Quinn Shepherd turned to look and saw Liana Flowersoul striding over. She must have followed the tracks left by him and Logan Cross to find her way here.
However, the weather and winds in the Golden Sands Desert change unpredictably, and there are all sorts of strange phenomena. She must've run into plenty of bizarre incidents in the desert, which is why it took her a few extra days to reach the Creators’ final gathering place.
"That's right."
Quinn was blunt, shifting his gaze away from Liana Flowersoul and toward the Void Bridge. His expression was calm as he said, "There’s no one left in the Grand Void Expanse who can threaten me now. Not even Her Majesty the Empress or Madam Yuanmu."
The reason he didn’t keep staring at Liana was simple—her looks bore a striking resemblance to Her Majesty the Empress and Madam Yuanmu. Her waist was slender and strong, her chest proud, and when she walked she moved with the lithe grace of a panther, her hips and back muscles radiating power. It was, frankly, very much his type.
"Could it be that Her Majesty the Empress knows my tastes?"
Quinn’s heart chilled. "She’s certainly studied me in depth and come targeting my weaknesses, but I know precious little about her."
What Quinn didn’t know was that the Empress’s reason for taking on Liana Flowersoul’s form wasn’t actually to deal with him, but to stir up Venerable Vast-Sky’s mother complex. It just so happened that this choice matched Quinn’s aesthetic preferences perfectly.
Quinn steadied his wandering thoughts and kept his eyes fixed on the Void Bridge.
There, Venerable Void was indeed trapped. For all her boundless power, even she was on the verge of disaster at the far end of the Void Bridge.
The Void Bridge stretched on in broken segments. Further ahead, the gaps grew even wider. If it were just the void shattering and collapsing, that alone wouldn’t trap Venerable Void. But here, the void not only collapsed, it would contract—and when it reached the limit, terrifying explosions would erupt!
This cycle of collapse and expansion was like the void itself breathing. With every inhale and exhale, pocket universes sprang up and perished outside the Void Bridge, their lives flickering like phantom light—yet the destructive force was immense.
Even someone nearly invincible like Venerable Void now found each step a struggle, caught in a perilous situation with no way forward or back.
Her chain of Heaven Palaces wavered, battered full of holes by the apocalyptic scene at the end of the Void Bridge, leaving her cultivation far weaker than before.
"Her Heaven Palaces were opened, not visualized. If they were only visualized, she could break and reform them at will—maybe she could even reach the far shore of the Grand Void."
Quinn withdrew his gaze, thinking, "Venerable Void doesn't know the visualization method, so she probably isn't the Creator hiding inside Heavenly Court."
The idea that a Creator lurked within Heavenly Court was Quinn’s own suspicion.
Cloud-Venerable's death was riddled with doubts. She was slain by a Creator, who laid a bloodline curse on her. When Quinn cracked that curse for Liam Cloud, he encountered that Creator's god-sense.
He once guessed that this Creator was Supreme Emperor Julius. Julius died in the Grand Void, but for a Creator, the death of body and soul isn’t true death—only the dissipation of god-sense is final.
Whether Julius has assumed a new face and still lives in Heavenly Court, no one can say.
Still, judging by Venerable Void’s performance on the Void Bridge, she probably isn’t Julius.
If she were Julius, she could cross the Void Bridge using her immense god-sense.
Of course, it’s also possible that Venerable Void is deliberately hiding her true identity and hasn’t unleashed her real power.
Liana Flowersoul approached, shot a glance at Logan Cross, then looked away, gazing out at Venerable Void trapped on the Void Bridge. She sneered, "Hypocrite."
Quinn was taken aback. He turned to her and said, "Good little sister, why do you call Venerable Void a hypocrite?"
"Good little sister?"
Liana snorted coldly and said with indifference, "You dare call me little sister? If I decide to take your head, no one will save you."
She paused, then continued, "Venerable Void’s strength is far greater than what she’s showing, but she’s holding back, afraid someone will see through her real abilities. She’d rather risk danger than reveal her true power—isn’t that hypocrisy?"
Quinn laughed, "But Your Majesty is the same, isn’t she? If you really wanted to deal with me, you’d just use your true skills and I’d be dead for sure. Yet you went and apprenticed yourself to Venerable Vast-Sky to learn the Eighteen Methods to Slaughter Shepherd. That makes you a hypocrite too. None of the Ten Heavenly Venerables are truly honorable—there’s not a single real gentleman among you."
"All the real gentlemen in Heavenly Court died long ago."
For once, Liana actually smiled, her eyes full of amusement. "Then is Shepherd Heavenly Venerable a real gentleman?"
Quinn quickly averted his gaze from her chest and answered solemnly, "I happen to be one of the rare true gentlemen in Heavenly Court." Yet he couldn’t help sneaking another glance.
Liana tugged her collar higher to block his view and said, "Your arts and divine abilities are riddled with flaws. I learned the Eighteen Methods to Slaughter Shepherd from Venerable Vast-Sky—every move is designed to exploit a weakness in your techniques. You’re lucky to survive. If you hand over my wretched younger sister’s corpse, I might let you live."
She added softly, "You’re useful to me alive. But I will dig out your eyes—those thieving eyes of yours."
At a thought from Quinn, Madam Yuanmu’s crystal coffin flew from his brow and landed on the ground with a thud. "It’s nothing precious. Your Majesty, take it if you want. As for my eyes, dig them out if you please—my Creation Mystic Art can rebuild my whole body."
Liana froze, momentarily stunned.
Along the way, she’d imagined countless scenarios—ways to kill Quinn, the shocked look on his face as he died, his final words. But she never expected him to hand over Madam Yuanmu’s crystal coffin so readily.
She stepped forward, reaching toward the coffin, but kept her guard up, wary of a sudden attack from Quinn.
But Quinn simply stepped back, completely at ease.
Liana slowly extended her hand toward the coffin, her gaze never leaving Quinn.
Quinn smiled and said, "Careful, Your Majesty."
He hadn’t finished speaking when the void behind Liana split open, revealing a deep abyss. From within, a pale, slender hand—its fingers long and white as jade—formed a strange seal and silently reached for the back of Liana’s head.
Liana seemed oblivious, but just as the delicate hand was about to touch her, she vanished.
The pale hand struck empty air and retreated, but too late—Liana was already at the abyss’s edge, hurling a palm-seal into its depths: "Little slut, you ambushed me once. Did you think you could do it again?"
A dull sound echoed from the abyss as Elaina Cloud tumbled out, laughing, "Sister, you’ve learned your lesson. I must have trained you well!"
Though she smiled sweetly, Elaina’s attacks were ruthless. Behind her, Heaven Palaces floated in a breathtaking display, and she unleashed all her power at once!
Liana also went all out. The two young women darted and clashed around the altar, their blows thunderous and unpredictable.
Boom—
A Creator hall was vaporized by their divine arts, only to reappear the next instant.
No matter how much destruction Liana and Elaina wrought, everything here was shaped by god-sense and visualization—it restored itself as fast as they broke it.
Quinn watched the two women battle. After a while, he shook his head.
Though Liana and Elaina fought fiercely, they only used power equivalent to Heaven-Guide Divine Weapon level. Neither unleashed their true signature arts or even their real techniques—clearly, each feared exposing her trump cards.
"Looks like the Empress Sisters won’t fight to the death. There’s no point in playing along with their charade."
With that thought, Quinn flicked his wrist and stood the crystal coffin upright. With a boom, the lid opened, revealing Madam Yuanmu’s corpse.
He closed his eyes and entered a dream. Instantly, a dream-world enveloped the coffin. Thousands of tiny Quinns poured from his mind, swarming over Madam Yuanmu’s body—some diving into her sleeves, some crawling along her skin, all studying the runes and textures embedded in her flesh.
Elaina panicked, her moves faltered, and Liana seized the opening—striking her so hard she coughed blood and crashed through several Creator halls.
Liana was about to finish her off when Elaina cried out, "Both our bodies hide the secrets of the Home’s End Dao! If he figures them out, we’ll have no secrets left! I can’t handle him—only you can kill him and reclaim my body!"
Liana sneered, "If I kill him, won’t you just kill me and take your body back?"
"Sister, we’re born of the same root. If my body’s Dao leaks, you’ll be in trouble too!"
Elaina’s eyes brimmed with tears, her voice pitiful: "If he cracks our secrets, we’ll die without burial! I only beat you by ambush before—now that you’re wary, I can’t win head-on!"
She burst into tears. "If you take my body, you’ll have my fatal weakness. I’ll be your slave, your servant, anything you wish—never daring to betray you again!"
Liana shot her a glance, then suddenly launched herself at Quinn, unleashing a move from the Eighteen Methods to Slaughter Shepherd!
Quinn, eyes closed in his dream, rose to his feet—his third eye still shut—raising his hand to strike with his sword.
Liana instantly spotted a flaw in his sword technique and pressed in, aiming for his vital point.
But as her killing blow neared, it struck an invisible barrier—her divine art couldn’t touch Quinn’s body at all.
Startled, Liana switched to another move from the Slaughter Shepherd arts.
But the result was the same—her attack was blocked before it even reached him.
She tried several more times, but couldn’t get close. Flustered, she shouted, "Little slut! He’s stalled—why aren’t you helping?"
Elaina hurried to join in. The two sisters circled Quinn like butterflies, unleashing vast divine arts, but they still couldn’t break through his defenses.
From afar, Logan Cross watched, shocked: "Quinn’s Overlord Body has reached Revered-God level—he’s become so powerful even the Empress Sisters can’t break his defenses!"
Quinn’s Overlord Body was forged in the Dream Realm, and his Overlord Dao had reached the level of Revered-God. It was nearly impossible for anyone below that rank to harm him.
The Empress Sisters’ attacks battered him, but he remained unmoved, continuing his dream-study of Madam Yuanmu’s corpse.
Suddenly, Quinn frowned. He’d discovered something strange about Madam Yuanmu’s body.
Her flesh was riddled with countless runes, but none belonged to her—they were all branded by someone else, forcibly suppressing her Dao and sealing her soul.
He tried to peel away the runes, but they were so tightly woven that removing one would trigger the rest, risking total destruction of her body and Dao.
Quinn hesitated. He could forcefully erase all the runes, but that would destroy Madam Yuanmu’s Dao and soul. If he wanted to save her, he’d have to decipher each rune one by one, which could take years.
He opened his eyes, ending the dream. The Empress Sisters immediately retreated, wary.