Chapter 396 — The Cage of Heaven and Earth

Ling Yuxiu and the others were struck with a shock beyond words. More and more Sunherds came forward, dropping to one knee, and again and again the words "Your Highness" rang out.

By now nearly every Sunherd had gathered here; looking out, there were close to a hundred thousand of them below, all on one knee, heads bowed low. Among the Sunherds there was no emperor, and Shen Mu was certainly no Sunherd—so whose highness were they speaking of, and of what place?

"Is the cowherd a highness of the Ruins? Or a highness of Carefree Land?

Is the cowherd the crown prince of the Ruins? " Ling Yuxiu was rather bewildered.

The cowherd boy had a background like this?

And how was he able to command this Dawn Ark, to wield the power of the Dawn Ark?

Snow Fox, for her part, was somewhat disappointed: "So the young master isn't a male fox who's become a spirit?

" Shen Mu opened his hand, and his body gradually returned to normal; the two arms that had burst forth withdrew back into him. He hastily helped the old clan chief to his feet and said, "Clan Chief, please have your people rise.

" "Thank you, Your Highness.

" The old clan chief rose and said with solemn gravity, "We did not know Your Highness's identity before, and we gave offense in many ways. We beg Your Highness to forgive us.

" He turned, raised his arms high, and cried out loudly to the Sunherds below: "People of the Sunherd clan, guardians of the Dawnspring! The Highness of Carefree Land has come! Carefree Land has not forgotten us! Twenty thousand years of waiting, twenty thousand years of toil—we have waited, and he is here!

Dawnspring shall not fall! The Sunherds shall not be extinguished! " One after another, the simple, artless faces of the Sunherds lit with wild joy.

They cheered and laughed; the torment of these days, the oppression born of the war's cruelty, all vanished into thin air. The invasion of the otherworldly demon gods had draped the Sunherds around Dawnspring in a cloud of annihilation; every member of the clan fought and struggled for the future of their race, yet they had no assurance of surviving this calamity. The pressure mounted, and the clan grew ever more stifled. But now, with Shen Mu's arrival, their vanished hope had returned!

It was a revel.

Everywhere there were giants running and cheering; some wept for joy, some sang and danced, some went to tell the wounded warriors and the dying elders, and some burned incense before the ancestral tablets and offered prayers. "Clan Chief, have you perhaps misunderstood? " Shen Mu looked at the reveling crowd below, somewhat perplexed, and said to the old clan chief, "I am not your highness.

.

. " The old clan chief shook his head.

"One who is not a Sunherd, yet can command the Dawn Ark—there is only one possibility: the imperial clan! In those years Zi Qing, by imperial command, forged the Dawn Ark. Apart from being steered by a Sun Warden of pure-yang constitution, the Dawn Ark can also be commanded by the imperial clan. Your Highness is no Sunherd, so you must be of the imperial clan of Carefree Land! " Shen Mu shook his head.

"I am an Overlord Body.

It may be that the Overlord Body is also a pure-yang constitution.

" "Overlord Body? What Overlord Body?

" The clan chief was at a loss. The revel below swelled, clamorous beyond measure.

He ventured, "Your Highness, is 'Overlord Body' the name for the imperial bloodline?

" Shen Mu could not help but feel doubt. Could it be that Overlord Body really was the name for the imperial clan?

Something seemed not quite right.

If Overlord Body were the name for the imperial clan, then was Xu Shenghua also of the imperial clan?

And if Xu Shenghua were also of the imperial clan, what then of the true and false Overlord Bodies the headman had spoken of?

Could there be such a thing as a false imperial bloodline? And if the Overlord Body was not the imperial clan, then was the Overlord Body a pure-yang constitution?

And if it was a pure-yang constitution, why was Shen Mu able to control the Soul Ark?

Doubt welled up in his heart, and he dearly wished to seek out the headman and ask him plainly. All this time he had believed himself to be an Overlord Body, a unique Overlord Body, and from this he drew an invincible conviction; of this he had never once doubted. Now, though, the Sunherd clan chief's words left him doubting and shaken.

After the revel, the old clan chief ordered that the choosing of the Sun Warden continue. The Sunherds were rather bewildered, but they obeyed and returned to the Sun Temple. Shen Mu followed with Ling Yuxiu and the others, and as a highness he was honored as a guest of the seat of honor.

Shen Mu looked down and saw many Sunherds come forward to try to kindle the Sun Furnace, but most could only just light it before it went out of itself; none could sustain it for long. Strangely, however, when some Sunherds kindled the Sun Furnace, wondrous apparitions would surface within it—images of fire dragons, fire phoenixes, fire serpents, fire qilin, and other rare kinds, giving forth strange sounds. Ling Yuxiu and the others found it exceedingly strange as well.

Si Yunxiang said in a low voice, "What appears in the furnace looks like a spirit body, though the spirit bodies here are a little different. " They all nodded.

Of spirit bodies there were the four great ones: Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, White Tiger. The four great spirit bodies were a collective term; each was a broad category, not necessarily taking the form of the Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Azure Dragon, or White Tiger—other forms were possible. In the kingdom of Langjuxu, for instance, many spirit bodies were dragon-wolf spirit bodies, and the dragon-wolf spirit body was subordinate to the Azure Dragon spirit body. But judging from the apparitions that surfaced in the Sun Furnace, the Sunherds' spirit bodies manifested as fire dragons, fire phoenixes, and the like, resembling branches of the Vermilion Bird spirit body.

Yet the Vermilion Bird spirit body did not appear to be what was called a pure-yang constitution; it was a fire-attribute spirit body, whereas what the Sun Furnace tested ought to be the pure-yang constitution.

Seen in this light, the Sunherds' spirit bodies could not simply be classed among the Vermilion Bird spirit bodies. Shen Mu asked doubtfully, "Clan Chief, can it be that there are more than four great spirit bodies in this world?

" "The four great spirit bodies? You mean the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise?

" The old clan chief shook his head.

"The pure-yang constitution is not among the four great spirit bodies.

" "So it is true!

" The hearts of all present were greatly shaken.

There truly were more than four great spirit bodies in this world—there were others besides!

"The four great spirit bodies must be what the people outside the Ruins say, no?

" said the old clan chief.

"In this world there are not only the four great spirit bodies, but also the pure-yang constitution, the pure-yin constitution, and certain other, stronger spirit bodies. The talk of four great spirit bodies is merely a saying from the age of the end-times. There are legends among my clan that in those years many spirit bodies coexisted in the world, and the varieties of spirit bodies numbered in the hundreds; but after the great calamity came, many spirit bodies vanished. The people outside the Ruins were sealed and imprisoned, and only the four great spirit bodies remained to them. " Ling Yuxiu and Si Yunxiang exchanged a glance, their faces showing bewilderment and alarm. This was utterly different from what they had heard!

What they had heard was that the cast-offs inside the Ruins were the ones sealed and cursed, never to leave the Ruins for all eternity! If a cast-off left the Ruins, they were to be killed without question!