With the exception of the 30,000-meter Dao Lake, all of the Dao Lakes and Geysers were drying up. Splits and cracks began to appear across the entire landscape, some of them enormous.

Teleportation traps flashed in and out madly, in some case appearing by the thousands to sweep across the land.

When the water of the 3,000-meter lakes began to lower, the South Heaven cultivators outside of the inner region began to withdraw. They knew the greatest windfall of all was just around the corner.

Unfortunately for them, it was good fortune they could never acquire. Only the cultivators in the inner region would have that chance. Furthermore, anyone who remained in the outer region would be killed during the eruption.

Currently, hundreds of thousands of cultivators milled around outside the border, peering inward. After all, even though they had no chance at getting the good fortune for themselves, the chance to witness the event was still an incredible opportunity. For all they knew, they might be able to gain some enlightenment that could lead to a breakthrough into another stage of cultivation.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the main lake.

RUMMMMMBBBBLLLE!

The ground quaked as the 30,000-meter lake exploded.

It is difficult to describe how shocking the scene was, and how completely gobsmacked everyone was. The only thing that can be said is that in the enormous outer region of the Ancient Dao Lakes, ma.s.sive fissures spread out across the land as if some enormous gravitational force under the ground was causing the land to sink down.

The land itself was too brittle, so fissures and cracks appeared as it sank.

When the entire land had sunk to a certain degree, it actually reversed itself and, amidst continuous rumbling, inflated back to its original state, as if it was an exhalation subsequent to an inhalation. It was almost like there was a giant, living deep beneath the ground, breathing, causing the land to sink and rise. As for the single 30,000-meter main lake, it formed what seemed like a pa.s.sageway connecting the ground to the Heavens above, something completely unique in all existence.

It was the epicenter of the explosive exhalation; water surged up from the 30,000-meter lake into the air, forming a ma.s.sive column!

From a distance, the sight was completely astonis.h.i.+ng. It was not a pillar of light, but when illuminated by sunlight, the column of water glittered brightly with a rainbow of colors. It was dazzling to the extreme, and its allure irresistible.

Of course, what drew people toward it was not the light itself, but the great Daos of Heaven and Earth that seemed to be contained within.

In this moment, a blurry figure appeared in mid-air outside of the Dao Lakes among the hundreds of thousands of cultivators, although none of them could see him. He was a young man in a Daoist robe, around whom a black wind swirled. His eyes glittered as he stared at the Dao Lakes region.

“So, I didn’t come in vain this time. My Coffin Altar Sect of the Northern reaches uncovered the fact that great fortune is available for me here. I, Zhou Chen, have arrived, so how could the good fortune possibly escape me!?” [1. Zhou Chen’s name in Chinese is 周塵 zhōu chén. Zhou is a common surname. Chen means “dust” or “dirt”]

The young man clearly did not have a Dao Seeking cultivation base. However, his body emanated faint bits of a virtually undetectable Dao Seeking aura. He appeared to be scanning the area for something in particular, when he suddenly jerked his head to look toward the Ancient Dao Lakes. He frowned. “Hunh... Dammit! That guy’s here too? Lu Bai….” [2. Lu Bai’s name in Chinese is 陸柏 lù bái. Lu is common surname. Bai means “cypess” or “cedar”]

Off in a different direction, a burly man stood on the peak of a mountain. He wore garments crafted from animal skins, and looked completely barbaric. He held a flagon of alcohol in one hand, and at his feet was the corpse of an Outlander Beast. Occasionally, he would rip some flesh off of the Outlander Beast corpse and eat it raw. His eyes glittered with a savage gleam.

“So, quite a few people are here from the Northern Reaches,” the man thought. “Well, the good fortune here belongs to me, Di Ye of the Desolate Clan! And I don’t just want the good fortune, I’m gonna chow down on some of these Southern Domain cultivators. Their flesh is soft, definitely much more delicious than the people from the Northern Reaches.” [3. Di Ye’s name in Chinese is 帝野 dì yě. Di is a surname which also means “emperor” or “G.o.d.” Ye means “wild” or “rough”]

A smile twisted his face as he stared down at the Ancient Dao Lakes region.

Suddenly, he caught sight of something, and his face flickered with rage. “Lu Bai from the Imperial Bloodline Sect [4. An organization with a name very similar to this sect was mentioned in chapter 599]. Dammit! He’s generally acknowledged to be the number one figure under Dao Seeking in the Northern Reaches, and is also one of the four great Young Starlords of South Heaven. What is he doing here? At the Second Severing level, he can fight early Dao Seeking! He’s inhuman! Considering he’s such a hotshot superstar with access to limitless good fortune, what the h.e.l.l is he doing here?!?!”

As the thousands of teleportation traps swept through the Ancient Dao lakes, a young man proceeded along, his expression cool. He seemed gentle, and was extremely good looking, to the point of perfection. The teleportation traps in his path were completely incapable of even touching him.

“What an interesting place,” he thought, “although it doesn’t suit me very well. Why did the exalted Dawn Immortal send me here? According to her, I would encounter the enemy I am destined to face….

“How amusing. I wonder who this supposed enemy will turn out to be?”

As he proceeded forward, the image of a Resurrection Lily could be seen behind him, swaying back and forth ominously.

The Dao Lakes region was full of powerful forces!

The ground quaked in shocking fas.h.i.+on, and everyone watching from a distance was astonished.

Just outside the 30,000-meter Dao Lake, the experts from the great sects and clans were staring fixedly, holding their energy in check, just waiting until the full eruption.

And then… it happened.

A thunderous roar could be heard as countless magical objects, corpses, Dao Shadows, miscellaneous objects, and even beasts exploded out from the 30,000-meter main lake.

In the blink of an eye, multicolored glows appeared, the shocking light of magical treasures. The collective gasp of the cultivators outside turned into a sound wave that rolled out. Considering that they had such a reaction, there is little need to mention the reaction of the people in the inner region, who simply had to reach out to grab the treasures.

Among the magical items was a longsword, two meters in length, around which circulated nine one-meter-long shortswords. The pressure it exuded was incredible.

There was also a gigantic war drum, next to which was an enormous puppet, which seemed like the only thing even remotely capable of matching up to the war drum.

There was also an enormous halo. It was impossible to tell what it was made from, but it shone with golden light, and its surface was covered with countless inscriptions of magical symbols. From within could be sensed an incredible sealing power, radiating out in all directions.

In addition… there was a shocking corpse! It wasn’t the corpse of a human, but rather, a black-colored dragon!!

To say that it was a dragon would be correct. However, this particular dragon had wings! Although it wasn’t a Flying Rain-Dragon, it was fully 3,000 meters in length and had long horns!

There was also a tree with a red trunk and branches, black leaves, and blue flowers. As for the three fruit it produced, they were white!

There were vast quant.i.ties of jade slips, one bag of holding after another, and even shrunken palaces. Most astonis.h.i.+ng of all, however, was a gigantic claw!

The claw was pitch black, and had three talons. It was over three hundred meters in length, and emanated an oppressive, murderous air.

There were a vast variety of items, and it would be impossible to describe them all. Upon cursory examination, there were roughly ten thousand in total, and because the various auras were all mixed together, it was difficult to determine which of the items was the most powerful.

In any case, as they burst out from the lake water, the rippling aura that spread out was shocking to the extreme.

The instant the Dao Lake erupted, the teenager from the Solitary Sword Sect immediately teleported. Ripples of Dao Seeking energy spread out as he headed directly toward the lake.

In addition to the teenager, the Spirit Severing experts from the Solitary Sword Sect also shot toward the lake.

The golden-armored man from the Golden Frost Sect, along with the other Spirit Severing experts, transformed into the golden puppet, which immediately stepped into the lake.

From the Violet Fate Sect, Reverend Withered-Dao moved with shocking speed that matched the teenager from the Solitary Sword Sect. He vanished, and when he reappeared, he was also above the Dao Lake. Of everyone in the Violet Fate Sect, he was the only one to take action.

As for the Li Clan off in the distance, they instantly went mad. Their Spirit Severing Cultivators couldn’t match up in terms of speed, but they had teleportation talismans. They instantly activated them and appeared in mid-air above the erupting Dao Lake.

At long last, the old man from the Song Clan, who up to this point had not spoken a single word nor revealed the tiniest bit of his aura, rose to his feet. The area around him transformed into what looked like a tempest as he, along with the two Spirit Severing cultivators from the Song Clan, headed toward the Dao Lake.

The shocking eruption of the Dao Lake made it seem like it was raining.

Even as all the others took action, the invisible Coffin Altar Sect disciple Zhou Chen took a step forward. Nine bottle gourds began to spin around him, creating a tunnel, which led directly to the erupting Dao Lake.

On the mountain peak across from him, the burly Di Ye lifted his head up and roared. “Shrink, shrink, SHRINK!”

He called out three times, and with each call, the world seemed to shrink in front of him. By the time he said ‘shrink’ for the third time, the world looked like a zoomed-out image to him. He took a single step, and crossed the void to appear in mid-air directly above the Dao Lake!

At the same time, the young man Lu Bai, who was walking through the teleportation traps in the Ancient Dao Lakes outer region, stretched out his hand. The illusory Resurrection Lily behind him suddenly shrank down, and a six-colored Resurrection Lily appeared in his palm.

The instant the flower appeared in his hand, the area around him began to distort. Suddenly, images appeared around him of everything that had ever existed or even pa.s.sed by the spot that he stood in.

He stood in the middle of the glowing lights, staring around at how everything had changed.

“Going back three breaths should suffice,” he thought with a slight smile. Everything around him began to distort again, and suddenly, what he saw was the world that had existed three breaths of time ago. He took a step forward, and he was back in that exact same time, just before the Dao Lake was going to erupt. He took another step, and was in mid-air above the Dao Lake. It was in that instant that the lake suddenly erupted.

His divine abilities and magical techniques were bizarre and astonis.h.i.+ng!

When the Dao Lake erupted, the light of magical items shone up into the Heavens. The six Spirit Severing Patriarchs of the Blood Demon Sect anxiously looked over at Meng Hao. Since his eyes were still closed, they stamped their feet and flew up into the air, shooting directly toward the erupting Dao Lake.

They weren’t far from it to begin with, so it didn’t take long to get close.

As for Meng Hao, his eyes were still closed, and his mind was filled with the Withering Flame Demon Magic True Self Dao. He was still in the midst of contemplation. Although it first seemed impossible to comprehend, he was now reaching the limits of his understanding.

He had already determined that the Withering Flame Demon Magic True Self Dao was actually split into three different Daoist magics, the first being the Withering Flame, the second being the Demon Magic, and the third being the True Self Dao!

But now, he suddenly sensed that the Daoist magic… could actually be split into seven sections! Each section was its own shocking Daoist Magic.

Withering. Flame. Demon. Magic. True. Self. Dao!

The clone aspect was merely the divine ability represented by the character “self!”

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This chapter was sponsored by Espen Leonhardsen, William Storer, s.h.i.+n, Philipp Schröder, Clement Moriceau, Nam Tran, A.Darkstar, and Jacques-Landry Kengne