Chapter 338 — The Secret of the Supreme Overlord Art

"Overlord Body?

" The Jingping Imperial Preceptor was doubtful too. Thinking it over carefully, he truly had never heard of such a constitution, and he looked at the Village Chief with suspicion. The name "Overlord Body" rang so loudly, sounded so much grander than the four great spirit bodies—could there really be a constitution in this world that stood above the four great spirit bodies? Why had he never heard of it? And now it seemed there were actually two Overlord Bodies in this world!

The Village Chief's face twitched.

He felt his old face could hardly bear it; the skin seemed loose and slack, as if at any moment it might peel off and fall.

He thought to himself: "The Overlord Body again! That little Shen boy truly never gives it a rest. . .

" He could not help sighing that he had grown old; even telling a small white lie left him trembling with fear, terrified of being found out. But who could possibly find him out? As the Human Emperor of the previous generation, he had merely told a small, well-meant lie—why should he suffer such torment?

Why must he keep thinking of how to patch it up? "Ever since I invented this constitution, the Overlord Body, I have told more lies than in all my eight hundred years! " The Village Chief rallied his spirits and shook his head.

"Shen boy, there cannot be a second Overlord Body! This Xu Shenghua is absolutely not an Overlord Body!

" Shen Mu was baffled, and the Jingping Imperial Preceptor was baffled as well. The Lame Elder was so excited he clenched his fists.

"As the only person who knows of the Overlord Body's existence, the Village Chief has always been secretive about it.

Now at last he is about to reveal some of its secrets! " The Village Chief's face was as calm as an ancient well, without a ripple. Unhurriedly he said, "It seems there is a hidden will of heaven in this. Through the ages, only one Overlord Body ever appears.

Others that seem to be Overlord Bodies are false Overlord Bodies; they cannot be true Overlord Bodies. So it has been since ancient times. In any one age, the true Overlord Body can only be one person! You must remember this! " The Jingping Imperial Preceptor could not hide his shock. The only Overlord Body in the world?

All the others false? The waters of this world ran deeper than he had imagined!

The Village Chief's words made him wary, and gave him a chill.

A hidden will of heaven, the one and only Overlord Body, false Overlord Bodies—it sounded as though some nameless force were pulling all the strings! The Lame Elder, however, did not think so much. Excitedly he said, "Just as I guessed—there is only one true Overlord Body in this world!

" Shen Mu was elated too, but then he grew suspicious. "But Xu Shenghua's cultivation is almost equal to mine.

The only one who can keep pace with me at the same realm is an Overlord Body. " "There is only one explanation for that. " The Village Chief's face turned stern. He barked, "It is that you have not worked hard enough!

As an Overlord Body, you have let a four-great-spirit-body practitioner—or a false Overlord Body—catch up to you.

You ought to blame yourself and examine yourself. " Shen Mu grew solemn and nodded hard. "Rest easy, Grandpa Village Chief.

I will redouble my efforts in cultivation! To tell the truth, I have been slack these days. I am advancing, and Xu Shenghua is advancing too. If I let up, he really might surpass me! " The Village Chief relaxed as well, thinking, "Shen boy is still too simple after all.

So easily did I fob him off—and he will cultivate all the harder. If the boy is ever defeated by Xu Shenghua, he will surely think he has not worked hard enough, and next time I will have my excuse ready. " The Jingping Imperial Preceptor's eyes flickered. Humbly seeking instruction, he said, "Brother Dao, you said just now that there are Overlord Bodies and also false Overlord Bodies. There seems to be some connection between them.

Could you speak of it in detail? " The Village Chief's head swelled. Shen Mu was easy to fool; the Lame Elder only loved to steal things and knew little of the wild histories of the jianghu, so he was easy too.

But the Jingping Imperial Preceptor was not so easy. "Ahem. Between the Overlord Body and the false Overlord Body there is a contest of fortune.

" The Village Chief said gravely, "In this world there is only one Overlord Body, and only one there can be; but false Overlord Bodies are not few.

I once heard a legend that if a false Overlord Body kills the Overlord Body, he can seize its fortune, take the Overlord Body's destiny for his own, and grow from a false Overlord Body into a true Overlord Body. Whether it is truly so, I do not know. " The Jingping Imperial Preceptor sank into deep thought, then suddenly raised his head and asked, "The contest of fortune between an Overlord Body and a false Overlord Body is indeed breathtaking. But how does a false Overlord Body know that the other is the true Overlord Body? And not knowing the other is an Overlord Body, how can he kill him? " The Village Chief grew angry. This fellow asked without end—how was he to keep making it up?

"Between an Overlord Body and a false Overlord Body there is in fact an inconceivable connection. When the two meet, each can sense the other. " The Village Chief steadied his mind and said, "The very moment they look upon each other, there comes a feeling of mutual admiration, and at the same time a mutual enmity, a hatred that will not end until one of them dies. . .

" He could hardly keep the lie going, when Shen Mu's eyes suddenly lit up.

Clapping his hands, he said, "That very moment I met Xu Shenghua, I felt the same thing! No wonder, no wonder!

We met on the river; he was aboard a painted pleasure boat, and when he saw me he stopped the boat and invited me over! So it was the sense between Overlord Body and false Overlord Body at work. " The Jingping Imperial Preceptor doubted no longer.

Looking up at the sky, he said in a daze, "Xu Shenghua comes from the Upper Heaven, and that deity I met who brought down natural disasters also comes from the Upper Heaven. What sort of place is the Upper Heaven? That it has deities and also Overlord Bodies? Brother Dao, you must know of this place as well? " "False gods, nothing more. " The Village Chief also raised his head and looked at the blue sky.

To their west lay an incomparably savage battlefield, but neither of them looked toward it; they did not take the tide of battle to heart. "The Upper Heaven is nothing but a pack of running dogs, the eyes and ears the gods use to watch over this world. " The Village Chief said softly, "The snow disaster that struck your Jingping this time left the land laid waste, and to this day it has not recovered. In truth it was only a calamity sent down by the Upper Heaven, using ordinary weather as its weapon. If true gods had sent down the calamity, heh heh.

.

. " He withdrew his gaze and said, "The East Sea is ten thousand zhang deep, yet it sank to the bottom overnight. East of the Wasteland there was once a vast ocean; overnight it became land and mountains.

" The Jingping Imperial Preceptor shuddered. "All my life I have set myself against the Upper Heaven.

The Upper Heaven is not easy to deal with, but the existence behind the Upper Heaven is harder still. " The Village Chief looked at the stump of his arm and the stump of his leg, staring blankly. In a low voice he said, "You will meet them. Shen boy will meet them too.

. . " The Jingping Imperial Preceptor looked at the severed places on his body.

To others, the sword scars on those wounds showed nothing remarkable, but to his eyes—the eyes of this age's Sword God—they revealed endless profundity.

He knew well how terrifying the person was who had cut off the Village Chief's hands and feet! "The Upper Heaven will send down another calamity upon Jingping.