I Shall Seal the Heavens (Web Novel)
chapter-843

Meng Hao didn’t immediately slaughter the young man. He calmly beckoned with his hand, causing the Feng Shui compass to fly over and settle onto his hand. Because the hulking man was dead, the item was currently masterless, so after Meng Hao sent some divine sense into it, it was branded to him.

“It’s definitely mysterious,” he said, “but unfortunately, not very powerful.” He waved his hand again, causing two ultra high-grade spirit stones to fly out from his dwindling collection. He pushed them onto the Feng Shui compass before their aura could spread out and be detected.

In the blink of an eye, the Feng Shui compass changed. Although it looked normal, it now exerted a spell formation which was far mightier than it had been before. It was worlds apart. Meng Hao quickly placed it down next to him, whereupon its glow spread out to cover the candle.

“Unless someone like Taiyang Zi or one of the other Chosen show up, this should hold out for the time it takes an incense stick to burn. Ordinary peak Dao Seeking cultivators won’t be able to break through it.” He rose to his feet and looked around. By now, half of the time was already gone, and he had only extinguished one candle. There were others off in the distance who had snuffed out seven or eight. Perhaps some people even further off had extinguished even more.

In the same moment that Meng Hao left his platform, people in the outside world, in the Ninth Mountain and Sea, were looking up at what had once been merely swirling vortexes, but now contained enormous viewing screens.

Those screens displayed everything that was happening on the Ancient Roads, although the images were very small. Of course, if one’s cultivation base was high enough, it was still possible to clearly see each and every individual despite how small they were on the screen.

Countless people in the Ninth Mountain and Sea were watching the screens. There were people from the Three Great Daoist Societies, the Four Great Clans, the Five Holy Lands, and the Three Churches and Six Sects, as well as various powerful rogue cultivators.

The various sects were paying especially close attention. They were not clans, and therefore had to recruit disciples from outside. Therefore, they would be paying close attention to the trial by fire. Many would not wait until the end of the event was reached, but would select disciples to recruit throughout the process.

Of course, numerous conversations could be heard among the crowds throughout the Ninth Mountain and Sea.

“The Three Great Daoist Societies have created ten stages within the three Ancient Roads in the Ruins of Immortality. Each stage involves a different test, which will allow them to slowly filter out the competitors, and leave behind only the future Chosen.”

“It’s possible that some of the people who get eliminated might have great potential, but were just unluckily knocked out.”

“Look, the current leader on the Ancient Road of the Nascent Soul has already extinguished 39 candles. Although the Nascent Soul cultivators’ cultivation bases aren’t very high, they have an intense will to fight!”

“The highest number of extinguished candles on the Ancient Road of Spirit Severing is 27!”

“Who is that masked young man on the Ancient Road of Dao Seeking…? He’s already extinguished 19 candles!”

“The Ancient Road of Dao Seeking is the most interesting after all. See that one guy? He’s probably a disciple of the Li Clan. He’s changed his appearance, but you can recognize who he is from the divine abilities he’s using. He’s already put out 15 candles.”

Even as the discussions were going on outside, Meng Hao flew out toward a thirty-meter platform on the Ancient Road of Dao Seeking. As soon as he set foot on it, an enraged roar echoed out, and an old man with disheveled hair appeared. A will of madness radiated out as he charged toward Meng Hao.

“Die!” he cried, performing an incantation gesture that caused a fissure to appear, which then transformed into a broadsword!

“Void Severing!” he cried, causing some others in the area to look over in shock and then backpedal. Meng Hao turned, his expression calm as he gazed at the incoming Void Severing attack. He did not retreat, but instead utilized the Golden Roc Transformation. At the same time, he used the powers of the black feather inside his robe so that the golden roc actually looked like a pitch-black vulture instead.

The vulture sped through the air toward the incoming Void Severing attack. When they slammed into each other, a huge boom echoed out, and the Void Severing blade collapsed, completely incapable of fazing Meng Hao in the slightest. When the old man saw this, his face filled with shock, and he fell back. However, before he could get very far, a blast of wind gusted against him as Meng Hao swooped down in vulture form. Claws slashed out, and a splattering sound could be heard as the man’s head was crushed.

This was a trial by fire, a fight for good fortune. If you didn’t kill your opponent, your opponent would kill you.

Meng Hao had experienced much gory brutality, so he was used to things like this. He wouldn’t allow such a thing to affect him inwardly. When the old man died, his candle went out, and Meng Hao proceeded to the next platform. If nobody blocked his path, he would merely extinguish the candle; if people tried to kill him, he would return the favor and end their lives.

In a brief moment, Meng Hao swept across the entire area. No one could offer any resistance for longer than the space of a single breath, and ended either with a death, or an extinguished candle.

Meng Hao proceeded along as if he were walking across dried up weeds, his intense energy allowing him to rapidly rise up above the others.

Three candles. Four candles. Five candles….

Meng Hao attacked viciously and decisively. Currently, of the dozen or so people in his vicinity, there were four or five who were concealing their cultivation bases. When Meng Hao attacked them, their power exploded out; although none of them seemed to be on the level of Taiyang Zi and the other Chosen, they still possessed unique and exceptional divine abilities.

There was even one person who controlled powers which resembled those of Lu Bai, the Chosen from the Northern Reaches who used a Time divine ability. When this person attacked, he could seemingly lock down space and time in shocking fashion. 1

Any other peak Dao Seeking expert who went up against people like this, especially the one who could control space-time, would most certainly perish. However, Meng Hao possessed eighty percent of the power of a true Immortal, and could even eradicate false Immortals. Each and every attack he made either killed someone, or snuffed out a candle. Booms rattled out constantly.

The only time he didn’t instantly attack with lethal force was when he faced the old man who could control Time. After a bit of observation, he realized that this Dao of Time was the same type he had gone up against when he fought Lu Bai. At the time, it had definitely tantalized him, but was something that until now he still couldn’t quite understand no matter how much he contemplated it.

When he attacked, he paid close attention to the results. Considering he had eighty percent of the power of a true Immortal, he was able to pick up some clues. As they fought, the old man grew more and more shocked, until finally he was virtually scared witless. From his view, he was fighting what appeared to be an ordinary youth, one that still somehow appeared to be analyzing and even imitating his Dao of Time. At a certain point he even seemed to be utilizing some of the same power, which left the old man completely shocked.

“Inhuman! This guy must definitely be one of those legendary Chosen!!” The old man’s heart trembled, and it was without hesitation that he suddenly extinguished his own candle to ensure that he could continue to live.

Meng Hao’s eyes glittered in response to the old man’s decisiveness, and he made no further attacks. After the candle went out, he gave the old man a glance and simply teleported past him and continued onward.

Roughly a third of the amount of time it takes an incense stick to burn remained, and Meng Hao had already extinguished 19 candles!

Most of the platforms in the area were empty. As for the people whose candles were extinguished but who were not killed, one by one, they faded and were teleported away by the power of the Ancient Road, having lost any qualifications to continue with the trial by fire.

Many people were shocked by this; it didn’t matter if you died or simply lost the qualifications, you were eliminated either way. This was a heavy blow to anyone who had placed high hopes in coming here and skating through some of the tests.

“So that Dao of Time is similar to the power of Time that I wield. There are similarities, but they’re actually different!” Meng Hao’s eyes were calm, but a thoughtful flicker could be seen in his pupils. The battle just now had not been short, and Meng Hao had actually benefited quite a bit. 2

As of now, he stood on one of the platforms, and his eyes swept about the area. Finally, his body flickered and he flew off in a different direction.

It was at this point that the archaic voice of the Ninth Sea God World’s Ling Yunzi suddenly echoed out again.

“Of that one incense stick’s worth of time, there are now less than one hundred breaths of time left…. After those one hundred breaths of time, the first stage will be complete. Those of you who extinguish the most candles during that time, and also prevent your own candle from being extinguished, will receive a special reward!”

This announcement caused the entire Ancient Road of Dao Seeking to boil with excitement. Similar announcements were made on the Ancient Road of the Nascent Soul and the Ancient Road of Spirit Severing. The participating cultivators’ killing intent immediately soared upward.

Meanwhile, in the outside world, vast crowds were paying close attention to the three screens visible in the giant vortexes. The Ancient Road of the Nascent Soul was a mass of chaos. On the Ancient Road of Spirit Severing, the fighting was more orderly.

The Ancient Road of Dao Seeking was unique. On the screen, what was clearly visible were over ten thousand locations in which a powerful expert had completely cleared out all of the candles nearby, making something like a vacuum for themselves.

Of those ten thousand or so areas, some were large and some were small. However, if you could rise above the field of competitors like an awl poking through a sack, it proved that you were a powerful expert. Soon, the experts began to fight among themselves.

“There’s already someone who’s extinguished seventy candles on the Dao Seeking road!”

“There’s not much time left! This trial by fire is completely brutal! So many people have already been eliminated!”

The outside world was abuzz. Back on the Ancient Road of Dao Seeking, many people were so agitated that their eyes were completely red. Some were attacking with deadly force, and some had already made significant achievements and were just stalling, waiting for time to run out. Meng Hao looked around, then barreled into a nearby area where eight people were all fighting each other at the same time. All of these people were powerful experts who had already cleared out the other nearby areas.

Shockingly, one of them was a fierce pangolin, a wild beast whose bright eyes revealed that it was no less intelligent than any human.

There was also a woman whose body appeared to be young, but whose face was covered with wrinkles. A pink, illusory image, which was clearly the early form of a Dharma Idol, could be seen behind her.

All of these seven or eight people fought with vicious attacks that sent booms rattling out in all directions. However, none of them seemed capable of overcoming the others, and in fact, some of them appeared to have joined forces.

As soon as Meng Hao neared, they looked over at him. None of them knew him, nor each other; they were all from different locations in the Ninth Mountain and Sea. They were here to fight for good fortune, so the instant they saw Meng Hao, the pangolin flashed through the air as it charged toward him. A few of the others also charged Meng Hao, their eyes flashing.

“No matter how much we fight, we can’t overcome each other! Instead of wasting time fighting each other, let’s go kill some other people! The good fortune will go to whoever is lucky enough to land the killing blow!”

“Yeah! This guy showed up here after us. His battle prowess is obviously ordinary, otherwise he would have already wiped everyone in his own region out!”

“He’s just unlucky! Kill him!”

The seven or eight people charged with killing intent in their eyes. Of course, despite their words, they were still on guard against each other. They might seem to have joined forces to attack someone else, but that didn’t mean they were any less likely to attack each other.

As the eight people closed in, Meng Hao’s expression was calm, and he stopped in place. There were now less than 61 breaths of time left before the conclusion of this stage; time was running out quickly.

In the blink of an eye, the eight people were upon him. The pangolin’s numerous scales lifted up as a divine ability rumbled out, seemingly powerful enough to break apart a mountain. The woman also waved her hand, causing a pink aura to spread out behind her, which transformed into a pink skull.

The others also unleashed various divine abilities as each and every one leveled astonishing attacks.

Meng Hao looked on calmly, then clenched his right hand into a fist and punched out toward them through the void.

When the punch landed, an indescribable blast rose up, sweeping across the eight attackers. Their faces fell as Meng Hao made his move!

2. The abilities of Lu Bai (and this old man) are described with different Chinese characters than the power that Meng Hao uses. However, both have the same meaning, “Time.” The characters of Meng Hao’s “Time powers” carry more of a sense of “years” as in aging.