Before them, the sky and earth seemed to fuse together—a spectacle created by a vast, gaping hole blasted through both realms, joining heaven and land in a single, breathtaking vista.
It’s almost impossible to describe this hole. The sky is emptiness itself—how can you punch a hole in emptiness?
The earth is unimaginably thick—no matter how deep you dig, you could never break through. Yet this hole before them unveiled a wonder more incredible and surreal than any could imagine.
The Imperial Preceptor of Everpeace must have, at the brink of disaster, unleashed the Quake Cauldron—a Celestial Phenomenon Weapon—blasting through the sky and earth of both worlds at once, forging a magnificent bridge between realms.
The Quake Cauldron’s force was so tremendous that the two worlds remain wounded to this day—their barriers torn open, unable to mend.
On the side of the Great Ruins and Everpeace, darkness reigned before the breach; beyond it, a sun rose, shining on towering, shadow-clad demon fortresses.
In that world, the sky lay beneath the horizon of the Godsever Mountains, while the continent itself hung above. From Quinn Shepherd and the others’ vantage point, they could see that land—its jagged, blade-like structures jutting up like swords and spears, towering thousands of feet, cold and menacing.
This was a style utterly foreign to Everpeace: imposing, sinister demon fortresses sprawled across mountain ridges, some even floating in the air. Light from the other world poured down, casting their shadows deep into the Godsever Mountains’ darkness.
Even the trees and rocks of that world twisted into unnatural, grotesque shapes—warped and frightening.
Sunlight from the other world shone upward from beneath, bathing Quinn Shepherd and his companions as they stood before the immense circular breach—so tiny they seemed like ants.
The alien sunlight stretched their shadows long across the ground, yet beside the vast breach, those shadows were mere threads.
With the sun below their feet and land above their heads, it felt as if they stood before a giant, trembling mirror—its surface opening onto an upside-down world.
That mirror-like opening kept shivering, gently rattling the mountains and stones around the Godsever range until they floated and drifted in midair.
The tremors left Quinn Shepherd and the others tingling and numb, their Primordial Spirits wavering and unsteady.
Just imagine how terrifying the power unleashed by the Imperial Preceptor must have been when he set off the Quake Cauldron!
"The tremors here are coming from the breach itself, not from the Preceptor using the Quake Cauldron."
Quinn Shepherd’s heart sank. He’d felt tremors ever since entering the Godsever Mountains, thinking they were from the Preceptor and the Quake Cauldron. Only now did he realize—the vibrations came from the breach linking two worlds.
The Imperial Preceptor and his companions were nowhere to be seen—their fate unknown.
He looked up and saw, floating in the sky above that landmass, a mighty demon god sending out his Primordial Spirit while his flesh turned to stone.
All around the petrifying demon god, strange demon clans swarmed like ants, building a colossal altar. Tens of thousands of demon slaves were dragged onto the platform and beheaded—the blood sacrifice meant to send that demon god’s stone statue across the breach.
Priests and mages wearing bone and feather headdresses performed rituals atop the vast altar, the swirling blood around it reflecting in Quinn Shepherd and the others' eyes—a cruel beauty.
The scene was both awe-inspiring and savagely terrifying.
That world was still in a barbaric, bloody tribal age—their divine arts primitive and soaked in blood.
"You could say the Imperial Preceptor of Everpeace has made a colossal mess!"
Quinn Shepherd felt his scalp tingle. The Quake Cauldron had pierced through to another world, and the demon realm on the other side clearly teemed with gods and demons. Upon glimpsing Everpeace, their demon gods were naturally eager to conquer, even willing to petrify themselves and send their bodies across!
Yet, strangely, though these demon god statues were sent over, they didn't attempt larger-scale rituals to expand the Quake Cauldron's breach—instead, they searched everywhere for something.
"And with such a massive breach, why haven't any demon clans come through?" Quinn Shepherd wondered.
The Flood-Dragon King spotted something and quickly said, "Master, there's a demon army on that altar over there!"
Quinn Shepherd looked in the direction he indicated, a chill running through his heart.
Slaves in the demon world were building a colossal altar, many times larger than the last. Its base was like a flattened mountain, and tens of thousands of demon mages floated around it, carving runes into the altar with slaves' blood.
At the altar’s edge, a vast demon army was marching toward the center—they were clearly preparing to use this opportunity to send their forces into Everpeace!
"Could it be that the breach can't be crossed, and they can only rely on blood sacrifice to send demon warriors into Everpeace?"
Quinn Shepherd paused, stretching out his hand to try reaching into the other world through the breach—only to hit an invisible barrier. The other world was right there, yet he couldn’t enter.
The Flood-Dragon King, Dragon-Qilin, and the others also tried; the stronger their cultivation, the greater the resistance. None of them could enter that space-time.
Suddenly, with a thunderous crash, something heavy landed—startling Quinn Shepherd and the others. It was a demon god’s stone statue, sent from the other world, standing silently to their right, more than a hundred feet tall and only a short distance away.
On the statue’s surface, blood-formed runes twisted and shifted, changing shape before slowly sinking into the stone.
The statue suddenly moved, slowly shifting its massive body. Clearly, the priests and mages of the other world had used slaves for a blood sacrifice, granting these statues autonomous movement.
However, they still couldn’t transmit their full power over—the statues could not yet return to flesh.
"Move!"
The Flood-Dragon King hurriedly carried them in a wide arc around the massive breach, rushing away into the distance.
Standing atop the Flood-Dragon King's back, Quinn Shepherd looked back to see the stone statue suddenly bend down, reaching into the earth. Its two arms drilled into the ground like augers, and then, head down, feet up, it burrowed into the earth, slowly vanishing from sight.
[Irrelevant system message. Skipping translation.]
"That statue is searching for something too! What are they looking for? Are the Imperial Preceptor, Grandpa Blind, and the others still alive? If so, where are they hiding?"
Quinn Shepherd activated the Nine Heavens Divine Eye Art, carefully searching for traces of the Imperial Preceptor and the others. Heading north, he saw more battle scars—marks left by Butcher, Grandpa Blind, and others in their clashes with the gods of High Heaven.
"Flood-Dragon King, be careful!"
Quinn Shepherd spotted a black line frozen in midair and quickly signaled the Flood-Dragon King to stop. He paused, sensing something amiss.
Circling around the black line, Quinn watched as his perspective shifted—the line gradually widened. It was a blade light suspended in midair, a slash that had split space itself. The power of the saber technique lingered, preventing the wound in reality from healing.
"What a terrifying saber technique!"
The Flood-Dragon King shuddered. Such saber technique could be called a god-blade, reaching the Dao realm—utterly unstoppable and terrifying.
"Grandpa Butcher's Heavenblade—the Pig-Slaughter Saber Art!"