Chapter 570 — The Little Tyrant of the Underworld

"There is one more point of doubt in the matter of Shen Fengqing — namely, that Tubo had clearly already sealed him. By all reasoning, all of his divine treasures should have been completely sealed shut. He could not even cultivate, let alone open his divine treasures, much less become a divine ability user."

The old ghost officer paced several rounds, pondering bitterly, thinking to himself: "His whole life he could only be like a mortal, a hundred years at most. So how did he open his divine treasures?"

Tubo sealed Shen Mu's demonic nature and sealed his memories, and sealed along with them his divinity.

When Tubo sealed Shen Mu's demonic nature and divinity, Tubo's voice formed a seal upon Shen Mu's divine treasures. This was merely an unintended act, an overflow suppression caused while sealing the divinity and demonic nature.

The seal was not so terrible in itself, but relative to the Shen Mu of that time, it cut off his path of cultivation.

That is to say, within Shen Mu's body there was neither divinity nor demonic nature. All of the divine treasures within his body, whether divine or demonic, were sealed. These divine treasures could not possibly be opened, and there was no possibility of cultivating to elevate himself.

After Shen Mu came to the mortal world, the greatest likelihood was that he would pass his life like a mortal — ordinary, plain, and bland.

Yet Shen Mu's divine treasures did open. Not only did they open, he even cultivated extremely quickly. By eighteen he had already opened the Seven Stars Divine Treasure, and had even merged the Seven Stars and Six Harmonies divine treasures into one.

Not only did he cultivate quickly, he even opened the demonic path divine treasures, and the speed of his demonic cultivation advanced as though aided by the gods themselves!

This was exceedingly strange.

"To open the Primordial Fetus Divine Treasure, one must rely on one's own strength. Even if others wished to help, they could not — one can only depend on oneself. And his divine treasure seal was a hundred times harder to break than a mortal's, because when he attempted to breach the Primordial Fetus Wall, it would trigger Tubo's seal and transmit Tubo's Nine Heavens Divine Speech. And when opening the demonic path Primordial Fetus Divine Treasure, it would likewise touch upon Tubo's Dark Capital Demonic Speech."

The old ghost officer could not fathom it no matter how he tried. He was not omniscient and omnipotent, nor could he return to the night Shen Mu consumed the Four Symbols Blood.

He did not know that on that night, there was an old man whose four limbs had been shorn off, leaving only a human stick, sitting by the bonfire of Yincan Village, smiling as he said to the village's most vicious and wicked villagers: "I believe the child Shen has another kind of constitution — a Dominator Body that combines the strengths of the four great constitutions!"

Only after those words were spoken did a legend come into being, turning the impossible into the possible.

The villagers of Yincan Village sought out more Four Symbols Blood and fed it to Shen Mu at any cost. Shen Mu redoubled his efforts, harboring within his heart a belief in invincibility.

He was a Dominator Body, the most powerful of spirit bodies!

If he could not open his divine treasures, then surely it was because he had not worked hard enough — he was unworthy of the name of Dominator Body!

Thus Tubo's seal was ground ever thinner; thus Shen Mu learned the demonic speech and the divine speech; thus Shen Mu, seizing the instant when divine speech, demonic speech, and Buddha's voice clashed against one another, opened the Primordial Fetus Divine Treasure!

From then on, the road ahead was bright.

Tubo's seal remained, and the demonic nature and divinity were still sealed. But from that small body surged an even fiercer conviction, something neither Tubo nor the other giants of the Dark Capital could have anticipated.

A legendary tale began with a single well-meaning lie from a human-stick old man beside a bonfire that night.

"Beyond that, there is one more strange matter. That is that he was exiled from the Dark Capital and cast into the Barren Ruins — what happened during that time?"

The old ghost officer closed his eyes. After a moment he opened them again, took out the Dark Capital's Book of Life and Death: "There are great implications here. I had best go seek the woman who carried him away back then and ask her what happened at that time. I do not know whether she is alive or dead. If she still lives, the Book of Life and Death can find her. If she is dead, her soul should have returned to the Dark Capital..."

He carefully leafed through the Dark Capital's Book of Life and Death, his expression gradually turning grave.

That woman had already been struck from the Book of Life and Death. This indicated two possibilities. First, she might have been scattered into oblivion — her soul and spirit both extinguished, like the Seven Slaughter Star Lord Weiyu Liao, vanishing from the Book of Life and Death of its own accord.

Second, her soul and spirit might have fallen into Fengdu or some other place, a place similar to the Dark Capital.

"What did she endure?"

The old ghost officer sighed, closed the Book of Life and Death, and his body trembled slightly as he split off one self after another from within himself, each piloting a small boat and departing in different directions.

"The little tyrant of the Dark Capital is much more lovable than before. I prefer this present little ghost called Shen Mu and never wish to see Shen Fengqing again. But the seal has already loosened several times, and the Heavenly Court is also searching for him. If in the future the seal is broken and Shen Mu changes back into Shen Fengqing, I fear even our Dark Capital will be in trouble..."

Licheng.

Shen Mu opened his eyes in a daze. His face was wet — Shen Yu's little dragon was lying on his face, licking his cheeks.

Shen Mu pinched the little creature by the dragon tail and lifted it up. The little dragon raised its head, crawled onto his arm, and followed his arm up to perch on his ear.

Shen Mu fetched water to wash his face, and the little dragon took the opportunity to bury its head in the water too, sucking up a mouthful and spitting it out with a fizzing spray, playing.

He stepped out of the cabin and stretched. That night he had slept aboard the boat. Xue Hu'er, Ling Yuxiu, Si Yunxiang, and Sang Hua had risen early and were cooking and stir-frying. Seeing him awake, they called out in greeting.

Xiangzi came running over with a clatter, rubbed against Shen Mu's thigh, then opened up to display its collection of bones to him.

The Dragon Qilin came over carrying a large basin in its mouth, wagged its tail, and set the basin down at Shen Mu's feet.

"Fat Dragon, didn't you hide several furnaces of spirit pills in Xiangzi?"

Shen Mu fetched an apron and went to help the girls cook. He said with a smile, "Let me do it."

"The Sect Master knows how to cook?" Sang Hua said in surprise.

Si Yunxiang said excitedly, "The Sect Master is a master hand at both cooking and preparing meals! The dishes he makes are so delicious! During those days when Princess Xiu and I were dragged off by Blind Grandpa and forced to marry him, it was the Sect Master who cooked and prepared the meals. I even got addicted to it — I was vexed I could not marry him!"

Ling Yuxiu's eyes lit up: "I got addicted too. I almost wish Blind Grandpa would force a marriage again. Let us sit and wait for the cowherd to present us with delicacies!"