Quinn Shepherd froze in place. The Heavenly Emperor of the Outer Heaven Court—is it the Heaven Alliance?
Did the blind elder mean that the Heavenly Emperor is just one member of the Heaven Alliance, or the entire Heaven Alliance itself?
He had never considered this question before.
Is it possible that the Heavenly Emperor of the Outer Heaven Court isn’t a single person, but a group—a collective tangled in all sorts of interests?
If this guess holds up, he could sketch out some contours of the Supreme Sovereign Era.
The Supreme Sovereign Era began with Earth Mother Primordial Lady.
Earth Mother Primordial Lady cultivated her own descendants, helping them open up the Supreme Sovereign Era and establish the Supreme Heaven Court, which became known as the Northern Supreme Sovereign.
The Heaven Alliance, meanwhile, supported another faction to establish the Southern Supreme Sovereign and its own Supreme Heaven Court, standing in opposition to the north.
The two Heaven Courts fought and slaughtered each other for nearly three hundred thousand years.
At that time, the Outer Heaven Court was mostly a bystander, watching from the sidelines.
At that time, the Outer Heaven Court was still the Dragon-Han Heavenly Court.
The Dragon-Han Heavenly Court absorbed the Xiaohan and Dragon-Sky Heaven Courts, turning into a bloated giant packed with ancient gods, demigods, and gods cultivated from postnatal beings.
During this period, the Heaven Alliance grew stronger and stronger, gradually replacing the backbone of the Outer Heaven Court through various means, eventually seizing control.
The ancient gods grew increasingly uneasy. Even Heaven Duke and Tu Bo sensed their own interests threatened and felt the danger of being replaced.
Power and interests also fractured the Heaven Alliance from within.
The Heaven Alliance that controlled the Outer Heaven Court also clashed irreconcilably with the Southern Supreme Heaven Court, whose creed was 'Life Above Heaven'—gods exist to serve mortals.
But the Heaven Alliance, now wielding unmatched power, saw the Southern Supreme Heaven Court—which they themselves had supported—as a thorn in their side, a threat to their rule.
The breaking point came after the Heaven Alliance eliminated Earth Mother Primordial Lady. With her death, the Northern Supreme Heaven Court was destroyed, and wiping out the Southern Supreme Heaven Court became the Heaven Alliance’s top priority.
War broke out just as Venerable Skysoar was cutting off a segment of the Celestial River to test her perfected divine art. As long as she lived, the Southern Supreme Heaven Court could not fall.
A terrifying figure charged into the mist and assassinated Venerable Skysoar. At the same time, the Outer Heaven Court’s god-army attacked the Southern Supreme Heaven Court, leading to its total destruction!
That was Quinn Shepherd’s speculation.
Though there were still plenty of unanswered questions, he felt this guess was probably close to the truth.
He followed the blind elder back to the Celestial River’s bank. The elder resumed the ritual of laying Venerable Skysoar’s drifting 'corpse' to rest, but as always, it dissolved into clear water.
Quinn couldn’t help but say, “Elder, Venerable Skysoar’s divine art is ‘no change, no increase, no decrease’ in matter. Even if she dies, her body will vanish and revert to herself, reviving again. Because her divine art means matter never changes. What you’re burying is never really her—just river water. The real her has become the eternal matter above the Celestial River. She’s turned into the mist on the river. She doesn’t care what you do! She doesn’t care if you build tombs or raise steles for her!”
If anyone truly understood Venerable Skysoar, it was Quinn Shepherd.
He knew more about her divine art than anyone. Back then, he and the Pioneer Emperor had taught her the rudiments of the Creation Dao, and it was with their help that the first form of her divine art took shape.
Later, when Quinn entered the Ghost Ship, he used the power of the Four Emperors to break through Venerable Skysoar’s divine art, though it still wasn’t perfect at the time.
But when it came to understanding her divine art, he was second to none.
To him, the blind elder’s vigil at the riverbank, collecting Skysoar’s remains, was pointless—she’d already become one with her divine art. In a sense, she was her divine art now.
She would live forever within her divine art—dying and reviving, over and over, in endless cycles.
Quinn even suspected that the mist he encountered at the source of the Yongjiang was actually Venerable Skysoar’s divine art—she had brought him back to ancient times, to the final days of the Supreme Sovereign Era.
He just hadn’t realized it at the time.
The blind elder ran out of stone coffins, then dragged another coffin to set up a new tombstone. His voice rumbled, “No one cares about her—not even she cares. My teacher was someone who lived for the Dao alone, a pure soul! She was so single-minded that her heart held only the Dao. She had none of your schemes, none of your plotting. She never cared for power or status and never threatened anyone. Why did she have to die? Why couldn’t she be allowed to live?”
The blind elder’s rage burned sky-high; he threw back his head and howled like a wounded beast.
“Why must a pure soul die? Why didn’t you two Heavenly Venerables take responsibility yourselves? Why go back to the day you met her and dump all the burdens on her?”
His hair bristled with fury as he shouted, “Couldn’t you have shouldered it yourselves? Why did you leave? Why couldn’t you stay by her side? Why make her face the cruelty of the world alone?”
“She didn’t understand, Venerable Shepherd! She really didn’t—”
Blood-tears streamed down his old face as he hunched over, dragging stone coffins forward, his voice growing quieter.
“Why do I bury her? Why do I stand here, burying her again and again? Venerable Shepherd, don’t you understand? Because she died. Because, inside her divine art, she dies over and over—the pain of dying, don’t you get it?”
“She’s endured countless deaths, so I have to bury her countless times. Every single death is agony—every single one is real. She has to suffer that pain again and again...”