Chapter 715 — Heaven Sets the Fire

Shen Mu's heart sank. He poured every ounce of his strength into the Soul-Beckoning Charm, straining to summon the souls of the Woodcutter, the First Ancestor, and the rest from the Dark Capital before those three figures touched down.

The ones who had stepped down from the bright moon were Lou Yunqu and his two fellow disciples; clearly they had not entered Lizhou, as Shen Mu had guessed. Shen Mu had always assumed they would cast their spell in the skies above Lizhou.

It had never occurred to him that they would do the opposite: Lou Yunqu and the others had entered the celestial phenomena themselves, the layer of heaven a hundred thousand li above the ground of Jingping! The sky stands a hundred thousand li high and three hundred zhang thick; there the arrays and formations of the sun, moon, and stars are gathered, and many deities of the Heavenly Court stand guard over them, keeping the celestial phenomena above Jingping in motion, and by this means deceiving the people of the world. Lou Yunqu and his companions had pasted the Book of Life and Death onto the array of the bright moon in the heavens, borrowing the moon's power to shine down upon Lizhou!

Tonight was the first day of the lunar month, and on the first day there is no moon. One may well imagine that everywhere else in Jingping the moon was invisible, the sky studded only with stars; only Lizhou could see a full moon hanging in the air. The common folk of Lizhou, the divine ability users, and even gods like Su Yunzhi had all suffered for it.

Not only Su Yunzhi: even the Woodcutter Sage had not foreseen that Lou Yunqu would strike from the moon. By the time the moonlight fell upon him and he understood, it was already too late.

Their cultivation and strength were monstrous beyond measure, but they had lost the initiative; against a treasure like the Book of Life and Death, refined by the Black Emperor of the Nether Capital, losing the initiative meant losing one's life. That single misstep had killed every soul in Lizhou. Only Shen Mu remained alive!

Because he was the Divine Son of the Dark Capital, Shen Mu was the one man the Book of Life and Death could not control.

"The only chance to turn this around is to seize back their souls! Otherwise, I alone cannot possibly stand against Lou Yunqu and the others! " Shen Mu roused his divine ability.

Behind him the Heaven-Bearing Gate surfaced, and from his mouth came the heavy, cadenced tongue of the Dark Capital. The Heaven-Bearing Gate opened, and at once ghost after ghost came flying out of the portal, scattering in every direction.

"Why are there no souls of the Woodcutter and the others?

" Shen Mu's heart sank by degrees.

He had invoked the power of the Soul-Beckoning Charm: so long as any person's bones remained, he would sense their soul and draw it to him. Yet when he searched the Dark Capital with his divine ability, he sensed nothing of the Woodcutter Sage, the First Ancestor Human Sovereign, or any of the others.

The bright moon still shone overhead, and the three who had stepped down from it were moving fast; from three tiny specks they swelled steadily, visible to the naked eye. Shen Mu concentrated on his spell, cold sweat rolling down his forehead. Suddenly he clenched his teeth, tore the willow leaf from the center of his brow, and cried in a stern voice, "Lord Heaven, Crimson Emperor!

At this pass of life and death, I need to borrow my brother's power to fight the gods and demons of the Nether Capital!

" On the Shen-character continent at the center of his brow, the big-headed infant was gnawing his own toes. Hearing this, he looked around curiously.

"Could it be that my wicked little brother means to eat me? But he has given me tasty things too.

That little box not long ago was quite delicious. .

. " He held grudges; he still remembered how Shen Mu had seized his power and nearly devoured him. Only, Shen Mu had just fed him a blood-red blade-light from the God-Slaying Mystic Blade, a blade-light forged of blood fiend, and he had eaten his fill. His ill feeling toward Shen Mu had lessened a little, but only a very little.

As for helping Shen Mu, he was still most unwilling. The Crimson Emperor and Lord Heaven exchanged a glance and conferred. "What do we do now?

If he obtains the power of the Divine Son of the Dark Capital, he will turn evil.

If we do not lend it, the younger brother dies and the elder brother becomes master of the house. Once he starts eating, he will not need the Nether Capital's disciples to lift a finger; Jingping will soon be eaten into another Dark Capital. " "Being eaten into a Dark Capital would be a fine thing.

My fear is that he will eat it into a blank waste, with not even a ghost left.

The only plan now is to lend the younger brother power, but not to give him all the power of the Divine Son of the Dark Capital. " Lord Heaven said, "If we give him all of it, I fear only a powerhouse of the Imperial Throne descending in person could subdue him. But give him a little, and he will not yet be controlled by the demonic nature; that leaves us room to maneuver. " The Crimson Emperor hesitated. "Are you not playing with fire?

" Lord Heaven chuckled, full of confidence. "Rest easy, I never play with fire. You work with me: we open the seal a crack, but we do not let it open fully, lest the elder brother escape.

The elder brother is not as cunning as the younger, but he is devilish enough. And we must not let the younger brother obtain too much of the Dark Capital's power, so you and I must cooperate closely and make no mistake. The only problem now is how to persuade the elder brother to lend out a portion of his strength.

" The two of them looked together at the giant infant.

The Crimson Emperor said in a low voice, "That will be somewhat difficult. " The giant infant clambered clumsily to his feet and sneered, "White-bearded old man, three-headed one, you are scheming against me? Are you not courting death? " Shen Mu was working his spell on the Heaven-Watching Terrace when a beam of light suddenly fell from the sky and shattered the Heaven-Bearing Gate behind him. Lou Yunqu, Kui Qingpei, and Fu Yanqi descended from the heavens and halted in the air above the terrace. "There is no time left! " Shen Mu roused the Undying Consciousness of the Three Primal Spirits, yet he could still feel no power coming from the center of his brow, and anxiety gnawed at him in secret.

"Shen Fengqing, even if you summon their souls, you cannot turn this around.

" Lou Yunqu walked down out of the air and smiled. "Because they are not in the Dark Capital.

I sent them to the Nether Capital. With the Soul-Beckoning Charm you can draw the souls of common folk from the Dark Capital, but if you cannot summon their souls, it is of no use at all. " Shen Mu narrowed his eyes and smiled.

"No wonder I could not sense their souls just now.

So they have fallen into the Nether Capital. The arts of the Nether Capital must have been born from the Dark Capital; by rights my arts should be able to snatch men from the Nether Capital as well.

I have snatched from the Dark Capital and from Fengdu, but the Nether Capital would be a first.

" Kui Qingpei dropped down from the air and came to Shen Mu's right side. "Snatching people from the Nether Capital is harder than snatching them from the Dark Capital. The Nether Capital was indeed born of the Dark Capital, but under the Black Emperor's hand those arts have developed far beyond anything the Dark Capital can match. " Shen Mu smiled.

"Then why do the three of you not let me try? Perhaps I can snatch men from the Nether Capital. Perhaps I can even find the Black Emperor a flaw in the Nether Capital, one that will be convenient for you to patch. " Fu Yanqi walked up behind him. "Divine Son of the Dark Capital, there is no use trying to stall.