Pill Demon opened up a new age, giving rise to a majestic prelude to a long-antic.i.p.ated 10,000-year-era.

It was a 10,000-year-era that contained endless possibilities, and no one could possibly predict how far these blazings suns of various sects and clans would progress during that time.

Perhaps other blazing suns would appear, and rise up like dark horses!

For example, w.a.n.g Tengfei!

After Pill Demon initiated the prologue, Fan Dong’er lifted the curtains, allowing all to clearly see that a new age was upon them.

As for Fang Wei, he was a rising heavenly body in the first act, the center of all attention. His appearance caused everyone to realize that the age of true Immortals… had arrived.

Fan Dong’er’s rise to true Immortality shook half of the Ninth Sea, making her instantly famous. Fang Wei’s rise to true Immortality sent waves throughout Planet East Victory, and the appearance of 10,000 Immortal warriors bowing in wors.h.i.+p to him cause utter astonishment.

However, n.o.body had predicted that the one who would come after Fan Dong’er and Fang Wei to become the third person to provoke Immortal Tribulation would not be some well-known Chosen from one of the sects or clans. Instead, it was an ordinary member of the w.a.n.g Clan… who happened to be located on an asteroid in the starry sky!

The Door of Immortality descended, and amidst the Immortal Tribulation, Immortal qi swirled in the starry sky. The sects and clans were bewildered as they turned their attention in that direction.

w.a.n.g Tengfei!

After experiencing shocking changes in his life, he had gained a new level of maturity. He had gone through many ordeals, and death had even appeared on his doorstep, only to pa.s.s him by. w.a.n.g Tengfei was no longer the perfect young man he had been back on Planet South Heaven.

He was now taciturn, and lacked any sort of arrogance. Because of the many things he had gone through, he ended up achieving great revelations regarding life.

He looked at the Immortal Tribulation and the Door of Immortality, and he chuckled. As he laughed, his eyes shone with obsession. At the same time, he recalled the images of the destruction of his clan on Planet South Heaven. He saw himself falling. He went from being a Chosen to being completely down and out, and in the end, helped the Patriarch fulfill his goal.

Through all of those things, Meng Hao’s shadow always seemed to loom over him. It had never faded away and couldn’t be blotted out. From the Reliance Sect onward, it was always there….

“Meng Hao….” w.a.n.g Tengfei threw his head back and laughed, then flew up into the air toward the Immortal Tribulation. Rumbling could be heard, and the stars trembled. All of the sects and clans were now focused on w.a.n.g Tengfei.

Especially… the w.a.n.g Clan!

Up to now, they had completely disregarded w.a.n.g Tengfei. He was merely from Planet South Heaven’s collateral branch of the clan. Now, the clan Elders looked at him, and their hearts quivered.

w.a.n.g Tengfei rose up like a blazing sun amidst the Immortal Tribulation. The Door of Immortality opened, and Immortal light exploded out. In the end, he opened 95 Immortal meridians!

95 Immortal meridians didn’t match up to Fang Wei, and was one less than Fan Dong’er. Even still, the matter was enough to shock all of the various sects and clans.

That was especially true because of the strange signs that appeared after he opened the 95 meridians. Although observers might not have noticed anything extremely unusual, when the w.a.n.g Clan Elders saw it, ma.s.sive waves of shock rolled through their hearts.

The image that appeared for w.a.n.g Tengfei was that of some sort of heavenly body. It was not something enormous, but rather, very small, and it appeared… on his forehead!

It rotated there, emanating a shocking aura, making it seem as if w.a.n.g Tengfei’s body was now very different than it had been before.

“That’s… the mark of the Ancient G.o.d bloodline!!”

“That kid actually awakened the most powerful bloodline of our entire w.a.n.g Clan, the Ancient G.o.d bloodline!” [1. In Renegade Immortal, w.a.n.g Lin stole the bloodline of the Ancient G.o.d. Or something along those lines, I haven’t read it personally, although I’ve heard it happens relatively early on in the story. He also had a similar mark on his forehead. Anyone with better information on this please send me a message so I can make this footnote better.]

The entire w.a.n.g Clan was sent into a stir, and quite a few people flew out to act as Dharma Protectors.

In a bamboo forest that was a restricted area in the w.a.n.g Clan, there was an old man who had reprimanded w.a.n.g Mu previously. He currently squatted on a long stalk of bamboo, his body wizened, his expression one of boundless ancientness. Although he normally looked disreputable, right now, he suddenly looked much more serious, and a terrifying light could even be seen in his eyes. [2. The scene with w.a.n.g Mu and the old man was in chapter 806]

He stared out into the stars, his expression somber.

“At long last… a descendant has appeared who is worthy of that jinx’s bloodline…. He’s definitely better and more powerful than any of the other b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who have appeared recently.”

In the subsequent days, which amounted to a little more than half of a month, the Door of Immortality frequently appeared in various regions throughout the Ninth Mountain and Sea. Zhao Yifan opened it, and were it not for Fang Wei, he would have been the complete center of attention with his 97 Immortal meridians.

Because of him, the Three Great Daoist Societies once again became the focus of all the clans and sects.

After him, Song Luodan also stepped into true Immortality. Taiyang Zi, too, joined their ranks.

Next was Sun Hai, whose final step took him to 90 Immortal meridians. Although it was not an extraordinary number, he wasn’t very far behind all of the others, and could be considered to have made the grade for this era.

Li Ling’er also pushed open the Door of Immortality amidst the Immortal tribulation. She bathed in the Immortal light and opened 96 meridians. This clearly proved that the Four Great Clans of the Ninth Mountain and Sea possessed deep resources and great power!

After stepping into true Immortality, all of the Chosen happened to do the same thing. Their eyes turned toward Planet East Victory, as if they were waiting for a certain person!

Fan Dong’er, Fang Wei, and all of the Chosen who had stepped into true Immortality were all the center of attention, and gradually, the sects and clans picked up on what was happening. Even rogue cultivators noticed.

Soon, a rumor began to spread through the Ninth Mountain and Sea.

“The Chosen are all waiting for a cultivator by the name of Meng Hao. He also goes by Fang Hao, and he’s a member of the Fang Clan!”

“On Planet South Heaven, he forced all the other Chosen into submission. Then, in the rise of the East Ascension Sun on Planet East Victory, he was the number one figure! He even looked directly into the sun for ten breaths of time!”

“He was the first person Fang Wei wanted to fight after reaching true Immortal Ascension!”

“The reason Fan Dong’er has that corpse floating behind her is because she offended him, and he forced Karma onto her!”

“Supposedly, he’s Li Ling’er’s future beloved!”

“I heard that Taiyang Zi, Song Luodan, and w.a.n.g Mu were all defeated by him!”

“According to the rumors, Zhao Yifan once said that even he wasn’t as good as Meng Hao!”

“Rumor has it that he even captured Ji Yin from the Ji Clan!”

“People say that he has a whole stack of promissory notes, and that all the other Chosen are in ma.s.sive debt to him!”

“They’re all waiting for Meng Hao… to reach Immortal Ascension!”

Meng Hao’s name spread throughout the entire Ninth Mountain and Sea, even to Planet South Heaven, and everyone heard about him. Fang Xiufeng and Meng Li stood in the Tower of Tang, looking up into the stars, offering blessings to their son.

Meanwhile, Meng Hao sat in the necropolis in the blessed land. He had already formed, not just three Immortal meridians, but four, and then five! He was now working on his sixth.

The mist dragon was now more than half gone. The necropolis itself was no longer filled with mist. Meng Hao sat there cultivating, and clearly, he wasn’t finished.

He wanted something completely unprecedented. He didn’t just want to build up preparations. What he wanted was to be able to utterly explode out the instant he entered true Immortality.

He would either do nothing, or would completely amaze people in an unprecedented fas.h.i.+on.

Rumbling filled his body as his sixth meridian reached a state of fifty percent completion. It kept going, soon reaching sixty percent, seventy percent… eighty percent!

Meng Hao had no idea how long he had been inside the necropolis, but he didn’t want to waste any time, and kept pus.h.i.+ng forward.

Eventually, he reached ninety, and then one hundred percent. After that, boundless energy exploded out from him. Majestic light could be seen, causing his body to become translucent, like crystal. In the blink of an eye, he almost looked like a spirit stone.

In fact, if Meng Hao could see himself right now, he… might just fall in love.

However, six meridians wasn’t the end. Meng Hao didn’t hesitate for a moment; he immediately began to consolidate the power of his cultivation base, absorb more power from the mist dragon, and then start a seventh Immortal meridian!

Meng Hao now fully realized that long, long ago, that bronze dragon had been completely terrifying. Were it not, there would not be such a shocking amount of Immortal qi preserved inside of it after the pa.s.sing of ages.

Soon, the seventh Immortal meridian formed.

Outside of the Heavenly Mist Vault, Fang Daohong and Fang Linhe were waiting, unsure of exactly what was happening inside. All they knew was that not too long after Meng Hao entered the Misty Heaven Vault, the entire ancestral land became a sea of mist.

Up in midair, the Seventh Patriarch watched the changes in the Misty Heaven Vault, and gradually got the sensation that Meng Hao was making a drastic transformation, and was leaping forward to incredible heights.

Time pa.s.sed. Soon, only three days were left until the ancestral land was scheduled to open. Meng Hao was in the necropolis, his seventh Immortal meridian fully formed. Brilliant light shone from his translucent body, completely illuminating the necropolis.

Meng Hao opened his eyes, and the light that shone out was completely different. There was something profound about it, like moonlight reflected on flowing water. By now, the only thing that remained of the mist dragon was its tail. Although the Immortal qi it contained was as dense as ever, there wasn’t much of it left.

“I can still open… another meridian!” His eyes gleamed with madness as he took a deep breath, rotated his cultivation base, and unleashed the power of his seven Immortal meridians. Rumbling could be heard as he absorbed the mist dragon’s tail.

His body almost seemed like it was about to explode as the eighth Immortal meridian began to form. An aura began to intensify inside of him, and he actually wasn’t sure exactly which Realm he belonged in. However, that didn’t matter.

There was only one thought on Meng Hao’s mind, and that was to stockpile this power to the utter limits, and form that eighth Immortal meridian!

“If I can succeed with this meridian, then theoretically, in the end, I could open, not 101 Immortal meridians, but 108….

“However, that’s just in theory. In reality it might even be possible… to exceed that number!

“No matter what happens, I’ve worked hard for the true Immortal Realm. I’ve struggled and have prepared more than anyone else! My Immortal meridians… will definitely exceed everyone else’s!

“However, my goal cannot merely be to exceed any other person. My goal… for all eternity… will be to exceed myself!

“To constantly exceed myself, to continually break through my own barriers! I will always walk my own path, all the way to the end!

“Thus, the Dao of Meng Hao is a direction. Freedom! Independence! No cares or worries! What I want, the Heavens shall NOT lack! What I don’t want, had BETTER not exist in the Heavens! [2. This is the same quote as from the official synopsis of the book, which I translated a long time ago and is still floating around out on the intrawebz. I tweaked this version a little bit to (hopefully) add a bit of the feeling that was lacking in my original translated version.]

“Being domineering. Having freedom. This… is the Dao of Meng Hao!” Rumbling filled Meng Hao’s body as more Immortal qi rushed in, continuing to form the eighth meridian.

Ten percent. Thirty percent. Fifty percent….

Two days pa.s.sed, and there was now only one day left before the ancestral land opened. Meng Hao’s eighth meridian… was now one hundred percent complete!

Eight Immortal meridians!