“Long time no see.”

The voice was calm and completely lacking any sort of emotion. And yet as soon as Jin Yunshan heard it, his heart shook as violently as if it had been struck with lightning bolts. Waves of shock battered his mind, and he couldn’t prevent himself from trembling physically.

He somehow managed to turn around, and what he saw was a very, very familiar face.

It was a face from tens of thousands of years in the past, a face that hadn’t changed at all, except for the fact that it seemed vastly more ancient.

As soon as Jin Yunshan laid eyes on it, his heart felt as if it would literally explode, and his mind began to reel. Despite the current level of his cultivation base, he was unable to perceive how powerful Meng Hao was, who almost seemed to be fused with the starry sky itself.

He was completely unfathomable, and as a result, infinitely mysterious. That led to a suffocating pressure which caused Jin Yunshan to think of the Meng Hao of yesteryear, and how it had felt to stand in his presence.

Jin Yunshan s.h.i.+vered, then began to speak haltingly. “Y-you... you're actually... you’re still here... I....”

He was the only one who could actually see Meng Hao. The Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators could not. They only saw Jin Yunshan turning around with a face as ashen as death.

“I'm not dead,” Meng Hao said coolly. “Nor did I have another battle with Allheaven. And I most certainly didn’t leave this starry sky.” Although his gaze was placid, to Jin Yunshan, it felt like a barrage of lightning, smas.h.i.+ng his mind, battering his Transcendent fleshly body and shattering his Transcendent cultivation base.

Blood sprayed out of his mouth, and he began to back up, chuckling bitterly. A look of madness sprang up in his eyes, and he threw his head back and roared.

“Impossible! How could you still be here? How is this possible? Tens of thousands of years have pa.s.sed! Everyone else is dead? It’s impossible that you could still be here!

“Why haven’t you left? Why haven’t you gone? This starry sky is so small! The Universe is so big! Why haven't you gone?!

“I should be the lord of this starry sky! I've Transcended! Why are you still here?!?!” Jin Yunshan was going mad. It was impossible for him not to. He had paid an unimaginable price to continue his cultivation down to this day, and was now more than half a step into Transcendence. How could he ever have imagined that Meng Hao would suddenly pop up, like a horrific nightmare? “Well since you’re here, I challenge you to a fight!”

Roaring in fury, hair in complete disarray, his mental faculties shattered, he drew upon the complete power of his Transcendent fleshly body and cultivation base, transforming into a bright beam of light that shot directly toward Meng Hao.

Jin Yunshan’s eyes were bright red; he was going all out with this attack. It was the type of attack where he would either succeed and come out alive, or die trying. The level of energy he was unleas.h.i.+ng was completely unprecedented, and it even caused his soul to climb to a higher level. It was with shocking battle prowess that he closed in rapidly on Meng Hao.

The entire time, Meng Hao’s face was completely calm. He lifted his right hand and extended a finger. Instantly, everything in front of him went completely calm. Even Jin Yunshan went still.

To Meng Hao, Jin Yunshan was like a baby waving a b.u.t.ter knife.

“Calm down,” he said, lowering his hand.

As he did, everything returned to normal. Jin Yunshan was left trembling and coughing up blood. Shock and disbelief filled him as he looked bitterly at Meng Hao.

He had no choice but to admit that Meng Hao’s strength exceeded even his own powers of imagination. In fact, he was sure that even if he Transcended in soul, thus fully stepping into Transcendence, that he would still be defeated with a single blow if he tried to fight Meng Hao.

“W-what... what realm... are you in?” he stammered.

“Even I’m not sure,” replied Meng Hao, shaking his head. That was no lie. As of this point, he was unsure of his own level of power. All he knew was that after the tens of thousands of years of augury, after the countless years of secluded meditation... he had reached a level of almost complete omnipotence. All he had to do was think, and he could transform anything into ash.

“Congratulations on beginning to walk the path of Transcendence. Your soul is still lacking, and at the moment, it's a deficiency you cannot surpa.s.s. Leave. You already possess the power to depart from this starry sky. Go out into the Universe and search for the good fortune you need. Perhaps one day you will truly Transcend.” When Meng Hao looked at Jin Yunshan, he felt no malice or enmity.

Everyone he knew had already pa.s.sed away, and he felt little connection to the current starry sky. The only reason he had appeared to begin with was because the Mountain and Sea Realm was his legacy.

Trembling, Jin Yunshan gritted his teeth and said, “I'm not going anywhere!”

“You refuse to leave, huh....” Meng Hao looked far off into the distance. After some time pa.s.sed, he looked back at Jin Yunshan, his expression calm.

“That’s fine. But know this: whatever progress you make, you will never be able to replace these Heavens. You must learn what it means to yield.” Meng Hao waved his sleeve, and blood sprayed out of Jin Yunshan’s mouth. Rumbling could be heard as he was thrown backward like a kite with its string cut. He spun and spun, flying all the way back to Planet Vast Expanse.

When he finally came to a stop, he heard Meng Hao’s voice speaking coolly in his ear: “Don’t show your face for the next 100,000 years.”

A tremor ran through Jin Yunshan, and all the bravado which had filled him moments ago drained away. He could reject Meng Hao's suggestion to leave this starry sky, but he could not refuse the punishment of 100,000 years of confinement.

“Why? I’m almost completely Transcended. I should be the lord of this starry sky. And yet... it’s like I'm still stuck in the past.” Feeling bitter and resentful, Jin Yunshan gritted his teeth and went back into secluded meditation.

The crisis facing the Mountain and Sea Realm was resolved. It quickly reverted back to its normal color. Everything had happened so quickly that the Mountain and Sea Realm cultivators were left gaping in shock. They weren’t sure exactly what had occurred, but they did see the supremely powerful Jin Yunshan driven away like a stray dog by some invisible power.

Many speculations and many stories began to spread.

Meng Hao looked around at the Mountain and Sea Realm, and then looked outside of it. His gaze pierced through the starry sky until it came to rest in the region outside the Vast Expanse. It was a sharp gaze, deep, profound, and filled with obsession.

He was like a divine being which had finally awoken from slumber.

“Allheaven,” he murmured, “the time has come for our final battle. You’ve been hiding from me for tens of thousands of years, and I’ve also been hiding away. It's time to sort things out once and for all.” His eyes flickered with icy killing intent as he took a step forward. That single step took him through the void until he was outside of the starry sky!

The final battle was about to begin!