Chapter 556 — The Fat Dragon, the Black Tiger, and the White Fox

Before long, Shen Mu struck down a demon of the divine-power realm, stripped off his clothes, and changed into the whole getup. Then he swaggered through the city of the demon race.

All around him the demon crowds surged, streaming toward the Chasm Abyss.

The upheaval there had been too violent, too loud; it had roused the entire city. Though the upheaval had ended quickly, the power unleashed in that single instant had been terrifying beyond words.

Whoosh—two demon gods came flying through the air, rushing toward the abyss, and after them countless winged demons beat their wings and took flight, soaring down into the depths.

Shen Mu pushed forward against the tide of bodies, and at last squeezed out of the crowd, heading for the city gate. He did not dare fly.

This was a demon city, after all, and no one knew how many demon gods lurked here, how many great masters of the Divine Bridge and Life-Death realms were hidden within.

Even a deity of Taihuang Heaven would scarce dare run wild in a place like this; so he could only walk on, neither swift nor slow, while anxiety gnawed at him in secret. Those two demon gods had reached the bottom of the Chasm Abyss.

Soon they would discover the unconscious Sun-Binder, and waking him would be no difficult matter. Once the Sun-Binder woke, he would surely order the whole city sealed and hunt for his whereabouts.

If he could not leave this city before that order was given, he feared he would never get out at all! This city had originally been a divine city of Taihuang Heaven. It was vast, impossibly vast, and leaving it would take time.

Shen Mu hurried on as fast as he could, and at last reached the city gate—when suddenly a volley of furious shouts came from the direction of the abyss: "By order of the Venerable King, the whole city is sealed at once!

No demon may leave! " "Activate the formations!

Seal the entire city! " "Earth and sky alike are sealed—not even a mosquito shall fly out!

" Shen Mu's expression shifted slightly.

He looked toward the city gate, where many demon strongmen were straining to push the massive gate shut.

On tower after tower and spire after spire, formation patterns and runes blazed alight, the shining runes flowing down from the rooftops and spires like water, streaming toward the city walls. As the patterns and runes upon the walls lit up, blinding rays of light shot into the sky, pattern linking to pattern, and a vast spatial barrier began to take shape. And at the base of the walls, too, countless runes and formation patterns were flowing down into the earth. Even in the capital of Jingping were there no such formidable defenses.

If the patterns in the sky and the patterns on the ground joined completely, then he would never leave this city! In that instant Shen Mu seemed to melt away, transforming into a black shadow that raced along the ground, skimming through the shadow at the base of the wall, straight for the city gate!

The gate was too vast, too heavy—even dozens of demon strongmen straining together could only push it slowly.

These demon strongmen cultivated the divine powers of the flesh alone; their strength was boundless. They cultivated no spells, no primal weapons, only the flesh and bone of their bodies, refining their strength.

The Heavenly Sage Cult and the armies of Jingping had strongmen of a like kind; several at the peak of their training, joining forces, could even lift the stone statue formed from a god's own flesh. And this divine city's gate required dozens of strongmen to move it—one could see how fearsome its weight must be!

The black shadow that was Shen Mu flitted like a ghost through the shadows of building after building, shifting like a specter, rushing to the foot of the gate.

Before it closed, he had to leave this city—otherwise there would be no road of escape! Under the pushing of the many demon strongmen, the two massive doors were down to a single crack, about to shut.

Suddenly a glittering pearl rolled over and lodged exactly between the two doors, preventing the gate from closing. A strongman near the gate kicked it hard, sending the pearl rolling out beyond the gate, and cursed as he did so.

The gate slammed shut with a thunderous boom.

But what he did not see was that as his kick sent the pearl out, his own "shadow" rolled out with it, merging with the pearl's shadow. The pearl rolled forward some dozen or more zhang, reached the moat's edge, and slowly came to a stop. The round, squat shadow beneath it suddenly grew hands and feet; the two shadowy arms stretched longer and longer, gripped the bank of the moat, and slowly exerted force.

The glittering pearl rolled forward once more and dropped into the river with a splash.

After a moment, from the shadows on the far side of the river, a dark, heavy shadow crawled up out of the water and shot away along the ground.

Not long after, the city gate swung wide open, and countless demons poured out with howls: "That man is not in the city! Search at once—do not let him escape the demon realm!

" Shen Mu hid here and dodged there, avoiding the watchtowers. His Shadow-Transforming Demon Art had reached its limit; he had no choice but to reveal his true form.

He climbed high and gazed into the distance, and still he could not see where Licheng lay.

"The Sun-Binder abducted me into the demon realm—just where is this place? How far is it from the lands of the human race?

" The earth stretched vast and wild, the sky dim and murky.

The sun in the eastern vault of heaven was cold, slowly reddening—a sign that night would soon fall.

Shen Mu steadied himself, concealed his form, and thought: "Taihuang Heaven has not a single star. In the dark of night one cannot read the sky, cannot tell direction.

I can only wait for daylight to travel. " Behind him demon scouts searched in every direction.

Shen Mu hid and dodged, nearly discovered more than once.

He simply killed a demon scout, put on the scout's heavy black-iron armor, donned the black-iron helmet, hung the long black-iron demon spear at an angle on his horse-hook, and rode a demon-fire nightmare steed, wandering through the mist of the demon realm. On the second day, the ugly remnant sun lit up in the sky as promised.

Shen Mu pushed up the visor of his black-iron helmet, took his bearings, and cursed the demon-fire nightmare steed in the demon tongue, driving it eastward. By afternoon, Shen Mu looked up at the sky, and his expression changed drastically—the remnant sun in the east had suddenly gone out!

"Imperial Preceptor of Jingping, aren't you a little too quick about things? " Shen Mu nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood. He had once told the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping to have Jingping's divine-power wielders help Taihuang Heaven design its two suns. Now that the remnant sun in the sky had gone dark, it must have something to do with the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping!

Surely the Imperial Preceptor of Jingping had found the sun in the sky an eyesore, and so at once summoned Jingping's divine-power wielders to Taihuang Heaven to do away with the sun and forge it anew. And with the sun gone, Shen Mu could no longer make out his direction!

Licheng.

Blazing flames lit the darkness, while the light of the spirit-energy resonance bridge shot into the mid-sky and linked with the wilderness ruins.

Many divine-power wielders were pouring in ceaselessly from Jingping, building a vast supervision forge near Licheng, forging giant after giant of smithing, hammering out components day and night without pause. The True God Pang Yu brought out blueprints no one could understand.

The blueprints were for the sun furnace, left behind by the Sun-Forging God. The Sun-Forging God had been assassinated by the demon race before finishing the second sun, but fortunately the blueprints had survived.