Chapter 304 — The Giant's Body Lies Athwart

Before them the subterranean space opened vast, and a mountain mass lay athwart their path, shaped like the upper half of a giant carved in stone -- a colossus beyond measure, its whole body of dark, sunken rock, yet wrought with nose and eyes and mouth and ears. Only the upper body, down to the chest, showed above; the rest must lie buried in the earth, or had never been carved at all.

Behind the colossus an ancient tower ship hung motionless in midair.

One end of it lay within the earth, while the other passed through an enormous gateway, and within that gateway was a seal like a honeycomb; the ship's prow had pierced the seal and entered another world. That seal must be the Nether Capital seal the white bats had spoken of. In ancient times the gods had opened a passage here between the world of the living and the Nether Capital, and the creatures of the Nether Capital had poured through; there had been no choice but to seal it.

The divine race of the white bats had been charged with guarding this place, and all had been peaceful until the coming of this ship, which had smashed the seal.

By now the seal had grown somewhat loose, especially where the ship joined it; there the seal was seamed with cracks. Nor was that all. There was another problem: the creatures of the Nether Capital could pass through this ship into the Wasteland!

Now and again grotesque creatures crawled down from the ship -- some spreading wings and taking flight, others leaping down -- but before they had gone far the honeycomb seal flickered with light, and in an instant their heads were struck from their bodies without a sound.

The colossal statue of the god-man, the gateway, the great ship, the honeycomb seal, the creatures of the Nether Capital -- this subterranean world was a phantasmagoria.

"This gateway looks familiar. . .

" Shen Mu studied the giant gateway from top to bottom, with a vague sense that he had seen it somewhere before, though he could not recall where.

"How did those two eminent monks die?

" He frowned slightly.

The two white-browed monks had been far more capable than the two white bats; they had been charged by the Tathagata to guard this place, and all had been peaceful for so long -- how had they died so suddenly?

The two white bats said they had died of exhaustion. Yet judging by what he saw now, even after death the monks' bodies could still hold back the invading demonic qi of the Nether Capital with their own Buddhist dharma -- plainly their strength had reached an exceedingly high plane, no less than that of a sect master of the Spirit Bridge realm, or near to it.

Such beings could hardly be worn to death by an invasion of demonic qi. Could some dreadful creature of the Nether Capital have come through this ship into the world of the living and done the two monks to death? Or had something battered at the seal, and the two monks, straining to hold it back, worn themselves out?

Whichever it was, this was no kindly place; to approach the ship rashly would surely be to walk into mortal danger.

"The Nether Capital, the world of the Earth Lord, the place to which souls return. The Earth Lord's envoys draw the souls of the dead of this world into the Nether Capital, and those envoys are the soul couriers.

I have seen a soul courier before -- that strange old man in the dark Wasteland who folded paper boats.

Uncanny, yes, but civil enough; so long as you do not hinder a soul courier in his work, they will not trouble the living. " Shen Mu looked around him. The Earth Lord's Nether Capital plainly had its own peculiar laws and rules; so long as matters were conducted according to those rules, the Earth Lord did not interfere with the world of the living. Then what was the meaning of these creatures of the Nether Capital in the Nether Valley?

These beings were powerful, uncanny, sinister, evil -- more evil and more uncanny even than the Demon Hosts Shen Mu had once seen! Compared with the creatures of the Nether Capital, the Demon Hosts were almost kindly.

These creatures of the Nether Capital and the soul couriers of the Nether Capital were two absolute extremes!

He raised his head and looked at the ship hanging in the air, touching neither heaven nor earth.

The honeycomb seal held it fast, equilateral hexagonal columns set into space itself, layer upon layer, half-transparent as glass -- the seal the ancient gods had left behind.

And from that ship drifted wave upon wave of demonic qi and other uncanny breaths, and faintly, within the demonic qi, came sounds that filled a man with deep unease -- like the twisted screams of countless wronged souls suffering torment in the Nether Capital.

Shen Mu steadied his heart. All at once his body shook, and he took on his human-headed, serpent-bodied form, a scroll of scripture in his hands, the Gate of Heaven-Bearing rising behind him; his tail undulated and he floated up at once, swimming around the god-man colossus ahead toward the ship. The two white bats were startled, and hurriedly beat their wings and rose, studying Shen Mu with curiosity.

"He's changed again, changed again! First he was an ox, then he became a man, and now he's become a snake!

" "There's something odd about this gateway. I'll go in and have a look!

" said Fu Yuqiu, curious, and made to push open the Gate of Heaven-Bearing and peer inside. "Beyond it lies the Nether Capital.

If you want to die now and have your souls enter the Nether Capital, then go ahead and open the door," Shen Mu said gravely.

As he spoke, his heart suddenly gave a great jolt.

He halted in midair and stared, dazed, at the giant gateway ahead.

The Gate of Heaven-Bearing.

This gateway, sealed by the honeycomb, was a Gate of Heaven-Bearing!

If this gateway was a Gate of Heaven-Bearing, then what was that statue?

Shen Mu turned his head with difficulty and looked at the colossus of the god-man.

Was not this statue, and this Gate of Heaven-Bearing, exactly like Shen Mu as he was now?

"This is no statue, but a man who, like me, has perfected the Star-Steward form!

" Shen Mu's mind rang like a struck bell. Though the Star-Steward form was always human-headed and serpent-bodied, not everyone could cultivate the Gate of Heaven-Bearing and the scroll in his hands; the Imperial Preceptor Jingping, though hailed as a sage such as appears once in five hundred years, had never attained this form. It was the most perfect of forms.

Once, Shen Mu had believed this to be the mark of the Overlord Body, and the very reason he was confident that even the Imperial Preceptor Jingping, at the same realm, could not be his better.

And now he had seen another being who had cultivated the Gate of Heaven-Bearing.

"Was this an Overlord Body of ancient times?

Why was he turned to stone?

Why had he come to this? " Shen Mu stood silent in the air, gazing at the colossus.

It was no statue, but a god-man in the human-headed, serpent-bodied Star-Steward form, turned to stone; the greater part of his body must still lie buried in the earth. His Gate of Heaven-Bearing had become the passage linking the Nether Capital to the world of the living, but for some reason the gateway had slipped beyond control, and the creatures of the Nether Capital had poured out through it to wreak havoc in the world of the living; and so the ancient god-man had had no choice but to seal the gateway. "Then how was he turned to stone, and by whom.

.

.

?

" Shen Mu was perplexed.

What had this ancient Overlord Body met with, that he should come to such a pass?

After his death, why had the Gate of Heaven-Bearing not closed, not vanished? Why had it become the passage between the Nether Capital and the world of the living? The white bats said the ancient gods had opened the passage between the Nether Capital and the world of the living -- but what did that mean?

Did these two white bats know anything of that bygone affair?