"So that's how it is," Meng Hao said, his voice cool. He waved his right hand, and a boom echoed out as the old man exploded, killed in body and soul.

Meng Hao stood there, looking at the statue not too far off in the distance. Keeping himself at the 9-Essences level, and dissipating all traces of Transcendence, he looked around at the cultivators and the statue.

There were no more mists, and the face of the statue was now completely filled with dignity and splendor.

"My cultivation base has exceeded the Daosource, and is now half a step into the Ancestor Realm.... Another bit of progress would allow me to see the truth, not just the clues." After some thought, he waved his hand, wiping out an entire wave of attacking Immortal God Continent cultivators. Then, he powered his cultivation base up from the 9-Essences level back into the Daosource. Then his aura of Transcendence erupted out with unprecedented power, causing the entire Immortal God Continent to tremble as if in shock.

That power was not only that of fleshly body Transcendence and cultivation base Transcendence; as of this moment, the will of Meng Hao's Transcendent soul erupted out. Boundless power surged, power that exceeded the Daosource, power... which was half a step into the Ancestor Realm!

In that very instant, Meng Hao could suddenly sense that the voices of the Immortal God Continent cultivators were growing quieter. Eventually... they faded into nothing.

They now seemed to completely lack intelligence whatsoever. As for the statue of the Transcendent cultivator, his face was distorted, making him look very different than moments ago. Furthermore, the entire Immortal God Continent was covered with mist....

Meng Hao stood there looking at the statue, and after a moment, he waved his hand, causing one of the Immortal God Continent's 8-Essences Paragons to suddenly vanish. He appeared in front of Meng Hao a moment later, who reached out and casually crushed his neck. Meng Hao studied him for a long moment, until he was able to detect an aura emanating out of him that wouldn't be noticeable without intense concentration. After seeping out of the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth of the 8-Essences Paragon, it began flowing toward a statue off in the distance.

There were actually nine such statues located throughout the land mass, eight on the periphery, and one larger one in the very middle.

"If I really want to see what's going on... it shouldn't be that difficult." He extended his right hand, and the copper mirror flew out and began to melt. It transformed into countless black threads which instantly covered Meng Hao, forming a suit of black armor.

By borrowing the power of the parrot, he was able to push his cultivation base past that half a step... all the way into the Ancestor Realm!!

RUUUUUUUUUUMBLE!

His hair whipped about as a tempest of wind screamed around him. The Vast Expanse was shaken by this peak level of power. At the same time, the parrot flew out, letting out a squawk as it shot into Meng Hao's forehead, merging with his closed third eye, the Dao eye, which began to emanate a violet glow.

With that, he closed his two eyes and opened his Dao eye. Violet light erupted out to fill the entire world, and at the same time... Meng Hao's view of the world completely changed!

He saw that the cultivators of the Immortal God Continent were actually formed from clumps of qi and blood. They were mere outlines, filled with black mist that gave them a very shocking appearance.

Regardless of whether they were men or women, old or young, and regardless of the level of their cultivation bases, to Meng Hao, they were all just clumps of qi and blood.

Whenever one of them died, they would be absorbed by the nearest statue. The black mists inside of them were apparently their souls, their true forms.

Furthermore, within that black mist, Meng Hao was able to detect... fluctuations of the will of Allheaven, and even soul strands which bore the same aura!

Meng Hao sent his divine sense out to fill the entire Immortal God Continent, and found that virtually all the cultivators were the same, with very few exceptions.

One of the exceptions was actually an entire clan. That clan was not participating in the warfare. Instead, they all sat there cross-legged, mixed emotions on their faces. Many of those faces were familiar to Meng Hao.

It was none other than... the Wang Clan.

Meng Hao even saw Wang Tengfei, with the blood of the God Tribe pumping through his veins.

The Wang Clan cultivators were all sitting cross-legged in meditation, surrounded by an enormous spell formation that continuously prevented the black mist from entering the clan.

It only took a moment for Meng Hao to realize that the spell formation was actually a teleportation portal, and a complicated one at that. It couldn't be activated very quickly, and even more shocking... was that it seemed to lead outside the starry sky of the Vast Expanse!

Meng Hao turned his attention to another of the living beings, someone who wasn't in the Wang Clan. As soon as Meng Hao focused his attention on that person, he recognized who it was. It was none other than the former Echelon cultivator from the First Mountain and Sea, Dao-Heaven.

He looked old, but Meng Hao could still tell who he was. Unfortunately, Dao-Heaven was laced with black mist, which was eating away at his fleshly body, something he couldn't even detect.

After a moment, Meng Hao sent his divine sense sweeping out over the land mass once again, whereupon he detected more people who were different. There were eight of them in total, all located in different locations around the Immortal God Continent.

They were made of qi and blood like everyone else, but they had no traces of the black mist within them that was the will of Allheaven, and none of the strange soul strands.

Almost in the same moment that Meng Hao realized these eight individuals were different, they seemed to sense his presence, and turned their attention in his direction. He could immediately sense that they were filled with complicated emotions.

Eventually, Meng Hao closed his Dao eye. Then his two eyes opened, and he swished his sleeve. The black armor vanished, returning to the shape of the copper mirror, which he put away. The booming sounds of combat still echoed out around him. The Vast Expanse School truly deserved its reputation as the number one power in the starry sky of the Vast Expanse. The entire sect had been mobilized, and when you added in the superior power of the Ninth Sect, plus the old lizard and the other eccentric beings, the Immortal God Continent simply wasn't capable of fighting back. The land mass was shaking as the Vast Expanse School cultivators battled their way in deeper and deeper.

Meng Hao ignored the fighting. Just as he was about to take action, the entire land mass trembled. Countless cultivators dropped to their knees and prostrated themselves to the Heavens. All of them were crying out the same thing.

"Patriarch, come to us!"

"Patriarch, come to us!!"

"Patriarch, come to us!!!"

Their voices joined together into a sound wave which rocked Heaven and Earth. The land mass shook, and a strange aura suddenly began to descend.

Everything began to grow icy cold, and yet, Meng Hao could sense that this will was not intelligent. It was almost as if someone had imprinted it onto a jade slip and was now forcibly unleashing it.