Two days later, Lynn Ling returned to the capital to await the emperor’s assignment. She accompanied Quinn Shepherd, seeing him off at Heavenly Saint Academy before heading back to the city.
Heavenly Saint Academy is Granny Sue’s old mountain estate. After the battle with Starhound, Granny Sue, the Mute Smith, Grandpa Blind, Apothecary, and others all settled here. The emperor planned to establish the Four Great Academies as the highest schools outside the Imperial Academy, so the Holy Cult’s deans, guardians, and Heavenly Kings vied for influence—thus Heavenly Saint Academy was founded here, built by Quinn.
Now, many in the court belong to the Holy Cult—from the National Preceptor and Duke of Guards down to local constables and bailiffs—so Quinn doesn’t need to fight for influence himself; others handle it for him.
Granny Sue, the Mute Smith, and Grandpa Blind have all become Supervisors at Heavenly Saint Academy, occasionally teaching classes. The other Supervisors are usually deans from the Holy Cult as well.
When Quinn arrived at Heavenly Saint Academy, it was during class hours—the place was empty except for a group of flood-dragons playing in the lake. Seeing Quinn, the flood-dragons froze for a moment, then all leapt ashore in a rush.
Sensing trouble, Quinn immediately bolted. "Weren’t these flood-dragons raised by Saintess Yunxiang on Sacred Descent Mountain? How did they end up at Heavenly Saint Academy?"
"Maha! Maha! Maha!"
A pack of flood-dragons gleefully chased past Bruno the Dragon-Qilin and the taotie bone chest. After a moment, Quinn was captured, covered in flood-dragons; he dragged his exhausted body along, with a dozen dragons hanging from him, their heads rubbing against him and their horns scratching bloody lines across his neck.
"Maha..." The little flood-dragons clung to him, eyes half-closed, almost drifting off to sleep.
Quinn was soaking wet, as if he’d just been fished out of a lake.
Bruno let out a long sigh of relief. Suddenly, all the flood-dragons on Quinn lifted their heads and looked at him. Bruno sensed danger and immediately took off running.
"Maha! Maha! Maha!"
A group of flood-dragons joyfully dashed past the taotie bone chest. After a moment, Quinn and the chest saw Bruno crawling back, barely moving, his neck, body, and limbs wrapped in flood-dragons.
"Maha." The flood-dragons rubbed against Bruno, leaving the big guy covered in bloody streaks.
"Maha?" The flood-dragons tilted their heads, curiously eyeing the chest.
The taotie bone chest followed Quinn, but now sensed trouble and quickly sprinted away on its legs.
A swarm of flood-dragons slid off Bruno and leapt toward the chest, happily shouting, "Maha! Maha! Maha!"
Bruno sighed in relief and collapsed on the ground. After a while, the chest came running back, its legs tapping quickly. Quinn and Bruno stared in surprise—there wasn’t a single flood-dragon on the chest.
"Maha—" The chest popped open, and more than a dozen dragon heads burst out, all crying out together, clearly delighted.
The scene looked just like a box of multicolored daffodils poking their heads out.
The taotie bone chest strutted along proudly with them, seemingly unfazed by the weight of all those flood-dragons.
"Quinn, you’re back?"
The dismissal bell rang. Granny Sue stepped out of a teaching hall, spotted Quinn, and hurried over with a smile. "Haven’t seen you in ages! You’re quite the hands-off Grand Rector, leaving all these Heavenly Saint students here and running off, making us watch them for you…"
Quinn hugged her tightly, tears streaming down his face. "Granny!"
Granny Sue paused, then smiled, "Feeling wronged? What’s a Grand Cult Master doing crying? You’re still Grand Rector of Heavenly Saint Academy, you know. Stop crying, it’s not good for the students to see. Just tell Granny what happened, I’ll stand up for you."
Quinn felt his heart settle. He let go and shook his head. "What’s with all these flood-dragons? Weren’t they sent to Sacred Descent Mountain?"
"Yunxiang originally sent them to Sacred Descent Mountain, but she got fed up with their daily demand for spirit pills—especially since they wanted a new flavor every day. Too expensive! So she sent them back."
Granny Sue said, "Yunxiang is stingy, always watching the Holy Cult’s purse. But it’s fine having them at the academy. The Heavenly Saint students learn alchemy from your Grandpa Apothecary, and the pills they make are perfect for feeding the flood-dragons. Plus, having them boosts the academy’s reputation—students come to sketch dragons, forge dragon-shaped spirit weapons, or practice dragon-style divine arts, all using these flood-dragons. Now, what happened? Who bullied you? Crippled Joe! Apothecary! Grandpa Blind! Get over here—someone bullied Quinn!"
Boom.
With a rush of air, Crippled Joe suddenly appeared at Quinn’s side. "Who dares bully my Quinn? Tired of living, are they?"
Quinn said, "It was the First Human Emperor—a true god. Grandpa Joe…"
Crippled Joe shivered and turned to leave, but Grandpa Blind grabbed him with a laugh. "Scared, Joe?"
"Of course I’m scared!"
Crippled Joe muttered, "That bastard Starhound wasn’t even a true god and he nearly killed us. The First Human Emperor is a real true god—picking a fight with him is suicide."
Apothecary walked over, thinking aloud. "First Human Emperor? True god? Maybe poison could solve it?"
Quinn shook his head. "I want to defeat him fair and square—beat him in the same realm, and if possible, beat him to death."
Apothecary shivered and shrugged. "That’s beyond me."
Crippled Joe sighed. "I can’t help either. What about Mute Smith?"
"Mute Smith ran off a few days ago."
The Butcher approached, adjusting his robe over his shoulders, his voice booming. "He sneaks off now and then—who knows where he goes? Quinn, what’s a true god really capable of?"