He didn’t want anyone to recognize who he was, so he used the black feather to change his appearance. Therefore, nobody who saw him had any idea that he was actually the preeminently famous Meng Hao of the Ninth Mountain and Sea.
As he neared the Ninth Sea, he gradually heard crashing sounds like that of ocean waves. Up ahead, the sea of mist roiled unceasingly, and an indescribably boundless energy shook everything in the starry sky.
Meng Hao didn’t waste any time. Occasionally, he would attempt to absorb the Nirvana Fruits, and he occasionally brought Su Yan out of his bag of holding. He would try to have casual and friendly conversations with her in the hope of convincing her to give him some of her Daoist magics in exchange for her freedom.
However, Su Yan would only looked at him derisively and make piercing, uncompromising comments.
After several attempts, it was clear that no matter what line of reasoning he attempted, Su Yan would never agree. Finally, he had no more patience. Waving his hand, he covered her with restrictive spells, sealing her completely, whereupon he stuffed her into a bag of holding.
“I bet that if she goes through a bit of suffering, she won’t be so uncooperative!” Unless absolutely necessary, Meng Hao didn’t want to use Soulsearch. That was a very vile method, and there was no sort of unresolvable enmity between the two of them as of yet.
The best outcome, and his first choice, would be for her to cooperate and hand over some of her Daoist magics.
Several days later, Meng Hao, atop a black beetle, finally entered the border region of the Ninth Sea. That black beetle was the only one he kept outside of his bag of holding as he looked out at the mists of the Ninth Sea, a strange gleam in his eyes.
The Ninth Sea seemed boundless, almost completely without end. Mist stretched out as far as the eye could see. Everything seemed damp, leading Meng Hao to the conclusion that there really was a huge sea at the bottom of all the mist.
“Such a huge sea….” he breathed. Back in the Fang Clan, he had seen a map of the Nine Mountains and Seas, and was aware that if he passed all the way through the Ninth Sea, he would end up in the region of the Eighth Mountain.
“The Ninth Mountain and Sea is not the end of the road for me!” As he looked off into the distance, his heart filled with lofty aspirations. On his path of cultivation, he wanted to be free and unfettered. He wanted true freedom and independence.
Heaven could not block his path, and Earth could not obstruct his way!
He patted his black beetle, which let out a roar as it transformed into a black beam of light that shot into the mists of the Ninth Sea.
Almost in the exact moment that he entered the Ninth Sea, countless eyes suddenly snapped open, both in the mists that surrounded him, and the blackness of the depths of the sea.
Those eyes belonged to numerous sea beasts and Sea Demons that inhabited the Ninth Sea. Normally speaking, they did not have conflicts with cultivators, but as of this moment, for some reason they all opened their eyes and roared, and their expressions were that of murderous intent.
It was as if there was something about Meng Hao’s aura that roused all of the sea beasts and Sea Demons of the Ninth Sea into a rage.