Chapter 1650 — The Fall of the Underworld's Heavenly Son

"Forty-two years from now?"

Shen Fengqing's face lit with anticipation. Though his younger brother Shen Mu always gave people an impression of unreliability, in his heart Shen Mu was the most reliable and dependable person of all—even more dependable than their mother.

If Shen Mu said that forty-two years from now Kaihuang would appear on the Ferry-to-Salvation Golden Ship, then Kaihuang would certainly appear!

"This being who saved Kaihuang truly possesses inconceivable divine powers…"

Shen Mu murmured, "His Daoist arts and divine powers leave even me marveling. That such a powerful being exists in this world! Why did he save Kaihuang? And then there is the Hall of Chaos—that name resembles Lingxiao Hall, Zixiao Hall, Taishang Hall, and the like. Could he too be a Young Master of Miluo Palace? If so, he should be a Young Master worth befriending…"

His gaze fell upon the battle in the Southern Heaven, and he cast aside all distracting thoughts.

Below, the Yin Heavenly Son suddenly unleashed his arts and bowed his head to the Fire Heavenly Venerable!

That was the Youdu divine art in which the Yin Heavenly Son excelled—one that bow-killed the souls of others. A single bow from him, and even those of higher cultivation would have their souls shattered into four or five pieces, transforming into soul black sand!

The Fire Heavenly Venerable remained standing there, steady as a mountain, and received the Yin Heavenly Son's bow.

In the instant the Yin Heavenly Son bent in his bow, he suddenly sensed something wrong—within his soul, a Dao fire was blazing fiercely!

This fire had come along his own divine art, directly igniting his soul with extreme speed!

The Yin Heavenly Son hastily activated his divine arts to resist the Dao fire, but it was already too late.

He could only throw himself into the Heavenly Gate of the Nether Capital, relying on its power to reincarnate and extinguish the Dao fire through reincarnation.

In the instant he flew out from the Heavenly Gate of the Nether Capital, he had already transformed from a man into a woman—yet the Fire Heavenly Venerable's Dao fire continued to burn along the reincarnation, still scorching his soul!

Alarmed, the Yin Heavenly Son hastily reincarnated once more.

His Heavenly Gate of the Nether Capital was better called the Heavenly Gate of Reincarnation—each passage through this gate meant one reincarnation. This was the same principle by which he had schemed against the South Emperor's reincarnation, Bai Yuqiong: each time Bai Yuqiong died, she passed through the Heavenly Gate of the Nether Capital and reincarnated as another person.

Of course, the Heavenly Gate of the Nether Capital had more uses than just these.

When the Yin Heavenly Son himself passed through the Heavenly Gate of the Nether Capital, his cultivation and strength remained after reincarnation. For anyone else, passing through the gate would often mean reincarnating as a beast, losing all cultivation, and becoming helpless to be slaughtered at will.

The Heavenly Gate of the Nether Capital also had the wondrous effect of shielding from cause and effect—this was why the Yin Heavenly Son had relied on the gate to evade the Dao fruit that the Fire Heavenly Venerable sent burning toward his soul. Yet he had never imagined that the Fire Heavenly Venerable's Dao fire would invade reincarnation itself, so that even his reincarnations could not escape!

He had originally believed the Fire Heavenly Venerable's soul to be weak, his Dao arts unable to reach the soul, which was why he had rashly bowed in an attempt to bow-kill the Fire Heavenly Venerable.

But the Fire Heavenly Venerable had not died—instead, he himself had incurred a Dao fire that invaded his soul and could not be shaken off.

He reincarnated again and again within the gate. In mere instants he reincarnated more times than could be counted. The East Emperor Azure Dragon could only see the Yin Heavenly Son within the gate constantly changing form, changing gender, changing race.

After each transformation, the impression given was of a completely different person, with no trace of his former traits to be found.

Such divine arts were truly inconceivable!

Yet the terror on the Yin Heavenly Son's face only deepened—he grew more and more panicked.

His creation of the Great Dao of Reincarnation had evolved from the Great Dao of Youdu. The Great Dao of Youdu contained no reincarnation. For this alone, the Yin Heavenly Son could be called astonishingly talented and brilliant—to be called a Heavenly Son was no exaggeration.

Yet at the same time, limited by his own talent and wisdom, though he had created the Great Dao of Reincarnation he could not perfect it; instead, it had been carried forward and made glorious in Shen Mu's hands.

His Dao of Reincarnation could not fully isolate the Fire Heavenly Venerable's Dao fire.

He also had unique attainments in the Dao of Tianyin—the Nether Sea had been refined with the aid of the Dao of Tianyin. The Nether Sea was an ocean formed purely of soul black sand.

The darkness of the Wasteland Ruins in those years had been an anomaly formed when he activated the Nether Sea; combined with the Tianyin Breach, it had given rise to the terrifying legend that when the sky darkens, do not go out.

Yet now the Nether Sea was evaporating in vast swathes, drawn into the Heavenly Gate of the Nether Capital to serve as fuel for each of his reincarnations.

After reincarnating, his soul was different—the alteration of his soul drew upon the soul black sand of the Nether Sea.

Suddenly, firelight blazed within the Nether Sea—that was Dao fire.

The Dao fire burned out from the Heavenly Gate of Reincarnation, spreading swiftly across the entire sky above the Nether Sea. The whole Nether Sea was set ablaze!

Dao fire also appeared upon the Heavenly Gate of the Nether Capital, setting the gate alight!

Within the gate, the Yin Heavenly Son screamed in alarm.

The Fire Heavenly Venerable stood with hands clasped behind his back, watching him coldly. Behind his head, the heavens twisted into a wheel, slowly turning.

The East Emperor Azure Dragon watched this scene in shock—the newly elevated Heavenly Venerable, the Yin Heavenly Son, could not withstand even a single move before the Fire Heavenly Venerable!

The Fire Heavenly Venerable had not even made a move, had not used any divine art. He had merely let the Dao fire upon his own soul burn back when the Yin Heavenly Son used his shamanic divine art to bow to him—and the Yin Heavenly Son could not endure it!

So powerful was his Dao fire that it could burn even soul black sand to utter nothingness!

"His soul has no weakness!"

A terrible thought suddenly arose in the East Emperor Azure Dragon's mind: "Does Hao Heavenly Venerable know that the Fire Heavenly Venerable's soul is this strong? If he knows, then the purpose for which he sent us here is…"

He felt a chill run through him.

Aboard the Ferry-to-Salvation Golden Ship, Shen Mu's eyes flickered. He said softly, "The foremost sacred fire under heaven—its reputation is well deserved. Even if I were to activate the arts of reincarnation, I might not be able to evade it. The Fire Heavenly Venerable's Dao fire has already approached chaos—it carries a hint of the wind of heat-death."

"I am deathless! I am the Lord of Youdu, the newly elevated Earth Lord! No one in this world can kill me!"

The Yin Heavenly Son roared. The burning Nether Sea and the Heavenly Gate of the Nether Capital suddenly descended, crashing with a thunderous boom into Youdu!

Youdu was at this moment divided into two great spheres of influence: one the domain of the Void Heavenly Venerable, the other the domain of the Yin Heavenly Son. Each was guarded by countless demon-gods, impregnable as metal and boiling water.