Chapter 17 — The Spirit Embryo Breaks the Barrier, Revealing the Demon Body

Xian Qing'er's face abruptly contorted, twisting into an expression of incomparable ferocity and ugliness. The little girl's body began to swell, and from her lower half came a series of ripping sounds as jointed, knob-boned legs burst through her skirt and stabbed into the ground with sharp metallic clangs. Her frame thickened and lengthened until she had become a great centipede woven entirely of bone! Behind her torso, a carapace of bone rose high, hunching her body forward, and she spread arms composed of bare bone, fingerbones like claws, razor-sharp. At the back of her skull sprouted curved, antler-like bone spurs; her face was a web of ridges and gullies, indescribably dreadful. From her mouth burst a piercing shriek, like the hoarse cries of countless women scrambled into a single voice, and she howled, "Get in here!"

Shen Mu looked up at this bone-covered woman-centipede, startled, and shook his head. "No."

The monster in the temple shrieked in rage. Her legs skittered swiftly, circling the temple again and again, until she suddenly hurled herself at the ancient doorway—only for a great clanking to ring out. The oasis shuddered, and massive chains swung and swayed.

Shen Mu hurriedly looked over. One end of each chain sank into the river and wound around the great golden Buddha within the temple, while the other end was locked onto the monster. Golden rings hung all over her body, and the chains were clamped to those rings, so that whenever she lunged for the temple gate, the chains dragged her back. The monster gnashed and clawed, but she could not take half a step beyond the temple door.

Shen Mu seated himself at leisure, breathing slowly as he resumed cultivating the Mystic Body Three-Pellet Art, restoring his strength.

After a moment, the monster settled down. Unable to wrench free of the chains, it wheeled abruptly and charged the golden Buddha, crying, "Damned thieving baldy! You've imprisoned me here! Are you trying to starve me, you old scoundrel? This brat burned no incense for you, so why won't you let me eat him?"

The Buddha image withstood the collision, unmoving. The creature flew into a fury and circled the statue, and who knew how many white bones stacked behind it were sent flying by her thrashing.

Shen Mu glanced back, secretly shocked: the bones were all human. How many people had died in this little ruined temple!

Before long, the monster in the temple quieted once more. She picked up the bones one by one and hid them behind the golden Buddha, then fixed her bloodshot eyes upon Shen Mu outside the temple with a dead, unwavering stare.

"Baldy... meat delivered to the door, meat delivered right to the door..." She came to the back of the temple gate again, staring at the back of Shen Mu's head, drooling like an endless stream.

Soon after, she transformed back into the little girl Xian Qing'er, her clothes hanging half open, tittering, "Young man, come and be shameless with me—"

Shen Mu's concentration was unshakable. He turned a deaf ear. At last his strength was restored, his vital energy returning to its peak—indeed, he sensed it had grown not a little over this grueling day of cultivation.

A thought stirred in his heart. He roused his vital energy, silently chanting the demonic melody, and once again assailed the Spirit Embryo Barrier.

"Qikeduo, Suomoye, Banruo Banruo Suomoye, Qikeduo Banruo Suomoye..."

The instant his vital energy charged toward the Spirit Embryo Barrier, rumbling erupted from the ancient temple. Strange markings beneath the golden Buddha's gilding began to flow with streaks of blood-red light; veiled though they were beneath the gold leaf, the gilding itself blazed into dazzling golden brilliance!

BOOM—

Amid the violent tremors, the gilded bronze Buddha opened its eyes, and an overwhelming aura burst forth. A stern, thunderous rebuke crashed into Shen Mu's ears: "Heretical fiend! How dare you make a mockery before me, chanting a demon god's true words in flagrant defiance of all law! I shall subdue you with the Buddha's true mantra!"

The monster's face changed drastically. The golden Buddha raised a hand, seized the chains, and hauled the creature forward with such force that she could not stop herself, dragged helplessly before the statue.

Thud.

Overwhelmed by the Buddha's majesty, the monster was forced to kneel prostrate before the image, utterly unable to move.

"Om Mani Padme Hum! Om Mani Padme Hum! Om Mani Padme Hum..."

The golden Buddha opened its mouth and sent forth waves of sacred Sanskrit chanting, as though a living Buddha were reciting the true mantra. The creature heard the sound and her soul was crushed by an invisible force; she screeched and shrieked in agony.

Outside the temple, Shen Mu was blasted by the Buddhist mantra, his mind thrown into turmoil. Yet at that very moment, his vital energy arrived before the Spirit Embryo Barrier—and from beyond the Nine Heavens came a divine sound, as though gods dwelling above the firmament were reciting scriptures. It met the temple's Buddhist tones and swelled, matching them might for might, greatly easing the pressure upon his vital energy.

"What a chance!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Shen Mu chanted the demonic melody aloud: "Qikeduo Suomoye, Banruo Banruo Suomoye, Qikeduo Banruo Suomoye! Qikeduo Suomoye, Banruo Banruo Suomoye, Qikeduo Banruo Suomoye!"

The temple's Buddhist tones roared in response: "Om Mani Padme Hum! Om Mani Padme Hum!"

At the same time, the divine voice from beyond the Nine Heavens, borne at Shen Mu's brow, rose shrill and clear: "Guan, ming, duan, jing, wu, si, jiang, you! Tian, shi, dui, xi, wei, ling, nu!"

The three sounds collided and mingled, and the obstruction before his surging vital energy vanished!

Summoning all his strength, Shen Mu drove the Mystic Body Three-Pellet Art and flung every ounce of his vital energy against the Spirit Embryo Barrier!

CRASH—

The Yong River churned; giant waves split against the shore. And as the billows pounded the bank, Shen Mu's Spirit Embryo Barrier burst with a thunderous crack and collapsed, letting his vital energy pour in mighty floods into the Spirit Soul Divine Mansion!

Then, even more violent vital energy erupted from the Spirit Soul Divine Mansion, instantly surging through every limb and bone, rushing even through his skin and hair—every strand stood on end!

The Spirit Embryo Barrier—obliterated!

The breakthrough had succeeded!

Shen Mu stood stunned for a moment, then stopped chanting the demonic melody. The divine sound vanished just as abruptly. Within the temple, the golden Buddha's recitation, having lost its rival, also stilled. The statue returned to normal, motionless, leaving only the monster beneath it—tempered by the Buddhist chant into a limp, unmoving heap, alive or dead no one could say.

In Shen Mu's brow, the invisible wall that had sealed his Spirit Soul Divine Mansion was finally gone. The mansion stood open at last, without any obstruction!

"I really broke through?"

Shen Mu could not contain his ecstasy; he cheered before the temple. He had drunk untold amounts of Four-Symbol Spirit Marrow without ever awakening his Overlord Body, and now, he had broken through thanks to the clash of divine, demonic, and Buddhist sounds! His small chest swelled with a vast sense of accomplishment.

It was a while before Shen Mu settled down. He thought to himself: "The Spirit Embryo Barrier, the Spirit Soul Divine Mansion—since this is a divine treasury, there must be treasures left for me by the gods..."

He closed his eyes and "saw" the brilliant golden radiance at the center of his brow. Cautiously, his consciousness "entered" this mysterious divine treasury. The Spirit Soul Divine Mansion was a strange space, filled everywhere with dazzling golden light, like an ancient celestial grotto of blessed fortune.