Chapter 715 — Heaven Sets the Fire
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
Shen Mu's heart sank. He poured every ounce of his strength into the Soul-Beckoning Charm, straining to summon the souls of the Woodcutter, the First Ancestor, and the rest from the Dark Capital before those three figures touched down.
The ones who had stepped down from the bright moon were Lou Yunqu and his two fellow disciples; clearly they had not entered Lizhou, as Shen Mu had guessed. Shen Mu had always assumed they would cast their spell in the skies above Lizhou.
It had never occurred to him that they would do the opposite: Lou Yunqu and the others had entered the celestial phenomena themselves, the layer of heaven a hundred thousand li above the ground of Jingping! The sky stands a hundred thousand li high and three hundred zhang thick; there the arrays and formations of the sun, moon, and stars are gathered, and many deities of the Heavenly Court stand guard over them, keeping the celestial phenomena above Jingping in motion, and by this means deceiving the people of the world. Lou Yunqu and his companions had pasted the Book of Life and Death onto the array of the bright moon in the heavens, borrowing the moon's power to shine down upon Lizhou!
Tonight was the first day of the lunar month, and on the first day there is no moon. One may well imagine that everywhere else in Jingping the moon was invisible, the sky studded only with stars; only Lizhou could see a full moon hanging in the air. The common folk of Lizhou, the divine ability users, and even gods like Su Yunzhi had all suffered for it.
Not only Su Yunzhi: even the Woodcutter Sage had not foreseen that Lou Yunqu would strike from the moon. By the time the moonlight fell upon him and he understood, it was already too late.
Their cultivation and strength were monstrous beyond measure, but they had lost the initiative; against a treasure like the Book of Life and Death, refined by the Black Emperor of the Nether Capital, losing the initiative meant losing one's life. That single misstep had killed every soul in Lizhou. Only Shen Mu remained alive!
Because he was the Divine Son of the Dark Capital, Shen Mu was the one man the Book of Life and Death could not control.
"The only chance to turn this around is to seize back their souls! Otherwise, I alone cannot possibly stand against Lou Yunqu and the others! " Shen Mu roused his divine ability.
Behind him the Heaven-Bearing Gate surfaced, and from his mouth came the heavy, cadenced tongue of the Dark Capital. The Heaven-Bearing Gate opened, and at once ghost after ghost came flying out of the portal, scattering in every direction.
"Why are there no souls of the Woodcutter and the others?
" Shen Mu's heart sank by degrees.
He had invoked the power of the Soul-Beckoning Charm: so long as any person's bones remained, he would sense their soul and draw it to him. Yet when he searched the Dark Capital with his divine ability, he sensed nothing of the Woodcutter Sage, the First Ancestor Human Sovereign, or any of the others.
The bright moon still shone overhead, and the three who had stepped down from it were moving fast; from three tiny specks they swelled steadily, visible to the naked eye. Shen Mu concentrated on his spell, cold sweat rolling down his forehead. Suddenly he clenched his teeth, tore the willow leaf from the center of his brow, and cried in a stern voice, "Lord Heaven, Crimson Emperor!
At this pass of life and death, I need to borrow my brother's power to fight the gods and demons of the Nether Capital!
" On the Shen-character continent at the center of his brow, the big-headed infant was gnawing his own toes. Hearing this, he looked around curiously.
"Could it be that my wicked little brother means to eat me? But he has given me tasty things too.
That little box not long ago was quite delicious. .