"Brother, someone's come to visit the prison and brought you food!"

Shen Mu lifted the willow leaf from between his brows and said to the giant infant suppressed within the Shen-zi Continent, "It's a girl, very pretty, but she has a snake's tail, and a man's voice besides."

"I'm never picky about food!"

The infant looked up, overjoyed, then suddenly grew suspicious. "You're not lying to me, are you? If you're lying, I'll beat you to death and then eat you. If you're not lying, I'll eat you while you're still alive."

Before Shen Mu could answer, Lu Li in the Nai River laughed in a coarse, throaty voice, "Shen Fengqing, I didn't come looking for you this time. I'll spare your life for now. There's plenty of time ahead; sooner or later you'll fall into my hands."

She clearly had a woman's body, yet spoke in a thick, coarse man's voice — most uncanny.

Lu Li's tail undulated, and she swam forward along the Nai River.

The infant in the Shen-zi Continent flew into a rage. "Wicked little brother, you really were lying to me! Come in here, and see if I don't beat you to death, tear off your head and legs, and eat you!"

Nearby, the Lord of Heaven's incarnation and the Crimson Emperor's consciousness had long since hidden themselves in the Shen-zi Mountains, fearing his wrath.

Shen Mu pressed the willow leaf back in place and laughed. "What's made Lu Li so sensible this time?"

Even as he spoke, huge bodies stirred beneath the surface of the Nai River, darting swiftly past beneath the Naihe Bridge.

Shen Mu's expression went blank. Countless Youdu monsters and Youdu demon-gods!

Led by Lu Li, the Youdu demon-gods were threading through the Nai River with untold numbers of monsters in tow.

Those slick, pitch-black bodies beneath the water were colossal, yet in the river where water and fire mingled they moved as nimbly as fish; their sheer numbers made the scalp go numb.

"The four Military Commissioners the Heavenly Court stationed in Youdu have arrived!"

Old Ox looked down from the bridge. "This opening up of Fengdu is meant to make it into another Mingdu. Once it's done, Fengdu will be as vast as Mingdu. I reckon this time not only the four commissioners — Lu Li, Xuanming, Hanlei, and Juehuang — will make their move; even the Yin Son of Heaven may not be able to sit still."

He drove a fist at the Nai River, but it only sent water and fire spurting up; he could not harm the demon-gods and monsters beneath the surface in the slightest.

This was because the Nai River was the boundary line linking Fengdu and Youdu; the monsters seemed to be swimming beneath the water, but in truth they swam in Youdu.

Though Niu Sanduo's fist arts were fierce and domineering, and he was a grandmaster of the martial way at the Lingxiao realm, he still could not break through the boundary to strike those monsters and demon-gods.

He knew only martial divine arts, and was not well versed in the divine arts of Youdu.

"The Yin Son of Heaven will make his move too?"

Shen Mu asked, puzzled, "Sister Di Yiyue is right here. Would he dare show his face?"

Shen Mu had heard something of the grudges and passions between Di Yiyue and the Yin Son of Heaven; the Founding Patriarch, the Human Emperor, had quietly told him of the matter between them.

Back then it was the Yin Son of Heaven who had courted Di Yiyue, yet on their wedding night he had struck a fatal blow, murdering her and suppressing her corpse at the very bottom of the Nether Prison.

Now that Di Yiyue was opening up Fengdu, did the Yin Son of Heaven still dare to appear?

"If he dares show himself, I'll have to admire his thick skin."

Shen Mu had barely thought this when the space of Fengdu began to quake without cease; the sky split open, and the face of the Yin Son of Heaven emerged from the rift, two enormous eyes rolling and swiveling as they scanned all around.

Shen Mu was dumbstruck.

Old Ox said, "You underestimated his thick skin. With the Yin Son of Heaven appearing, I fear these Youdu monsters and demon-gods can now march into Fengdu."

Before the words had faded, the Yin Son of Heaven in the sky opened his mouth, murmuring words in the profound, obscure tongue of Youdu; surging demonic qi gathered and took form at the center of his brow as a vertical eye.

The vertical eye opened, and a black light descended from the heavens, slicing into the Nai River where fire and water flowed as one. The river was cut apart and parted to either side, and from the riven surface demon-gods came leaping out one after another, roaring at the top of their lungs.

That gaze of the Yin Son of Heaven fell from the sky, cutting all the way down, and soon reached the bridge between life and death.

Niu Sanduo gave a furious roar; his body swelled joint by joint, transforming into an ox-headed god-man towering to the heavens, and he hurled out a fist. That gaze of the Yin Son of Heaven was shattered by the blow.

Shen Mu looked toward the Nai River and saw countless monsters crawling out madly like ants swarming from a nest, climbing from Youdu through the rift into Fengdu.

"So it's the mount of Old Farmer — that old ox."

The Yin Son of Heaven immediately noticed the bridge and laughed. "If your master came, that would be more like it. Heh, and Shen Fengqing is here too. Your mortal body is mine..."

Just then a blade-light shot up into the sky; it was Tian Shu swinging his saber at the Yin Son of Heaven. The Yin Son of Heaven gave a cold laugh and let the blow land upon his face.

The face was split open, and at once the face in the sky vanished; then another face emerged, also the face of the Yin Son of Heaven.

Tian Shu, the Heavenly King, was about to swing his saber again when suddenly face after face emerged upon the dark vault of Fengdu's sky; in the blink of an eye the handsome face of the Yin Son of Heaven multiplied to a hundred or more, blotting out the dark heavens of Fengdu completely.

Hundreds of faces in the sky opened their mouths as one, and from those mouths arms came reaching out, hundreds of arms grabbing downward!

Tian Shu resisted with the Imperial Palace Divine Saber, hewing down one great hand after another, but still more hands came clawing down.

Niu Sanduo stood upon the bridge, his fist arts fierce and domineering, beating back the grasping hands one by one, but there were simply too many palms in the sky for him to hold them all off.

At the same time, the four Military Commissioners of Youdu crossed the Nai River; marshaling tens of thousands of Youdu demon-gods, they led endless hordes of monsters in a charge at the Fengdu gods and demon-gods within the divine city.

Within the divine city of Fengdu, god after god and demon-god after demon-god roared to the heavens and came out to meet them; both banks of the Nai River were plunged at once into a horrifying slaughter.

Suddenly King Yan, who was in the midst of opening up Fengdu, came flying over; his cloak unfurled, and the vast divine city was at once shrouded beneath it.

King Yan snapped his cloak open with a swish, and there along both banks of the Nai River within the city, bones lay stark and bare everywhere!

Those countless monsters, demon-gods included, had been turned to white bone by him.

"The son Kaigong picked up does have some skill! But your Youdu divine arts are not yet fully cultivated!"

In the sky, great hands reached down and seized King Yan's cloak, lifting him up. Startled, King Yan bellowed and drew his sword, slashing at the hands that gripped him!

Lu Li, Juehuang, Xuanming, Hanlei — the four Military Commissioners of Youdu — seized the chance to cut their way into the city and began a great slaughter. Most of the gods and demon-gods in Fengdu were beings of primordial spirit; though they had regained mortal bodies in the death-life realm of Fengdu, they could not withstand these four commissioners, and in an instant many were struck until their souls scattered and their spirits fled.