After putting it into his bag of holding, he spun around and returned to the ship.
The entire spectacle only took ten breaths of time. Meng Hao’s actions were as natural and unforced as floating clouds and flowing water. Everything was completely efficient, as if he was completely used to doing such things. Everyone who watched on was thoroughly shaken.
The people on the boat stared blankly, and the two Cultivators who had been to the Third Ring before were breathing heavily. They were well aware of how mighty a thousand-symbol spirit was, which caused their fear of Meng Hao reach a new peak.
By now, they were absolutely certain the reason they had heard explosions more than twenty times in the past. Back then, they could never have imagined that it was a terrifying Cultivator who could subdue and capture magical symbol spirits.
Most shocked of all were the three old men. They were disciples of the Sun Soul Society, and were far more knowledgeable about the Stormwind Divide than the others.
Although others were unaware that the magical symbol spirits could be subdued, they were well aware of the fact. Every few hundred years, powerful experts from the three Sects would enter the spell formation under the leadership of a Patriarch, with the sole purpose of collecting magical symbol spirits. Such spirits were useful to the Patriarchs.
Although no one knew exactly how the Patriarchs used them, it was known that the magical symbol spirits were the essence of the spell formation. That was especially true of the thousand-symbol spirits, which were comparable to Spirit Severing Cultivators. They were unpredictable and virtually indestructible; only the Three Saints were capable of subduing them.
“S-s-senior… sir… how many thousand-symbol spirits have you acquired during your journey?” asked one of the three old men, his face pale, his voice quavering.
“More than twenty,” replied Meng Hao from his position seated cross-legged on the prow. He glanced at the old man.
“More than twenty!!” The old man’s face completely fell, and he began to pant. He suddenly turned to look at the other two old men and then roared, “Get the ship moving again! Top speed!!”
They actually didn’t need any reminders. Having heard what Meng Hao said, they trembled, as if they had just thought of something even more terrifying than Meng Hao. They rotated their Cultivation bases at top speed to control the boat and push it forward as fast as it could.
Meng Hao’s eyes flickered as he looked at the old man who had just spoken.
The man looked back with a wry smile, and a face full of anxiety.
“Senior, perhaps you are unaware that in a hundred year period, no more than five of the thousand-symbol spirits can be collected. That number can’t be exceeded, or else…. It will cause the yellow springs Underworld Ship to appear….
“The yellow springs emerge, the Underworld Ship appears, Dao Seeking forbidden zone!”
As soon as the old man spoke the words, the storm winds around them suddenly seemed to stop moving. The lightning stopped in mid-air, and the fog came to a standstill!
It seemed almost as if time, as if the very natural laws of the Heaven and Earth, had suddenly become completely motionless.
At the same time, an archaic voice could be heard. It was filled with an air of time; it sounded as if a veil of rot had been lifted. The hoarse voice echoed out from off in the distance.
“Long ago, you chose to continue onward to the end, until there was nothing of you left….
“Long ago, I chose to continue onward to the end, until only I was left….
“Who am I? Who are you…? Unfathomable bleached bones. The beginnings of eras. My Dao… is nigh.”