Chapter 956 — The Peerless Flesh Since Time Immemorial

Yun Chuxiu smiled. "They are prisoners of the Heavenly Court, refined away of all emotion, retaining only their capacity for battle. When the Heavenly Court discovered the Great Void, its losses were grievous, and so it thought to make use of waste — placing these prisoners here to guard the void fortresses, so that the Heavenly Court might gain a foothold. Because they have no emotions, they are a pack of walking corpses, and thus no inner demons are born in them."

Shen Mu looked at these three-headed, six-armed gods and demons, and his heart stirred slightly. "They are people of the Chiming era?"

Yun Chuxiu summoned a Daoist and said: "This is Heavenly Venerable Mu, ordered to come and receive Heavenly Venerable Fire and Heavenly Venerable Void. Go and bring out that big fellow from the void fortress."

That Daoist had likely not been stripped of his emotions; he remained clear-minded, responsible for the stability of the void fortress and the control of those Chiming-era prisoners.

The Daoist looked at Shen Mu, astonished that Shen Mu's cultivation should be so low, but still saluted him and said: "Heavenly Venerable, please wait a moment."

He gave a shout, his voice carrying a wondrous rhythm — likely a Dao sound used to control some treasure.

Suddenly, from outside the void fortress came the sound of chains shaking, and space itself trembled. Shen Mu looked toward the sound and could not help but be aghast: behind the void fortress, a god-demon even more immense than the fortress itself was slowly rising to its feet, gradually lifting its head!

That colossal deity had three heads and six arms, its face expressionless, its three heads facing in different directions!

Its whole body was bound in chains of divine script — chains transformed from its own vital essence. Link after link flickered with符文 runes of shifting light, flowing ceaselessly around its massive frame!

Its runes interwove, spreading ever wider in scope, until they shrouded the entire void fortress.

This was a powerhouse of the Imperial Throne!

Judging by its cultivation, it was likely a peak existence even within the Imperial Throne realm!

Shen Mu looked at the rune-light upon those chains and felt a certain familiarity — like the runes of the Wulou Zaohua Xuanjing — and could not help but exclaim: "Who is he? A Great Emperor of the Chiming era?"

Yun Chuxiu giggled. "Guess!"

Shen Mu's heart shook, and he shook his head. "It cannot be Emperor Ming. Emperor Ming already died in the battlefield ruins outside the Heavenly Court; on my way to the Heavenly Court I heard Qi Jiuyi say he had passed through the Ming Emperor battlefield!"

Yun Chuxiu smiled. "Naturally it cannot be Emperor Ming. Emperor Ming possessed the strongest fleshly body in history, and nearly stormed the Heavenly Court. In those years countless legions of gods and demons besieged Emperor Ming and struck off his head more times than can be counted, yet each time it was cut off it grew back, and he could not be killed. Even the Heavenly Venerables found it exceedingly difficult to refine him to death. That battlefield ruin you passed through holds countless corpses of Emperor Ming and of other gods and demons; more than ten Imperial Throne powerhouses of the Heavenly Court died there as well — a scene of unparalleled savagery."

Shen Mu gazed up at that giant deity behind the void fortress. The giant was too powerful; standing there, it pressed the surrounding space into the shape of a funnel, collapsing inward toward him as its center!

"Utterly ignorant! Great Emperor Ju Yusheng of the Tai had the strongest fleshly body in history!" Shujun's voice sounded in his mind.

"Other than Emperor Ming, has anyone else possessed such a powerful fleshly body?" Shen Mu asked Yun Chuxiu.

"Emperor Ming is already dead."

Yun Chuxiu said with a smile: "Died miserably beyond words. His fleshly body was the strongest in history, but his primordial spirit had never been cultivated to three heads and six arms. His weakness was found, and so Yin Tianzi slew him."

Shen Mu's heart stirred slightly. Emperor Ming's Wulou Zaohua Xuanjing indeed could not cultivate the primordial spirit.

His method lacked the art of cultivating a three-headed, six-armed primordial spirit, and thus bore a great flaw.

Had it been paired with the Crimson Emperor's art of the Three Primordial Spirits' Indestructible Spiritual Sense, it would have been flawless.

Of course, that was in the past.

Now the Dao arts and divine arts had advanced; the Ten Heavenly Venerables of the Heavenly Court had already begun their march toward the Heavenly Court realm. Even the union of two Imperial Throne methods could no longer render one invincible.

"This Imperial Throne giant deity — is he Emperor Ming or not?"

A trace of doubt rose in Shen Mu's heart. The Crimson Emperor's indestructible spiritual sense could ensure that one's spiritual sense would not perish; could Emperor Ming's Wulou Zaohua Xuanjing then ensure that his fleshly body would not die and would not perish?

Emperor Ming was dead — perhaps only his soul had died, while his fleshly body might yet live.

Was it possible that this giant deity was Emperor Ming's fleshly body?

Within the void fortress they rested for a time. The void fortress was shrouded by the giant deity's runes, shielding them from the eerie spiritual sense of the Great Void, so that they could relax and need not fear that the Great Void would create inner demons in them.

Once their wounds had healed, the tower ship set sail once more, following Emperor Yunluo Wei Suifeng's River of Stars divine art toward the depths of the Great Void.

Shen Mu looked back and saw that the void fortress seemed to have been fished out of blood plasma, covered in blood-rust.

Just what manner of thing had attacked this fortress, to leave corpses strewn everywhere?

They had come here too briefly to witness the monsters of the Great Void launch their assault — which was, rather, a pity.

Shen Mu's gaze fell once more upon that giant deity, and he thought: "Who is he, really? If I were to summon his soul — call up the soul of this giant deity — would he come back to life?"

A few days later they arrived at the second void fortress — but the second void fortress had been smashed to powder; some terrible power within the Great Void had destroyed it.

Luo Wushuang frowned deeply and had the tower ship halt outside. He entered the ruins alone to search, and returned to the ship not long after, shaking his head. "No corpses. The corpses of the garrison have vanished."

Shen Mu said in a low voice: "Then we press on."

The tower ship set sail once more. Emperor Yunluo Wei Suifeng's divine art remained, guiding their way. Yet the people aboard soon sensed that the Buddhist state of Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception was gradually failing to resist the eeriness of the Great Void.

Outside the tower ship, a massive eyeball suddenly surfaced, rolling and swiveling, then vanished.

"Whose inner demon is that?" Luo Wushuang drew his blade, on his guard.

At that very moment, a colossal body surfaced outside the ship, exceedingly sleek and slippery, swimming along the hull, scraping it with a sound that set the teeth on edge.

Luo Wushuang hurried outside the ship, and the long body gradually dissolved into nothingness.

He was startled and uncertain, when suddenly thick tentacles beyond measure rose from beneath the ship and clambered onto the tower ship. Luo Wushuang was about to sever these tentacles when he saw them too grow fainter and fainter, and vanish.

Shen Mu lay at the ship's edge, craning his head to look, and called out loudly: "Divine Blade Luo, this is what happens when some people, cultivating Neither Perception Nor Non-Perception, cannot suppress their inner demons, giving rise to strange phenomena on every side!"