Chapter 971
Chapter 971: I am Fang Mu!
Originally, Meng Hao had planned to keep his identity as Fang Mu secret, as a contingency for after he left the Fang Clan. But as of this moment, he had changed his mind. Instead of keeping Fang Mu hidden away and concealed, he would make a grand entrance!
He would make sure that everyone in the Ninth Mountain and Sea know that Meng Hao was the number one Chosen of the Fang Clan. At the same time, he was Fang Mu, the number one competitor in the Three Great Daoist Societies’ trial by fire!
He was also a Conclave disciple of the Ninth Sea God World! Although this move might seem like it could put him in danger later, in actuality… being so famous was also somewhat of a protection!
Keeping things low key was fine, but if you made a move, the best thing was to shock everyone!
Meng Hao’s eyes shone with a strange light as he hovered there in midair, the center of all attention. Countless spectators all over the Ninth Mountain and Sea were using various methods to watch him as he lifted his right hand into the air and waved it toward the approaching Immortal Palaces.
In response to the wave of his hand, colors flashed, Heavenly bodies trembled, and a huge wind kicked up. Planet East Victory shook, and roaring sounds echoed out, causing all cultivators to tremble as they sensed an indescribable pressure exploding out from Meng Hao.
The starry sky shook as innumerable ripples spread out, and the aura of a Paragon rose up from Meng Hao, growing more powerful and shocking by the moment.
His gaze was like a sharp blade, filled with obsession, making him look like an Immortal divinity.
As of this moment, the faces of all the members of the Fang Clan flickered.
Deep underneath the ground, the seven Patriarchs of the Fang Clan were all shaken!
“That aura….”
“That aura is similar to that of the Immortal Palaces, except stronger!”
“That’s….” Fan Dong’er’s eyes widened, and the old woman who stood behind her stepped forward to peer into the crystal. Gradually, her eyes filled with astonishment.
“It’s him!” she thought. Even though this old woman had a Dao Realm cultivation base, she couldn’t help but gasp.
At the same time, the expressions on the faces of the Patriarchs in the Sublime Flow Sword Grotto changed. Imposing beams of sword light rose up into the sky, then swept out in all directions.
“That’s… the aura of a Paragon Daoist magic!”
“This Meng Hao, he…. Could it be that he….”
Other than the Ji Clan, the Immortal Ancient Daoist Rite of the Three Great Daoist Societies was the most powerful entity in the Ninth Mountain and Sea, and they were more shocked than anyone. Inside a courtyard in the Daoist Rite temple, the Patriarchs’ energies surged as they looked toward Planet East Victory and Meng Hao’s aura.
“Pāramitā’s Paragon Bridge!”
Li Ling’er looked silently at what was happening. Everyone else was shocked, but she was calm. She had long since realized that Fang Mu… was none other than Meng Hao!
“Does this era belong to him…?” she thought, sighing inwardly.
It would be easier to find a phoenix feather or a qilin horn than to find other people in the Ninth Mountain and Sea who knew the truth about this matter. Even considering the aura he was emitting right now, most people were shocked, but hadn’t yet made the connection with Fang Mu
Meng Hao floated there above Planet East Victory, his clothes whipping in the wind, his aura rising to a terrifying degree. It continued to grow more and more intensely powerful.
After the space of a few breaths of time, the feeling he gave people of his being a Paragon grew even more intense. The Immortal Palaces roared toward him until they were only a few dozen meters away.
Meng Hao looked up, and his eyes shone with sharp light. It was in that exact moment that he waved his hand, causing his Immortal meridians to rotate and his cultivation base to explode out. The imprinted image of the Paragon Bridge that existed in his mind suddenly appeared in the starry sky.
The world seemed to go still, and everything in Heaven and Earth stopped moving. A huge bridge appeared, enormous and emanating an ancient and primordial aura. It was a boundless energy that placed it above anything in Heaven and Earth.
The bridge grew rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, it exceeded the 100,000 Immortal Palaces in front of Meng Hao, completely suppressing them.
Boundless light shone out, accompanied by innumerable magical symbols. The aura of a Paragon caused everything to shake, and the Immortal Palaces seemed cowed. Even the planet itself seemed forced to acquiesce, as if this bridge were a path to becoming a Paragon that one powerful expert after another had walked upon!
Rumbling echoed out, and the planet quaked. It was as if everything in the world suddenly went dark except… for the Door of Immortality, which hovered there high in the starry sky, equally matched and standing in stark opposition to the bridge.
In the instant that the bridge appeared, Fang Wei felt as if an invisible punch had just viciously crushed him. His face went ashen, and he staggered backward several paces, his face filling with an expression of disbelief. He stared up at Meng Hao, and the astonishing Paragon Bridge with its Paragon aura!!
“This is impossible! This… This is….” Fang Wei’s mind was reeling. He recognized the bridge, and was well-aware that it was the divine ability created by Fang Mu during the Three Great Daoist Societies’ trial by fire!
In recent days, many people had speculated that Fang Wei was actually Fang Mu. Fang Wei had been enigmatic and done nothing to dispel such rumors. He didn’t admit to being Fang Mu, but neither did he deny it. Because of that, quite a few people made speculations that led them to the conclusion that he… was actually Fang Mu!
It was only as of this moment that Fang Wei found out to his bitterness that he had essentially turned himself into a clown. The real Fang Mu was actually… Meng Hao!
He almost couldn’t believe it, and he wasn’t alone. The other members of the Fang Clan looked over at the bridge, their minds reeling.
“Fang… Fang Mu?”
“I’ve seen that bridge before! In the Three Great Daoist Societies’ trial by fire, the first place competitor Fang Mu created it as a divine ability!”
“This… don’t tell me… Fang Hao is actually Fang Mu!?!?” The entire clan was shocked. Fang Yunyi stood in the crowd, and his vision went dark. The world seemed to be spinning; he simply couldn’t imagine how Fang Mu… could be Meng Hao!
Fang Xiushan’s mind filled with roaring, and his face was pale white as he stared at the Paragon Bridge up in the sky. In the past, he had suspected that the Fang Mu from the Three Great Daoist Societies’ trial by fire was actually a member of the Fang Clan. However, he had quickly dismissed the idea that there was someone else in the Fang Clan who could possibly outdo his own son, who was the number one member of his generation.
Now that he realized that Meng Hao had been Fang Mu all along, he felt his entire world spinning in reverse.
Fang Wei’s grandfather sighed bitterly.
The members of the direct bloodline were extremely excited. No matter if it was Fang Xi or Meng Hao’s 19th Uncle, they all found the matter hard to believe. They had watched Fang Mu during the trial by fire, and now they gasped as they realized that… Meng Hao was the only one who could possibly be Fang Mu.
“Is he really… Fang Mu?”
The Grand Elder’s heart pounded violently. He was extremely familiar with the name Fang Mu.
All of Planet East Victory was shaken by the appearance of the Paragon Bridge. More and more people began to think of Fang Mu. At first, they were a bit hesitant to accept the truth. However, the Paragon Bridge was a divine ability created by Fang Mu, and a divine ability like that… could not possibly have been created a second time by someone else.
“Meng Hao. Fang Hao. Fang Mu…. He really is Fang Mu!”
As of this moment, all of the cultivators of the various sects and clans of the Ninth Mountain and Sea looked on with shock, their minds reeling.
As for the various Patriarchs, their minds trembled. This was especially true of the Patriarchs of the Three Great Daoist Societies. Fang Mu was the first place winner of the Three Great Daoist Societies’ trial by fire. After defeating Zhao Yifan, he disappeared into the Ruins of Immortality. They had assumed he died, and yet, here he appeared now, as a Chosen of the Fang Clan!
As for the other Chosen who had just stepped into true Immortality, their minds were also spinning.
“I should have guessed that he was Fang Mu!” murmured Taiyang Zi. Song Luodan stood there silently, and Wang Mu gnashed his teeth.
Everyone was completely shaken!
Meng Hao hovered there above Planet East Victory. He took a deep breath as his long hair flew about. He knew that as of this moment, his identity as Fang Mu had been revealed, and that the Ninth Mountain and Sea was surely in an uproar. However, he didn’t care.
“Yeah, I’m Fang Mu!” His eyes shone with a bright light as he looked at the Paragon Bridge that stretched out over the 100,000 Immortal Palaces toward the Door of Immortality.
Down below the bridge, the Immortal Palaces trembled, as if they couldn’t bear the weight of the Paragon’s aura that emanated out from the Paragon Bridge.
Meng Hao’s eyes glittered, and his desire to do battle surged. He kept his eyes fixed on the Door of Immortality as he moved forward and set foot on the Paragon Bridge.
His first step caused deafening rumbling sounds to spread out through all of Planet East Victory. As the sound echoed out into the starry sky… 10,000 Immortal Palaces instantly shattered into pieces!
They crumbled into debris that scattered about and then dissipated out into the stars….
One step onto the Paragon Bridge destroyed 10,000 palaces!
It was a single step onto the Paragon Bridge, but anyone watching got the feeling that Meng Hao was stepping out into the stars. 10,000 Immortal Palaces were destroyed, sending ripples out in all directions, and completely shocking all the observing cultivators.
Heaven and Earth shook as pressure from the bridge, the will of a Paragon, demolished the Immortal Palaces. Yet Meng Hao also suffered a major backlash; he could use the Paragon Bridge, but only at great cost. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, but his expression remained one of determination as he took a second step.
The second step instantly caused another 10,000 Immortal Palaces to shatter into pieces. A huge wind kicked up that swept the debris out into the starry sky.
No one had ever seen an Immortal Tribulation like this. The Immortal Tribulations experienced by all the other Chosen were like nothing compared to what Meng Hao was going through.
At the same time, nobody had ever transcended Tribulation in such a fashion. He completely destroyed the Tribulation Clouds, and crushed the Immortal Palaces one step at a time. As of this moment, everyone was bearing witness to Meng Hao’s surging energy.
When he took a third step, his aura surged out again. It was as if he was the only existence in all Heaven and Earth, a splash of color amongst black and white. At the same time, the inner backlash from using the Paragon Bridge grew stronger. Blood sprayed out of his mouth, causing the bridge to be stained a garish red as he passed.
And yet, he didn’t stop for a moment. He braced himself against the inward shaking, endured the trembling of his cultivation base and the power of the backlash. He took a fourth step, then a fifth, and then a sixth!
The Paragon Bridge only had ten portions!
As Meng Hao took each step, 10,000 Immortal Palaces were destroyed. It happened a third time, a fourth time, a fifth time!
He took six steps, and his energy soared. The Paragon Bridge shone with boundless light, as did Meng Hao himself!