Chapter 1324: The Agreement of Planet Tiger Cage! (2/2)

“Brother Meng, if you want to go, then I can take you there!” Yuwen Jian’s eyes gleamed brightly. [1. Yuwen Jian actually mentioned this place back in chapter 1151]

“Not yet,” Meng Hao replied softly. “I have a bit of unresolved Karma on this planet. Brother Yuwen, please wait while I take care of something.” With that, he took a step forward and then vanished.

Yuwen Jian hovered there silently for a moment, his eyes burning with a will to fight.

“We’re both in the Echelon,” he thought, “but Meng Hao has already reached the point where everyone looks up to him. And yet I... still haven’t passed through the Ancient Realm. It's hard to say how long this war will last. I must step into the Dao Realm!” Yuwen Jian’s eyes shone with a flicker of determination.

As Meng Hao flew along above the lands of Planet Tiger Cage, he felt an aura spreading out from inside of him. It came from deep in the recesses of his cultivation base, where there existed a white diamond-shaped object!

“Planet Tiger Cage. Choumen Tai....” Meng Hao murmured. He had never forgotten about that Immortal’s corpse which had fallen out of the sky back when he was on Planet South Heaven. That Immortal was none other than Choumen Tai, and they had come to an agreement that Meng Hao would return his legacy to Planet Tiger Cage. [1. Meng Hao met Choumen Tai in chapter 301]

At that time, the gift given to him by Choumen Tai had been like a precious treasure. Now, it was relatively insignificant. However, Choumen Tai had mentioned that by returning his legacy to his home on Planet Tiger Cage, Meng Hao could acquire some good fortune.

Of course, Meng Hao didn’t care too much about that. After all, there was little good fortune that he could acquire now that would be of much help to him. Based on Choumen Tai’s cultivation base level back, there was nothing he could bestow upon Meng Hao now that would be of any use.

Meng Hao had come, not because of any potential good fortune, but rather, to keep a promise.

As he proceeded along, he cast his senses inward to observe the fluctuations of the diamond inside of him. Soon, a mountain appeared up ahead....

It was cracked and crumbling, but hadn't fallen apart completely, and when Meng Hao scanned it with divine sense he found an Immortal’s cave which had long since been abandoned. Layers of dust covered everything in the Immortal’s cave, but deep within its recesses was a spell formation. At the very center of the spell formation was a small column of inky jade the size of a hand. On top of that column was a diamond-shaped slot.

As soon as Meng Hao got close, his own chest began to radiate light as the diamond-shaped legacy bestowed upon him years ago by Choumen Tai suddenly flew out.

It moved with incredible speed as it flew through the cracks in the side of the mountain, entering the Immortal’s cave, lowering itself down toward the spell formation and settling into the diamond-shaped slot.

Meng Hao didn’t follow the white diamond. Instead, he hovered outside the mountain, watching. Moments later, his jaw dropped.

“This....” His eyes flickered as he took a step forward and then suddenly appeared inside of the mountain. Having scanned the mountain with divine sense, he was certain there was nothing unusual lying in wait. Considering the level of his divine sense, there would be few things in existence which could conceal anything from him. Earlier, his divine sense had revealed that the spell formation was emanating fluctuations that seemed to indicate it was searching for an appropriate apprentice upon whom to bestow a legacy.

But now, after the diamond sank down into the slot, the spell formation immediately altered. Instead of preparing to deliver a legacy, it was... summoning something!?

Meng Hao hovered outside of the spell formation, face darkening. As he studied the spell formation, he could sense the power of summoning, something that was completely ignoring the 33 Heavens above and was instead stretching out to some unknown location.

This was Meng Hao’s first time seeing a spell formation like this, and was definitely his first time seeing anything which could pierce through the seal of the 33 Heavens.

Because that diamond-shaped legacy had fed him power for so many years, it also contained a bit of his own aura. Furthermore, that bit of aura appeared to be transforming the summoning power in some way that even Meng Hao didn't understand.

“This is no legacy.... Choumen Tai, who exactly are you?!” Meng Hao’s eyes flickered, and he let out a cold harrumph. Although what was happening was unexpected, considering the level of his current cultivation base, he could simply destroy the spell formation if he wanted to. That might be a violation of his previous oath, but the current Mountain and Sea Realm could ill afford an unknown and unexpected hazard.

He had come here because of his promise, to repay Choumen Tai for the good fortune he had bestowed. But now, his face was grim. He would rather incur Karma and sully his oath, than permit this spell formation to cause any harm to the Mountain and Sea Realm!

He reached his hand out, causing a massive burst of power to build up. Just as it was about to blast down onto the spell formation, a voice suddenly spoke out in Meng Hao’s mind.

It was a voice filled with a pleading tone. It was... Choumen Tai.

“Please allow me to have some hope.... Please, I have no desire to hurt you or do anything to harm the interests of the Mountain and Sea Realm. Please... allow me my hope....

“The person I want to resurrect, he.... is my master....

“Years ago, he sent me away into the cycle of reincarnation. I experienced many, many things. Eventually I awoke and remembered my home, and who I was back then. I remembered that he... had extinguished his own soul fire.

“I want to resurrect my master. That is my sole purpose in life. Please, allow me to have my hope.... If you do... I can help you in this Mountain and Sea War!!” [2. The fact that Choumen Tai wanted to resurrect someone was mentioned by Shui Dongliu in chapter 692. And now I would like to share some details from beyond ISSTH, which I don’t think counts as spoiler information, but does involve elements from his other books. By this point in the original release of ISSTH, many fans had come to the conclusion that Choumen Tai is actually a character from Beseech the Devil. Diamond-shaped marks play a significant role in the cultivation in that novel, which was one piece of evidence that points to such a conclusion. If he was a character from Beseech the Devil, then it would be likely that his master was also a character from that book. Many people guessed that his master was none other than Su Ming, the main character of Beseech the Devil. Again, this was merely speculation, based on information up to and including this chapter.]

Nothing Choumen Tai said moved Meng Hao at all. He sent his cultivation base power out, and the spell formation began to emit cracking sounds as the summoning was interrupted. However, it was at that point that Choumen Tai said one last thing, which caused Meng Hao to suddenly stop.

“I, Choumen Tai, pledge on my own life, that if you preserve this spell formation, I will devote my life to the Mountain and Sea War!”

Meng Hao’s eyes narrowed. “How can you help?” he asked.

When Choumen Tai responded, his voice seethed with manic determination. “I can help you... to seal a 7-Essences Paragon, and make that person your puppet!”