Chapter 512 — Scion of the Netherworld

"King Yama wants to bring you up for interrogation? What have you done?"

Inside Wenyuan Hall, the sect masters of every past generation were frowning deeply. "Is it a grave offense or a trifling one?" asked Sect Master Zuyang. "If it's grave, we may as well rebel!"

The other sect masters grew excited at once and fell to scheming — how to rebel, how to rouse the other dead of Fengdu — and they even came up with several dozen rebel slogans on the spot.

Shen Mu said hurriedly, "It's nothing grave, only a trifling matter. Not worth rebelling over. During the battle in the Shenduan Mountains, when we blocked the gods of the High Heavens, I merely snatched the primordial spirits of a few slain men out of Fengdu and brought them back to life."

The sect masters of all past generations fell silent in unison. After a moment, Sect Master Hujun slapped his thigh with a sudden crack and said, "Now — where were we? Yes, yes, the banners for the rebellion! I say we use the Martial God banner..."

Shen Mu laughed. "A trifling matter..."

"A trifling matter? Snatching people out of Fengdu is a trifling matter?"

The many sect masters turned their heads as one, glaring, and sneered, "Snatching people from the Bridge of Helplessness — even we were frightened witless, thinking Fengdu had come to slaughter us! This is no trifling matter. King Yama will surely have your head!"

Si Yuanwei said, "If it were trifling, we wouldn't bother with you. We'd let King Yama haul you off, give you a couple of swats on the backside, and let you go. But this is a matter that shakes all of Fengdu. Rebellion is the only road left!"

From outside the hall came the voice of the god Chi Xiu, sounding somewhat impatient: "Sect Master Shen, if you don't come out soon, I'll come in!"

The young Patriarch said abruptly, "Sect Master Shen, why has King Yama not brought you up for interrogation directly, but instead let you wander the city at will? If your crime were truly grave, should you not be locked in the heavenly prison under heavy guard?"

His question woke everyone. Shen Mu bore no resemblance whatsoever to a prisoner; on the contrary, he had gone roaming through Fengdu visiting kin and friends — and had even given them a beating.

The young Patriarch asked again: "Before he interrogated you, did King Yama interrogate anyone else?"

Shen Mu nodded. "He interrogated Xing An and Kui the Shaman God. Xing An he released. Kui, because he commands the arts and powers of Youdu, was surrounded by a host of ghost kings studying him. King Yama wishes to study Kui's powers as well, so he had me leave first."

"Then your crime is a trifling one."

The young Patriarch smiled. "I know of Xing An. His crimes were great, and yet King Yama released him. Kui is a god of Youdu; his crimes can only be greater. That they were interrogated first means their guilt ranks above yours — your offense is far smaller than theirs. Go with the god Chi Xiu. King Yama will not trouble you."

The sect masters nodded one after another. "Just go. If King Yama means to kill you, we'll raid the execution ground and storm the Wheel of Reincarnation Passage!"

Reassured, Shen Mu walked out of Wenyuan Hall. The god Chi Xiu stood on one leg atop the stone lion's head before the gate, head tilted, preening his feathers. Seeing Shen Mu emerge, he drew his beak from his plumage and said, "Come with me."

Shen Mu followed him. "Senior Chi Xiu, this summons by King Yama..."

"Don't talk. You smell of the living."

Chi Xiu said, "I dislike anything that still breathes. If you had stopped breathing, your words would be sweet to the ear. And King Yama is not summoning you — he is bringing you up for interrogation."

They came before Shenwang Hall. Shen Mu looked toward it and saw a ball of flesh still writhing and struggling. Xing An had still not cut loose the bodies of the others — plainly he could not bear to abandon his own path.

"Even a wise man like Xing An cannot let go of the gains he has won, until greed clouds his heart."

Shen Mu could not help shaking his head. Xing An's inability to decide would be the death of him. Yet it was hardly surprising: he had spent a lifetime tirelessly cutting apart other men's bodies and taking them for his own. To give them up now was to give up the road he had walked, to negate his entire life. It truly was hard for him to accept.

The greater a man's achievements and the sterner his resolve, the harder it is for him to change himself, to change his own understanding — and the harder to admit fault.

"The sky is about to brighten!"

Suddenly a shrill, desolate cry went up from within Fengdu. Shen Mu hurriedly looked toward the sound, and saw that atop the ridges of hall after hall crouched great beasts, lifting their heads to study the sky and crying in sharp voices, "Take care, every office and every city! The sky is about to brighten!"

Within Fengdu, wandering souls filled the air, darting in every direction; on the ground, hosts of awe-inspiring gods and devils ran to and fro in frantic haste.

Shen Mu was somewhat startled. He said to Chi Xiu, "Chi Xiu the Divine, what happens when the sky brightens?"

The god Chi Xiu seemed unconcerned. "When the sky brightens, the sun will rise. They must all hide themselves, or the sun's pure yang fire will scorch them. This sun is not the one you see outside."

Shen Mu was full of doubt. Then, all at once, the darkness beyond Fengdu receded at furious speed, and the mist-shrouded Youdu turned blindingly, dazzlingly bright.

It was the first time he had witnessed daybreak come to Fengdu. The streets, so lately crowded with gods and devils cavorting in wild revel, turned cold and deserted in an instant; every god and devil shut doors and windows, wandering souls sank into the abyss, and the great beasts on the hall ridges fled into the halls one after another. All of Fengdu fell silent in the blink of an eye.

Then the white light turned red, and a sun immense beyond measure rose burning with leaping flame from the far horizon of Fengdu. In an instant fire came rushing, sweeping in from the east, a rolling wall of flame like a flowing ocean, blotting out sky and earth, filling every street, drowning every palace and dwelling.

The blazing pure yang fire submerged one divine city of Fengdu after another, fierce and scorching, until even space itself seemed to twist!

Shen Mu bathed in the pure yang fire. His body, which had become bare bone, began faintly to show flesh and blood, meridians and channels; he looked down and could even see the five viscera and six bowels within his ribs!

And when he looked at the gods and devils cowering by the windows of the palaces, their flesh and blood were slowly turning illusory, revealing stark white bone!

The sun's true fire seemed utterly useless against him — it worked only on the gods and devils of Fengdu, able to sear their bodies and burn their souls and primordial spirits!

In the east, the colossal sun burned hotter and redder, and through it one could dimly make out palaces standing within the sun, immeasurably vast. Before the divine temples inside the sun stood giant drums, raised upright, and mighty-bodied gods and devils drummed them madly, so that the sun's pure yang true fire streamed ceaselessly, pouring toward Fengdu.

Inside the sun: ten thousand temples, ten thousand great drums, ten thousand giants, drumming madly, true fire gushing and streaming, drowning Fengdu!

"This is..."

Shen Mu's heart and mind shook. Then he heard screams and turned quickly. The great ball of flesh that Xing An had become was burning fiercely in the sun's true fire, dozens of faces twisting, struggling, screaming in unbearable agony.

The true fire burned their forms into shadows, dimly revealing Xing An's true body beneath.

Xing An too was in torment. Just then he suddenly leaped up and, with a splash, hurled himself into the Nai River. The great river beneath the Bridge of Helplessness churned up mist, monsters surging forth, and swallowed Xing An.