Chapter 1099: Victory! (2/2)
Meng Hao’s way of fighting, his constant aggressive attacks, turned into a heavy pressure that weighed on the mind, and seemed to give him more powerful momentum. Han Qinglei was being forced back, and thus losing any opportunity to land a decisive strike.
“Dammit, how can this Meng Hao be so strong!?” Han Qinglei’s face fell, and he gritted his teeth. Six arms all performed incantation gestures, causing a shocking, magical wheel to appear in front of him!
The wheel was not complete, and in fact, only about ten percent of its full state was corporeal, with the rest being illusory. Numerous magical symbols covered it, and it emanated an ancient and primordial aura.
This was the Paragon magic that Han Qinglei had used to earn his spot in the Echelon. The Wheel of Time!
This wheel had a mysterious origin, and had the power to manipulate Time. Because of it, Han Qinglei had been enlightened regarding Paragon magic, and was endowed with a mysterious might.
“Paragon magic, Dao of Time!” Han Qinglei’s hands flashed with incantation gestures, and the magical wheel began to rotate. Time seemed to flow, spinning toward Meng Hao, ripping open the air as it neared him. Shockingly, numerous images manifested by Time appeared, filling the area with countless scenes of the past eras from the surrounding lands.
“Paragon magic, huh....” Meng Hao gave a cold harrumph. He waved his right hand, and the sky trembled. A huge bridge descended, which was none other than... the Paragon Bridge!
As soon as the Paragon Bridge appeared, the magical wheel trembled, as if... it wasn’t even able to match up!
Han Qinglei’s face fell. As the two Paragon magics collided, everything trembled violently. It almost seemed as if the world was going to collapse. Intense shaking filled all of the cultivators in the Windswept Realm.
Rumbling booms could be heard as the magical wheel collapsed. Although the Paragon Bridge was slightly shaken, it continued to emanate intense pressure. Blood sprayed out of Han Qinglei’s mouth, and his body began to fall apart. Two of his heads exploded, and three of his arms were destroyed. Although he let out a miserable shriek, his will to fight had not left him.
His remaining three arms performed incantation gestures, and threw his head back and roared. All of a sudden, a bone statue appeared in front of him, emanating an astonishing aura. This was one of his trump cards, a bit of good fortune that he had acquired. Now that he was using it in battle, Meng Hao waved his hand, causing the Essence of Divine Flame to appear.
“Essence? Impossible!!” For the first time, Han Qinglei was inwardly shaken, and felt terror rising up in him. This fear was something that caused Han Qinglei to feel extremely humiliated. He was in the Echelon, and yet here he was, scared of someone else in the Echelon. He wanted to pull his emotions into check, but just couldn’t stifle his terror.
“There are a lot of things which you might think are impossible, but really aren’t,” Meng Hao said coldly. “You just lack experience.”
As he closed in on Han Qinglei, the world trembled. Fan Dong’er and Bei Yu looked on with complete shock. They knew Meng Hao, and yet were still astonished. It was as if Meng Hao... was even more powerful than they had imagined!
It was as if in this battle, Han Qinglei was completely suppressed, totally on the defensive. In fact, the awe-inspiring way he had fought against them moments ago now seemed like nothing.
Han Qinglei was forced into retreat over and over. His face fell, and soon he began to laugh bitterly. However, his eyes gleamed with focus.
“You’re strong,” he said, “much stronger than I imagined. You’re surnamed Meng... but there’s no way you could have anything to do with the Meng Clan. However... it will definitely be amusing to kill you with one of the Meng Clan’s own divine abilities!” Laughing maniacally, he extended his right hand and waved a finger through the air.
“Azure Lightning!” [1. Don’t forget that Han Qinglei’s name literally means “azure lightning”] As he spoke, his body trembled, and blood sprayed out of his mouth, as if making this attack pushed him to the boundary of his limits. Innumerable lightning bolts crackled around him, spreading out, transforming into a lake of lightning. Up in the sky, a bolt of azure lightning crackled down, connecting to Han Qinglei, causing his energy to rise dramatically.
Meng Hao’s eyes glittered, and a sensation of imminent crisis welled up in him.
“Meng Clan....” he murmured, face flickering. As Han Qinglei’s energy spiked, Meng Hao took a deep breath and suddenly stepped forward.
That step caused everything to shake dramatically. At the same time, a massive foot appeared in the sky, crushing down toward Han Qinglei, instantly interfering with his rising energy!
Shockingly, Meng Hao was now unleashing the divine ability he had acquired from Su Yan, the Seven God Steps magic!
The second step caused the entire world to tremble, and the wind to churn violently.
Meng Hao didn't stop. He took a third, a fourth, and a fifth step. Each step caused wild energy to surge up around him. It wasn’t his own energy, but energy from the magical technique, summoned from the void, from the world, from Heaven and Earth!
When Su Yan had used the Seven God Steps on him, Meng Hao had been thoroughly shaken. She even used it to resist his Paragon magic. That was what had originally caught his interest, and was also why he had chosen to take this particular Daoist magic from her.
Of all the Daoist magics he was familiar with, none could compare to the Seven God Steps in terms of the momentum it could unleash. This magic... was a Dao of momentum!
As he took those five steps, nothing about him looked out of the ordinary. However, for some reason, the feeling he gave off was that he existed above Heaven and Earth. Massive energy swept out and crushed down toward Han Qinglei.
Han Qinglei's face drained of blood. His Azure Lightning was based on energy, and caused the will of lightning inside of him to form together into Heavenly might, which he could then use to crush his enemy.
But now, he was shocked to find that Meng Hao was even more powerful than that!
“Impossible!!” he gasped. Then Meng Hao took a sixth step, and finally, a seventh. He now seemed vastly higher than anything in existence. Heavenly might formed a gigantic foot that crushed down onto Han Qinglei.
“NO!!!” he cried miserably. He quickly performed an incantation gesture, causing Azure Lightning to shoot out from him toward the descending foot.
ROOOOOAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!
When they slammed into each other, the foot crushed the lightning without even pausing and kept going, stomping viciously down onto Han Qinglei. A huge boom could be heard, and the lands quaked. A gigantic footprint appeared between Mount Whiteseal and the capital city of the Ninth Nation, which sunk deeply down into the earth.
Blood sprayed out of Han Qinglei’s mouth, and his body withered. His aura was severely weakened as he stood there in the middle of the footprint. Laughing bitterly, he crushed a jade slip, which caused a mist to appear that surrounded him and carried him away rapidly.
He was fleeing, and it caused his heart to drip with blood. He was utterly humiliated by his complete and utter defeat in battle. He had been the invader in this instance, and also the one to flee. He had never imagined that he would be forced to escape via this particular jade slip during a battle with someone of his own generation. And yet, here he was, fleeing in the face of death by crushing that jade slip.
“Think you can just leave?” Meng Hao said, appearing in midair, his face somewhat pale. This battle had been somewhat difficult, but it was nothing compared to the deadly ambush set up for him by the Demonic Cultivator Horde.
With a cold snort, he waved his hand, and a strange light began to gleam in his eyes. He suddenly waved his finger toward Han Qinglei.
“A Writ of Karma!” he said, his voice echoing out, filled with sternness, austerity, and holiness....
“Call upon Karma to form ties of destiny! You owe me money!”
Chapter 1099: Victory!