Chapter 716 — The Youth's Demonic Fall

The Crimson Emperor paced to and fro, turning it over in his mind: "He cultivated my undying divine consciousness, and borrowed the strength of us both—only thus could he suppress his brother's seizure of the Nether Capital Divine Child's identity and power. Now we have given him too much; his brother has been pinned fast by Yin Sovereign's Dark Capital Jade Mirror, and the only thing left to us is to seal the breach, so that he cannot keep plundering his brother's strength. . .

" He had scarcely spoken when Tian Shu had already sealed it, halting the drain upon the giant-headed infant's power.

"And then?

" Tian Shu urged.

The Crimson Emperor said, "Then we break open Yin Sovereign's Dark Capital Jade Mirror seal, and let Shen Fengqing contend with him for the Nether Capital's demonic nature, and wrest back the identity of the Nether Capital Divine Child. " Tian Shu stepped forward to examine the giant-headed infant, and saw that the butterfly-wing-shaped radiance in its three eyes was pinched beneath a strange force; within the pupils there seemed to be an uncanny vortex, sinking ever inward, sealing the giant infant's consciousness.

Tian Shu tried to break it; but Yin Sovereign's path diverged from his own, and some of the runes he could not decipher, leaving only brute force. Yet he was no more than a single incarnation, his strength limited, and in so brief a moment he could not wear Yin Sovereign's seal away at all.

"This road is barred.

Is there another?

" Tian Shu had no choice but to give up, and asked.

The Crimson Emperor lifted his head toward the sky.

"Awaken the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha.

Together we break Yin Sovereign's seal, awaken Shen Fengshen, and together we suppress Shen Mu! " Tian Shu shook his head.

"The old Buddha has entered his slumber—can he be roused so easily?

That plan will not serve either. " The Crimson Emperor sighed.

"Then we can only leave it to fate.

Let us hope Shen Mu still has his own consciousness, and will not wreak some great calamity.

" "Let us hope so.

" In the outside world, Shen Mu manifested three heads and six arms; his six arms flew, his three heads all gave short, frenzied cries, and at once he dealt murderous blows to Lou Yunqu and Fu Yanqi!

"Yah-yah-yah-yah-yah!

" Countless divine arts drowned Fu Yanqi and Lou Yunqu in a single instant; in that instant they felt as though numberless Shen Mus were attacking them in frenzy, and their scalps went numb. Fu Yanqi had only time to block two divine arts before his own defensive art was smashed through by main force.

"One Finger Splits the Seven Souls!

" he roared, right hand thrust forward, the sole remaining thumb of that hand raised, pressing down upon Shen Mu.

Behind him a dark world surfaced—a phantom of the Dark Capital—and seven god-demons of differing forms stood ranged behind him, each with its own dharma-form.

These were the deities of the seven earthly souls: the Corpse Hound, the Hidden Arrow, the Sparrow Shade, the Thief Swallower, the Non-Poison, the Filth Remover, and the Stinking Lung.

Reinforced by those seven deities, his strike carried the power to rend the seven souls asunder. Shen Mu clenched four fingers into a fist and raised his thumb, meeting him thumb to thumb.

Fu Yanqi heard the sound of the only finger left to his right hand shattering; the thumb bone broke, and with a bang it burst apart. Then the force traveled along his wrist bones into his arm bones; the elbow joint sprang from its socket, and he heard his own forearm bone pierce through his skin.

His forearm bone shot out from the elbow and tore free of his body. Agony surged through him; he cared nothing for his fleshly body, yet the suffering of flesh was beyond measure.

And in that same moment Shen Mu's other five arms—five fists, five thumbs—pressed down in turn upon his brow, his heart-chamber, his dantian, his tailbone, and his qi sea. Fu Yanqi spat blood, and felt his primordial spirit go numb: Shen Mu had sealed it with a divine art of the Nether Capital.

Cold dread ran through him, terror rising in his heart: "He did not borrow the power of the seven soul deities, yet his mastery of souls far exceeds mine! " Shen Mu's six arms and three heads unleashed divine arts with a speed beyond measure, like a tempest; amid the arts were countless fists and kicks—spell-arts, sword-arts, and fleshly-body arts all at once!

Three heads and six arms, the utmost art of the Crimson Bright Era, had once borne grave flaws because of the rupture between the Crimson Emperor and the Bright Emperor; but Shen Mu cultivated both their arts, and mended the breach.

With no flaw left, the three heads and six arms were truly like three men—nay, stronger—so that Fu Yanqi could find no weakness at all, and Lou Yunqu no opening to wound him gravely.

Fu Yanqi's cultivation was the lesser; he was still of the Jade Pool realm, and once his primordial spirit was sealed he was gravely wounded in an instant, struck by countless divine arts and fists and kicks, his fleshly body pierced by a hundred-odd sword-lights and blade-lights, a blur of blood and flesh.

Even so, he was decisive to the extreme: his body suddenly withdrew, vanished from Jingping, and was swallowed by the darkness.

He was, after all, a disciple of the Dark Capital's Black Emperor; in that moment he employed the Dark Capital's signature art, his body hidden within the Dark Capital, impervious to all arts.

Yet in the next moment, Shen Mu actually stormed into the Dark Capital as well!

The two clashed in the darkness; by the time Lou Yunqu charged in, Fu Yanqi's primordial spirit had already been blasted from his body.

Shen Mu reached out and seized it, clamped a hand on its throat, while his other five arms held off Lou Yunqu's assault. Fu Yanqi's fleshly body fell to the ground, not yet dead; just as it lunged forward, one of Shen Mu's heads shot divine light from its eyes, and three beams of it nailed him fast.

Shen Mu twisted his neck; another head shot light from its eyes and blasted Lou Yunqu away. Lou Yunqu, being mighty, forcibly withstood the blow; but Shen Mu twisted his neck again, the third head turned, and three more beams shot forth and blasted him away once more.

Lou Yunqu was thrown into a frenzy of alarm.

It would have been one thing had Shen Mu merely killed Fu Yanqi and Kui Qingpei—those two were disciples of the Dark Capital's Black Emperor, and the Dark Capital would draw them back, their primordial spirits returning home.

The Black Emperor ruled the Dark Capital, and could soon send them into reincarnation; in the future they would still be his disciples.

Through the ages they had been reborn many times, and so they did not fear death and the dissolution of their path—at worst they would be reborn and start again. But this time was different.

Shen Mu was the Nether Capital Divine Child, and the infamy of that title they had long heard: at birth he had entered the Nether Capital, devoured untold fierce ghosts, swallowed untold titans, and even routed the ghost upon the imperial throne in miserable disorder.

Should Shen Mu devour them, then they would be utterly and finally dead, with no possibility of reincarnation.

Shen Mu drove Lou Yunqu back and at once opened his mouth, sending Fu Yanqi's primordial spirit toward it, a look of frenzy on his face. Lou Yunqu gritted his teeth; his figure flickered in and out of sight, shuttling endlessly between the Dark Capital and reality, dodging the divine light of Shen Mu's eyes, attacking with all his strength, denying Shen Mu any chance to swallow Fu Yanqi.

Suddenly, two divine arts in succession shattered the fleshly bodies of Fu Yanqi and Kui Qingpei; the two corpses broke apart, and at once a blood sacrifice erupted, transforming into two beams of blood-light. Near Yongjiang Academy, that stone statue revived on the instant, flesh and blood rapidly sprouting.