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Chapter 685: Traversing the Path
Up ahead, the Milky Way Sea could no longer be seen. It was as if the ship was passing through a river of time. All that could be seen were endless multicolored shards.
Within those shards existed endless worlds.
Meng Hao watched as the ship entered one of the shard worlds. It was a world of flames, filled with countless cultivators who kowtowed to the ship and offered up tribute.
They cultivated a fire technique that seemed to be linked to their bloodline. It seemed to supersede all of the other flames Meng Hao could see, and he could hear the people saying that their flame was the essence of all flames.
He couldn’t interact with the world; it was as if he were simply an observer. The ship passed through the flames for an indeterminable period of time until finally it pierced into another period of time.
Here, the starry sky looked unfamiliar, completely different from the sky of Planet South Heaven. It seemed like a vast and infinite expanse.
Occasionally strange life forms would pass by. Each one would drop to their knees and offer of bizarre and fantastic objects….
Meng Hao felt like he was a sightseer, a tourist hitching a ride on this ship. He saw a fluttering butterfly that was incredibly enormous. It was far off in the distance, and yet still clearly visible. When it neared, it could be seen that its beauty was actually formed by the combination of countless worlds.
“Are these things that have already happened, the recollections of this ship? Or is it something else…? What is happening?” Meng Hao wasn’t quite sure exactly what it was that he was seeing. The butterfly flew off into the distance, and the ship once again disappeared into the vastness.
When it reappeared, a boundless sea stretched out in front of Meng Hao. In the middle was an enormous tree stretching up into the Heavens. The tree had golden leaves, and was incredibly beautiful….
Down below sat a person, looking up silently at the tree. He stared for a long, long time, and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Finally, he smiled, and his body began to glow with a boundless light, as if he had just achieved enlightenment.
Meng Hao did not attempt to disturb him, but rather remained seated on the ship, as if this was simply a journey through life. Eventually, the man was left behind.
Meng Hao saw many, many worlds, and countless cultivators. He saw wars, and once, he even saw someone pointing at the ship and raving madly.
Meng Hao was somewhat at a loss. He had lost track of how many years had passed, and he also forgot that he was hovering on the verge of death. As the ship continued onward, he saw a featherless bird, a weeping crane.
A voice suddenly murmured in his ear, seemingly filled with a sense of time: “So many years. I think of you often….”
Meng Hao looked at the featherless, weeping crane, and for some reason, it seemed familiar.
“Don’t tell me I’ve seen it before?” he thought hesitantly.
Time changed again, and the scenery interweaved. He saw an enormous, cultivating tree, as large as the sky. It swept amongst the stars, running amok. However, when it saw the ship, it trembled.
Meng Hao was confused and at a loss.
He saw many types of cultivation, and countless Daos. He saw the cause and effect of Karma, he saw life and death, he saw the Yellow Springs, he saw eternal life and… he saw true and false. He saw a person walked down a path until he became a world. He buried himself to accompany others.
He saw a man who eternally roamed the starry sky, continuing onward, with his destination unknown. That person… appeared to be the armored old man.
A while later he saw another land where a man held the corpse of a woman in his arms. He lifted his head up and wailed, and within his eyes burned an insanity and a stubbornness that Meng Hao found shocking.
“The Heavens allowed you to die, but I WILL bring you back to life!” The man’s echoing voice filled Meng Hao’s heart with unprecedented waves of shock.
That shock was not because of the story of the man and woman, but rather, because the determination in the man’s words seemed indestructible. Even if Heaven and Earth collapsed, the steadfastness of his words could not be destroyed.
“I used to think I had determination,” though Meng Hao, “but compared to that, I don’t know….
“I’ve lost my cultivation base, and my life is waning away. However… can I really give up, just like that?” Meng Hao sat on ship, thinking about the question.
His eyes slowly began to burn with a spark of life. The flame was weak, as if it might flicker out at any moment. But right now, that flame… was resplendent. It was almost as if there was a will that burned within the fire.
Even as Meng Hao was lost in thought, the ship suddenly trembled again. The world around changed again, and nine mountains appeared out in the starry sky.
The nine mountains were lofty and ancient, filled with endless time. It was as if th