Chapter 773 — This Flavor Really Is Not Bad

Shen Mu was in the thick of the slaughter when suddenly, in the distance, Lu Li raised a perfectly square cauldron lid.

Square as the lid was, beneath its square face lay a round seal, branded with the stars and constellations of all the heavens, the emblem of the Celestial Plate. And upon the four corners beside it were branded the forms of four demon-gods, ox-headed, human-bodied, tiger-faced, their mouths full of fangs, biting into the Celestial Plate: the emblem of Youdu.

Lu Li lifted the lid high, and at once a snow-white beam came slanting down and fell upon Shen Mu and the others with a resonant hum. Shen Mu knew at once that something was badly wrong; sky and earth spun, and he was lifted off his feet against his will, seized by that light along with several other demon-gods and drawn hurtling toward the lid in Lu Li's hand!

Three more demon-gods were caught by the light as well, and in their panic they cried out at the tops of their voices: "The God-Subduing Heaven-Blending Net! " Shen Mu's heart lurched. He was just about to break free when the sky suddenly went dark; he looked up and saw the heavens full of stars. Lu Li caught up the lid and clapped it down with a ringing clang upon the Youdu Life-Slaying Cauldron, forged from the reincarnated body of Tubo, sealing it fast and true, tight as a seam.

Lu Li let out a breath and shouted: "Well?

Are you going to help or not?

" Xuanming, Hanlei and Yuhuang at once laid a palm each upon the Youdu Life-Slaying Cauldron, and Lu Li joined them; four palms pressed to the four corners of the great cauldron, and they began to rouse the power of the Life-Slaying Cauldron and the Heaven-Blending Net. Suddenly one Youdu magnate after another descended.

Yan Qianzhong stepped forward and shouted: "You must not rouse the Life-Slaying Cauldron!

Three fellow Daoists were drawn into the cauldron just now as well. If you rouse it, they will be refined to death along with him!

" Lu Li shot him a glance and said with a smile: "Then open the lid and let the Little Overlord of Youdu out, and let the Crimson Emperor himself step forward and beat him back. " Yan Qianzhong gave a cold snort and said no more. "Let the Divine Son of Youdu out, and we all die.

" Xuanming said mildly: "You are all our elders, but you have no bodies of flesh, and so you are by nature held in check by the Divine Son of Youdu. This time he has returned with a vengeance, and he is not the same as he was twenty-two years ago.

He has made good his shortcomings; his divine powers now are vast and no small matter, and here in Youdu he can scarcely be killed.

The only way to kill him is the Heaven-Blending Net and the Life-Slaying Cauldron.

" The company fell silent. They had already learned for themselves how mighty and how dreadful the Divine Son of Youdu was, and they had learned it twice. The first time was in the second month after his birth, when the Divine Son of Youdu stirred up a great upheaval, devouring gods and demons beyond counting from every faction of Youdu, growing ever larger, ever more insolent in his arrogance. Yet in that battle, for all his strength, the Divine Son of Youdu had not been invincible.

He understood nothing of divine abilities or Dao arts; he relied only on the strength born in him, and on being the first being in Youdu to come from the womb and live as a living soul.

Within Youdu he could recover at any moment, and he could devour the souls and primal spirits of others to swell himself; only thus did he keep his life.

But today, twenty-two years later, the Divine Son of Youdu had returned to Youdu, and the strength he displayed was not what it had been twenty-two years ago. In the battle just now, a hundred or more Lingxiao and Dizuo powerhouses had been slaughtered or wounded, more than half of them laid low by his hand.

When Lingxiao and Dizuo powerhouses died they lost their bodies of flesh and were left with only their primal spirits; their strength was indeed much reduced, putting them on a par with demon-gods of the Yujing and Lingxiao realms.

Yet the breadth of vision and understanding they had won in life remained, far above that of demon-gods of the Yujing realm. That so many powerhouses should surround and attack him and still suffer such grievous losses made their hearts quail and their flesh creep. Lu Li had taken the Divine Son of Youdu unawares and gathered him into the cauldron.

If the Life-Slaying Cauldron were opened and the wretch escaped, then to gather him into the cauldron a second time would be harder still by far, and who could say how many ancient beings would die for it! "These three fellow Daoists sacrificed themselves to be rid of the Divine Son of Youdu; their righteousness reaches the clouds, and we stand in awe of them.

" Suddenly Gao Tianwang, his face full of compassion, laid his palm upon the Life-Slaying Cauldron and wept, saying: "Such noble devotion from three fellow Daoists!

I must weep aloud for them, and speed these righteous men upon their way! " The other ancient beings, their faces stricken, choked and shed tears, and said with one voice: "A farewell to our three fellow Daoists! " The sound of weeping filled the place.

Lu Li watched them with a smiling face, then suddenly broke into a brilliant smile and said: "Enough, enough, there is no need for such grief, gentlemen.

The Divine Son of Youdu, having fallen into the cauldron, is not necessarily going to die at once. So that those three fellow Daoists need not suffer overlong, let us rouse the Life-Slaying Cauldron at once, and send our three fellow Daoists and the Divine Son of Youdu on their way together! " The company's faces darkened, and Yan Qianzhong said icily: "Jiedushi Lu Li, your mind is too set on gain.

Those three fellow Daoists died because of you, and you can still laugh!

" Lu Li burst into loud sobs, tears falling like rain, and wiping them away said: "Others call me grasping; who knows that my laughter is forced? " Xuanming could not bear to watch and said softly: "The business at hand matters most.

Let us finish that first and talk afterward.

" Gao Tianwang's brows lifted, and he said: "Once the Divine Son of Youdu is refined to death, whose will his body of flesh be?

" Every heart in the crowd skipped. Gao Tianwang chuckled: "Four Jiedushi, the Heaven-Blending Net was forged by us magnates of Youdu, working together, against the Divine Son of Youdu. Now that so many fellow Daoists have died, we grieve, to be sure, but the Divine Son of Youdu's body of flesh is no small thing. We had best settle first whose it shall be.

" Lu Li frowned slightly and said with a smile: "What is Gao Tianwang's view? Speak plainly, by all means.

" Gao Tianwang laughed low: "We are nothing but dead men.

What view could we have?

" Yan Qianzhong's heart stirred, and he said: "All four Jiedushi have bodies of flesh, while we old things have none.

When the Divine Son of Youdu is refined to death, his flesh must of course belong to us.

The four Jiedushi ought rightly to yield the prize. " Yuhuang sneered: "You are so many ghosts, and there is only one Divine Son of Youdu. How will you divide him? Since his body is not to be ours, then you had best settle here and now which of you it will belong to!

" The ancient beings were chilled at heart.

The lure of the Divine Son of Youdu's body was simply too great.

Only think: to be reborn, to hold power to rival Tubo's, to keep growing, and to take Tubo's place would be but a matter of time! Around the Life-Slaying Cauldron all was still; the ancient beings stood by it in silence. Lu Li laughed coldly in her heart.

The other three Jiedushi stood at her side, studying the faces of these ancient beings, quietly on their guard. Within the cauldron, Shen Mu and those three primal spirits of the Lingxiao realm fell in almost at the same instant, and the light of the Heaven-Blending Net dispersed. All around was darkness.