Chapter 40: Sublime Spirit Scripture
At the same moment that Patriarch Reliance opened his eyes, Meng Hao activated the fiftieth Vorpal Jade Blood Crystal. His head vibrated violently, and a scriptural text floated around him. Each and every character of the scripture emitted a bright golden light which pierced through his body. It completely overpowered the blood-red glow, leaving behind a glowing golden aura.
As the golden aura spread out, Meng Hao began to change. His Core lake churned violently as it began to take on a golden hue. As the lake water became gold, a thunderous roar sounded out, transforming his entire body.
His body filled with loud cracking sounds. His bones grew longer, his blood and flesh grew stronger. In an instant, he grew more powerful, both inside and outside.
His Qi vessels seemed to be as transparent as crystal, completely integrated into his physical body. His hair grew longer as he transitioned into a new state according to the mnemonics of the Sublime Spirit Scripture.
More time passed, approximately six hours, and then another boom sounded out inside Meng Hao. When he opened his eyes, they shined with a golden light.
Time passed, and the golden glow faded. He looked excited. Within his mind he could clearly see a mnemonic, branded indelibly onto his spirit. He understood every single line. This was … the Sublime Spirit Scripture.
This was something that could cause blood to spray like rain in the outside world. This was the Qi Condensation manual that countless Sects would fight like mad for. And here it was, inside Meng Hao’s head.
After the six hours of transformation, Meng Hao was still at the sixth level of Qi Condensation. But as for his new Cultivation method, it could be counted as one of the three best in the entire Nanshan continent.
This good luck was something that even the disciples of the great clans and Sects would have a hard time achieving.
Using the Cultivation method of this Qi Condensation manual, if Meng Hao was able to reach the Foundation Establishment phase, then he would definitely be able to establish a Flawless Foundation. In addition, his spiritual power would be much deeper than that of his contemporaries. Perhaps it would not be the most powerful, but as time passed, the power would slowly accumulate, and by the time he reached the Foundation Establishment stage, like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, he would have a Flawless Foundation rarely seen in the world!
As of right now, if he ran into Wang Tengfei, he would not be put into the precarious position he had been that day. In fact, he could now simultaneously control ten flying swords without losing any of their dexterity. His power had doubled!
Filled with excitement, Meng Hao clenched his fists, his heart filling with intense longing. After a while he took a deep breath, descended from the stone slab, and walked off.
At the moment, Patriarch Reliance was going wild with even more excitement than Meng Hao. Upon opening his eyes, he could see Meng Hao, as well as Chen Fan and Xu Qing. He waited eagerly for Meng Hao to produce another Blood Crystal, then watched in a daze as Meng Hao suddenly achieved enlightenment.
“Dammit, dammit. I should never have placed the enlightenment field out there. No, no, no. If I didn’t, how could I get the young pups to come here in the first place. But, but, but.. why did he have to gain enlightenment with only fifty Blood Crystals? A hundred would be better, two hundred, at least three hundred. If there were five hundred, I wouldn’t need to continue meditating here!” Patriarch Reliance was filled with depression. This was his greatest hope, and he was watching it disappear before his eyes. Without Blood Crystals to replenish himself, he could only continue on wasting away. And yet he knew there was nothing he could do.
“I didn’t do myself any favors that year. I closed myself up in here with no way out, and its very difficult to transmit my voice out. As far as magic goes, I’m currently too weak to do much of anything. What to do? What to do? I have to think of something…” His face grew anxious as he watched Meng Hao meet Xu Qing and Chen Fan out in the catacombs above the secret chamber. They proceeded toward the altar, clearly preparing to leave.
“If I caused all of the members of the Cultivation World of the State of Zhao to come here, I could use the power of their Cultivation bases to break me out of this meditation zone. If I can break out, then I can absorb their life force, then have a chance at my Second Severing.” Patriarch Reliance gnashed his teeth, squeezing as much as he could out of his weak Cultivation base, then slapping his right hand down onto the ground. It began to rumble.
At that same moment, Meng Hao was trying to come up with an excuse for why he had gone missing for those few days, and why his body looked different. Chen Fan smiled and nodded, and Xu Qing, seeing that Meng Hao wasn’t harmed, didn’t say anything. The three of them stepped up onto the altar, getting ready to depart.
Suddenly a roaring sound filled the air, and the entire catacombs began to shake. Their expressions changed as a giant crack split the earth in front of them and a massive stone stele slowly lifted up. After enough time passed for an incense stick to burn, and it had finally completely emerged.
It was approximately thirty meters tall, inscribed with golden characters. It was a scripture, none other than the Qi Condensation Manual of the Sublime Spirit Scripture!
The three of them stared in shock, especially Meng Hao. After all the trouble he had gone through to acquire the Qi Condensation manual, here it was in front of him. He looked at it in a daze. But after examining it further, a strange expression appeared on his face. The first two lines of the scripture inscribed on the stele were accurate, but the rest was a complete fabrication. It appeared to be filled abstruse mysteries, but since Meng Hao knew the details of the true scripture, he could tell instantly that this one was false.
He hesitated for a moment but didn’t say anything.
Chen Fan’s eyes glittered. He walked forward to stand beneath the stele, as did Xu Qing. They looked at it for some time, then exchanged shocked glance.
“We should take this with us,” said Xu Qing slowly, “and let the Sect Leader decide what to do with it.”
Meng Hao blinked, then nodded as if he completely agreed.
When Patriarch Reliance saw this, he laughed, more than pleased.
“Take it, take it, quickly! Take it out and let as many people know as possible. Hahaha! I’m so smart. I was worried people might break in here during my meditation, so I prepared that false stele. Of course, fearing it might be identified as false, I prepared a little trick. Once it’s removed from this place, it will project a sign into the sky which people in all directions will be able to see. Originally it was designed to cause harm, but now, it’s going to be quite helpful to me. Excellent. Excellent!” Excitement filled Patriarch Reliance’s heart, but then suddenly, his eyes widened.
“We must not!” said Chen Fan in a dignified voice. After examining the stele carefully, his face filled with resolution. He shook his head, looking at Meng Hao and Xu Qing. “This stele is extremely important. If we take it out, then we would be bringing calamity upon the Sect. If an outsider learned of its existence, it could bring about our destruction. Let’s each of us use a jade slip to make a copy of the scripture inscribed onto the stele. That way, we can take the contents out, but leave the stele in place. That is the safest method.” Chen Fan’s face was filled with sincerity and righteousness. What he said was completely selfless in nature, and also took the safety of the Sect into consideration. Xu Qing nodded, and Meng Hao, of course, did not disagree. They immediately copied the contents onto their jade slips, then stood onto the altar and make their departure.
Patriarch Reliance watched on in shock, then let out a furious howl.
“Dammit! Dammit! I will crush this generation’s Sect Leader! How could you let a guy like this into the Inner Sect? He’s completely honest and upright, which I despise! In my day, everyone in the Sect was dark and crafty. Take the scripture and keep it secret, that’s a real disciple of my Sect. As for you, you righteous little pup, you… You’ve brought about my death!! Why did you have to stop them? Dammit! My Cultivation base! I, I, I…” Patriarch Reliance was so furious that his body trembled. He ground his teeth, and with an air of abandon, held his breath for a moment, then let out a low shout. He slapped the top of his own head, then spat up a mouthful of blood. The blood transformed into a shapeless blood-red glow, which then began to send a reverberating hum throughout the secret chamber.
Amidst the reverberations, the blood-red glow suddenly shot toward Meng Hao and the others as they left the catacombs.
As soon as they stepped foot into the main temple hall of the Reliance Sect, as soon as He Luohua and Grand Elder Ouyang saw them, before they could even open their mouths, the blood-red glow shot out. None of them noticed.
Suddenly a thunderous sound rang out, and a bright light spread out, millions of meters in all directions, turning the entire sky bright red. Then, in the middle of it all, amidst a multitude of colors, appeared a strange sign.
There were a multitude of characters. Most of the characters weren’t able to be seen clearly, but two were. They read…
Sublime Spirit…
The sign filled heaven and earth in all directions. The multitudinous characters of the scripture glowed brightly, especially the two characters “Sublime Scripture,” shining out across the entire State of Zhao. Within the three Great Sects of the State of Zhao, all the disciples stared up in astonishment at the strange phenomenon. Streak after rainbow-like streak flew from the various closed-door meditation zones as multiple Sect Patriarchs emerged.
“This….”
“The Sublime Spirit Scripture!!”
“The Sublime Spirit Scripture has appeared. It appears to be located in the Reliance Sect. Could it be… could it be that the legendary Qi Condensation manual really is there?”
In the space of a moment, powerful members of several great Sects of the Southern Domain emerged from meditation. For the Sublime Spirit Scripture and the Qi Condensation manual to appear was an exciting matter. Without hesitation, they shot from the Southern Domain directly toward the State of Zhao. They all feared that if they weren’t fast enough, their opportunity could be lost to the other powerful Southern Domain clans, or other Sects.
In the Southern Domain, the wind had shifted.
Prismatic streaks of light shot toward the Reliance Sect, as nearly twenty Cultivators from the three great Sects of the State of Zhao moved into action. The weakest among them was of the Foundation Establishment stage. Six were of the Core Formation stage. They cut through the sky with earth-shattering power.
