Chapter 1328: Vale of the Godgrave! (2/2)

On the ground could be seen enormous, 3,000-meter long beasts, as well as cultivators wearing crude, ancient robes. There were also mighty mountains and rivers which seemed to be in a constant state of flux, rising, falling, and changing course with every passing moment.

Most disturbing of all were the illusory cities that popped in and out of existence, a sight that filled the heart with shock.

However, what was more surprising than all of that was what existed in the very center of the valley. After sending his divine sense out to cover everything, Meng Hao was able to see that there in the center... were two mountains!

Except, they weren’t actually mountains, but giants! Each giant was fully 300,000 meters tall, with rough skin that was covered in complex magical symbols. Most notable were the stars which could be seen on their foreheads.

Those stars were gray, as if they had lost all life force. Even still, the corpses of these two giants had not rotted away, but instead, had transformed into mountains.

Apparently, some sort of magical technique had been used on them, shrinking them down to only a portion of their true size.

As soon as Meng Hao saw the two giants, and the rest of the dimension, he immediately thought back to the Ruins of Immortality in the Ninth Mountain, to that enormous tree he had seen... and the land mass beneath it... which was the corpse of a giant! [1. Meng Hao saw the corpse in the Ruins of Immortality back in chapter 865 and 866]

The feeling Meng Hao got from the aura of that corpse was very similar to the feeling he got from these two giants. The only difference was the disparity in size.

“Are these... Gods?” Meng Hao flickered into motion, entering into the world of lightning. He walked along casually, expression calm. With every step he took, endless amounts of lightning crashed down, and yet none of it even touched him.

The illusory war chariots sped toward him with a towering desire to fight, but Meng Hao didn’t dodge. He let them come, and they passed right through him.

As he walked along, he saw shocking beasts roaring, giants swinging their fists, and countless other creatures and beings.

He saw corpses beneath his feet. At first most of the corpses were petrified stone, but more and more rotting corpses appeared, until everything was a mass of putrefying flesh.

Soon, he was passing through from the outer region of the Vale of the Godgrave into the central area. None of the illusory entities here had any effect on him.

Neither did the explosive pressure, which felt like nothing more than a cool breeze to him.

Occasionally he would stop in place to observe the illusory fighting going on around him. Often, his eyes would then flicker as if he had gained new enlightenment. After a few days passed, Meng Hao was in the central region of the Vale of the Godgrave, where he caught sight of a corpse.

Although it was buried in the ground beneath his feet, the entire area was being struck by so much lightning that some of the skin had become visible. It was a giant, at least 30,000 meters tall.

Meng Hao knelt down and smacked the ground with the palm of his hand. A boom echoed out, causing the soil in the area to disintegrate and reveal the enormous corpse.

He placed his right hand on top of the giant’s head, and in the blink of an eye, the giant’s face turned crimson. A moment later, it then turned pale as a drop of blood flew out of its forehead and into Meng Hao’s hand.

He looked thoughtfully at the golden drop of blood.

Finally, he shook his head and said, “Too many impurities. Not pure blood.” With that, he put the golden drop of blood away and proceeded along. Eventually he reached the very center of the Vale of the Godgrave. This area could be considered a restricted area for cultivators, a place where very few people could ever enter.

Seven days passed, during which time Meng Hao traveled to many places within the Vale of the Godgrave, searching high and low until he had collected fully a hundred drops of impure blood.

He had even inspected the two gigantic corpses, from which he extracted some high quality God blood. However, all of that was not enough to experience the breakthrough he was aiming for.

On the other hand, Yuwen Jian had found his good fortune, and his fleshly body was currently experiencing Heaven-shaking, Earth-toppling transformations.

Meng Hao searched even longer, but couldn’t find any more God blood. His face darkened, and he felt disappointed, but at the same time, suspicious.

“I refuse to believe that the Outsiders would have the Vale of the Godgrave so heavily locked down, and yet not send any of their forces inside. There must be Outsiders in here, with the ones on the outside acting as Dharma Protectors.

“Well then, where are they?” Meng Hao flickered into motion, flying up into the air until he reached a high point where he could look down on all the lands below.

What he saw caused him to tremble, and a strange light to shine in his eyes. What he saw was that the lands that comprised the Vale of the Godgrave were actually about the same size as the giant upon whose back had grown the enormous tree in the Ruins of Immortality in the Ninth Mountain and Sea.

In fact, the Vale of the Godgrave was actually a bit larger than that....

However, what was most shocking to Meng Hao was that the shape of the land itself... resembled a face!

The highest mountain was the nose of that face, and the deepest valley was formed by the mouth!

Furthermore, in the forehead position, eight stars were visible, very faint, but still flickering with light! Each one of those stars was emanating fluctuations that caused Meng Hao to tremble. [1. This footnote contains some spoilers regarding Renegade Immortal. Yes, these are the same ancient Gods referred to in RI. In that novel, the cultivation system is based on stars, and an 8-star God would be somewhat analogous to the Dao Lord or Dao Sovereign level in ISSTH]

“That’s it!” he said, eyes shining brightly.