From the stone coffin hanging upside down in the flower, the voice of Earth Mother Primordial Lady echoed out—weak, yet filled with furious indignation. She demanded in a harsh tone, "Do you know it was the Ancient-God Emperor who struck me down? Do you know he still lives?"
Quinn Shepherd's expression remained calm as he waited for her to cool down.
Taking advantage of the moment, he carefully examined the stone coffin—it was the imperial coffin of the Northern High Heavenly Emperor, which he had seen before in the underground palace.
He wondered how Earth Mother Primordial Lady's remnant soul had managed to escape from the Ancient-God Emperor, and how she had found the imperial coffin.
During the Cataclysm, Vast-Sky Emperor wielded the strongest weapon and fought Earth Mother Primordial Lady; Quinn Shepherd leveraged Earth Mother Primordial Lady's power to severely damage that weapon, then seized the opportunity to return to the Origin World.
Afterward, he was discovered by the Heavenly Court’s army of gods and demons and trapped in a siege. Eventually, powerhouses like Qi Xiayu and Prince Umbral appeared, forcing him to shatter his own soul and let his brother, Fenix Greenwood, return to Youdu.
Quinn Shepherd stared at the stone coffin and said, "Earth Mother, are you blocking my way because you want me to resurrect you once more? To be honest, I am no longer the Netherworld Divine Son."
As the purple light appeared, Quinn Shepherd instantly felt an overwhelming surge of vitality rush over him, forcing his spirit to brighten involuntarily!
Yet, even in such dire circumstances, Earth Mother Primordial Lady still managed to escape with a remnant soul—such ability truly impressed him.
Quinn Shepherd shook his head, his expression tinged with melancholy, as if he had seen through the world: "I am now without soul or spirit, and lack the strength to resurrect you. Blocking my path is pointless—my days are numbered. This journey is only to find a peaceful place to bury myself."
Even so, Earth Mother still made him wary.
Like a centipede that refuses to die, Earth Mother Primordial Lady was the most powerful ancient god born of the Origin Capital. Even with only a remnant soul, she was still far beyond his ability to oppose.
The stone coffin hanging from the flower was the imperial coffin of the Northern High Heavenly Emperor—he did not know if the emperor’s corpse still lay within.
At last, Earth Mother inside the coffin calmed down and said coldly, "When Vast-Sky Emperor retreated, the Ancient-God Emperor wielded the Heavenly Court’s strongest weapon and struck to kill me. The divine arts he used with that weapon were formidable, but killing me was no easy task. In the end, he unleashed the Emperor’s ultimate technique. Only then did I realize—it was him!"
She grew agitated again: "Heh, back then he reincarnated into the Origin World and married Absolute Dust, but didn’t expect Absolute Dust was from the Heaven Alliance. The Heaven Alliance surrounded and tried to kill him—I watched and didn’t intervene. Who would have thought he survived, that he’s still alive! When he used his ultimate technique, I recognized him—he came for revenge, to take revenge on me!"
"The Ancient-God Emperor’s soul was never destroyed. Later, he became one of the leaders of the Heaven Alliance in the Heavenly Court—I only learned this much later."
Quinn Shepherd stared at the stone coffin and said, "Earth Mother blocks my way because she wants me to resurrect her again? To be honest, I am no longer the Netherworld Divine Son."
"But you are still the Grand Archmage of Immeasurable Kalpas."
Earth Mother Primordial Lady’s voice came from the stone coffin: "Almost all the ancient gods know your name—they know you have the power to resurrect ancient gods. The Grand Archmage of Immeasurable Kalpas is you, not the Netherworld Divine Son. You still have the power to resurrect me!"
Quinn Shepherd shook his head, an air of autumn leaves in the wind, melancholy and distant, as if he had seen through the world: "I am now without soul or spirit, and lack the strength to resurrect you. Blocking my path is pointless—my days are numbered. This journey is only to find a peaceful place to bury myself."
Annie tilted her head to study Quinn Shepherd. The plump little bird raised a claw to scratch her beak, thinking to herself, "Master can lie without changing his expression—clearly this is a skill honed over years."
Earth Mother Primordial Lady fell silent. After a moment, the stone coffin opened.
Quinn Shepherd's scalp tingled. Annie glanced at the back of his neck and immediately saw his skin crawling with goosebumps—he was clearly very nervous.
What surprised her was that, despite Quinn Shepherd’s obvious tension, his breathing and blood flow remained completely steady. Clearly, he had trained hard to ensure he never revealed a single flaw.
"Who taught you that, Master?" she wondered.
A swirl of blue light flowed inside the stone coffin—it looked like water, yet also like light, incredibly gentle and warm.
Instead of falling into the river, the blue light circled inside the coffin. Quinn Shepherd could just make out a remnant soul soaking in purple light.
As the purple light appeared, Quinn Shepherd instantly felt an incomparable surge of vitality wash over him, making his spirit involuntarily brighten!
Even his soul seemed to leap for joy, extremely excited.
"My true body is the Origin-Root Tree, and when I was born, my roots soaked in this luminous essence. Not knowing its name, I called it Origin-Root Primordial Essence."