Heaven-Guide Venerable!
Lila Swallowfeather exclaimed, her expression incredulous as she looked at the newcomer, then immediately turned to Quinn Shepherd.
She had met Heaven-Guide Venerable before; he always followed Quinn Shepherd and appeared as a slightly chubby youth.
She had once fought Quinn Shepherd fiercely in order to take Heaven-Guide Venerable away, nearly killing Quinn, but in the end Quinn turned the tables and nearly killed her instead.
But shouldn’t Heaven-Guide Venerable be by Quinn Shepherd’s side?
Then who is this Heaven-Guide Venerable before her?
Marcus Autumnwhite was also puzzled, glancing suspiciously at Quinn Shepherd. He too had seen Heaven-Guide Venerable by Quinn’s side, assuming he was just a follower and not thinking much of it, since Heaven-Guide Venerable’s cultivation was still low and not worthy of his attention.
However, the sudden appearance of Heaven-Guide Venerable in the Suspended Coffin made him wary and gave him a sense of danger.
The Heavenly Dragon King also looked puzzled, his gaze shifting back and forth between Heaven-Guide Venerable and Quinn Shepherd. The day Quinn brought Heaven-Guide Venerable to Earth Mother Primordial Lady’s palace, he had nearly pressed his face to theirs to examine them closely.
This Heaven-Guide Venerable was slightly different in build from the one at Quinn’s side, but the difference was subtle.
A heavy silence fell inside the Suspended Coffin.
The Heaven-Guide Venerable smiled broadly and looked at Quinn Shepherd, his gaze falling on Quinn’s hand.
Just now, Quinn’s teacup had shattered in his grip from emotional turmoil; Annie took out a silk handkerchief and gently wiped the water from his face.
Meanwhile, at Quinn’s fingertips, a sigil was spinning rapidly, slowing down bit by bit.
It was this sigil that had caught his attention.
Quinn Shepherd ignored the gazes of those around him.
The Heaven-Guide Venerable who suddenly appeared in this Suspended Coffin could not possibly be the real Ethan Lan.
A million years ago, Ethan Lan died, his Dao shattered and his soul scattered. Quinn Shepherd reconstructed Ethan’s body, repaired his bodily functions, and then forged a coffin for Netherworld Venerable to hide in Youdu.
A few years ago, Quinn finally revived Heaven-Guide Venerable, and since then he had always followed Quinn.
Now, Heaven-Guide Venerable was studying at River Lee Academy, personally supervised by the Butcher.
This Heaven-Guide Venerable who had suddenly appeared in the Suspended Coffin was thinner than the real one. Ever since Heaven-Guide Venerable learned to refine pills, he’d secretly eaten the water kirin’s rations and turned into a little chubby, only returning to normal after Old Farmer put him through some training.
But lately, with Annie—the attentive Bluebird—around to serve him, Heaven-Guide Venerable was starting to show signs of becoming chubby again.
The Heaven-Guide Venerable before them, though, maintained a perfect figure, a flawless form—so perfect he hardly seemed human.
He resembled the dazzling Heaven-Guide Venerable Quinn had first met at the Jade Pool Grand Assembly: radiant and extraordinary.
There could not be two Heaven-Guide Venerables in this world. The one who suddenly appeared in the Suspended Coffin must be a Heaven-Guide Venerable created by Dao Ancestor using the top-floor imprint from the Grand Archive Tower, forged with the Heavenly Court’s Creation artifact.
"There’s another possibility: someone mastered Great Brahma King Buddha’s technique and transformed into Heaven-Guide Venerable. But the person who practiced that method died long ago."
Quinn narrowed his eyes, gaze falling on the slowly stopping sigil, thinking, "If that person had been resurrected, he wouldn’t be acting so cautiously—after all, he was a Venerable too. So this Heaven-Guide Venerable must be an experimental creation by the Heavenly Court using the Creation artifact to test their cultivation system! Heh, the founder of the Divine Treasury and Heaven Palace cultivation systems, reduced to a mere test subject…"
At last, the sigil stopped spinning, still balanced on his fingertip, its engraved side facing the suddenly appeared Heaven-Guide Venerable.
Heaven-Guide Venerable’s gaze fell on the sigil, where the character ‘Mu/Shepherd’ was inscribed.
He saw the character clearly, then looked up to find Quinn Shepherd turning his face, eyes bright and burning with anger.
The 'Heaven-Guide Venerable' smiled slightly and said, "Long time no see."
Quinn Shepherd burst out laughing; the anger in his eyes vanished. With a flick of his fingers, the Venerable token disappeared. He stood and said, "It truly has been a long time! You’re from the Outer Heaven Court—how should I address you? May I ask, are you an old acquaintance of mine?"
The 'Heaven-Guide Venerable' replied with a smile, "You and I could be considered old friends."
But he didn’t say anything more.
The Suspended Coffin was still falling, and the atmosphere inside grew heavy.
Everyone sized up the 'Heaven-Guide Venerable,' each with their own suspicions. Marcus Autumnwhite’s eyes flashed: "This youth would make a fine addition to my collection—his body seems even more perfect than Quinn Shepherd’s Overlord Body…"
Suddenly, the Suspended Coffin jolted, as if plunging into water, then slowly began to rise, drifting upward from the depths. With a splash, it broke the surface.
They heard the rush of fast-flowing water, carrying the Suspended Coffin off to parts unknown.
The atmosphere inside the coffin remained oppressive; no one made a move.
Marcus Autumnwhite suddenly laughed and said, "Junior Sister, now inside this coffin we have people from the ancient Heavenly Court, the Heavenly Dragon King from Earth Mother, these few from Everpeace, this fake Heaven-Guide Venerable from the False Dynasty—it’s already bizarre. But do you know what’s even stranger, Junior Sister?"
Lila Swallowfeather smiled and said, "Please, Senior Brother, go ahead."
Marcus Autumnwhite’s eyes gleamed. "The strangest thing is that this coffin is full of living people, not a single corpse. All lively folks inside—don’t you think that’s odd?" With that, he burst out laughing.
The Heavenly Dragon King replied coldly, "How many corpses do you want in here? I can oblige."
Marcus Autumnwhite smiled faintly as his attendant maids suddenly moved in unison, shielding him and facing off against the Heavenly Dragon King.
Just then, a creaking sound came from the Suspended Coffin, startling everyone. The lid cracked open just a sliver, letting in a shaft of light from outside.
The interior of the Suspended Coffin was enormous; although the gap wasn’t wide, to their eyes it seemed vast.
The light shining down from above wasn’t harsh, just surprising—because the source was a star-river!
The star-river drifted overhead, its countless stars like grains of star-sand.
[Irrelevant system message: skip translation.]
The Heavenly Dragon King quickly leapt up, poked his head out, and was left stunned by what he saw.
The others also leapt into the air, squeezing through the crack and landing atop the coffin lid.
Annie flew to Quinn Shepherd’s shoulder; Quinn, Marcus Autumnwhite, and Dragon-Qilin also soared out of the coffin. Everyone stood atop the coffin, with a dazzling star-river above their heads and the Suspended Coffin itself drifting along another river below their feet.
Quinn looked down and saw that the great river was surging through the starry sky, vast and mighty, heading deep into the cosmic void.
The river’s surface was unimaginably wide, so broad it defied belief, reminding him of the Celestial River in the Heavenly Court.
After the Origin World’s seal was broken, River Lee rejoined the Celestial River. Yet, in Quinn’s memory, the Celestial River flowed through the sky when passing the Origin World, while River Lee ran across the land—meaning the Celestial River’s segment in the Origin World was still partially sealed.
If the seal were completely lifted, the Celestial River would surely soar into the sky.
What amazed them most was that the ancient well actually connected to the Celestial River, and the coffin had plunged into it, carried out of the Origin World by the river’s current.
Standing atop the coffin, everyone searched in all directions but saw no sign of the Origin World.
They had no idea how far they were from the Origin World now, nor where the Suspended Coffin would take them next.
The Celestial River surged onward, passing by a gigantic blue sun and circling halfway around it.
Quinn gazed into the distance and saw that inside the sun was a vast complex of palaces, though all were in ruins—clearly no gods dwelled there anymore.
Soon after, they saw the Heavenly Court, resplendent in gold.
The ancient Heavenly Court was far away, shrouded in golden light. As the Suspended Coffin drifted closer along the Celestial River, they noticed that while the Heavenly Court glittered from afar, its center was filled with heavy dusk.
It was death qi.
The Celestial River passed by the Heavenly Court, then suddenly curved and entered it, the death qi growing ever thicker.
A ruined South Heaven Gate appeared before them, with the colossal corpse of a god-demon hanging from it, waist snapped and dangling, a long spear driven through its skull, the shaft covered in green rust.
The spear had pierced the god-demon’s head and was embedded in the South Heaven Gate.
"Which Heavenly Court is this?" the Heavenly Dragon King rasped.
Lila Swallowfeather and the others stared in confusion at what lay beyond the South Heaven Gate: countless white bones, the skeletons of gods and demons.
The Suspended Coffin floated into the Heavenly Court, with mountains of bones piled high on both banks, chilling everyone to the bone.
Dragon-Qilin crept behind Quinn Shepherd, covering his face with his paws, too scared to look outside—yet he peeked through his claws, only to shudder in terror.
Beside him, the chest was uncontainably excited, pacing back and forth, eager to leap ashore and collect the bones.
Even Marcus Autumnwhite felt a chill down his spine. He’d guessed that Fallen God Valley was merely a gateway to a vast treasure, but never imagined such a terrifying scene lay beyond it.
Suddenly, Lila Swallowfeather asked, "Heaven-Guide Venerable from the Heavenly Court, how much do you know about this Fallen God Valley?"
Everyone turned their gaze to the 'Heaven-Guide Venerable,' who smiled and said, "I don’t know much either. Didn’t you just say this was the tomb of a Venerable? By rights, you should know more than I do."
"You never speak a word of truth!"
Marcus Autumnwhite sneered, "You’re not the real Heaven-Guide Venerable! Who are you, really? If you don’t tell us, do you think we can’t capture you and force the truth out?"
The Heavenly Dragon King’s brow furrowed as he rumbled, "Young man from the Heavenly Court, you’d best tell us everything you know."
The 'Heaven-Guide Venerable' smiled and said, "All I know is that Fallen God Valley truly is the burial place of a Venerable. The Celestial River is the birthplace of the Northern Emperor Xuanwu, but this section of the river has been severed. A group used immense power to cut off a piece of the Celestial River and make it their base for rebellion. That act of defiance was carried out by the Celestial Alliance."
Quinn Shepherd’s heart trembled. Was someone from the Celestial Alliance buried here?