out of it — and what will greet him then will be the devouring maw of Tu Bo." With that, he gave Shen Mu a sidelong glance. Shen Mu said solemnly, "Tu Bo distinguishes clearly between reward and punishment; he is just and selfless. This was well done!" The deputy envoy thought, "You, who have done every kind of evil — are you truly not afraid?" Of course, he dared not say that aloud. He continued forward, and they met another figure — the primordial spirit of a demigod, carrying a mountain on his back as he walked through the karmic fire, sizzling and shrieking without cease as the flames scorched him. "This is Xie Wuqi, the crown prince of the Longhan Heavenly Court, a mighty being carrying in his veins the blood of the Heavenly Emperor and the Heavenly Empress. When he reached adulthood, his strength rivaled that of an Imperial Throne powerhouse, and so he rose in rebellion and plotted to usurp the throne. After death he was suppressed here," said the deputy envoy. "A demigod... Imperial Throne?" The big-headed doll's drool poured down like a waterfall, and he rubbed his hands together in excitement. Shen Mu abruptly felt his body sink — and saw that he was already crawling on all fours toward Xie Wuqi, meaning to eat him. "Brother, do not act rashly! Seeing Mother is what matters most!" The big-headed doll uttered a regretful "what a pity," and only then did Shen Mu regain control of his physical body. They continued on, and Deputy Soul-Suppression Envoy Mo Qimi said, "Among the gods and demons suppressed here, the farther in one goes, the greater their sins. In every age and dynasty, the most vicious and evil beings have been suppressed and imprisoned in this place. No matter how ferocious they were in life, no matter how their magic flooded the heavens, in death they must suffer here!" Having said this, he looked at Shen Mu again. Shen Mu remained wholly unmoved. "Mother never committed any great evil. Why is she suppressed in the deepest part of the forest?" The big-headed doll was deeply indignant. "It was all my doing — Mother had nothing to do with it! Tu Bo is unjust! When we catch him, I'll tear off his head and his legs and eat him!" The deputy envoy shuddered several times. "This fiend is savage beyond all reason," he thought. They continued deeper, encountering more and more mighty primordial spirits suppressed here. No matter how heaven-reaching and earth-piercing their arts had been in life, here they suffered the torment of karmic fire like common mortals. And this torment had almost no end; none of them knew when they would be set free. "Is Mother suffering this same torment?" Grief shadowed Shen Mu's heart. They passed untold numbers of Karmic Fire Merit Steles before finally reaching the center of the forest. Here the steles were dense — one every three or five paces — yet few suppressed primordial spirits were to be seen. Shen Mu was puzzled. Then, abruptly, he saw that the black steles ahead formed a great circle nearly a thousand zhang across, and within the circle were rings of steles, layer locked upon layer! He looked toward the center: there, an ox-horned, tiger-headed deity was bound by chain after chain of black iron, karmic fire blazing about him in endless conflagration! Shen Mu's face changed drastically. He looked at the deputy envoy, but Mo Qimi seemed not to see this ring of steles, nor the imprisoned deity at its heart, and simply walked around it. Shen Mu reached out, lifted him up, and said amiably, "Deputy Envoy, what is the meaning of this Tu Bo in the stele forest? Why is a Tu Bo being suppressed here?" "Don't you dare!" the deputy envoy cried. "I would rather die than yield — I will say nothing!" Shen Mu tossed him to the big-headed doll, and Shen Fengqing hugged him tight in a frenzy of delight. "Little brother is so good to me! I really am going to eat him — I'm eating him now!" "I'll talk!" Shen Mu hastily snatched him back. Shen Fengqing flew into a rage, raised both fists, and dealt Shen Mu's head two savage blows. "Beat the wicked little brother to death! Beat you to death!" "That is Tu Bo's reincarnated body." The deputy envoy, his wits barely settled after the shock, felt his head and, finding it still on his shoulders, breathed a sigh of relief. "In the ancient age, in the early years of the Longhan era, Tu Bo once underwent a reincarnation. That body is his self after the rebirth." Shen Mu, his face black and blue, used the divine art of Creation to quicken his blood and dissolve the bruises, and asked curiously, "Then why did Tu Bo suppress his own reincarnated body here?" The deputy envoy said, "I was born in the age of the Supreme Sovereign — how would I know such ancient matters?" Shen Mu lifted him up again, and the deputy envoy cried out in haste, "I confess! I'll confess everything — will that do?" Shen Mu set him down. The deputy envoy hesitated, peered about in every direction, and lowered his voice: "I heard it... I only heard it, mind you — it may not be true at all! You must not breathe a word of it; and if it does get out, don't say it was I who told you!" Shen Mu nodded again and again. "I heard that when Tu Bo reincarnated back then, it was to find a way to surpass himself, and also to let his bloodline continue. After rebirth, he still looked the same, but he had a body of flesh and blood, and in time he found he had the seven emotions and the six desires. But because he was ugly..." The deputy envoy hesitated once more, then said pitifully, "You truly will not tell?" "Rest assured!" Shen Mu pounded his chest heavily. "If I so much as breathe a single word, may Heaven strike and Earth annihilate me! Speak — hurry, speak!" Shen Fengqing had grown interested as well, and urged, "After the ugliness — what then?" "Because he was ugly, people did not much care for him." The deputy envoy swallowed, plucked up his courage, and went on: "Everywhere he went, people cried for his life and took him for a demon. There were even ancient beings who, knowing of his reincarnation, saw it as a fine chance to be rid of him and struck at him. At first, mindful of his position, Tu Bo did not fight back. But then one day his wife and daughter were killed by his enemies. That day Tu Bo's demonic nature erupted — astonishingly, he was no longer bound by the laws of Youdu — and so he struck back..." Terror showed on his face, and he said in a hoarse voice, "They say many ancient gods died, and demigods beyond counting. After Tu Bo returned, he suppressed his reincarnated body and made it atone here..."