"The Woodcutter Sage's stone statue has awakened?"
Quinn Shepherd's heart trembled. He urgently asked, "Where is he now?"
"He's already left. If you had arrived a few days earlier, you could've met him. The Woodcutter Sage left carrying his axe. I was startled when he woke up—these two beings, why did they awaken one after the other?"
Sage Nicholas Tranquil said, "As for where he went, I have no idea."
Quinn steadied himself. The First Human Emperor of Human Emperor Hall and the Woodcutter Sage of the Cult of the Heavenly Saint had both awakened one after another—truly uncanny. Why did they choose to awaken at this particular moment?
Where would the Woodcutter Sage go?
The Cult of the Heavenly Saint was not founded by him—he was only the founding patriarch, wanting to leave behind his legacy. So he might not necessarily return to the Cult.
Other than the Cult of the Heavenly Saint, where else could he go?
Wang Moran and the others aren't at Little Jade Capital Sect—they've gone to Dragoncrest City. Only some old immortals remain on the mountain. Sage Nicholas Tranquil looked Quinn over and said, "Human Emperor Quinn, you don't seem quite yourself. Are you sure you want to enter the Five Qi Hall? You seem a bit distracted."
Quinn shook his head and said, "May I ask, Sage Nicholas, can Little Jade Capital Sect currently open the Five Qi Hall, Six Directions Hall, and Seven Stars Hall? I want to take a look inside."
Quinn gave his thanks and began a meticulous inspection, carefully examining the runic imprints on the palace walls from every angle, committing each detail to memory.
Each of the five stars in the Five Luminaries Treasury bore a naturally formed palace. When a cultivator reaches this realm, their method leaves unique rune imprints on these stars and palaces, each corresponding to one of the five elements.
The stars and their palaces arise naturally, but every method imprints its own runic patterns upon them. Ultimately, these runes, when fused with yuanqi, give birth to the palace’s resident deity.
In any cultivator’s Five Luminaries Treasury, the five luminary gods inhale and exhale vital energy, and the nature of this yuanqi shifts with each god’s element. This is why they are called the Five Qi.
Quinn had already cultivated his Five Luminaries Treasury to its utmost limit, unable to progress further. Yet his battle with the First Human Emperor made him realize that his own limit was not the universal limit.
He continued his detailed observation while Sage Nicholas Tranquil patiently waited, never rushing him.
After an unknown length of time, Quinn finally stopped inspecting and closed his eyes in contemplation.
He opened his eyes and turned to Sage Nicholas Tranquil. "Sage Nicholas, I have an unusual request."
Sage Nicholas immediately understood, transformed into a streak of light and departed. The palace was left to Quinn alone, and the runic imprints along the great hall’s walls suddenly flared to life. Quinn’s body involuntarily shifted, transforming into the red-haired, snake-bodied deity.
After a long while, Quinn dispersed the deity form, left this palace, and moved to another star. He entered the new palace and began inspecting its runic imprints.
Quinn shook his head. "I've come this time only to observe a true god's Divine Treasury. I hope Sage Nicholas can make an exception."
Sage Nicholas Tranquil frowned, and the other four old immortals also furrowed their brows. One said, "The founder of Little Jade Capital Sect left the Three Origins Hall to teach future generations, to fill in what they lacked—not for people to simply admire his Divine Treasury."
An old woman frowned. "No one who's entered here before has ever made such a strange request. Sage Nicholas..."
"Human Emperor Quinn isn't an outsider."
Sage Nicholas Tranquil pondered for a moment. "He made the god-making method public, and we've all benefited from it. Little Jade Capital Sect ought to grant his request. Besides, the ancestor who left these trials also bore the surname Qin."
The other four old immortals said nothing more.
Sage Nicholas Tranquil said, "Human Emperor Quinn, you only have one chance at the trial. If you succeed, you'll gain god-source Five Qi, which will greatly benefit you and fill gaps in your Five Luminaries Treasury cultivation. Are you sure you want to waste this chance just to observe a deity's Divine Treasury?"
Quinn bowed. "Teaching a man to fish is better than giving him a fish. I'm willing to give up the god-source Five Qi."
Sage Nicholas Tranquil broke into a smile. "Very well. I thought your state of mind was unstable, that you'd lost your wits and couldn't face the trial. But your spirit impresses me. In that case, come forward!"
A beam of blue light swept down, lifting Quinn into the air and setting him atop the Water Luminary Star. Sage Nicholas Tranquil, now in the form of the red-haired, snake-bodied deity, led him into the palace. "Human Emperor Quinn, observe as much as you wish. How much you comprehend depends on your own ability."
Bruno the Dragon-Qilin was overjoyed and hurriedly gobbled up all the spirit pills in the basin.
As Quinn passed through towns, he stopped to buy medicinal ingredients, visiting several cities in a row. He refined piles of Redfire Spirit Pills and Fire Essence Origin Pills, stuffing them all into the chest. Bruno was moved to tears: "Cult Master treats me so well!"
Quinn also bought some black iron and dark gold, forging a variety of strange spirit weapons along the way.
Bruno couldn’t make sense of it and had no idea what Quinn was planning. He only saw that some of the spirit weapons were flags, some were altars, and others looked like eight-trigram plates, taiji diagrams, abacuses, and five-element calculators—strange computational tools of all sorts.
After a few days, they arrived near Dragoncrest City but didn’t enter.
Quinn activated a host of eight-trigram platforms, taiji diagrams, and other computational devices, running endless calculations. He surveyed the terrain, measured mountains and rivers with folding rulers, and jotted down a string of symbols on paper. Bruno peered over but couldn’t understand a thing.
He calculated for a long time, and as dusk fell, darkness began to descend.
At last, Quinn finished his computations and swiftly set up an altar, planting flags all around it. He stood atop the altar, and when Bruno and the chest tried to join him, he shooed them away.
"Cult Master, what are you doing?" Bruno asked, sticking close to the chest.
Quinn activated flag after flag, watching as darkness crept in from all sides. Within that darkness, another world began to emerge, overlapping with the Great Ruins. In that world, countless demonfolk shadows billowed like smoke, pouring from massive spatial rifts.
In Quinn’s eyes, the people of the other world were fighting desperately against the demonfolk invasion. Before him stretched a battlefield of unimaginable scale.
"Bruno, I’ve already refined enough spirit pills to last you a long time. For the next few days, just stay with the chest. I’m preparing to..."
Quinn’s gaze locked onto a rampaging demon general in the heart of the battlefield. On the altar, countless runes flared to life, and the teleportation flags whirled and howled, spinning around the altar: "To another world!"
Boom—
With a thunderous crash, both Quinn and the teleportation flags vanished in an instant. On the altar, a towering demon general appeared, confused and dazed, staring around at his new surroundings.
Toot—
A long horn blared, countless flags whipped and spun, forming a vast circle. Suddenly, Quinn found himself on a boundless battlefield, surrounded by a surging army of demonfolk, all sweeping him along in their wild charge!
Ahead lay a city of breathtaking splendor, warships hovering in the sky, and hosts of gods and demons standing tall, wielding divine weapons and sweeping down entire legions!
By means of ritual and teleportation array, Quinn had thrown himself into the world of the mysterious dark girl!