The Divine Son of Youdu fought and fled as he went, and found it all the easier to work his tricks. " She could not help laughing: "Now those old things will not be so concerned with saving face.

We camp here and block the Jade Lock Pass of Youdu so that he cannot fly out even with wings; add to that so many powers of the Lingxiao and Imperial Throne realms attacking together, and his life and death are no longer his to decide! And what is more. .

. " She looked toward the camp. At the center of it, a host of demon-gods and monsters stood guard over a huge divine weapon.

It resembled a great cauldron; its four outer walls were branded with every kind of rune, forming the patterns of earth, water, wind, fire, mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas, and with every manner of demigod shape — dragon head on a human body, phoenix head on a human body, tiger head on a human body, and so on.

Upon the inner walls of the great cauldron were the sun, the moon, and the stars; upon its base, countless seals. Lu Li smiled: "This cauldron is the supreme treasure for refining him. Forged when Tu Bo was in his reincarnation, the Youdu Life-Slaying Cauldron — in its day it killed more ancient gods and demigods than can be counted, and became the strongest demon-god weapon in all of Youdu!

The Youdu Life-Slaying Cauldron can trap him, but the crucial thing is still this.

" She drew out a four-sided lid, branded with the patterns of round heaven and square earth. Round heaven, and within the round, Xuandu; square earth, and within the square, Youdu. "All we must do is wait until the Divine Son of Youdu joins battle with them, then take the Divine Son of Youdu into the Youdu Life-Slaying Cauldron and seal it with the God-Suppressing Chaos-Heaven Net, and he will have no say in the matter! " Just then the gates of Jade Lock Pass swung wide, and the sound of horns came, du, du, du, together with war drums that set the chest humming.

Countless gazes swung as one toward the opened gate, and out from beneath the gate arch came a god of three heads and six arms, striding steadily.

"The Divine Son of Youdu!

" From every encampment the demon-god officers and men raised a jumbled clamor. The place had been steeped in an oppressive, murderous stillness; now a shuddering dread spread through the countless demon-gods.

Dread. Once, no one had looked upon the Divine Son of Youdu with any regard.

But in that savage battle twenty-two years ago, from the Corner of Nine Bends to the demon-god battlefield behind them, far too many beings of name and face had died, devoured by the Divine Son of Youdu, their souls and primordial spirits digested along with them! How many mighty beings of Youdu the Divine Son of Youdu had erased utterly from this world!

Such was his ferocity that even after twenty-two years of exile, the most vicious demon-gods dared not speak his name.

Shen Mu walked step by step out of the gate, and behind him the heavy gate of Jade Lock Pass slowly closed. Suddenly his gaze caught, within the camp inside the pass, a deity in the shape of a tree-man.

Shen Mu froze.

The gate boomed shut, and a blast of air came rushing out. "Brother, I think I just saw Father," he said softly. "Father?

" The big-headed baby at his neck was still sulking, and he huffed: "Father likes you better too, doesn't he?

If Father saw me, and then saw you, he would certainly pick you up and kiss you.

He would never kiss me. Hmph.

Father, so unfair.

.

" Shen Mu laughed despite himself, looking ahead at rank upon rank of demon-god formations, far beyond sight, only broken banners fluttering and, in the air, battered tower-ships. "Brother, how do you use that ah-ah-ah divine power of yours? " he asked, smiling.

The big-headed baby folded his arms across his chest and sneered: "What ah-ah-ah? " Shen Mu thought for a moment.

"It should be sss, sss, sss.

Inhaling — drawing souls and primordial spirits in with a breath, and swallowing them.

In a heavenly palace in Youdu I saw tens of thousands of demon-gods left as empty husks. Their primordial spirits must have been eaten by you. " "You mean that?

" The big-headed baby laughed: "You're so dumb.

You just breathe in.

" Shen Mu stared, dumbstruck. He blurted: "You just breathe in? Has it never once occurred to you to think about the principle of it?

Which dao arts do you employ in that one breath?

Which of the most fundamental runes do you call upon? " The big-headed baby looked entirely blank. Shen Mu sighed, and said bleakly: "Brother, your innate gifts are too great — so great that a divine power is yours in every gesture. I am not your equal. Every power of mine I have had to puzzle out for myself, to comprehend for myself. That is why I always like to ponder the principle within a thing, the dao arts and divine powers it employs, the fundamental runes within it.

The divine powers and the rules of the great dao of Youdu are contained in the script of Youdu; you know how a thing is done, but not why it is so. " He walked forward, his body growing taller and taller, larger and larger.

Two of his six arms were given over to Shen Fengqing's control, while he controlled the other four. He spread his four arms as though to embrace heaven and earth and the whole universe, and said with a smile: "Brother, come and see the Youdu divine power I have comprehended.

" Upon the Primordial Continent beneath Tu Bo's feet, the thickest and darkest demonic qi surged and came rushing madly toward him, and within that surging dark there was lightning and thunder. "Kill!

" A roar like thunder came from the opposing ranks, and at once countless demon-god primordial spirits poured forth, gold sabers and iron horses, surging like a great flood; in an instant countless divine powers lit up Jade Lock Pass, and behind the light of those powers came countless godly and demonic weapons, battered yet still possessed of their might!

The big-headed baby grew feverish with excitement and was about to make his move, when suddenly Shen Mu turned, and his first face opened its mouth, and from it came the strange, profound divine tongue of Youdu. With a rush — the countless demon-gods hurtling forward suddenly went tumbling, like white-crested waves, and what tumbled was numberless white bones. These demon-gods, already dead, had carried their own corpses to Youdu and lodged their primordial spirits within them; and now, in that instant, the flesh of countless demon-gods rotted at a horrifying speed! Because they came on at such speed, the bones too went tumbling and pitching forward, until they formed a white wave of bone thousands of li long!

Shen Mu's other face turned, and drew a long breath in, while the first face still murmured its incantation. Countless primordial spirits came flying out of that surf of white bone; numberless divine powers and godly and demonic weapons slipped their control and burst again and again in midair, and the battered weapons flew wildly in every direction.

Those primordial spirits numbered in the hundreds of thousands, pouring in all at once, beyond all control!

Shen Mu turned: "Brother, your turn! " The big-headed baby, frantic with excitement beyond measure, opened his mouth and swallowed like a whale, taking hundreds of thousands of demon-god primordial spirits in a single gulp. Shen Mu turned once more and raised his palm, and countless godly and demonic weapons came to a halt in the sky. He stepped forward, and the countless weapons in the air moved forward with him, pressing on toward the enemy.