I Shall Seal the Heavens

[/expand]

Few people ever made it to the Ancient Burial Ground region of the clan’s ancestral land. For most people, the Nine Nethermountains were the limit. Over the ancestral land’s countless years of existence, even the few people that did make it to the Ancient Burial Ground had been unable to proceed any further.

It wasn’t that nobody had ever passed this stage before. However, of the very few of those who had successfully challenged this region, none were able to pass the final region, the Misty Heaven Vault. Even for those in the Dao Realm, none could progress more than a few steps into it.

Meng Hao stood at the border of the Ancient Burial Ground, looking at the darkness of night up ahead. A strange gleam flickered in his eyes, and after a moment of contemplation, he sent out some divine will, causing the terracotta soldier to stride forward and enter the darkness of the Ancient Burial Ground.

In the moment that they entered, all of the illusory rifts suddenly opened wide, like huge mouths. Instantly, the entire area was surrounded.

Meng Hao could see different worlds inside the rifts, each of which appeared to be some sort of trial by fire.

There was also an incredible pressure that emanated out of them. Some of these rifts seemed to have auras similar to the terracotta soldier.

He could sense numerous terrifying auras that caused his eyes to flicker. This was the first time he had encountered an environment that would pose a danger to him even considering the presence of the terracotta soldier.

“This place is like a maze, huh.... Getting through all these trials by fire is a matter of luck, but will also depend on one’s cultivation base.” Meng Hao’s eyes shone with determination, whereas the terracotta soldier’s glittered with a cold light. It strode forward, selected a rift, and stepped in.

Meanwhile, the Seventh Patriarch floated in midair. His brow was furrowed, but a bright light flickered in his eyes. To him, there was something different about the Ancient Burial Ground.

“Something seems off....” he thought. After looking around, his gaze settled on something in the distance, and he suddenly began to tremble.

“Huh?” He sent out some divine sense, and after a moment, his expression changed to one of surprise.

He had just discovered that at some unknown point, a mist had begun to rise up within the ancestral land. It covered everything. This was something completely unprecedented, and left him astonished. After the Ancient Burial Ground was the Misty Heaven Vault, a place no one had ever been. Apparently that was the source of this mist, and apparently, the mists in the Misty Heaven Vault were growing thicker.

This change caused the Seventh Patriarch’s eyes to narrow in thought.

Fang Daohong didn’t dare to get any closer than he was. He stayed at the border of the Ancient Burial Ground, watching as Meng Hao unhesitatingly entered the rift. He paused for a moment as he considered leaving. Then he thought back to the pain he had endured, and he realized that he didn’t dare to. He sat down cross-legged to wait in silence.

When Meng Hao entered the rift, he found himself in a majestic land, in the middle of which was a huge rift that was the exit.

As soon as he appeared in this world, numerous globes of ghost fire appeared and then shot toward him. As soon as they got close, they began to self-detonate.

Booms filled the air as the terracotta soldier swung its sword. A Quasi-Dao aura exploded out, and the self-detonating ghost fire globes couldn’t even get close before they were frozen in midair.

Meng Hao’s expression was the same as ever as he sat on the terracotta soldier. It proceeded forward, and before long, emerged from the rift back into another location within the Ancient Burial Ground, several thousand meters further in than it had originally been.

Once again, they were surrounded by numerous rifts. Just as Meng Hao had speculated, this place was a maze, with each of the rifts acting as a tunnel that led to another location.

“How exactly do you get to the end of a maze like this...?” Meng Hao thought with a frown. His eyes flickered for a moment before he closed them. His Demon Sealer’s aura then emanated out, gradually forming a resonance with the stone stele in the central position of this region.

A moment later, Meng Hao’s eyes opened. Without hesitation, he commanded the terracotta soldier to reverse direction and step into one of the numerous nearby rifts.

After entering the rift, he found himself in a world of lightning and thunder. There was no ground, only a sea, with huge waves, each dozens of meters high.

Gigantic shadows could be seen beneath the surface of the water, which would occasionally lash out, transforming into giant tentacles that attacked Meng Hao. An aura similar to the Ancient Realm emanated out from the bottom of the sea.

Meng Hao’s face was calm as the terracotta soldier extended its right hand and then pushed downward toward the surface of the sea. Immediately, a blue light emanated out from its body, and ice spread out across the water. Cracking sounds could be heard as the entire sea was transformed into a chunk of ice!

The waves were frozen in place, and the tentacles were turned into statues. Even the Ancient Realm aura beneath the surface of the water was completely sealed.

The terracotta soldier proceeded onward, flying through the air until it reached the exit. They reappeared in the Ancient Burial Ground, a bit closer to the center region.

Meng Hao didn’t hesitate at all. Relying on his strange Demon Sealer resonance, he entered a third rift.

A few days passed in which he went through rift after rift. Soon, he had passed through more than a hundred. Most of them contained an enemy or enemies who were comparable to the Ancient Realm.

There were three in which he encountered beings who were at the peak of the Ancient Realm.

However, the most dangerous situation he faced was an encounter with an illusory middle-aged man who, shockingly, was a Quasi-Dao Paragon.

That battle was world-shaking, and although the terracotta soldier won in the end, it did suffer damage.

The difficulty of the challenges he faced left Meng Hao shocked. Without the terracotta soldier, and relying only on his own power, he would never have been able to reach this point. Fundamentally speaking, this good fortune simply did not belong to Meng Hao!

Meng Hao might have thought that what he was doing was quite a challenge, but as for Fang Daohong, who was still waiting at the border of the Ancient Burial Ground, he was flabbergasted yet again. As an Elder of the clan, he was well-aware of how terrifying this place was.

There were 100,000 rift worlds, none of which were fixed in place. They could change at any time, and inside of each world, there could be enemies of the Spirit Realm, the Immortal Realm, the Ancient Realm and the Quasi-Dao Realm. There were even some terrifying beings of the actual Dao Realm!

Their appearance within the worlds was completely random, making passage through them extremely difficult.

This place had been constructed by the first generation Patriarch in his later years, and was a place of bizarre mysteries.

“He’s gotten through more than a hundred, and each time it seems like he picks the right one and gets closer to the center!” It wasn’t just Fang Daohong who had made this judgement. The Seventh Patriarch was also watching Meng Hao’s progress through the rifts with silent astonishment.

“The little hoodlum somehow knows which path to follow? No, that’s impossible! There is no path to follow. It’s just that his luck is way too good! Not a single choice he made is a waste; every step he takes brings him closer to the center!”

As Fang Daohong and the Seventh Patriarch looked on in shock, Meng Hao entered another rift. He continued forward relentlessly until, the following day, he emerged from a rift and found himself in the exact center of the Ancient Burial Ground!

Directly in front of him was an enormous stone stele, rising tall up into the air, emanating a mysterious light!

To Meng Hao’s eyes, though, this was not a stone stele, but rather, a young man wearing a long robe, sitting there cross-legged. As Meng Hao approached, he looked up.

Their eyes met, and Meng Hao’s mind filled with roaring. At the same time, the ancient Demon Sealing Jade in his bag of holding began to vibrate.

When the young man spoke, his voice was soft.

“For you to be able to stand in front of me indicates that your cultivation base is probably at the peak of the Ancient Realm, only a hair away from the Dao Realm. You probably already have a profound understanding of the Essence.

“Years ago, when I left the Mountain and Sea Realm, someone told me that I should leave a stream of divine sense behind, to give some hope to future generations of the League of Demon Sealers....

“Therefore, I left my Daoist magic behind, sending it throughout the Mountain and Sea Realm for people to acquire.... Throughout the great Nine Mountains and Seas, my magic created numerous Ancient Burial Grounds. Each and every one of those Ancient Burial Grounds contains my magic, but only members of the League of Demon Sealers can receive my true legacy.

“What you are looking at now is just one of these locations. Throughout the Nine Mountains and Seas, there are a total of more than 90,000 such locations. Anyone can be enlightened regarding my magic, but the legacy can only be passed on four times. After that, the divine will that I left behind in the Ancient Burial Grounds will disperse amidst the Mountains and Seas, never to be seen again. Currently... this is the fourth time my legacy is being passed on.

“I am not a cultivator from the Mountain and Sea Realm, and only arrived here by accident. I became the Fifth Generation Demon Sealer due to a mishap; a chance occurrence, you might say, and was only able to stay in the Mountain and Sea Realm for a thousand years. My Hex is called, Inside and Outside.

“The countless rifts around you are like the surface of a mirror. The concept of being inside or outside of that mirror is a concept which also exists in your own heart.

“There are 100,000 rifts here, and this... is my Fifth Demon Sealing Hex... Inside-Outside Hexing!” With that, he lifted his right hand, and a tiny rift opened up in his palm, which began to rotate. action

At the same time, the surrounding 100,000 rifts began to spin around, a bizarre scene that caused the Seventh Patriarch and Fang Daohong to stare with wide eyes and reeling minds.

“This is the Essence of Inside and Outside,” the young man said coolly. “When I say Inside, Heaven and Earth can be consumed....” At this point, all of the rifts opened wide, causing the entire Ancient Burial Ground, as well the rest of the ancestral land, to twist and distort. Simultaneously, outside in the Fang Clan, twisting distortions could also be seen on Planet East Victory.

It was as if some invisible, terrifying force were about to swallow up the whole planet!

A terrifying hexing magic like this caused Meng Hao’s mind to reel. How could he ever have imagined that the Fifth Hex... would actually be so powerful it could shake Heaven and Earth!?

Then the young man spoke again.

“When I say Outside, the Heavens are released....” All of the rifts suddenly shrank, sealing up. The Ancient Burial Ground, the ancestral land, the Fang Clan, and Planet East Victory all returned to normal in the blink of an eye.

All of these strange transformations happened so incredibly quickly that most people didn’t even notice them.

However, deep beneath the Fang Clan ancestral mansion, in the stony cavern, the Fang Clan Patriarchs who had been asleep suddenly trembled and then began to open their eyes.

Furthermore, in the deepest recesses of the cavern, the Earth Patriarch of the Fang Clan slowly opened his eyes. The sky faded, and the lands trembled.

“Inside and Outside. Consuming and releasing. This is my Hex.... Sit in front of me and contemplate this hexing magic. In the League of Demon Sealers... when the Nine Hexes are combined, the Mountain and Sea Realm will be returned to the Demon Sealers!

“If you are destined to leave the Mountain and Sea Realm, and I, Tian Pingzi am still alive, then you can seek me out. I owe the League of Demon Sealers, and can act as your Dao Protector.” With that, the young man closed his eyes.

Chapter 955: Fifth Demon Sealing Hex