Sovereign King Wuchu shuddered with terror. Though he loomed immense before Quinn Shepherd, in front of the fat baby's face he seemed pitifully small.
The fat baby's hand reached out and grabbed him. No matter how great his powers, he couldn't break free, and was promptly stuffed into the baby's mouth.
"My brother and I share the same name."
Just before dying, he heard Quinn Shepherd's voice: "Because we share one soul, one flesh."
The fat baby swallowed him whole, chewing fiercely, then suddenly lunged excitedly at Quinn: "Bad little brother, die!"
At that moment, Quinn's body took out the Golden Willow Leaf and gently pressed it to his brow.
Before the fat baby could grab Quinn, a formless force swept in, picked him up, and dragged him into the abyss.
"Bad little brother—"
The fat baby tumbled for ages before landing with a thud, sitting down hard. Looking around, he found himself once again trapped in the sealed continent inside the 'Qin' glyph, with the white-bearded old man and the Crimson Emperor hiding from him among the mountains.
"Bad little brother, if I catch you, I'll eat you!"
The fat baby flew into a rage, scrambling on hands and feet as he climbed toward the mountains inside the 'Qin' glyph, planning to catch Heaven Duke's Ray-Avatar and the Crimson Emperor's thought-shard to vent his anger: "First I'll beat the old man, then the one with three heads!"
The two hurriedly dodged away. Heaven Duke's Ray-Avatar said, "Don't worry about him—this is Tu Bo's seal, it keeps shifting, so he can't catch us!"
The Crimson Emperor retorted, "That's what you said last time, and then you got caught."
"This time for sure!"
Quinn Shepherd returned to his body with a sigh of relief. Up ahead, Sovereign King Wuchu's corpse sank, and the dark Nether City projection faded away.
Quinn looked up and smiled. "Lady Umbral, we've finally met. But don't be sad—my divine arts might just be able to gather up the soul fragments you've lost..."
He had barely finished speaking when Lady Umbral, standing in the sea, suddenly lifted her foot and stomped toward him.
A chill ran down Quinn's spine. He had no time to cast spells—he just turned and bolted along the bridge, soon reaching the Pioneer Divine and grabbing him to run.
Behind them came a thunderous crash as a palace was stomped flat. Lady Umbral missed with her first step and turned to chase after them.
Her body pierced the sky, and each stride spanned hundreds of miles. Though her steps rose and fell slowly, her pace was something no one else could match!
"It's those husk-ghosts controlling Lady Umbral's body!"
Quinn quickly deduced why Lady Umbral's skin was attacking them. Without hesitation, he whipped out the Book of Life and Death and shone it at the towering goddess, thinking: "Lady Umbral's been eaten by these husk-ghosts—this Lady Umbral is really just a husk-ghost in her skin! In other words, Lady Umbral now is a husk-ghost herself."
The Book of Life and Death cast its light, but the goddess only paused briefly. Black smoke gushed from her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, but she soon lifted her foot again to pursue Quinn and the Pioneer Divine.
"She's too huge—even the Book of Life and Death can't shine on her whole body!"
Quinn used his vital qi to control the Book of Life and Death, letting it float behind his head as he sprinted, pushing Crippled Joe's Stealing-Heavens Leg Art to its limits, his speed rising and rising!
"Senior, run!" Quinn dragged the Pioneer Divine along, but it was exhausting—he couldn't reach full speed, so he shouted hurriedly.
The Pioneer Divine suddenly broke into a run, moving much faster than Quinn and leaving him far behind.
Quinn was dumbfounded and shouted angrily, "How disloyal! I even shed a few tears for you! If you can run that fast, at least take me with you!"
Suddenly, Lady Umbral reached out her hand to grab him. As her palm plunged from the sky into the Umbral World's atmosphere, it rubbed violently against the air, bursting into roaring flames—yet not burning her in the slightest.
Her palm was like a massive continent falling from the heavens, reaching for Quinn.
Behind Quinn's head, the Book of Life and Death blazed with light. Lady Umbral's hand hadn't yet landed, but each of her fingers began to go limp, as if deflating.
Even so, that palm coming down was still enough to cover Quinn in its grasp!
Just as Quinn was about to be crushed beneath that continent-sized hand, countless runes whirled around him. In an instant, teleportation magic erupted—yellow talisman-like runes spun madly, then burned to ash, and Quinn vanished without a trace.
A moment later, Quinn appeared a thousand miles away. Runes swirled around him again, and he vanished once more, reappearing another thousand miles distant.
His figure flickered repeatedly—as if exhausting all his cultivation just to escape Lady Umbral before she caught up and smashed him out of the Umbral World.
Behind him, the long bridge over the waves kept collapsing under Lady Umbral's steps. It simply couldn't withstand the trampling of such a divine being.
Now, Quinn was almost at the shore—just as countless monsters leapt from the sea, swarming him right as he tried to teleport again. They piled onto him in a writhing mass.
"Get off me!"
Quinn activated the Book of Life and Death—buzz!—and the monsters dropped away as collapsed skins. Overhead, Lady Umbral's palm slammed down hard!
Boom!
The Umbral World's ocean shook violently, and the land at the shore quaked, cracks splitting in every direction with thunderous roars. Magma spewed from the fissures, but even the lava here was a hazy gray.
Lady Umbral lifted her hand. Beneath her palm, the bridge was shattered, the ocean emptied, exposing a bone-dry seabed—the water had been vaporized completely!
As her palm rose, countless runes spun in its shadow. At their center was a huge Sword Pill, like a metal sphere—now crushed and dented halfway through!
Crash—
The runes burned away, the metal sphere vanished, and the next moment it reappeared in a coastal town.
Lady Umbral was puzzled—she hadn't seen Quinn teleport out, and searched all around but couldn't find him.
In the town, the Pioneer Divine peeked out, watching as the Sword Pill bounced and clanged around, with Quinn hidden inside, rolling and ricocheting at high speed.
Inside the Sword Pill, Quinn propped up the Worryless Sword as a central axis, bracing the sphere—just now, Lady Umbral nearly flattened him and the Sword Pill together, but the Worryless Sword held firm and kept him alive.
Still, the Sword Pill was badly deformed by the blow.
When the Sword Pill bounced again, the metal sphere split with a swish, dividing into eight thousand swords. Quinn leapt out, stretched, and raised his hand—eight thousand swords clanged together, merging into a tiny Sword Pill that landed in his palm.
Suddenly, there was a snap from his palm—the tiny Sword Pill exploded, turning into a shower of dust that sifted softly to the ground.
Quinn's face darkened as he stared at his palm. All that remained was the Worryless Sword and a pile of metal dust.
He’d survived Lady Umbral’s palm strike, but the Sword Pill he used to block her was smashed to bits!
Earlier, the Sword Pill held together thanks to Quinn's vital qi, but once he withdrew it, the formation couldn't hold and burst into powder.
"Out with the old, in with the new..."
Still, Quinn felt a pang of loss—this was the spirit weapon he'd forged to match himself, planning to use it for life. Now it was crushed to dust.
Worse, the materials for forging these swords had come from deals with Serena Yunxiang, trading away everything he had.
To achieve sword-flow perfection, he’d borrowed magic fire from the City of Departure and combined it with departure-fire for tempering. Only then did he fully refine the Sword Pill. Now, except for the Worryless Sword, every flying sword was shattered—how could he not feel heartache?
Thankfully, he'd 'embezzled' plenty of Buddha-Origin Red Chrome from Indra King Buddha. This divine metal, unique to the Buddha Realm, was enough to forge another Sword Pill!
Quinn exhaled a heavy breath and looked toward the shore, where Lady Umbral was still searching for him. Towering and majestic, she continued her hunt.
The Pioneer Divine emerged again, hurrying over to Quinn.
Quinn, still scowling, grumbled, "No loyalty!"
The Pioneer Divine looked embarrassed, tried to drag Quinn along, but couldn’t budge him—shrugging helplessly.
"So that's it."
Quinn suddenly understood: "You have no mana, no flesh, no Primordial Spirit—so you can't carry me. All right, I'm not mad. I need your help to find high ground, somewhere the Book of Life and Death can shine on Lady Umbral's face."
The Pioneer Divine dashed out of the town, then stopped and waved when he saw Quinn hadn't followed.
Quinn hurried after him, and together they raced away. Soon, they reached a towering spire by the shore. Quinn gazed up in awe—the tower was impossibly high. The Umbral World was dim and hazy, but with his Ninefold Heaven Opening Eyes, he could see dozens of miles. Yet even looking up, the spire's tip was nowhere in sight.
Gray mist swirled around the tower's waist—who knew how tall it truly was?
The tower seemed forged from some divine metal, gleaming with a dark, metallic luster.
"What's this tower for? It must be far taller than the Chiming Heavenlock Tower Red Plume the Underworld Divine carries!"
Thinking of this, he saw the Pioneer Divine leap upward, scaling the eaves of the tower layer by layer. Quinn activated the Stealing-Heaven Divine Legs, sprinting up the spire—one leaping, one running, both racing for the summit.
When Quinn reached the top, the Pioneer Divine was already waiting, clearly much faster than him.
Quinn gave a silent nod of approval, handed the Book of Life and Death to the Pioneer Divine, and said, "I'll cast the spell from the tower's tip. You stand here and, when I draw Lady Umbral in, open the Book and shine it on her."
The Pioneer Divine nodded eagerly. Quinn was about to leap from the rooftop to the tower's tip when a sudden snap sounded behind him. He turned to see the Pioneer Divine had already opened the Book of Life and Death, gazed at its golden pages, and instantly deflated like a punctured balloon.
Quinn couldn't help but laugh and cry, picking up the Book of Life and Death that was still shining on him.
Without the Book's light, black sand surged in, burrowing into the Pioneer Divine's skin—soon he puffed up again.
Quinn handed the Book of Life and Death back, saying, "This is the front! This is the back! Don't mix them up—if you do, we're both dead!"
The Pioneer Divine nodded repeatedly and thumped his chest in assurance.
Quinn took a deep breath and shouted, "Lady Umbral, I'm here—"
His voice echoed far and wide. He rubbed his hands together, vital qi transforming into Vermilion Bird qi, conjuring a blazing fireball that shone like the sun, illuminating the surroundings.
All around was silent. The Pioneer Divine gripped the Book of Life and Death, tense and alert.
At that moment, the ground shook violently—a heavy, ponderous footstep approached.