Chapter 717 — The Power of the Netherworld's Old God

At that moment, whether it was Yin Sovereign, peering from his hiding place in the Dark Capital, or the Heavenly Lord and the Crimson Emperor, hidden in the Shen-Character Continent, all of them witnessed a terrifying sight. Shen Mu, unable to gain victory after prolonged battle, suddenly opened his mouth and drew a long, deep breath.

The air above the Yong River was all but cut off!

The bodies of all the skeletal demon-gods were frozen in the air. They strained with all their might to steady themselves, yet the primordial spirits within each demon-god's skeleton were being torn outward by a strange and unfathomable force.

Every skeletal demon-god resisted this dreadful force with all its strength, but still there were demon-gods whose primordial spirits were forcibly ripped from their bodies and, powerless to resist, flew toward Shen Mu's mouth. They could not help but feel a great terror rise in them, a terror such as they had never known since their deaths.

This was a natural suppression of them, the suppression of a higher order of life over a lower, a terror rising from the very soul.

Even the God of Calamity was seized by Shen Mu's divine art, and struggled with all his might against this suction aimed at primordial spirits and souls. His cultivation was exceedingly formidable and domineering; in cultivation alone he even surpassed Shen Mu and Lou Yunqu at that moment.

Even so, his primordial spirit was from time to time torn out of his physical body, and he could only rely on his vast, mighty dharma power to resist with all his life, with no time left to attack Shen Mu.

"Is this the power of the Nether Capital Divine Child? " Lou Yunqu shuddered with cold. His primordial spirit had left its body and departed from his battered, ruined flesh.

Now his primordial spirit too, for reasons he could not name, felt terror, felt that Shen Mu at this moment was his natural enemy.

The Heavenly Lord and the Crimson Emperor, hidden in the Shen-Character Continent, felt their hearts quail as well. The Heavenly Lord said in a low voice: "Tu Bo's power, Tu Bo's power, beyond the rules of the Nether Capital.

. .

" The Crimson Emperor was struck with awe, understanding the meaning in the Heavenly Lord's words. The power Shen Mu wielded in this moment was like Tu Bo's power, yet unlike Tu Bo's.

Tu Bo was a deity born of heaven and nurtured by earth; from the moment of his birth he had been bound to follow the rules of the Nether Capital. Though he possessed unimaginable power, he had to act within those rules.

The Nether Capital Divine Child's power was similar to Tu Bo's, yet it had leapt free of the Nether Capital's constraints, and could be wielded without the slightest scruple. This was why the overlords of the Nether Capital feared Shen Mu, and why many a scheming being coveted him.

The Heavenly Lord murmured: "Tu Bo's power, unfettered by the rules of the Nether Capital, that is the power that inspires true terror. " "This is the power I have sought to obtain.

" From the Dark Capital's heavenly gate came Yin Sovereign's faint, deep sigh: "I have always sought a path to surpass Tu Bo, and have never found the way.

Tu Bo is too powerful; even if I cultivated to the Emperor's Throne, I could not catch up to him, still less surpass him.

And now the path lies before my eyes. " "If I obtain it, I may take his place. . .

" he said softly.

Lou Yunqu's heart lurched, and he pretended not to have heard Yin Sovereign's words.

These words of Yin Sovereign were truly too terrible. Though the Dark Capital had gained independence from the Nether Capital, to speak of removing Tu Bo and taking his place was still too shocking to hear.

What manner of being was Tu Bo? Whether the Nether Capital or Fengdu, or the Hidden Capital and the Black City of former times, all were realms akin to the Nether Capital, founded from Tu Bo's horn.

Merely from fragments of Tu Bo's horn could such magnificent and uncanny worlds of the dead be established; one could well imagine how terrifying Tu Bo's strength must be. To take his place, Lou Yunqu did not even dare to think it.

Yet Yin Sovereign dared.

"If I let him devour my Dark Capital's demon-gods, then where will I, the Black Emperor of the Dark Capital, hold up my face?

" In the Dark Capital, a vast vortex suddenly formed behind Yin Sovereign.

Within the vortex an eerie eye opened and cast forth a dim, dark radiance that shone from the Dark Capital into Jingping, falling upon those skeletal demon-gods above the Yong River whose primordial spirits had been torn out. The primordial spirits of the demon-gods touched by that radiance at once broke free of Shen Mu's suction and, powerless to resist, flew toward Lou Yunqu's Dark Capital heavenly gate, seeking to return to the Nether Capital. Just then, the third eye at the center of Shen Mu's brow suddenly blazed with light, the butterfly-wing-shaped radiance spreading wider and wider, and before those demon-gods' primordial spirits could fly back to the Dark Capital, they were frozen once more, struggling weakly as they drifted backward.

Yin Sovereign let out a soft sound of surprise, his brows knitting slightly. The vortex behind him grew larger and larger, and the eerie eye within it slowly opened wider, the light in it gradually turning from dim darkness to brilliant brightness.

This eye in the vortex was somewhat similar to the eye at the center of Shen Mu's brow, yet also different; it must have been a divine art cultivated in imitation of the vertical eye at the center of Tu Bo's brow. Yet when it met Shen Mu's third eye, his divine art seemed to be at a disadvantage. Shen Mu was actually suppressing his divine art.

"The power of the Nether Capital Divine Child is truly no small thing! " Yin Sovereign was both startled and delighted, unable to keep from growing excited: "If this power can be mine, can be used by me, then the whole Nether Capital will be my domain.

What need I fear from Tu Bo? What need I fear from the Heavenly Emperor?

Open!

" The vortex behind him flew forward and, with a swish, branded itself upon the center of his brow, forming a third eye there.

Yin Sovereign urged this eye on with his own dharma power, and at once it overpowered Shen Mu's third eye.

Then, all at once, from Shen Mu's mouth came an obscure, hard-to-fathom tongue of the Nether Capital, deep, then high, rising and falling in cadence. Yin Sovereign's face showed bewilderment; he felt an invisible force invade the Dark Capital, searching out souls and spirits.

"The Soul-Pulling Art! He means to.

. .

" He had scarcely thought this when the radiance from Shen Mu's third eye abruptly swept past Lou Yunqu, and with a hum pierced through Lou Yunqu's Dark Capital heavenly gate, rushing into the Dark Capital and shining upon him.

Yin Sovereign's primordial spirit gave a sudden lurch, nearly leaving his body.

"Can the Soul-Pulling Art be used in such a way? " Yin Sovereign grew even more bewildered.

The Soul-Pulling Art was meant only to summon the souls of the dead, to bring the dead back to life; yet Shen Mu was trying to drag his primordial spirit forcibly out of the Dark Capital.

Shen Mu had at present obtained only one percent of the Nether Capital Divine Child's power, so he could not yet drag his primordial spirit forcibly out of the Dark Capital, but this technique in wielding the divine art truly alarmed him, and brought him no small trouble.

Yet in the very instant his primordial spirit was torn and made to lurch by the Soul-Pulling Art, a sudden change erupted. A ram-horned deity reeking of wine, long saber in hand, laughed boldly and valiantly, charging through Lou Yunqu's Dark Capital heavenly gate into the Dark Capital, and with a single slash struck Yin Sovereign between the brows!

"Black Emperor of the Dark Capital, I've come to thank you for the wine! "