"Summoning all the demigods of the Origin World? Could Earth Mother Primordial Lady still be alive?" Qin Mu felt a twinge of unease.
The Origin World, once known as the Primordial Origin-Capital, had been sealed for ages, folded up like a closed fan. Now, with the seal lifted, countless demigods were emerging.
And with Earth Mother Primordial Lady as such a powerful leader, what kind of upheaval would this bring to the Great Ruins and the Everpeace Empire?
Indra King Buddha knew nothing of this. By the Pioneer Era, Earth Mother Primordial Lady had long since vanished, and even in the Supreme Sovereign Great Ruins, no trace of her remained—not even records or legends had survived.
By the time of the Everpeace Empire, knowledge of this ancient goddess was a complete blank.
Qin Mu had only heard scattered rumors about Earth Mother Primordial Lady from Heaven Duke and Tu Bo. He had no idea what this ancient goddess's temperament was or how she regarded the human race.
Heaven Duke had told him that the Supreme Sovereign Era was linked to Earth Mother Primordial Lady, but the era itself was split into North and South—so which Heavenly Court did she support?
And the opposing Heavenly Court—who was backing them?
The Supreme Sovereign Era lasted three hundred thousand years—how did that era endure for so long?
"What do you know about Earth Mother Primordial Lady?" Qin Mu asked the water qilin demigod in the pit, his tone gentle.
Inside the Keane-Sigil Continent, the giant baby who was busy beating up Tu Bo suddenly sensed a contract wrapping around him, feeling annoyed.
Tu Bo crawled up, reassembling his molten rock body, and said, "This is a soul pact. You count as my little brother, so others can swear oaths to you. If someone breaks their promise, the contract activates, and you can directly devour their primordial spirit!"
The giant baby was delighted and humbly asked, "Is that why you’ve become so strong?"
Quinn Shepherd dismissed the Primordial Magnetism Five-Finger Mountain, and the water qilin crawled out of the pit, glancing at the seemingly clueless Ethan Lan, secretly thinking, "I've heard of Tu Bo's Pact, but what is this Little Earth Sovereign’s Pact? It must be a trick. Next chance I get, I’ll swallow this kid and run. They won’t be able to catch me..."
Just as he thought this, darkness suddenly fell before his eyes.
A massive baby head appeared in the darkness, with three eyes, a gaping bloody mouth full of sharp teeth. The water qilin felt tiny and helpless, shivering in front of the giant head!
At that moment, a heavy voice echoed from the darkness: "Not yet. He’s only thinking about it, hasn’t actually done anything. Only if he acts to betray will you be allowed to eat him."
The giant baby grumbled, "So I can't eat him just for thinking about it? I think just thinking should be enough to start munching..."
"An Earth Sovereign must have Earth Sovereign rules."
The deep voice in the darkness patiently coaxed, "If you ignore the rules and just eat, who would ever come swear oaths to you again? Look at me—everyone comes to me to swear oaths, and when they break them, I get plenty to eat. I handle things fairly, so more people seek me out. If I ate recklessly, no one would ever come to me again."
The giant head’s three eyes blinked with delight. "So that’s the logic! I get it now—if you act fairly, people will come to you themselves to get eaten! Good, good, this method is great... Can I just give him a lick and not eat him?"
"No. You’ve already scared him half to death."
"Just a little lick!"
"No! Think about the benefits in the future!"
...
The darkness before the water qilin’s eyes faded. Drenched in cold sweat, he obediently became Ethan Lan’s mount, thinking, "This Little Earth Sovereign’s Pact is even more dangerous than Tu Bo’s Pact! At least Tu Bo’s Pact is reasonable, but the Little Earth Sovereign’s Pact depends entirely on the Little Earth Sovereign’s mood. In a good mood he’ll eat you, in a bad mood he’ll eat you too..."
Quinn Shepherd looked ahead and thought, "The direction these demigods are heading seems to be near War-Ox Realm."
They continued on their way. With the water qilin, their speed increased greatly. Indra King Buddha kept teaching Heaven-Guide Venerable Buddhist rune knowledge. The water qilin listened on the side, amazed: "This bald youth’s knowledge is so profound! He explains Buddhist principles clearly yet simply, but with deep meaning. He must be a true expert! I was planning to eat them earlier—clearly, I was overestimating myself!"
The water qilin was extremely fast, no slower than a dragon qilin. Even so, it still took them more than a month to finally reach the small village near Warfist Celestial Teacher’s territory.
Along the way, Quinn Shepherd and the others encountered several groups of demigods on the move, and some even attacked them.
For ordinary demigods, Quinn Shepherd could handle them himself. But demigods varied in strength—some adult demigods were even stronger than True Gods. They even encountered a grown demigod whose power rivaled Lingxiao-tier experts!
Its aura twisted the sky, terrifying beyond belief!
That rushing demigod saw Heaven-Guide Venerable riding the water qilin and was about to attack, but Indra King Buddha’s aura exploded forth, scaring the adult demigod away.
Only then did the water qilin realize just how fearsome this 'bald youth' beside him truly was. He was left shaken.
Along the way, Quinn Shepherd and his companions saw several ruined villages—Great Ruins settlements destroyed by demigods, with all the villagers devoured and not a bone left behind.
Quinn Shepherd frowned deeply and took a long breath.
But they also passed a few small villages that hadn’t been destroyed by demigods.
Quinn Shepherd asked around, and a villager replied, "The stone statues in our village suddenly came alive and slew the monsters and demons causing trouble. After killing them, the statues turned back to stone."
"So it’s Lord Hades of Nether City who reacted, having the gods of Nether City return to their bodies and protect the Great Ruins’ people." Quinn Shepherd breathed a sigh of relief. With the protection of Nether City’s gods, the Great Ruins’ people should be able to defend themselves.
The gods of Nether City were the handiwork left by Pioneer Emperor. When the Pioneer Era Heavenly Court fell, its gods turned into stone statues across the Great Ruins, while their souls entered Nether City, waiting for the day to rise again.
Their statues became the only hope for Great Ruins’ people to resist the darkness.
This time, with the statues awakening, most villages could be saved—unless they encountered an adult demigod.
Adult demigods were simply too terrifying.
In the distance, paddy fields came into view. Quinn Shepherd relaxed; seeing these few acres of rice meant Warfist Celestial Teacher’s village was close.
The paddy fields were the same few acres as always. Beside them stood a big willow tree, and under the tree sat a dragon qilin, legs splayed, butt on the ground, front paws holding a water pipe, eyes vacant as he stared at the fields. Then he lowered his head, took a deep puff, and blew out a big smoke ring.
Quinn Shepherd watched from afar, puzzled. "Is that my Bruno? Doesn’t really look like him..."
Under the shade, the dragon qilin raised a paw, scratched his scaly belly, making a rustling sound. Beside him sat a pot of coarse tea.
The dragon qilin set down the water pipe, poured himself a big bowl of strong tea, and drained it in one gulp.
This dragon qilin was lean and muscular, but his spirits seemed low.
Indra King Buddha laughed, "If that were an ox under the tree instead of a dragon qilin, I’d turn around and leave! That dragon qilin’s manner is exactly like the ox’s. If it were the ox, the farmer would be nearby. That guy who plows fields is all muscle and was never happy about me joining the Buddhist order."
The dragon qilin heard the voices, turned his big head to look, his vacant eyes unfocused. After a moment, he recognized Quinn Shepherd approaching and froze in shock.
Tears welled up as the dragon qilin made a choking noise, wiping his eyes as he watched Quinn Shepherd come closer.
"Cult Master..."
His voice trembled, and he suddenly burst into tears. "I'm so hungry—"
The water qilin turned to look at the dragon qilin with disdain. "This guy may be my kin and young and promising, but he’s got no backbone! What’s there to fear about hunger? Just eat people!"
Quinn Shepherd hurriedly took out spirit pills. The dragon qilin quickly placed a huge basin in front of him, and Quinn Shepherd filled it to the brim.
Overjoyed, the dragon qilin stared at the heap of spirit pills, drooling. After a moment, he ate one with tears in his eyes, saving the rest.
"Eat, eat."
Quinn Shepherd smiled. "Next time, I won’t leave you alone for so long."
"Swear it!"
"I swear. Eat, eat."
Just then, a heavy voice called out coldly, "You stole my ox, now you want to steal my horse. Even if your surname is Qin, you can’t just do as you please!"
Quinn Shepherd turned to the voice and saw a crowd of farmers and their wives escorting an old farmer to the edge of the field. The old farmer glared angrily, "Qin, where’s my ox?"
Indra King Buddha’s face changed dramatically and he tried to leave, but the old farmer spotted him, paused, then suddenly roared like thunder, "Bald monk, Leo Yoran! You traitor! You ran off to become Indra King Buddha in the middle of battle! Take three punches from me!"
Boom—
A violent shockwave swept over them. The first wave came from a hundred li away, and the farmers rushed to Quinn Shepherd’s side to shield him from the terrifying impact.
The second shockwave came from a thousand li away, warping space and stretching the mountains into twisted braids.
Before the twisted space could recover, a third shockwave hit, then the world slowly returned to normal, the mountains settling back into place.
"Alright, alright, it’s safe now."
The farmers all laughed, "Young friend Qin, you took the Celestial Teacher’s ox, and he’s been sulking ever since. He says you’re as shameless and cunning as the woodcutter, tricking away Brother Sandor the ox. Go explain the misunderstanding to him later and it’ll be fine."
Quinn Shepherd winced inside and asked cautiously, "Can this misunderstanding really be cleared up?"
The crowd escorted them toward the small village, assuring, "The Celestial Teacher is very reasonable. Don’t worry, just admit you were wrong and he’ll calm down."
As they reached the village entrance, there was a loud thud. The old farmer landed, short and stocky, dragging a bruised and battered Indra King Buddha. He tossed Indra into a foul ditch, warning, "Anyone who fishes him out will get beaten! That scoundrel, betraying us and cozying up to women from the enemy!"
Quinn Shepherd peeked into the ditch and saw Indra King Buddha lying there, eyes glazed.
"You say your old friends are strangers to me..."
He muttered, "This isn’t even my fault..."
Quinn Shepherd pretended not to hear, quickly bowed to the old farmer, and said, "Brother Sandor is now in Nether City, helping Lord Hades establish its fortune! I didn’t mean to take him away, but he followed me out of loyalty after learning from you—he’s brave and upright, just like you, and insisted on staying to help. I feel guilty about it and apologize, Master!"
The old farmer stared at him, then suddenly broke into a smile, grabbing Quinn Shepherd’s arms warmly. "No need to apologize, my good nephew! Come in, come in!"
—— 8:10, Zhai Zhu is off to chat with the readers’ group!