Chapter 719 — The Bride in the Cold Coffin

The Calamity God roared again and again, straining with all his might to shake Shen Mu off, but Shen Mu clung to his back as though glued there, and went on gnawing at his head.

Crack!

The Five Thunder Pot came flying in, and the five cloud-thunders whirled around Shen Mu, hacking and cracking; the Fire Bell Divine Troops within the cloud-thunder burst forth, and rolling peals of thunder crashed down upon Shen Mu, at last blasting him away.

The Calamity God rallied his strength and charged at Shen Mu once more, when suddenly teleportation array patterns swirled around Shen Mu, his figure vanished, and the next instant he reappeared behind the Calamity God, clambered onto his back, seized his head, and began to gnaw.

Heaven Lord and the Crimson Emperor exchanged glances, both at a loss.

Within the Dark Capital, the Dark Capital Heavenly Gate held the Dark Sea fast in check, and the two Yin Tianzis stood to left and right between the gateposts, actually holding off the attacks of Tian Shu, King Yan, and Lady Tianyin all at once.

Once this Dark Capital Heavenly Gate appeared and he stood beneath it, he was all but undying; any wound Tian Shu, King Yan, and Lady Tianyin dealt him was healed in an instant, the moment the power of reincarnation within the Dark Capital Heavenly Gate began to circulate, leaving him forever at his peak.

The longer King Yan, Tian Shu, and Lady Tianyin fought, the more alarmed they became. The present Yin Tianzi could fairly be said to stand in an invincible position; unless he could be erased outright, there was no contending with him at all.

The Dark Capital Heavenly Gate was a treasure Yin Tianzi had forged. Divine power of such a kind, means of such a kind — worthy indeed of a powerhouse of the Emperor Throne, worthy of the one honored as the Black Emperor of the Dark Capital.

And at that same moment, on the Dark Capital Continent, within the Dark Prison, countless primal spirits imprisoned there likewise sensed the dreadful ripples and tremors coming from the outside world; one after another the prisoners woke, startled and uncertain.

"The best way to get inside an enemy is to have the enemy invite you in," the Woodcutter Sage's primal spirit said softly, opening his eyes.

He had been summoned by the Book of Life and Death and sent to be imprisoned in the Dark Capital's Dark Prison. This cage's four walls had been designed specifically to target primal spirits, covered all around with runes and sigils that sealed primal spirits, and chains ran through his body, restraining all his divine abilities.

The Woodcutter examined the runes one by one; after a moment his gaze fell upon the chains that bound him, and he soon comprehended the principles contained in those seals thoroughly.

Clatter.

One chain after another, like nimble serpents, withdrew from his body; the Woodcutter landed lightly on his feet and walked toward the cage's door.

The door creaked open of its own accord.

In an exceedingly short span he had comprehended the way to break the Dark Capital's Dark Prison, and came and went there as though it were an unpeopled land.

The Woodcutter Sage stepped outside and, right before the guards, walked to another cage, waved a hand, and the cage opened; the chains binding the First Ancestor Human Emperor fell away one after another.

The First Ancestor Human Emperor leaped out of his cell, cut down the Dark Prison guards who rushed at him, smashed open the other cages, and freed Fu Riluo, the Old Angler, Chi Xi, and the rest.

"Break open the prisons as you go, my friends, and release every prisoner. The more chaos you make in the Dark Capital, the better!"

The Woodcutter Sage's face was as placid as an old well. "The more chaos in the Dark Capital, the safer Jingping will be. Best if the chaos lasts decades or centuries — then Jingping will be secure for decades or centuries!"

The others nodded. Slaying their way through checkpoint after checkpoint, cutting down the Dark Prison guards who came swarming at them, they opened the cages along the way and released the prisoners within.

This Dark Prison was the most heavily guarded prison of the Dark Capital; those confined here were gods and demons who had shown the Heavenly Court disrespect, stripped of their physical bodies, their primal spirits imprisoned here to suffer.

There were many guards in the Dark Prison — after all, the ones held here were dangerous figures indeed — but what they faced were ruthless characters like the Old Angler, Chi Xi, and Fu Riluo, who unleashed killing moves without a word of parley.

The Old Angler cast out his fishhook and hooked out souls, one strike one catch; Chi Xi had three heads and six arms; Fu Riluo's demonic arts were more stunning still. The three of them killed until the Dark Prison was turned upside down, and when they met a foe they could not handle, they had the First Ancestor Human Emperor.

Ever since the First Ancestor Human Emperor had walked out of the prison of his own heart, his cultivation and strength had grown greater and greater, with a strong tendency to break through the God-Slaying Platform and enter the Jade Capital realm.

The group fought their way on down. The Dark Prison had many levels, plunging deep into the depths of the Dark Capital; the deeper they went, the heavier the seals and the stronger the guards.

By the time they reached the lowest level, they were worn to exhaustion from killing, but fortunately, having released so many Dark Prison inmates, they had drawn off the greater part of the guards and eased the pressure upon themselves.

"This is the place!"

The Woodcutter Sage looked this way and that. The place was murky and dim, grim and uncanny; on the walls many monsters like geckos crawled with a rustling sound, swift beyond measure, and of enormous size.

"That person must be imprisoned here."

They looked about them. There were not many cells here, but each had a door forged of divine gold, covered with all manner of imperial edicts, and the seals contained in each edict were exceedingly terrifying; no one knew who had left them.

Fu Riluo said in a low voice, "Just who is the person we are to rescue? Brother Daoist, will you tell us now?"

The Woodcutter Sage walked forward, studying the seals of the edicts on these few cells and distinguishing the kinds of seal within them, and by this means deduced who was sealed and suppressed within. He said calmly, "This person is the First Heavenly King of the Kaihuang Era. The Heavenly Court of the Kaihuang Era had thirty-six Heavenly Palaces, and among the thirty-six, four stood the most honored; these four great Heavenly Palaces were held in the hands of four Heavenly Kings. Of these four Heavenly Kings, the Azure Emperor of the East was the most senior; Heavenly King Shakra of the West was the youngest; the Dark Capital Heavenly King of the North was peerless in valor when drunk; and the mightiest in strength was this Heavenly King of the South."

The First Ancestor Human Emperor's heart skipped. He said in a low voice, "The Shakra in Heavenly King Shakra is a Buddhist title; he was in origin a god skilled in the heavenly craft of forging. The Di in this Southern Heavenly King's name is neither a Buddhist title nor a surname."

The Woodcutter Sage examined the edicts in fine detail and said, "Your Highness is right. The Di in the Southern Heavenly King's name is an honorific. Her strength even surpassed the Azure Emperor's; in the Kaihuang Era she was a figure qualified to contend with Kaihuang for the throne. Though she was defeated at Kaihuang's hand, she was honored by others as Di."

The First Ancestor Human Emperor fell silent a while, then said, "Di Yiyue of the Four Great Heavenly Kings — it is said she fell in battle before the calamity erupted."

"I once thought she had fallen in battle as well. But she did not."