Chapter 1278: Essence of Reality! (2/2)

“So this is an Allheaven Dao Immortal.... Back in the Paragon Immortal Realm, the ultimate terrors, the most powerful of all... were the Allheaven Dao Immortals!

“Thankfully, from ancient times until now, not a single Allheaven Dao Immortal has ever stepped into the Dao. All of them died in the process of extinguishing their Soul Lamps in the Ancient Realm. This man will be no exception. However, if I don’t kill him now, he will definitely be a thorn in our side later!” Xiao Yihan looked on with coldly gleaming eyes as his Essence world crushed down like a millstone onto Meng Hao, bent on completely obliterating him!

Rumbling sounds echoed out, and the starry sky vibrated. Meng Hao was also shaken; he could sense how the plants were trying to suck away at his life force in order to grow, and how the poison in the black rainwater was trying to eat away at his soul.

Most shocking of all was the power of darkness, which seemed to disregard how powerful his fleshly body and cultivation base was as it began to assimilate them. That in turn ensured that when the boy’s power of light assailed him, it was like ten thousand swords stabbing at his heart, filling him with intense pain. Meng Hao felt as if he were being swept over by floodwaters, as if he couldn't move, as if his blood had stopped flowing. Countless wounds covered his skin, and he was even starting to fade away, as if the power of the five Essences were wiping him out of existence!

Meng Hao roared inwardly; the Essence world could put pressure on his body, but not his Soul Lamps!

In the critical moment of crisis, rumbling filled him as his cultivation base climbed up again and again! In the moment of deadly danger, Meng Hao’s 28th Soul Lamp flew out of the top of his head like a blossoming flower!

And that wasn’t it! It was at this point that a 29th Soul Lamp also appeared!

Then, the 30th! Now, a total of 30 ignited Soul Lamps were swirling around Meng Hao, letting off brilliant light. The darkness was dispelled, the light was shoved away, the black rain was cut off, and the vegetation was severed away.

Blood oozed out of the corners of Meng Hao’s mouth as his body rapidly recovered. He suddenly looked up at Xiao Yihan, who was now frowning.

“You’re definitely strong,” Meng Hao said. “My profound thanks for helping me to understand... what a 5-Essences Dao Sovereign is like!” As he wiped the blood from his mouth, he realized that he was now much more certain of the true level of his battle prowess.

“I'm curious,” Meng Hao asked. “That old man from the Heavengod Society also has a 5-Essences cultivation base. Why is the difference between the two of you so great?”

If any other person asked this question of Xiao Yihan, he would never answer. However, Meng Hao was so threatening that, even though his cultivation base was not at the same level, his battle prowess was. The terrifying fact that he was an Allheaven Dao Immortal caused Xiao Yihan to consider for a moment, and then say, “You mean the Chief Dharma Protector of the Heavengod Society? He's really at 4-Essences. His fifth Essence is borrowed.”

“Got it,” Meng Hao replied, nodding.

Before transcending the tribulation, Meng Hao had believed that his cultivation base was sufficient to fight against a 5-Essences Dao Sovereign, but now he realized that his judgement had been based on the very Chief Dao Protector in question.

Most accurately speaking, before he transcended the tribulation, his battle prowess was comparable to the peak of the 4-Essences level, about half a step or so away from the true 5-Essences level. Therefore, during the actual process of transcending the tribulation, when he had faced the four 5-Essences faceless men, he had only been able to handle one of them. After all, they were not truly cultivators, and were actually slightly weaker than real 5-Essences cultivators. Had he been facing someone like this boy, he would not have been able to get past them.

Having transcended the tribulation and ignited his Soul Lamps, his cultivation base rose, his Immortal power was converted to Ancient mana, and his Nirvana Fruits became Dao Fruits. At that point, he was truly equipped to battle 5-Essences Dao Sovereigns.

“In all of the Mountain and Sea Realm,” he thought. “there are only about fifteen 5-Essences Dao Sovereigns... including most of the Mountain and Sea Lords.... As for the Lords, most of them are at the peak of the 5-Essences level, just a hair away from 6-Essences.... Apparently, I'm still half a step behind people like that. This must be the case, because it seems that Xiao Yihan and I... are about even.” Meng Hao frowned. The root of the problem lay with the Soul Lamps. After all, Soul Lamps really just represented the potential for future power.

“Assuming I'm close to the level of the Mountain and Sea Lords, then as I successfully extinguish my Soul Lamps, then I will quickly bridge that gap!” Meng Hao’s eyes shone with a bright light as he began to stride toward Xiao Yihan.

Xiao Yihan’s eyes widened. He had already begun to view Meng Hao as a powerful opponent, so seeing him advance in this way caused him to immediately fall back. His hands flashed in a double-handed incantation gesture, causing his Essence world to collapse.

As that happened, the fragments of the Essence world formed into five hands. Each of those hands was made of Essence, and they grabbed toward Meng Hao, causing the starry sky to shake and rumbling sounds to echo out in all directions.

Meng Hao’s eyes flickered as the copper mirror suddenly flickered in his right hand. It spread out, covering his hand, transforming into the Battle Weapon. At the same time, he performed an incantation gesture with his left hand, causing the Paragon Bridge to rumble out to defend against the five huge hands.

A massive boom rang out, shocking everyone. The Paragon Bridge slammed into the hands, causing radiant light to explode out. At long last, the Paragon Bridge was able to erupt out with something approximating its original power.

Rumbling sounds continued to echo out as the five hands and the Paragon Bridge pushed at each other, clearly in a deadlock. Xiao Yihan’s face flickered, and he suddenly looked over at Meng Hao and screamed.

That scream caused the void in front of Xiao Yihan to shatter, layer by layer, and then sweep toward Meng Hao. When the sound wave attack hit him, he trembled, and was apparently incapable of moving any further forward.

Meng Hao snorted coldly, unleashing explosive cultivation base power as a 31st Soul Lamp appeared over his head. Simultaneously, he lifted his right hand up and then chopped it down toward Xiao Yihan.