Everyone in the Ninth Mountain and Sea was completely shaken. In the starry sky palace, the Patriarchs of the various sects looked on with strange gleams in their eyes. The elder from the Holy Land of the Bones of the Flamedevil chuckled and rose to his feet.

“Presumably, this young man is not the type to be selected by the Three Great Daoist Societies. This magic is connected by destiny to the Bones of the Flamedevil. Ladies and Gentlemen, I humbly request that you do not compete with me in this matter.” Even as he spoke, the old man moved with incredible speed. However, at the same time, eight or nine other people sped forward.

Of the Five Great Holy Lands, w.a.n.g Youcai and Fatty had been taken by the Moonset Lake and the Paleo-Immortal Mausoleum respectively. Up to now, only the Blue Lotus Sky, Mount Sun, and the Bones of the Flamedevil hadn’t truly made a move. Now, though, they sprang into action.

Even as they neared Li Yan’s world, rumbling echoed out as multiple stone steles descended. One, three, five, seven….

In total, seventeen stone steles appeared!!

One more than w.a.n.g Youcai!

Each one of the seventeen stone steles was fully three hundred meters tall, and as they spun around Li Yan, they turned into a vortex that sent light towering up into the sky. Li Yan stood in the middle of it all, surrounded by the boundless glow, looking like an unparalleled Chosen.

When the crowds out in the Ninth Mountain and Sea saw the seventeen stone steles, they were completely shocked.

“From ancient times until now, he’s second only to Sir Fan!”

“Seventeen stone steles! He’s definitely worthy to have been enlightened regarding 95 Immortal ruins! He created a body magic that summoned seventeen stone steles!”

“It’s impossible to predict what kind of future he will have, especially since his cultivation base is at the peak of Dao Seeking. Once he joins a sect, he’ll get some training and will definitely become an incredible Chosen!”

All sorts of envious and jealous comments could be heard echoing out in the Ninth Mountain and Sea. In Li Yan’s world, the Patriarchs from the various sects had arrived. After some bickering, the Bones of the Flamedevil managed to recruit Li Yan as a disciple.

As of now, the only person left in the world of the sixth, seventh, and eighth stages was Meng Hao. His divine ability had not fully been created yet.

Everyone was now watching closely, including the Three Great Daoist Societies in the palace up in the starry sky.

The antic.i.p.ation in the air continued to grow more intense.

“If he can outdo everyone else, then he’ll take first place! Let’s see how many stone steles his divine ability will cause to descend!”

“He gained enlightenment from 99 Immortal ruins. If he gets anything less than fifteen stone steles, it would be completely disappointing!”

“It’s hard to say. I heard that one year, somebody gained enlightenment from 98 Immortal ruins, but in the end only created a nine-stele divine ability!”

Three days later, as Meng Hao sat there cross-legged, his eyes suddenly opened.

“Each time I gained enlightenment from the first 98 Immortal ruins,” he thought, “I saw images of spirit stones and promissory notes. In the future, I hope to make all the Chosen in the great Nine Mountains and Seas write me promissory notes!

“That is my grand aspiration….

“Writing me a promissory note is also sowing Karma, and those Karma threads can be used to interfere with fate. However, most people aren’t willing to write promissory notes. Therefore… I will create a divine ability that forms ties of destiny with them by force!” Meng Hao’s eyes glittered and he raised his right index finger.

Immediately, the world began to tremble as countless threads appeared. Some of the threads were bright, and some were dark, but all were Karma Threads, and they did not originate from this world, but from Meng Hao!

Shockingly, just a movement of his finger had caused all of his Karma Threads to become visible. The entire world began to shake even more violently, and roaring filled the air, as if the entire place were about to collapse.

Meng Hao looked up and gazed at the Karma Threads, and his eyes glittered brightly. He suddenly formed his right hand into a claw, which reached out and grabbed one of the Karma Threads. The instant he touched it, he suddenly saw an image of Fan Dong’er.

He yanked on the Thread, and it twisted. At the same time, Meng Hao pulled out a piece of paper. Then, he unhesitatingly caused the Karma Thread to twist into the shape of a magical symbol, which he then imprinted onto the piece of paper.

As soon as the mark appeared, Fan Dong’er, who sat cross-legged in meditation in the Nine Seas G.o.d World trying to suppress the female corpse on her back, felt a tremor run through her. Her eyes opened wide and then shone with astonishment.

Next, her face flickered, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood. A look of astonishment covered her face.

“What just happened? Did somebody just use the Dao of Karma to plot against me?”

In the instant that Fan Dong’er’s face flickered, Meng Hao’s expression became one of excitement. He took a deep breath, and then a strange light appeared in his eyes. This magic which forced ties of destiny was only in the first level of development. In the second level, he would be able to fuse promissory notes into the Karma Threads, and then unleash the full divine ability.

As far as the third level went, he would be able to use the promissory notes as Karma seeds, which, if successfully planted and the magic was allowed to grow to its full extent, would give Meng Hao the power to determine life or death with a mere thought.

“This is my divine ability. A Writ of Karma. It might not be complete, but in the future, as my cultivation base grows more abstruse, I WILL perfect it!” As Meng Hao’s words rang out, the world around him shook, then filled with fissures. Everything trembled as Meng Hao came into clear view of everyone on the outside world.

The Patriarchs up in the palace were shocked.

“It’s a Daoist magic!!”

“It’s the Ji Clan’s Dao of Karma! Wait, no! It’s something different than the Ji Clan’s Dao of Karma! The Ji Clan severs Karma, but this forcefully ties destiny together. It’s equally domineering, equally shocking!”

“That’s not just a Daoist magic, that counts as a secret magic!! Fang Mu’s intuition is incredibly high!”

“I’m curious to know what enlightenment led him to create such a Daoist secret magic like this!!”

Daoist magics were rare, but secret magics were even rarer!

The spectators out in the Ninth Mountain and Sea were looking on with wide eyes. Gasps could be heard, and unprecedented looks of astonishment could be seen.

“This defies belief!!”

“This Fang Mu created a magic that seems to be both a Daoist magic and a secret magic! I’m afraid only the powerful experts from the great sects would be able to understand it!”

“In any case, it caused the world to begin to collapse. Now, I wonder how many stone steles will descend!? Will he exceed Li Yan?!”

As the world trembled around Meng Hao, intense rumbling sounds could be heard as the stone steles began to fall.

One, three, five, seven….

People looked on, astonished, as a total of twenty-one stone steles descended. They Circulated around Meng Hao endlessly, creating a completely astonis.h.i.+ng spectacle.

Instantly, the crowds in the Ninth Mountain and Sea began to seethe with excitement.

“Twenty-one stone steles! Heavens! That… that exceeds Sir Fan!!”

“Inhuman! This guy’s battle prowess is monstrous, and his creativity is inhuman! Even though we couldn’t see his latent talent, it’s surely extraordinary! He’ll definitely take first place in this trial by fire!!”

“I bet all of the Three Great Daoist Societies are in shock!! Twenty-one stone steles! This Fang Mu is definitely going to be famous in the Ninth Mountain and Sea!”

In the starry sky palace, the Patriarchs from the Three Great Daoist Societies were all sitting there as before. However, everyone else had already leapt to their feet. Their eyes shone with incredible brightness. If by any chance the Three Great Daoist Societies did not want to recruit Meng Hao, then they were ready to fight over him.

All of the disciples that had been recruited before Meng Hao could still be considered Chosen. However, sometimes people or events can come along that are simply beyond compare. Attempting to compare them with others would be unfair.

In the vast Eastern Lands, Fang Xiufeng and Meng Li looked at each other and smiled. Meng Li’s face was covered with a proud smile as she looked back at Meng Hao on the vortex screen, and her heart filled with love.

“Little b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” muttered Patriarch Reliance. “It’s good that in the end, you didn’t lose me any face!”

Pill Demon and Chu Yuyan both let out light sighs. Chu Yuyan didn’t understand much about Meng Hao and his proclivity toward promissory notes, but Pill Demon knew something of it, and a strange expression could be seen on his face. As for the rest of the crowds, most of them didn’t understand Karma very well, but they could speculate as to the general idea.

“With a magic like this, who will ever dare to refuse to write me a promissory note!” Meng Hao was inwardly delighted, and completely satisfied with the divine ability he had created.

At this point, everyone a.s.sumed that the Three Great Daoist Societies would swoop in to recruit Meng Hao. The Nine Seas G.o.d World and the Sublime Flow Sword Grotto were definitely moved, and they were just getting ready to enter discussions with the Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite, when all of a sudden, Meng Hao suddenly closed his eyes again. Apparently… he was sinking back into contemplation!

This scene instantly caused everyone to stare in shock.

“What is he doing?”

“Could it be… could it be that he intends to create another divine ability?” Even as shock rolled through everyone, a bright light suddenly began to s.h.i.+ne around Meng Hao, and the music of a great Dao began to echo out.

Meng Hao truly was in the midst of contemplating enlightenment. The reason he didn’t immediately absorb the power of the twenty-one stone steles was that, considering his current state, he was now ready to use his understanding of the nine bridges to create another divine ability.

“He’s actually going to create another divine ability!!”

“How… how is that possible? He already created one divine ability, how can he create another one? Does he think that creating divine abilities is as simple as eating or drinking?”

All the spectators in the outside world were completely shocked, even Meng Hao’s father and mother. The Patriarchs in the starry sky palace were also staring with wide eyes.

Li Yan, as well as all the other compet.i.tors who were now waiting outside, stared at Meng Hao in a daze.

This was especially the case when, only a few hours later, a ma.s.sive rumbling sound surrounded Meng Hao, and an intense energy surged up from him. Because the previous world had already collapsed, the energy affected the altar Meng Hao sat on, which everyone could see. There was no need for them to experience the divine ability; everyone was able to sense that this incoming divine ability was incredibly shocking.

“He’s actually creating another divine ability! What kind of jinx is this guy?!?!” The crowds were in an uproar, and before they even had a chance to calm down, Meng Hao suddenly frowned.

“No,” he murmured, “my line of thinking was a bit off.” He waved his hand, causing the surging energy that had shocked everyone to suddenly be extinguished. Once again, he began to contemplate.

When everyone saw that happen, they were left completely speechless…. The other compet.i.tors in the trial by fire began to smile bitterly. The divine ability that Meng Hao felt to be off, was actually far more powerful than any of the divine abilities they had created. Each and every one was left completely without words.

After a few more hours, energy once again began to surge up from Meng Hao. But then….

“Off again!” he said angrily. He once again quashed the energy and started over.

The crowds were now looking at each other, dumbfounded. They began to smile wryly as they looked over at Meng Hao on the vortex screen.

As for the Patriarchs in the starry sky palace, their eyes were s.h.i.+ning brightly, and it looked like they were getting ready for a struggle. An inhuman cultivator like this was someone each and every one did not wish to allow the Three Great Daoist Societies to recruit as a disciple.

The Patriarchs from the Three Great Daoist Societies were gaping in astonishment. Then, they exchanged glances, and within each others’ glittering eyes, they could all see antic.i.p.ation and something hidden deep within…. Hope!