Chapter 575 — The One Who Holds the Heavenly Emperor's Jade Register

"These star sands refined by our eldest senior brother are too heavy and solid—my strength can't move them at all!

" Shen Mu tossed aside the great cauldron and turned to sprint straight for the hall. Jiang Miao, seeing him come rushing back in such a fluster, leaped up onto the divine dragon's body, unsure what he meant to do.

Shen Mu channeled the Dragon-Rearing Sutra, but the divine dragon was dead, its primordial spirit devoured by a "fierce ghost" of Youdu, and there was no drawing on its cultivation at all. Had he been able to borrow this divine dragon's cultivation, he might still have fought Xing An. Shen Mu looked at Jiang Miao and shook his head.

"His cultivation is too poor—worse than mine. Even with the Dragon-Rearing Sutra I can't borrow much power.

. . Teleportation divine ability!

" Runes whirled around him as he prepared to flee with Jiang Miao, but with his cultivation he could carry Jiang Miao no more than a few dozen li—a distance that, to Xing An, was the space of a single breath. Before his teleportation runes could even be deployed, the runes suddenly ceased to turn, hanging motionless in the air.

Not only the teleportation runes—Shen Mu and Jiang Miao too were bound fast, unable to move.

Xing An came in from outside the hall, his face dark, one hand outstretched, fingers splayed, blood still dripping from them. Having completed the Divine Bridge and crossed to the Heavenly Palace, having become a god, his cultivation had risen to yet more terrifying heights; his strength was simply too great, and he had bound Shen Mu with effortless ease. He had been gravely wounded in the ten li of yellow sand, but he was a god after all, possessed of unfathomable powers; even the dregs of his strength could hold Shen Mu fast. Cold sweat broke out on Shen Mu's brow.

He forced out a thin smile. "Senior Brother Xing An, I'll just give you back the chest.

. .

" "It's not the chest I want.

It's you. " Xing An spat out a mouthful of bloody phlegm. The wounds great and small across his body were a wretched sight; many gaped open, showing raw crimson flesh, and in places the white of bone.

All in all, his luck had been wretched: first trapped aboard the Ark of the Other Shore for the better part of a year—a place perilous beyond measure, full of seals and forbidden arts and killing formations, with the Silent Artisans to fend off from time to time. No sooner had he emerged than he ran into Shen Mu and was lured into the Ten-Mile Star Sand Tribulation Formation. Shen Mu had dusted off his hands and walked away, while he was left mired in the formation, his situation growing more perilous by the moment.

Only by exhausting every trick at his command had he held out this long. Had the star sand tribulation formation not suddenly ceased to turn, he would surely have failed and been refined alive into ash.

"Great Divine Physician, why must it be so hard to catch you? " Xing An swallowed the blood rising in his throat and said calmly, "Still, the good news is that you haven't escaped my grasp after all.

" Beneath his feet a darkness of incomparable density suddenly welled up—his Divine Treasury of Life and Death.

He walked forward as though treading the surface of dark water. Just then, in the darkness beneath his feet, an eye slowly surfaced.

Then another eye appeared, and then a beautiful woman's face emerged from the dark, her lithe and graceful figure rising into view as well. Xing An seemed to tread upon the surface of dark water, and the woman seemed his reflection—save that one was a man and the other a peerless beauty, each the other's mirror image.

The sight was profoundly uncanny. The two moved toward Shen Mu in perfect unison, their steps falling and lifting as one. Just as the darkness was about to touch Shen Mu, Xing An abruptly halted and advanced no further.

He stopped, and the peerless woman stopped of herself as well, as though she could move only when Xing An moved. From the peerless woman's mouth came a man's voice, coarse and heavy.

"Xing An, why do you walk no further?

Take him into your Divine Treasury of Life and Death and give him to me, and you will have fulfilled the pact between us!

" Xing An said calmly, "Lu Li, I have found the man for you. What I promised you, I have done. Whether you can capture him is your affair.

I am not in the habit of being threatened. " Beneath his feet, the peerless woman was briefly taken aback, then sneered. "You think that because you came to the Heavenly Palace and became a false god, you can haggle with me? Xing An, what audacity!

" "Haggle? " Xing An shook his head. "This is no haggling.

You sent me out of Youdu, and so I helped you find him. That was a trade. I have held up my end of the trade; as for capturing him, that is your affair.

" He reached out and seized; the divine dragon's vast body slowly rose, while Shen Mu and Jiang Miao abruptly dropped to the ground, their bodies once more their own, free to channel their vital essence and unleash their divine abilities at will.

Shen Mu, startled and uncertain, looked up to see the divine dragon's body shrinking smaller and smaller, its chains falling away, flying straight toward Xing An. Xing An reached out, caught the divine dragon, straightened it, and wound it about his waist like a belt. Then he said coldly, "Lu Li, get out of my Divine Treasury of Life and Death!

" Beneath his feet, the peerless woman who mirrored him flew into a rage. "You speak to me like that! You think that as a mere petty god you can leap free of my control?

" "My divine treasury—is it for you to prattle in? Out—" Xing An roared.

In the Divine Treasury of Life and Death beneath his feet his primordial spirit suddenly appeared, and at once within that treasury there arose the great sun and the bright moon, the Five Luminaries running abreast, the Seven Stars shining on high. Wherever that radiance fell, the peerless woman hurried to dodge, driven back and back by the light of the Seven Stars. "Xing An, you dare defy a high god—I will certainly—" "Out!

" Xing An's divine majesty surged to the heavens, his sleeves flaring, his black hair streaming. One after another the divine treasuries within his body blazed with light, illuminating the Divine Treasury of Life and Death, until at last she was forced out of it and had no choice but to return to Youdu. Xing An's breath steadied.

His streaming black hair slowly settled, falling to his shoulders; his garments ceased to flutter.

He turned his gaze on Shen Mu. "Where is my chest? " Shen Mu hesitated, then took out the chest hidden in his Taotie Pouch. The chest landed and ran toward Xing An; halfway there it turned back and "looked" at Shen Mu, then ran on toward Xing An and came to his side.

Xing An turned and walked out of the hall, saying mildly, "Divine Physician Shen, don't let me run into you again.

" Shen Mu said abruptly, "Why not kill me?

" "Why should I kill you? " Xing An halted and turned his head. "I do things by my own principles.

The Magpie Bridge Formula, the Mystic Guidance Formula, and the Divine Crossing Formula that you let out allowed me to cultivate into a god and be rid of the threat to my life; the debt between us is wiped clean on that account. I sought you to settle my pact with Lu Li.

Having found you, my pact with Lu Li is wiped clean as well. You are a Grand Master—do you take me for a man who cannot unite knowledge with action? You underestimate me too much.

" Shen Mu was taken aback, then smiled.

"I did underestimate you before.

" Xing An caught that smile, and the corner of his eye twitched.

He gave a cold snort and turned to stride out of the hall. "Don't smile at me. I'll come looking for you again. You've created many things—the Eighteen Sword Forms, the Primordial Spirit Guidance—and they've stirred in me a fondness for talent. But when your fleshly body reaches a degree worth looking at, I will come for you. I want to possess an Overlord Body.