The Nethervault Demon King heard Quinn Shepherd's voice and was momentarily stunned, instantly grasping the meaning behind his words.
This forbidden forest isn't meant to keep outsiders away, but to prevent the people of Carefree Haven from leaving!
If it were meant to defend against invaders, the defenses would face outward, and only those trying to break in would be attacked by the forbidden zone.
But in this forbidden zone, anyone who tries to enter or leave is mercilessly destroyed!
Those ruins must be roads forcibly carved out by Carefree Haven’s people in their attempt to escape, not natural paths.
"Such insight from small clues—ordinary people would never even think of this. The ones who taught this brat must be cunning beyond compare, true villains through and through."
The Nethervault Demon King couldn't help but shiver. Clearly, those demons clinging to the Lunar Ark hadn’t escaped Quinn’s notice; he simply kept silent, using them to scout the path for him!
Such a ruthless and scheming youth—his teachers must truly be villains!
The Nethervault Demon King surveyed the forbidden zone, thinking, "With just the Lunar Ark, it’s impossible to set foot in this place. The Ark is far too large—if we force our way in, we’ll trigger the zone’s defenses. Destroying that demon goddess was so easy for the zone; wrecking the Lunar Ark would be no trouble at all..."
Just as he thought this, the Lunar Ark suddenly trembled. The three-legged giant ship slowly crouched down, then a massive shock ran through it—the ship pressed flat against the ground, completely still.
The Nethervault Demon King immediately sensed Quinn Shepherd’s godlike aura dissipate, and finally breathed a sigh of relief. If Quinn had forced the Lunar Ark to charge into the forbidden zone, even he would have been destroyed.
Even though Quinn saw Carefree Haven destroyed, he still kept his composure, which surprised the Demon King.
The Nethervault Demon King kicked the Dragon-Qilin awake and walked outside.
Dragon-Qilin shook his head and followed behind, grumbling, "Iron Lump, where are we now?"
The Demon King snapped, "You slept the whole way and still have the nerve to ask me?"
Dragon-Qilin chuckled, "So you don’t know where we are either? Looks like you slept the whole way too."
At the center of the Lunar Ark’s giant pillars, Quinn’s body returned to normal, and he was pulling his legs out from where they’d been fused into the ship.
The hull of this massive ship was connected to his legs and feet. Just now, Quinn’s figure had been towering; now, as he shrank back to normal size, he left behind huge footprints. The prints automatically closed up, letting him withdraw his legs.
Quinn stood up and immediately felt his mind waver, unbearably weak. All the Divine Treasuries in his body that had been forced open by the Lunar Ark’s immense power now slammed shut, leaving only the Spirit Embryo and Five Luminaries Treasuries open.
The power of this ship was simply too overwhelming. To control it, he had to burn his own life force as the price.
"Crystal Blaze has lived on the Solar Ark her whole life—she’s lost far more life force than I have. She’s really had it tough..."
Quinn took a few deep breaths, swallowed some spirit pills to recover, and stood up. "Demon King, Fat Dragon, let’s go in on foot."
The Nethervault Demon King exhaled heavily. "So you’re planning to rely on my knowledge and experience, to dodge danger and find your village’s old villains?"
Quinn nodded. "You’re the Demon King of the Nethervault World—the king of demon gods. Your insight is leagues beyond mine. Only you can lead me in."
The Demon King burst out laughing, proud. "Exactly! Only I can get you safely in and out. Now lick my feet..."
Quinn’s expression changed, and the Demon King quickly backtracked, grinning. "Just kidding, don’t be scared. If I get you in and out, you have to release me as promised. You swore you would!"
Quinn laughed. "Don’t worry, I won’t go back on my word. I can even sign an Earth Count’s Pact with you!"
The Demon King shook his head. "No need. If you make it official, I won’t trust you. You’d definitely screw me over."
Quinn chuckled awkwardly to himself. "The Demon King really understands me. If he just makes a verbal promise, I’d feel bad tricking him... Grandpa Cripple was right, I’m still too soft-hearted."
He jumped onto Dragon-Qilin’s back, and the Demon King climbed up too. Fire-clouds formed beneath Dragon-Qilin’s feet, and he slowly descended, soon landing at the edge of the forbidden zone.
The Nethervault Demon King was extremely nervous, spitting out a few gears as he spoke. "There’s one living road here, but it was carved from the inside out. If you follow it outward, it’s not too dangerous, but going inward is still full of deadly traps. Stay close to me and don’t stray—if you trigger the forbidden zone, we’re all dead!"
Quinn hurried forward, opened the Demon King’s chest, adjusted the gears inside, and added a few parts, warning, "Don’t try any tricks, Demon King, or you’ll get stuck too."
The Demon King grumbled, "Relax, I get it. Just keep up!"
Quinn followed him forward. The Nethervault Demon King’s four faces and twelve eyes scanned in all directions, his four mouths muttering as he spotted dangers in the forbidden zone and calculated their way through.
Quinn also saw the Demon King using his demonic qi to perform spatial calculations—countless number sigils leapt three-dimensionally through the air as he carried out complex computations.
"Demon King, your skill in numerology is incredible," Quinn said in amazement.
The Demon King grumbled, "Of course! If you can’t master numerology, you’ll only ever learn the surface of most divine arts—not the true essence."
"Can you teach me?"
Quinn said eagerly, "I have a copy of the Grand Mystery Numerology Canon, but I’ve never fully understood it. It uses the trigrams to represent one through eight—octal, which is really tricky."
The Demon King was surprised. "An octal numerology canon? You need to use the Eight Trigrams diagram to calculate—Qian, Kun, Xun, Zhen, Kan, Li, Gen, Dui. If you use numbers instead, it’s a headache, but treat the trigram diagram as an abacus and run the changes, and it’s much easier... We’ll talk about it later. Don’t distract me—if I make a mistake, we’re all dead!"
The Demon King's mastery of numerology wasn’t just high—it was unfathomable. With just a casual remark, Quinn felt a sudden revelation.
He’d spent days studying the Grand Mystery Numerology Canon, but gained little—its theories were too abstruse and calculating with it was a nightmare.
But using the Eight Trigrams diagram as an abacus turned it into a clever computational tool—so many problems could be solved instantly!
"The Grand Mystery Numerology Canon doesn’t just use octal trigrams—it has yin-yang binary and four-phase quaternary too!"
Quinn quickly made connections—the Canon described many calculation methods but never listed the computational tool. Now, with the Demon King’s hint, he finally saw a way to truly master it!
"To truly understand the Canon, I need a computational array—a Taiji Four Symbols Eight Trigrams diagram!"
Quinn took out the Grand Mystery Numerology Canon, flipped through it, and shaped his yuanqi into yin-yang and four phases, then conjured eight trigram sigils floating before him.
Quinn reached out and pulled—the Taiji Four Symbols Eight Trigrams diagram replicated itself forty-nine times, with yin-yang cycling, four phases revolving, and the trigrams shifting.
"So that’s what the Great Derivation calculation in the Canon really means..." Quinn watched the shifting diagrams, numbers forming in his mind, murmuring to himself.
"Don’t get distracted!" snapped one of the Demon King’s faces behind him.
Quinn quickly dispersed the trigrams. With the Nethervault Demon King leading the way, their journey was smooth—the Demon King was, after all, the ruler of the Nethervault World, his insight far surpassing Quinn’s. Although he couldn’t break the forbidden zone’s wards, avoiding them was easy for him.
Besides, the wards along this path had already been broken from the inside out, and the village chief and others had forced their way through, so the journey was uneventful.
Before they knew it, they reached the first ruins. Quinn stopped—this was a village, with only four households. Pots, bowls, and stoves remained, but no one lived here anymore.
Quinn saw eleven graves in the village, no markers, just small yellow earthen mounds. He didn’t know who was buried there.
"It’s safe here!" said the Demon King.
Quinn entered the village, looking around. Suddenly, his heart trembled—he saw a cradle in one home, a little wooden horse, and several tiny baby clothes on the bed.
One of the little shirts had a ‘Qin’ character embroidered on the chest.
Quinn took out his jade pendant—it bore the same ‘Qin’ character.
The youth closed his eyes. After a long time, he opened them again. There were no tears; they’d already dried up.
"Is this my home?"
He walked past the stove, glanced at the pot hanging on the wall, and the bowl covering the stove. He wanted to find more clues, to gather more information, but found nothing else.
He stepped outside, suddenly freezing in place, silently standing there.
A 'Double Happiness' character was pasted on the door. There was no wind or rain here, but after more than ten years, the writing had faded.
The 'Double Happiness' character meant the owner here had gotten married—right inside the forbidden zone.
The little wooden horse in the yard was probably prepared for the owner’s unborn child, and those tiny clothes must have been sewn for that baby.
"Time to go!"
The Nethervault Demon King urged, "That’s enough—we’re done here. I should be heading back. I can’t stand another day in this damned world of yours!"
Quinn composed himself and followed, going deeper into the forbidden zone. Two hours later, they reached another set of ruins.
This was a small town, home to a hundred or so families. Outside the town, rows of graves stretched out.
Quinn wandered about and saw there was even a school here. Maybe some youths once studied here?
Once, this place must have been lively and bustling. Even facing the deadly forbidden zone outside, it still overflowed with the vitality of life.
But at the next village, only four households remained...
They pressed on. The third ruin was a town, littered everywhere with huge fragments of spirit treasures. In the Yan Kang Kingdom, these would be worth a fortune, but here they were strewn about carelessly.
"Let’s keep going!" Quinn said gravely.
"We’re doomed!"
From afar came Granny Si’s angry voice: "You old fools! Even I’m getting dragged down by you—about to die here!"