"First golden gate stone stele... 1st place...."

"I once heard that the absolute limit is more than 260,000 meters, but he... actually reached the sea floor! That's a place that only truly powerful experts can see...." Murmurs of astonishment could be heard in the crowd. Fan Dong'er was in a daze, and Bei Yu was panting in astonishment.

261,429 meters!

The distance the land mass of the Nine Seas God World maintained from the bottom of the sea had always been a fixed number from ancient times until now. Furthermore, no one whose name was recorded on the first golden gate stone stele had ever reached that depth.

The rankings only contained names of Ancient Realm experts with five or less extinguished Soul Lamps. Because of that rule, no one with that amount of Soul Lamps... had ever gone so deep.

It was a position that instantly put someone at the peak, in 1st place, even if they only managed to stay there for an instant. Not even Demonic cultivators who were born in the Ninth Sea could go down so far.

The crowds outside of the first golden gate stone stele burst into a commotion. Cries of shock rang out, and the astonishment felt by the disciples of the Nine Seas God World reached a tempestuous level that swept across the entire sect.

The Demonic Cultivator Horde was equally shaken. When they saw Meng Hao's name on the first golden gate stone stele, their hearts were filled with dread.

Although they instinctively hated him, in the cultivation world, people respected the powerful. The Demonic cultivators also held this awe deep in their hearts, so despite their hatred of him, henceforth, they would no longer dare to provoke him further.

Meng Hao was using pure power to shake all hearts.

Currently, Meng Hao was now down at the bottom of the Ninth Sea. Despite the incredibly terrifying power of his fleshly body, he could still fill the indescribable pressure weighing down on him.

Because of that pressure, he would not be able to remain in this place for very long, perhaps only ten breaths of time. As he looked around, his heart was shaken to a profound level.

At the bottom of the Ninth Sea... he saw a corpse....

It was a vast, gargantuan corpse that seemed to make up the entire bottom of the Ninth Sea!

It was vastly archaic and ancient, and a huge gash could be seen splitting it apart....

Meng Hao was currently standing on the corpse's head. Visible on the forehead were... eight dim stars!

"A God...." he thought, shaken. He suddenly recalled Wang Tengfei, and great waves of shock rolled through him, causing him to stand there silently in the pressure.1

He had already reached the point where he couldn't hold on any longer, and he gave one last look over the corpse. Then he turned, and prepared to head back up. However, it was in that moment in which he turned, that in his peripheral vision, he suddenly noticed that located on one of the stars on the corpse's head... was a person!

It was a woman, wearing a long, violet garment. It was... a woman that Meng Hao remembered! It was... an old friend from Planet South Heaven!!

She stood there atop the corpse, her expression complex.1

"Han Bei!!" Meng Hao thought, his eyes widening.

Everything was dark, with only the corpse letting off the faintest of light. Even with Meng Hao's intensely powerful fleshly body, and vision as sharp as lighting, he could just barely make out the image clearly.

He began to tremble, and opened his eyes widely to look closer, but by that time, nothing was visible atop the star. It was almost as if what he had seen was nothing more than an illusion.

Before he could react, the pressure at the sea bottom forced him up. He saw the corpse fading away below him, and his eyes flickered.

"I feel like what I saw… was real! It was no illusion!

"I'm not sure what caused that to happen, but that woman... was Han Bei!" Meng Hao was lost in thought as he recalled all the things that had occurred between the two of them.

"Nine ancient family names...." he thought, eyes flashing. Then he thought back to how Han Bei had gone missing back on Planet South Heaven. After everyone had returned from the Ancient Demon Immortal Sect, Han Bei had vanished completely.

Suddenly, Meng Hao recalled how strange her disappearance was. It was not simply that nobody could find her. Actually... other than him, nobody even seemed to remember her at all.

It was something he had analyzed in the past, the fact that after the Ancient Demon Immortal Sect, nobody mentioned Han Bei at all. Regardless of whether any given person personally knew her or not, all traces of her seemed to have been wiped away.

Thinking about this now, Meng Hao realized that it was more of a feeling, or a guess. There was one way to prove whether or not his theory was right, and that was Chu Yuyan. She was someone who should remember Han Bei.

When she woke up, he would ask her. Then he would know the truth!

If Chu Yuyan remembered Han Bei, then everything Meng Hao had speculated was simply over-thinking. However, if Chu Yuyan... didn't remember Han Bei, then... it meant Meng Hao would definitely have to think it over some more.

"I'll know for sure when Chu Yuyan wakes up." Meng Hao glanced back down at the sea floor before shooting up toward the sect. He wouldn't forget the things he had just seen. Shortly, he reached the top, and vanished.

When he walked out of the first golden gate stone stele, he turned back to look at the list of names, and smiled. Then he sped toward the second stele.

The eyes of all the disciples were involuntarily glued to his back.

After stepping into the second golden gate stone stele, Meng Hao only needed the time it takes half an incense stick to burn before reaching 1st place. Boundless golden light erupted out from the stele.

This was his second 1st place spot.

The crowd was shouting and hollering. How could the disciples not realize what Meng Hao was trying to do...?

"He wants to take 1st place in all the steles!!"

"1st place in all of the nine stone steles?"

"It's not even worth talking about. From ancient times until now, the most 1st place spots taken by a single person has been six. And that only lasted for a hundred years before the spot was taken by someone else...."

"This Meng Hao, could it be... that he's going to pull off another miracle!?"

Rumbling could be heard as Meng Hao flew through the air toward the third golden gate. This time he was even faster; he only need thirty breaths of time before his name sailed past all the other names to the 1st place position.

The third 1st place spot!!

The crowds were shaken and in an uproar. Gasps could be heard as Meng Hao emerged and proceeded... toward the fourth golden gate stone stele!

Moments later, boundless golden light rose up, staining the entire ocean the color of gold. Meng Hao... had his fourth 1st place spot!

Four steles, all of them 1st place!

The Nine Seas God World was boiling with excitement. Meng Hao really was pulling off a miracle, and his image was being unforgettably engraved into the hearts of an entire generation.

Meng Hao chose not to enter the fifth stele. That one, he didn't need!

He shot past it toward the sixth stele, entered, and after the time it takes half an incense stick to burn, had yet another 1st place spot!

Everyone was so excited they felt like lightning bolts were crashing down all around. It had been a very, very long time since something like this had happened in the Nine Seas God World, something that set everyone's blood boiling.

Seventh stele, 1st place!

Eighth stele, 1st place!

Meng Hao went from one golden gate to another, and other than the fifth stele, which he wanted no part of, he took 1st place in all of them!

He was followed by a crowd of excited Nine Seas God World disciples. The Demonic cultivators were ashen-faced, their hearts filled with intense fear and shock regarding Meng Hao.

He... was the first person to have ever succeeded at doing something like this in the Nine Seas God World.

It was now a certainty that his name would be an eternal myth passed down through the history of the sect!

Finally, he appeared in front of the ninth golden gate stone stele. He came to a stop and stood there for a moment. Then, face solemn, he took a deep breath, and entered.

The moment he entered, the old man's voice echoed out to fill the entire world.

"Do you believe yourself to be qualified to gain the enlightenment of my third fist strike?"

"Absolutely!" Meng Hao replied immediately.

"Very well!" As the voice echoed out, the old man appeared out of thin air. He looked at Meng Hao, and his eyes shone with praise. He began to walk forward, his voice booming.

"First fist, Life-Extermination Fist!

"After extermination, one's own life must be sacrificed!

"After self-immolation, one can... slay Gods!

"My third fist strike is called... God-Slaying!" The old man's voice thrummed with energy. He strode forward, and all of a sudden, it seemed like he was the world, and the world was him!

He neared, fist swinging. It looked like an ordinary punch, not as murderous as the Life-Extermination Fist, nor as domineering as the Self-Immolation Fist. It seemed simple. However, it also filled Meng Hao with an unprecedented sensation of deadly crisis.

It was as if this one punch could suck in the energy of the entire world, and transform that energy into the power... to slay Gods!

"What are Gods?!" As the fist closed in, the old man's voice continued to echo out.

"Just another name some of the Outsiders call themselves. As for us from the Immortal World, we respect their power. Therefore, if they wish to call themselves Gods, then we approve!

"It is only because we approve of them that... killing them feels so wonderful!

"Remember, Immortals are above everything. And Gods... are like treasures to make ourselves stronger! In my lifetime, I slew 92 Gods. Eventually, I was killed, but my will remained behind in this stone stele, transformed into a soul of battle!" The God-Slaying Fist closed in.

Meng Hao was shaking, as he realized that he was completely incapable of blocking this fist strike. It was an entire world condensed into one fist. Despite the fact that his cultivation base was now vastly beyond his previous level, it was still impossible for him to resist it.

"Why... should I resist it?" Suddenly, his mind trembled as an idea formed. His eyes began to shine brightly, and instead of trying to block it, he clenched his own hand into a fist and chose to imitate the old man. He decided... to unleash his own God-Slaying Fist!

The old man threw his head back and laughed. When his fist connected with Meng Hao's, all of the power of the world poured into Meng Hao. However, Meng Hao wasn't injured at all; instead, the power guided him to a new awareness. As the power poured into his fist, the world collapsed.

"Go, you have been enlightened!" The old man's smiling voice echoed out as the world vanished. When everything became clear again, Meng Hao was outside of the ninth golden gate stone stele.

Behind him, the name in the 1st place position, Zong Wuya... moved to 2nd place.

Meng Hao's name shone with boundless golden light as he moved to... 1st place!

Stars appeared on Wang Tengfei's forehead when he used the power of Gods to fight Meng Hao in chapter 990In the original Chinese there is a line here which says "she was rubbing/touching (something)" but doesn't say specifically what. I suspect it's a typo/oversight on the part of Er Gen, and I don't want to guess at the meaning. For example, "she was rubbing her temples" and "she was rubbing the corpse" would have very different implications