Chapter 849: Creativity (2/2)

Everyone was watching with keen anticipation.

In the starry sky palace, the Patriarchs were no longer squabbling, but instead, were watching with rapt attention. The Five Holy Lands, the Three Great Daoist Societies, all of them were closely examining the screens, and the cultivators on the Ancient Roads of the Nascent Soul, Spirit Severing and Dao Seeking.

The people who had ended up on the name lists of the various sects were the subject of special scrutiny. As long as they maintained good positions during these three stages, then there was no question about whether or not they would eventually be recruited.

As for the rest of the people who hadn’t made it onto the name lists, if they performed spectacularly in these three stages, they would surely be noticed and their names would be added to the lists.

Up in the palace among the stars, everyone was sighing emotionally.

“Creating a divine ability is not a simple thing! It’s very difficult…. I can’t wait to see what stunning divine abilities we will see!”

“In any other place, it would probably be easier to find a phoenix feather or a qilin horn than to find someone in this group who could create a divine ability. However, the Ruins of Immortality are a special place, with a unique power. There are astonishing things here that would normally be very rare, or even nonexistent in the outside world, things that can inspire the competitors, and influence them inwardly.”

“That’s right, on the Ancient Roads, it will be much easier for them to create divine abilities. If they can’t make one here, it shows that their future path will not stretch very far.”

“Divine abilities must be created, a process that stems from the intuition of the creator. Willpower could be considered part of intuition, whereas divine will acts as a Dao Protector. In the final analysis, the same objects and the same source of inspiration will be viewed differently by different people, and can lead to different forms of enlightenment.”

“From ancient times until now, the Daoist Societies have held this trial by fire on several occasions. The most powerful person to ever participate was Sir Fan from the Nine Seas God World. When he created his divine ability that year, he caused nineteen stone steles to appear, which is a record that stands to this day!”

“He created The Mortal Sea Becomes Immortal, which was eventually developed into a Daoist magic, one of the most powerful ever!” [1. Sir Fan’s surname in Chinese is 凡 fán, a surname shared by Fan Dong’er, which means “ordinary” or “mortal.” In the divine ability he created, the word “mortal” is the same character, a play on words.]

Meanwhile, as the people in the starry sky palace were sighing in emotional reminiscence, all of the people being teleported opened their eyes as the scenery around them became clear.

A tremor ran through Meng Hao as he looked around at completely unfamiliar lands. Everything around him was a mass of black soil that stretched out as far as the eye could see.

It was blazingly hot, and nine suns could be seen high up in the sky, almost like nine mighty Immortals looking out across the lands.

This place was a wasteland!

Scattered structures were visible off in the distance, half sunken into the soil; those that remained above the surface were in a state of collapse. However, carvings of auspicious beasts could be seen on their surfaces, harkening back to their former glory.

A moaning wind blew through the land, brushing against the black soil, causing what sounded like a sad melody to spring up. It filled one with the desire to go searching for whoever might have listened to such a song in the past, but as it floated across the land, it seemed to be drifting through countless ages of time, and ancient memories.

Meng Hao stood there, completely alone in this vast stretch of land.

The only thing to accompany him was the murmuring wind, the black soil that stretched out in all directions, and the ruins that could be seen off in the distance.

Being in such a location caused Meng Hao’s mood to sink, and his eyes flickered with a strange light.

“So, this place can influence the emotions,” he thought, sending his divine sense spreading out. It swept the area, and in addition to everything he had already seen, he could now sense a faint pressure weighing down on him.

If he hadn’t sent his divine sense out, he would have never detected it…. Furthermore, he was only aware of it within the range of his divine sense.

Meng Hao’s expression slowly changed as he carefully examined his surroundings using divine sense. Now he could sense that there were actually different ranges of pressures, some strong, some weak, coming from all the various ruins lying about!

It was at this point that Ling Yunzi’s voice echoed out to everyone on the Ancient Road of Dao Seeking. It almost sounded like it was coming from a different world that overlapped with this one.

“Sixth stage, divine sense.

“Seventh stage, willpower.

“Eighth stage, intuition.

“The world you are in contains 99 ruins, as well as a virtually intact Immortal pavilion. The pressure is different in each area, and you will find different forms of enlightenment in each location. The more powerful your divine sense is, the more Immortal ruins you will be able to sense, and the greater your enlightenment will be.

“After you find each Immortal ruin, your willpower will determine whether or not you can stand up to the pressure there.

“Your intuition will decide your final type of enlightenment, and how it becomes a divine ability!” Ling Yunzi’s archaic voice echoed about in the wasteland; it almost sounded like he was a figure from ancient times, that his voice was being affected by the agedness of the ruins and then transmitted through time into the ears of the competitors.

The wind whimpered, and the land looked as ancient as ever. Meng Hao’s eyes glittered as he sent his divine sense out and found that it was impossible to cover the entire world. He could only see seven sets of ruins.

The nearest was about three thousand meters away, and it appeared to be a dried up well, surrounded by a broken-down wall.

Meng Hao strolled over, and when he was about three hundred meters away from the well, he could sense pressure pushing down on him. It was powerful, like a windstorm.

The windstorm bore down on him, accompanied by a voice that, when compared to Ling Yunzi, truly did seem to come from ancient times.

“Whenever I see it, I think of you….

“To anyone who hears my voice in the future: Have you felt the same way as I do? Do you also have an object that makes you think of someone?”