Chapter 295 – An Arrogant Thought: Dividing the Divine

“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”

The thunderous roars were like peals of thunder, yet also like… the beating of a heart.

Soon, Mu Lin realized the latter was correct.

Driven by that sound, Mu Lin’s own heart began to beat in sync.

—Originally, the rhythms of the two hearts were different. The thunderous roar, though immense, only pulsed once every few minutes, while Mu Lin’s heart beat once per minute.

But now, the rhythms of the two gradually synchronized.

Moreover, it was Mu Lin’s heartbeat that shifted to match the booming, surging pulse.

This sight put Mu Lin on high alert. He had a feeling that if the two heartbeats truly synchronized, something terrifying would occur.

“What is this sound?”

The eerie heartbeat made Mu Lin wary, and he began to ponder.

Just as he was thinking, something even more astonishing happened.

His Beiwei Army, Substitute Paper Figure, and even Ink Jiao – Hebo—all began to emit heartbeats from within.

“?!”

“How is this possible?”

After all, the Beiwei Army were wraiths, lacking physical bodies entirely. The Substitute Paper Figure was merely a hollow shell, empty inside.

As for Ink Jiao – Hebo, his body was largely composed of flowing water.

Yet, despite being wraiths and inanimate objects, Mu Lin distinctly heard heartbeats resonating from within them.

When Mu Lin investigated in his astonishment, he discovered that an ethereal heart was gradually materializing inside each of them.

This process of Etherealization naturally required an energy source.

Undoubtedly, these eerie hearts were draining energy from the Beiwei Army and the Substitute Paper Figure, solidifying the hearts into physical form.

“Creating something from nothing, materializing the ethereal, even causing hearts to form within wraiths and inanimate objects—all achieved merely by the sound of a heartbeat… Could this be the heartbeat of an Evil God?”

“This heartbeat wasn’t present earlier; it appeared out of nowhere… Did someone unseal the Evil God’s heart?”

Though the available information was scarce, Mu Lin managed to deduce some possibilities.

As he pondered, another chilling event unfolded.

Lost in thought and curious about what would happen if the heartbeats synchronized, Mu Lin did little to suppress or interfere with the Beiwei Army’s heartbeats.

Then, he witnessed that when the heartbeat from the ethereal heart within the Beiwei Army aligned with the pulse echoing through the world, the Beiwei Army abruptly broke free from his control.

Guided by the heartbeat, the army began advancing in a specific direction.

Unquestionably, that direction led toward the source of the heartbeat.

“If the sounds synchronize, the body becomes controlled!”

Realizing this, Mu Lin immediately focused inward.

He discovered that as his own heartbeat gradually aligned with the Evil God’s, his body began to feel somewhat stiff.

“Stabilize!”

Recognizing the danger, Mu Lin naturally took action. Instantly, he used Source Rune – Stabilize to Fixate his own heartbeat.

This had some effect, but:

“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”…

As the heartbeat of the Evil God echoed through heaven and earth, the sound struck like a heavy hammer, relentlessly pounding against the seal formed by the Source Rune “Stabilize.”

Under this fierce assault, the seal condensed by Mu Lin’s Source Rune “Stabilize” gradually began to shatter.

“Relying solely on ‘Stabilize’ cannot protect me indefinitely.”

Though he thought this, Mu Lin felt no worry. Beyond the “Stabilize” rune, he had other methods to counter the heartbeat’s resonance.

What troubled and made him hesitate was that with the Evil God’s heartbeat now audible, who knew what other disturbances might arise from the Grave Lord’s Tomb. Should he leave now or press forward?

After some contemplation, Mu Lin decided to continue onward.

His reasons were twofold. First, he did not wish to allow the Evil God Scion to act freely.

“If the Evil God itself descended, I would flee as far as possible. But mere scions of the Evil God, with their power confined to the Realm of Gang Sha Unity, hold no authority to make me retreat.”

“In fact, they are like generous gifts to me. Even if I fail to obtain the Grave Lord Inheritance this time, encountering these Evil God Scions would still make the venture worthwhile.”

Mu Lin had not forgotten that most Evil God Scions retained traces of Divinity within them. Eliminating them would bring him immense gains.

Beyond the Evil God Scions, another reason Mu Lin was reluctant to give up was the significant value the Grave Lord’s Tomb inheritance held for him.

…

Having journeyed this far, Mu Lin had gained some understanding of the Grave Lord’s Tomb. In his view, the area beyond the Black River was merely the tomb’s periphery—a wilderness. Only by crossing the Black River could one truly enter the Grave Lord’s Tomb.

In this second stage, while other cultivators might disregard the remnants left in the Grave Lord’s Tomb, Mu Lin saw things differently. He valued them greatly—not for the items themselves, but for the Grave Lord’s philosophy and the coordination of the various Yin Eight Gates abilities.

“This… seven Paper Figures occupying seven positions—this is a variant of the Soul Sealing Art, channeling the power of the Seven Stars to consecrate the ghosts, then combining the Seven-Star Array with the Soul Sealing Art for sealing. Brilliant.”

“Bells, White Banners—these are ritual implements. The Grave Lord is nurturing Anomalies… no, he’s using the secret rites of nurturing Anomalies to restrain the actions of Evil Spirits…”

“Hmm, beneath this tomb lie two sealed Anomalies… with opposing attributes, using one Anomaly to check another, maintaining a balance among Ghostly Beings. A masterful technique.”

“This is the Hundred Yin Corpse Ghost Array—it seems to be drawing power from an Anomaly…”

“The Horizontal Blade Dragon Severing Formation—this appears to be a technique from the executioner lineage…”

After observing all this, Mu Lin could only marvel that the Grave Lord truly lived up to his reputation as the acknowledged patriarch of the Yin Eight Gates lineage.

Within the Yin Eight Gates system—whether it be the Paper Artisan Lineage, corpse bearers, executioners, morticians… he had delved into them all, cultivating each to a profound level.

Even more astonishing was that, having mastered each skill to the Grandmaster level, he never confined himself to a single school or sect. Instead, he effortlessly integrated various techniques with seamless fluency.

This ability to handle complex matters with ease provided Mu Lin with endless inspiration and experience, showing him the path forward and enriching his own methods.

Well… to put it more directly, on his system interface, the experience for each of Mu Lin’s skills was continuously increasing.

Soul Sealing Art +13, +17, +19…

Paper Figure Curse +31, +36, +11, +27…

Taiyin Life-Nurturing Scripture +52, +54, +67…

Mindscape – Sky Burial City +12, +29, +31…

“This place is a treasure trove for me. Within the Grave Lord’s Tomb, I don’t even need to take anything. Just by observing and comprehending the Grave Lord’s insights, my experience in various cultivation methods can skyrocket…”

What cultivators fear most is having no path forward. Although Mu Lin possessed an Attribute Panel and could continuously improve his realm through practice, having a super powerhouse guiding him would still greatly shorten his advancement time.

And now, the Grave Lord was playing precisely that role.

“Normally, it would take about a month of arduous cultivation for my foundational cultivation method, the Taiyin Life-Nurturing Scripture, and my Mindscape – Sky Burial City to advance to the Master level… Operating cultivation methods still consumes a lot of time.”

“But with this Grave Lord’s tomb and his remote teachings, I won’t even need seven days to elevate both these cultivation methods to Master level.”

Just this rate of progress alone made Mu Lin unwilling to leave.

Not to mention, the Grave Lord’s Tomb undoubtedly contained valuable treasures.

“Perhaps there might even be Spirit Tools from the Yin Eight Gates lineage…”

Thinking this, Mu Lin not only didn’t leave but instead quickened his pace, heading toward the source of the sound.

He intended to slay the Evil God Scion, harvest Divinity, and also prevent the Evil God Scion from causing further trouble.

He still planned to stay in the Grave Lord’s Tomb for a while longer…

…

Meanwhile, Mu Lin was on his way.

At the place he was heading toward—before the grand gates of a majestic city—a fierce battle was raging.

Naturally, the combatants were humans versus Evil God Scions and demonic monsters.

And if Mu Lin were here, he would be surprised to discover that those fighting the Human Prodigies weren’t just Evil God Scions and Foreign Races, but also… cultivators from both the Daoist and Demonic Sects.

After all, the Grave Lord’s Tomb had opened within human territory, and the defenses here were quite strict. Consequently, not many Evil God Scions or demonic monsters had infiltrated the Grave Lord’s Tomb.

Few in number and weak in strength, the reason these Evil God Scions managed to breach some of the outer seals around the Evil God’s heart, allowing the sound of its heartbeat to leak out, was because they had accomplices from the Daoist and Demonic Sects.

Among them, the traitors from the Demonic Sect were Mingling Zi and the Buddha Son of the Celestial Buddha Sect, Fa Yan.

The traitor from the Daoist Sect was Lingxu Zi.

And everyone was particularly dissatisfied with Lingxu Zi.

Although it might sound unpleasant, members of the Demonic Sect were never good people. Their betrayal was somewhat anticipated by the Daoist Sect, Aristocratic Families, and even the Demonic Sect powerhouses outside.

But these people couldn’t understand why Lingxu Zi had also betrayed them.

Among them, Drunken Wanderer and Jade Daoist were especially furious. The three belonged to the same sect and were Prodigies of the same level. They found Lingxu Zi’s betrayal the hardest to accept.

“Lingxu Zi, you bastard! Why abandon being a decent person to become a lackey of the Evil God?”

In response to Jade Daoist’s angry accusation, Lingxu Zi… sneered.

“Lackey? You’ve misunderstood something. I never pledged allegiance to the Evil God.”

“?! !”

These words left Drunken Wanderer and Jade Daoist stunned.

After a long pause, they finally reacted and hurriedly asked:

“If you didn’t pledge allegiance, then why did you help those Evil God Scions break the seals left by the Grave Lord?”

“For resources!”

At this point, Lingxu Zi spread his hands wide, his expression wild as he declared:

“The Evil God is dangerous, but it is also the most precious resource. I broke the seal not to release the Evil God and allow its resurrection, but to obtain the heart’s blood of the Evil God. With the Divine Blood, I will reshape my body, transforming my mortal flesh into a Divine Body!”

After speaking, Lingxu Zi sneered and pointed at the Evil God Scions, saying, “By the way, those bastards share the same goal as me.”

“After this Evil God died, its offspring, followers, and believers were long ago slaughtered or taken away by other Evil Gods… Evil Gods are not benevolent beings, nor would they help another Evil God resurrect for no reason.”

“Those Evil God Scions came here with the same intention—to feast upon the Evil God and strengthen themselves.”

“And you? Now that you know all this, will you still try to stop me?”

(End of Chapter)