As of that moment, all cultivators were staring at Meng Hao.
Everyone watched as Meng Hao, without any further hesitation, held the bronze lamp aloft. His expression was one of determination as he gritted his teeth for a moment, then opened his mouth and inhaled deeply.
In that instant, the flame in the bronze lamp flickered, then flew out of the bronze lamp. In the blink of an eye, it was sucked into Meng Hao’s mouth.
He consumed the Divine Flame!
When Meng Hao sucked in the Essence of Divine Flame, his mind filled with a roaring sound. At the same time, indescribable heat exploded within his throat.
Intense flames almost immediately scorched Meng Hao’s blood dry. Before he could even blink, his body was being burned into ash. No longer was it merely blue veins popping out on his face, instead… numerous fissures spread out across his body.
The fissures were red, and when they opened, it seemed almost as if lava were about to explode out from inside of him.
He let out a protracted howl, and he shook violently. His eyes filled with madness. It was as if swallowing the Divine Flame was the same as swallowing an entire volcano!
Or perhaps… he was actually becoming a volcano!
His 122 Immortal meridians rotated at full power, and boundless Immortal power surged through him. However, all it could do was keep Meng Hao alive, and couldn’t assimilate the Divine Flame.
Indescribable pain filled him as the flames roared, and he was rapidly reaching the point where he couldn’t take it any more.
Popping sounds echoed out, and more fissures tore through Meng Hao’s body. They spread out across his face and neck, and soon afterwards his entire body was covered.
Within those fissures was crimson light that seemed to indicate his body was about to explode.
Nobody could help him, not even the Dao Realm experts. This was his tribulation, his meridians, and his choice!
The only person who could help him was himself. And only by weathering this trial, only by successfully fusing with the Essence of Divine Flame, could he save himself.
“I absolutely must succeed!” The glow of fire seeped out of Meng Hao’s eyes, and he could clearly sense the wild and intense power flowing through him that was the Divine Flame!
If he didn’t already possess 122 Immortal meridians, then he would already have been completely transformed into ash. However, regardless of how unprecedented his previous gains were, he was still… approaching the point of collapse.
Right now, all of the Dao Realm Patriarchs were watching closely. The Fang Clan Earth Patriarch looked nervous, and his eyes were wide with anger.
“Bastard! Moron! Y-y-you… you seemed so smart, kid! How could you do something as rash as this? Dammit! 122 meridians is amazing. Why did you have to be so stubborn and try to open more?!” After cursing up a storm, the Earth Patriarch finally sighed and soon looked over at Meng Hao, his eyes glowing with praise.
From the perspective of the Fang Clan, he didn’t want Meng Hao to be facing any serious peril. However, from the perspective of a cultivator, he had to admit that he approved of Meng Hao’s wildness. When practicing cultivation, only by having an obsession with power that bordered on madness could one… truly become powerful.
He wasn’t the only person thinking such thoughts. The Dao Realm Patriarchs from the various sects and clans were all watching Meng Hao, and suddenly, they looked at him differently than before. They could sense his madness, and his obsession with becoming powerful.
To make such a wild bet, to risk everything in the way he was, left them moved.
The experts from the Three Great Daoist Societies felt the same way.
Fang Wei hovered in midair, mind shaking as he watched what was happening. As for his father Fang Xiushan, he was starting to look extremely excited, even joyful.
“He’s just looking to die!” he thought. “Well, the little son of a bitch is going to kill himself. Hahaha! I hope he blows up!”
The true Immortal Chosen of the Ninth Mountain and Sea saw Meng Hao’s manifestation of obsession, and various expressions could be seen on their faces.
Rumbling sounds could be heard as the fissures spread out to cover Meng Hao completely, causing him to seem like he was cobbled together from a patchwork of pieces.
There were even some places on his face where the fissures merged together, causing pieces of his skin to begin to flake off and transform into dust. Finger-nail sized wounds could be seen, within which were not flesh and blood, but rather, a sea of flames.