Chapter 508: The Netherworld Divine Son
"The King of Hell wants to interrogate you? What crime have you committed?"
Inside Wenyuan Hall, the successive sect leaders all frowned deeply. Ancestor Yang Sect Leader said, "Is the crime major or minor? If it's major, we might as well rebel!"
The other sect leaders immediately grew excited, offering strategies on how to rebel, how to incite the other dead in Fengdu, and even coming up with dozens of slogans for rebellion.
Qin Mu quickly said, "It's not a major crime, just a trivial matter, not worth rebelling over. I merely intercepted the battle of the gods in the Divine Severing Mountain Range, snatched a few souls of the fallen from Fengdu, and revived them."
The successive sect leaders fell silent in unison. After a moment, Hu Jun Sect Leader suddenly slapped his thigh and said, "Where were we just now? Right, right, the banners for the rebellion! I think we should use the War God Banner..."
Qin Mu chuckled, "A trivial matter..."
"Trivial? Snatching people from Fengdu City is trivial?"
The many sect leaders turned their heads in unison, glaring angrily, and sneered, "Snatching people from Naihe Bridge scared us so badly we wet ourselves, thinking Fengdu was attacking! This is no trivial matter; the King of Hell will definitely have your head!"
Si Yuanwei said, "If it were a minor matter, we wouldn't bother with you. The King of Hell would take you, spank you a couple of times, and let you go. But this is a major crisis for Fengdu; the only path is rebellion!"
Outside the hall, the voice of Red Embroidered Divine Being came, somewhat impatient: "Sect Leader Qin, if you don't come out soon, I'll barge in!"
The Young Ancestor suddenly asked, "Sect Leader Qin, why didn't the King of Hell interrogate you directly, instead letting you wander freely around the city? If you truly had a serious crime, shouldn't you be locked up in the celestial prison under tight guard?"
His question made everyone realize. Qin Mu didn't act like a criminal at all; instead, he had come to Fengdu to visit friends and relatives, even beating them up.
The Young Ancestor asked again, "Did the King of Hell interrogate others before you?"
Qin Mu nodded, "He interrogated Star Core and Wei Wu God. Star Core was released, while Wei Wu God, because of his Netherworld techniques and divine powers, was surrounded by the ghost kings for study. The King of Hell also wanted to study Wei Wu God's powers, so he let me go first."
"Then your crime is minor."
The Young Ancestor smiled, saying, "I know Star Core; his crime was major, yet the King of Hell let him go. Wei Wu God is a god of the Netherworld; his crime would be even greater. Interrogating them first means their guilt outweighs yours. Your crime is much lighter. Go with Red Embroidered Divine Being; the King of Hell won't make trouble for you."
The many sect leaders nodded in agreement, saying, "Go ahead. If the King of Hell wants to kill you, we'll storm the execution ground and seize the reincarnation passage!"
Qin Mu felt reassured and walked out of Wenyuan Hall. Red Embroidered Divine Being stood on one leg on the head of a stone lion at the door, tidying his feathers. Seeing him come out, he pulled his beak from the feathers and said, "Follow me."
Qin Mu followed him, saying, "Senior Red Embroidered, this summons by the King of Hell..."
"Don't talk. You smell like a living person."
Red Embroidered said, "I dislike those who still have breath. If you were dead, your speech would be more pleasant. Also, the King of Hell isn't summoning you; he's interrogating you."
They arrived before the King of Hell's Hall. Qin Mu looked ahead and saw a mass of flesh still struggling and fighting. Star Core had yet to abandon the other bodies, clearly unwilling to give up his path.
"Even a wise man like Star Core finds it hard to let go of the gains he's obtained, to the point of being blinded by greed."
He shook his head. Star Core's indecision would cost him his life. Yet it was understandable; his whole life had been spent tirelessly cutting off parts of others and claiming them as his own. To give up now would mean abandoning his past path and denying his entire existence—a hard pill to swallow.
The greater one's achievements and determination, the harder it is to change oneself, to alter one's cognition, and to admit mistakes.
"Dawn is breaking!"
Suddenly, a piercing cry rang out in Fengdu City. Qin Mu quickly followed the sound and saw massive beasts crouching on the ridges of various halls, looking up at the sky and shouting harshly, "All mansions and cities beware! Dawn is almost here!"
Inside Fengdu City, wandering souls flew everywhere, darting about chaotically. On the ground, many imposing gods and demons ran east and west, hurriedly taking cover.
Qin Mu was startled and asked Red Embroidered, "Divine Being Red Embroidered, what happens when dawn comes?"
Red Embroidered Divine Being said nonchalantly, "When dawn comes, the sun will rise. They need to hide, or the pure Yang fire of the sun will burn them. This sun is different from the one you see outside."
Qin Mu was puzzled. Suddenly, the darkness outside Fengdu rapidly receded, and the misty Netherworld became incredibly bright!
It was his first time witnessing Fengdu at dawn. The streets, once bustling with gods and demons dancing wildly, instantly became deserted. All gods and demons closed their doors and windows, wandering souls plunged into the abyss, and the beasts on the ridges hid inside the halls. In an instant, the entire Fengdu fell silent.
Then, the white light turned red. A colossal sun, burning with raging flames, rose from the distant horizon of Fengdu. In an instant, flames surged like a flowing ocean from the east, covering the sky and earth, flooding all the streets and submerging all the palaces and houses.
The fierce pure Yang fire engulfed the divine cities of Fengdu, blazing and scorching, distorting space itself!
Qin Mu bathed in the pure Yang fire and saw that his skeletal body was faintly taking on flesh and meridians. He looked down and could even see the internal organs within his ribs!
But when he looked at the gods and demons hiding by the windows of the halls, their flesh was gradually becoming illusory, revealing bare white bones!
This solar true fire seemed completely useless against him, but it affected the gods and demons of Fengdu, burning their flesh and scorching their souls and primordial spirits!
In the east, the massive sun grew hotter and redder. Vaguely, one could see halls standing within the sun, colossal in size. Before the divine halls in the sun stood giant drums, erected and being furiously beaten by towering gods and demons, causing the pure Yang fire of the sun to surge continuously toward Fengdu.
Within the sun, thousands of halls, thousands of drums, and thousands of giants madly pounded the drums, sending true fire gushing and flooding Fengdu!
"This is..."
Qin Mu's mind shook. Suddenly, he heard screams and quickly turned around. The giant meatball that was Star Core was burning fiercely in the solar true fire. Dozens of faces twisted, struggled, screamed, and writhed in agony.
The true fire turned their forms into phantom shadows, faintly revealing Star Core's true body.
Star Core was also in agony. At that moment, he suddenly leaped up and plunged with a splash into the Nai River. The great river under Naihe Bridge churned with mist, and monsters surged, swallowing Star Core.
"Star Core!"
Qin Mu rushed to the riverbank. The mist in the river grew thicker, resisting the sun's flames, making it impossible for him to see Star Core's trace.
"He's fallen into the Netherworld."
Red Embroidered Divine Being flapped his wings twice. The solar true fire was also useless against him, and he urged, "Hurry up, the King of Hell is waiting for you!"
Qin Mu steadied himself and followed him into the King of Hell's Hall.
Inside the hall, the King of Hell was still draped in a black robe and black cloak, shrouding his face and body entirely in darkness. Qin Mu looked around but didn't see the ghost kings.
"Red Embroidered, you may leave." The King of Hell sat on the throne in the hall, high above, his voice echoing.
"Yes." Red Embroidered Divine Being withdrew from the King of Hell's Hall.
On the throne, the King of Hell flipped through a volume of records, the rustling of pages filling the air. Now only he and Qin Mu remained in the hall. He seemed completely unaffected by the rising sun.
Qin Mu felt uneasy. After a moment, the King of Hell stood up, and the lights in the hall dimmed. Qin Mu suddenly felt enveloped by darkness.
"You come from Carefree Village, don't you? Who is your father?"
Qin Mu was startled, not understanding why he would suddenly ask this, and said, "My father is Qin Hanzhen. His ancestral home should be Carefree Village, but I wasn't born there..."
"Qin Hanzhen?"
The King of Hell was stunned and murmured, "So it's come to the Han generation? Yu, De, Chang, Ming, Han, Feng, Huan, Zhen. By your generation of the Qin surname, it should be over a hundred generations."
He picked up the book he had been flipping through, found the character Han, and said, "Han is the 106th generation, Feng is the 107th. Your real name isn't Qin Mu; your name should contain the character Feng."
Qin Mu nodded but didn't reveal his true name.
Since encountering the Great Venerable, he had realized that speaking his true name was very dangerous, especially in front of an existence like the King of Hell, who controlled Fengdu.
Although this was the King of Hell's Hall and the King of Hell had the Qin family genealogy, he had to be cautious.
"You're right not to tell me your name. This world is indeed treacherous."
The King of Hell said, "I also bear the surname Qin, but it was bestowed upon me. I am an adopted son. I was originally nothing—an orphan, alone and helpless. The Emperor allowed me to enter the Qin family genealogy, and my name is recorded there."
Qin Mu understood. An adopted son meant he wasn't originally from the Qin family but was later given the surname Qin and taken in as a foster child.
"It's been a long time since I've seen a visitor from Carefree Village."
The King of Hell walked past him to the hall's entrance, gazing at Fengdu submerged in flames, and said, "I originally thought the Emperor would return here from Carefree Village, but I never waited for him in twenty thousand years, only for the 107th generation descendant of the Emperor. When you used Netherworld techniques to snatch a few souls from me, I noticed your face bore some resemblance to the Emperor's, so I didn't stop you."
Qin Mu still had doubts and probed, "Do you mean that the Opening Emperor is still alive?"
The King of Hell's face remained hidden in the black robe, and even the intense firelight couldn't penetrate the darkness under the black cloak and cape: "The Emperor is still alive. After Carefree Village was established, he led the last gods to leave this world, preserving strength to await a counterattack. The Emperor was a man of great talent and foresight, realizing early on that calamity was approaching. So he ordered me to establish Fengdu, allowing the gods who couldn't leave in time to sink into slumber and enter Fengdu, waiting for a resurgence. That wait has been twenty thousand years... You said earlier that you weren't born in Carefree Village. So where were you born?"
Qin Mu was silent for a moment, then said hoarsely, "The Netherworld."
Update Delayed!
There are many children at home today, making it quite noisy. The plot for tonight's chapter is mentally taxing, so Zhai Zhu temporarily can't write it. After dinner, Zhai Zhu will calm down and code.
Tonight's update will be late. Sorry.