[1. Yes, the t.i.tle of this chapter is a mere exclamation point. Either it was intentional, or maybe Er Gen accidentally hit the delete key at the wrong point. He doesn’t tend to go back to fix mistakes… Join the contest to come up with good t.i.tle by leaving your idea in the comments.]

This day was the 49th day Meng Hao had kept the bronze lamp alight!

This day was the last day!

It was currently nighttime, and the moon wasn’t visible. The entire mountain range was swathed in pitch black, without the slightest bit of light anywhere.

The only light in the entire land… was in Meng Hao’s Immortal cave… from that flickering flame.

The bronze lamp burned with Meng Hao’s blood, creating an Immortal flame that had flickered to the very end.

Meng Hao was staring at the bronze lamp, waiting. He had experienced much carnage to reach this point, and now… the moment was here.

“Keep the lamp burning for 49 days,” he murmured, “and then, in the moment that it’s extinguished, it will form an Immortal meridian inside me!

“Gain enlightenment about that Immortal meridian, and my path… will be the path of ancient times!” By this point, the Chosen and Dao Protectors of the various sects and clans had sensed that something strange was going on.

A pressure had gradually arisen that weighed down on the entire mountain range. At the same time, the restrictions on the airs.p.a.ce… had suddenly been loosened.

Gradually, a sensation of imminent crisis could be sensed.

Ji Yin stood atop a mountain, looking at the surrounding lands. Karma swirled around him, making it impossible for anyone to see him clearly. However, his eyes shone with intense light.

“Dammit… this Karma wasn’t supposed to be his!!” Ji Yin abruptly vanished, transformed into countless strands of light that merged into the mountain range. This was a unique search method that he hoped would be able to locate Meng Hao.

The other Chosen in the mountain range used various other methods to try to track him down. This was especially true of Fan Dong’er. Her arm had been recovered by this point, but having been thwarted twice by Meng Hao, her pride had suffered nearly irrecoverably.

“Only by defeating him can I confirm my Dao heart!” she thought, her eyes gleaming with killing intent.

Fang Donghan was sitting quietly off in another location, watching everything play out, a smile on his face. His actions earlier had made him the subject of suspicion, but he didn’t care.

“Fang Hao. Meng Hao…. Interesting. I can’t wait until he runs into Fang Wei.”

w.a.n.g Mu’s face was grim. He felt that he was always a step too slow to catch Meng Hao. Every time they crossed paths, he hadn’t had the chance to truly engage him in combat. Currently, he sat with his right hand placed onto the ground in front of him. He closed his eyes, and his face went slack as he employed a secret technique. His soul was now merged into the land as he used his divine sense to search for Meng Hao.

Most anxious of all were the cultivators from Mount Sun, the Song Clan, the Li Clan, and the Church of the Emperor Immortal. Their Chosen had been captured by Meng Hao, which was a complete humiliation. Glum expressions could be see on their Dao Protectors’ faces as they carried out their search.

“Dammit, if our cultivation bases weren’t sealed, then Meng Hao would never dare to be so arrogant!”

“He’s dead! Once we find him, he’ll be dead without a doubt!”

Everyone was looking for Meng Hao, and gradually, the search perimeter grew smaller. Everyone was getting closer to Meng Hao and his Immortal’s cave.

Nighttime… began to turn into dawn!

The bronze lamp’s flame suddenly grew incredibly intense. It became a torch that illuminated the entire Immortal’s cave. In fact, the light seeped out through the walls of the cave… to s.h.i.+ne brightly in the outside world.

Meng Hao trembled as his blood suddenly began to flow in reverse. He started to bleed from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth, drops of which flew up and merged into the flame, causing it to burn even brighter.

Rumble!

The entire mountain range was shaking, and a roaring sound filled it as incredible pressure radiated out. Many of the cultivators began to tremble, and were forced by the incredible pressure to sit down cross-legged and begin meditating.

RUMBLE!

A second roaring sound rose up. At the same time, Meng Hao’s Immortal’s cave began to melt as a burning light rose up into the sky.

The ground was quaking even more severely, almost as if giants were running across it, and the intense pressure increased exponentially. On one particular mountain, countless Karma threads suddenly appeared, which then merged together into the shape of a person. It was Ji Yin, and blood was oozing out of his mouth.

He had no choice but to immediately sit down cross-legged and fight back with all the power he could muster.

As for w.a.n.g Mu, blood sprayed out of his mouth and he immediately began to meditate. Fan Dong’er and all the other Chosen were shaken and forced to meditate.

Next, a third roaring sound filled the air, and without exception, all of the Dao Protectors in the mountain range coughed up blood and sat down in meditation.

The mountains were trembling, and what seemed like a never-ending vortex appeared up above. Ma.s.sive roaring sounds shook Heaven and Earth, and it was even possible to see the shape of the land changing!

Outside the mountains, in the Eastern Lands, Meng Hao’s father and mother hovered in mid-air with Shui Dongliu, staring off at the mountains. A strange light could be seen gleaming in Shui Dongliu’s eyes.

“The moment in which fate is changed!”

In the Milky Way Sea, the old man sat cross-legged on the s.h.i.+p. He slowly opened his eyes and looked toward the mountain range.

Back in the mountain range, in the location previously occupied by the Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite Temple, there was only a crater. However, at this moment, a figure slowly coalesced in the middle of that crater.

It was an old man wearing a dilapidated gray robe, and he was looking off in Meng Hao’s direction.

RUMBLE!!

A fourth sound spread out, and this time it was filled with power that could tear open the sky. The blackness of night changed as the vast sky above the mountain range distorted, and then became a starry sky, seemingly that of ancient times.

Up in that starry sky, blurry figures could be seen, speeding along. There were numerous true dragons and mighty Immortal beasts, one after another.

A fifth sound echoed out. The land quaked, and countless mountains vanished as a Daoist rite temple suddenly appeared!

This was the real Daoist rite temple, with countless figures seated cross-legged in meditation. A towering pillar could be seen, seated atop which was an old man, giving a sermon on the Dao. Astonis.h.i.+ngly, on top of his head… was a bronze oil lamp!

The flames emitted green smoke that rose up into the sky and, as the man flicked his sleeve, the smoke… transformed into a huge character.

‘Immortal!’

In response to the materialization of the character, all of the figures in the Daoist rite temple began to prostrate themselves toward the old man. The stars in the sky dimmed, and countless figures up above began to kowtow.

In that instant, the sun and moon stopped s.h.i.+ning, and even the stars bowed their heads. All living things knelt in wors.h.i.+p, and it seemed as if all creation were bowing down!

It was then that the sixth roaring sound blasted out. Boundless dazzling flames surrounded Meng Hao, sending an indescribably brilliant light s.h.i.+ning out in all directions.

All of the cultivators in the entire mountain range could now see Meng Hao as he slowly rose up into the air, surrounded by boundless light.

He was cross-legged, and shockingly, a bronze lamp could be seen above his head!

He looked almost exactly like the old man!

That was especially the case… when Meng Hao, bathed in light, rose up to superimpose over the image of the old man. Everyone was completely shocked.

Meng Hao’s mind was blank, and his body was currently withering. All of the blood in his veins poured into the bronze lamp, which then began to burn with the final vestiges of his life force.

From the onlookers’ perspective, Meng Hao was now replacing that old man!

All of the figures who were bowed in wors.h.i.+p were no longer wors.h.i.+pping the old man, but rather, Meng Hao! The sun and moon trembled, and the stars went dim. All of the dragons and other Immortal beasts kowtowed in wors.h.i.+p.

Everyone was prostrated in wors.h.i.+p, even the almighty beings who plucked stars, the enormous giant who shouldered the starry sky, even Heaven and the Earth!

It was in this moment that a seventh roaring sound could be heard!

It filled all of the lands of South Heaven, almost like the tolling of a bell. It did not pa.s.s out of Planet South Heaven, and yet… in the other Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite Temple on the Ninth Mountain, the temple where incense still burned and its legacy still existed, the tolling of the bell could be heard, and countless Immortal figures appeared, astonis.h.i.+ng everyone on the Ninth Mountain!

At the same time, back in the lands of South Heaven, in midair above the mountain range, the bronze lamp on Meng Hao’s head… faded away completely in response to the seventh roaring sound!

The flame was extinguished, but light still spread out!

A wisp of green smoke rose up above the bronze lamp, a smoke that seemed to embody a great Dao. In the moment that it appeared, it transformed into the character ‘Immortal!’

A single character made up of green smoke, causing the minds of all onlookers to reel.

Next, the ‘Immortal’ character once again dissipated into green smoke, which then rushed toward Meng Hao. It poured in through his nose, mouth, and ears, then circulated through his body, linking together to become… an illusory meridian!

It was… an Immortal meridian!

The moment the Immortal meridian appeared, Meng Hao felt a tremor run through his body. Everything in his body felt as if it were changing. His bones, his flesh, his blood. All of it was completely transforming.

Rumbling filled the air, as if an Immortal were being born inside of him. His energy surged, and the sky and land darkened.

His Dharma Idol appeared behind him, and his cultivation base experienced an astonis.h.i.+ng transformation!

Fifty percent of a true Immortal!

Sixty percent of a true Immortal!

Seventy percent of a true Immortal!

Eighty percent of a true Immortal!

Meng Hao’s cultivation base rose in shocking fas.h.i.+on, and his Immortal qi grew more intense. His flesh and blood were reaching the pinnacle of power!

As he sat there cross-legged, he looked almost exactly like an Immortal!

The Immortal meridian was complete, and the path to Immortality was open!

He did not need some true Immortal destiny that appeared once every 10,000 years! He did not need some Immortality Illumination Vine! Meng Hao’s Immortality was completely his own. He… would tread his own path of true Immortality!

He was not a true Immortal yet. However, based on the path he was treading, once that illusory Immortal meridian became true and complete… then he would, beyond a doubt, be a true Immortal!

When the day came that he opened 100 meridians, because he had this extra Immortal meridian, he would have more Immortal meridians than others. He would be… a 101-meridian Immortal!

When it came to those 100 meridians, whether you had 1 extra or 10,000 extra, they were all extra. Thus… having 1 extra was the same as having 10,000, which was the same as having 100,000,000, which was the same as having an infinite amount!

Everything rumbled as Meng Hao’s eyes snapped open. The brilliant light that filled the world suddenly faded, and Meng Hao’s voice filled the entire mountain range.

“Fan Dong’er. Ji Yin. Zhao Yifan. Who of you… will fight me!?”