Chapter 524 — Making Offerings to the Ancestral Spirits in the Hall of Human Emperors

"What's gotten into those Human Emperors now?

What is all this racket? " In Fengdu City, Yama stood before the Hall of King Shen and gazed out over the city. All he could see were whole stretches of houses and palaces collapsing.

Puzzled, he said, "Are the disciples beating their masters again? This time they seem to be hitting hard enough. . . " A great bird came flying over, and upon landing it transformed into the god Chixiu, bird-headed and human-bodied.

He smoothed his feathers and shook his head.

"King Yama, you have guessed wrong. This time it is not disciples beating masters—it is masters ganging up with their own masters and grandmasters to beat a disciple. The Human Emperor surnamed Su has come back, and then he was set upon by his master, his master's master, and his master's master's master.

He was beaten something awful—he could not die even if he wanted to. " Yama said in astonishment, "They have changed the rules? " "I do not know either. It seems to be about the matter of the Overlord Body. Human Emperor Su brought back a rubbing, saying it was the legend of an Overlord Body from forty thousand years ago. At first those two patriarchs listened with smiles on their faces, all mild and amiable, and then they closed in and started beating him.

" The god Chixiu paused, then went on: "Then Human Emperor Su resisted, so they beat him even harder, shouting about betraying his master and destroying his lineage, about plotting against them, about conniving at the little Human Emperor's attacks on them, and the like. I could make neither head nor tail of it, but Human Emperor Su was beaten most miserably.

None of the other gods and devils dared step up to plead for him, and the Hierarch of the Heavenly Sage Academy was cheering from the sidelines, shouting that he deserved it, eager to see the whole world thrown into chaos. Shall we put a stop to it? " Yama was silent for a moment.

"No need. If you go to stop them, they will only join forces and beat you instead. " Deep in the night, the Wasteland in the darkness was as loud as ever, with countless monsters and demons abroad. Xing An walked through the dark, the divine light radiating from his body forcing back the assaults of the dark matter, and made his way to the place marked on Ling Yuxiu's map.

Suddenly his mind was shaken: he saw an enormous sealed space, with whole forests appearing at every corner of that immense cube—above, below, and on all sides—and within this sealed space appeared a colossal vessel, many times larger than the Xi Boat and the Po Boat! That was the great ship forged by the Heavenly Artisan god clan of the Kaihuang Heavenly Court for the journey to the Carefree Land—the Ark of the Other Shore!

Only, the ship was already battered and broken, plainly the survivor of a bloody battle, so shattered that it could not move on! Xing An could see the peril of this place as well, and he hesitated for a moment, but in the end he stepped inside.

He was, after all, the strongest being in the world today.

Though he saw the danger, he had the confidence that he could leave at his ease! Before long he came to a little village in the forest.

Xing An's heart stirred—and sure enough, he saw the very design that was on the jade pendant: "The little princess of the Ling family did not lie to me! " Just then, he sensed that he was not alone here. The door of a firewood yard opened, and within stood a figure with its back to him.

"So this is the one I have been seeking?

" Xing An could not help but grow excited.

He took out the mirror and, holding it with his back to the man, angled it to catch him.

In the mirror, the man turned his head, revealing a face covered in wrinkles, and grinned at him: "Ah ah! " Xing An was briefly startled. It was an old man, not the one he sought—though this old man also carried a chest, and beside the chest sat a blacksmith's furnace.

"You are very strong. " Xing An turned around, his face calm. "You have roused in me the delight of the chase.

I can feel the vast battle strength within you—truly fearsome!

You may well be the most terrifying opponent I have met in recent years. " "Ah ah! " The old man's face crinkled like an orange peel; he grinned with great delight and made a couple of gestures.

Xing An could not understand them, and said flatly, "I very much wish to collect you. Show me your strongest means.

Let me see what you can do. " Boom— The furnace beside the old man blazed up, its flames soaring more than ten li into the sky.

Xing An immediately felt as though the very space were about to be scorched through, but the most terrifying thing was not that furnace—the threat came from within the unremarkable old man's body.

At the old man's dantian, a dazzling divine light burst forth, as though a small sun had suddenly exploded in his dantian, giving off incomparable energy! Xing An grew feverish with excitement. Then he saw a divine bridge spanning the void behind the old man; upon the bridge his primordial spirit, bird-headed and human-bodied, radiated incomparable heat, leapt up, strode across the bridge, and entered the Heavenly Court on the far side. Rumble!

The old man's magic power raged again, the blazing heat twisting space. Suddenly the chest opened of itself, and countless silver pellets flew out.

Those pellets flowed like water, clinging to the old man's body, in an instant transforming him into a general clad head to foot in silver armor. The silver light in his hands became two great hammers, and he brought one crashing down at Xing An! When that hammer fell, Xing An actually felt as though he had become stubborn iron on an anvil, about to be forged into whatever shape the old man desired!

"So strong!

Stronger even than the divine-realm dantians of all those strongmen I collected before! " Xing An was elated beyond reason. He raised a hand, and water ripples swirled; behind him rose the phantom of a vast ocean, waves roaring to the heavens. He took the blow head-on, and was blasted flying out of the little village. The old man strode after him in pursuit, the two great hammers rising and falling, swinging wide and free, attacking him madly.

The two fought among the mountain forests, battling without pause, and Xing An laughed aloud: "A fine body, a fine dantian! I will surely make you one of my collection!

The solitary yin cannot generate, the lone yang cannot grow.

Yours is the pure yang path—fierce, domineering—but it cannot last! Your ferocity lays too great a burden on your flesh, so great that your body cannot bear it—that is why you look so aged.

Unless you refine your body to the divine realm, you cannot withstand the divine might of the furnace in your dantian. Fight on, and you will surely exceed your body's limits. You will lose without question! " Just then the old man could keep it up no longer. He abruptly drew back his hammers, and the silver armor on his body clattered down to his feet, transforming into a silver horse. The old man smacked the horse and rode off. Xing An hastily gave chase. Suddenly the ground fell away beneath his feet: they had come into the space where the Ark of the Other Shore lay, surrounded by shattered fragments of the ark, enormous beyond measure. Xing An saw the silver horse beneath the old man gradually slow, and he knew that this man's dantian was too strong, already endangering his flesh, and that he could not hold out. So he chased after him again.

After a while, cold sweat broke out on Xing An's forehead. He had lost sight of the old man—and found himself trapped in this perilous place, with sealing glyphs and prohibitions everywhere in the air around him, making every step difficult.

Suddenly the old man appeared again, sitting at the bow of a little silver boat, wearing a bamboo hat he had gotten from somewhere. Xing An steadied himself, the corner of his eye twitching. He wanted to rush over, but a sealing glyph drifting through the air blocked his way.