Chapter 696 — The Holy Mother of the Netherworld

Before, his vital essence had held it together; once he drew the pellet back, his vital essence relaxed of itself, and the pellet could hold no longer — it burst all at once into the finest dust.

"If the old does not go, the new cannot come..."

Still, Shen Mu's heart ached. This was the primal weapon he had forged upon becoming a divine-ability user, the one that suited him best, the weapon he had meant to use all his life — and it had been pounded into dust just like that.

What mattered more, the materials for forging these primal weapons had been bought from Si Yunxiang by selling off everything he owned.

To refine the swords until they flowed like water, he had borrowed the demonic fire of Li City and tempered them in it together with Li Fire, and only then had the sword pellet been fully forged. This time, apart from the Sorrowless Sword, every flying sword had shattered. How could his heart not ache?

"Thankfully I skimmed plenty of Buddha-essence crimson chromium off the Buddha Sakra, King of Heaven. That metal is a divine gold found only in the Buddhist realm, and I skimmed enough of it to forge another sword pellet entire!"

Shen Mu let out a foul breath and looked toward Lady Tianyin, still searching everywhere by the sea. The lady, towering and immense, was still hunting him.

The Kaihuang god came running out again and drew near.

Shen Mu's face was black with anger, and his resentment had not settled. "Faithless!"

The Kaihuang god looked abashed. He reached out, took hold of him, and mimed running, but could not budge him at all; then he shrugged helplessly.

"So that is it."

Shen Mu understood all at once. "You have no magic power, no body, and your primordial spirit is gone as well — that is why you cannot carry me when you run. Very well, I am no longer angry. I need your help: find high ground, a place from which the Book of Life and Death can shine upon Lady Tianyin's face."

The Kaihuang god at once ran out of the town, and seeing that Shen Mu had not followed, stopped in alarm and waved to him.

Shen Mu hurried after him. The two sped away, and before long they came to a tall tower by the sea. Shen Mu looked up and could not help but be appalled — this tower was rather too tall. The Tianyin Realm was dim and murky, and one could not see far, yet when Shen Mu worked the Nine Heavens Sight Art he could see tens of li; but gazing up, he could not see the tower's top.

Gray murk swirled about the tower's waist, and there was no telling how tall it stood.

The tower's body seemed to be made of some divine metal, gleaming with a dark metallic luster.

"What is this tower for? I fear it stands far taller even than the Chiming Heaven-Suppressing Tower in the Chixi god's hand."

As he thought this, he saw the Kaihuang god leaping nimbly, springing from eave to eave up the tower. Shen Mu urged on the Sky-Skimming Divine Legs and raced up it. One bounding, one running, the two made for the top.

By the time Shen Mu rushed onto the tower's summit, the Kaihuang god was already waiting there, plainly much faster than he.

Shen Mu silently applauded. He took out the Book of Life and Death and put it into the Kaihuang god's hand. "I will stand on the spire and work my art. You stand here; when I lure Lady Tianyin over, open the Book of Life and Death and shine it on her."

The Kaihuang god nodded and nodded. Shen Mu was just about to leap from the summit onto the spire when a clatter came from behind him. He spun around and saw that the Kaihuang god had opened the Book of Life and Death and glanced at its golden pages — and then deflated like a pricked bladder.

Shen Mu did not know whether to laugh or cry. He picked up the Book of Life and Death, which was still shining on him.

With the Book of Life and Death's light gone, black sand surged and bored into the Kaihuang god's human skin, and he soon puffed up again.

Shen Mu put the Book of Life and Death into his hand once more. "This is the front! This is the back! Do not hold it the wrong way — if you hold it the wrong way, we are both dead!"

The Kaihuang god nodded and nodded, and patted his chest.

Shen Mu drew a long breath and shouted aloud: "Lady Tianyin, I am here—"

His voice carried far. Then he rubbed his palms together, and his vital essence turned to Vermilion Bird essence; he rubbed out a great ball of fire, blazing like the fierce sun and lighting all around.

Everything around was still. The Kaihuang god clutched the Book of Life and Death in terror, not daring the slightest carelessness.

Just then the earth gave a sudden, violent shudder, and a heavy, solid footfall came.