Chapter 710 — Overlord of the Nether Capital and Sovereign of the Underworld

Deep within the red light stood a round platform a thousand zhang across. Upon the platform stood a palace. The little boat glided up onto the platform and came to rest.

Shen Mu and the others disembarked. Tian Shu all but collapsed to the ground. Just then a warm, gentle voice laughed and said, "Tu Bo has a guest, it seems. In that case I shall not intrude. I will call again another day. There is no need to see me out."

Hearing that voice, Shen Mu started slightly; it seemed to him very familiar.

The old netherworld courier moored the boat. "When the guest comes out, we will go in."

After a moment, Shen Mu saw a tall, slender man walk out from the palace. He was comely of face, with a bearing and air that defied description, so gracious that at a glance one felt as though bathed in a spring breeze and could not help but take a liking to him.

There had once been a time when Shen Mu imagined that the pill master of Yincan Village, if his face had been whole, must have looked just so—so handsome.

Tian Shu's expression altered slightly. He gave a cold sniff.

The tall, handsome man came toward them. He saluted the old netherworld courier: "Lord Prefect."

The old netherworld courier returned the salute and said nothing.

The handsome man caught sight of Tian Shu and started a little. He smiled. "So it is the Heavenly King. You are still alive."

Tian Shu, quite transformed from his collapse of a moment before, stood bolt upright, cold divine light blazing from his goat horns. "Thanks to your good wishes," he said icily. "I am not dead yet!"

The handsome man looked smilingly around. "Yan Shaoqing trapped you in the divine blade Dique. That you could escape at all is already very good. Still, whether you can avoid death after cutting off Tu Bo's horn remains very much in doubt. Oh—yes. I knew you loved wine, so I told Yan Shaoqing to bring you some fine wine. How did you find the taste?"

Tian Shu's goatee drifted upward. He was beside himself with rage.

The handsome man smiled faintly. "This is Youdu. You had better not be insolent. Ah—but you have been insolent once already. Jiuyi, why are you here as well?"

Qi Jiuyi's expression shifted. He stepped out from behind Long Qilin and made his salute. "Your disciple greets you, Master!"

The handsome man looked him up and down and knit his brows. "You are nothing but primordial spirit now. Where is your body?"

Qi Jiuyi showed a look of shame. "I was drawn into the divine blade Dique. My flesh still lies in the wilderness ruins of the lower realm."

Shen Mu's heart gave a jolt. He knew at once who this handsome man was.

"Emperor of the Nether Capital, the Black Emperor—the Yin Son of Heaven!"

His aura surged, but he suppressed it at once and showed nothing. To himself he thought, "The Yin Son of Heaven has come to Youdu to see Tu Bo—to what end? Surely not because of Lady Tianyin's resurrection? That I stole Tu Bo's power to revive Lady Tianyin is certain not to escape him."

The Yin Son of Heaven seemed to sense the faint stir in his aura. He looked toward him and said in praise, "A firm and stable primordial spirit. Truly a fine youth. Heavenly King, is this your disciple?"

Tian Shu chuckled. "None of your business."

The Yin Son of Heaven regarded Shen Mu and smiled a warm smile. "To follow this rebel and traitor is to have no future at all. If the chance comes, you may come to the Nether Capital and throw in your lot with me. I think highly of young men such as you."

Shen Mu, flattered and alarmed, looked at Tian Shu, then at the Yin Son of Heaven, and did not know quite what to do with himself.

The Yin Son of Heaven turned to leave. He laughed. "Jiuyi, since Tu Bo wishes to see you, I shall not carry you off by force. When you have settled matters here, return to the world of the living and recover your flesh, and leave that place as quickly as you can. Several of your senior brothers have already begun to bring down tribulation. The reason I came this time was to confer with Tu Bo on how to deal with the souls of the countless myriads who died so suddenly in the lower realm."

"Yes." Qi Jiuyi bowed low, and did not raise his head until the man had vanished from sight.

Shen Mu narrowed his eyes. The Yin Son of Heaven's presence filled the air; from first to last his momentum had borne Tian Shu down, steadily and surely. He was indeed a figure of the utmost calibre.

Qi Jiuyi darted a glance at him. "My master did not recognise you."

"My thanks." Shen Mu bowed.

Qi Jiuyi opened his mouth, then gave a sudden sigh. "We were supposed to be opponents, and then I went and muddled myself into sworn brotherhood with you. I cannot bring myself to sell you out. How did it come to this?"

His gaze was blank.

Tian Shu asked curiously, "Shen Mu, what is it you have done? Why can you not reveal your identity before the Black Emperor?"

Shen Mu sighed. "It is a long story."

Tian Shu's eyes went wide, and his curiosity only grew.

The old netherworld courier came forward and said mildly, "Go in. Do not keep Tu Bo waiting too long."

Tian Shu at once went limp, like a goat-monster that had dropped dead on the spot, lying flat on the ground, unable to move. Shen Mu seized him by the goat horn and dragged him all the way, until at last they entered the great hall.

Tu Bo was before them—a thread of his incarnation, surely—his whole body wreathed in flame, with a tiger's head, ox horns, and a man's body. He was turning over a great thick stack of documents.

"Lord Prefect," he said without raising his head, "as for the stealing of my power—have you entered it against him or not?"