Brandon Yu sneered, "Princess Mother, what good will it do you to flee to the Great Ruins?"
The youth clasped his hands behind his back, watching as the other True Heaven Palace experts attacked the woman shielding the little girl. His expression was cold as he said, "You've already lost. True Heaven Palace belongs to the Yu clan now. Don't blame me for being ruthless—there's a saying in the Central Lands: 'If you don't pull up the roots when you cut the weeds, they'll grow again with the spring breeze.' True Heaven Palace is no longer the Bear clan's."
This was the site of the Western Heaven Palace ruins at the edge of the Great Ruins. The True Heaven Palace experts here had to use their divine abilities with extreme caution. Their cultivation path was 'all things are spirit, all things are god'—everything possessed a spirit: mountains had mountain spirits, stones had stone spirits, water had water spirits. Grasses and beasts all had their own spirits, and any of these could be transformed into their spirit weapons.
Their sensitivity to nature was unmatched, but in the Western Heaven Palace ruins they sensed grave danger. Every object here seemed to conceal immense power, as if ancient gods were slumbering within!
Their spells and divine arts could command the spirits of heaven and earth to fight for them, but if they accidentally awakened the gods here, the consequences would be catastrophic.
The power within the Western Heaven Palace ruins was not something they could control.
So they had to move with extreme caution, careful not to disturb this slumbering, colossal power. Fortunately, each of them had refined their own spirit weapons. Unlike the spirit weapons of Everpeace cultivators, most of these were shaped like plants, stones, running water, or clouds. Some even refined exotic beasts into spirit weapons—when powered by yuanqi, a tiny beast weapon could suddenly swell thousands of times and devour living people. It was a bizarre sight.
Even without using their full divine arts, just their spirit weapons alone would be enough to easily wipe out these few people. Of the two spotted deer, one was dead and the other gravely wounded. The woman had to protect the child and couldn't move to dodge their attacks, forced to stand and take the blows—completely on the defensive!
The woman coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground, but struggled to her feet again, still shielding the little girl.
"Traitor!"
The stag transformed into a towering beast, leaping into the air to meet the oncoming attacks. He roared, "The Palace Master treated you well! You rebel the moment he’s gone—where’s your conscience? Why must you wipe us out to the last?"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In an instant, countless attacks struck him. The stag was slain in midair, but with his dying strength he hurled his massive antlers straight at Brandon Yu!
Both deer were formidable, no weaker than the Dragon-Qilin. But outnumbered, they met a bitter end.
Over ten True Heaven Palace experts immediately sprang up, grabbing the antlers’ branches. Their feet hit the ground, but even together they couldn’t withstand the force—the antlers drove them back, churning up earth and stone as they barreled toward Brandon Yu.
Brandon Yu didn’t budge. He sneered, "The Bear clan has monopolized True Heaven Palace for too long. It’s time you gave up the throne. Blood must be shed to kill, roots must be pulled to cut weeds. If any Bear clan survives, the Yu clan will always have to worry about your revenge."
Suddenly, a beast spirit weapon the size of a ragdoll swelled to monstrous proportions, pounding its chest with thunderous roars. It seized the charging antlers, stopping them dead.
Thud.
The stag’s corpse crashed to the ground, landing motionless beside the wounded doe.
Brandon Yu burst out laughing. "Kill Princess Mother and the Little Princess—let’s finish this and report back!"
The True Heaven Palace experts advanced, spirit weapons rising into the air. The woman’s face filled with sorrow; she turned, hugged the little girl to her chest, and softly whispered, "Sweetheart, it’ll be over soon..."
"Mama, will we see Grandpa and Grandma?"
The woman trembled inside. "Yes..."
"What about Daddy?" The little girl's eyes sparkled as she asked.
Tears welled in the woman’s eyes. "We’ll see him too..."
The little girl was calm, trying to comfort her mother. "Mama, I’m not scared anymore, so don’t cry. I miss Grandpa and Grandma. Daddy looked so scary when he died—he was covered in blood, and it made me cry. But maybe when we see him again, he’ll be smiling..."
Whoosh—
Spirit weapons transformed, spirit trees and beast weapons soared overhead, swooping toward the mother and child. Just as they were about to strike, a flash of light erupted—Quinn Shepherd appeared before them, spreading his arms wide. His teleporting brocade robe flew from his body, unfurling in front of them.
Quinn slapped his palm onto the brocade robe, spinning his arm as the robe whirled and grew larger and larger. In moments, it became a massive cloak over ten zhang wide. The True Heaven Palace experts’ spirit weapons crashed into the robe, but the cloak wrapped around them—and then, robe and weapons vanished together!
A hundred zhang away, blinding sword light erupted—eight thousand swords moved as one, shredding the brocade robe and all the spirit weapons trapped inside!
The True Heaven Palace experts recoiled in shock—suddenly, they couldn’t sense their own spirit weapons. Some were Heaven-Man realm cultivators, their weapons formidable, but even those had been sliced apart.
Just as the crowd surged forward, Brandon Yu quickly raised a hand to stop them, testing Quinn: "Friend, this is an internal affair of True Heaven Palace."
Quinn winced inwardly, mourning his brocade robe. That robe had been a 'gift' from Chief Qu and the Bug Hall Master at Mistwater Pass, and since its forging, it had saved Quinn from injury countless times. His teleportation array was inscribed right into that robe.
Now, he’d destroyed it himself—along with all those True Heaven Palace spirit weapons—using his Eight-Thousand Sword array. The loss cut deep, like a knife.
"Knew it—no good deed goes unpunished. What a loss..."
Quinn forced a smile and asked, "And how should I address you, brother?"
"Brandon Yu of the Yu clan, True Heaven Palace."
Brandon Yu beamed, his tone warm and inviting. "You must have pitied these two—an orphan and a widow—and wanted to save them. But you don’t know the truth: this mother and daughter are murderers, guilty of countless deaths. In the Western Lands, True Heaven Palace puts justice above kinship, so I was ordered to lead a purge and wipe them out."
Quinn grew solemn. "I see. I acted rashly—please forgive me, Brother Yu."
Brandon Yu smiled. "No crime in ignorance. But do us a kindness and let us finish our task. We’ve already lost many brothers bringing down these traitors."
Quinn replied seriously, "Of course—your business comes first. But I can’t just take your word for it. I need to ask them myself if what you say is true."
Brandon Yu smiled pleasantly, but his eyes were cold. "I’ve already given you a way out, friend. Don’t fail to appreciate kindness."
Quinn matched his smile. "As the Heavenly Demon Cult Master, I don’t need anyone to give me an exit. I’ll ask them—if they really are as you claim, I’ll walk away and let you deal with your traitors. If not..."
"No need!"
Brandon Yu raised his hand and ordered his followers, "Kill him. Let’s finish this and report back."
"Yes, sir!"
A chorus of True Heaven Palace cultivators answered, leaping forward to attack. Quinn burst out laughing, spun around, and scooped up the mother and child to flee.
A Heaven-Man expert roared, "You think you can get away?"
Behind him, a towering divine tree appeared, its roots coiling like an azure dragon—his primordial spirit. True Heaven Palace’s cultivation method differed from Everpeace: Everpeace experts’ primordial spirits usually took the forms of Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, or Black Tortoise. Once they reached Heaven-Man realm, their primordial spirits manifested behind them, often as divine versions of those four spirits, much like the four stone statues in Oldridge Village.
Even if there were differences, the categories were the same—those four major types.
But the True Heaven Palace experts’ primordial spirits were even stranger. This Heaven-Man’s spirit, though of the Azure Dragon lineage, took the form of a giant tree—a rare sight.
The tree’s roots and branches whipped through the air, each one twisting like an azure dragon. Blue light flashed as the roots shot toward Quinn’s back, moving with incredible speed!
Even carrying two people, Quinn’s movement technique was lightning-fast—he blurred through the air, outracing sound itself with a thunderclap!
The Cripple’s Steal-Heaven Divine Leg was the fastest in the world, but Quinn was only at the Six-Directions realm and couldn’t match the Cripple’s mastery. The Heaven-Man expert was simply too strong—the roots caught up in a blink, stabbing for Quinn’s back.
Just then, sword light erupted all around—eight thousand swords swept up like a storm, painting a mountain-and-river pattern behind Quinn. Swords clashed furiously, hacking at the incoming roots and branches!
The sword pattern was formidable—Quinn’s swords were forged from the finest materials. Many of the spirit tree’s roots and branches were sliced clean through.
But a Heaven-Man is a Heaven-Man. The expert’s spirit tree surged forward, crashing with a deafening boom. The sword pattern shattered, and eight thousand swords shot away in every direction!
"Dragon-Fat!" Quinn shouted.
Dragon-Qilin came barreling in at top speed, but his voice was slow and lazy: "Cult Master, you’ve gotten us in trouble again..."
His body grew larger and larger, colliding with the spirit tree in a thunderous crash. Flames of true fire roared around him, burning the spirit tree with a furious sizzle!
The Heaven-Man expert hastily withdrew his primordial spirit. Behind him, a burly man in a padded jacket lumbered forward—his mountain god spirit manifested as a stone giant, impossibly strong. With one punch, he sent Dragon-Qilin flying.
Dragon-Qilin flailed his legs in midair, too fat to control the fire clouds beneath him. He gave up and tucked in his limbs, shouting, "Bat brothers!"
The two White Bat brothers swooped in, unleashing silent sonic waves from their mouths. The shockwaves sent their pursuers tumbling head over heels.
Dragon-Qilin crashed into the ground, poked his head out of the dirt, and shook it angrily. "I meant for you to catch me!"
The White Bat brothers darted through the air, dodging attacks below. Suddenly, they grabbed two people, hung them upside-down in a tree, and started drinking their blood. But the tree transformed—it was another expert’s primordial spirit, and it quickly bound the bats tight.
Quinn pulled out a giant bone hammer and gave it a shake. Instantly, countless skeletons spewed from the hammer’s eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, shrieking as they swarmed the crowd, biting and burrowing into bodies.
Dragon-Qilin charged again, spewing blazing true fire at the green tree spirit, freeing the White Bat brothers.
Brandon Yu saw the chaos and shouted, "Retreat! We can’t fight here—let’s take them outside!"