"I can't believe he's forming Immortal light!" In the stony cavern deep beneath the ancestral mansion, the withered old man in the crimson robe was watching with a gaze that blazed like fire.

"Could it be that someone from the Fang Clan… will finally be able to look down on the entire Ninth Mountain and Sea? After all these years, will there be another rarely seen… fleshly body true Saint!?"

Cultivators in the Immortal Realm who had true Immortal fleshly bodies were called Saints!

Saints are victorious, so the term itself implied that they were unrivaled in the Immortal Realm! If a true Immortal cultivation base was then added on top of that, then… that person would be a true Immortal and a true Saint at the same time. That was… a Paragon!1

That was… an invincible Paragon of the Immortal Realm!

All of that would be preceded by light.

Immortal light!

Before the true Immortal fleshly body appeared, white light would shine out. Immortal qi would naturally exude from within that light, creating a unique color, which was none other than that unique Immortal light!

Only… when a true Saint fleshly body appeared, would it be possible... to see that light!

Within the light, Meng Hao trembled slightly. He could feel the dense Immortal qi in the light around him, a qi that did not come from the outside world, but rather, had grown inside his body.

It was as if it had been hidden in his blood vessels, concealed in his soul, obscured within his life force!

When the Immortal light appeared, it came with dense Immortal qi. Meng Hao's fleshly body began to emanate rumbling sounds as it rose madly toward the state of being a true Immortal fleshly body.

A flame burned deep inside of Meng Hao's eyes as an incredible power surged up within him. In that moment, he began to fly. He had long since stopped paying attention to the flow of time. From the moment he had flown out of the pavilion until now, more than half of the East Ascension Sun's 36 days had passed. By now, only 15 days remained. And yet, Meng Hao had not stopped moving.

318,000 meters. 324,000 meters….

330,000 meters!!

The light surrounding him grew stronger and more intense!

There was more Immortal qi, and the light and heat that existed in the blackness of space had turned into something like a cocoon, wrapping around Meng Hao, waiting… to be broken open to reveal new life!

The cocoon also nourished him, making Meng Hao's new life force grow even stronger!

His eyes glowed with an obsession to become more powerful. Therefore, he didn't stop, but instead, pushed onward. A soaring phoenix circled around him, which was the manifestation of the will of his soul. He roared like a Flying Rain-Dragon, which was caused by the will of the sovereign of the skies that nestled inside of him.

RUMBLE!

333,000 meters!

"Still not enough!" thought Meng Hao, squinting his eyes against the blinding light around him. By now, the Skypalace Sunspirit Pill inside of him had been thoroughly absorbed. At this height, even surrounded by Immortal light, his body was still burning up. It was something that was impossible for him to deal with; even his Eternal stratum couldn't keep him going. Unless he stopped, then when the cocoon around him broke, he would die.

"There's another way…." he thought, his eyes glittering. He suddenly extended his hand, causing a black flame to appear in his palm.

"I can concoct a Skypalace Sunspirit Pill right here and now! I don't have the medicinal plants, so I'll have to use the grand alchemic Dao of creating something from nothing!"

His eyes gleamed with determination as he suddenly stopped in place. Enduring the incredible scorching heat, he held out his hand, causing the flame to grow. At the same time, the Skypalace Sunspirit Pill formula suddenly appeared in his mind.

Creating something from nothing was using one's imagination to materialize a real medicinal pill. That pill could not be consumed by anyone else, nor could it be sensed by others. Only the person who concocted it would be able to see it and consume it.

"At this height of 333,000 meters, there is incredible light and heat. These are the optimal conditions for concocting a Skypalace Sunspirit Pill!" He closed his eyes and performed an incantation with his left hand, simultaneously imagining the medicinal ingredients he needed. Then he waved his hand, causing the light and heat to swirl around into the image of several medicinal plants, which he then grabbed with his right hand.

His right hand was like a grand furnace of Heaven and Earth, blazing hot and bright.

All of his energy was focused on the medicinal pill. He relied on the Immortal qi that swirled around him, on his mind, on his soul, on his will. He almost seemed to be having an out of body experience as he focused himself fully on creating something from nothing.

He could not fail, and he would only have one chance. He could stay here for a maximum of twelve 2-hour periods. If his pill concocting failed, he would have no other choice than to break out of the cocoon into his true Immortal fleshly body.

But that was an outcome he couldn't accept! He knew that if he could get even higher, his fleshly body breakthrough would be even more incredible.

This was a chance, a good fortune that he was willing to fight for!

At this height, his actions weren't visible to most of the people down below. However, everyone who could see clearly was now staring in shock, unclear as to what exactly he was doing.

Only the most powerful experts gradually began to put the pieces together and to speculate as to what was going on. Their speculations led to disbelief; it was a prospect that none of them dared to believe.

"He's actually…."

"Concocting pills!?"

"I don't see any medicinal plants, and yet he really is concocting pills!"

"I once heard Pill Elder talk about a legendary realm of the Dao of alchemy… they call it… creating something from nothing!"

The Fang Clan Elders' faces all flickered with shock.

The Grand Elder was panting as he looked high up into the sky. His expression was that of terror; Meng Hao had repeatedly and continuously shocked him with his actions and achievements.

Meanwhile, in the Dao of Alchemy Division, the dozen or so tier 8 alchemists suddenly stopped concocting pills and slowly looked up, as if they were reacting to the sensation of Meng Hao's alchemy. In the space of a few short breaths, their expressions completely and utterly changed.

"That aura…."

"That's…."

"Creating something from nothing!!"

Within the Dao of Alchemy Division's inner mountains, on the mountain filled with Unicorn Immortals, Pill Elder stood there, looking up into the sky. Slowly, a smile spread across his face, a smile that grew wider until he started laughing.

The Chosen from the various sects were flabbergasted. How could they have ever imagined that Meng Hao… was able to concoct pills himself. He was already at a terrifying height, surrounded by shocking heat and light, and yet he actually… was still able to concoct pills!

These Chosen had been groomed by their sects and clans for years, and had seen many things. Some of them suddenly thought of that legendary realm of pill concocting.

"How is this possible!?!?" thought Li Ling'er, gaping at Meng Hao with wide eyes. The only thing she could hear was her own heart pounding in her chest.

Fan Dong'er, Zhou Xin, Sun Hai, Taiyang Zi, all of them were gaping with wide eyes.

"Is there anything he can't do?" thought Wang Mu, his heart filling with a sense of profound defeat.

Then there was Fang Wei, within whose expression could be seen a touch of blank confusion.

Time passed. Soon, the twelve 2-hour periods had passed. Meng Hao was trembling, and his body was withering. His energy was rapidly fading away.

He was now thoroughly immersed in pill concocting. Despite being in the middle of the rise of the East Ascension Sun, in which there were 36 straight days of noon, alchemists were naturally able to measure the passage of time through their body's senses.

Most importantly, he was already incredibly familiar with the Skypalace Sunspirit Pill. He was able to adjust the pill formula based on his environment, so when the thirteenth 2-hour period arrived, scintillating light exploded out from the palm of his hand into the darkness that surrounded him.

The only thing that any observer could see was that resplendent light. However, what Meng Hao saw was a medicinal pill resting in the palm of his hand.

It was a Skypalace Sunspirit Pill created from nothing!

In these extreme conditions, he had used the technique of creating something from nothing to concoct a medicinal pill. The result was that he appeared to be on the verge of collapse. Although this was not his first time creating something from nothing, it was the most exhausting .

In fact, he had the feeling that if he attempted to duplicate this attempt, he would fail.

The creation of the medicinal pill marked his absolute limit. He looked at the pill laying there on the palm of his hand, radiating light like some magnificent treasure of Heaven and Earth. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, he took the Skypalace Sunspirit Pill that no one else could see, and placed it into his mouth.

As soon as the medicinal pill entered his mouth, it exploded, transforming into a brilliant sun inside of him that generated boundless light and heat. It transformed into life force that in turn caused the Immortal light around him to become even more shocking.

"He… he succeeded!" One by one, the tier 8 alchemists in the Dao of Alchemy Division rose to their feet. Pill Elder's laughter once again echoed out from the inner mountains.

In the ancestral mansion, the Grand Elder's face was a mass of disbelief. The other Elders in the area were silent for a moment before their eyes also began to radiate a strange light.

There was little need to mention the other Chosen, who had long since been indescribably shaken by Meng Hao.

This time, Meng Hao… was rising to prominence under his own name! He was truly stepping into the cultivation world of the Ninth Mountain and Sea.

Bolstered by the power of the medicinal pill, Meng Hao looked up, and his eyes burned with decisiveness.

"True Immortal fleshly body!" he said. His body rumbled, and blinding light shot out of him as he climbed higher into the sky. Days passed as he went higher and higher and higher. 348,000 meters. 354,000 meters….

360,000 meters!!

369,000 meters. 378,000 meters…. 387,000 meters!!

When he reached that shocking height, the Immortal light around him exploded out in all directions, enveloping the entire area.

It was also in that moment that Meng Hao's fleshly body broke through the bottleneck. A distinct shattering sound could be heard that rapidly transformed into a boom like rolling thunder.

At the same time, he completely absorbed all of the Immortal qi and Immortal light, and his body suddenly surged with earth-shattering power.

The swirling Immortal qi transformed his body into something like a precious treasure. Every bit of his flesh and blood was like a true Immortal magical item. His bones became strong to an astonishing degree, and his qi passageways opened wide, allowing terrifying power to flow through them.

His hair grew long, and his body became slightly taller and more slender. His face was strikingly elegant, and his aura was enough to strike fear into the hearts of all Immortals. His entire body was like a precious gem that hovered there high in the sky, causing everyone who could see him to be completely shaken.

True Immortal fleshly body!

True Saint!

There is a play on words here, as well as another thing I need to explain. First of all, the two words Saint 圣 and victorious 勝 are complete homophones, meaning they are pronounced exactly the same, shèng. Incidentally the latter is the same character as in the name of the planet, East Victory. Paragon can be translated in a variety of ways, and essentially refers to a supreme entity of some sort. We've already seen this term appear a few times in the story, and, as is explained here, is usually used to refer to someone of supreme and unrivaled power in their Realm