Chapter 438 — Like Returning Swallows

Thud, thud — explosions sounded from within his body as the Seven Stars Divine Treasury, the Heaven-Man Divine Treasury, the Life-and-Death Divine Treasury, and the Divine Bridge Divine Treasury opened one after another! The power of the flood dragons was already profoundly mighty, filling his Divine Bridge; then he roused the power of the Flood Dragon King Deity, and at once that surging force broke through the Divine Bridge Divine Treasury and reached straight to the Heavenly Court!

Shen Mu's primordial spirit, struck by this power, stepped from the Divine Bridge to the farther shore; borne up by the raging force, it made for the Heavenly Palace.

Yet the Flood Dragon King Deity's power was still not enough to carry him to the Heavenly Palace of the Heavenly Court; it brought him to a halt at the Southern Gate of Heaven, so that he had only just crossed the threshold. "My Lord's Divine Bridge — it is not broken!

" The Flood Dragon King Deity was shaken beyond measure — but in that moment Shen Mu surged with power unutterably mighty; from his mouth came obscure demonic words as he drove the Soul-Pulling Invocation! The Soul-Pulling Invocation was an art of the Nine Nether Sect, and in the Kingdom of Jingping it counted as nothing remarkable — yet this divine ability had once brought about great turmoil.

When Shen Mu first entered the Grand Academy to study arts and divine abilities, he had not chosen any fearsome, earth-shaking technique; instead he took the Soul-Pulling Invocation and the Talisman Edict for Commanding Ghosts and Dispatching Gods, believing that these two arts held deep strangeness within them and might unleash power beyond all expectation. The Talisman Edict for Commanding Ghosts and Dispatching Gods was an art the Demon King of Dutian had left behind in the Kingdom of Jingping, scheming by this divine ability to seize Jingping and transplant his people into this world. As for the Soul-Pulling Invocation, its origins were likely beyond the Nine Nether Sect's power to create; this art seemed bound to Youdu, and Shen Mu had once suspected it came from Youdu itself, belonging to the soul-craft of that realm.

But his knowledge of the Youdu tongue was slight, and his knowledge of that mysterious, unfathomable world of Youdu was slight as well, and so he had never developed this art to its utmost. Even so, his mastery of the Soul-Pulling Invocation had long since surpassed that of the Nine Nether Sect in its day!

"Gate Bearing Heaven, open! " Shen Mu roared, and behind him a dreadful gate burst open with a thunderous boom. His power ran wild, and the Gate Bearing Heaven grew monstrously tall — a gate hundreds of yards high, its two leaves swinging wide to reveal the world of Youdu in the darkness.

Billowing demonic qi poured out of that blackness, invading the dark of the Wasteland, spreading an aura that made ghosts and gods shudder! The divine-ability users of the Nine Nether Sect could never have forged a Gate Bearing Heaven; they merely borrowed the art of the Soul-Pulling Invocation to form a gateway linking to Youdu.

But Shen Mu could — the Gate Bearing Heaven he had forged was the true Gate Bearing Heaven!

Once the gate was opened, the power of the Soul-Pulling Invocation erupted on the spot; talisman edicts streamed through the gateway into Youdu, giving off a ghostly glow, and then their light shone forth and laid a road through the darkness — a floating bridge in the black, stretching ever deeper!

After a moment, rocks and stones suddenly flew up, and from beneath the earth crawled skeletons, dancing and gesturing wildly. From the earth more skeletons rose; the uncanny force spread even into the Wasteland, into the Kingdom of Jingping. The ground of Wasteland and Jingping heaved without cease, and corpses and skeletons of every kind came surging up to the surface, skull-jaws opening and closing, trying to speak but making no sound. Shen Mu frowned.

More and more souls were drawn to him from Youdu, but they were all the souls of beings who had died nearby — not the souls of the Alchemist, the Lame Elder, or the rest! "They are not in Youdu? No matter what has seized you, I will find you!

" Shen Mu clenched his teeth and let out a furious roar; the Gate Bearing Heaven suddenly swelled, and the might of the Soul-Pulling Invocation surged: "Grandpa Alchemist, let your soul return to me—" "Ahead lies Fengdu. " In the Realm of the Living Dead, a deity with a bird's head and a man's body led the way ahead, saying to the Alchemist, the Lame Elder, the Deaf Elder and the others, "Your old acquaintance awaits you on the Bridge of Helplessness. " "An old acquaintance?

" The Alchemist was bewildered.

"What old acquaintance? " The bird-headed deity smiled and said, "You will know when you arrive. " When they came onto the Bridge of Helplessness, the Alchemist and the Lame Elder and the rest could not help but freeze.

There in the middle of the bridge stood the Village Head, whole in limb and body, a smile on his face. "So we meet again upon the Bridge of Helplessness, gentlemen.

You still—" Before he could finish, the black mist beneath the Bridge of Helplessness suddenly churned and a vast vortex appeared; from within the vortex came a furious roar: "Grandpa Alchemist, let your soul return to me!

" At once the world spun for the Alchemist, the Lame Elder and the others on the bridge; the uncanny force dragged them from the bridge into the vortex, and they plunged toward its depths! From the city of Fengdu came an august, furious shout: "What monstrous thing dares stir up trouble in my Fengdu?

" The vast form of King Yan rose slowly, and bending to look down into the vortex beneath the bridge, he saw, at the very depths of the whirl, the face of Shen Mu.

King Yan was slightly taken aback.