"Impossible. I bowed to destroy your soul—how can you still be alive?"
The Ghost-Ear Witch God eyed Aiden Starr, who had just sat up, and said doubtfully, "Or maybe you’re not really Aiden Starr? No, that can’t be. Just now, when I bowed, your soul clearly shattered and dispersed. Once a soul collapses, survival is impossible! What method did you use to reassemble a dissipated soul? You really do have some remarkable tricks..."
He circled Aiden Starr once, pondering aloud, "I sensed your soul collapse just now, then saw something strange crawl out of the chest and rejoin your corpse, bringing you back to life. But here’s what puzzles me: once the soul dies, even if another soul returns to your body, you’re no longer truly yourself. How did you preserve your own consciousness?"
Aiden Starr rose to his feet, gazing up at the Ghost-Ear Witch God's Primordial Spirit, a strange light in his eyes, his footsteps shifting as well.
The Ghost-Ear Witch God circled him, and he circled the Witch God in turn. The paths they traced—one large, one small—looked like two stars orbiting each other in space.
Victor Bloom glanced at Quinn Shepherd, recalling the scene when Quinn defeated him: Quinn had used pure qi-momentum to draw him in, suppressed him with sheer presence, and wore him down by shifting his moves and footwork as they moved.
That time, Victor Bloom lost miserably—neither of them even exchanged a formal move before Victor coughed up blood and collapsed. Later, it was Quinn who treated his injuries, leaving Victor deep in debt and forced to earn money by blacksmithing.
Now, the techniques the Ghost-Ear Witch God and Aiden Starr were using resembled Quinn’s methods from back then—only far more advanced.
Aiden Starr fixed his gaze on the Ghost-Ear Witch God, unable to help but praise him. "Marvelous specimen, Ghost-Ear Witch God! You’re truly extraordinary—none of the Primordial Spirits I’ve collected over the years come close to your strength. You’ll be the crown jewel of my collection!"
"Collect me?"
The two had already walked from the ground up into the air. The Ghost-Ear Witch God sneered, "Did you take me for some clay idol? My magic is boundless, my combat power unrivaled. I’m no fake god from a counterfeit Heavenly Court—I hail from the true Heavenly Court itself! I’ve wiped out old dynasties of the false court, slaughtered countless mighty beings. Wherever I go, corpses pile high and blood flows in rivers! You’re just a little trickster who’s mastered some freakish techniques, a fraud peddling cheap tricks like a street performer. I know your game: what flew out of that chest just now was only the seven po, not the three hun. Your soul is still yours, but you stole someone else’s seven po."
Quinn Shepherd’s eyes flickered. "So Aiden Starr’s essence is his three hun? He became a god by cultivating his three hun? Then maybe his three hun aren’t even stored in that chest."
Aiden Starr’s expression shifted slightly, and he said admiringly, "Marvelous specimen, Ghost-Ear Witch God! You impress me more and more. When you bowed to kill me, I saw through your Soul-Bowing Witch Rite as well. That so-called Soul-Bowing Witch Rite doesn’t truly shatter the soul—it splits the three hun and seven po, separating the po. The ones you ‘kill’ with this art still have their souls left, but you forcibly control them. Otherwise, why would so many vengeful spirits cling to you? Your witchcraft is just an unusually brutal soul-path technique!"
Little Tathagata’s body trembled violently. He murmured, "So that’s how it is."
A ring of monster-monk high priests surrounded him, stabilizing his soul that might collapse at any moment. Hearing this, they too suddenly understood, as if a veil had been lifted from their eyes.
Buddhist divine arts are unique—the Buddha Eye can see vengeful souls. They’d long noticed the countless wronged spirits clinging to the Ghost-Ear Witch God and believed converting him would bring boundless merit, maybe even open the way to the Twentieth Heaven of the Buddha Realm and let them become Buddhas themselves.
They knew the Ghost-Ear Witch God could kill with a name alone, scattering soul and spirit with his witchcraft—a terrifying power. Yet they’d never connected the vengeful souls around him to the Soul-Bowing Witch Rite itself.
Quinn Shepherd’s heart pounded—Aiden Starr was truly remarkable!
The Ghost-Ear Witch God had tried to kill him twice: once when Ben Coates used the Soul-Bowing Witch Rite and failed, and now, with this latest bow, he ‘killed’ Aiden Starr outright.
Just two tries, and Starr had already unraveled the secret behind the Ghost-Ear Witch God’s Soul-Bowing witchcraft!
Such talent, such insight—truly extraordinary!
"His talent and perception are every bit as impressive as the Imperial Preceptor’s! It’s a pity he’s spent all his energy searching for other near-god experts and collecting their bodies. If he’d devoted himself entirely to cultivation... Well, he’d probably be dead of old age by now anyway, since his Divine Bridge is broken... Wait a minute!"
Quinn Shepherd’s body trembled, disbelief flashing in his eyes.
The Imperial Preceptor was the most gifted and insightful person Quinn had ever met—bold enough to reform the cultivation system and famed throughout the land even before that, praised by the Elder Buddha and Old Dao Lord as a ‘once-in-five-hundred-years saint’!
The Imperial Preceptor is still in his prime—so who was the ‘once-in-five-hundred-years saint’ before him?
"Could it be...?"
Quinn Shepherd’s expression grew strange. If Aiden Starr’s talent and insight were this high, matched only by the Imperial Preceptor, then wasn’t the ‘once-in-five-hundred-years saint’ from Village Chief’s era actually Aiden Starr?
"It’s very possible! The Imperial Preceptor also had a habit of collecting other people’s body parts."
Quinn clenched his fists—the Imperial Preceptor once collected the Cripple’s leg!
Up in midair, the Ghost-Ear Witch God and Aiden Starr suddenly clashed. The darkness above Lesser Sumeru Mountain was torn apart by their powers. Though the Witch God couldn’t kill him with his bow, he was still a true god’s Primordial Spirit—his cultivation and techniques were overwhelming, mostly soul-path arts, but also many other kinds of magic.
His spell arts were overwhelmingly powerful, ripping open the darkness and revealing a host of eerie faces within.
With spell arts at this level, even without a physical body, his combat power far surpassed Little Tathagata.
Yet none of his techniques could touch Aiden Starr.
Aiden Starr’s speed was simply too fast, like flickering shadows—just like Crippled Joe!
Faced with such speed, not even the Ghost-Ear Witch God’s techniques could catch or strike him!
Crippled Joe’s speed was unrivaled in the world—if he fled at full strength, no one could catch him. He’d only ever failed twice: the first time, when he tried to steal the Imperial Disc and was discovered by the Imperial Preceptor, who cut off one of his legs before he could escape.
The second time was when he faced Aiden Starr.
Crippled Joe’s speed was unbelievable, but his cultivation was not as deep as Aiden Starr’s. Starr chased him relentlessly until Joe was exhausted, and finally cut off both his legs.
With such speed, the Ghost-Ear Witch God had almost no chance of landing a hit on him!
Boom—
In midair, the Ghost-Ear Witch God took Aiden Starr’s first blow. His body shook, and his Spirit Embryo was nearly knocked out of his Primordial Spirit, panic flashing across his face.
Then, with another thunderous crash, he was struck a second time. His Primordial Spirit spat jets of true fire from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, and the separation between his Spirit Embryo and soul grew even greater.
Boom, boom, boom—blows rained down in midair. The Ghost-Ear Witch God’s Spirit Embryo inside his Primordial Spirit was battered in every direction, creating afterimages, his face twisted in panic.
He found himself utterly powerless to resist.
Even the Imperial Preceptor, that pervert, might not be a match for Aiden Starr right now, Quinn thought grimly, glancing at Starr’s chest not far away.
This time, Aiden Starr had set the chest down instead of carrying it on his back.
Next to the chest, Ben Coates shrank back, clutching the severed leg tighter in his arms.
I’m doomed... My master is finished, he’s no match for this monster Aiden Starr. I was hoping to profit when they both got hurt, but now it looks like I won’t get a thing...
He pulled out the taotie pouch and stuffed the leg inside, thinking, 'Aiden Starr is sly as a fox—he’ll definitely force me to reattach this leg. If Quinn poisoned it, I’m dead. Even if it’s not poisoned, Starr will just chop it off again. Might as well slip away... except the darkness outside means I can’t escape.'
Just as he thought this, he suddenly saw Quinn not far away, holding a fist-sized pearl and muttering as if activating a spell.
But Aiden Starr was busy beating the Ghost-Ear Witch God senseless, and couldn’t hear what Quinn was saying.
"Black Tortoise Pearl!"
Ben Coates’s eyes widened—he recognized the pearl in Quinn’s hand as the Black Tortoise Pearl, one of True Heaven Palace’s four great divine treasures. Even in his past life as a Grand Venerable, he’d only ever seen it, never held it himself.
This bastard’s luck is off the charts—he managed to steal the Black Tortoise Pearl from True Heaven Palace in the chaos!
Just as he had this thought, Quinn’s left hand flashed through a series of unpredictable mudras, leaving afterimages in the air before finally forming a sword sign and lightly tapping the Black Tortoise Pearl.
"All-Gods Natural Art!"
Ben Coates’s heart skipped a beat. Suddenly, the chest beside him trembled—he was chilled to the bone as he saw it shift, then a leg sprouted from beneath the chest!
Ben nearly cried out as more legs sprouted from beneath the chest. Then it wobbled and actually stood upright.
Before Ben could recover, he saw Quinn leap onto the chest. The chest, now with four legs, sprinted down the mountain. Halfway down, Bruno the Dragon-Qilin was shrinking his body, and as the chest raced past, he jumped on and plopped down.
Ben Coates was stunned. He looked at Void, who was holding Jingyan’s hand and waving at Quinn on the chest—they clearly knew what was going on.
"Sly! He even dares steal Aiden Starr’s chest!"
Ben was about to shout for Aiden Starr, but suddenly changed his mind and sprinted down the mountain as fast as he could.
The chest was incredibly fast, quickly reaching the mountain gate and nearly plunging into the darkness. Ben leapt up, grabbed hold, and was carried off into the night.
Inside the chest, a pile of divine artifacts drove back the surrounding darkness as its four legs raced into the black night.
"So you’re the Grand Venerable."
Quinn turned around and saw Ben Coates dangling beneath the chest. Grinning, he drew his sword and swung. Ben blocked with the poisoned leg, Quinn’s sword clanging against it.
"Stop, Cult Master Quinn!"
Ben shouted, "If you attack again, I’ll call out! Let’s see how you escape then!"
Quinn sheathed his sword, beaming. "Grand Venerable, what are you saying? We’re old friends! How could I harm you? If you’re tired of eating dirt under the chest, I could pull you up."
He quietly nudged Bruno the Dragon-Qilin, who understood and began brewing true fire in his mouth, ready to blast Ben into the darkness as soon as Quinn hauled him up—hoping to use the Great Ruins’ night to finish him off.
Ben shrank back, clinging to the underside of the chest. "I appreciate your kindness, Cult Master. I love eating dirt. I’m fine right here, don’t mind me."
Just then, Aiden Starr’s furious voice echoed from above Lesser Sumeru Mountain: "Quinn the Divine Healer—I want to see if your heart is just as black!"
"Definitely black," Ben muttered from under the chest.