Chapter 503 — The Cult Master Who Slays the Heart and Seizes Life

In the Mirror of Three Lives, the receding tide of time grew ever more ancient, until at last another world began to surface—the god Kui Wushen, with countless gods and demons at his side, had received the command to descend into the lower realms and make war upon the Kaihuang Heavenly Court!

Even King Yama could not help but be stirred; he rose to his feet and gazed into the Mirror of Three Lives.

Within the mirror, Kui Wushen's memories shifted into Kui Wushen's own field of vision. He wished to see—who, in those distant years, had given the order to destroy the Kaihuang Heavenly Court!

Kui Wushen's vision was vast, and it mirrored the immense, boundless expanse of the so-called True Heavenly Court, where countless gods and demons swore their oaths and arrayed themselves for battle, bent on wiping the Kaihuang Heavenly Court from existence.

The sight stirred the heart—and filled it with dread at once!

Even a being such as Kui Wushen was, in this so-called True Heavenly Court, no more than an utterly inconspicuous common soldier among countless gods and demons!

The vision in the mirror slowly rose, looking up toward those true gods enthroned on high; their towering bodies were vast beyond measure, and the lesser gods thronged about them and beneath their feet like stars.

The Kui Wushen in the mirror was gazing toward the leader of this oath-taking host—the Heavenly Emperor of the so-called Heavenly Court.

King Yama could not suppress his agitation. Just as that incomparably towering being's face was about to enter Kui Wushen's view, the scene in the mirror warped madly out of shape!

That passage of Kui Wushen's memory suddenly went blank, erased by some nameless power!

Startled, King Yama reached out and pressed his hand to the mirror's face.

"Tracing Light Art!"

The image on the mirror steadied for an instant; but the next moment a huge eye appeared upon its surface—an eye that seemed able to devour all light, making Kui Wushen's memories be deleted without cease.

King Yama roared. His long dark cloak whirled up, and from beneath it a blade of sword-light flew out and cut into the mirror.

Inside the Mirror of Three Lives, the image was restored. The scene upon the mirror resumed its rewinding, drawing up ever earlier passages of Kui Wushen's life. Yet all of Kui Wushen's memories concerning the so-called True Heavenly Court had been utterly erased, as though they had never been!

King Yama put away his sword; the sword-light slipped back into his cloak and vanished.

"There is a supremely powerful being who sensed that we were peering at him through Kui Wushen's memories, and so he deleted Kui Wushen's memories of him."

His voice rang hard and resonant. In a low tone he said, "The moment Kui Wushen recalls him, he will be sensed. His dharma power surges through time and space, through consciousness itself—truly terrifying beyond compare!"

Within the Hall of the Shen King, the assembled Ghost Kings all shuddered. To recall that man was to be sensed by him, and to have your memory simply wiped away?

Such a divine power was nothing short of inconceivable!

Shen Mu too was astonished beyond measure. That the Mirror of Three Lives could reflect the memories of a man's whole life was already a tale out of fantasy, beyond all belief; and this power—by which one sensed another's prying and erased his memory—was even more dreadful, dreadful past all imagining!

"They were taking the chance to spy upon that True Heavenly Court. Does that mean the one who erased that passage of Kui Wushen's memory is the Heavenly Emperor of the True Heavenly Court?" he speculated inwardly.

The Mirror of Three Lives brought up what remained of Kui Wushen's memories—his journey to Youdu to study arts and divine powers. The Ghost Kings crowded forward one after another to look closely; some held brush and ink, recording the divine powers and arts Kui Wushen had seen and learned in Youdu.

In Kui Wushen's memory, the Heavenly Court had sent many prodigies of extraordinary talent into Youdu to study, and afterward many of them achieved remarkable things.

Plainly, this True Heavenly Court shared deep ties with Youdu.

Shen Mu's heart stirred; he too longed to press forward and learn Youdu's arts and divine powers.

Youdu's arts and divine powers were extraordinary indeed. He had learned only the Soul-Dragging Charm of the Nine Nether Sect—and the Soul-Dragging Charm was a Youdu art—and even that was incomplete. Yet incomplete as it was, it was no small thing; it could even call back the souls of Master Dan, Granny Zhu, and the others!

And Kui Wushen's ability to bow a man to death likewise rested upon Youdu's arts and divine powers.

If he could master them, would he not gain yet another formidable means at his command?

But the Ghost Kings had thronged so tightly about the Mirror of Three Lives that not a drop could have seeped through, and he was still a "prisoner," unable to push his way in.

Suddenly King Yama looked toward him, his gaze beneath the black robe flickering bright and dim by turns.

Shen Mu's heart went cold. Testing the waters, he said, "King Yama, my allotted years of yang life are not yet spent either..."

The god-man Chixiu said, "The crimes you have committed are too great—do not imagine you can leave! You forcibly wielded Youdu arts and abducted several of our Fengdu's people, violating the laws of Fengdu. Your wickedness surpasses even Xing An's—and you still wish to go? King Yama, how should he be sentenced?"

King Yama said, "One who violates the laws of Fengdu—even a prince must be punished the same as a common man. He must indeed be punished. Deciphering the divine arts within Kui Wushen's memories will take some time yet. Take him down for now; later I will interrogate him myself, alone."

The god-man Chixiu was astonished. King Yama would interrogate him alone, in person?

After all, not even Xing An or Kui Wushen had ever enjoyed the treatment of a private interrogation!

The crimes Shen Mu had committed looked great, but they could be counted great or small. The rules of Fengdu were the same as Youdu's: they did not meddle in the affairs of the world of the living.

To the living, Fengdu and Youdu were alike—both belonged to the netherworld, and if the netherworld meddled in the world of the living, there would be unforeseeable consequences.

Such was the rule.

Fengdu did not interfere in the world of the living; neither did Youdu.

This was also the chief reason Kui Wushen had said King Yama could do nothing to him: King Yama could not put to death the primordial spirit of a man whose allotted yang years were not yet spent.

What was more, Shen Mu was the Human Emperor. The god-man Chixiu had originally thought that King Yama, for the sake of the Human Emperors of past generations, would lift him high and set him down gently—give Shen Mu a few words of reprimand and let it go at that.

Now it seemed this was the prelude to making an example of Shen Mu, killing the chicken to frighten the monkey!

"Come with me."

The god-man Chixiu escorted Shen Mu out. Once beyond the hall, he lowered his voice. "When King Yama interrogates you later, just admit your fault. Rest assured, he will not truly punish you—you have someone above you."

Shen Mu's heart settled. He thought, "The village head's standing carries great weight indeed. But then again—he has been dead barely any time at all, and already he is a hero of the ghosts in Fengdu?"

Outside the hall, Xing An rolled to and fro like a great ball covered in other men's bodies and heads, quarreling and brawling with himself. In but a short while he had been tormented into a pitiful state by the limbs upon his own body.

Suddenly Xing An saw Shen Mu being marched out of the Hall of the Shen King as well. He sneered, "Divine Physician Shen, it seems your crimes outdo even mine. I have been released, yet you are still under escort. You have done much evil—you deserve this retribution!"