(click here for soundtrack)

The Eighth Demon Sealing Hex was the first of the Hexing magics that he had mastered, and the one he had used the most often. It was also the first Hexing magic that gave birth to an Essence for him.

The power of the Essence of s.p.a.ce, once fully unleashed, was terrifying to the extreme. And of course, considering the current level of Meng Hao’s cultivation base, he could utilize the Eighth Hex to the ultimate degree.

Anything which he saw could be rendered as a painting. Thus, anything Meng Hao could see could be sealed, if he wished it to be!

Rumbling echoed out as the Eighth Hex was unleashed. To Meng Hao, the entire starry sky became a canvas painting, even the Gate of the Ghost Realm, and even the ghostly hand stretching out from within it.

When the Hexing magic was unleashed, the starry sky shook and trembled.

“Break!” he said, his eyes flickering with killing intent. The canvas shattered, and the black, ghostly hand exploded. The enormous Gate of the Ghost Realm also shattered, shredded to pieces along with the canvas.

The Ghost was trembling on the verge of collapse, his face twisted and distorted as he threw his head back and howled. The vicious Ghost Emperor behind him was about to fight back when Meng Hao called up the full power of his cultivation base to fuel the Eighth Hex.

“I still haven’t used my Seal the Heavens Hex, but neither have I used my Battle Weapon. If I can’t beat the duplicate of a Transcendor from Allheaven’s memories, then how could I possibly qualify to stand on an equal footing with the real Ghost!?

“BREAK!” His eyes shone with cold light as he made a violent ripping motion with his hands. The Ghost couldn’t hold out any longer, and the Ghost Emperor was starting to collapse. However, the sensation of deadly crisis within Meng Hao continued to grow with wild speed.

Without any hesitation, he lurched to the side. At the same time, a black beam of light stabbed through his right shoulder. His right arm was completely vaporized, and blood shot out of the stump like a geyser. Then he vanished, to reappear further off in the distance.

At the same time, a frigid aura of death rose up, and a finger appeared, which stabbed directly toward Meng Hao.

His eyes shone with brilliant light, and he let out a powerful shout, causing the void and the starry sky around him to collapse, transforming into a wild tempest. Behind him, the image of the Demon Sovereign let out a roar of rage as it barrelled toward the incoming finger.

In that very same moment, a cold snort echoed out as another equally large figure materialized out of thin air. It was pitch black, and looked very similar to a demon, and yet lacked any sort of multifariousness. It was ancient, rife with death. it was... a Devil Specter!

Rumbling could be heard as the Demon Sovereign and the Devil Specter clashed, and a shockwave blasted out. Meng Hao fell back again, blood spraying out of his mouth. Having slipped out of the trap which had been set, he looked up, and his arm rapidly re-formed. He was now staring, not at the Devil Specter, with its majestic devilish qi, but the young man in the black robe hovering beneath it.

His features were ordinary, but he had strange black markings on his face, and he emanated a wild and barbaric air.

“The Devil!” Meng Hao said. He had never laid eyes on this young man before, but recognized him instantly. This was the second person to Transcend in the starry sky of the Vast Expanse, Choumen Tai’s Master from the Devil Realm Continent!

In the moment when Meng Hao had been about to destroy the Ghost Emperor, this young man had made his move, injuring Meng Hao.

Without Meng Hao controlling it, his Eighth Hex collapsed, and the sealing mark on the Ghost began to fade away. It wouldn’t be long before he was free of his bonds.

When that happened, Meng Hao would be up against both the Ghost and the Devil at the same time.

“I don’t like being called the Devil,” said the black-robed young man. “You can call me... Su Ming!” His eyes shone with a bizarre light, and the black markings on his face suddenly writhed as they grew and expanded.

Even as the words left his mouth, he extended his right hand, and rumbling sounds echoed out as he began to change shape, transforming into an enormous tree with countless rustling branches. The tree began to fly toward Meng Hao, whose eyes shone with a profound desire to fight. As he watched what was happening, he suddenly laughed.

“Many thanks to you, Allheaven, for giving me the chance to fight the most powerful people from the past. I'm very interested to find out if they are stronger than me, or weaker!” He transformed into a blur, which shot toward the black-robed man. As he closed in, his hands flashed in a double-handed incantation gesture, causing a sea of flames to rise up around him. In the s.p.a.ce of a single breath of time, it turned violet as the Demon Sovereign once again appeared.

The Demon Sovereign and the Devil Specter clashed, and Meng Hao began to fight with Su Ming. Both of them were equally fast. They didn’t make contact with each other, but fought with magical techniques and divine abilities.

The starry sky shattered, and the void collapsed. Seemingly endless varieties of divine abilities were unleashed in a very short time. Then, Su Ming suddenly took a step forward, whereupon his energy began to rise higher. Then he took a second step, a third, and a fourth.

Laughing loudly, Meng Hao also began to walk. One step, two steps, three steps, four....

They closed in on each other rapidly, and by the time they both took their seventh steps, their energy had reached an unimaginable level. The void in front of Su Ming shattered as a huge foot descended toward Meng Hao. However, Meng Hao’s seventh step resulted in exactly the same thing.

BOOOOOOOOOMMM!

An earsplitting boom echoed out. Blood sprayed out of the mouths of both Su Ming and Meng Hao as they were sent tumbling away from each other. And yet, just a moment later, they were flying back toward each other to fight.

Apparently, they were completely evenly matched!

Unfortunately, Meng Hao had the feeling that both the Ghost and the Devil had trump cards that they had yet to play, similar to his own Seal the Heavens Hex. Although, perhaps the truth was that Allheaven’s memory didn’t contain perfect copies of them. After all... Allheaven was currently weaker than he had ever been.

Meng Hao’s eyes glittered as he once again unleashed the Eighth Demon Sealing Hex. As expected, his opponent was locked down, allowing Meng Hao an opening to attack. Their battle was causing the starry sky to shake, and transforming nearby ruins into nothing more than rubble.

It was in this very moment that the Ghost howled and ripped apart the Spatial Sealing. Then, he slowly turned to look at Meng Hao.

Without any hesitation, he joined the battle. His first move was a fist strike which caused seemingly infinite ghost images to spring up, which then converged back into his fist.

In the blink of an eye, the Ghost’s single fist strike became infinitely more powerful!

-----

Check here for the contest rules.

Use the hashtag #ISSTH on twitter!