[/expand]
A tremor ran through Xu Qing as she slowly looked up at the 1st Heaven, which stretched out overhead like the sky. She could feel Meng Hao looking at her from somewhere high up above.
She smiled, a smile of anticipation, and of happiness. Numerous thoughts and memories filled her mind, and her eyes glowed with a warmth that could melt all the ice in Heaven and Earth.
Rumbling could be heard as countless figures flew up from within the world of the Mountain and Sea Butterfly. They were led by Grandpa Meng, Ksitigarbha, the Paragon puppet, and... Ke Jiusi!
Those four were the most powerful cultivators in the Mountain and Sea Realm, and it was without hesitation that they led the charge toward the 1st Heaven.
Their cultivation bases had leapt up to a higher level. They could regenerate from wounds faster, their divine sense and Daoist magics were more powerful. Their current battle prowess could shake Heaven and Earth.
The Paragon puppet had experienced an even more shocking transformation. During the centuries that Meng Hao had been away, it hadn’t moved at all. However, as its battle prowess increased, it changed. It was as though some severed connection had finally been mended.
Heaven shook and the Earth trembled as the four Paragons led everyone into battle. Fatty, Wang Youcai, Fang Yu, Li Ling’er, and Zhixiang all appeared, as did many other familiar faces. Behind them were even more Mountain and Sea cultivators. The old-timers had experienced the destruction of the Mountains and Seas, and the younger ones had been raised hearing the legends of Meng Hao.
Now, they attacked with explosive force.
Meng Hao had endured thousands of years of pressure, as had the other cultivators of the Mountain and Sea Realm. Meng Hao needed to vent, to get his revenge, and they did too.
Thus, he had left the 1st through 10th Heavens for just that purpose.
The root of all of their hatred would now be cut away. Nothing would remain to drag them down.
Countless Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators fought their way into the 1st Heaven, and soon, miserable shrieks began to ring out. The Outsiders fought back, struggled, and yet their cultivation bases had been restricted. Their divine sense was gone, and the power of their divine abilities and magical techniques had been weakened. It only took moments before they were being routed.
Despite their struggling, the Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators’ revenge was carried out with ease. In fact, the Outsiders couldn’t even injure them.
If Meng Hao could exact vengeance with such madness, there was no need to even mention how madly the other cultivators of the Mountain and Sea Realm would fight.
Tears streamed down their faces as they shouted, unleashing the power of their cultivation bases. Any Outsider they found, they destroyed as easily as dried twigs. That was especially true of the old-timers who had fought in the war of the past. Their tears flowed especially hard.
“Master, can you see, sir? It is for you that I get revenge!!” These words were spoken by a man with white hair and a face full of wrinkles. He seemed old, but he was in fact middle-aged. He fought with madness, weeping, cutting down one Outsider after another until he was soaked with blood. And yet he didn’t seem to tire at all.
“Shanshan, you threw yourself in front of me to save me from the blow of an Outsider. When you died, my heart broke. The only reason I kept living was for vengeance. I had to get revenge, and I had to kill the Outsiders one and all. All Outsiders must die!” A middle-aged cultivator stood on the battlefield, his eyes bloodshot, crying and laughing simultaneously as he slaughtered the surrounding Outsiders.
“Dad, mom, big brother, I’ll never forget the hatred which blossomed in my heart back then. Now, I can finally avenge you!” It was an old man who lunged forward and latched his teeth onto the throat of a terrified Outsider. When he ripped the Outsider’s throat out, blood sprayed out like a fountain. Then the man’s laughter rang out over the battlefield.
The cultivators of the Mountain and Sea Realm fought with madness, especially the ones who had gone through the war all those years ago.
“I'm the only survivor from my sect. Today I will slaughter a hundred thousand Outsiders as a sacrifice to the heroes who died!”
“Kill them all!”
“The only thing that kept me going was the thought of revenge!”
They fought with complete viciousness, and soon, all of the Outsiders in the 1st Heaven were wiped out. After that, they charged toward the 2nd Heaven.
As for the other cultivators who had been born throughout the past centuries, their hatred wasn’t as profound. However, from birth, they had listened to tales of the past recounted by their seniors, and they had been raised with the 33 Heavens weighing down on them from above.
They had seen depictions of the Mountain and Sea Realm of the past, and had heard the stories about the Nine Mountains and Nine Seas.
Of course, they were only stories, mere descriptions, and the Mountain and Sea Realm itself was somewhat of a vague concept. Therefore, they didn’t possess a profound and consuming hatred.
But then they saw the old veterans of the Mountain and Sea War, people who were normally calm and reserved, suddenly rave with madness. The hearts of the younger ones were profoundly shaken by that.
They suddenly understood how truly intense that hatred was which had been described to them in the stories. Those old-timers... could not allow their enemies to remain alive.
The younger ones were profoundly shaken, and soon, the feelings seeped into their own veins. Scattered memories began to rise up within them, memories that all inhabitants of the Mountain and Sea Realm held in eternally within their blood.
Because of those newly awakened memories, and because of the madness surrounding them, the younger ones who had been born over the past centuries began to fight with a madness that rivaled that of the older generation.
Fatty wept as he fought. He was a massive ball of flesh, and yet he was surprisingly agile as he lunged forward and wiped out any Outsiders who got in his way.
“You killed my 300 Daoist partners! Damn you, you beasts! You killed my 300 beloved partners!!
“And my children! And my grandchildren! Damn you. I won’t rest until you’re dead!”
Shockingly, Fatty was surrounded by a group of over ten thousand cultivators who all called him Patriarch. Those who fought at his side included men and women, old and young. Among them were the new Daoist partners he had taken in over the past centuries, as well as his new children and grandchildren.
He had single-handedly created a vast clan, the likes of which could only be rivaled by the clan founded by the eighth reincarnation of Meng Hao’s clone.
The 2nd Heaven soon shattered. The army of cultivators of the Mountain and Sea Realm marched with bloodshot eyes to the 3rd Heaven, and then the 4th.
The starry sky dripped with blood. Wang Youcai’s eyes were closed, but he held a sword in his hand. When he unleashed his cultivation base, countless Outsiders were ripped to shreds. He left their heads intact, though, collecting them and stringing them up until they flowed like a river behind him.
That river of heads was like a cape, giving him a profoundly fiendish appearance. Any Outsiders who saw him were struck with dread.
Among the army of cultivators was the Fang Clan, who fought just as viciously as everyone else.
Soon the Mountain and Sea cultivators arrived at the 6th Heaven. Their revenge was reaching a climax. Their eyes were bright red as they exploded out from underneath the pressure of centuries.
Li Ling’er wept as she fought, her teeth clenched as she thought about Paragon Sea Dream. It didn’t matter that she was a woman, she unleashed intense slaughter nonetheless. She wasn't beautiful like she had been when she was young; she was now an ancient old woman. And yet, she was willing to pay any price to continue the legacy of Paragon Sea Dream.
The 6th Heaven fell, and the battle moved on to the 7th Heaven. Zhixiang looked like a specter as she fought the Outsiders. Years ago, she had called herself Demoness. Now, she was the Sect Leader of the Demon Immortal Sect, which was one of the three great sects in the Mountain and Sea Butterfly. And that was because... Ke Jiusi had become a Paragon, and returned to join the Demon Immortal Sect.
As their revenge was carried out, and the slaughter continued, most eye-catching of all was not the fighting between the four Paragons of the Mountains and Seas and the Paragons from the various Heavens. Instead... it was a huge turtle!
Countless cultivators flew off of the back of that turtle to fight viciously with the Outsiders. The turtle head-butted the 7th Heaven, crushing it. Then he threw his head back and roared, charging toward the 8th Heaven.
“Fudge! The Patriarch's successor disciple is back! Isn't the Patriarch awesome!? Hey don’t run, Outsiders! Dammit. I have some good fortune for you!”
However, even as the huge turtle began to move in the direction of the 8th Heaven, countless ripples surged out as that huge land mass transformed into... a sea!
As soon as the sea appeared, Meng Hao’s gaze fell upon it.
“The traitor of the Mountains and Seas, the Ninth Sea.”
Chapter 1552: The Traitorous Ninth Sea!