Xue'er destroyed her game board, bestowed the Echelon Heart, and then vanished over the horizon.

Meng Hao remained behind, panting. Because of the stimulation of the Echelon Heart, his divine sense continued to spread out rapidly in all directions, and his body was trembling violently.

"Echelon Heart...." he thought, his eyes shining brightly. His divine sense had soon filled the central temple region and began to spread out through the Nine Nations.

As it passed the cultivators and soldiers, their faces flickered. When they looked up, they saw roiling clouds rapidly spreading out to cover the sky.

It was as if the Heavens were being obscured, and the lands covered up. The center of it all was Meng Hao. The mortals and the soldiers among them couldn't see it, but the cultivators, especially Fan Dong'er and the others, could see a translucent tempest raging around Meng Hao.

That tempest was the cause of the clouds and the wind that were spreading out in all directions.

Meng Hao frowned. "Don't tell me that this thing's only function is to power up my divine sense and send it out in all directions, is it?"

He had used a bit of trickery to defeat Xue'er and acquire the Echelon Heart. However, he had not won her assistance, and right now, the exact usage of the Echelon Heart was a bit of a mystery to him.

"It can make Echelon cultivators stronger, huh...." His eyes flashed, and without any further hesitation, he closed his right hand tightly around the scintillating Echelon Heart.

He gripped it hard, and his mind began to spin as the Echelon Heart fused into the palm of his hand. As soon as it melted into him, it transformed into five auras that surged through his qi passageways. They spread out separately, filling his entire body. Four of them then disappeared, seemingly concealing themselves inside of him, vanishing without a trace. Only an orange aura remained. It shot into his mind, and then exploded.

That eruption caused blood to ooze out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. He groaned, and his divine sense suddenly grew to an exaggerated level, roiling out around him. In the blink of an eye, it covered everything in the Nine Nations. Soon, Meng Hao's divine sense had covered all of the mountain ranges and rivers, even the nine National Aura Mountains. In a very short period of time, the entirety of the Windswept Realm was completely covered by his divine sense.

He saw all living things, and all cultivators. He saw Zong Wuya, who had a strange look in his eyes. He was followed by a host of black-robed cultivators.

On the Third Nation's National Aura Mountain, he saw the emperor, whose face was flickering. He also saw Lin Cong, Han Qinglei, and Yuwen Jian, all racing toward him, as well as the enraged Dao-Heaven.

Everything was visible in his divine sense. Then, as he panted, it continued to grow, reaching out... into the void beyond!

Outside in the pitch-black void, he could see the Windswept Realm as a whole, which was currently speeding upwards.

The Windswept Realm was moving, rising upward, heading higher and higher into the void.

Meng Hao's mind spun as he looked off into the distance and saw two balls of light, which repeatedly slammed into each other, as if they were fighting. Within one of those balls of light was the white-robed Paragon Sea Dream. The person she was fighting was a middle-aged man, a man... that looked exactly like the statue he had seen when he had first climbed the National Aura Mountain upon entering the Windswept Realm!

They fought back and forth without speaking, and yet were surrounded by complete destruction.

Meng Hao was panting. He sensed incredible danger, and didn't dare to send his divine sense out any further. He quickly reigned it back into the lands of the Windswept Realm.

"Just as I suspected," he thought, his eyes flashing. "Some momentous catastrophe has struck the Windswept Realm....

"I couldn't get involved even if I wanted to.... For now, it seems the Echelon Heart's only purpose is to allow me to see more, to allow my divine sense to cover the entire Windswept Realm. And yet, how does that help my cultivation base?" Suddenly, a tremor ran through him. "Oh, what's that…?

"Ah, it's not useless after all!! Covering the entire Windswept Realm with divine sense will allow me to contemplate enlightenment of the natural laws and Essences of this place! I don't need any World Seal, because I can sense the entire Realm as a whole. Theoretically, I should be able to directly sense the natural laws and Essences!

"Even if I don't have the required World Seals, I should still be able to do it!

"After all, the World Seals are merely manifestations of the natural laws and Essences of the Windswept Realm!" Panting, his eyes began to shine. He consolidated the power of his divine sense and immediately began to contemplate!

He already had the foundation provided him by the World Seals of the Ninth, Eighth, Seventh, Sixth and Fourth Nations. Therefore, he simply acted according to his plan and used divine sense to begin contemplation.

Rumbling filled his mind as he settled down cross-legged and began to work.

He now had access to far more natural laws and Essences that any individual World Seal would give him. Of the ones he could sense now, around half were the ones that he had already achieved enlightenment regarding from the World Seals in his possession. Now, with the ability to perceive them as a comprehensive whole, enlightenment came to him even faster than it had before.

"There are a total of 3,000 great Daos. 2,700 are located in the various Nations, with the final 300 being located in the central temple. If I can gain enlightenment of all 3,000 great Daos, then I can fully absorb my second Nirvana Fruit, and become... a true Allheaven Immortal!

"At that time, Dao-Heaven will be no match for me!

"That will also be the moment… when I can truly rise to prominence in the Windswept Realm!"

He saw many natural laws and many essences, and he immediately began to gain enlightenment. A shocking aura appeared on him, spreading out in all directions and growing stronger by the moment. The clouds churned overhead, spreading out to fill the entire Windswept Realm.

Everyone was shocked, and even Dao-Heaven lurched to a stop in midair, face flickering with disbelief. He reached out and grabbed a piece of a nearby cloud, looked at it closely, and then his face darkened.

"This is Meng Hao's aura!!"

RUMBLE!

1,300 Essences!

Meng Hao's hair whipped about in the air as he sat there cross-legged, the lands quaking beneath him. This was his good fortune, the greatest good fortune he had acquired so far in the Windswept Realm.

The speed of his enlightenment increased as he spread his divine sense out to contemplate and observe the natural laws and Essences.

He closed his eyes, making it impossible for anyone to see the flicker of augury contained therein. As of now, his injuries weren't important. His soul spread out along with his divine sense to cover the lands.

1,400 Essences!

1,500 Essences!

He was gaining enlightenment through brute force, violently commandeering good fortune. He was breaking through the limits previously set by the World Seals, walking.... a path of enlightenment that no one had ever walked before.

His aura grew more and more majestic, and his enlightenment was accelerating!

1,600 Essences!

1,700 Essences!

The tempest raged around him, with him at the very center.

The mastiff crouched at his side, its eyes glowing fiercely as it looked about. It would prevent anyone from getting close to Meng Hao, even someone familiar to him.

Its 300-meter frame was like a small mountain, and its eyes were the picture of brutality, seemingly representative of pure slaughter.

It was at this point that the Emperor in the Third Nation suddenly cried out, urgent and furious. When his voice echoed into the ears of Zong Wuya and the others, Zong Wuya sighed lightly. He could delay matters no further. In response to the words of the emperor, the black-robed cultivators' killing intent soared. They had been waiting for this moment for too long. They hadn't dared to say anything about how Zong Wuya had interfered with them earlier, but their hearts had long since filled with discontent.

In accordance with the orders issued, they ignored Zong Wuya and charged forth with blazing killing intent, heading directly toward the central temple region, and Meng Hao.

Zong Wuya went along, but did nothing more than enter the area and watch Meng Hao from afar, his eyes filled with complex emotions and hope.

Everything shook as the black-robed men transformed into streaks of light that shot through the sky, drawing ever-closer to Meng Hao. The mastiff roared and shot to its feet. Its 300-meter frame erupted with energy and brutality, and its eyes were shot with blood as it gazed coldly at the incoming black-robed cultivators.

Meng Hao was its master, its only family. Its purpose in life, its mission, was to protect him. It was willing to sacrifice everything for him.

It had been like that when it was small, and now that it had grown up, it was the same.

"Kill him!" Among the black-robed cultivators, there were three who were faster than the others. They performed incantation gestures, summoning a divine ability that formed a massive handprint which shot toward Meng Hao.

The mastiff threw its head back and let out a deafening roar that echoed out in all directions. It pounced toward the three enemies, and a fiendish wind sprang out. A single swipe of its paw shattered the divine ability, and then it opened its mouth wide, as if to consume the men.

A boom rang out, and the three men fell back, faces flickering with shock. One of them was too slow, and the mastiff gobbled him up. Crunching sounds could be heard, accompanied by a bloodcurdling scream. Then the scream was cut off, and the mastiff swallowed him down.

It stood tall next to Meng Hao, gazing at the black-robed men with ferocious coldness, radiating hostility.

It was at this point that Meng Hao's mind rumbled again, and his aura surged even more majestically. He had just gained enlightenment of 1,800 Essences!