He looked over at Xu Qing and took a deep breath. There was a vast amount of curse power built up in him already, to the point that the Eternal stratum couldn’t dispel it. His vital organs were now beginning to wither and rot.
At this point, Xu Qing’s eyelashes fluttered and she… opened her eyes.
She looked at Meng Hao and didn’t have the energy to speak. However, anxiety, deep concern, and anguish could be seen in her eyes. It was an expression that broke Meng Hao’s heart.
The wedding ceremony… had only been half completed.
Now, everything was gray… and the color of blood!
It should have been the happiest day of his life, but now… it was turning into a tragedy.
Meng Hao laughed. He lifted his head up to the sky and laughed. That laughter sounded maniacal, enraged, filled with intense discontent. Rumbling sounds could be heard from beneath his palms. His body was already nearly completely withered by the curse, and yet he continued to absorb it.
RUMBLE!
The ground changed color again.
Fifty percent!!
Boundless curse power rumbled toward him. Meng Hao was a black hole at the center of the windstorm, absorbing everything.
Blood poured out of his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. His skin was tearing, and he was now sitting in the middle of a pool of blood. The accumulation of curse power within him was reaching a peak.
The Hellwither Nineruins curse contained incredible powers of withering. It withered the land, and also caused the cultivation bases of all the cultivators born in that land to wither. Now, that power was building up inside of Meng Hao. The Eternal stratum could not wipe it away, causing Meng Hao to tremble violently.
It was at this point that Meng Hao suddenly made unexpected progress. After all, he cultivated the Withering Flame Demon Magic True Self Dao. Within those seven characters was the ‘withering’ character!
As of this moment, he gained complete enlightenment of withering!
With the complete understanding of the ‘withering’ character, Meng Hao’s body rumbled, and the curse power within him began to shrink. It condensed into his blood vessels, his soul, his flesh, and transformed into… a ‘withering’ character divine ability!
At that moment, Meng Hao sucked in a deep breath as the Withering Character Incantation combined with the Blood Immortal Divine Ability. In combination with the frenzied assistance of the second true self, massive rumbling sounds filled the air.
Sixty percent!!
The color of the curse throughout all the Southern Domain changed once again. Everything shook, and the four Northern Reaches peak Dao Seeking experts up above were further shocked.
“His body… his body is actually at Dao Seeking!!”
“There’s something strange about the technique he cultivates. This guy… this guy’s body can constantly regenerate!”
“He can actually absorb the withering power of the curse!!”
The four men only continued to be more and more astonished. In fact, even Patriarch Song and the others could hardly believe what they were seeing. The only one who wasn’t surprised was Pill Demon. He looked sadly at Meng Hao, as well as the lands below.
He was Meng Hao’s master, and he knew why Meng Hao was risking everything. Today was his wedding day, and his wife was on the same island he was.
“Unless he absorbs one hundred percent, the effects can’t be completely reversed….” murmured Pill Demon.
When Meng Hao absorbed sixty percent of the curse, the withering effect on the surrounding hundreds of thousands of cultivators was visibly reduced. Although they were still trembling, the effects of the curse seemed to have eased up a bit. When they opened their eyes, what they saw… was Meng Hao, coughing up blood, his body slowly dissolving.
Sixty percent… was not enough!
Meng Hao produced the lightning cauldron and attempted to pour the curse power into it, but it didn’t work. The lightning cauldron and the curse were two completely different things. He thought about using the Wooden Time Swords to afflict the curse with the passage of time, but doing that would also affect the curse power in the bodies of the Southern Domain cultivators.
Once the Time power activated, it might end things… but it would also cause the destructive power of the curse to be inflicted faster.
He thought of many other options, but none could resolve the problem.
The only thing left to do was to continue to absorb the curse power. He once again sent the Withering Character Incantation into operation. Once again the land rumbled, and the color changed.
Seventy percent!
The Withering Character Incantation was reaching its limit. With seventy percent of the curse power absorbed, even it was incapable of absorbing more.
Meng Hao had truly reached his limit.
His Eternal stratum was on the verge of fading away. His body couldn’t handle any more withering from the curse. He was ancient now.
Tears rolled down Xu Qing’s face.
The four peak Dao Seeking cultivators from the Northern Reaches had already been complete