The four Great Celestial Masters of the Heavenly Court raised their hands one after another, halting the army's advance and gazing warily about them. The Heavenly Court's host was vast beyond reckoning; the tower-ships in the sky blotted out sun and heaven alike. The four Great Celestial Masters led the armies of the four great sect schools, the Four Emperors led the armies of the Four Heavens, and every one of them gripped a mighty force in his own hand. Beyond these stood the two Divine Martial Guards, the two Dragon Martial Guards, and the Heavenly River Navy. The power the Heavenly Court had mustered this time was no petty skirmish — they meant to trample the Land of No Sorrow and the Far Shore Void flat at a single stroke! The Northern Heaven's army marched under a pall of bleak yin winds; wherever it went, folk shrank away from it, and it was welcome nowhere. The Yin Son of Heaven stood aboard a great ghost-faced ship, the Nether Sea heaving beneath it in blossom upon blossom of foam, and he too was scouring his surroundings. The Void Heavenly Venerable's shout reached his ears and stirred something in his heart; in an instant he had seen through the trick in the Great Void. The four Great Celestial Masters' understanding of the Dark Capital's divine arts was not as deep as his; Bai Yuqiong and the rest might never have made it out, but he saw it crisp and clear. This Great Void had, at some unknown hour, gained an extra layer of space and time, and that layer was laid perfectly over the Great Void, superimposed whole! The Heavenly Court's army had only just entered the Great Void and was walking in the world of the living, yet at any moment it might step into that other space and time. And that space and time was, astonishingly, the Dark Capital! The Dark Capital of the Great Void! "A bold piece of work indeed, the Land of No Sorrow and those bumpkins of the Great Void — to build themselves a Dark Capital here and set up as petty kings!" The Yin Son of Heaven was rather displeased. "I myself have only taken the title of emperor in the Nether Capital of the Northern Heaven, and never dared call myself Earth Lord, yet these yokels of the Great Void have made a world of their own and even fashioned an Earth Lord." Suddenly the space and time around them seemed to blur; darkness came surging in, and swiftly swept across heaven and earth, shrouding the Heavenly Court's countless troops. In the darkness, god after god glowed like candles in the night, giving off divine light to hold the dark at bay. Just then, a plump, chubby great baby with three heads, six arms, and nine eyes rose slowly out of the darkness beneath the earth and appeared before the Heavenly Court's army. "Pfft!" A goddess could not hold back her laugh and murmured, "This Earth Lord is rather adorable." Many goddesses and demonesses alike dissolved into giggles. "If he were a little smaller, you could hold him in your arms and tease him for fun." "No laughing!" The plump baby of three heads, six arms, and nine eyes clenched all six fists, bashful and furious, and a tender, childish voice came through, crying in shame and rage, "Whoever laughs, I'll kill him!" The Heavenly Court's army roared with laughter. "No laughing—" Shen Fengqing's face flushed crimson, his voice carrying the hint of a sob as he sputtered in fury, "My little brother can beat you all to death! Mother, they're laughing at me!" The laughter only grew louder. Yet the Yin Son of Heaven's face was grave. He said in a low voice, "The Divine Child of the Dark Capital... worthy indeed of being the first living being born of a womb in the Dark Capital; he has grown so powerful that even I feel the threat of him!" Not every god or demon in the Heavenly Court had the Yin Son of Heaven's breadth of vision; only a handful could see that Shen Fengqing's cultivation had grown vast and profound beyond imagining. Yet Shen Fengqing's realm was, in all likelihood, still the Heavenly River Divine Treasury realm, the equal of the Divine Bridge realm. This big baby knew nothing whatsoever about cultivation. In the days when he and Shen Mu were one body, it was always Shen Mu who cultivated and pioneered dao arts and divine powers. When he parted from Shen Mu, Shen Mu was still at the Heavenly River realm and had not attained the Divine Realm. He had rebuilt his fleshly body from the eye Shen Mu dug out; the two of them could be said to share the body they held at the Heavenly River realm. The difference was that the road Shen Fengqing walked was more like the road of a demigod before realms are opened, whereas Shen Mu had gone on cultivating and attained the Divine Realm. Even so, Shen Fengqing's strength could never be measured by realms, for the moment he came into the world he was a demon god — a demon god without a realm! Shen Fengqing was unlike the demigods, too: he relied not on bloodline, but on the Great Dao of the Dark Capital and the demonic nature and demonic qi that had invaded his body at his birth. He possessed a greater capacity for growth than any demigod, and for that even the Earth Lord envied him exceedingly, wishing to seek in him a path to break free of the Great Dao's bonds. He was more like a composite of demigod and ancient god. The Yin Son of Heaven looked to the Void Heavenly Venerable, whose expression did not change; the Yin Son of Heaven looked to the Fire Heavenly Venerable, whose face was blank. Suddenly the Void Heavenly Venerable spoke: "Little brother..." "You should call me uncle." Shen Fengqing looked at the Void Heavenly Venerable and smiled. "Only the Great Earth Lord gets to call me little brother. You are his daughter — call me Uncle Fengqing." The Void Heavenly Venerable gave a snort and said coolly, "Your Great Dao of the Dark Capital is strong, but it is no match for me. If you are bent on seeking death, I shall oblige you." "You think I was raised on fright?" Shen Fengqing puffed up in anger. "Though I suppose I really can't beat you. I came to tell you that by way of my Dark Capital, you can also enter the Far Shore Void." The Void Heavenly Venerable was slightly taken aback and nodded slowly. "Your desire to serve is most praiseworthy..." Shen Fengqing laughed. "That's not what I mean. What I mean is, I've laid all kinds of deadly traps throughout my Dark Capital — you lot come running in to add to my dinner. Pah, pah, I meant to trick you into coming in, how did I just blurt it out?" The Void Heavenly Venerable gave a cold hum, and the two feet atop her head suddenly blazed with fire — the demon fire of the Dark Capital, rolling and surging like two nine-bending Yellow Springs, only burning! Shen Fengqing's vertical eye at the center of his brow opened, and at once butterfly-shaped dao markings spread out. Exhilarated, he said, "You're strong — you must taste delicious! And one more thing..." The two Yellow Springs swept out one behind the other with a shriek; the dao markings at Shen Fengqing's brow met them and were shattered with a crack. He turned his head, the vertical eye of his second head blazed, and that too was shattered. His body whirled, the demon eye of his third head flashed out to meet the Yellow Springs; his frame shuddered and he was hurled backward! Boom— The entire Dark Capital of the Great Void sank away along with him, and at once the darkness filling the heavens dissolved. The Void Heavenly Venerable's second nine-bending Yellow Spring struck empty air. She looked into the Dark Capital of the Great Void and saw that plump baby of three heads and six arms, bare-legged, sprinting for all he was worth, with not the slightest bearing of a master! Shen Fengqing's voice came out of the Dark Capital of the Great Void, giggling: "If you ever make a wager or a fight, you may swear your oath to me, this little Earth Lord! I do things fair — I never play favorites, whether you're a creator or a human or a god or demon. I eat anything!" His voice brimmed with pride: "The Gr