Jin Yunshan was shaking more than anyone. Once he realized who that killing intent belonged to, he subconsciously reached down and rubbed his bracelet of holding, whereupon he felt a bit better.

"It's the Ninth Paragon..."

"This aura. How... how could he have become so strong?!"

"He's been missing for hundreds of years, I can't believe he's finally back!"

Faces flickered as Meng Hao hovered there in the air above Planet Vast Expanse for a moment before speeding toward the first continent.

In the Holy Daughter Palace on the first continent, Vast Expanse Holy Daughter Han Bei was seated cross-legged in meditation. Her face was pale, and she looked exhausted. Suddenly, she sensed the aura emanating from above, and a smile broke out on her face.

But that smile quickly froze, and she shot to her feet, a look of disbelief and shock on her face.

"I can't believe he woke up! This is impossible!" Trembling, Han Bei began to back up. Suddenly, the glow of teleportation sprang up around her, and she vanished. A moment later, an indescribable pressure descended and slammed into the Holy Daughter Palace.

The entire palace was instantly incinerated, wiped away. In its place was a huge crater, above which Meng Hao hovered, eyes flashing with killing intent as he looked off into the distance.

"You can't escape!" he said through gritted teeth. "You will die this day. I won't rest until that happens."

Outside of the Vast Expanse, he had brushed far too closely with death, causing his hatred for Han Bei to seep into his very bones. He had vowed to slay her, and as far as Chu Yuyan was concerned, he was prepared for how to deal with that situation.

His eyes flashed like lightning, and then a massive boom echoed out as the air was ripped apart. Meng Hao's vicious, murderous aura spread out to cover the entire planet, joined by his divine sense. All living beings on the planet, including mortals and cultivators, even the 9-Essences experts, were left trembling. It was as if some great disaster had suddenly come to loom over their heads.

"What happened!?" Jin Yunshan gasped. He could sense the raging, murderous aura coming off of Meng Hao, and it was obvious that it was exponentially more powerful than the last time the two of them had tangled.

Jin Yunshan, just like the Sect Leader and the others, had made progress in recent years thanks to the multiple forays into the necropolis. The entire group had experienced increases in their cultivation bases. By this point, Jin Yunshan believed himself to be at the utter peak of the 9-Essences level. And yet, now that he sensed Meng Hao's energy, his face fell, and he had to admit that as of this moment, Meng Hao's aura was completely and utterly terrifying.

"Why is he trying to kill a disciple from the First Sect?" Although Han Bei was a Holy Daughter of the Vast Expanse School, in comparison to a 9-Essences expert, she was nothing more than a disciple. "That's not any ordinary disciple. Whoever it was managed to escape before he landed his blow on the First Sect!"

Jin Yunshan's eyes flickered as he emerged out in the open. He wasn't going to interfere with Meng Hao; he merely wanted to see exactly what was happening.

It wasn't just him. Sha Jiudong emerged from a sandstorm that raged in Planet Vast Expanse's huge desert, looking extremely frightened. He took a deep breath, and his eyes flashed because of the uneasy feeling he was experiencing. He could tell that something bad was about to happen, and immediately sped off to observe.

Immortal Bai Wuchen hesitated for a moment. At the moment, she didn't dare to show herself to Meng Hao, not in his current state, so she simply sat there quietly, pretending that she hadn't noticed his aura.

She was the only one who didn't show herself. The Sect Leader and the other 9-Essences Paragons were all flying through the air of Planet Vast Expanse to see what was happening.

Their hearts were pounding from the sheer awe-inspiring nature of Meng Hao's aura, which left them completely shaken.

That was especially true of the Sect Leader, whose cultivation base was so high that he had assumed he must be at the absolute pinnacle. He was even sure that he would prevail against the combined forces of Jin Yunshan and the other 9-Essences Paragons.

But as of this moment, Meng Hao's aura left him terrified. The intense level of pressure was almost impossible to accept.

"How... did he become so powerful!?" the Sect Leader thought. "It's understandable that our cultivation bases rose, thanks to the altars in the necropolis. But he simply vanished for a few hundred years, and now that he's back, he's suddenly unimaginably stronger!"

The Sect Leader's eyes flickered, and he pushed forward with greater speed. After all, disciple Han Bei of the First Sect was actually his apprentice.

He had accepted her as his only apprentice, and now Meng Hao was trying to chase her down and kill her.... Clearly, there were secrets at play.

As everyone was speeding toward the first continent, Meng Hao suddenly appeared in a different location, a place where the aura of teleportation was strong. This was none other than the location Han Bei had teleported to.

It was a small-scale sect that was not directly subordinate to the Vast Expanse School. As soon as Meng Hao appeared, everything was thrown into a commotion. The sect itself was built upon nine different mountains, all of which began to shine with bright light. Clearly it was a spell formation. In addition to that, a moment later, nine blasts of sword qi to suddenly shoot out toward Meng Hao.

The lands in the area shook as the nine mountains themselves then rose up into the air. There were also hosts of cultivators, whose eyes shone red, and who didn't even seem in control of their own minds as they charged madly toward Meng Hao.

Han Bei had been on Planet Vast Expanse for many years, and had always been on guard against Meng Hao. Although she had grown a bit lax recently, her preparations were all still in place.

This was one of the locations she had set aside especially to deal with Meng Hao.

"Kill him!" roared the tens of thousands of cultivators. In combination with the spell formation, the nine mountains, and the nine beams of sword qi, they shot aggressively toward Meng Hao.

Meng Hao's eyes flashed, and his killing intent surged stronger than ever. Since these people were trying to stop him, that meant they were allied with Han Bei, and thus, were his enemies!

"Die!" he said impatiently, shoving his hand out violently. Everything went dim, and a gale force wind blew as a huge hand materialized.

The hand slammed into the nine streams of sword qi, which were powerful enough to cause problems for an ordinary 9-Essences cultivator for at least a short time. But when they slammed into the magical hand sent out by Meng Hao, they shattered instantly. They weren't even powerful enough to stand up to a single blow.

Rumbling sounds echoed out as the sword qi was destroyed. Next, the hand slammed into the mountains. The mountains shook as cracks spread out across them. Then, they exploded into countless fragments. The entire matter happened almost in the blink of an eye.

The hand didn't seem to have been slowed down in the slightest. It smashed into the cultivators and the spell formation, causing a deafening boom to spread out.

A huge handprint was smashed into the ground, surrounded by cracks which snaked out in every direction. The spell formation was completely destroyed, and the cultivators who had been charging in attack were reduced to a bloody pulp.

Everything went quiet. If Meng Hao had been an ordinary 9-Essences cultivator, this little trap might not have resulted in his death, but would have at least delayed him a bit. And what Han Bei needed right now was time.

However, to the current Meng Hao, destroying this place was as easy as taking a breath.

His eyes flickered as he waved his hand through the air to locate Han Bei's aura. After some examination, he snorted coldly, then sent his divine sense out in all directions. However, he could find no trace of Han Bei.

"Parrot!" he said anxiously.

The parrot flew out from his bag of holding, radiating dazzling light, its eyes shining brightly. Meng Hao sent his divine sense out again, and this time, the parrot let out a squawk as it bolstered his divine sense.

Everything began to tremble violently. RUUUUUUUUUUMBLE!

A huge wind whipped up, with Meng Hao in the middle of it all. As his divine sense surged out exponentially, it filled Planet Vast Expanse, until finally, he caught sight of Han Bei in another small-scale sect.

As soon as he locked down onto her position, he stepped forward, ripping the air apart and stepping through the rift. It took only a moment for him to appear in the exact location he had just identified.

The instant he appeared, Han Bei was stepping onto a teleportation portal in the sect. She suddenly looked around to find Meng Hao speeding through the air toward her.

Her face went pale, and she suddenly slapped down at the spell formation with her hand. A boom echoed out as the spell formation began to activate. At the same time, she declined to wait for Meng Hao to destroy the preparations she had made in the sect. She destroyed the entire sect herself, then borrowed that power to fuel the teleportation formation. Radiant light glittered, surrounding her. She began to fade away, as if she would be teleported away at any moment.

But how could Meng Hao let that happen? He extended his right hand and pointed his finger directly at Han Bei.

"Eighth Hex!"