As of this moment, the war was truly over. The Mountain and Sea Realm belonged to Meng Hao, but was destroyed.

The hope of the Realm was with the b.u.t.terfly, which had now reached the green coffin within the black hole of the vortex. Upon its fluttering wings, countless faces could be seen, looking disconsolately toward the Vast Expanse outside of the black hole, almost as if they hoped to see Meng Hao off in the distance, even though they couldn’t.

For the moment, the Vast Expanse was very quiet.

Meng Hao’s vision was blurred, and he was on the brink of completely losing consciousness. By now, the voices and sounds in his ear seemed distorted and stretched out, as if they were reaching him from long ago or far away.

If the parrot hadn’t just called out in its shrill voice, he would already have closed his eyes completely. Instead, he forced them open. He could sense the madness of the mastiff, the sorrow of the meat jelly, and the pain of the parrot.

A weak smile appeared on Meng Hao’s face, although it was a smile of regret and apology.

“Don’t mind me... you... are all free now.”

The instant he spoke those words, the mastiff trembled, threw its head back, and roared. Then it latched its teeth onto his garment, as if it knew that releasing Meng Hao would mean parting from him for all time.

The meat jelly was in a similar frenzy. It was pouring all of its life force, all of its being, into Meng Hao. Although its body was rapidly turning a dull gray, it refused to give up in its attempt to keep Meng Hao alive.

Laughing bitterly, the parrot looked around at the Vast Expanse, and then its eyes gradually filled with determination.

Meng Hao was now surrounded by countless cultivators from the Immortal G.o.d Continent and the Devil Realm Continent. The destruction of the Mountain and Sea Realm had affected these two forces in a profound way. The land ma.s.ses were riddled with cracks, and were it not for the deeply profound resources they had at their disposal, they would have likely collapsed.

As the 9-Essences experts approached, the parrot flew out, eyes gleaming with decisiveness!

It was not fleeing or hiding like it usually did. As it flew out, dazzling, multi-colored light began to s.h.i.+ne out from it!

The copper mirror appeared behind it, ancient and primitive in appearance. It radiated a feeling of profound mystery, as though it contained innumerable secrets, secrets which could drive people mad, and make the mirror the focus of all creation.

At the same time, the parrot let out a shrill cry as it glared at the surrounding cultivators. Then, it glanced out at the Immortal G.o.d Continent and the Devil Realm Continent.

The parrot’s cry caused the surrounding cultivators’ faces to flicker, especially the 9-Essences experts. Their faces fell completely as they sensed that because of the parrot’s shrill cry, the copper mirror was... cracking!

After watching the Mountain and Sea Realm be destroyed, and seeing the choices that Meng Hao had made, the parrot was filled with mixed emotions. In fact, it almost couldn't even face Meng Hao now, because as far as it was concerned, the reason all of these calamities had occurred was itself.

“If it weren’t for me, the Mountain and Sea Realm wouldn’t have been destroyed....

“If it weren’t for me, Haowie wouldn’t be dying....

“If it weren't for me, none of this would have happened....

“The meat jelly was right. I'm the reason for all of this. I'm immoral. I'm wrong. I... shouldn’t even exist.” The parrot laughed bitterly, and the mirror crumbled. The surrounding cultivators were flabbergasted, and the 9-Essences experts immediately began to rush toward the parrot.

They weren’t the only ones. Ancient auras which existed on the Immortal G.o.d Continent and the Devil Realm Continent immediately shot out to fill the area around the copper mirror in an attempt to prevent it from exploding.

And yet, their cultivation levels seemed insufficient to prevent that from happening. No matter what any of them did to attempt to stop the process, the self-detonation which had been initiated by the parrot and the copper mirror could not be halted.

As the parrot drew everyone’s attention, the meat jelly, who was still covering Meng Hao and delivering its life force to him, was staring at the parrot and trembling. But then, it suddenly seemed to hear words being spoken to it, a message from the parrot.

What are you doing? Get out of here!! The message was not transmitted by divine sense, nor was it spoken audibly. It was a feeling, a sensation that came from the connection formed between the meat jelly and parrot after all their years together.

The meat jelly smiled bitterly, but didn't hesitate for even a moment. It understood that the parrot, which it had pestered and argued with throughout so many lives, had chosen to die. It was dying, sacrificing itself, to buy time so that the meat jelly... could protect Meng Hao... and take him away.

“Haowie, you've treated me so well...” the meat jelly said, smiling. Many chaotic memories flashed through the meat jelly’s mind, and there were even images that didn't seem to be its own memories. Usually, it chose to suppress such memories, to ignore them. It preferred to mindlessly argue with the parrot, to chatter endlessly at Meng Hao, to haughtily act like it was ancient and wise.

But right now, after seeing the decision being made by the parrot, the meat jelly smiled, and unleashed a warm and gentle light. As the light spread out, it transformed into a shocking power of teleportation.

Astonis.h.i.+ngly, it was drawing upon its full life force to summon an incredibly powerful teleportation magic. It was a teleportation that would whisk Meng Hao away safely, but the price to be paid was the meat jelly’s life itself.

It was the type of teleportation that the meat jelly would normally never even think to utilize. But right now, with Meng Hao hovering on the verge of death, and the parrot having made its choice, the meat jelly had made its choice, completely willingly.

A tremor ran through Meng Hao. He was now wavering back and forth between unconsciousness and lucidity. He could see the anguish of the parrot, and could sense what the meat jelly was doing. He couldn’t stop the shaking which wracked him. He wanted to stop them, but couldn't open his mouth. His injuries were too severe, and he could do absolutely nothing to prevent any of it from happening.

Tears welled up in his eyes, and his crimson pupils were seas of anguish.

“My friends....” he muttered, and yet only he could hear those words.

A boom could be heard as the meat jelly’s teleportation light exploded out. The cultivators of the Immortal G.o.d Continent and the Devil Realm Continent could both sense what was happening, and sent one stream of will to stop the parrot and copper mirror, and another to prevent the meat jelly from completing the teleportation.

The mastiff howled and leaped forward to intervene, but was completely incapable of fighting the incoming stream of will. Blood sprayed out of its mouth, and it was sent tumbling back. And yet, it tenaciously stuck by Meng Hao’s side to protect him. As for the stream of will, its target was the meat jelly.

It was at this point that the parrot's self-detonation process paused momentarily, and it cried out in a shrill that shook Heaven and Earth: “Let him go!!

“Let him go!!

“Let him leave this place! Lord Fifth is willing... perform the mind erasure!

“I know you people want the copper mirror. Lord Fifth also knows that none of you can separate me from it. So today, I'm willing to be erased!” Even in this moment, the parrot still didn’t forget to call itself Lord Fifth.

“If you people don't want Lord Fifth to destroy the mirror, let him go, otherwise... I’ll blow it up, and none of you will ever lay a hand on it!!” The parrot's shrill squawk caused the hearts of all the surrounding cultivators to tremble.

The parrot almost seemed worried that they wouldn’t believe him. In that moment, it began to crumble into pieces. Its spirit and its mind fell apart. Just as it said, it was willing to allow its mind and thoughts to be erased, willing to no longer be a sentient ent.i.ty. Instead, its mind would become... a spirit automaton!

When that happened, the stream of will which was attempting to grab the meat jelly and Meng Hao suddenly stopped in place.

That was when the unleas.h.i.+ng of the meat jelly’s teleportation power reached its climax. The meat jelly itself turned completely gray as it lost all of its life force. It, together with Meng Hao, began to grow blurry. Then, rumbling sounds echoed out as the process of teleportation began.

It was then that, all of a sudden, the rugged, muscular man from the Devil Realm shot toward Meng Hao, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng. His target was not Meng Hao, though, but his bag of holding. Earlier, Meng Hao had pulled Su Yan out to threaten him, and she was still inside.

That muscular man’s hatred toward Meng Hao for his treatment of Su Yan had turned into profound killing intent. At this moment, he neared the teleportation perimeter, then reached his hand out.

“Stop them!!” a voice cried out. The approaching stream of will began to emanate ripples, but at the same time, the parrot’s entire body burst into flame.

Even as the muscular man reached his hand out, the power of teleportation erupted out. Rumbling could be heard, and in almost the exact same instant, Meng Hao and the meat jelly vanished.

The muscular man’s hand latched down onto nothing but thin air. He stamped his foot angrily, and looked up, his eyes completely bloodshot.

At the same time, the parrot chuckled. Its mind was fading, and the last thing it saw was Meng Hao vanish. Its eyes glimmered with the reluctance to part ways, with well wishes, and with an emotional sigh.

“We’ll probably never meet again....” it murmured. Then it closed its eyes.

A moment later, it opened its eyes again, and within the dazzling, multi-colored light that surrounded it, what people saw was no longer a garish parrot, but rather... the copper mirror spirit automaton, emanating a supreme Dao and the aura of a Paragon!

Its eyes were cold, so cold that they seemed capable of freezing the starry sky of the Vast Expanse, of burying all memories and thoughts.

A shocking pressure radiated out in all directions, causing all hearts to tremble. Even the 9-Essences experts were shaken, and the rugged, muscular man felt fear rise up in his heart when the mighty gaze of the parrot fell on him.

It was as if that gaze could read all thoughts and see through all hearts.

That gaze was above all else, like the most supreme of beings. It was like the ruler of the Vast Expanse, that could look down upon all life, which would then prostrate in wors.h.i.+p.

Behind it was the copper mirror, which radiated a boundless, supreme aura. Ripples spread out into the Vast Expanse, which then transformed into a vortex. All of the cultivators present couldn’t help but feel a sense of complete and utter awe.

A profoundly cold and ancient voice then spoke from the parrot's mouth: “I come from the Vast Expanse Society. I have traveled through tens upon tens of thousands of worlds....

“Tell me... your wish.”

-----

Note from Deathblade: There was a pa.s.sage some of you might remember from chapter 1325 in which Meng Hao mused about the parrot/copper mirror being able to end the war. It's a bit too long to quote here, but it might be worth going back to review.