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No one except for Meng Hao knew whether he had picked the Demon or the Immortal.

Upon awakening, he found that several months had pa.s.sed. He was currently back on the sun, and his Paragon puppet was sitting cross-legged next to him, acting as Dharma Protector.

The surrounding 100,000 cultivators were operating the spell formation alone, and off in the distance, the flames of war flickered brightly on the First Mountain. The Outsiders had fought their way nearly to the peak of the mountain, and the overall state of the battle was one of incredible ferocity.

Virtually all of the Mountain and Sea Lords were out in the starry sky, fighting. Paragon Sea Dream was also there, and her eyes flashed like lightning as she observed the battle. The First Mountain... was on the verge of being overrun.

There were no longer six Outsider Imperial Lords. Two had been killed, cut down by Grandpa Meng by means of the sun. However, he hadn’t used two arrows to accomplish that, but four!

The sun currently had only seven light arrows left to unleas.h.!.+

Of the four remaining Imperial Lords, two were currently partic.i.p.ating in the battle. However, they weren’t unleas.h.i.+ng widespread destruction upon the Mountain and Sea cultivators. Instead, they acted like sharp blades, cutting open paths for the other Outsiders to pour into the First Mountain.

They were skirting Sea Dream’s bottom line, but weren’t crossing it. They were well aware of that, and knew that as long as they didn’t cross that bottom line, then the Paragons wouldn’t join in on the fighting.

Unfortunately, without the help of a Paragon, the Mountain and Sea Lords were no match for the two Imperial Lords, not without teaming up, and even then they would have a hard time keeping them under control.

Out in the starry sky, the final division of Outsiders was arrayed in ranks, waiting to join the battle, eyes flickering with killing intent as they stared at the Mountain and Sea Realm.

The fighting had proceeded in this fas.h.i.+on for more than seven months.

In another five months, the 7th Heaven and the other Heavens would emerge from their current state, and could join the fighting.

When Meng Hao opened his eyes, everything was blurry at first. However, the sound of the battle being fought helped him to focus his thoughts, and soon, his eyes glittered with bright light as he rose to his feet.

Of the surrounding 100,000 cultivators, roughly half had fought with him in the earlier battle against Paragon Xuan Fang. When Meng Hao stood up, those cultivators looked over with eyes that burned pa.s.sionately.

“The Crown Prince has awakened!!”

“The Crown Prince is awake!!”

The 100,000 cultivators’ loud cries echoed out in all directions, and soon, the entire sun was glowing even more brightly than before. There were even many cultivators fighting on the First Mountain who could tell that a new pair of eyes had turned in their direction.

As Meng Hao rose to his feet, countless images flashed through his mind of the events leading up to him losing consciousness. He also remembered an ancient voice speaking out in the moment before his vision had gone completely black.

That voice seemed to contain all of the ancientness of the entire world.

“Who was he...?” he thought. Looking down at himself, he saw that the aura of death was gone, and that his wounds were healed. He was even a bit stronger than before. Based on his cultivation base, his battle prowess was now such that he exceeded an Imperial Lord. He could definitely fight Paragons now.

The sensation of being in control of so much power caused Meng Hao to gasp. When he thought back to the insane battle with Xuan Fang, he couldn’t dispel the lingering fear within his heart. His choice to extinguish four Soul Lamps had been a deranged decision that could have only been made in the face of certain death.

He sent his divine sense sweeping out across the battlefield, and then, the sun blazed with light as an arrow shot out toward the First Mountain. Before any of the fighters on either side could react, that arrow stabbed into the head of one of the Imperial Lords!

The sun’s light arrows could injure even Paragons, let alone Imperial Lords. This was not the first Imperial Lord to be killed by such an arrow.

The sudden fatality shook the battlefield, and was a message to all of the Outsiders that... Meng Hao was back.

The Outsider Paragon from the 6th Heaven was sitting cross legged out in the starry sky. During the past months, he had been working hard at unraveling Meng Hao’s Essence of s.p.a.ce, and was on the verge of freeing Xuan Fang. Suddenly, his eyes opened, and when he looked at the Mountain and Sea Realm, he caught sight of Meng Hao.

He instantly frowned. During the course of working to breaking through the Essence of s.p.a.ce, he had confirmed that Meng Hao wasn’t dead, but he had never imagined that he would make his comeback so soon. Only a few months ago, he had been hovering on the brink of death, and yet now, he was fully recovered, and even stronger than before.

The instant Meng Hao woke up, the sun blazed dazzlingly, and an Outsider Imperial Lord was killed. The army of Outsiders was shaken, but their killing intent was as strong as ever. Furthermore, the First Mountain was already completely soaked in blood.

Meng Hao didn’t unleash the power of the sun again. Even as he stood there, Sea Dream looked over at him with flas.h.i.+ng eyes, and then suddenly, her voice spoke in his mind.

“Send the Paragon puppet to attack!”

Meng Hao’s eyes glittered. He knew exactly what Sea Dream wanted to happen, so without any hesitation, he sent out his divine will, causing the Paragon puppet’s eyes to open. It instantly rose to its feet, eyes blazing as it took a step forward and then shot toward the First Mountain!

The Mountain and Sea Realm was breaking the agreement that had been put in place... they were attacking with a Paragon!

Almost in the same moment that the Paragon puppet began to move forward, the Outsider Paragon’s face flickered, and he gnashed his teeth. He still needed more time to safely unravel the Essence of s.p.a.ce, and after all of the months that had pa.s.sed, he still hadn’t managed to take the First Mountain. He knew that he was not a strategist, and that if Xuan Fang were here, the situation would be different.

Now that Meng Hao was making a move in violation of the agreement, the Outsider Paragon, gritted his teeth and then unleashed so much cultivation base power that he injured himself. His spirit turned listless as he coughed up his own life-essence blood onto the Essence of s.p.a.ce seal. By using a secret magic, and simultaneously drawing upon his longevity, he hoped to speed up the process of unraveling the seal.

Rumbling could be heard as his life-essence blood splashed onto Meng Hao’s Essence of s.p.a.ce, which then shuddered and began to emit cracking sounds! Then, it simply collapsed!

Xuan Fang shot out like lightning, and without even the slightest bit of hesitation, pointed his finger up at the 3rd Heaven and unleashed all the power he could muster.

The 3rd Heaven began to tremble, then slowly tilted over and began to descend toward the Mountain and Sea Realm.

As of this moment, the balance which had been maintained over the past several months was completely disrupted. The reason Meng Hao was so important was not because of his control over the power of the sun, but rather... that he could completely disrupt the balance that existed between the Mountain and Sea Realm and the Outsiders.

In fact, Paragon Sea Dream had been waiting for months for Meng Hao to return just for this express purpose.

Once the Paragon puppet shot toward the First Mountain, incredible pressure instantly exploded out from it. At the same time, the 3rd Heaven began to pick up speed as it headed toward the Mountain and Sea Realm. As for Paragon Xuan Fang, his hair was disheveled and his face ashen; overall, he looked to be in very bad shape.

A pained look could be seen in his eyes. During the months in which he had been trapped, the Outsiders had lost their control over the flow of battle, and Xuan Fang knew that a critical moment had arrived.

“Mythdragon, help me! We've lost the initiative, and if we don't get it back... then this battle... is lost!” In response to his words, the Paragon wreathed in darkness resolutely performed an incantation gesture and point up toward the land ma.s.s that was the 3rd Heaven.

Rumbling sounds echoed out as the 3rd Heaven trembled, picking up even more speed as it headed toward the Mountain and Sea Realm.

At the same time, Xuan Fang didn’t hesitate at all to send the 4th Heaven into motion. Two land ma.s.ses of enormous, indescribable size, both emitted ear-piercing rumbling sounds as they smashed down toward the Mountain and Sea Realm.

By that point, the Paragon puppet had already set foot onto the First Mountain. First he clenched his hand into a fist and then punched out toward the army of Outsiders. Heaven and Earth shook, and screams rang out from the Outsiders. Simultaneously, the two land ma.s.ses were bearing down on the defenseless Mountain and Sea Realm.

The 3rd Heaven had already reached the former location of the destroyed First Sea, and yet for some reason Paragon Sea Dream’s expression hadn’t changed at all. It was at this point that a cold snort suddenly echoed out from within the Mountain and Sea Realm.

A blue, illusory sea suddenly appeared over the First Mountain, above which hovered an enormous violet gate. Written on that violet gate were four words.

Nine Seas G.o.d World!!

Swirling beneath the gate were 100,000 Sea Dragons, which lifted the gate high up into the air. The sight was completely shocking, and caused the eyes of the Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators to grow wide. Cries of shock instantly began to ring out.

“It’s the Nine Seas G.o.d World!!”

“The Three Great Daoist Societies’ Nine Seas G.o.d World is here!!”

“The Three Great Daoist Societies are making a move!!”

There were no sects or clans in the entire Mountain and Sea Realm who could compare to the Three Great Daoist Societies. Some groups could rival their power in an individual Mountain and Sea, but the Three Great Daoist Societies existed in all of the Nine Mountains and Seas. When they combined their forces, then they truly deserved to be called... the most powerful sects in the Mountain and Sea Realm!

Perhaps their cultivators weren’t the most powerful, but they had been building up resources for countless years, storing up precious treasures which were now about to be unleashed. In fact, as soon as the Nine Seas G.o.d World gate appeared, it opened, and eighteen coffins appeared!

Magical symbols glittered on the surfaces of the coffins, and as they flew out, they transformed into eighteen beams of light that sped toward the 3rd Heaven!

As they flew along, the coffins began to crack and crumble, revealing eighteen corpses. As the corpses appeared, their eyes opened, and they erupted with boundless cultivation base power and divine sense!!

“Demonic cultivators of the Lower Realms, how dare ye!”

“My life was dedicated to defending against the Lower Realms’ Demonic cultivators. How dare ye provoke the Immortal World!!”

“Back down!”

As the enraged corpses shouted out, the power that erupted from them was... the power of Imperial Lords!!

Shockingly, these were... eighteen Imperial Lords from the Immortal World of yesteryear!

Meng Hao was completely shaken, but was quickly able to determine that these corpses, despite having the power of Imperial Lords... were only the remnants of Imperial Lords who, in the moments before dying, allowed their discarnate souls to be turned into puppets, all for the purpose of unleas.h.i.+ng one final attack. Once they made that attack... their souls would disperse for all eternity.

“The Mountain and Sea Realm’s resources and tactics are being revealed one by one,” he thought. As he looked out at the Mountain and Sea Realm, he realized that at this point in the battle... all the cards were being played.