Chapter 1117: Hes Here! (1/2)

Chapter 1117: He’s Here!

On the Sixth Nation’s National Aura Mountain, the boy Hong Bin sat grim-faced, surrounded by nine followers. His teleportation portal was ready to be used at a moment’s notice. All it required was a bit of divine will, and then he would be teleported away.

He held the World Seal of the Sixth Nation tightly in his hand as he stared coldly at Yuwen Jian. However, he did not teleport away.

Yuwen Jian hurried over until he was right outside the National Aura Mountain’s shield. Of course, without Hong Bin’s permission to enter, all he could do was hover outside and smile wryly.

“Brother Hong Bin... listen--”

“Beat it! Whoever you call brother gets struck with bad luck!” Hong Bin had a very unsightly look on his face. He glanced over at Meng Hao off in the distance, eyes wide. Originally, he hadn’t thought much at all about this latest addition to the Echelon. However, Meng Hao’s display of power in the Windswept Realm completely swept away any cavalier attitudes toward him harbored by the other Echelon cultivators.

He had defeated Han Qinglei, routed Lin Cong, and had then gone on to slaughter another Echelon cultivator.

Such achievements in battle ensured that he rose to prominence like a blazing sun, and was a person that no one would take lightly.

Hong Bin gritted his teeth and said, “I’ll let you say three more things, and after that you’d better get the hell back to wherever you came from, otherwise, I'm outta here!”

“Outta here? To where?” Yuwen Jian shouted, looking righteously at Hong Bin. “It’s not like you can leave the Windswept Realm! No matter where you run to, if Dao-Heaven thinks it’s worth it to track you down, do you really think he’ll let you get away?”

Hong Bin grimaced. He was also aware that fleeing was not a good long-term option. However, there was really no other choice. Dao-Heaven was simply too powerful.

“You can say two more things!” Hong Bin said, his face grim.

“You’re powerless to defend yourself,” Yuwen Jian continued, “and so am I, all because of this damned Windswept Realm and the changes to the rules. Don’t try to convince me that you haven’t noticed the writing on the wall. Furthermore, don’t try to get me to believe that you don’t know why I brought Meng Hao here. Cooperation could be doubly beneficial for all of us, whereas splitting up would be doubly detrimental!”

“You can say one more thing!” Hong Bin said slowly, placing his right hand on the ground, which caused the teleportation portal to rev up. All the while, he stared at Yuwen Jian.

“Fudge! I didn't have three things to say, fool!” Yuwen Jian roared. “If you want to chicken out, then get the hell out of here!”

Hong Bin stared in shock, and his expression grew even more unsightly. He shifted his gaze over to Meng Hao off in the distance, then gritted his teeth after a long moment.

“Can he beat Dao-Heaven?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Yuwen Jian said bitterly. “Even if you join the two of us, we still might not be able to beat him.... But, this is the only way we’ll even have a chance. The alternative is just waiting for Dao-Heaven to slaughter us all one by one!”

Hong Bin replied with silence. If Yuwen Jian had said that he was sure they could beat Dao-Heaven, Hong Bin would have teleported away immediately. Generally speaking, he didn’t trust anything Yuwen Jian said. However, for Yuwen Jian to unexpectedly respond in this way caused Hong Bin to hesitate.

“What does he want in exchange for my help!?” Hong Bin asked, looking at Yuwen Jian.

Yuwen Jian looked back silently at Hong Bin for a moment before replying, “Do you really need to ask?” After another moment, he continued, “Fellow Daoist Hong Bin, I might have conned you in the past, but you have to admit that when I did, I didn’t hurt you in any way!”

Hong Bin clenched his jaw, then waved his right hand. The Sixth Nation’s World Seal flew out, piercing through the shield and flying past Yuwen Jian toward Meng Hao.

If he was going to purchase a favor, it would be better to have Meng Hao owe him, than Yuwen Jian.

Meng Hao’s eyes glittered as he reached out toward the incoming World Seal.

“Fellow Daoist Meng Hao,” Hong Bin said, one word at a time. “I'm not sure what this shyster Yuwen Jian told you, but since this is our first time meeting, I want to make something clear.... Dao-Heaven has started killing people, and I don’t want to end up a victim. Neither does Yuwen Jian. As for you... if you want to fight Dao-Heaven, you’ll need our help!

“At the very least, you’ll need us up until Dao-Heaven is dead!”

Meng Hao caught the World Seal. After a moment of silence, he nodded. “You're right,” he said slowly. “So. Are you guys ready?”

Such a response from Meng Hao caught Hong Bin off guard. He had assumed Meng Hao would make some sort of confident declaration, but instead, he had responded complete contrary to expectation. Yuwen Jian’s eyes also went wide. He and Hong Bin looked at each other, and then expressions of determination filled their faces.

“Fellow Daoist Meng, you’re very frank and straightforward,” said Hong Bin. “I don't need to prepare anything. I’m ready to fight right now!” With that, he rose to his feet, his cultivation base surging. His energy soared, and a massive wind sprang up into the sky.

Yuwen Jian’s eyes gleamed with resolve, and his cultivation base also erupted with power. A second tempest roared up into the sky, joining with Hong Bin’s to shake everything. The shocking power caused the lands to tremble and the air to distort. They were like two burning torches in the dead of night, making a declaration to every other Echelon cultivator, even to Dao-Heaven, that they... wanted to fight!!

Meng Hao took a deep breath. He put away the Sixth Nation’s World Seal and then also unleashed his power. Massive rumbling could be heard as his energy quickly surpassed Yuwen Jian and Hong Bin's, causing everything to shake violently.

These were three Echelon cultivators, simultaneously powering up, creating a will to fight that shook everything, issuing a direct challenge to Dao-Heaven!

This was no plot, scheme, or trick. This was an open and aboveboard declaration of war!