Suddenly, a thought struck him, leaving Quinn a bit puzzled.
Right now, Venerable Skysoar, Moon-Venerable, and Cloud-Venerable were all absent from Sky-River Heavenly Court. What could have happened that required all three Heavenly Venerables to act together?
Cloud-Venerable and Moon-Venerable were understandable—their strength was unfathomable. But Venerable Skysoar was not known for her combat prowess; in fact, her cultivation was always rather low.
The last time Quinn met Venerable Skysoar, she was only at the True God realm.
For her, the height of one's realm didn't matter—what truly mattered was researching her own divine arts.
This time, with Venerable Skysoar also absent from Heavenly Court, it was clear the matter was urgent and severe.
The Heavenly Dragon Imperial Palanquin came to a halt. Quinn quietly slipped into Sky-River Heavenly Court, found his way to Venerable Skysoar's residence, where a bunch of little bamboo horses were still inspecting scattered manuscripts. The place was as chaotic as ever, a complete mess.
Annie saw the scene and couldn't help her old habits flaring up, busily helping Venerable Skysoar tidy up.
Quinn helped organize the manuscripts too, when he suddenly discovered a stack of blueprints among them, freezing for a moment in surprise.
He quickly flipped through the stack—Venerable Skysoar had drawn a woman's portrait, as well as all sorts of Creation Dao rune diagrams.
"Langwo!"
Quinn's heart skipped a beat, but after a closer look, he confirmed that what Venerable Skysoar had drawn was Langwo in her maiden years.
At this time, Langwo was beautiful, pure, and full of vitality—just looking at her made one's heart race, as if falling in love at first sight.
The later God-Queen Langwo, compared to her Creator maiden self, was even more beautiful, but her heart had grown cold, with less emotion and more reason.
Although Venerable Skysoar's drawings hadn't reached the level of true Painting Dao, she had managed to capture the maiden's beauty—evidently, this wasn't her first time seeing Langwo.
Quinn steadied himself and flipped through the other blueprints. Most of them were Creation Dao rune diagrams.
Besides these, he found another kind of blueprint—one for an immensely large and complex artifact.
Quinn quickly skimmed through it, his expression growing serious. "A Creation artifact!"
This wasn't just an artifact—it was an entire artifact!
The Creation artifact was vast and incredibly complex—a colossal machine that pushed the Dao of Creation to its limits!
"Could this Creation artifact be the very same one used in Zaofu Heaven Palace in later eras? Madam Yuanmu created Elaina Cloud, and the Ten Heavenly Venerables refined the Heaven-Guide Divine War-Body—all using this Creation artifact?"
Quinn pondered. The blueprints were incredibly complex, and based on the required materials, there was no divine metal or iron in the world capable of forging such a Creation artifact—not even Home's-End Abyss Iron or Umbral Gold would suffice.
Both Home's-End Abyss Iron and Umbral Gold contain their own natural Dao attributes, each with distinct properties. But to forge a Creation artifact that fully expresses the Dao of Creation, one would need a divine metal with no inherent attribute at all!
"No wonder Cloud-Venerable risked raiding Radiant Sun Hall. Aside from the Supreme Emperor Seal and Supreme Emperor Altar, he was searching for a treasure that could perfectly match the Dao of Creation. Such a treasure could only exist in the Ancestral Court."
He found yet another set of blueprints—these contained the god-sense rune diagrams hidden inside the Supreme Emperor Seal and Supreme Emperor Altar. Venerable Skysoar had deconstructed both, and from them, deduced the god-sense runes.
In the Primordial Age, the Creators had powerful god-sense, but they never developed runes—when it came to Dao runes, their knowledge was a blank slate.
"If Supreme Emperor were here to see the god-sense runes Venerable Skysoar had deconstructed, he'd be deeply moved, convinced she was his Dao-friend—then, in the next breath, he'd kill her without hesitation!"
Quinn gazed at the god-sense runes Venerable Skysoar had sorted out, his eyes flickering. Skysoar was obsessed with academic research and cared nothing for external affairs. Heaven-Guide Venerable once said her talent and comprehension surpassed even his—maybe he was just being humble, but her aptitude and insight were truly extraordinary!
Cloud-Venerable must have asked her to deconstruct Supreme Emperor's god-sense runes, so he could deduce Supreme Emperor's weaknesses.
"In other words, Cloud-Venerable used these runes to infer the flaw in Supreme Emperor's Grand-Luo Supreme Divine Sense, and laid a trap for him in the Grand Void Expanse. The Supreme Divine Sense Domain was cracked! The moment Supreme Emperor unleashed it, would be the moment of his death!"
Seeing these blueprints, Quinn suddenly understood why it took three Heavenly Venerables acting together.
"They went to the Grand Void Expanse, planning to strike at Supreme Emperor!"
His eyes shone with clarity. Over the years, Venerable Skysoar had stopped pursuing the invariance of matter, instead pushing the Dao of Creation to its limit, and spent much time studying Supreme Emperor's god-sense—delaying her progress.
Still, Cloud-Venerable had used this research to devise a way to deal with Supreme Emperor and the Ancient-God Emperor!
"The Grand Void Land must already be embroiled in a great battle!"
Quinn's heart surged with excitement, but now, he no longer had time to witness this epoch-defining war!
From the Grand Void Land came a thunderous roar—Supreme Emperor's towering figure crushed the sky, shattered the stars the Creators had visualized, destroyed sun, moon, and mountains, and collapsed the worlds the Creators had built with god-sense!
A terrifying god-sense backlash surged forth, crashing into the brains of the Creators in the Grand Void Land.
The once peaceful Grand Void Land instantly became a slaughterhouse. The Creators who had fled there, under the onslaught of god-sense backlash, couldn't help but look up at the sky, mouths agape, as uncontrollable god-sense flooded in—shattering their divine sense, their brains, and their very thoughts!
There were two Grand Void Lands in total; on the other, the maiden God-Queen Langwo stood frozen, staring blankly at the scene before her.
Cloud-Venerable stood beside her and said softly, "Langwo, you and your people know nothing of schemes and intrigue. Today, I will give you a lesson—your last lesson."
His expression was complicated. "For the survival of our race, any means are justified!"
God-Queen Langwo opened her mouth, looking past Cloud-Venerable at the chieftains and elders of the various Creator clans. Not one of them stepped forward to stop Supreme Emperor's massacre.
"For the continuation of our race, any sacrifice is worthwhile!"
Cloud-Venerable continued to Langwo in a cold tone, "The first Grand Void Land can be left for Supreme Emperor to destroy, and its Creators to be slaughtered. The collapse of god-sense there will turn it into a dead zone—the backlash from god-sense will strike not only us, but also Supreme Emperor. The stronger one's cultivation, the stronger the backlash."
He forced a faint smile. "I traded the lives of your million clansmen for the survival of the hundred thousand behind you."
The maiden Langwo looked pleadingly at the chieftains and elders of each clan. Behind them stood a hundred thousand Creators.
"Save them..."
Langwo heard herself begging them in a voice unfamiliar even to her: "I'm begging you!"
The god-sense of ninety-eight of the oldest Creator chieftains and elders intertwined, erupting as a mighty wave of divine sense—filled with joy at dying for the future of their race: "Langwo, our Creator clan's Saintess, for the survival of our race, any sacrifice is worth it! We are ready!"