Chapter 1055: Which Paragon Did This Blood Come From!?
Not too much time passed before the puppet boy returned. Just as Ling Yunzi had said, a greater reward than usual was doled out to him and placed in a bag of holding.
He hefted the bag of holding, scanning it with divine sense for a moment before beginning to pant. He quickly retracted his divine sense, unable to bear looking at the contents. What was inevitably about to happen caused his heart such grief that if felt as if it were being cut in half with a knife. Therefore, he chose not to think about it.
This was a precious skill that Meng Hao had picked up recently. He sighed, gritted his teeth, and took out a vial of Paragon's blood to begin duplicating.
Time passed. Meng Hao’s eyes were shot with blood and his hair was disheveled crazily as he fed Immortal jade and spirit stones into the copper mirror. Grimacing, he produced one duplicate after another.
Eventually, seven days passed. Meng Hao had now been in the Nine Seas God World for the greater part of a month. Finally, his bag of holding was completely devoid of all Immortal jade and spirit stones. And there in front of him was a collection of one hundred vials of Paragon's blood!
As he looked at the blood, he began to pant. He kept telling himself not to think about how much he had spent to get this much, and yet he couldn’t stop himself. As soon as the slightest thought of it crossed his mind, his heart twisted into a knot.
“When I was young, I always wanted to be rich. After I started practicing cultivation, there were often times when I felt like a rich person. However, it always takes the mere blink of an eye for all of that to go away, and I’m destitute again.” He wanted to cry, but no tears would come. He wasn’t sure if his lifelong dream would ever actually come true.
After taking some deep breaths, his eyes filled with determination, and he produced a vast collection of medicinal pills. He put them in his mouth, and refrained from chewing them. He merely allowed them to begin to slowly dissolve.
Finally, he waved his hand and caused ten vials of Paragon's blood to fly out. Cracking sounds could be heard as the bottles shattered, and the blood itself swirled out into the air.
Ripples began to spread out as he raised both and began to mold the Paragon’s blood together into one glob.
After it did, a terrifying aura began to spread out.
“Parrot! Meat jelly! Get over here and help stop this aura from spreading out!” His words echoed out at the same time that the parrot was encouraging the Demonic cultivators to sing. After it heard what he said, it muttered a few sentences to itself, then flapped its wings and flew over with the meat jelly to help suppress the aura of the Paragon's blood.
Meng Hao took a deep breath as he waved his right hand, causing ten more vials of Paragon's blood to fly out and shatter. The blood then merged into a larger sphere in front of him. The terrifying aura exploded out violently, spreading out in all directions, causing the residence around him to shake so violently it seemed it might collapse.
Meng Hao’s eyes shone brightly, and without any hesitation, he waved his hand again. Ten more vials’ worth of Paragon's blood collapsed and then reformed. The terrifying aura increased in intensity, and cracks spread out through the entire residence. It was at this point that the parrot arrived. It no longer looked calm and collected, but rather, let out a loud howl as it went all out to suppress the aura.
The meat jelly didn’t seem very willing to cooperate, but it transformed into an enormous canopy nonetheless, which covered over the entire residence, completely preventing the aura from escaping into the outside world.
Because of Meng Hao’s proximity to the combination of thirty vials of Paragon's blood, the intense pressure caused him to shake violently. However, his eyes shone brightly with determination.
“Thirty percent!” he breathed. The pressure of the blood caused him to shake, and cracking sounds could be heard. His mind was spinning violently.
He gritted his teeth and waved his hand again. Rumbling sounds could be heard as ten more vials of blood shattered. The blood flew out to join the huge sphere; now it was roughly the size of an infant’s hand.
It was bright red, and shockingly, strands of gold could be seen swirling around inside, making it resplendently beautiful to the point where it tugged at the soul.
At the same time, increasingly intense pressure was cast out by the terrifying aura. The explosive power battered against Meng Hao, causing blood to ooze out of his mouth, and fissures to spread out across his skin. There was also a powerful expulsion force that threatened to cause him to explode.
His eyes shone brightly with obsession as he rotated his cultivation base, drawing on all the power of his Immortal meridians, using his secret magic to make them all Eternal. Their power surged in his body as he waved his hand again, causing ten more vials to fly out and shatter. When the blood merged into the sphere, terrifying aura erupted with further intensity.
The pressure was now so incredible that it caused Meng Hao’s entire residence to collapse into pieces. The entire structure transformed into nothing more than ash!
Blood sprayed out of Meng Hao’s mouth, and his hands almost shattered. His Eternal stratum surged at full power, continuously healing him, allowing him to fight back against the intense power.
The meat jelly roared and the parrot squawked shrilly as they suppressed the aura with all of their might as well.
Meng Hao was shaking, and his eyes gleamed with madness.
“Fifty percent!” He waved his hand, causing another ten vials of Paragon's blood to fly out. When they merged into the sphere, he sent out another ten, all the way until a total of eighty vials had been added together. It was now as large as an infant’s head, and the pressure caused colors to flash, and the sky to grow dim.
Meng Hao felt like he was the subject of an intensely powerful attack. He was shoved backward, and blood spewed out of his mouth. His Eternal stratum worked like mad, but was incapable of keeping pace with the level of destruction, not even with all of his 123 Immortal meridians combined.
At this critical juncture, he didn't hesitate for even a moment to chomp down on half of the medicinal pills he had in his mouth. Immediately, they melted, flowing into his body with restorative energy. His Immortal power was once again restored, and he managed to bear the brunt of another aggressive blast.
The sphere of blood radiated resplendent light, as if the will of a Paragon were now awakening!
If it wasn't for the meat jelly and the parrot blocking the spread of the aura, the entire Nine Seas God World would be going completely crazy. The Ninth Sea would be aboil, and the entire Ninth Mountain would be shaking.
However, even though the aura still wasn't leaking out, the natural law in the area around Meng Hao was being affected. The air filled with distortions, as if another world were forming.
All of that... was because of the Paragon's blood!
It was not merely a single portion, but eighty portions that had been merged together. It hadn’t even been refined yet, and was only an amalgamation, yet it was still a sample of Paragon’s blood that was only a sliver away from being complete!
“I can do it!” Meng Hao roared, waving his hand. Rumbling could be heard as the final twenty vials of blood flew out. Half of them shattered, and the blood in them fused with the sphere. Meng Hao’s hands were mangled masses of flesh, and he suddenly coughed up a huge mouthful of blood. However, a moment ago, he had crushed more of the medicinal pills in his mouth, causing their power to flow through his body and stimulate his Eternal stratum into frenzied action. The mouthful of blood he had just coughed up didn’t do anything to affect the fusion of the Paragon's blood.
The meat jelly roared with increased intensity as the canopy it had formed fought to control the aura. The parrot was in midair, squawking as it caused numerous streams of magical symbols to swirl down and seal the entire area.
“Dammit! This isn’t the Demongranny's blood! She might be a Paragon, but this drop of blood was definitely not produced by her. How could an unrefined drop of blood contain such shocking power!?!?”
“The last ten vials!” Meng Hao chomped down on all of the remaining medicinal pills, then waved his hand to cause the final ten vials to shatter. Blood flew out into the sphere, which was now the size of an adult human head!
The sphere of blood contained innumerable golden threads that interlocked with each other, forming vague magical symbols that seemed to contain the origin of the starry sky, the Essence of the world, the basis of all life!
The meat jelly was shaking violently, and fissures snaked out across its body. It looked like it was about to collapse, and it was shrieking in pain. The parrot was getting very nervous, almost like he had during the unforeseen flare-up of the copper mirror.
“It’s not the Demongranny's blood, and it’s not old man Immortal Ancient’s either!” the parrot shrieked, staring in shock and disbelief. “Could it be... could it be that this... no way. Impossible! Didn’t he die? As soon as he died, all of his blood should have vanished from within Heaven and Earth! How could there be some left behind!?!?
“Dammit! No wonder the mirror was acting so crazy! I thought that it was because someone was casting magic on it, but that was only one part of it! The other reason was because of this blood!!”
Blood sprayed out of Meng Hao’s mouth, and he trembled violently. Despite the preparations he had made with the medicinal pills, his Eternal stratum was reaching the point where it couldn't sustain him. All of his flesh was covered with cracks and fissures, which were widening, as if he might explode at any moment.
His body was slick with blood, but his eyes were completely focused. His hands trembled as he held the sphere of blood between them and then shoved down hard.
“Refine!!” he cried. The sphere of blood gradually began to shrink and refine. As it did, more and more golden threads became visible, until, in the end, the entire mass of blood... was golden!
Meng Hao was shaking, and more cracks spread out across his skin. He felt the flame of his life force growing dim, all because of the vast pressure cast by the aura of the Paragon's blood. It was only a drop of blood, and yet Meng Hao was still no match for it. He was on the verge of collapsing. Even though the blood wasn't actually fighting him... it was still powerful enough to utterly exterminate him.
It wasn’t just Meng Hao. Someone in the Ancient Realm, or perhaps even someone in the Dao Realm... would be slaughtered by this drop of blood!
Rumbling sounds echoed out, but Meng Hao endured. His body hovered on the brink of exploding as the mass of blood rapidly shrank. Soon, it was only the size of an infant's hand.
His body was covered in cracks and tears. His two hands were nothing but bloody flesh, disfigured and misshapen. And yet, his eyes still shone with laser focus.
“Refine!!” he roared. It was a roar like the final roar before death, and as soon as it left his mouth, the sphere of blood shrank down to the size of a fingernail!
As of now, it was thoroughly and completely golden!
The incomparable aura of a Paragon instantly erupted from inside the blood.
This was... true, authentic Paragon's blood!
It was complete, utterly rare, Paragon's blood!
You could even say that... it actually shouldn't exist. A drop of blood from the exact Paragon to whom the parrot had referred.
The meat jelly was screaming, and the parrot was bellowing in disbelief. Meng Hao was just barely managing to hold back from exploding when... an aura appeared which was not the aura of cultivation. It was... the aura of the League of Demon Sealers!
As soon as the aura appeared, the drop of blood began to tremble!!
A resonance was forming, almost like that of a bloodline!
“What....” Meng Hao thought, his mind trembling. Then he thought back to what Granny Nine and Godmaster had said to him. Paragon Sea Dream founded the Nine Seas God World and the Sublime Flow Sword Grotto. The Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite was founded by Paragon Immortal Ancient. As for the third Paragon, the most powerful Paragon, Paragon Nine Seals... nobody knew what he founded.
“He... founded... the League of Demon Sealers!” Meng Hao felt as if his mind were being struck by lightning.