But he was not willing. He was not willing to die. Unfortunately, this was the Cultivation world’s law of the jungle. He couldn’t fight or resist that. As his body sank deeper and deeper, the spark of life grew more and more faint. Everything was quiet. The spark was about to go out.
A wisp of Qi flowed out from within the North Sea. A droning sound could be heard, and deep within the waters, ripples flowed out to surround Meng Hao. His body suddenly began to glow.
As the glow spread, spiritual energy from the North Sea poured into Meng Hao from all directions, filling his body, mending his Qi passages. Violet-colored blood spilled out from his orifices and pores.
All of the damage inflicted by the Violet Qi from the East was mended. In fact, every single one of his numerous injuries were healed as the spiritual energy of the North Sea poured into him.
Popping sounds rang out from within him as his Qi passages began to flow again. His lifeless body was reformed, and in an instant, once again hummed with life force.
A thunderous roar sounded out as vast amounts of spiritual energy rushed into his Core sea. Once again it rippled boundlessly. He was still at the eighth level of Qi Condensation, but had actually made significant advancement, and his current power level was almost as much as someone at the ninth level of Qi Condensation.
Within his Core sea, the Demonic Core undulated, sending out a Demonic aura. It began to absorb all of the Demonic Qi that Meng Hao had accumulated. Its Demonic aura grew stronger and brighter.
Finally, Meng Hao opened his eyes.
He looked calm. He was not excited or shocked or astonished. He had intentionally picked the North Sea as the spot for the showdown. It had all been a gamble, in the hopes that the North Sea Demon would help him.
As he opened his eyes, he straightened his body. There was only water beneath his feet, although some distance away he could see the bottom of the lake. Everything should be pitch black. But because of the silvery sand that spread out, there was a little bit of a glow, which faintly illuminated the surroundings.
Within the murky waters, Meng Hao could see a boat.
The boat was dilapidated, sunken and resting on the lake floor. Meng Hao suddenly realized that he recognised this boat. It was… the boat he had ridden in that day when he crossed the lake!
He stared silently at the boat, and then cupped his hands and bowed in respect.
Even as he bowed, he heard the twittering laughter of a young girl echoing out across the lake bottom. The laughter circled around, making it impossible to determine its origin. Meng Hao narrowed his eyes, looking down at the floor of the lake.
As the laughter rang out, he saw arms emerging from the silver sand at the bottom of the lake. The hands were all as white as jade. Along with the arms appeared corpses. They were the corpses of young women, floating up from the silver sand.
Black hair swept across the faces of the dozens of them as they floated up from the depths of the lake. Their eyes were closed, their faces pale white but beautiful. Amidst the rippling lake water, Meng Hao watched on, an expression of astonishment on his face as he realized that all of the women… looked exactly the same!
At that same moment, a small girl appeared, standing there in the dilapidated boat. She gave Meng Hao a bashful smile. She seemed to be filled with childlike innocence, but as Meng Hao looked at her, his mind began to spin, and he felt a roaring inside his head.
He had just noticed that the faces of the corpses strongly resembled this girl’s face, as if they were her after she had grown up!
“Big brother, will you stay with me here forever?” said the little girl with a light laugh. Her voice was young, and when she spoke, the dozens of corpses floating around her stopped moving, and despite their eyes being closed, it seemed as if all of them were looking straight at Meng Hao.
Meng Hao mind spun, and the roaring sound seemed to consume his thoughts. Everything in front of started to grow dim, and then to shatter.
He suddenly opened his eyes. He was still floating in the lake water, some distance away from the lake floor, further away than he had been just now. Had it all been a dream? There was no boat, no corpses, and no laughing little girl.
Meng Hao gaped in shock. After a moment, he realized that his body had been healed. He gave a silent nod to the distant lake floor, even though he couldn’t see anything down there.
He knew that everything he had just seen had not been an illusion. It was real!
He raised his hands and bowed deeply with clasped hands.
“Meng Hao will always remember your two great kindnesses. I speculate that you wish to become a sea, and that this is what is most important to you. I, Meng, of the junior generation, promise that one day, when my Cultivation base soars to the heavens, that I shall come to your aid. If there is any other way that I can aid you, please tell me.” Meng Hao