After the storm passed, Quinn Shepherd crawled out from beneath the heavy dunes. Looking around, he saw nothing but desolation—everywhere the sand was shaped into scaly ridges by the aftermath of the hurricane.
The colossal Solar Ark had shattered into pieces—almost completely disintegrated. Clearly, True Heaven Matron’s final strike was overwhelmingly powerful; she meant to destroy both herself and the Imperial Preceptor in one blow, and ended up smashing the Solar Ark itself.
The flames in the desert had vanished. Though the sand remained red, it no longer burned the Great Ruins cast-outs.
Quinn looked farther into the distance, but saw no trace of fire anywhere.
The Flame Desert had been extinguished.
He couldn’t help but freeze for a moment, then quickly raised his hand—only to find the flame-marks on his skin had vanished too.
He took out several mirrors and checked himself up and down repeatedly, but saw no trace of any flame-patterns.
"True Heaven Matron is dead!"
Quinn’s heart pounded wildly. True Heaven Matron had laid a fire-curse across the Flame Desert aimed specifically at Great Ruins cast-outs: anyone who entered would have flame-patterns appear on their face, and the purer their bloodline, the more marks would manifest.
For Quinn, the flame-patterns had once covered his entire body.
With True Heaven Matron dead, the flames of the Flame Desert vanished—and so did the flame-marks on the cast-outs.
"Pfft, pfft!"
A distant dune split open; Bruno the Dragon-Qilin crawled out, spitting sand. Quinn waved at him from afar and limped toward the wrecked Solar Ark.
His injuries were severe—not from his duel with Ben Coates, but from the terrifying impact of True Heaven Matron’s final strike.
Bruno caught up and rushed ahead, flattening his tail for Quinn to step on. As Bruno lifted his tail, Quinn slid smoothly onto his back.
Bruno carried him at a sprint, racing to the side of the Solar Ark.
Quinn sat down and called out loudly, "Imperial Preceptor, are you still alive?"
"I’m over here."
Quinn followed the voice and saw the Imperial Preceptor leaning in the shade of a boulder. Quinn slid off Bruno’s back and joked, "Hurt again?"
"It’s not too bad—much lighter than last time."
The Imperial Preceptor squinted, feigning sleep. He cracked one eye open, glanced behind him, and said weakly, "True Heaven Matron really was formidable. With the Solar Ark’s power, she surpassed even the gods of High Heaven."
Quinn followed his gaze but saw nothing unusual. Puzzled, he first tended to his own wounds, then tried to move the Preceptor—but couldn’t budge him.
The Imperial Preceptor gave a faint, wry smile. "Cult Master, you can’t lift a god."
Quinn got the message and treated his wounds nearby, grinning. "Are you still planning to head up to High Heaven, Preceptor?"
The Imperial Preceptor shook his head. "This fight with True Heaven Matron was close—she had the advantage of home ground, and I nearly lost. If I barged into High Heaven, there’d be even more gods, and it’s their turf. It’d be suicide. I need to wait: for the Emperor to repair the Divine Bridge, and for other cult-master-level figures in Everpeace to become gods."
There are quite a few Divine Bridge–realm experts in Everpeace, many of whom have been stuck at that stage for years. After Quinn spread his Divine Bridge repair model, they now have hope of becoming gods.
"You let Ben Coates go?" the Imperial Preceptor asked.
Quinn carefully examined his wounds. "We had an agreement—I couldn’t take his life. Without killing him, it’s hard to keep him here. Ben’s escape skills are unmatched—I’ve never seen anyone so slippery. But at least I took half his leg."
The Imperial Preceptor said gravely, "Letting him go will only bring endless trouble. Even I can’t block his Soul-Bowing Witch Rite. My true name isn’t widely known, but if he goes to Goldenridge to check, he could find it. The Emperor’s name too."
Quinn took out a handful of silver needles and turned the Preceptor into a giant pincushion, finishing with one jab between his brows. He grinned, "Ben Coates is no longer a threat to me. The god-demon behind him is the Ghost-Ear Witch God. Ben betrayed him, splitting his divine flesh and hiding the body at Southern Suncrest Mountain in the Great Ruins, and the Primordial Spirit at Northern Shadow Peak. If we destroy the Ghost-Ear Witch God’s Primordial Spirit, we can break Ben’s Soul-Bowing Witch Rite."
The Imperial Preceptor glanced at him, calm as ever. "What if Ben Coates gets there first and moves the Ghost-Ear Witch God’s Primordial Spirit?"
Quinn paused, then slapped his own thigh so hard the Preceptor teared up in pain. Quinn quickly withdrew his hand, brewed a few batches of healing pills, and said, "Ben’s medical skills are almost as good as mine. Even with half a leg gone, he won’t die. Stay here—I’ll head to Northern Shadow Peak first! Remember to take your medicine!"
The Imperial Preceptor tossed him the Black Tortoise Pearl. "Take this—just in case!"
Quinn left a few bags of water and food, leaped onto Bruno’s back, and sped away.
The Imperial Preceptor slumped beneath the boulder, tried to get up, and collapsed again, panting heavily. He gave a bitter smile: "Hurt this badly again... Good thing that brat stuffed the Black Tortoise Pearl into True Heaven Matron’s hands. If she’d attacked right then, she could’ve killed me for real..."
He couldn’t help but feel a bit shaken.
Quinn had repeatedly shoved the Black Tortoise Pearl or Azure Dragon Pearl into True Heaven Matron’s hands, testing her—never realizing the Imperial Preceptor wasn’t as strong as he’d thought.
The guy had total faith in Quinn—even more than the Preceptor had in himself. Traveling with Quinn, the Preceptor always felt like he was tempting fate.
"Good thing the kid left. Northern Shadow Peak is dangerous, but tagging along with him is even worse."
The Imperial Preceptor lay down and closed his eyes to rest. Just then, behind the boulder he leaned against, sand began to swirl and gather silently, slowly forming a giant made of dunes.
The Imperial Preceptor was completely unaware, snoring softly—though his eyes slowly opened.
He quietly raised his hand and plucked the silver needle Quinn had stuck in his brow.
It wasn’t a silver needle, but a sword—the Worryless Sword.
The Imperial Preceptor gripped the sword, squinted, and suddenly stabbed behind him into the rocks!
Behind the boulder, the dune giant grinned and lunged forward. At that instant, the Worryless Sword burst through the stone, piercing the giant’s chest. With a thunderous crash, eight thousand sword-lights shot out from within the sand giant’s body!
The Worryless Sword rang out, and all eight thousand blades flew back. Drops of divine blood fell from their tips as the swords merged into a pill the size of an orange.
The Imperial Preceptor, still leaning against the stone, watched as the Sword Pill circled around and hovered before him.
"Thanks."
The Imperial Preceptor smiled, flicked his finger, and sent the Sword Pill whistling away into the distant desert.
Behind the boulder, the dune giant slowly crumbled. Divine blood seeped from the sand, spreading in all directions.
Bruno carried Quinn east at full speed. Suddenly, Quinn raised his hand and summoned the Sword Pill, which shot to his palm. Bruno staggered under its weight and took a spectacular tumble.
Quinn tucked the Sword Pill into his Toad Bag and smiled. "True Heaven Matron is finally dealt with."
Bruno jumped in fright. "True Heaven Matron is still alive? Didn’t your flame-marks vanish? Didn’t the desert fire go out? How could she still be alive?"
"That’s exactly her cunning. She let us think she was dead—and the Imperial Preceptor pretended to think so too. But when he shot me a look, I shrank the Worryless Sword down to needle-size and stabbed it into his brow while treating him."
Quinn grinned. "The Preceptor gave me the Black Tortoise Pearl so it wouldn’t fall into True Heaven Matron’s hands and make her even harder to deal with. Now she’s truly dead. Don’t believe me? Look back."
Bruno whipped his head around and saw a vast crimson sea spreading rapidly behind them—a tide of divine blood swallowing the desert, surging their way. It was terrifying.
Bruno bolted, running for miles until the red sea finally stopped expanding.
Bruno was horrified. "Did True Heaven Matron bleed that much?"
"Her divine blood became mortal blood—so there’s more of it, naturally."
Quinn glanced back too. Above the crimson sea, radiant clouds streamed through the sky, and along the shore, lush plants were sprouting in wild profusion—even in the barren desert, life was taking root.
"People are the same. No matter how harsh the environment, they’ll always find a way to survive!"
He opened his Crimson Firmament Heaven Eye and looked far into the distance. The shattered Solar Ark had become islands in the crimson sea, and the Imperial Preceptor had climbed onto one—safe from the flood.
"Remember to take your medicine," Quinn called out, waving as Bruno sped away.
Ben Coates stanched his wounds and sat atop a cattail leaf, riding wild winds and thunder toward the Great Ruins. Three days passed before he arrived, just as dusk fell.
During those three days, he healed most of his injuries—except for his right calf, which Quinn had severed, leaving him limping.
Ben scanned the area, his eyes lighting up as he spotted a herd of Great Ruins beasts. He hurried after them and, before darkness fell, reached a ruined site.
Swish—
Ben sliced off a stag’s hind leg. The other beasts roared in protest, threatening him.
Ben opened his Toad Bag, releasing a swarm of soul-bugs. He sneered, "You dare bully me? I can’t do much to Quinn, but killing you is easy!"
The other beasts watched the soul-bugs swarm and didn’t dare approach.
"Ben Coates, you really are domineering."
Suddenly, a voice echoed from the ruins, lazy and amused: "The mighty Ben Coates from Loulan Golden Palace, reduced to bullying wild beasts—how laughable."
"Who’s there!"
Ben hurriedly pressed the stag’s leg to his own severed limb, barely attaching it before standing up. From deep within the ruins, a chest flew out.
Bang.
The chest opened. Two legs ran out, followed by two arms and half a torso, which assembled themselves into a headless body.
The headless body rummaged inside the chest, pulled out a head, and placed it on its neck.
"Ben Coates, don’t you recognize an old friend?" The strange figure turned, revealing a red-lipped, white-toothed youth with a wicked grin.
Ben Coates’s face turned ashen.