Quinn Shepherd taught Lina the Spirit Fox how to operate the idol’s mechanisms. He left a concealed control station in the Nethervault Demon King’s chest—just a gentle push on a hidden panel would make the console pop out automatically.
This divine idol‑automaton, forged from cold‑iron gold crystal, was massive—almost nine feet tall. Quinn had spent a fortune on it; just acquiring the cold‑iron gold crystal alone had cost him ten thousand Everpeace coins.
The idol’s mechanism had tens of thousands of components, with nearly nine hundred gears alone—an incredibly complex structure.
Even if the Nethervault Demon King refused to move, someone sitting at the console could still operate the idol, making it walk and fight. With eight arms and four faces, it was a terrifying weapon in battle—ordinary cultivators couldn’t hope to break through its cold‑iron gold crystal defenses.
At the heart of the idol was a small furnace, designed much like the one Quinn had built for Fire‑Bandit Vance Skyler’s ship. But that first furnace was his rookie effort; this time, the furnace was much smaller and far more refined.
Sitting at the console, Lina could toss medicines into the little furnace and use her own qi to control its heat. Even without the Demon King, she could treat the idol as heavy divine armor—a weapon in its own right.
But if the Nethervault Demon King used the idol as his own body and joined the fight, its power would be on a whole other level. Even Six Directions realm cultivators would struggle against it, and those at Seven Stars realm couldn’t be sure of victory.
To Quinn, building such an idol was just a matter of integrating the knowledge Mute Smith, Deaf, and Grandpa Mark had passed down to him. There wasn’t much innovation on his part.
His only innovation was in the integration itself.
But for anyone else, this idol would be the work of a master craftsman, a master mechanic, and a master of runes—ushering in a whole new style of combat.
Lina the Spirit Fox was bubbling with excitement, completely ignoring the Nethervault Demon King inside the idol. She hopped onto the tiny console and immediately piloted the automaton out of the courtyard.
Quinn hurriedly called, "Dragon-Qilin, go after her! Don’t let her cause any trouble!"
Dragon-Qilin grunted in response and trotted after the flailing idol and the shouting Lina. Quinn watched his companion’s retreating figure—Dragon-Qilin’s belly was nearly scraping the ground.
“That beast really needs to go on a diet.”
Quinn shook his head. Dragon-Qilin used to be lean and imposing, always hungry but looking fierce enough that no one dared approach the mountain gate.
But ever since he started following Quinn, he’d gotten a full ration of Redfire Spirit Pellets every day, and drank Jade Dragon Lake water to his heart’s content. The result: he grew fatter and bigger by the day.
If this kept up, Dragon-Qilin would eventually turn into a giant meatball, his belly dragging on the ground and his paws unable to touch the earth.
The old master never fed him a full ration of Redfire Spirit Pellets—otherwise he’d have ballooned up ages ago. Clearly, Dragon-Qilin had been lying about his rations. From now on, I’ll only give him half a ration.
Quinn steadied his breath and activated the Overlord Three‑Core Art again. His body transformed into the Earth Star Lord form: a human head atop a serpent body, holding a phantom scroll. Behind him, a hazy gateway slowly took shape.
Turning around, Quinn’s soul vibrated as he uttered the strange sentence the Nethervault Demon King had taught him in the Netherworld Tongue. The Demon King called it the Gate of the Primordial Earth—whether that was its true meaning, Quinn couldn’t say, but at least he’d learned the phrase correctly.
He recited the inscription on the door, and suddenly the Gate of the Primordial Earth began to open, revealing a boundless expanse of darkness.
Quinn was stunned. He circled the gate, and from every angle he still saw his own courtyard—the portal was impossibly thin, almost without thickness, just a razor’s edge of darkness standing there.
But from the front, he could see an endless world of darkness.
“Is this a gate that connects to another world?”
Quinn hesitated, reaching out and carefully probing the gateway with his hand. Nothing unusual happened.
“Is this the secret of the Five Luminaries Realm? Do other people in this realm have such a gate? Has anyone ever opened it or gone inside?”
He hesitated, wondering what he might encounter if he entered. Could this darkness be the legendary Netherworld?
If he went in, would he ever come back alive?
Just then, Quinn saw a faint light in the darkness beyond the door—a boat, with a dim lantern hanging at its prow, drifting silently toward him.
Beneath the lantern at the bow sat an old man, calmly folding paper men and paper horses. The wavering light made the scene feel hauntingly tranquil.
He tried to lean into the gateway, but the old man lifted the lantern and shone its light on him. Instantly, Quinn felt his soul freeze—he couldn’t move at all.
The old man hung the lantern back on the bow, its light no longer falling on Quinn. Only then did Quinn finally breathe again.
Suddenly, Quinn felt a chill run down his spine. He looked down—and found himself standing on the boat, right beside the old man!
The little boat turned around quietly. Quinn looked back and saw, far away, a gateway shining with light—and at the threshold, his own body peering in from the other side!
His body at the gate was frozen, completely motionless.
He was still at the gateway—so who was this self on the boat?
He looked around—the world was pitch black except for the lantern on the boat and the faint light from the Gate of the Primordial Earth.
A cold dread settled in his heart. The old man, folding paper men and horses, had snatched Quinn’s soul away with the lantern and brought it onto the boat!
The Quinn at the gateway was now just an empty shell—no soul left inside!
“I’m not dead yet—why did you take my soul?” Quinn asked the old man.
The old man ignored him, fully absorbed in folding his paper men and horses.
Quinn looked back—the Gate of the Primordial Earth was growing farther and farther away, and anxiety gnawed at him. The Nethervault Demon King had definitely kept secrets; maybe this portal wasn’t the Gate of the Primordial Earth after all, or the old man wouldn’t have snatched his soul!
He leapt off the boat. He wasn’t too far from the gate yet—maybe he could make it back, return to his own body!
But as soon as he jumped, he didn’t land in water as he’d expected. Outside the boat was only darkness—endless, boundless darkness.
He flailed like a drowning man, arms and legs thrashing, but there was nothing to grab onto. He could only watch himself sink deeper, falling into ever‑darker depths.
Looking up, he saw the little boat drifting farther and farther away, its lantern growing smaller and dimmer, until it nearly vanished from sight.
“That bastard Nethervault Demon King—he really set me up…”
Quinn felt like he’d plunged into an endless nightmare of darkness, with no way out and no hope of escape or rescue.
This was a darkness of pure despair—a bottomless fall.
The boat that could carry his soul had already sailed far away.
Suddenly, Quinn summoned all his strength and shouted the Netherworld phrase the Nethervault Demon King had taught him. The words were twisted and obscure, impossible to pronounce except with the soul itself!
As soon as he finished, an ancient, hoarse voice echoed from the darkness, chanting in the same Netherworld tongue. It sounded like a ritual—like the ancestors offering blood and life to a god who bore the weight of all things.
Quinn immediately felt himself rising, slowly at first, then faster and faster—until he became a streak of light.
Within that ray of light, he glimpsed the boat again, and then the gateway.
The light howled, bursting from the darkness and shooting back into Quinn’s body through the gateway.
Quinn’s body jolted violently. He gasped for breath, drenched in sweat as if he’d just crawled out of a river.
Beyond the gateway, the boat drifted back again, the old man gazing at Quinn—but this time, he didn’t shine the lantern.
Quinn stood at the threshold, ready to dissolve the Earth Star Lord form and close the gate. He called out loudly, “Brother Daoist, what did that phrase mean?”
The old man’s gaze lingered on him, then the boat turned and sailed off into the darkness.
“Great is the Primordial Earth, source of all things, following the will of Heaven.”
“Earth bears all things, its virtue boundless. Vast and luminous, it brings prosperity to all creatures.”
“The mare belongs to the earth, travels without boundary, gentle yet steadfast. The noble one acts, first losing the way, then finding the path…”¹
“What you said was ‘Great is the Primordial Earth.’ If you’d said it sooner, I wouldn’t have taken your soul.”
The boat drifted farther and farther, fading away. The old man’s voice grew faint: “This gate is the Youdu Gate of Bearing Heaven—Primordial Earth bears Heaven. Ghosts and gods may enter, but not mortals like you…”
“The Nethervault Demon King really did set me up!”
Quinn was furious, then burst out laughing: “Well, at least I survived. I’ll deal with him slowly. Huh, my soul feels… different.”
He realized his soul had become much tougher after this journey through the Netherworld. Stunned, Quinn activated the Overlord Three‑Core Art and immediately sensed an indescribable power flowing from the gate, nourishing his soul!
He was taken aback—the Demon King hadn’t lied about everything, after all.
The Demon King was right: learning the Netherworld inscription and opening the gate really did eliminate his cultivation’s weaknesses, making him stronger in this realm than even the Imperial Everpeace Grandmaster!
The Earth Star Lord form in the Five Luminaries Realm was crucial—it was the key to soul cultivation!
After a long while, Quinn felt his soul growing ever more stable. He looked at the scroll in his hands—the words were becoming clearer, strange characters shaped like birds, beasts, insects, fish, sun, and moon.
He couldn’t read these characters yet, but somehow he understood their meaning. As his eyes swept over them, their secrets became knowledge in his mind.
Note ¹: From the Book of Changes, Hexagram Two.