The Eighth Hex was the hexing of the body, and could even be called Bodily Cultivation Hexing!
The Seventh Hex was Karmic Hexing!
The Sixth Hex was Life-Death Hexing!
The three Demon Sealing Hexes that Meng Hao had learned spun in his mind. Each Hex had its own unique features, and each could be considered a powerful secret magic!
The League of Demon Sealers was terrifying, and as of this moment Meng Hao could say that he had experienced it personally. In fact, he got the feeling that it was very likely the Ji Clan’s Karmic Severing had actually been created by imitating the Seventh Hex.
“I wonder what type of hexing magic… the Fifth Hex is!?” Meng Hao’s eyes glittered, and he took a deep breath. Ignoring Fang Daohong, he sent some divine will into the terracotta soldier, causing it to leap into the air and head toward the mountain peak. As for the spell formation that Fang Daohong was trapped in, the terracotta soldier shattered it casually.
When Fang Daohong saw that happen, he trembled inwardly, and suddenly realized that the decision he had just made was definitely the correct one. Without any hesitation, he began to follow Meng Hao.
After reaching the mountain peak, Meng Hao saw the half moon carved into the cliff face, and once again, the image imprinted in his mind grew clearer. Furthermore, the image of a half moon was now visible on his forehead.
“Nethermoon secret magic!” gasped Fang Daohong. Suddenly, he recalled how Meng Hao had charged through the seven other mountains, and then, his eyes began to fill with envy.
“Is the Nethermoon Magic powerful?” Meng Hao asked.
Fang Daohong immediately began to explain: “The first generation Patriarch left behind five great Daoist Magics and three secret magics. The Nethermoon Magic is one of those three great secret magics.
“The Nethermoon Magic becomes more destructive the higher your cultivation base gets. It can alter the sun and the moon, and can unleash power exponentially greater than your cultivation base. It’s an excellent trump card in battle!
“Back in the clan, the only way to get the Nethermoon secret magic is to pay a huge amount of merit points. In fact… there are only a handful of people in the entire clan who have mastered it!” The look of envy in his eyes was becoming more and more obvious.
Meng Hao’s eyes flickered, and he chuckled. He looked over at the ninth Nethermountain with antic.i.p.ation. The terracotta soldier then began to speed toward the ninth mountain, with Fang Daohong flying close behind.
Fang Daohong panted the entire way. Finally, he understood how Meng Hao had been able to move so quickly from the first mountain all the way to the eighth. The clan’s Dao Guardsman could sweep through anything and everything; it didn’t matter what appeared up ahead, it was easily crushed.
Several hours later, Meng Hao reached the ninth Nethermountain. What he saw was a large group of luxuriantly furred beasts. They were in miserable condition, and their eyes were bright red as they chased the parrot.
The Parrot soared through the air, occasionally letting out a mighty squawk. It appeared to be incredibly excited, and every so often it would transform into a colorful beam of light that shot back into the group of beasts. When it emerged, it appeared to be incredibly satisfied, and would let out loud whoops of triumph.
The parrot’s enthusiastic demeanor caused Meng Hao to feel a bit bad for the beasts of this ninth mountain. However, considering that the parrot had essentially cleared the mountain of beasts, Meng Hao was able to proceed through it very smoothly.
At the peak of the mountain was the final cliff, and the final image of the half moon, which caused Meng Hao’s mind to tremble.
The half moon on his forehead glittered brightly and then faded away. However, even though it wasn’t visible, the half moon seemed to be eternally imprinted into his memory. Flashes of enlightenment also appeared in his mind.
After some time pa.s.sed, Meng Hao opened his eyes, and his aura seemed different than before. He lifted his left hand up, and the half moon appeared on his forehead. At the same time, a black half moon floated above his palm.
The sudden appearance of the moon caused an emotional look to appear on Fang Daohong’s face. However, moments later, his eyes went wide when he suddenly saw… a sphere of light also appear above Meng Hao’s hand.
The sphere was white, and looked like a sun. Its light reflected off of the black surface of the moon as the two of them circulated around each other above his palm. Black and white. The sun and the moon. At this moment, they let off a shocking pressure.
Even Fang Daohong could feel it, and was astonished.
“A unified magical technique,” he thought. “I can’t believe that he actually combined two magical techniques. Only people who have extinguished multiple Soul Lamps, who can grasp Essence transformations, and who have the image of a great Dao within them, could possibly combine magical techniques and create such powerful transformations. And yet he… he actually combined them! He isn’t even in the Immortal Realm! How can he have the image of a great Dao in his heart?”
Fang Daohong almost couldn’t believe it. To create a combination of magical techniques in this way was a very complicated matter, and even he didn’t understand much about it. All he did know was that it had something to do with the image of a great Dao, as well as the legendary Essence.
Meng Hao looked at the sun and the moon floating above his hand, and muttered to himself thoughtfully. It was at this point that suddenly, a tiny mountain appeared next to the sun and the moon.
This was none other than the projection of the Ninth Mountain, which Meng Hao had seen during his dreamlike voyage on the boat that year.
The image of the Ninth Mountain might seem incredibly powerful, but actually, it was already too weak to be useful to Meng Hao in his current state. However, its appearance now seemed to be in accord with some sort of natural law. As the sun and the moon rotated around it, it surged with even greater energy than before.
The powerful energy caused Fang Daohong to gasp, and his face to flicker.
“Th-th-that’s another sequential combination! What kind of monster is this kid!? Even with such a low cultivation base, he managed to perform two combinations of magical techniques!! How many images of great Daos does he have…?” Fang Daohong took a deep breath. He knew that images of great Daos required mysterious enlightenment. Even he, who was in the Ancient Realm, had only ever had a single great Dao appear within him. And yet, he had just personally witnessed one great Dao image after another appear in Meng Hao’s hand. It was unbelievable.
Even more shocking to him was the threatening feeling he got when he looked at the Ninth Mountain and the sun and moon!!
Fang Daohong was panting, and he looked on with wide eyes. However, it was at this point that a thoughtful expression appeared on Meng Hao’s face, causing Fang Daohong’s heart to start pounding.
“Could it be… that he… he’s going to… make a third consecutive magical technique combination!?” The mere idea of this virtually blew Fang Daohong’s mind.
Even as the thought entered his mind, two pearls appeared outside of the Ninth Mountain and the sun and moon. The pearls were black and white, and they began to circulate noiselessly around the Ninth Mountain and the sun and moon.
The Ninth mountain was in the center, around which rotated the sun and moon, with the two pearls...o...b..ting in an outer ring. They didn’t interfere with each other, and in fact rotated in harmony, creating a resplendent image.
An even more incredibly powerful aura then exploded out.
It only lasted for the s.p.a.ce of a single breath before the Black White pearls faded away, the Ninth Mountain collapsed, and the sun and moon went dark. Meng Hao frowned and muttered to himself for a moment.
He didn’t notice the terrified expression on Fang Daohong’s face, who stood off to the side, jaw hanging and mind spinning.
“Three combinations… he really did it three times….”
Moments ago, the aura he had felt had filled him with complete astonishment. He was an Ancient Realm expert, and yet was astonished by the magical technique of a cultivator who wasn’t even in the Immortal Realm yet. Such a thing was completely unheard-of!
“He still isn’t a true Immortal, but he will be soon…. Once he’s a true Immortal, how many meridians will he open? I’d say 90 at the least!” As Fang Daohong looked at Meng Hao, he suddenly realized why Fang Xiushan had spared no cost in trying to have Meng Hao killed.
“He’s not even human….”
Meng Hao was just about to make another attempt when suddenly, the summons from the League of Demon Sealers flared inside of him with incredible intensity.
He dropped his hand and looked out from his position on the peak of the ninth Nethermountain.
From where he was standing, he could see a vast region that stretched out below the mountain in front of him. The ground was pitch black, and the sky seemed to be split in two; everywhere else it was the middle of day, but this one region lay in the darkness of night.
The area where it was night was actually the center of the region of black earth. Sitting there cross-legged was a young man with a pale face and a head of long hair which floated around him. He wore a long robe, and was surrounded by innumerable corpses whose faces were twisted and distorted, as if they had experienced indescribable suffering before they had died.
There were men and women, and there were cultivators. Some of them had the bodies of beasts, and there were some with even stranger appearances, sinister and malevolent, things that didn’t seem to be creatures from the Nine Mountains and Seas.
The corpses were dressed in ancient garments, clothing that reminded Meng Hao of the garb worn by the people in his visions back in the Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite Temple!
He had seen things just like this in his vision of the ma.s.sive Heavenly war in which nine suns and nine b.u.t.terflies had appeared! [1. His vision of that included nine suns was in chapter 819, although something similar was also mentioned in chapter 587]
A sense of extreme ancientness emanated out from the young man, and the area around him was filled with illusory rifts that almost looked like huge mouths that occasionally opened and closed. From the look of it, there were roughly 100,000 such rifts.
The young man was completely encircled by the rifts. As Meng Hao looked over at him, the young man looked back, and a gleam of antic.i.p.ation could be seen in his eyes.
“Come….” he said, his voice soft. It seemed to be transmitted to Meng Hao through the air, floating from the depths of time, boring into his ears.
A tremor ran through him. He blinked, and when he opened his eyes, the entire area up ahead was empty. There was nothing there except the rifts in the air; not even the shadow of a person was visible.
It was as if everything Meng Hao had just seen had been an illusion!
The only noteworthy thing that he could see was an enormous stone stele, standing right in the middle of the region of night. Although it was very far away, Meng Hao could still sense the stele’s majestic aura, and could also clearly see… that it seethed with Demonic qi!
The reason that this region was different was due to the influence of this dense Demonic qi , which ensured that it was a land of perpetual night.
Meng Hao stood there silently for a moment, then looked over to make sure that Fang Daohong had not been able to see the images he had just seen. He continued to stand there in contemplation for the time it takes half an incense stick to burn before a look of determination appeared in his eyes.
Without any further hesitation, he sent out a stream of divine will. The terracotta soldier’s eyes gleamed as he carried Meng Hao forward. Rumbling filled the air as it transformed into a shooting star that sped forward at top speed.
Fang Daohong followed along as they proceeded forward.
Several hours later, the region of night was getting closer. Meng Hao could clearly see the area filled with the 100,000 rifts up ahead. He stood at the border of the entire region, and it felt like he was standing on the edge between night and day. With a single step forward, he would be in the dark of night.
The sound of wailing rose and fell within the darkness.
Almost at the same moment that he came to stand on the border between night and day, the feeling of the summons rose up again within him. It was as if a huge hand had plunged into his chest and grabbed ahold of his heart. Panting, he looked up at the illusory rifts ahead, and once again caught sight of the young man sitting there in the middle of everything.
It was impossible to see the young man’s face clearly, but his voice echoed out within Meng Hao’s mind.
“Come….
“Successor of the League of Demon Sealers…. Come….
“I am… the Fifth Generation Demon Sealer….”