Chapter 532 — The Braided Girl and the Shadow Boy

"You're... the long-braided girl!"

Shen Mu studied the girl with the two long braids, and could not help recalling the dark girl he had met in the darkness of the Wasteland. Delighted, he blurted, "Is it really you?"

The dark girl had worn two long braids as well. Because they had dwelled in two different worlds, they could not speak to each other, could not make out each other's features—only silhouettes.

Together they had endured a long night, fleeing the pursuit of the demon host, until at last the sun rose and the darkness receded, and the dark girl vanished along with the dark realm.

And the girl before him now, standing on the shoulder of a deity, also wore long braids that hung down past her chest to her waist.

Hearing him say the words "long-braided girl," she was startled and overjoyed at once. She leaped down from the deity's shoulder and in a few strides stood before Shen Mu, two small dimples appearing on her cheeks. "You're that shadow boy! Father, he's the shadow boy—the one who suddenly disappeared!"

The deity lowered his head and looked at Shen Mu, doubtful. "You were a shadow before—why do you now have a true body? Just now, behind the formation, we watched you fight battle after battle. Truly no small thing. We were wondering where such an expert had come from! You're of the Seven Stars realm, aren't you? In all the Taihuang Heaven, those of the Seven Stars realm who have achieved what you have can be counted on one hand. Formidable, for one so young!"

Shen Mu's heart gave a small jolt. "There are Seven Stars realm divine ability users here stronger than me? Are they Overlord Bodies?"

"Overlord Body?"

The deity led them forward, at a loss. "What is an Overlord Body? I've never heard of such a thing. They are all young people with the makings of true gods, kings among spirit bodies, extraordinary from birth—not Overlord Bodies."

"Kings among spirit bodies?"

Shen Mu blinked. He had never heard of kings among spirit bodies, and his mind went blank—yet excitement rose in him too. Kings among spirit bodies, young people with the makings of true gods. He had come to the right world!

He had sent himself to this world as a sacrifice. On the battlefield he had already witnessed how extraordinary the demon host was; the demons here were immensely powerful—set down in Jingping, nearly every one of them would be a match for Ban Gongcuo. Of course, when it came to fleeing for one's life, Ban Gongcuo still had no equal.

"The Taihuang Heaven has been tempered by ten or twenty thousand years of war. The arts and divine abilities here must have advanced by leaps and bounds. Here, perhaps, I can find a way to defeat the First Ancestor Human Emperor!"

He clenched his fist. Defeating the First Ancestor Human Emperor was now his greatest goal. Since no hope of defeating him could be found in Jingping, then perhaps it could be found in the Taihuang Heaven!

And even if he could not find it, witnessing more arts and divine abilities would help him improve himself.

Suddenly the deity moved, charging toward the battlefield, his voice carrying back from afar: "Stay here for now!"

In the distance, a rift had been torn in space. Six great dark hands thrust through the crack, straining to rip open a hole in space itself.

The deity rushed forward, drew his sword, and slashed at the black hands. He had just severed two arms when a great hammer came howling in and blasted him away—another demon god had arrived.

The long-braided girl looked toward the battlefield, saw that her father was unharmed and had turned back to attack the demon god who had struck him, and only then breathed a sigh of relief.

Shen Mu asked, "Braided girl, you weren't here originally—how did you come to be in this place?"

He was somewhat puzzled. He had met the dark girl deep in the heart of the Wasteland, while this place was on its edge, twenty or thirty thousand li apart. By rights, she could not possibly be here.

The long-braided girl's face fell. "After you disappeared, our city was breached. So many died. Father saved us and brought us back, to this Mingyi City..."

She rushed forward; Shen Mu hurried after her. "When I disappeared last time, it was just as night turned to day. The demon race of your Taihuang Heaven didn't vanish with it?"

The long-braided girl was baffled. "Why would they vanish?"

Shen Mu was taken aback.

He had assumed the Taihuang Heaven was like the Wasteland, subject to the same phenomenon of invading darkness. Last time he had walked in the darkness; when the darkness receded, he had left the Taihuang Heaven with it. Now it seemed the Taihuang Heaven was not the same as the Wasteland—those of the demon race did not vanish with the turning of day and night, but could remain in this world all along.

"It seems the Demon King Dutian was right. The barrier between the Taihuang Heaven and the demon race's world has been crushed."

A chill ran through Shen Mu. "The Demon King Dutian's guess was entirely correct—which means his other guess is most likely correct as well. Once the demon race conquers the Taihuang Heaven, they will offer it up in a blood sacrifice, causing the demon world to collide with the Jingping world! How can it be stopped?"

The long-braided girl charged toward the altar ahead, speaking rapidly. "You've been fighting for a long time. Go rest in Mingyi City. I still have to fight with the army."

"These wounds of mine are nothing serious."

Shen Mu quickened his pace to keep up with her. "I'm an alchemist too—somewhat well known in the other world. I've already given myself a rough treatment. I came this time seeking stronger methods. In my world, many methods have been lost."

The altar, shaped like a hill, had already been seized by the demon host. The demon commander who had blasted Shen Mu more than ten li away had led his troops to occupy the high ground, and hundreds of demons were locked in a savage battle with the Taihuang Heaven divine ability users storming the altar.

The demon commander stood at the very top of the altar, working his arts and unleashing divine abilities. Clumps of sixteen-foot yin thunder rolled down from the sky, careening across the ground. Wherever these rolling thunderbolts passed, the bodies of the Taihuang Heaven divine ability users were dissolved outright, leaving running skeletons in their wake.

Shen Mu narrowed his eyes. The ferocity and uncanniness of the demon race's divine abilities surpassed even the many divine ability users of the Dark Demon Cult who had devoted themselves to cultivating demonic arts!

The braided girl rushed up the altar. "My father and I saw it while watching the battle from Mingyi City. You're formidable—your mana is absurdly powerful, your divine abilities are exquisitely refined, your rune structures are ingenious, and your attainments in divine abilities are very high. But there seems to be something wrong with your cultivation method—you have no true god-level method. Father says your civilization has a gap in it."

She met a demon head-on—an Asura, immensely powerful, with a mighty body and lightning-fast attacks. Suddenly it quivered, and rune marks surfaced all over its body, as though carved into its skin.

But the braided girl's body was absurdly powerful as well. The two traded blow for blow at blinding speed, divine abilities hidden in their fingers and palms, and in an instant the battle was decided, life and death settled.

The braided girl shattered its chest and pressed a finger to its brow. The Asura's skull burst open from behind; its corpse toppled and rolled down the altar steps.

Shen Mu's eye twitched, but he quickly saw that the braided girl's divine abilities were no more refined than his own—crude, even—yet her cultivation method truly had something extraordinary about it.