[1. Since I’m sure there will be some comments, I’ll explain about the “one punch” thing. The two characters which make up this chapter name (一拳) literally mean “one fist.” However, often this character of “fist” is used to describe the action of punching. A cursory search reveals that there seem to be two common Chinese translations of “One-Punch Man.” One translation ( 一擊男) comes across as “one strike man,” the other (一拳超人) “one punch super man” or “one fist super man,” uses the same two characters as the t.i.tle of this chapter. One-Punch Man apparently rose to popularity in j.a.pan starting around 2012, but the officially licensed Chinese translations didn’t come out until late 2015, whereas this chapter was originally published in early 2015. I’ll leave it up to you to decide if this is an intentional reference to Saitama. Although isn’t it interesting that a bald character suddenly showed up in the last chapter…]

Other than those four, there were six Chosen who Meng Hao hadn’t seen on Planet South Heaven when all the outside Chosen came. Four were men and two were women. One of the women wore a white mask and a long red robe. When she attacked, a Blood Orchid bloomed around her, indicating that she came from the Church of the Blood Orchid.

The other woman wore garments of five colors, and was not very pretty. She attacked with shocking five elements magic, and even though Meng Hao had previously cultivated a five elements Nascent Soul, he had the feeling that this woman’s skill with the five elements exceeded his own. She was from the Five Colors Sect.

The other four cultivators were all young men. One of them did not personally attack his opponent, but rather, caused a coffin to appear, from within which emerged a corpse. The corpse easily slaughtered the young man’s opponent. He was from one of the Five Great Holy Lands, the Paleo-Immortal Mausoleum.

The second young man was bony, with eyes that burned like fire. Like the other young man, he did not personally attack, but instead, simply stared at his opponent, who then burst into flames and then transformed into nothing but ash.

The third young man was handsome and, shockingly, had a third eye on his forehead. It was clearly a Dharma Eye, and it remained closed the entire time. The young man wore a slight smile, and he seemed almost completely harmless, as if he lacked any ability to attack whatsoever. Furthermore, his opponent didn’t attack either! The two of them transmitted a few words to each other, and then the opponent knelt down on one knee, looking at the young man with a pious expression, and conceded.

This young man was from the Burning Incense Stick Society.

The last person was a hulking man from the Kunlun Society. He was stalwart, with a powerful fleshly body. He started his match standing there like a mountain. When his opponent attacked, he waved a finger, causing a huge mountain to descend, smas.h.i.+ng into his opponent and instantly defeating him. However, he did not kill his opponent.

When Meng Hao saw that, his eyes suddenly shone with the desire to do battle.

As the intense fighting of the first round of arena matches played out, the audiences outside in the Ninth Mountain and Sea closely watched the screens in the three vortexes. Each of those screens was divided into multiple smaller screens which depicted each of the battlegrounds.

In the palace in the starry sky, the various Patriarchs were closely observing to the goings on, and were paying especially close attention to the Chosen from their own sects. They were also watching the cultivators from the other sects. Although most of the Chosen were not particularly powerful, they were the future blazing suns of the various sects.

As long as they did not unexpectedly perish and could mature and grow stronger, they would eventually allow their sects to gain more power and influence.

“This generation has come across the fate of becoming a true immortal; in the Nine Mountains and Seas, every 10,000 years, the true immortality destiny descends, and an entire generation of Chosen always comes out of the woodwork.”

“I wonder which three will last until the end to take first place in their stage!?”

Everyone was watching the fighting, hearts filled with antic.i.p.ation.

Back in the battleground, Meng Hao’s expression was calm as he sat there cross-legged on the leaf. He looked around at the other arenas, and could see many people looking back at him.

After looking around for a while, Meng Hao had the mind to take a look at the Nascent Soul battles, but unfortunately, it was currently impossible to see the fighting taking place in the other two areas. Finally, he closed his eyes and waited for time to pa.s.s.

On the Nascent Soul battleground, Chen Fan’s expression was as gloomy as ever. His attacks appeared to be normal, but his opponent seemed to have been infected by his mood, and as such, was only able to fight with half of the power of his cultivation base.

On the Spirit Severing battleground, the fighting was equally intense.

The first round of arena matches for the Dao Seeking stage was the first to end, after a total of four hours. Half of the compet.i.tors were eliminated, and the other half stood on their leaves on the second level, eyes flickering. The leaves beneath their feet began to s.h.i.+ne with light that spread out to cover everyone and teleport them to the third layer of leaves.

When he reappeared amidst the flickering light, Meng Hao was facing an old man whose face was covered with dark blotches. Immediately, a murderous aura sprang up, along with shocking energy. The man held a cane in his hand, and as he walked forward, he suddenly realized he was facing Meng Hao, and his pupils constricted.

“Fang Mu!” he thought, and his heart began to pound with unease. He had never imagined that he would end up facing the mighty Fang Mu in the second round. “His fleshly body is incredibly powerful, and his divine sense is incredible. He has a profound cultivation base and attacks without mercy…. Dammit, why did I have to end up facing him? Although, I might not necessarily be unable to earn a victory. I excel in terms of speed!”

Eyes flickering, the old man turned into a blur as, all of a sudden, nine clones appeared.

The nine clones closed in on Meng Hao, each one coming from a different direction.

Meng Hao stood there, looking around coldly at the incoming figures. His expression was calm as he raised his right hand and once again released one punch. As soon as the punch landed on the ground, he turned and, just as he had in the last battle, began to walk to the edge of the arena.

Behind him, ma.s.sive booms rang out. His one punch caused a huge vortex to appear, which emanated a shocking gravitational force and intense rumbling. Ten figures immediately began to be sucked in toward the vortex. Nine of them collapsed into pieces, and the old man’s true self coughed up blood. His expression was one of astonishment as he quickly called out that he conceded.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he faded away to reappear back on the first level of leaves. He had been completely defeated.

By that point, Meng Hao had reached the edge of the arena, where he sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Many people in the outside world were paying attention to Meng Hao, and what they saw shocked them.

“One punch again!! It was exactly the same as the first round, except that the old man’s cultivation base was clearly much higher than the guy from the previous fight!”

“This Fang Mu’s fleshly body is so powerful that he can create a vacuum! Maybe his speed truly isn’t that great, but he’s so strong that he doesn’t even need speed! Who could possibly fight back against that one punch!”

“He’s definitely going to get into the top 16. I can’t wait to see him fight against some of those Chosen!!”

The outside world was in an uproar. It didn’t take long for the second round of arena matches to end, and the third to begin. Meng Hao appeared on the next level of leaves, where he looked at the glittering lights in front of him and watched his opponent emerge.

This person was no Chosen. Instead, it was the young man with the mosquitos. When he laid eyes on Meng Hao, instead of looking nervous like the previous two opponents, his eyes gleamed with the desire to do battle.

“Fang Mu,” he said. “It’s my pleasure to be able to fight with you. Finally, I’ll be able to see exactly how powerful you are!”

Meng Hao’s expression was the same as ever; completely emotionless. What he had been paying attention to this whole time was not the young man himself, but rather his mosquitos.

Before the young man even finished speaking, he waved his hand, causing a shocking cloud of fierce mosquitos to appear. The largest were a meter long, and many were the size of a fist. They spread out in a great cloud as they shot toward Meng Hao.

A buzzing sound could be heard as they closed in. Meng Hao’s eyes flickered as he clenched his fist and then punched out.

Just like the previous matches, it was only one punch. Rumbling filled the air and ripples spread out in all directions. At the same time, Meng Hao turned and walked toward the edge of the arena.

Behind him, the shocking ripples slammed into the mosquitoes, causing them to collapse into pieces. The young man’s body began to vibrate uncontrollably as he shot backward. Blood sprayed from his mouth, and his expression was one of shock. He hadn’t even been able to attack, and yet his cultivation base was suppressed, and he almost felt as if his vital organs were being tossed about.

At the critical moment, even the young man’s voice quavered as he cried out, “Concede… I concede!!”

He looked over at Meng Hao with an unprecedented expression of fear. He had been aware that Meng Hao was powerful, but had never imagined that he was THIS powerful!

As the scene played out in front of the eyes of the audience in the outside world, it sent them into tumult. In the first round, one punch. In the second round, also one punch. In the third round, facing up against a powerful opponent, and… also one punch!

“Just… just how powerful is he!?!?”

“He definitely deserves to take first place! With power and confidence like that, he’s basically invincible!”

“I’m guessing that only the Chosen from the great sects can actually fight him!!”

“I wonder who will force him into using two punches!?”

Up in the starry sky palace, the various Patriarchs were nodding in approval. None of them had any reason to deny that among his generation, Meng Hao truly was incredibly powerful!

“He must be using a vibration magic. This Fang Mu isn’t very old, but he’s actually mastered the magic of vibration!” [1. Meng Hao picked up the “vibration magic” from Guyiding Tri-rain in chapter 644. He used it afterwards on a couple occasions.]

“That’s a fleshly body technique that can only be learned when the fleshly body has reached a certain level of power. It can be considered very strong within the Spirit Realm. In fact, even in the Immortal Realm, there are only a handful of people who have mastered it!”

Meng Hao’s performance was flashy and eye-catching, making him the center of attention of everyone watching the arena matches. When it came to the Chosen who were partic.i.p.ating in the arena matches, they were also paying close attention to Meng Hao. Although their matches ended quickly, none of them were able to finish them with the ease that Meng Hao did.

“Hmph, he’s just gotten lucky. How could he have run into so many weak opponents?! If he had faced off against formidable adversaries like we did, there’s no way he would’ve gotten off so easy!”

“The further along we get, the more powerful the opponents will be. Let’s see exactly how many rounds he can last!”

Discussions like these could be heard as the third round of matches concluded, and the fourth round began. By now, most of the cultivators had been eliminated, and only about a hundred remained.

Each and every one… was incredibly powerful!

Meng Hao stood on the fifth level of leaves as another opponent appeared amidst glittering lights. It was a hulking man who wore a long robe. Ripples spread out as he materialized. This was not the powerful expert from the Kunlun Society, but was a Chosen nonetheless.

He came from the Seven Seas Sect.

In each of the previous rounds, he had torn his opponent to shreds. All of them had died. When walked out into the arena, a cruel smile could be seen on his face, and his eyes shone with a vicious gleam.

“Fang Mu…” he said. “We meet at last. You made quite a show in the past few rounds, but that was only because the people you were up against were weaklings!

“This time, I’ll help you to understand how wide the gap is between a rogue cultivator like you and us Chosen. That gap… will leave you in despair!” The man laughed uproariously, and put on the appearance of being crude and rash. In truth, he was actually being very cautious, and was careful not to let any of his scheming thoughts show on the surface. As he spoke, he began to charge forward, and illusory seawater appeared around him. Seven seas appeared, causing rumbling sounds to fill the air. Simultaneously, a huge sea dragon materialized and roared toward Meng Hao.

As of this moment, many people among the audiences outside in the Ninth Mountain and Sea were watching Meng Hao in the arena. When they saw the Chosen from the Seven Seas Sect attacking Meng Hao, many of them sighed.

“Fang Mu will definitely be incapable of pulling off something amazing with a single punch like before.”

“Hmph. Going up against weaklings makes it easy to seem powerful. But now that he’s fighting a Chosen, he’ll have a tough time remaining calm. Even if he wins, this battle is definitely going to be like a fierce struggle between a tiger and a dragon.”

“I’ve heard that the Seven Seas Sect’s Yun Tianhe has a bizarre energy. After combining that energy with the cultivation base, it create a power that enables him to fight a false Immortal without being at a disadvantage.”

The discussions in the outside world could not be heard in the arenas. At the same time, the hulking man from the Seven Seas Sect let out a powerful roar as he closed in on Meng Hao. Meng Hao’s expression was as calm as ever as, just the same as before, he punched one time!