RUUUUUUMMMMBLLLLE!

Booms like thunder filled the Ninth Sea, echoing out powerfully in all directions. The waters boiled and roared, almost as if an awakening giant were about to burst out from under the surface!

That giant... was none other than the Nine Seas G.o.d World! It rose up, 300 meters, then 3,000 meters... in the s.p.a.ce of a few breaths, ma.s.sive rumbling filled the entire Ninth Sea as a huge land ma.s.s flew up into the air!

From a distance, it looked like a gigantic island, with seven beams of light shooting up from it. The light flew up into the starry sky, causing the rift up above to grow larger and larger.

At the same time, Fan Dong’er appeared near Meng Hao on the same mountain. She was also looking up into the sky, her expression that of nervousness... and excitement!

In addition to Fan Dong’er, there were three others, two men and a woman. They looked familiar to Meng Hao, and he quickly placed them as other Chosen disciples of the Nine Seas G.o.d World.

All of them were waiting with keen antic.i.p.ation.

On the other side of the mountain, more figures appeared in quick succession. Bei Yu was one of them. She stepped out slowly, flanked by three other Demonic cultivators. All of them had profound cultivation bases. One of them, Meng Hao recognized; he was none other than the burly body cultivator he had fought not too long ago.

Obviously, when the Nine Seas G.o.d World opened the Windswept Realm, it would not just be Meng Hao entering by himself. All of these people would be joining him!

Meanwhile, similar scenes played out in the Eighth Sea. There, columns of light rose up from the G.o.d World just like they had in the Ninth Sea, shooting up into the starry sky to open a huge rift. On the Eighth Sea, a huge continent appeared, upon which a group of eight people could be seen waiting in antic.i.p.ation.

One of those people was extremely gaunt, and stood apart from the others. He was surrounded by countless swirling bones, and his eyes shone with a cold gleam as he smiled slightly.

“Windswept Realm. I should be able to kill to my heart’s content.”

It was the same in the Seventh Sea, the Sixth Sea, the Fifth Sea, and the Fourth Sea. As of this moment, huge land ma.s.ses rose up from all of them, as well as towering columns of light which tore open rifts in the starry sky.

On the Fourth Sea, laughter rang out. A young man stood there, wearing a long black robe, laughing heartily. On his forehead, an Echelon mark could be seen, glittering brightly.

A brutally cold gleam could be seen in his eyes, and as the rift in the starry sky slowly opened up, his laughter grew louder.

Countless people stood respectfully in front of him, showing incredible reverence.

By this point, each and every member of the Echelon could be seen on the surfaces of the Seas in their respective corners of the Mountain and Sea Realm. All of them were waiting... for the Windswept Realm to open. All of these people were Chosen, and any one of them could be considered similar to Meng Hao. To the other Chosen from their parts of the Mountain and Sea Realm, they were seemingly impa.s.sable mountains.

Now, all of these mountain-like figures were going to convene in the Windswept Realm, which would be the location... of the Echelon battles!

Some Echelon members had already clashed on numerous occasions. However, for Meng Hao, this would be his first time... encountering any of them!

Echelon battles were battles of life and death. They were not expressions of mere friction between members, but a method of determining... who was the most powerful among them!

As for all of the other people who entered the Windswept Realm with the Echelon, they were secondary, mere adornments really. Of course, if they were qualified, it wouldn’t necessarily be impossible... for them to kill one of the Echelon members and even steal a place in the Echelon itself!

A young woman flew through the air near the Third Mountain. She wore a long, white garment, and was so immaculately beautiful that she could cause all other life forms to dim in comparison.

This was the same woman who had been playing Go with the young Echelon member from the First Mountain. She had left to search for Meng Hao after sensing his presence, hoping to play a game of Go with him and discuss the Dao. She was the Immortal Ancient successor, Xue'er! [1. Xue’er was introduced in chapter 1058. Oddly, this is chapter 1085.]

She suddenly stopped in place and turned her head. A beautiful smile could be seen on her face, and all of a sudden, the entire world, even the entire starry sky, seemed to s.h.i.+ne brightly.

“Looks like I can save a lot of energy and not go all the way to the Ninth Mountain,” she thought. “I’ll just look for him in the Windswept Realm.” Smiling, she headed toward the Third Sea.

She was not in the Echelon, but she was someone... who any Echelon member would view as extremely important!

In fact, anyone who could obtain her a.s.sistance would a.s.suredly grow much more powerful than the others, and would make much more progress on the path of the Echelon. In fact, their chances of final success... would be even greater!

All of the great Seas in the Mountain and Sea Realm were boiling and roaring. Rifts opened up in the starry sky, growing larger by the moment. If there was a position in the Mountain and Sea Realm that enabled you to see all of the various starry skies, then you would be able to see that...

The rifts above all of the Nine Seas of the Mountain and Sea Realm formed a straight line. However, currently it was as if that line had been cut into nine segments, which were beginning to stretch out across their respective mountains and seas. It was obvious that soon those lines would join together to form a path... a huge rift connecting together through the entire Mountain and Sea Realm!

At that time... the Windswept Realm would be completely opened.

Everyone was waiting in antic.i.p.ation.

Meng Hao took a deep breath, and his eyes glittered brightly. He could also sense that each and every one of the other Echelon members in the other Mountains and Seas was waiting just as he was.

It was at this point that G.o.dmaster's voice rang out over the Ninth Sea: “The will of the Ninth Sea accepts the orders once set down by Paragon Sea Dream. Let the Ninth Sea’s will... open the Windswept Door!”

Instantly, the Ninth Sea began to rumble. Huge waves surged back and forth as a sword began to rise up out of the water. It was completely formed of seawater, and in the blink of an eye, it flew up into the sky with shocking speed.

This was a sword that seemed capable of exterminating all life.

Almost in the same moment that the sword appeared, it shot toward the starry sky, where it slashed at the rift. The entire world trembled, and cracking sounds echoed out, causing the minds of all onlookers to tremble. A huge rumbling sound could be heard as the rift suddenly tore open, ripping directly toward the Eighth Mountain.

It almost looked like the starry sky was shattering. It was an a.s.sault on the eyes, causing everyone who saw it to be shaken to the verge of madness.

Simultaneously, above the Eighth Sea, countless cultivators watched as the rift from the Ninth Mountain and Sea ripped toward them. In the blink of an eye, it merged with the rift above the Eighth Mountain, whereupon a huge blade shot out from the Eighth Sea up toward the starry sky and ripped it open further!

Rumbling could be heard as the force from the blade caused the rift to rip open toward the Seventh Sea. Next, a huge paG.o.da flew up from the Seventh Sea, causing the rift to rip toward the Sixth Sea....

It was like a cycle. It continued on to the Fifth Sea, the Fourth Sea, the Third Sea... until the very end, when the huge rift merged with the rift above the First Sea, creating one gargantuan rift above the Mountain and Sea Realm.

In the moment that the rift opened, Meng Hao and all of the others trembled violently and felt their hearts pounding. They all knew full well that their destination was not a place in the Mountain and Sea Realm!

This trial by fire involved leaving the Mountain and Sea Realm, and going to one of the former Lower Realms!

For Meng Hao, this feeling was completely different than the feeling he had experienced when leaving Planet South Heaven and heading toward Planet East Victory.

G.o.dmaster’s archaic voice echoed out again: “The hour has arrived. Meng Hao... it is time to leave!

“Keep in mind, you will not be the only disciple going to the Windswept Realm. There will also be cultivators from the other Eight Seas. Remember, the only person you can rely upon... is yourself!

“Even more importantly, remember that the World Essence lies in the central region of the Windswept Realm. That is what you must acquire!

“Whoever acquires the World Essence will be the victor of this trial by fire. It is only then that the great door back to the Mountain and Sea Realm will appear and you will be able to return!

“When in the Windswept Realm, you must rely on yourself, but, you will also have the support of your fellow sect members. Whatever past grievances or grudges existed will no longer apply in the Windswept Realm. I don’t care what you do to each other after you get back, even if you start fighting immediately afterwards!

“However, in the Windswept Realm, the most important thing... is that you work together!”

Suddenly, G.o.dmaster waved his sleeve, causing a bag of holding to fly out toward Meng Hao. Inside that bag of holding was the 300,000,000 Immortal jades he had won from the Demonic Cultivator Horde!

It was at this point that one of the two Patriarchs from the Demonic Cultivator Horde spoke:

“All of you, take heed. While you are in the Windswept Realm, forget about past matters. The most important thing is to work as a team!”

After the words echoed out, G.o.dmaster spoke into Meng Hao’s mind.

“After you get to the Windswept Realm, it's up to you whether or not to kill the Demonic cultivators. Don’t think that the things you have experienced recently are unique to the Ninth Sea. All of the other members of the Echelon from the other Seas have experienced similar dangers!”

Similar provocative words were spoken into the ears of the Demonic cultivators.

Rumbling could be heard as Meng Hao suddenly shot up into the air. He was followed by Fan Dong’er and Bei Yu, plus the three ordinary cultivators and the three Demonic cultivators. In total, nine streaks of colorful light shot up into the rift in the starry sky.

As they neared, a powerful gravitational force appeared, which grabbed ahold of them and pulled them into the pitch black of the rift.

Streaks of light could also be seen above the Eighth Sea, the Seventh Sea... all the way to the First Sea. In each and every case, there were nine people, no more, no less.

The only exception was in the Third Sea, where the young woman Xue’er joined the group, bringing their numbers to a total of ten.

All in all, 82 cultivators shot into the rift.

Of that entire group, Meng Hao was the first to enter!

In this instance, it was the Ninth Sea which had opened the Windswept Realm, and Meng Hao was the most qualified from that location. As such, he was the first cultivator to enter the Windswept Realm.

He was in the lead, surrounded by boundless darkness. However, a wind could be felt, a wind which grew stronger and stronger. Eventually, it was like a windstorm which swept about in all directions.

Within that windstorm, Meng Hao could see countless corpses and ruins. It looked like the remains of a battlefield, from which he could sense how terrifying the war had been which destroyed all these things.

It was even more shocking than the Ruins of Immortality!

Suddenly, an enormous gravitational force appeared within the windstorm, grabbing Meng Hao, Fan Dong’er and the others, and pulling them forward.

Up ahead was a rift that bore a strong semblance to a spell formation. It was filled with an ancient aura, making it impossible to determine how long the spell formation had stood there, surrounded by the wreckage of war.

There was no time to examine his surroundings. Despite having seen the glow of magical treasures in the surrounding ruins, Meng Hao didn’t have a chance to grab any of them. He and the others from the Ninth Sea shot toward the spell formation rift, and were instantly sucked in.

In that moment, they were suddenly swept across the void and into a strange world.

Before any of them could even see clearly, Meng Hao heard trembling, awe-struck voices echoing out around him.

“We respectfully welcome all Grand Immortals!”

-----

Note from Deathblade: Er Gen included an interesting note with this chapter. He mentioned that the release of this chapter marked his birthday "as listed on his ident.i.ty card." He points out that he usually celebrates his birthday according to the lunar calendar, not the Gregorian (solar) calendar. Madam Deathblade and many Chinese people do the same thing. Tracking the lunar birthday means that the birthday falls on a different calendar day every year when using the Jan-Dec calendar that most of us do.