Chapter 1247 — The Yin Lord's Art of Reincarnation

The divine generals of the Nether Capital chosen by Hu Mengdie, Yin Jiuzun, and Yu Wufei were all among the mightiest beings of the Northern Heaven, deep in cultivation, every one of them at the Yujing or Lingxiao realm. The three of them, too, were of exceedingly high strength; among all the heavens of the Northern Heaven, they could be called the strongest.

The Yin Son of Heaven appointed men by favour alone — those about him were all trusted intimates, and these he took care to raise and nurture; but any man who was not his intimate he would not trouble to cultivate.

Hence other generals, even those of heaven-granted genius, were never entrusted with weighty command. Hu Mengdie glanced at Yin Jiuzun and Yu Wufei, her eyes flickering: "Yin Jiuzun is the Master's son, and Yu Wufei is the Master's beloved consort, while I am only a disciple.

If the contest were a fair one, it would be another matter, but a fair contest is utterly impossible!

If I join hands with them to kill the Heavenly Venerable Mu, the credit will surely be theirs, and none of it mine! " At this thought she spoke swiftly: "They say the Heavenly Venerable Mu is cautious by nature; on this journey he will surely conceal his tracks. Let us each take a road of our own and hunt for his whereabouts. " With that she led several Nether Capital generals into the air and was gone.

Yu Wufei laughed. "Mengdie speaks sense.

The Heavenly Venerable Mu is a mere child, but the man is full of tricks, and his talent for saving his own skin is first rate. If we move together, he will surely slip away from us; but if we split up, our chances of success are doubled. " Yin Jiuzun laughed.

"The Consort is right.

We shall act separately, then. " Yu Wufei departed with the divine generals under her command, thinking, "The Yin Son of Heaven dotes more on his son, and those new consorts are now favoured above me. If I cannot secure this merit, whether I can even hold my place in the inner palace is doubtful.

" Yin Jiuzun watched them go into the far distance, sneering again and again, then turned back into the pass and bowed to the Yin Son of Heaven: "Father, the Heavenly Venerable Mu's methods are formidable; I fear I am no match for him. I beg Father to grant me a treasure for my protection.

" The Yin Son of Heaven could not help laughing. "Worthy of being my son — sharper than outsiders like disciples and consorts. The Heavenly Venerable Mu is indeed of uncommon divine power, and his methods are high.

I shall give you a treasure to subdue him. " So saying, he brought out a bell and handed it to Yin Jiuzun. "This is a rare treasure I refined when I attained the Way; it is called the Bell of Reincarnation.

In former days my hopes were too vast. I wished to refine the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate, to command reincarnation and all the other great Ways alike, and so become a Heavenly Venerable. But my skill fell a notch short, and I could never refine the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate. " The Yin Son of Heaven instructed him: "Afterward I took the pain to heart and turned my whole mind to the Way of Reincarnation, and at last attained the Way, cultivated the Imperial Throne, and sat in the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

My Way gathered and condensed, and this treasure was refined.

My designs are very great. When this treasure sounds once, all who hear it fall into reincarnation, with no rebirth for them!

Carry my treasure with you, and one stroke of the bell will bring down the Heavenly Venerable Mu, and you shall take the first merit.

" Overjoyed beyond measure, Yin Jiuzun hurriedly put the Bell of Reincarnation away, knocked his head to the ground in thanks, rose, walked out of the great pass, and led his generals off in haste.

Shen Mu traveled through the Youdu of the Great Void. From the Youdu of the Great Void it was very convenient to reach the garrison of the Heavenly Court; the Great Void was vast, and travel through the Youdu made it the more convenient.

Seen from the Youdu, all the mountains and waters of the Great Void turned hazy, veiled in a layer of grey.

Lonely ghosts and wild spirits hid in the dark and covertly took his measure; they were the gods and devils and wielders of divine powers who had died in battle.

Besides them there were fragments of soul as well, the shattered souls and spirits of gods and devils and divine-power wielders, which became gusts of black wind; and when the black wind gathered, it turned into tornadoes of great scale, howling and sweeping away all things. Wherever the black wind passed, even the primordial spirits of gods and devils could scarcely escape, and were often drawn into the tornadoes and torn to pieces.

That black wind was the Black Sand of Souls.

Other black winds burrowed into the corpses of the gods and devils who had died in battle in the Youdu of the Great Void, gnawed away flesh and blood until only a skin remained, and became corpse-ghouls that wandered everywhere devouring people, devouring even the black wind itself.

The corpse-ghouls grew stronger and stronger.

Shen Mu frowned. This was plainly the Yin Son of Heaven's deliberate work, his plan to turn this place into another Realm of Heavenly Yin, or another Barren Ruins. "When it grows dark, do not go out. In those years the Barren Ruins and the Realm of Heavenly Yin were the Yin Son of Heaven's doing.

Many men underestimated the Yin Son of Heaven, thinking he rose only by flattering the Heavenly Venerable Hao, that he took the Black Emperor's throne by fawning. Yet the Yin Son of Heaven is deeply versed in the Way and divine arts of the Realm of Heavenly Yin, and he has developed the Way and divine arts of the Youdu greatly as well.

His strength may be called second only to the Ten Heavenly Venerables among postnatal beings. " Shen Mu surveyed his surroundings. Corpse-ghouls of every monstrous shape flitted through the grey mist; spying the primordial spirit of some god or devil, they swarmed upon it and devoured it.

"In those years the Barren Ruins came to look as it did because at nightfall the Black Sand of Souls poured in from the Realm of Heavenly Yin and the other heavens, and at daybreak returned to those worlds — like a funnel, forever turning. There are such funnels in the Realm of Heavenly Yin too; they are the Yin Son of Heaven's tools for controlling the black sand. And besides them, there is the Soul-Snatching Bell.

" Shen Mu thought, "The Yin Son of Heaven may pit his Way and divine arts of the Youdu against my brother's, but he should not be my brother's match; my brother, after all, is the divine child of the Youdu, another Tubo.

Yet once this place is made into a Realm of Heavenly Yin or a Barren Ruins, and the Black Sand of Souls becomes the Nether Sea, then my brother will be no match for him. " His gaze flickered; he halted his steps and studied closely the changes in the Youdu of the Great Void.

He and Di Yiyue had studied the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate together, and he had some understanding of the Yin Son of Heaven's Way and divine arts; the most important thing in the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate was the Way of Reincarnation. "Yet judging by the changes in the Youdu of the Great Void, the Way of Reincarnation within the Nether Capital Heavenly Gate is not the complete Way of Reincarnation. The Yin Son of Heaven's Way of Reincarnation should be the transformation between the three souls and seven spirits and the Black Sand of Souls, together with the Way of Creation used to alter the structure of the flesh. In other words, the Great Way of the Youdu, the Great Way of Heavenly Yin, and the Way of Creation combine into the Yin Son of Heaven's Way of Reincarnation!

" Shen Mu closed his eyes.