Chapter 982: Xu Qing’s Good Fortune!
Chapter 982: Xu Qing’s Good Fortune!
This was... the 121st meridian!
In the vast, boundless Heavens of the Nine Mountains and Seas, there had never before existed someone who opened 121 meridians, not even Kṣitigarbha with his 120!
What Meng Hao had accomplished was something that was completely without precedent!
He hovered there in midair, his energy soaring, his 121 Immortal meridians rotating madly. It was as if 121 Immortal dragons were roaring inside his body.
He slowly clenched his hands into fists, and felt the power coursing through him, and the boundless energy of his cultivation base. What he sensed... was a power unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
This breakthrough exceeded any other acquisition of good fortune that he had ever experienced.
This explosive rise of power could not be matched by any other destiny he had encountered.
It was a sloughing off of the mortal body, it was an exchange of the ordinary for the extraordinary, it was... a complete transformation of his entire life!
The Ninth Mountain and Sea was shaken, as were the four planets. Boundless ripples spread out into the starry sky. There was a legend that, when corroborating one’s own Dao, upon true Immortal ascension, the entire mountain and sea would shake. And now, Meng Hao was showing everyone… that this legend was true!
As the rumbling echoed out, Kṣitigarbha sat silently on the Fourth Mountain.
“Immortal meridians....” he murmured. “From the time the great Nine Mountains and Seas were created until now, the great circle has always been 123 meridians. No one has ever reached that level. I wonder if he will be able to?” After a long moment of silence, Kṣitigarbha raised his hand and issued another Dharmic decree.
This Dharmic decree consisted of only one sentence!
“I will take Xu Qing as my 49th apprentice!”
That one sentence was something that could change a person’s entire life! Xu Qing, who was already in the middle of reincarnation, was now certain to experience incredible splendor when she was born again, to experience the pinnacle of honor.
“That’s my big bro!” roared Fatty, grabbing onto the person who stood next to him in the Paleo-Immortal Mausoleum.
“You see that? He's Meng Hao, my big bro! Fudge! From now on, who will possibly bully me!? If anyone dares to try to steal any of my beloved concubines, I’ll have my big bro come and fight him to the death!
“Dammit! I had more than a hundred beloved concubines, but now... I only have three left!!” Fatty’s angry voice echoed out in all directions.
Wang Youcai was in Moonset Lake, his eyes closed. Of course, his eyes had been blinded, and he could only gaze at eternal darkness. However, everyone in Moonset Lake looked at him with fear and dread.
A vicious person like him was someone that nobody had any desire to provoke.
He had no eyes, but now, there was a young woman sitting next to him. Her expression was gentle as she described everything that was happening with Meng Hao and his Immortal meridians to him.
Wang Youcai said nothing the entire time. However, his mouth turned up into the faintest of smiles.
“Meng Hao, I won’t let you leave me behind....”
Chen Fan was in the Solitary Sword Pavilion, one of the Three Churches and Six Sects. Their reserves were profound, but could not match up to the Five Great Holy Lands. Chen Fan was not well known in the sect, and in fact, didn't even have any friends. Throughout the years, nobody had really paid much attention to him. He stuck to himself to practice his sword arts, and as of this moment, was sitting by himself on a mountainside. He held an alcohol flagon in his hand, from which he took a drink. He looked up into the sky above the sect, at the huge screen which had been set up, and Meng Hao's image upon it. He raised the alcohol flagon up into the air. [4. In previous chapters it said that Chen Fan joined the Sublime Flow Sword Grotto. I believe that was actually a mistake. Er Gen went back and forth between the few a couple times, and I thought he meant the former, but in the end, I'm pretty sure it should be the Solitary Sword Pavilion. I’ll confirm this later and then go back to edit the previous mistaken chapters]
“Bottoms up, Junior Brother!”
People were getting excited. Some wished Meng Hao well, some were envious. Some had feelings that went beyond envy. All sorts of thoughts were going through the minds of the people in the Ninth Mountain and Sea.
Meng Hao hovered in the starry sky, his eyes gleaming with a bright light of... ambition!
Before, he hadn't been happy with only 108 meridians. Therefore, he had opened 117. Originally, he thought that was his limit, but then events unfolded, and he understood the profound result of verifying his own Dao.
At the moment, it wasn’t that he was unsatisfied with 121 meridians. However, deep in his heart, he thirsted for more.
“I can still open more!” A brilliant gleam flickered in his eyes, and his Immortal meridians thrummed. He sent divine sense into his body, whereupon he found... the first bit of good fortune that he had acquired... when he first stepped onto the path of cultivation.
It wasn’t the ancient mirror, but rather... the good fortune he had wrested away from Wang Tengfei, the legacy of the Flying Rain-Dragon!
Flying Rain-Dragons were the sovereigns of the sky, and as Meng Hao had made his successive breakthroughs in cultivation, the Flying Rain-Dragon’s legacy had fused deep into his flesh and blood, even into his soul.
He had always had a hunch that the Flying Rain-Dragon was by no means weak, and was in fact incredibly powerful!
When he was in the Ancient Demon Immortal Sect, he saw a Flying Rain-Dragon that had been subjugated by cultivators and turned into the guardian of one of their mountain peaks. However, he had always had the feeling that his Flying Rain-Dragon... should be even stronger than that! [1. References to the Flying Rain-Dragon in the Ancient Demon Immortal Sect can be found in chapter 560 and 568]
The reason for that feeling was the unforgettable experience of the time when he had just acquired the legacy of the Flying Rain-Dragon, and it was attacked violently by the copper mirror. In all the years since then, he had never seen the copper mirror react so wildly. [2. The mirror attacked the Flying Rain-Dragon Core in chapter 24 ]
Meng Hao knew the parrot well, and knew that its origin was extremely mysterious. Of course, that only caused him... to have more faith in the Flying Rain-Dragon’s power.
“Perhaps my cultivation base isn’t strong enough to unravel this mystery now. However... the legacy of the Flying Rain-Dragon was able to fuse into my Dao Pillars and afterwards, my Core. It even merged it into my Nascent Souls.... In that case, why wouldn’t it be able to... turn into an Immortal meridian!” [3. Meng Hao fused the Flying Rain-Dragon’s Demonic Core into his Dao Pillars in chapter 99, and his own Core in chapter 303. I don’t think it was specifically mentioned when he was actually forming his Nascent Souls, but when he reached Spirit Severing, the Flying Rain-Dragon made an appearance, in chapter 676]
“Follow me into the Immortal Realm, and beyond!” Meng Hao’s eyes shone with intense light as rumbling sounds emanated out. His Immortal meridians exploded with power, and his divine sense, which was vastly more powerful than it had been before, didn't expand out, but rather, swept about inside of him to arouse the legacy of the Flying Rain-Dragon!
After a moment, it found a mote of light inside of him, quite inconspicuous, a dot of brightness inside of his Nascent Divinity.
If you looked closely at that mote of light, you would see an incredibly miniscule Flying Rain-Dragon.
“Flying Rain-Dragon Immortal meridian, OPEN!” cried Meng Hao. His cultivation base roared as he poured power into the mote of light. In the blink of an eye, the light grew blinding, and exploded outward. Endless rumbling filled Meng Hao. The Immortal qi from the Door of Immortality poured madly into him and then into the mote of light.
Time passed as more and more boundless Immortal qi merged into the mote of light. The Flying Rain-Dragon inside of him gradually grew larger until finally, the dragon opened its eyes, and they shone with a brilliant glow.
That brilliant glow contained profound dignity and haughtiness. It despised everything on the land below, and domineered over everything in the sky. It had no cares or worries, and thirsted for freedom and independence.
That... was Meng Hao's Dao!
Meng Hao’s heart trembled. He had never imagined that his own Dao would be so similar to the Flying Rain-Dragon’s nature.
RUUUUUUMMMMBLLLLE!
The Immortal qi grew more majestic as the Flying Rain-Dragon opened its eyes. It spread out its wings inside of Meng Hao, and massive rumbling sounds could be heard as it transformed into an Immortal meridian which rapidly grew solid!
Thirty percent. Fifty percent. Seventy percent....
Meng Hao's eyes gleamed with a brilliant light, and he suddenly took in a deep breath, absorbing all of the Immortal qi. Rumbling sounds could be heard, after which, the Flying Rain-Dragon Immortal meridian reached eighty percent, ninety percent, and finally... one hundred percent!
When that happened, Meng Hao’s aura rose explosively!
The vague images of lamps once again appeared around Meng Hao, swirling through the air. It was impossible to clearly see exactly how many lamps there were, and yet, they were definitely much clearer than earlier.
An energy rose up from Meng Hao's body that seemed to be Immortal, and yet not, and at the same time Ancient, and yet not.
In addition, a 122nd Immortal dragon appeared outside the Door of Immortality, and this time, it looked completely different than the other dragons. It was a Flying Rain-Dragon!
It had huge wings, its tail was a poisonous viper, and its head was shocking in the extreme!
This was a Flying Rain-Dragon, which in the Nine Mountains and Seas was known by another name. It was also called... Outsider Dragon!
The Ninth Mountain and Sea was in an uproar.
To open another meridian after the 121st was fundamentally shocking, but then, it resulted in an Outsider Dragon materializing. Everyone was completely shocked.
It was as if every time Meng Hao reached his peak, and the conclusion was in sight, he would tell you through his actions... that things WEREN’T over!
The Patriarchs of the various sects and clans all had profound gleams in their eyes as they watched Meng Hao, this cultivator of the Junior generation, who performed one shocking deed after another.
Gradually, they were coming to the conclusion that they were watching the rise of a young Paragon.
“It's been a very, very long time... since a stunning individual like this has appeared in the Ninth Mountain!”
“The only other one... was Lord Li!”
“That’s right! The only other person like this… was Lord Li, the mysterious figure who legends say wasn’t even from the Nine Mountains and Seas!”
The Elder generation of cultivators sighed, and they wore complex expressions on their faces as they looked at Meng Hao and said nothing further.
The Chosen who were of the same generation as Meng Hao stood in front of their respective teleportation portals, collapsing mentally. They were proud people, and right now, they were being trampled on. All of their vast preparations were laughable, and the glory they had just acquired... was already becoming a thing of the past.
A young man from Planet South Heaven, a cultivator who everyone had disregarded... had, in front of their very eyes, transformed into an insurmountable mountain.
All of them felt a twinge of sympathy for Fang Wei. After all, this kind of feeling would be much stronger for him.
As for Fang Wei, he hovered in midair, laughing bitterly and trembling. Watching Meng Hao made him feel like his own existence was a joke. His eyes started to shine with madness, a madness that gradually began to overflow with jealously, and then, killing intent even more intense than before.
“None of this matters. I still have ways to kill you!” Fang Wei raged inwardly. “I’ll strike you down using your own Nirvana Fruits!”
Fang Xiushan stood in the crowds, his face pale. Suddenly, he felt regret, not for provoking Meng Hao, but for not being more ruthless before. Why hadn’t he just violated clan rules and killed Meng Hao at the very beginning?
In contrast to Fang Xiushan, his own father, Fang Wei’s grandfather, stood there calmly not too far off. He looked at Fang Xiushan, and then Fang Wei, and sighed.
“As long as a person is alive, he must have a goal. Since things have come to this point…I’ll set the plan in motion earlier than anticipated.
“Does the Fang Clan exist eternally within a raging inferno, or will it diverge from its path and rise out of that inferno like a phoenix? Everything... depends on what happens now!” Fang Wei’s grandfather, the normally taciturn old man, suddenly smiled.
It was a smile that contained an emotional sigh, but also, incredible ferocity!
Apparently, there were dark forces that had existed for unknown years in the Fang Clan... that were slowly beginning to bare their fangs!
Up in the starry sky, Meng Hao probed his 122 Immortal meridians, then looked up at the Door of Immortality. Once again, a wild look began to burn in his eyes.
“I can still... open one last meridian!” he said softly. It was at this point that he produced the bronze lamp from his bag of holding, within which burned a tongue of flame.
It was...
The Essence of Divine Flame!