Chapter 698 — Grandmaster of Law and Dao
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
The Old Buddha badly wanted to go out and watch Shen Mu work his arts, but if he left, Shen Fengqing would likely break the seal; he could only endure.
Outside, the corpse-ghosts within Lady Tianyin's body were still pouring out in a frenzy, turning into wisp after wisp of black smoke and departing. Seven or eight parts in ten of them had been expelled; few remained.
So Lady Tianyin grew quiet, and pressed no further attacks on Shen Mu and the God-Man Kaihuang.
The God-Man Kaihuang still held the Book of Life and Death aloft to illumine Lady Tianyin's face, frantic and fearful, not daring to slacken in the least. But as Lady Tianyin's soul fragments were summoned home by Shen Mu, her shrunken features gradually grew clear and full once more.
At last all of Lady Tianyin's soul particles were called back by Shen Mu, and the corpse-ghosts were expelled until none were left. This heaven-born divinity stood motionless, a pagoda held in her hand; the God-Man Kaihuang stood atop the pagoda, and Shen Mu stood upon its spire, with the inverted Heaven-Bearing Gate behind him.
Shen Mu was still forcing words out one by one, words like pearls, voice like thunder. Light poured from the Heaven-Bearing Gate and shone upon Lady Tianyin's face.
He was stealing Lord Heaven's power, using the mighty creative force of Lord Heaven to remake Lady Tianyin's Heaven Soul.
Within Lady Tianyin's body, countless grains of black sand recombined without cease; her Heaven Soul was slowly taking shape.
Shen Mu's face went ashen. Suddenly a sweetness rose in his throat, and blood surged up.
Though he was stealing Lord Heaven's power to work his art, his own dharma-power was consumed enormously as well; and not dharma-power alone—his spirit and his flesh were all being drained fiercely, beyond what he could bear.
Suddenly his body shook, and he manifested three heads and six arms; at the same instant his primordial spirit also took the form of three heads and six arms.
Shen Mu steadied his breath, and after a long while at last succeeded in remaking Lady Tianyin's Heaven Soul.
Behind him the Heaven-Bearing Gate suddenly rang with a clang; Heaven and Earth turned once more, and the gate reverted to its normal form. Black qi rushed out of it—the demonic qi of the Gloom Capital—and poured into Lady Tianyin's body, striking at her tailbone, where the Earth Soul was being remade.
This time, what Shen Mu meant to steal was the power of Lord Earth; he would borrow Lord Earth's power to remake Lady Tianyin's Earth Soul.
"Wah—"
All three of Shen Mu's heads opened their mouths and spat blood together. He forcibly suppressed his spirit, which was on the verge of collapse, and kept driving his art, turning the Heaven-Bearing Gate sideways, stealing the power of Lord Heaven and Lord Earth at once. Darkness and white light gushed forth together and illumined the place of Lady Tianyin's navel.
There the Life Soul resides.
Of the three souls, the Heaven Soul and the Earth Soul could be restored by stealing the power of Lord Heaven and Lord Earth; but the Life Soul is what belongs to life itself, and of this Shen Mu had made no deep study.
His attainments in this regard were far below those of Granny Zhu.
Still, since in the Heaven-Bearing Gate Heaven lies above and Earth below, the human world must lie at the center—and the human world is the dwelling place of living beings. So he resolved to try with the powers of Lord Heaven and Lord Earth together, to see whether he could help Lady Tianyin recast her Life Soul.
Shen Mu could hold out less and less; flesh and primordial spirit, dharma-power and spirit alike had all reached their limits. Yet what gladdened him was that where the powers of Lord Heaven and Lord Earth converged, Lady Tianyin's Life Soul was slowly gathering.