Chapter 507 — The Legend of the Tempered Body

The other Human Emperors wore strange expressions and said nothing.

Tuo Yu had always been the most dependable of the Human Emperors of every age; his mastery of the calculation arts was unmatched under heaven. Yet now, faced with Shen the Overlord Body, his calculations had gone wrong.

Against an "Overlord Body" like Shen Mu, a single slip would cost them all face!

To be safe, they would rather not trust Human Emperor Tuo Yu's skill in the calculation arts at all.

Human Emperor Tuo Yu, choking with fury, leaped down from the bridge and shouted, "You don't trust me? How could I be wrong? I'll go down right now and cripple the boy, and you'll see!"

"Daluo Heaven Star Palm Force!"

...

On the bridge, the Second Ancestral Master said unhurriedly, "You see? I told you his calculations were wrong. Now he's floating. If we had trusted him, we would be the ones floating now."

The Third Ancestral Master and the other Human Emperors felt the same. Human Emperor Qingning poked his head out and said with gloating relish, "Master, where exactly did you miscalculate?"

Human Emperor Tuo Yu, with no will left to live, said woodenly, "His primal spirit. I miscalculated the strength of his primal spirit. It is stronger than I estimated... And I think—I have seen through him!"

He leaped up out of the water, landed dripping wet on the bridge, and beamed with delight. "This time I definitely won't miscalculate. I can definitely work out where his flaw lies! Just trust me once!"

The Human Emperors of every age all hemmed and hawed. Human Emperor Qingning's eyes flickered. "Since Master has seen through his flaw, then Master should go down once more and defeat the brat. We'll cheer you on!"

Human Emperor Tuo Yu took out his abacus primal weapon and brought it down on his head. "As a disciple, instead of adding to your master's dignity, you gloat over his misfortune! What did I teach you? I taught you the way of calculation, and what did you go and learn? Music! Get down there and beat him up for me!"

Qingning turned his head to Human Emperor Kongxian, who was beside himself with glee, and kicked him off the bridge. "I taught you music, and what did you go and cultivate? Words Become Law! Get down there and beat him up for me!"

Seeing Shen Mu charging at him, Human Emperor Kongxian waved his hands hastily, shook his head, and said with a solemn face, "Human Emperor Shen really is an Overlord Body. There is no need to fight."

Shen Mu hastily drew back his hand and laughed. "I am not one for fighting either. I only felt that the Dao arts and divine abilities of you Ancestral Masters and Grand Ancestral Masters still have room to advance. That said, your Dao arts and divine abilities are truly formidable; if you could develop their power further, they would surely far surpass what they were. Human Emperor Kongxian's Words Become Law in particular is extraordinary—the most marvelous divine ability I have ever seen!"

Human Emperor Kongxian could not help but swell with joy. Beside himself with delight, he said, "You think my divine ability is extraordinary too?"

Shen Mu nodded, crossed his hands, walked across the river surface with a set of steps, and sketched out a sealing stance. "When I saw you ambush Ancestral Master Qingning, you used this move and sealed him outright. What divine ability is that?"

"That is the Seal Character Formula!"

Whenever Human Emperor Kongxian spoke of his own divine abilities, he could not hide his excitement. He personally instructed Shen Mu, teaching him how to drive his vital essence for this Seal Character Formula, how to voice it. "In Words Become Law, the key lies in sound-wave divine abilities and rune divine abilities. Movement arts, footwork, cultivation methods, and sound-wave divine abilities must fuse into one, and only with the addition of a vital-essence rune array can it be activated! Watch!"

He drove his vital essence, moved his feet through two circuits, crossed his hands, and his vital essence erupted. He shouted, "Seal!"

The instant the sound came out, his vital essence spread like spilled ink beneath his feet and formed a huge Seal character. Shen Mu's vision went black at once; he could hear nothing at all. All five senses were sealed shut—he could not even sense his own vital essence!

A moment later, that sensation of sealed senses vanished.

"What a divine ability!"

Shen Mu was beside himself with excitement and questioned Human Emperor Kongxian in detail. After a while, he immediately began to try it himself, likewise performing the Seal Character Formula. He shouted, "Seal!"

In the river water beneath his feet, a huge Seal character surfaced at once!

Human Emperor Kongxian was stunned. "He learned it that fast? A lifetime's supreme art, and he learned it after a single demonstration? Could an Overlord Body truly exist in this world? Is the Overlord Body really not something that Su boy made up?"

He could hardly believe it. After Li Zheng entered Fengdu, he had regarded deceiving Shen Mu into thinking he was an Overlord Body as the greatest achievement of his life, and he was very proud of it; he had not concealed it from the Human Emperors of every age.

It could be said that all the Human Emperors, save Shen Mu himself, knew the Overlord Body was a lie—only Shen Mu was kept in the dark.

Yet now Human Emperor Kongxian felt that Shen Mu might truly be an Overlord Body.

"I will teach you the Strength Character Formula as well."

His eyes flickering, Human Emperor Kongxian taught Shen Mu the Strength Character Formula, and Shen Mu mastered it in a similarly short time. When he activated it, the character "Strength," formed of a rune array, appeared behind him, accompanied by the melody of the Strength character, which roused the power of the rune array and multiplied the strength of his physical body several times over!

Human Emperor Kongxian was astonished beyond measure. Mastering Words Become Law in so short a time was simply impossible. When he had created the divine ability Words Become Law, he had been in middle age. He had cultivated under Human Emperor Qingning and had a terrifying mastery of music, but he wanted to break free of Human Emperor Qingning's path, so he had studied and researched bitterly, and had also attained extremely high achievements in calligraphy and painting, runes, arrays, movement arts, footwork, and boxing.

He had spent decades of his life fusing all he had learned into one, and only then created the supreme art Words Become Law, succeeded to the position of Human Emperor, and taken charge of the Human Emperor Seal. Every sect and school in the jianghu held him in awe.

Shen Mu had mastered Words Become Law in a brief moment—did that not mean his attainments in calligraphy, painting, runes, arrays, movement arts, footwork, and boxing were also extremely high?

Even if Shen Mu had extremely high attainments in all these fields, mastering in so short a time a supreme art that had taken him decades to fuse together was far too terrifying!

Shen Mu also learned the Immobilize Character Formula from him. The Immobilize Character Formula was a single palm strike that produced a zhang-wide Immobilize character before him, and he mastered it just as easily.

Human Emperor Kongxian grew more and more shocked.

Suddenly, the Third Ancestral Master's voice came. "Little Shen, come learn this move of mine!"

Human Emperor Kongxian started from his shock and looked around, only then realizing that many of the Human Emperors had at some point come down from the bridge and gathered around them. Even Lan Po, Yishan, Qi Kang, and the others who had drifted downstream were now gathered here, all staring at Shen Mu with somewhat strange looks.

Puzzled, Human Emperor Kongxian stepped aside.