If Granny Sue or the Village Chief were here, they would surely scold him furiously for risking his life on such reckless experiments.
After all, the divine sound that appears during Wall-Breaking is different from the one sung by the maidens in the ruins. Using the demonic sound meant to counter the maidens’ chant against the Wall-Breaking divine sound is not just a matter of the wrong cure—it’s far more dangerous. If the divine and demonic sounds interact in some unpredictable way, it could mean more than just losing his life; he might even be wiped out, body and soul!
But Quinn Shepherd has no one to warn him, and he’s unaware of the dangers. So as soon as he learns the demonic sound, he starts experimenting immediately.
Whenever his qi reaches the space between his brows, that distant, decree-like divine sound resounds as always, forcing his qi to retreat. Quinn silently recites the demonic sound, and immediately the divine and demonic sounds tangle together, clashing and battling inside him.
Seizing the moment, Quinn drives his qi toward the Spirit Embryo Wall. But the divine sound still breaks through his demonic sound from time to time, forcing his qi back.
He fails again and again, but refuses to give up, repeatedly driving his qi to attack. After hundreds of failed attempts, his qi finally impacts the Spirit Embryo Wall.
Yet the Spirit Embryo Wall remains, unbroken.
“The divine sound keeps interfering, so I can’t gather all my qi for a full-force attack. That’s why I failed to break the wall.”
Quinn quickly sums up his mistake and launches another assault. After failing again and again, he finally gets his qi to strike the Spirit Embryo Wall a second time.
But this time, he still fails to break the wall.
Before long, he attempts a third strike, then a fourth, a fifth...
When he was learning alchemy from the Apothecary, he developed great patience. Alchemy demands patience, wisdom, keen observation, and skill—above all, patience. Without it, you can never refine a good medicine.
After countless failures, at last, Quinn suddenly hears a faint crack from the space between his brows.
The sound is as beautiful as celestial music—even with Quinn’s strong will, he can’t suppress his excitement.
A crack appears on the Spirit Embryo Wall—a lightning-shaped fissure.
The Spirit Embryo Wall is an invisible barrier, sensed but unseen. As the crack forms, Quinn feels a ray of light shooting from his brow, like a lightning-shaped symbol.
The sensation is truly wondrous.
When you close your eyes, all you see is darkness—no light, no brow, no Spirit Embryo Treasury, no Spirit Embryo Wall.
But when the Spirit Embryo Wall is cracked by qi, you can see lightning-like light piercing the darkness. Only then can you see the Spirit Embryo Wall.
Quinn not only sees the Spirit Embryo Wall, but through the lightning-shaped crack, he glimpses the Spirit Embryo Treasury.
Inside the Spirit Embryo Treasury, the light swirls, golden and radiant, and abundant, dense qi pours out from the lightning-shaped crack, constantly merging with his own qi.
The qi within the treasury is even purer and stronger, but just like the qi he cultivated himself, it has no elemental attribute.
Quinn firmly believes that the qi he cultivates is unique to the Overlord Body, so he pays it no mind.
There is more than just qi in the Spirit Embryo Treasury—other, even more wondrous things are hidden within. But with only a lightning-shaped crack, Quinn cannot see what else lies inside.
The lightning-shaped crack slowly begins to heal. Quinn feels a bit anxious; clearly, the Spirit Embryo Wall is not as simple as he imagined. Though formless, it behaves like a viscous substance that can heal any breach.
Unless he can break through the wall in one decisive surge, only then will he truly open the Spirit Embryo Treasury.
My qi cultivation isn’t strong enough yet, but even cracking the wall lets my qi rapidly improve! Soon, I’ll be able to break through completely!
Quinn, reinvigorated, suddenly hears rooster-like crowing nearby. He quickly opens his eyes.
Among the strange beasts hiding in the ruins are several giant, bald-necked cocks—majestic and towering, taller than a man, with splendid plumage but bare necks. The crowing just now came from these cocks.
Dawn is coming.
Quinn feels a stir in his heart—the eastern sky is already growing faintly bright, signaling that sunrise is near. He no longer has time to fully break through the Spirit Embryo Wall.
Fortunately, he now understands how to break the wall. As long as he can escape Senior Brother Kurt and Senior Sister Claire, he’ll have plenty of time to break through.
Although he hasn’t fully broken the wall, even cracking it has greatly boosted his cultivation. He’s confident he can escape the two pursuers!
“Dawn is coming,” Senior Brother Kurt says meaningfully.
Senior Sister Claire says coldly, “Three junior brothers died fighting evil. If this little demon escapes, won’t that betray their spirits in heaven?”
Quinn ignores them, stands up, and stretches his limbs.
The maidens in the plaza are still locked in fierce struggle with the darkness—light and shadow clash, neither side yielding.
Soon, another rooster crow pierces the air. The darkness grows restless, its voice booming and heavy, while the maidens’ divine chant grows louder and more stirring. Divine light and darkness collide violently, the clash shaking the entire ruin.
Suddenly, a third rooster crow sounds, and a ray of sunlight pierces the eastern darkness, landing on the tallest peak nearby.
As the sunlight hits, the pitch-black darkness recedes like a tide, swiftly retreating into the distance and vanishing beyond the horizon.
As the morning sunlight spills down, illuminating the canyon, the rays have not yet reached the ruins within. The luminous pearl suspended above the plaza slowly descends, and the multicolored radiance flooding the plaza pours into the pearl.
The radiance vanishes, and the maidens in the plaza revert to rows of motionless skeletons, as if their night-long battle against the darkness was nothing but a beautiful dream.
Quinn had often heard villagers speak of the bizarre phenomena in the Great Ruins—strange and unfathomable things. Hearing is one thing, but experiencing them firsthand is far more shocking.
Whenever night falls, darkness invades—the faces in the darkness, the mysterious demonic sound, the pink skeletons that become maidens at night, and the clash of light and dark—each is an incomprehensible mystery.
These secrets await discovery.
Quinn hides among the moving beast herd, quietly slipping outside. The herd clearly follows an unspoken rule—not to fight within the ruins. But outside, they’ll become deadly again.
On the other side, Senior Brother Kurt exchanges a glance with Senior Sister Claire, and both blend into the herd, stealthily closing in on Quinn.
The herd continues to file out in orderly fashion. Suddenly, a sword light flashes silently behind Quinn. He dodges, and the sword almost strikes a nearby beast.
The beast roars in agitation.
“Junior Sister, don’t control your sword—if you injure a beast and the herd goes berserk, we’ll all die here!”
Senior Brother Kurt calls out, and Senior Sister Claire quickly withdraws her sword, flipping onto the back of a beast, then another, rapidly approaching Quinn. Quinn watches in awe—controlling a sword to strike enemies dozens of yards away is impressive, even if it’s not as astonishing as the Butcher’s divine skills.
Claire’s steps are light, her skirt swirling like a pink lotus. From beneath the lotus, her toes stab toward Quinn like daggers!
Her leg technique is fierce—every kick is like a giant hammer with sharp spikes, making the air hum.
This leg art can easily shatter boulders and pierce metal walls!
Quinn’s eyes light up—he faces Claire’s whirlwind leg technique head-on!
Crippled Joe once told him: the Heaven-Stealing Leg Art he taught Quinn fears no leg art in the world!