The Eastern Palace Crown Prince led the way up ahead, while Quinn Shepherd, controlling the Ancient-God Emperor’s flesh, strolled leisurely through the rear harem. The harem was packed with countless beauties, each one a temptation hard to leave behind.
With so many consorts in the harem, the palaces themselves were endless—winding paths led into secluded corners, and any random lane might take you straight to the love nest of some gentle, captivating concubine. It was a life of pure luxury.
Quinn glanced at all these winding paths and couldn’t help shaking his head. “The Heavenly Emperor really knew how to enjoy himself. But now that he’s dead, it’s not him who gets to enjoy all this—it’s the Ten Heavenly Venerables. I wonder if the Emperor left behind any other children over the years? And if he did, whose child would it actually be?”
His curiosity was insatiable—even though the situation was perilous, every step like walking on thin ice, with the slightest slip spelling total annihilation, he still couldn’t help but let his mind wander.
At last, the Eastern Palace Crown Prince brought him to a forbidden zone deep in the harem. Few dared approach this place. Ancient stone statues stood guard all around. As they passed each statue, it shed its stone shell, transforming into a living, blood-and-qi-rich god who bowed and saluted, weapon in hand.
Quinn narrowed his eyes. These divine guardians were all terrifyingly powerful, their blood and vital energy surging to the extreme. Even waking from petrification, they could instantly return to peak strength.
“These soldiers must be one of the Heavenly Court Ten Guards, assigned here specifically to protect the forbidden zone,” Quinn thought.
His heart grew wary. The Heavenly Court Ten Guards—Left Feather-Guard, Right Feather-Guard, Left Dragon-Martial, Right Dragon-Martial, Left God-Martial, Right God-Martial, Left Divine-Strategy, Right Divine-Strategy, Left Divine-Might, and Right Divine-Might—were all selected from the strongest gods and demons. Even their weakest members had to be at least Jade Capital Stage.
The power of the gods and demons guarding this forbidden zone was surely terrifying.
And it wasn’t just the guards themselves—their divine weapons weren’t ordinary at all. Each artifact was inscribed with an ancient-god Dao. When combined, these few artifacts could manifest the form of a pseudo–ancient-god, unleashing truly staggering power!
Keep in mind—even the Heavenly Duke is composed of just forty-nine Heavenly Principles.
But here, the number of gods and demons was in the tens of thousands—and so was the number of divine artifacts!
Though these artifacts combined couldn’t rival a true ancient god, their sheer numbers made them a force to be reckoned with.
“The Ancient-God Emperor valued this place deeply. I wonder if any of the other Heavenly Venerables have ever come here?”
Quinn walked forward, thinking, “They must have. There’s no way the Heavenly Venerables would ignore the Emperor’s birthplace—this place has probably been ransacked countless times already.”
Up ahead, the Eastern Palace Crown Prince stopped and bowed. “Father Emperor, the forbidden zone lies ahead. I dare not enter.”
Quinn stepped forward and laughed, “Your father is telling you to go in—what’s there to be afraid of?”
A wave of music drifted into his ears—a marvelously strange Dao-sound, the Dao itself humming low.
As Quinn listened, the Heavenly Emperor Dao runes he’d never understood before suddenly became clear. The mysteries hidden within each rune flowed into his ears along with the Dao-sound, transforming into profound, intricate information!
He’d acquired a huge number of Heavenly Emperor Dao runes from the Grand Archive Tower, but their depth and complexity had always made them nearly impossible to grasp.
That was why Quinn devoted most of his energy to deciphering the Dao runes of ancient gods like Heavenly Duke, Earth Count, and Earth Mother—especially Heavenly Duke’s Heavenly Dao runes, which he could decode the most, using micro-numerology to reinterpret their logic and gain the greatest rewards.
But when it came to the Heavenly Emperor’s Dao runes, he could unravel only a handful.
The Heavenly Emperor, strongest among the ancient gods and ruler over myriad Dao, possessed Dao runes of unparalleled depth. Even the Dao Gate and Dao Ancestor of Heavenly Court had poured most of their efforts into studying these.
Even after mastering Woodcutter Sage’s Boundless Calamity Canon and trying to analyze the Heavenly Emperor’s Dao runes through dream-Dao techniques, Quinn found the task nearly impossible.
He hadn’t expected that just by arriving at the Heavenly Emperor’s birthplace, before even stepping into the forbidden zone, the mere Dao-sound and resonance he heard would let him unlock several obscure, elusive Dao runes.
It was truly uncanny.
He looked ahead, pausing for a moment. The violet radiance before him shimmered and drifted, clouds of mist swirling and mingling with the light, making the space feel strangely ethereal.
The purple glow seemed almost tangible, and the Dao-sound and resonance flowed out from within it.
Yet what was truly strange was that, although the area looked small, as he walked deeper, the space gradually expanded. Beams of violet light drifted and pulsed around them, like vast purple currents rolling and unfurling, swirling past their bodies.
“So this is where the Ancient-God Emperor was born?”
Quinn felt the rhythm of the Ancient-God Emperor’s Dao, deciphering more runes with each step. The sensation filled his body and mind with comfort.
The flow of violet light and mist followed its own mysterious patterns—some currents resembled mountain ridges, solid enough to walk on; some drifted like celestial rivers, shimmering and unpredictable. Within some violet streams, countless stars glittered, as if a starlit galaxy was pouring through the mist, sometimes forming rings, sometimes turning into jade clasps.
Other beams and clouds of mist gathered into sprawling continents. They strode across them as if walking on real earth, while the shifting light and vapor shaped all manner of strange trees and flowers.
The Dao-sound and rhythm that filled their ears was just as profound and wondrous.
What was even more astonishing: as Quinn breathed in the radiance and mist, he felt his vital qi grow purer and more refined.
This place was nothing short of a supreme cultivation holy land, saturated with unparalleled power.
Suddenly, the Eastern Palace Crown Prince let out a muffled groan. Blood trickled down his legs—he hadn’t even noticed when it started. The mist and light had begun eating into his flesh, wounding both feet.
Hidden within the mist and light was the purest Dao; as he walked deeper, the Heavenly Emperor’s Dao pressed in on him. To reach this far was already a feat, proof he was worthy of having subdued Claudia Qi.
“Your cultivation is too weak.”
Quinn shook his head. “As your father, I’d hoped to bring you into this ancestral land, let you benefit from its power, and help you cultivate until you were strong enough to truly become my right arm. But you’ve disappointed me.”