that caused blood to splash about wherever it went. The tempest itself was the color of blood!
A person could be seen flashing an incantation gesture. A finger was pointed up into the sky, and countless characters appeared, glowing with a golden light. They formed together to into various ancient characters that radiated a shocking aura which led to endless slaughter.
A person could be seen holding tight to an evil spirit. The spirit’s body was three thousand meters long, and had countless faces that appeared and disappeared, howling and glancing around with disdain.
This was… a great battle between two different parties!
One side was made up of Cultivators. Countless, innumerable Cultivators, each one capable of employing destructive divine abilities, of summoning Dharma incarnations, and endless magical items that could shake the Heavens.
The other side was made of up of Demons. These were bizarre Greater Demons of Heaven and Earth, surrounded by sundered winds that rose up into the sky, creating a storm of blackness wherever they went….
Further off in the distance was, shockingly… an enormous coffin. The coffin appeared to have fallen down from the Heavens. Brilliant, multi-colored light swirled around it, within which was something astonishing. Nine butterflies could be seen floating about!
Countless figures could be seen in the area around the coffin. Incredible slaughter was being carried out, as if neither side was willing to allow the other to step even half a pace closer to the coffin!
The coffin was the main cause of the combat on the battlefield. All of the fighting and mad slaughter was because… that coffin needed to be seized!!
All of the South Heaven Cultivators, including Meng Hao, were floating up in mid-air, looking down blankly at the lands within the mirror. They looked down at the shocking battle, and the figures who could topple mountains and invert seas with the wave of a hand, who could crush stars and grab moons with their divine abilities. The hearts of the South Heaven Cultivators filled with shock.
There were three people on the battlefield who, no matter how grand the scale of the battle was, no matter how intense the slaughter, could not be eclipsed. The gaze of anyone who looked down at the battle would instantly be drawn to these three figures.
It was as if… they were the most powerful sovereigns of the battle. They were like venerated suns that everyone had to look up to!
One of them was a Cultivator wearing a Daoist robe, with a full head of white hair. His features were ancient, and when he lifted up his hands two rotating pearls could be seen, one of which was black, the other of which was white!
Behind the man was an illusory starry sky that he had apparently magically summoned. He stood in the middle of the sky, alone, capable of striking fear into the hearts of any within the Demon Tribes.
The second figure was within the Demon Tribes. It was a Greater Demon who looked like a winged bat. Its eyes were bright red, and seven globes of flame rotated around it. Each of the globes of flame was a different color, and, shockingly… a wooden sword could be seen inside of each one!
The Demon was surrounded by an astonishing aura. As it stood there, it seemed capable of making the Earth, the Heavens, and all life therein, prostrate in worship!
Meng Hao was unsure of the level of Cultivation base of these two, but his breathing was unprecedentedly ragged. He wasn’t sure if he was perceiving things incorrectly or not, but when he saw the old Cultivator and the black and white pearls in his hands, he suddenly thought of something.
In his mind, he saw an image from back in the State of Zhao. He saw… the pearl in the hand of Little Tiger! [1. “Little Tiger” Dong Hu was one of the group of four who joined the Reliance Sect at the same time. Meng Hao encountered him again in chapter 71, where he had the pearl. During Meng Hao’s fight with Shangguan Xiu in chapter 75, Little Tiger loaned him the pearl, which allowed Meng Hao to temporarily break into the tenth level of Qi Condensation. Meng Hao returned the pearl to him in chapter 76. You might also be able to deduce that the pearl was even alluded to vaguely in chapter 19]
Little Tiger's pearl, and the white pearl in the old man’s hand, looked… completely the same! The sensation that Meng Hao got when he looked at the pearl held by the old man… led him to believe that they were definitely one and the same!
Furthermore, the man-shaped bat looked very similar to the Demon that he had fought so long ago. Even more relevant were the wooden swords inside the seven globes of flame that surrounded it. When Meng Hao saw them, his mind shook. Those swords were clearly… the same as his Immortal Murdering Swords!
Right now he had five such swords, four originals and one copy!
What gave Meng Hao even more cause to pant was the third figure within the world of the mirror. That person caused his mind to reel and fill with a roaring sound.
That person… was a homely-looking middle-aged man. He wore a white robe, and his long hair was half black and half white. He did not emit any aura of a Cultivation base, but rather floated there in mid-air, looking almost like he was sealed. The air around him was completely calm and still.
When the Demon Tribes saw him, they trembled, and their Demonic Qi was thrown into chaos, as if it was completely out of control.
When the Cultivators saw him, their eyes filled with reverence. It was almost as if as soon as they looked at him, an intense pressure bore down on them, causing their Cultivation bases to decline!
He was not a member of either side in this battle. He floated there in mid-air, making it seem as if the battlefield were split into three parts, with him being one third!
Within the man’s hand was a long, silver spear that appeared to be covered with overlapping scales. The spear was not completely silver; occasionally the scales would turn black.
As soon as Meng Hao caught sight of the spear, a voice immediately echoed out in his mind.
“Demon Weapon… Lonelytomb!!” [2. Demon Weapon Lonelytomb was introduced in chapter 497]
Although Lonelytomb’s Devil Construct was on the verge of dissipating completely, Meng Hao still had it. It emanated a buzzing sound, like an intense summoning.
In that instant, Meng Hao suddenly realized who that middle-aged man was floating there in mid-air. Staring fixedly at him, Meng Hao thought, “Third Generation… Demon Sealer!!”