Chapter 1200: Absorbing the Bridge of Immortal Treading!!
Rumbling echoed out as the entire Bridge of Immortal Treading shook, and the enormous face roared. Towering killing intent rose up from the bridge, materializing in the form of eight huge hands that shot toward Meng Hao.
“DIE!” the huge face howled.
All of the cultivators partic.i.p.ating in trials by fire on the bridge were completely shaken, and the people out in the starry sky were equally astonished. They looked on in complete disbelief as the eight arms bore down on Meng Hao from all directions.
The eight hands were born of outrage, and were filled with madness. Any one of them would be shocking on its own, and currently, they were just on the verge of slamming into Meng Hao. His eyes flashed, and he snorted coldly as he pushed his hand downward.
The gesture caused the land to quake, and Immortal mountains and Divine Flame to appear up above. The mountains slammed into the hands, causing a deafening roar to echo out. The hands fought back, causing everything to shake violently. At the same time, Meng Hao’s Paragon Bridge began its descent.
When it slammed into the soul of the Bridge of Immortal Treading, the soul issued a miserable howl, and the Bridge of Immortal Treading shook intensely.
Meng Hao’s plan was to use the Paragon Bridge to suppress the Bridge of Immortal Treading!
He wished that he could sate the Bridge of Immortal Treading’s outrage with the blood of the Ji Clan, but with his current cultivation base, that was impossible.
However, once he left the Ninth Mountain and Sea, there was no telling when he might return. Although there was no time limit attached to his promise to Han Shan, the way Meng Hao saw it, if at any point he had the ability to resolve his obligations and thus free himself, he would not put it off any longer than necessary.
As the Paragon Bridge descended, the soul of the Bridge of Immortal Treading let out a frenzied shout. “NO!”
The gigantic face looked at the Paragon Bridge and screamed with grief and madness.
“The Paramita Bridge... the Paramita Bridge....” it cried. Meng Hao gaped in shock, and a tremor ran through him. As he looked closely, he suddenly realized that...
The Bridge of Immortal Treading and the Paragon Bridge... actually looked similar!
Although both were merely bridges, and would naturally have similar aspects, the feeling they gave off... made it seem like one was an imitation of the other!!
Even some of the ornamentations on the bridges were similar. Meng Hao had never noticed before, because the Bridge of Immortal Treading was in a state of collapse. However, now that the two bridges were next to each other, it was immediately apparent.
“Paragon Bridge. Bridge of Immortal Treading....” His eyes gleamed brightly.
“The Bridge of Immortal Treading built all those years ago by the Ancient Demon Immortal Sect was actually an imitation... of my Paragon Bridge. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say that it was an imitation of the bridge that I had committed to memory in the depths of my heart, the bridge from which I gained enlightenment regarding my Paragon magic...the Paramita Bridge!” Meng Hao’s eyes went wide as countless implications of this coincidence ran through his head.
He suddenly shot to his feet and waved his arm, causing the pressure from the Paragon Bridge to increase in intensity, and causing azure light to begin to emanate from it.
Rumbling could be heard as the soul of the Bridge of Immortal Treading howled in its attempts to fight back. However, under the pressure of the Paragon Bridge, the shattered remnants that formed the Bridge of Immortal Treading... were completely shaken.
From the look of things, the stones themselves were trying to free themselves from the force that kept them confined to the Bridge of Immortal Treading, attempting to fly up and be absorbed by the Paragon Bridge! It was as if... a counterfeit had met the original, and could not prevent itself from being sucked in.
Furthermore... one of the most important aspects to the whole situation was that Meng Hao’s Paragon Bridge was not complete!
What he had seen back in the Ruins of Immortality was a mere section. It was only by collecting all the insights he had gained during his enlightenment into creating his Paragon magic that he could barely produce a complete bridge. However, Meng Hao knew that he had never actually witnessed the entirety of the bridge and thus his Paragon magic, despite appearing whole, was actually incomplete!
But now... he had come across a stupendous opportunity and good fortune!
“If my Paragon Bridge can absorb this imitation that is the Bridge of Immortal Treading, and thus become complete... then it will be far more powerful than before!
“Most importantly, if I can do that, then I won"t need to dispel its outrage to free big bro Han Shan!
“That will be because, if I succeed... there will no longer be any Bridge of Immortal Treading!!”
Meng Hao took a deep breath. What a bizarre and miraculous place the world was! If he had not come back here to pay his debt of grat.i.tude, he would never have come across this opportunity for spectacular good fortune.
“Big bro Han Shan, you don"t need to wait for me to destroy the Ji Clan to dispel the outrage of the Bridge of Immortal Treading. I can save you and your wife... today!” Eyes s.h.i.+ning with this new enlightenment, he now felt even more confident in being able to rescue Han Shan and his wife.
Rumbling could be heard as the huge face that was the soul of the Bridge of Immortal Treading roared and struggled madly in its fight against the pressure of the Paragon Bridge. Meng Hao’s eyes glittered as he moved forward and suddenly appeared atop the Paragon Bridge!
There, he took a single step forward.
In that instant, the entire Paragon Bridge trembled, and the azure light shone boundlessly. The power of the pressure increased, causing the soul of the Bridge of Immortal Treading to twist viciously and struggle even harder.
After all, the Paragon Bridge was incomplete, and Meng Hao was not yet in the Dao Realm!
Furthermore, the Bridge of Immortal Treading had existed for countless years, and although it had been suppressed, it was still explosively powerful.
Despite that power, the bridge was still fragmented, and held together only by the outrage born from its destruction. As the bridge trembled violently, suddenly, a few pieces began to rise up toward the Paragon Bridge. They were... absorbed into it, causing the pressure from the Paragon Bridge to grow stronger.
Within the azure light shone beams of whiteness, emanating out from the Paragon Bridge itself.
Apparently, those extra pieces it had just absorbed... made it more complete and real!
Meng Hao’s face brightened. Based on what was happening, it appeared that his theory was correct!
“The day that the Paragon Bridge will be completely rebuilt... is this very day!” He waved his sleeve and took a second step forward. Rumbling echoed out, and the pressure from the Paragon Bridge increased. As the soul of the Bridge of Immortal Treading howled and struggled to free itself, brilliant colors flashed about.
No matter how hard it fought, though, it was unable to prevent another piece of stone from flying up, then a second, and a third....
20 pieces, 50 pieces, 100 pieces....
Gradually, more and more stones flew up to be absorbed by the Paragon Bridge. The scene which was playing out in front of all the various cultivators left them completely astonished.
That was especially true of the cultivators who were actually on the bridgestones. They felt like they were in a living nightmare, and unprecedented levels of terror rose up in them. The image of Meng Hao standing on top of that bridge was something they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
Even if their cultivation bases rose higher and higher until they reached the Dao Realm, and they became Patriarchs, they would never be able to forget that picture of Meng Hao and his bridge.
Every step he took caused proverbial lotuses to blossom, as if he were the most supreme existence in the world!
Meng Hao didn"t want to make things difficult for those cultivators, so as the stones flew up into the air, the cultivators were picked up by a gentle force and taken to float out in the void, unharmed.
More intense rumbling could be heard as Meng Hao took a third step, then a fourth and a fifth!
Countless bridgestones rose up to merge into the Paragon Bridge, causing it to become even more majestic and real.
The pressure it radiated became even more intense and impossible to withstand, causing the Bridge of Immortal Treading to sink down and the soul of the Bridge of Immortal Treading to begin to break apart.
It had existed for many years, and could never have imagined that one day it would meet someone who would come against it with the Paragon Bridge, and could actually subdue and exert such a firm grip over it!
“NO!!” the soul howled. Its energy surged, transforming into an attack which blasted the Paragon Bridge, causing a rumbling boom to echo out. The Paragon Bridge trembled, and Meng Hao"s eyes shone with a strange light.
“Stones of the Bridge of Immortal Treading, return to the Paragon Bridge. Henceforth, you will no longer be the Bridge of Immortal Treading. Instead... you will become part of the Paragon Bridge!
“You will only have this opportunity once,” Meng Hao said, boosting his voice with his cultivation base, imbuing it with the will of the Paragon Bridge. “Bridge of Immortal Treading... hurry up and return. The time to act is now! ”
The void trembled, and the Bridge of Immortal Treading suddenly exploded.
Its bridge-like shape no longer existed, and countless stone fragments transformed into beams of light that shot from their place in the void... directly toward the Paragon Bridge!!
100. 1,000. 10,000. 100,000.... Innumerable bridgestones flew up into the air.
The surrounding cultivators were flabbergasted, and were immediately sent into a commotion.
“He’s... he’s taking away the Bridge of Immortal Treading?”
“He"s not taking it away, he’s consuming and absorbing it!!”
“This Meng Hao... he’s... he’s simply too powerful!!”
All of the stones that made up the Bridge of Immortal Treading were now floating up, and the void itself was distorted, as if the starry sky were about to collapse!
As the Paragon Bridge absorbed them, it glowed with increasingly powerful light and its energy rocketed up. The pressure grew stronger, far stronger than before. The entire starry sky trembled as boundless ripples flowed out in all directions.
Even more shocking was that the Paragon Bridge was now emanating... an aura that didn’t seem to be part of the Mountain and Sea Realm. It was as if its will were awakening!
In fact... the will of the Paragon Bridge was actually... the will of the Paramita Bridge!!
A will of Heaven Trampling!! [1. In chapter 1122, Slaughter, the apparently Paragon-level ent.i.ty inside of Dao-Heaven’s Paragon Painting, saw Meng Hao’s Paragon Bridge and called it “Heaven Trampling Bridge”]
That will caused the entire Ninth Mountain and Sea to rumble. Then the Eighth Mountain and Sea was affected. After that, the Seventh Mountain and Sea, and then, the entire Mountain and Sea Realm!
At the peaks of the Nine Mountains, within the nine pools of water, nine holy Xuanwu turtles suddenly let out a powerful howl. It was almost exactly the same as when the Outsider from the 33 Heavens had appeared!!