Chapter 777 — The Old Fox and the Little Fox

The Yin Son of Heaven hurriedly retreated, and saw a god-devil of three heads and six arms leap from the cauldron, its body spinning madly like a great Buddha with a thousand arms. Boom, boom, boom — the deafening crashes came without cease, and in the space of a single instant that madly whirling god-devil landed heaven knew how many fists upon the Yin Son of Heaven! The Yin Son of Heaven was struck flying high, the crackle and snap of breaking bones sounding from within his body.

That god-devil of three heads and six arms, still spinning, closed on the Yin Son of Heaven with astonishing speed. With every third of a revolution its arms rose high, the primal qi in its hands swarming together and shaping itself into long sabers; and as each third of a turn was completed, the sabers chopped down with the wind! Its speed of rotation was frantic, and its speed of movement frantic too; Lu Li and the others could see only saber-light after saber-light, like bolts of white silk, illuminating the land outside Youdu's Jade Lock Pass as bright as snow, the blades of light all but joined into one!

Almost in the same instant, the saber-light cut into the brow of the Yin Son of Heaven in midair! Lu Li and the others could only watch the weal on the Yin Son of Heaven's brow grow wider and longer, and their hearts quailed.

Xuanming cried: "The god-child of Youdu is not yet dead!

" "The Yin Son of Heaven's head is about to be split open!

" Han blurted. Lu Li shouted: "Run! " Huang said: "And the Slaughter Cauldron!

The Huntian Luo!

" The four Military Commissioners hesitated and turned their heads to look at the Slaughter Cauldron — and saw that when Shen Mu burst up from the cauldron and charged at the Yin Son of Heaven, the Slaughter Cauldron followed him like his own shadow, paying the four Military Commissioners no heed at all.

Ever since they had taken up their posts as the Heavenly Court's Military Commissioners in Youdu, the four had refined that great cauldron day and night, even feeding the Slaughter Cauldron with their own blood, and had at last refined it to obey their will — able to grow or shrink at command, able to refine all living beings away. Yet now the Slaughter Cauldron seemed to have turned traitor, forsaking them and following the god-child of Youdu!

"Forget the cauldron! " Lu Li cried.

"Get out of here at once!

If the god-child of Youdu kills the Yin Son of Heaven, the next he kills will be us! " The four fled in panic, and Huang said in alarm: "The Huntian Luo is still in the Yin Son of Heaven's hands!

" "Leave it!

" Lu Li's serpent tail writhed as she said in a fury of exasperation: "Let it be a burial offering for that man of Yin!

Let us be gone quickly, far away from this place!

" Xuanming caught up with her and said: "Senior Sister, can we still stay in Youdu? Whether or not the god-child of Youdu kills the Yin Son of Heaven, he will remain in Youdu, hunting for our whereabouts.

Let us flee Youdu and return to the Heavenly Court to fetch reinforcements! " Huang and Han nodded again and again.

Lu Li, beside herself: "Lose Youdu, and if we go back to the Heavenly Court we shall be dragged onto the God-Slaying Terrace to die.

Only a fool goes back to the Heavenly Court!

" The three Military Commissioners were struck cold.

Lu Li said: "Tubo will not suffer the god-child of Youdu to run wild, and he will not tear his face with the Heavenly Court utterly; so he is certain to banish the god-child.

Hidden away in Youdu we may still keep our lives; go to the Heavenly Court and we go to our deaths.

This must not be reported to the Court, or every one of us will take a blade on the God-Slaying Terrace!

" The three Military Commissioners nodded again and again. Lu Li looked back, and saw the ghostly light of the Yin Son of Heaven chasing straight after the god-child of Youdu; plainly the Yin Son of Heaven had shaken off the daze of the blow.

The Emperor Throne is the Emperor Throne, after all; any being who has cultivated to the Emperor Throne realm is no small matter, and not so easily killed.

And the Yin Son of Heaven was moreover an old monster who had lived a million years, an old Yin bastard; though Shen Mu had dealt him one treacherous stroke, it was still a long road from taking his life.

At the same time, the Mingdu's Heavenly Gate was spewing the Nether Sea outward, that vast sea surging in from Mingdu — the Yin Son of Heaven must have been roused to true wrath and meant to try conclusions with the god-child of Youdu!

"Perhaps we can pick up a bargain while they maul each other half to death. . .

" Lu Li slowed, about to stop and watch the fight, when suddenly she saw the Slaughter Cauldron that followed behind Shen Mu fly forward; demonic qi gushed from the great cauldron, sweeping over the Nether Sea and swallowing near half of it in one go!

Even the ghostly light flying at Shen Mu was seized and torn at by the Slaughter Cauldron, and fell helplessly into it.

Lu Li shivered with dread, and at once hurried on faster, fleeing in confusion.

Behind them a violent surge came, tossing the four Military Commissioners high; the four hastily made use of it to flee for their lives at still greater speed. Lu Li looked back once more, and saw countless fists, palms, fingers and hooks the size of mountain peaks appear before the Jade Lock Pass, suddenly gathering into a single move that hammered savagely upon the Yin Son of Heaven.

The Yin Son of Heaven was hurled backward and, with a thunderous crash, struck into the Mingdu's Heavenly Gate and made his escape from Youdu. And his ghostly light, like a lizard casting off its tail to live, broke half of itself away of its own accord; the other half tore free of the Slaughter Cauldron and followed the Yin Son of Heaven in his flight into Youdu.

That god-devil of three heads and six arms had its six arms clamped on the frame of the Mingdu's Heavenly Gate and was struggling to squeeze its way into Mingdu — savage beyond all words.

"Little darling! " Lu Li and the others heard a babe's clear voice call out: "Stop hiding.

Come out quickly.

" Boom.

Another dreadful tremor came, and the god-child of Youdu was sent tumbling head over heels, pitched backward.

And the Mingdu's Heavenly Gate, torn to tatters by his six arms, suddenly sank and vanished. "The Yin Son of Heaven's Mingdu Heavenly Gate seems to lack the power of legend — it appears not so mighty as the tales say.

" Lu Li was briefly taken aback.

The Yin Son of Heaven's Mingdu Heavenly Gate held within it the power of Creation, exceedingly mighty, able to bring the Yin Son of Heaven back from death, even to transform and turn the wheel of rebirth — marvelous beyond fathoming.

Yet this Mingdu Heavenly Gate seemed a mere showpiece, wholly lacking the might of a supreme treasure of the Emperor Throne.

She did not know that the Yin Son of Heaven's Mingdu Heavenly Gate had been seized by Di Yiyue, and that the present gate was merely a reforged one, not yet fully refined, no match for the supreme treasure of the Emperor Throne it had once been.

Scarcely had she thought this when she saw the god-child of Youdu roll to his feet, pounce upon the place where the gate had vanished, and pound away in every direction; but he could not find the Yin Son of Heaven, and his three heads peered all around.

Lu Li was aghast; the four hastened to press themselves against the continent upon Tubo's body, hiding their forms and groaning inwardly.

A dazzling gaze, like a pillar of light, swept to the place where they had just been; the four Military Commissioners were terrified beyond measure, and using the demonic qi of Youdu to mask their forms, they slipped away in secret.

Boom.

A towering god-devil of three heads and six arms landed, shaking the earth with its impact; then nine pillars of light swept out in all directions, cleaving through the murky demonic qi of Youdu, searching for them.