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Most astonis.h.i.+ng of all was that he could see... countless people!!

Shockingly, there were numerous cultivators, including men and women, old people and young. Apparently, this was just an ordinary day to these people, as they went about the affairs of their daily lives.

The sound of tolling bells could be heard, and the buzz of conversation. People gave sermons on the Dao in the mountaintop sects.

There... were no mortals in this place. The entire land ma.s.s was occupied by cultivators; everyone here practiced cultivation, no matter their position.

There was something warm and genial about these people. There was nothing vicious or evil about them, and everyone seemed to be smiling and laughing. Although there might be some level of fighting and scheming, some grudges or conflicts, the overall sensation was that this place was a sublime, flouris.h.i.+ng civilization.

There was Immortal qi, strong and abundant, and Meng Hao was even able to see one area which had been set aside to grow... the most precious of materials.

Countless Immortal creatures flew about in the sky, and the sounds of happiness filled the air. At one point, an Immortal crane flew by Meng Hao, and unexpectedly... it turned its head to look at him curiously.

That single glance left his mind reeling.

“This isn’t an illusion. What I’m seeing... isn’t a hallucination, but... real? I'm actually traveling back into ancient times with this land ma.s.s?” Even as Meng Hao was reeling in shock, the other cultivators were looking around, equally astonished.

Everything around them looked beautiful and wonderful, and yet Meng Hao could sense that within the beauty, there was immense, deadly danger!

Although he wasn’t sure what exactly was so dangerous, there was no time to ponder the matter. He took a deep breath and pushed forward even faster, flying past the 8-Essences Paragons.

Everyone was going all out with their cultivation bases, trying to build up as much speed as possible. They proceeded along for an undetermined period of time, and soon, the buildings around them were completely restored. The mountains and rivers, and in fact the entire aura of the land, was that of ancient times. All of the people were completely solid and visible to the eye. It was at this point that Meng Hao and the rest of the group spotted the border of the land ma.s.s up ahead, as well as the bridge.

Before, that bridge had been made of flesh and blood, but now, it was permeated with Immortal qi, making it an Immortal bridge. There were people on it, chatting and laughing, and when they noticed Meng Hao and the rest of the group, they stopped in place and looked over.

One of them was a young man. When he spoke, his voice was clear and filled with dignity. “Excuse me, Fellow Daoists, may I ask what has you in such a panic?”

His words caused Meng Hao’s face to turn grim. Jin Yunshan’s pupils constricted, and Sha Jiudong and the Sect Leader looked on with flickering expressions. Everyone else in the group gasped.

Although they were aware that the lands they were in appeared to have returned to ancient times, and had even seen people looking at them as they sped along, they had still harbored hope that maybe it was all just a fluke....

But now, with people actually talking to them, they realized that they really were back in ancient times.

“Ancient times.... Ancient times....” As Meng Hao looked around at everything, something suddenly occurred to him. He remembered a vision he had experienced recently, and suddenly began to pant. Then he looked up into the sky, and his face fell.

“Get out of here immediately!” he said loudly. “Do it however you can, otherwise... we’ll face deadly catastrophe!!” Even as the words left his mouth, he waved his hand, sucking his two 8-Essences Paragon subordinates into his bag of holding.

His two subordinates had never seen him act this way, and as such, didn’t refuse. After they allowed Meng Hao to place them in his bag of holding, he bit his tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood to unleash an escape magic he had acquired from Shui Dongliu’s legacy. His speed increased dramatically, instantly placing him upon the bridge itself. A huge wind blasted out as he sped along.

Everyone else in the group was taken aback. Meng Hao's words caused their hearts to begin to thump. There was no need for them to ponder whether he might be deceiving them. The things which were happening around them were simply too strange. They immediately unleashed divine abilities, holding nothing back in their charge toward the bridge.

The young man on the bridge frowned, then snorted coldly. He extended both hands, and was just about to prepare to block the way, when suddenly a sound like thunder echoed out in the vast blue sky up above.

The sound of the thunder instantly caused all of the cultivators’ minds to reel, and their bodies to involuntarily s.h.i.+ver. It was the same even with Meng Hao. His face fell as all of his doubts were swept away. He was now absolutely certain that this was the day... that he had seen in the vision, when Allheaven’s finger destroyed the world!

Only moments ago, he had sensed fluctuations coming from the ninth land ma.s.s, which indicated that someone was facing a Tribulation!!

Suddenly, colors flashed in the sky, and the sound of thunder exploded out. Heaven and Earth shook violently, and all living beings in the world looked up. The young man on the bridge ignored Meng Hao and the others as he stared up into the sky, shocked.

Meng Hao flashed past the young man like lightning, and even as he reached the end of the bridge, an icy coldness began to descend.

Without thinking about it, he looked back and saw... all of the land ma.s.ses quaking. Mountains shook and rivers seethed as a gigantic finger began to descend from up above!!

The finger was so big that it filled the entire sky, and as the living beings of the world looked up, their faces were filled with complete astonishment and disbelief.

To Meng Hao, even just looking at the finger caused so much pressure to crush down on him that his head felt stabs of pain, and blood sprayed out of his mouth.

“This level of power far exceeds what I felt when I faced Allheaven earlier. Based on what I saw in the visions, this time period was when Allheaven... was at a peak level of power!!”

He coughed up another mouthful of blood and pushed forward with even greater speed. At the same time that he shot off the bridge, the Sect Leader, along with Jin Yunshan, the Second Paragon, Sha Jiudong, and everyone else, stepped onto it.

No one spoke; there was no time. They unleashed all the speed they could muster to race across the bridge and toward the exit of the necropolis.

Jin Yunshan almost immediately transformed into a golden sun, and a series of after images could be seen stretching out behind him as his speed increased dramatically. As for Sha Jiudong, his body shrank down, transforming into a stream of sand that merged with the wind and sped along at top speed.

The Sect Leader took a deep breath, then took a step forward. Although that steep seemed to carry him only a few meters ahead, he actually traveled 30,000 meters! It was as if he were transforming an entire swath of land into a tiny stretch of s.p.a.ce.

Everyone else used different, varied methods to speed through the world toward the exit. It was at this point that, behind them, the Heavenly finger which filled the sky began to descend onto the first land ma.s.s.

That finger was like a world unto itself, moving with such incredible speed that it gave birth to Heavenly fire. A sea of flames spread out starting from the fingertip, and as that happened, a howl rose up from far off in the distance.

“Allheaven!!” the voice shouted, filled with rage and pain. Even as it echoed out, the finger... made contact with the land!

The surface of the land shattered. Countless sects were crushed, and countless mountains were reduced to rubble. Cities and statues fell, rivers and vegetation were destroyed....

All of the people living on the land were killed in that same moment, unable to struggle or even fight back. Their bodies... were instantly transformed into ash.

One cultivator after another was incinerated, and in the blink of an eye, the entire first land ma.s.s... became a place of death. The Immortal creatures, the precious materials, everything vanished.

The group of people on the bridge, including that young man, were shredded to pieces. Their flesh and blood splashed about, turning the bridge red, filling it with gore....

It was as if an invisible shockwave were blasting out, destroying everything that it touched....

The shockwave continued out past the borders of the land ma.s.s, spreading out into the cities which floated on the outside. They were all transformed into ruins, and everyone who lived there was killed.

Meng Hao and the other cultivators from the Vast Expanse School were all fleeing for their lives!

One of the 8-Essences Paragons was a bit too slow, and was overtaken by the shockwave. He began to tremble, and was then transformed into ash. When the rest of the group saw this, their minds reeled. Looking back at the incoming shockwave, they pushed more power out of their cultivation bases, even detonating magical items to gain more speed.

Meng Hao’s face was very grim as he sped along, the fastest of the entire group. As the exit neared, he suddenly heard another shrill cry echoing out from one of the distant land ma.s.ses.

“Allheaven!!” The voice said exactly the same thing it had before, but the tone was different this time. It contained sadness, insanity, and boundless enmity. In that instant, the world was plunged into sinister coldness.

Those words filled the entire world with never-ending hatred!

Meng Hao didn’t look back. He continued onward, a blur as he stepped into the exit. Even as he was about to leave the necropolis, he suddenly... sensed some very familiar fluctuations. A tremor ran through him, and he stopped in place, slowly turning his head to look behind him.

When that happened, he saw a glittering beam of light shooting out from the ninth land ma.s.s toward the enormous finger. Within that beam of light... was a copper mirror!!

Within the mirror was a cold, detached figure, a colorful parrot whose eyes blazed like lightning. It was a majestic sight as the parrot slammed head first into Allheaven’s finger!

“The copper mirror...” Meng Hao thought, his mind reeling. Under no circ.u.mstances could he ever have imagined... that he would see the copper mirror in this place!