Chapter 1235: Counter-Attack!
Meng Hao suddenly looked at the air behind him, frowned, and then looked down at the ground. He didn’t know it, but those eyes beneath the surface were actually staring directly into his, although Meng Hao sensed nothing out of the ordinary.
However, he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching him.
He continued to ponder the strangeness of this place as he then looked back at Xuan Daozi and Hong Chen, surrounded by wave after wave of enemies. Then he continued cultivating to recover from his wounds.
Behind him in the ground, the eyes narrowed.
“How shockingly perceptive.... A body like this is perfectly suited for me. If I can possess it, then... I can finally get out of this damned place!!”
Time passed. Meng Hao’s injuries continued to heal, and he was actually already half recovered. Booms rang out from the direction of Xuan Daozi and Hong Chen as more and more shades besieged them. Unexpectedly, some of those shades even emanated the ripples of the Dao Realm, indicated that they had been Dao Realm experts when they were alive.
Their Essence power had gradually faded, but their instincts remained, and due to the constant onslaught of that aura of death, they were actually even more fear-inspiring than before. Even Xuan Daozi was alarmed.
As for Hong Chen, she was trembling in fear as she joined forces with him, unleashing all sorts of divine abilities that filled the air with the sounds of explosions.
It was around this time that a gray mist suddenly began to rise up from the ground, obscuring everything. The sudden appearance of that mist caused Meng Hao's hair to stand on end. Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped forward and left the place where he had been sitting.
Looking back, he waved his sleeve, causing the Essence of Divine Flame to slam into the spot where he had just been sitting. However, nothing happened in response.
His eyes began to shine, and inwardly he was more vigilant than ever. Moments ago, he had clearly sensed an indescribable coldness rushing towards him.
Had he not moved away, it was likely that the coldness would have frozen him solid. However, whatever it was that had caused the coldness couldn’t be detected. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at all.
Meng Hao backed up slowly, then vanished into the mist.
Unbeknownst to Meng Hao, there really was a blurry shade laying in the spot where he had just been sitting. The shade seemed to be made completely of mist, but his eyes were clear and bright. They were crimson, and they were staring at Meng Hao.
“So, he can actually sense me getting near him....” the shade murmured. “It seems his divine sense must be particularly strong. Well, that’s fine. The stronger it is, the stronger I’ll be after I possess him. I’ve been suppressed in here for far, far too long. Dammit. I must get out of here. I’ll kill my way out if I have to!” The shade distorted, then flashed into the mists and vanished.
Meng Hao moved along at top speed. The intense sense of crisis he felt in this world caused him to be more vigilant than ever. As he moved along, he looked around at the mists, eyes flickering.
“This place is dangerous for me and everyone else in here. The arrival of this mist...means that the time to counterattack is at hand!” He suddenly flickered into motion, heading back in the direction he remembered Xuan Daozi and Hong Chen were fighting.
Before long, the booming sounds of battle could be heard from up ahead. Xuan Daozi’s bellow echoed in all directions, and the ripples of a magical technique spread out. However, the mist seemed to be covering up all the light, and Meng Hao couldn’t see anything clearly. However, his eyes flickered with an increasingly strong desire to kill.
Eventually, he just closed his eyes. Gradually, nineteen images appeared in his mind. They were all in different directions, and were surrounded by a gray, colorless world.
Those were the entities he had taken control of with Life-Death Hexing. The ones that were still around were now visible in his mind’s eye, and in fact became his eyes.
He flew silently through the mist slowly, threading his way through the various entities therein, and avoiding the most powerful shades of death. After a few dozen breaths of time, he shot forward with a new burst of speed. Then, his eyes opened, and they brimmed with killing intent. He sped forward, his right hand clenching into a fist. The power of an Allheaven Dao Immortal erupted out from inside of him, as well as that of his fleshly body, as he unleashed the God-Slaying Fist.
That fist strike suddenly appeared directly in front of Hong Chen!
She was in the midst of utilizing all sorts of magics to defend against the death shades who were attacking her. In the midst of her exhaustion, Meng Hao suddenly unleashed an explosive attack, causing an expression of shock to appear on her face. Before she even had time to analyze what was happening, the God-Slaying Fist was upon her.
A boom rattled out as the fist slammed into her chest, causing blood to spray from her mouth. Falling back, her eyes widened, and she shrieked, “Meng Hao!”
Even as she fell back under Meng Hao’s surprise attack, she produced magical items and prepared divine abilities to fight back. However, what came at her next through the mist was an azure roc, which slashed at her with its deadly claws.
Booms rang out, and even Xuan Daozi was shocked. He turned and was about to come over to help when over ten death shades suddenly lunged madly in the way to intercept him.
“Screw off!” Xuan Daozi roared.
Simultaneously, Hong Chen's shrill voice could be heard once again. “Save me!” She was terrified, and couldn’t even see what was happening around her. She fell back, her chest mangled and bloody, and her head punctured in three spots, out of which a reddish-white fluid oozed.
Meng Hao wasn't in very good condition either. Blood oozed out from wounds all over him. After all, his previous injuries weren’t completely healed, and trying to kill this old woman aggravated them. However, the killing intent in his eyes hadn’t lessened at all, and in fact, grew even more focused.
He suddenly advanced with incredible speed, sending swirling Essence of Divine Flame toward the retreating Hong Chen.
She gritted her teeth, performing an incantation gesture to unleash explosive Essence power in all directions. But Meng Hao was already in a different position, having unleashed the Paragon Bridge onto her. She screamed, her body already showing signs of cracking to pieces as she continued to flee. By now, Xuan Daozi had finished cutting down the death shades which were blocking him, and was now speeding towards them.
Meng Hao’s eyes flickered as his left hand reached up and pushed his fourth Nirvana Fruit into his forehead. Suddenly, his speed increased dramatically. He shot toward Hong Chen, making a grasping motion which summoned the copper mirror. Sighing repeatedly, the parrot also emerged. Without a pause, it complied with Meng Hao and transformed into the Battle Weapon.
That caused Meng Hao’s energy to rocket up; hefting the Battle Weapon, he slashed it toward Hong Chen. Xuan Daozi was racing against the clock, but apparently was out of time, and could only roar in response to what was happening.
Hong Chen also roared, using all the power she could muster to defend herself. However, she had already been injured by the Seal the Heavens Incantation, and her cultivation base had declined. Thanks to Meng Hao’s previous attack, she was like an arrow at the end of its flight. Meng Hao could completely ignore whatever magical items or divine abilities she used to fight back. Drawing on all the power he could from his fleshly body, he sent the Battle Weapon streaking down in a flash of dazzling light....
The screams ceased as Hong Chen’s head flew off her shoulders, and her body collapsed. Just when her Nascent Divinity was about to flee, the Battle Weapon smashed into it. Yet another Dao Realm cultivator had fallen by Meng Hao’s hand!
Blood sprayed out of Meng Hao’s mouth, and his face was ashen. The magical items and divine abilities that had been used just now actually increased the severity of his injuries. Eyes bloodshot, he shot off into the distance.
“Meng Hao!!” Xuan Daozi roared. The sound echoed out into the mists, filling the entire world. Some distance away, the members of the Meng Clan were sustaining heavy casualties. Meng Chen was covered with blood, and in flight.
Han Qinglei was also out in the mists, proceeding along as cautiously as ever. Some of his followers had already been killed, and he himself was filled with fear by the 33 Hells.
However, these weren’t the only people present; there were others. Furthermore, this was only the initial opening of the 33 Hells, so not all the glowing rifts had opened up, only somewhere between three and five. Therefore, some of the cultivators of the Heavengod Alliance on the outside chose to brave the danger and enter, although that number wasn’t significant.
About twenty to thirty percent of them chose to enter the same glowing rift as Meng Hao.
Those who were brave enough to enter obviously were not weak in terms of cultivation base. At the very least, they were in the late Ancient Realm. There even some Quasi-Dao experts who were attempting to find one of the legendary items that could keep Quasi-Dao cultivators from dying.
There were also more than a few Dao Realm experts who entered various glowing rifts.
Therefore, when Xuan Daozi’s howl echoed out, the other cultivators within the mists could hear his voice, and their hearts began to pound.
Meng Hao coughed up a mouthful of blood, but continued onward as fast as he could. He put the Battle Weapon away, as well as the Nirvana Fruit. His eyes were now completely bloodshot, but his qi and blood were actually flourishing.
The shade that had been following him the entire time was watching him, and growing more and more greedy.
Meng Hao was flying along, eyes bloodshot, when he suddenly ran into a death shade.
“It's been a long time since I’ve actually used the Blood Demon Grand Magic,” he murmured.
The shade up ahead was a cultivator, who turned, looked at Meng Hao, then howled as it pounced on him.
Meng Hao did not place a Life-Death Hex sealing mark onto him. Instead, he shot forward and slapped his hand out. His palm immediately turned blood-red, landing on the shade, which shuddered and then began to wither. In the blink of an eye, it was nothing more than ash.
Its gray aura flew out toward Meng Hao, fusing into him and actually withering him more than before. Apparently, it wasn’t any help to his wounds at all.
Shaking his head, he continued onward. Before long, his eyes flickered, and he shot forward like lightning as an Ancient Realm cultivator appeared in front of him.
This was one of the cultivators who had been part of the search parties trying to kill Meng Hao. He had actually turned tail and fled when things had gone south, but now apparently he had returned. He was looking around vigilantly, so as soon as Meng Hao closed in on him, his face flickered. Before he could do anything, Meng Hao’s crimson hand snaked out and latched onto the top of the man’s head.
Before he could scream, Meng Hao clamped his hand over the man’s mouth. The cultivator trembled as he withered; his life force, his flesh and blood, his cultivation base and soul, were all absorbed in an instant.
Meng Hao’s face was now less ashen. Soon, nothing was left in his hand other than a dessicated corpse, which dropped down and turned into ash. Meng Hao licked his lips; eyes bright red, he continued on his way.