The Fourth Mountain and Sea had been preparing for a very, very long time. Perhaps it would even be appropriate to say that they were always in a state of preparation. Almost as soon as the Outsiders arrived, the starry sky of the Fourth Mountain and Sea began to rumble. Numerous buildings appeared, which seemed to be Yama King palaces from the underworld. In addition, a boiling Yellow Springs appeared, sweeping across the Heavens.
Before the Outsiders could even start fighting, miserable screams rang out as heavy casualties were inflicted. They couldn’t even set foot into the Fourth Mountain and Sea!
Countless enraged cultivators charged out from the Fourth Mountain and Sea, roaring in rage. “DIE!!”
Most unusual of all, however, was not the Fourth Mountain and Sea, but rather... the Ninth Mountain and Sea!
Almost in the same instant that the Outsiders arrived there, a beam of dazzling light shot out from some unknown region, sweeping out to cover that entire Mountain and Sea. It completely pa.s.sed over the cultivators, but as for the Outsiders, they were instantly shredded to pieces.
The war between the Mountain and Sea Realm and the 33 Heavens had now fully erupted!
At the same time, the will of the Mountain and Sea Realm spread out to cover the whole Realm, crus.h.i.+ng down onto the Outsiders. They roared as cracking sounds emanated out. In that moment, their fleshly bodies, their cultivation bases, everything about them was suppressed. Almost instantly, their battle prowess was reduced to sixty percent!
That was one terrifying aspect of the Mountain and Sea Realm. It wasn’t just a place for the Immortal World to gradually recover. After all, it had been created during a time of war, and therefore, everything about it... was designed to be used in warfare!
“Mountain and Sea Realm!!” An enraged roar could be heard coming from the 1st Heaven as an emaciated figure appeared, whose every step caused the Mountain and Sea Realm shake.
The aura of a Paragon emanated out from his body, spreading out in all directions to shake everything!
Apparently, the pressure coming from the will of the Mountain and Sea Realm had little effect on this figure. When he first appeared, he was very skinny, but as he neared, he grew larger. In the blink of an eye, he was 300 meters long, then 3,000 meters, and soon... he was fully 30,000 meters tall!
He bore the appearance of some fiendish beast, covered with scales, with a long tail stretching out behind it. He even had a horn sticking out of his head, which radiated a spectacular energy.
Furthermore, black flames flickered around him, and his eyes were bright red. Everywhere he looked, the starry sky twisted and distorted. With a single glance he surveyed all the living beings beneath him, and with the exception of the one ent.i.ty he actually feared in the Mountain and Sea Realm, his gaze only momentarily lingered on two others!
One of those ent.i.ties was in the Fourth Mountain and Sea, while the other was in the Eighth Mountain and Sea!
One was Ksitigarbha, and the other... was Meng Hao!
The reason he took Ksitigarbha so seriously was because of how his energy surged so mightily there within the Fourth Mountain and Sea. His glory bordered on that of a Paragon, and was enough to shake the highest Heavens, to spread shock throughout the Mountains and Seas!
The reason he took Meng Hao seriously was because of how he had just slaughtered Lord White. After all, Lord White... was an Outsider from the 1st Heaven, one of this beast’s people!
“Trifling Mountain and Sea Realm!” said the enormous 30,000-meter creature. “The forces of the 1st Heaven, where my people reside, are enough to wipe you all out by themselves!
“The time has come, my generals. Imperial Lord Mandilo, Exalted Devils, the time has come... for a sacrifice of blood!
“Sacrifice the blood of the Immortals of the Mountain and Sea Realm to the Heavens, and offer up their ghosts. Take all life in this place... and transform it into as.h.!.+” His voice echoed out to fill the entire Mountain and Sea Realm.
In response to his words, countless Outsiders flooded out from the 1st Heaven behind him, radiating killing intent as they spread out into the Mountain and Sea Realm.
Whether it was in terms of cultivation base or ability to slaughter, this second wave of Outsiders far exceeded the first. They were clearly the elite and most powerful fighters.
Booms rang out in all directions, shaking the Mountains and Seas as even more fierce fighting erupted!
Furthermore, there were three figures which slowly emerged, three Outsiders. It was impossible to tell if they were male or female, as they were completely covered in scales. Their eyes glowed red as if with fire, and the leader among the three was fully 3,000 meters tall, and surrounded by flames, as well as shocking fluctuations, fluctuations that could be second only to that of a Paragon.
He was... an Imperial Lord!!
A Quasi-Paragon!
Behind the Quasi-Paragon were two other Outsiders, also with glowing red eyes and cruel grins. Their cultivation bases also shook Heaven and Earth; they were clearly equipped with the power of six Essences!
One of them wore golden armor, except that the armor on one of its arms was completely destroyed. This was the Outsider who had attempted to take Lord White away. As soon as he appeared, his eyes locked onto Meng Hao in the Eighth Mountain and Sea, and they flickered with killing intent.
These two were not Paragons, nor were they Imperial Lords. However, with six Essences, they stood at the pinnacle of power, and any one of them could unleash a complete catastrophe onto any battlefield.
The 1st Heaven of the 33 Heavens was the first land which sealed the Mountain and Sea Realm. For tens upon tens of thousands of years, it had served as the first barrier that prevented cultivators from the Mountain and Sea Realm from escaping, and therefore, it was no surprise that it housed powerful beings like this!
The hearts of tens upon tens of thousands of cultivators in the Nine Mountains and Seas were completely shaken. Everyone looked up into the starry sky to see the Paragon up above in the 1st Heaven.
His aura was terrifying to an indescribable level as it spread out through the Mountain and Sea Realm!
His energy could shake Heaven and Earth, as if a single thought on his part could eradicate any living creature he laid eyes upon.
Such powerful divine sense caused even Dao Realm experts to tremble as if... they were facing something completely without equal.
“Paragon....”
“That’s... the power of a Paragon....”
“The 33 Heavens.... Just how many Paragons do they have...?”
Even the Mountain and Sea Lords were shaken. Despite the blessing of power from the Mountains and Seas, everyone was still so shocked that they almost lost their will to fight.
The 30,000-meter long Outsider Paragon suddenly extended his right hand and then shoved it out toward the Mountain and Sea Realm. Instantly, the starry sky filled with rumbling sounds, and began to peel and shatter.
Paragon power erupted out, surging toward the Fourth and Eighth Mountains!
Shockingly, he was first sending out his divine sense to try to eradicate his two greatest threats!
“Remember that thou hast been exterminated by Eegoo. That is my true name, which endures unchanging no matter how many tens of thousands of years has pa.s.sed!” As the Outsider Paragon’s hand descended, Heaven and Earth shook violently.
The Mountain and Sea Realm trembled, and its cultivators could sense a shocking pressure emanating down from the starry sky, a pressure which easily shoved aside the power of the Mountains and Seas, and then shot directly toward Meng Hao.
Contained within that pressure was a will of extermination that clearly intended to shred him into pieces, to destroy him in body and spirit.
Meng Hao’s pupils constricted as an intense sensation of deadly crisis welled up within him. That sensation of crisis sent his cultivation base aflame, and he knew that if he could not ward off this Paragon’s attack, then he... would be killed beyond the shadow of a doubt!
Thankfully, Paragon Eegoo’s power was not focused completely on attacking Meng Hao. Instead, it was split into two parts, one of which was focused on destroying Meng Hao, the other of which... was speeding down toward the Fourth Mountain and Sea, toward a spot deep within the countless Yama King palaces, toward a patch of pitch-black dirt in the underworld, where an enormous 3,000-meter tall statue sat there cross-legged.
That statue... was none other than the Lord of the Fourth Mountain and Sea, Ksitigarbha!
He was the most powerful of the Mountain and Sea Lords, and also... the most powerful person in the Mountain and Sea Realm under the level of Paragon!
Innumerable souls perpetually flew around the statue. After all, the Fourth Mountain controlled the underworld of the entire Mountain and Sea Realm, and therefore, the Lord of the Fourth Mountain and Sea was also the Mountain and Sea Realm’s Lord of the Underworld!
Even as the crus.h.i.+ng power of the Outsider Paragon closed in, the statue’s seemingly eternally closed eyes suddenly snapped open. Cracking sounds could be heard, and fissures spread out all over the surface of the statue as it slowly raised its right hand, then viciously jabbed out with its finger.
RUUUUUUMMMMBLLLLE!
Ma.s.sive rumbling sounds echoed out as Ksitigarbha’s body collapsed layer by layer. As it shattered and dissipated, the pressure from the Outsider Paragon suddenly lurched to a halt, incapable of proceeding.
The statue dissipated, and Ksitigarbha’s true form was revealed. He was an ancient old man, tall and clad in a long yellow robe. As he stood there, a shocking energy pulsed out of him, and he raised his right hand to perform an incantation gesture. Instantly, the Fourth Mountain and Sea began to tremble, and the sound of chanting scriptures began to emanate out from the Yellow Springs up above in the starry sky, and the countless Yama King palaces. Simultaneously, Joss Flame power began to converge upon Ksitigarbha.
A boom echoed out as the Outsider Paragon’s pressure was crushed by Ksitigarbha’s finger jab. At the same time, Ksitigarbha’s face paled a bit, although it quickly recovered. Then, his eyes began to s.h.i.+ne with a strange light as he suddenly looked up, and then raised his right hand into the air.
“To be struck, but not strike back?” he said coolly. “That is not the Dao of Ksitigarbha.” His voice thrummed with a strange cadence, and as the words left his mouth, he pushed his hand up into the air. Immediately, the Yama King palaces and the Yellow Springs, coupled with the boundless Joss Flame power, rumbled up, transforming into an enormous hand which shot up into the starry sky toward the Outsider Paragon, as if to grab him!
It didn’t matter that he had a powerful cultivation base, or that he was a Paragon. Since he struck out at Ksitigarbha, how could Ksitigarbha not strike back? He would answer with his own attack, for the time had come to draw swords!
“Hmm?” The Outsider Paragon’s eyes widened as he looked down at the Fourth Mountain. “He himself wields the power of a Dao Sovereign... but by converging tens of thousands of years of Joss Flame, he can actually unleash... the might of an Imperial Lord....”
Even as the Outsider Paragon was reeling in shock, back in the Eighth Mountain and Sea, the Paragon’s might was still bearing down on Meng Hao. Eyes s.h.i.+ning brightly, Meng Hao raised both hands wide into the air, summoning the Paragon Bridge. His divine sense also exploded out with eighty percent of the power of a Paragon. Heaven-shaking, Earth-shattering power slammed into the Paragon's pressure, fighting back against it.
When they slammed into each other, a ma.s.sive boom rang out like a clap of thunder. The starry sky trembled, even darkening because of the blinding light of the Paragon Bridge. At the same time, numerous figures could be seen walking across the bridge, from whom terrifying auras could be sensed!
The Outsider Paragon was completely and utterly shocked.
He had to admit that he had underestimated the Mountain and Sea Realm. He had originally antic.i.p.ated being able to eradicate both opponents at the same time, only to find that one was more shocking than the other!