Chapter 877 — The Chicken Thief

Dragon Qilin wished he could turn around with the same unruffled composure and leisurely poise as Shen Mu, give his rump a flick of his tail, and stroll away from this place as though he were taking a casual walk through a courtyard garden. But his four legs were trembling, and his tail had grown disobedient. Once, he could have swished it easily enough; now the dragon tail felt numb, lifting only halfway, the other half dragging across the ground.

He had carried Shen Mu for three long months, traveling a great distance from Jiangling to this place, and yet he had barely found his footing before everything was already over. But was it truly possible simply to turn back the way they had come?

Dragon Qilin's legs were still soft. All around was silence, heavy and suffocating.

The god-devils ringed about the Great Black Palace towered overhead, their bodies and faces shedding divine radiance in the darkness; only the sound of thick breathing could be heard, and no one spoke.

At last Dragon Qilin turned himself around, struggling to tell himself to hold steady, that he could not miss his footing and go tumbling from before the Great Black Palace all the way down the mountain—yet whether he would miss his footing, he had truly no idea. On either side of the stone steps stood the colossal bodies of god-devils, as if carved from bedrock, their sinewy forms hideous, their faces even more ferocious, glaring at them with malevolent eyes. Dragon Qilin raised a foot, about to descend the steps. "It might also be a tumble down," he thought to himself.

At that moment, a demon god standing to his left snorted smoke from his nostrils, and a massive hand reached for the demonic divine weapon at his waist. The other god-devils also moved, and the clattering sound of divine weapons and demonic divine weapons rang out. Dragon Qilin finally steadied his mind; every muscle slowly tensed, ready at any instant to erupt with all his strength and break through the encirclement.

Just now he had been in a flutter, but now that he was about to fight for his life, all other thoughts vanished. If he had to flee, he would flee with his whole heart. That was something he was good at.

Just then, a voice came from within the Great Black Palace, saying, "Hold.

" The many god-devils of the Northern Heavens, hearing this, set down their hands one after another.

Shen Mu patted Dragon Qilin's forehead, and Dragon Qilin understood his meaning at once, stopped, and turned around. Shen Mu looked straight at the Demon Ancestor within the Great Black Palace.

In the palace, Great Black Heaven rose to his feet and said, "The Jingping Overlord Body indeed lives up to its reputation.

The Northern Heavens have utterly failed and submit willingly. " Shen Mu smiled.

"The gods of the Northern Heavens made the Little Earth Earl pact with the Woodcutter Celestial Master and Celestial Master Zixi. If they had broken it and sought to kill me, by now they would have all become corpses.

" The god-devils surrounding the Great Black Palace shouted in anger one after another, telling him to shut his mouth.

Great Black Heaven's countenance darkened, and he said coldly, "It is you who should shut up!

" His voice suppressed the shouts of those god-devils at once, leaving the gods and demons of the Northern Heavens speechless.

Great Black Heaven walked slowly forward, the black sun behind him shifting along with him, swallowing all the light within the Great Black Palace. In a short time, he came to the front of the palace.

Shen Mu sized up this Demon Ancestor; of Great Black Heaven's origins, he had heard something.

It was said that Great Black Heaven was the first demon god born in the Netherworld, the place to which the dead returned. Ever since death came into being in the world, the Netherworld had been born.

The Earth Earl, born in accordance with the great Dao of heaven and earth, presided over death, punishing evil and rewarding good. Yet even the Earth Earl had to act according to the laws of the Netherworld; he could not act on his own likes and dislikes. As souls in the Netherworld grew ever more numerous, the resentment, greed, and other negative emotions of the dead bred a terrible demonic nature in the Netherworld, and incomplete remnant souls and lingering spirits wandered in its darkness, so the demonic nature deepened day by day.

Thus the monsters of the Netherworld came into being.

They had little self-awareness, but they were condensed from the filthiest and most vile thoughts mixed with the Netherworld's demonic qi.

The monsters devoured one another and became demon gods. Great Black Heaven was a demon god born in this way, and he was the very first demon god of the Netherworld.

Like the Netherworld's Divine Son, he possessed extraordinary traits. He was born before Longhan, in that extremely ancient and barbaric age when the Longhan Heavenly Court had not yet been established.

It was only because of his appearance that the demon race came to exist.

— Some also said that the demon race in the true sense was the Earth Earl's daughter, and all the so-called demon races in the world were false demon races, but there were few who held this view.

The demon race revered him as the ancestor of the demonic path, the ancestor of all demons, the king of the demon race. In truth, the true progenitor of the demonic path and the true ancestor of the demon race should have been the Earth Earl. However, the Earth Earl had few descendants, so the demon race was instead propagated by Great Black Heaven and the successive demon gods born in the Netherworld after him, with little connection to the Earth Earl.

It was only natural that Great Black Heaven, the first demon god born in the Netherworld, should be raised to such a height by the demon race.

Shen Mu saw that he actually bore some resemblance to the Earth Earl, also having two long, curved ox horns; but since he had not turned around, Shen Mu could not tell whether, like the Earth Earl, he had an ox tail. "You are all very bold. " Great Black Heaven looked around, somewhat pained.

"You make the Little Earth Earl pact with others and then intend to break it—truly bold. Do you not know that Wentian Pavilion is one of the Four Grand Celestial Masters of Kaihuang, with the nickname 'the Cockcrow Thief'?

When he proposes a bet, he simply does not bet; only then can he avoid losing.

If he bets, he is certain to lose. You schemed against Jingping, thinking it within easy reach, but he was scheming against the Northern Heavens!

What am I to do?

" Around the Great Black Palace, there was not a sound.

Great Black Heaven sighed. "The three hundred and sixteen Northern Heavens were won by the hard fighting of my generals and soldiers, yet you, coveting a moment's gain, would hand the Northern Heavens over to others.

The Cockcrow Thief truly has a formidable hand! " "Can we break the pact? " a demon god asked in a trembling voice. Great Black Heaven cast him a glance, and that demon god's face turned the color of earth.

"To break the pact is to face the Little Earth Earl directly.

" Great Black Heaven said calmly, "Though I am not afraid of him, this act would certainly ruin my reputation; others would laugh at me for being faithless. I have come from ancient primordial wilderness. Under my rule, the demon race has grown mightier day by day, yet it has never been able to soar to greatness.

I later thought about it, and perhaps it is because I was too cunning in the past, always going back on my word.