Chapter 1150 — Can I Devour You?

The Northern Heaven was the domain of the Yin Heavenly Emperor, who dwelt in the Nether Capital, a continent formed from a piece of Tubo's horn, just like the continent that bore Shen Mu's name. Yet besides that horn-shaped land, there was also the Nether Sea, a treasure refined by the Yin Heavenly Emperor, and its vastness was in no way inferior to the Nether Capital continent.

Beyond the Nether Capital stretched a star region formed by the Forty Star Mansions, and within the boundless cosmos floated heaven after heaven. Now the Yin Heavenly Emperor too had led the great army of the Nether Capital toward the Heavenly Court, preparing to attack the Great Void.

The four great sects of the Great Void had suffered a disastrous defeat, and the Ten Heavenly Venerables were enraged.

This time they had mobilized the forces of the four emperors, including the Yin Heavenly Emperor, intending to trample the Great Void flat in one stroke.

As Shen Mu roamed through the Nether Capital, he saw that every building of its celestial palace was dark and sinister. The murals and sculptures on the palace walls were none other than the little ghosts and ghost kings of the Nether City, or the images of all manner of demon gods, and even totems of the Great Black Heaven.

Yet the most numerous of all were the statues and totems of Tubo, along with a wide variety of relief murals of Tubo. "Huh? " The little Tubo popped his head out from the Dragon Qilin's ear and studied those relief murals with suspicion, unable to understand why the Yin Heavenly Emperor worshipped him so fervently.

Yan'er plucked him out and set him on the Dragon Qilin's head, rewarding him with a spiritual pill.

After all, he had been the one to discover Crown Prince Qingzong, and that deserved a reward. Shen Mu glanced around.

The Yin Heavenly Emperor had taken most of the Nether Capital's military strength away, so not much here could threaten Shen Mu.

"The Yin Heavenly Emperor is definitely a fanatical worshiper of Tubo!

" Shen Mu thought, looking at those statues of Tubo.

He went from the Nether Capital to the Star Mansion of Shangli Palace and entered one of the heavens.

There he observed the life of the people and studied Ling Tianzun's manuscript. Looking around, he found that the beings here fared no better than those in the Western Heaven.

Although the Yin Heavenly Emperor was a great emperor among the human race, controlling souls and standing as an equal to Tubo, in his territories human beings still lived at the very bottom, becoming sacrifices to the ancient gods and demigods.

These people struggled to survive; they had to face floods and ferocious beasts from time to time, suffer the exploitation of the mighty adepts among the demigods, and endure the petty tempers of the demon gods—for if sacrifices were not offered at regular intervals, the demon gods would send down calamities. Shen Mu saw one temple after another, their incense blazing—or perhaps it could not be called incense, for the people of nearby towns prepared cattle and sheep or young boys and girls to offer to the lofty demon gods.

When the incense was lit, demon gods would ride upon billows of demonic qi at the head of demonic generals, and feast on the offerings. When he passed by the great river of this heaven, he also saw villagers placing young girls on bamboo rafts and letting the rafts drift downstream. That was the sacrifice to the River God; once the River God had eaten the girls on the rafts, he would not unleash great floods to drown the villages on both banks.

He also saw villagers throwing virgin boys and girls into a volcano, in which the Mountain God dwelt. If tribute were not paid, the Mountain God would grow angry, the volcano would erupt, and crimson flames would spread for a thousand li, burning countless people to death.

Shen Mu then arrived at the most prosperous place in this heaven and saw countless adepts being used as slaves to mine mountains.

Their primordial spirits had been pierced by arts of souls and spirits, and the lofty deities standing on high with divine whips oversaw the slaves as they mined. At the slightest mistake, the whips would lash down, making the souls wail horribly.

The Yin Heavenly Emperor belonged to the lineage of Lord Haotian.

Although half of Lord Haotian's blood was human, he had never regarded himself as human; and though the Yin Heavenly Emperor was human, he likewise did not regard himself as one.

Shen Mu was filled with many emotions.

Sometimes the ones who were cruelest to the human race were not necessarily the demigods—they could also be humans.

Shen Mu could not bear to look anymore. He had originally wanted to see the outside world beyond the Heavenly Court and the Origin Realm, but the more he saw, the harder it became to endure. He wanted to go on a slaughter, but relying on his own strength alone he could hardly change anything.

"Fire Heavenly Venerable, what have you actually changed? " He could not help but laugh wryly.

Even the present Heavenly Court had many human elites; leaving aside Xiao Heavenly Venerable, Fire Heavenly Venerable was a true human Heavenly Venerable!

Fire Heavenly Venerable, the Yin Heavenly Emperor, the Dao Ancestor, the Great Brahma Heavenly King Buddha, and the Heavenly Master Bai Yuqiong—their strength was not weak.

Beyond them, there were also existences like Kaihuang, yet the human race always lived in the lowest depths. Fire Heavenly Venerable had painted himself in a lofty light, and Shen Mu very much wanted to go see for himself how the humans under his command actually lived.

So he left the Northern Heavens and traveled to the Southern Heavens.

The Southern Heaven was governed by the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu.

Nominally, the Red Emperor Qi Xiayu was the ruler of the Southern Heavens, but in truth, it was Fire Heavenly Venerable who ruled the Southern Heaven. Every generation of Red Emperor had been a puppet propped up by Fire Heavenly Venerable.

From ancient times to the present, the Red Emperor of the Southern Heaven had been replaced countless times, yet the true controller remained him. It was precisely because Fire Heavenly Venerable was the actual ruler of the Southern Heaven that he had a feud with the Southern Emperor Zhuque.

The Southern Emperor Zhuque ruled the Southern Pole Heaven, at the edge of the universe, on the fringes of the Southern Heavens, and the territory he occupied was not very large. Even so, Fire Heavenly Venerable had spent hundreds of thousands of years infiltrating the Southern Pole Heaven, so that when he rode the divine weapon Imperial Heavenly Venerable and fought his way into it, the Southern Emperor Zhuque had no troops to mobilize.

Shen Mu walked out of the spirit-energy translocation bridge of the Red Emperor's Celestial Palace and looked around.

All the Southern Heavens stretched in a dense array before him, centered on the Red Emperor's Celestial Palace and hanging against the celestial dome. Red stars large and small twinkled, dazzling to the eye.

Shen Mu did not go directly into the Red Emperor's Celestial Palace. Instead he wandered around, and saw that the common folk of the Southern Heaven continent lived and worked in peace and contentment, joyful and harmonious, with everything in good order.

In the sky, a rainbow-colored phoenix fluttered past, letting out a clear, resonant cry like a song of the Dao.

Shen Mu walked to the water's edge. In a mountain stream, he spotted a divine dragon lurking in the clear depths, coiled around the bottom.

It opened its great maw and spat out a dark-water dragon pearl, drawing in the essence of the sun and moon. From the mountain forest came the rustling sound of leaves, and a qilin stepped out of the woods, came to the stream to drink, glanced at them from afar, then lowered its head to drink again.