The incarnation didn't head to the battlefield, as it didn't possess very much battle prowess; it would dissipate after a relatively short period of time. Instead, it headed to the Immortal's caves occupied by other cultivators from the Ninth Mountain and Sea.

Similar scenes were playing out in the other nations, most notably in the First Nation, where four beams of light sped toward the central battlefield.

Clearly, the Echelon cultivators had all realized that the mortals' war was extremely important!

Losses would result in the scattering of the National Aura, and a weakening of the defenses. If the defenses were removed... they would be in extreme danger!

In one particular mountain range in the Ninth Nation was a valley that looked like an Immortal utopia. Cultivators clustered about inside and outside the valley, staring in deathly silence at a middle-aged cultivator up ahead.

It was one of the Demonic cultivators from the Ninth Sea, who was currently reclining on a divan, surrounded by dancing female cultivators. Beautiful music drifted through the air, accompanied by birdsong and the fragrance of flowers. The entire scene was lovely.

The Demonic cultivator sighed deeply as he looked around. He still wasn't used to the situation; during the last month everyone he had encountered had looked at him with both fear and fanatical reverence.

A single word from him could cause people to commit suicide. A single glance would cause any beautiful female cultivator he saw to approach seductively and cater to his every desire. If he got irritated, everyone trembled in fear. It was as if he were the will of Heaven, and he was completely lost within that feeling.

He had never experienced anything like this back in the Ninth Sea, nor could he ever have imagined anything like it. There were simply too many people who were more powerful than he was.

Even if he went to some remote location, perhaps he could enjoy a life like this temporarily, but someone stronger than him would eventually come along and take it all away, and then his life would return to how it usually was.

But the Windswept Realm was different, leading to a completely different mental state.

Granted, there had been some incredible pressure just now. Plus, he was a disciple of the Nine Seas God World, and understood that he had a mission in this place. However, he just couldn't hold back from indulging in the pleasures of the Windswept Realm.

As he thought about this he reached up and slowly ran his finger down the cheek of one of the beautiful women. When he saw the awe in her eyes, the Demonic cultivator laughed loudly, and was just about to say something when, all of a sudden, his face fell. He looked up and saw a beam of light flying toward him through midair, which then transformed into Meng Hao.

"Meng Hao!" The Demonic cultivator's eyes widened, and he rose to his feet, instantly on guard. Then he realized it was nothing more than an incarnation. Of course, despite being only an incarnation, it was still Meng Hao.

"Go to the central temple battlefield immediately," Meng Hao said. That simple sentence caused the Demonic cultivator's face to distort with rage.

"You don't have the right to order me around!"

"Maybe not, but I'm strong enough to kill you," Meng Hao responded coolly. His words were filled with infinite coldness. He might be only a weak incarnation that couldn't do anything to the Demonic cultivator, and yet his words were filled an inarguable murderous aura. "Go. That is your mission in this place. It doesn't matter what pleasures you've enjoyed or how much you've fallen in love with them, if you forget your mission, then there's no reason for me to keep you alive."

With that, Meng Hao spun and shot off into the distance.

The Demonic cultivator stood there silently for a moment, then threw his head back and roared. He might be furious, but he had no choice other than to comply. He flew up into the air, waved a hand, causing clouds and mist to surround him, and headed straight for the central battlefield.

Meng Hao wasn't worried that the Demonic cultivator might refuse to go. He was not the first person Meng Hao had approached, but rather, the second. The first Demonic cultivator had also erupted into a fury, but in the end, was too terrified to refuse. The second Demonic cultivator reacted in the same way as the first one had. In their own little worlds, they were like emperors, with complete authority over everything. After only a month of living like that, they had almost become lost in their own fantasies. It was something that Meng Hao found extremely frightening. In his opinion, cultivators, even Demonic cultivators, should not have allowed their mindset to be influenced in such a way in the space of just a month.

There were many things from the outside world that were the complete opposite here, and yet, it was happening within an unreasonably short period of time.

It was almost as if there were some bizarre power in the Windswept Realm that amplified one's desires by multiple orders of magnitude, making them more intense and pronounced.

"Have I been influenced as well?" he asked himself, but had no answer. With a flash, he sped toward the location of the next Demonic cultivator.

His destination was a small city, within which was a blacksmith shop. A burly man was there, bare-chested, and the clang of metal striking metal could be heard as he worked with iron. He occasionally pulled a piece of iron from a furnace, examined it, then began to strike it with a hammer.

The weather was oppressively hot, ensuring that not many people were out in the streets. When Meng Hao appeared, a tremor ran through the burly man's body, and he looked up and chuckled wryly.

This man was none other than the extremely devious and cunning burly body cultivator from the Demonic Cultivator Horde that Meng Hao had exchanged blows with.

"You didn't have to come personally," the man said. "I know what my mission is. Once I finish with this sword, I'll be on my way." The man lifted up the bright red strip of metal he had been working with, then shoved it into cold water. Hissing sounds and steam rose up, and after a moment, he pulled the metal back out. It was a blade, riddled with tiny holes, yet overflowing with a murderous aura.

"You're different from all the others," Meng Hao said coolly. He looked around at the blacksmith shop, which appeared to be completely ordinary, without the slightest bit of extravagance to be seen. From what he could tell, the inhabitants of the city had no idea that this burly man was actually an Immortal.

"My desires are unique," the man said, "and unusually strong. Because of that, they are hard to fulfill." After a moment of thought, the man tossed the huge blade into his bag of holding, grinned at Meng Hao, and then walked out of the shop.

For some reason, the man's style seemed to be very different from before, causing Meng Hao to stare at him for a moment.

"I hope you stay this way," he said suddenly.

"That's the plan," was the reply. The burly man laughed loudly, then flew into the air. He quickly disappeared over the horizon. Meng Hao's eyes glittered, then he turned and vanished, to reappear directly in front of the man.

Although it had seemed that the man flew off toward the central battlefield, he actually ended up fleeing in the opposite direction. As soon as he saw Meng Hao blocking his way, he laughed heartily.

"Oops, I took a wrong turn! My mistake!" he said. Then he turned and headed toward the central battlefield.

Meng Hao watched him disappear. After a moment of thought, he looked back at the blacksmith shop for a moment, then left. He didn't force anyone else to fight. Instead, he merely inspected the Immortal's caves of the other cultivators in the Ninth Nation.

His incarnation was slowly fading away, and perhaps because of that, it was becoming more and more difficult for anyone to detect him.

He saw Bei Yu, surrounded by a sea of flowers. There were also countless cultivators and mortals who were tending to the flowers like gardeners, while Bei Yu practiced cultivation in the middle. Although the entire scene seemed harmless at first, Meng Hao was able to see that the seeds of desire were slowly taking root within her.

He found Fan Dong'er, whose situation was quite unique. Not a single person could be found in her vicinity, and in fact, she had placed herself in secluded meditation, choosing to have no contact whatsoever with the outside world.

He stood outside her Immortal's cave for quite some time, watching thoughtfully. Eventually he left.

Just before his incarnation faded away, he found the only other human cultivator besides Fan Dong'er, the young man from the Nine Seas God World. In general, he appeared to be refined and even scholarly, and yet the world he had created was like a scene from hell.

The mortals there trembled, and the cultivators were in terror as they excavated Immortal Jade out of an enormous mine!

When Meng Hao saw the Immortal jade, his mind trembled slightly, and he began to pant. It was as if some enormous power had surfaced in his mind, urging him to instantly slaughter the young cultivator and take all of the Immortal jade for himself.

The impulse rose up without any warning, and was so strong that Meng Hao's eyes were instantly shot with blood. His cultivation base surged, and he waved his hand, causing incredible pressure to weigh down on all life forms in the area. Their minds reeled, and a bellow of rage could be heard as the young cultivator suddenly flew up into the air.

"Meng Hao, what are you doing!?!?" he roared. Meng Hao's incarnation suddenly collapsed into pieces, transforming into nothing more than ash. It wasn't something done intentionally; rather, the incarnation had reached its limit, and the surge of Meng Hao's cultivation base had caused any remaining life force it had to vanish.

The young man stared in shock for a moment, and then his face darkened. He looked in the direction of Mount Whiteseal and snorted coldly before floating back down to the ground.

Back on Mount Whiteseal, Meng Hao was seated cross-legged next to the statue. Suddenly, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, and his face went pale. He opened his eyes, and a shocked expression could be seen on his face.

He immediately performed a double-handed incantation gesture to ensure that his contemplation of enlightenment was not interrupted. If a backlash during the process of contemplating enlightenment of Essence did not destroy him in body and soul, it would still shatter his cultivation base.

Enlightenment like this could not be interrupted; complete focus was required.

"It's like I wasn't under control of myself!!" he thought, shaken. "As soon as I saw that Immortal jade, the impulse I felt was too strong. It was... indescribable. Most terrifying of all was that in that moment, I didn't even have the inclination to fight back against it." He took a deep breath, suddenly aware of how truly mysterious the Windswept Realm was. Furthermore, he had the feeling that he was probably being influenced in certain ways that he wasn't even aware of, perhaps from the moment he had arrived in the Windswept Realm.

His heart had grown colder than it usually was, and the thought of that... caused him to tremble.

"Desires are amplified.... Thankfully, that was an incarnation, and it ended up self-destructing. If it had been my true form...." He could only imagine what would have happened in that case.

After a moment of silence, he once again immersed himself in contemplation. However, the vigilance in his heart remained at a peak.

Back on the mortal battlefield in the central district, the three Demonic cultivators had joined the fray, easing some of the tension. However, it didn't take long before cultivators from the other nations arrived, and the fighting grew more chaotic. The Ninth Nation was having trouble mustering its National Aura, causing them to suffer more defeats. In fact, of all the blood-colored beams, theirs was the lowest.

It was at this point... that the gaunt youth in the Eighth Nation, the one surrounded by bones, suddenly stood up. He was the first one to gain complete enlightenment of 100 Essences.

Furthermore, he ceased any continued efforts at gaining enlightenment, and turned toward the Ninth Nation, his killing intent rising high.

"Meng Hao. Surnamed Meng.... That's the family name I hate more than any other!" With that, a flash could be seen as he shot toward the Ninth Nation, killing intent seething.

"Either way, you'll be the first to die. I'll take your sealing mark, and cut you down! I, Han Qinglei, will get the glory for slaughtering someone else in the Echelon!"1

Han Qinglei's name in Chinese is 韓青雷 hán qīng léi. Han is a common surname. Qing is a color, which could be blue, green, cyan, azure or even black. Lei means "thunder" or "lightning"