Chapter 696 — The Holy Mother of the Netherworld
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
Wu Qu was seized with dread. Before Shen Mu he had loomed immeasurably vast, yet beside this chubby baby's face he looked pitifully small.
The baby's palm reached out and closed on him. For all his vast divine powers, he could not struggle free; the baby carried him toward its mouth.
"My brother and I share one name."
Before death took him, he heard Shen Mu's voice: "Because we share one soul, and one body."
The baby swallowed him down in a single gulp and chewed hard. Then, all at once roused to frenzy, it lunged for Shen Mu: "Bad little brother — die!"
At that very instant, Shen Mu's body drew out the willow leaf and laid it gently against the space between his brows.
Before the baby could seize Shen Mu, a formless force swept in, caught it up, and dragged it down into the abyss.
"Bad little brother—"
The baby fell for a long while, then landed with a thud on its bottom on the ground. It looked about and saw that it had fallen once more into the seal of the Shenzi Continent, where the white-bearded old man and the Crimson Emperor were hiding from it in the Shenzi Mountains.
"Bad little brother, when I catch you I'll eat you!"
The baby went berserk with rage, scrambling on hands and knees into the Shenzi range, meaning to vent its fury by catching Lord Heaven's avatar and the Crimson Emperor's consciousness first: "First I beat the old man, then the three-headed one!"
The two fled in haste. Lord Heaven's avatar said, "No need to fear him. This is Lord Earth's seal; it shifts without cease, and he cannot catch us!"
The Crimson Emperor said, "That is what you said last time — and then you were caught."
"This time it will not happen!"
Shen Mu returned to his own body and let out a breath. Ahead, Wu Qu's corpse sank away, and the dark Gloom Capital vanished of itself.
Shen Mu raised his head and smiled. "Lady Tianyin, at last we meet. But you need not grieve; my divine abilities may yet gather up the soul that was devoured from you..."
He had barely spoken when Lady Tianyin, standing in the sea, lifted her foot and stamped down toward him.
Shen Mu's blood ran cold. With no time to work any divine ability, he turned and sprinted along the bridge deck. He soon reached the Kaihuang god's side, and without a word seized him and ran.
Behind him came the thunderous crash of a palace caving in underfoot. Lady Tianyin's foot had come down on emptiness; she turned and gave chase.
Her body pierced beyond the heavens. One stride carried her a thousand li; though each foot rose and fell slowly, the speed of her advance was beyond any other being's reach.
"It is those corpse-ghosts who are controlling this lady's shell!"
Shen Mu swiftly guessed why Lady Tianyin's husk had turned on them. Without pausing to think it through, he took out the Book of Life and Death and shone it upon that towering goddess, thinking, "Lady Tianyin has already been eaten by these corpse-ghosts. This Lady Tianyin is in truth a corpse-ghost wearing the lady's husk! Which is to say, Lady Tianyin is now a corpse-ghost herself."
The Book of Life and Death blazed, but the goddess only paused slightly. Black smoke poured from her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose; then she lifted her foot again and pursued Shen Mu and the Kaihuang god.
"She is too vast; even the Book of Life and Death cannot shine upon her whole body!"
Shen Mu drove the Book of Life and Death with his vital essence, letting it float behind his head, and sprinted at a mad gallop, pushing the Sky-Skimming Divine Legs the Lame Elder had taught him to their utmost. His speed climbed and climbed again.
"Senior, run!" Shen Mu, hauling the Kaihuang god along, found it heavy going and could not bring out his full speed, and cried out in alarm.
The Kaihuang god abruptly broke into a run, far faster than Shen Mu, and vanished in a trail of dust, leaving him far behind.