Quinn Shepherd watched Granny Sue’s divine arts with great interest. Each of the nine elders of Oldridge Village had their own specialties, and aside from her beauty, Granny Sue was famed for her exquisite mastery of spells and divine abilities.
Back then, Granny Sue worried that her path leaned too far toward demon-dao, so she was reluctant to teach Quinn many spells or divine arts, leaving that to the Village Chief, Butcher, Grandpa Mark, and the others.
Later, when Quinn became the Young Cult Master of the Cult of the Heavenly Demon, Granny Sue passed him the Grand Fostering Heavenly Demon Sutra, but only let him ponder it on his own—she never actually taught him the techniques or divine arts within.
This was mainly because she followed the demon-dao path and had some biases in her understanding of the Grand Fostering Heavenly Demon Sutra. She believed Quinn, by learning from Deaf, Grandpa Mark, and others and studying the classics, would gain a more correct grasp of the Sutra than she could offer.
At first, Quinn didn’t care much about the so-called division between righteous and demonic. Later, he realized that righteousness and demonic are born from the heart: if your heart is demonic, even the most righteous spell is still demonic; if your heart is righteous, even the most heretical art is righteous. So, he essentially lost all barriers between righteous and demonic paths.
Later on, Quinn discovered that the struggle between righteousness and demonhood was a battle of the heart, while the struggle between gods and demons was really about survival and perspective. This made him care even less about the difference between righteous and demonic.
Back when he fought life-and-death battles with sects like Great Thunderclap Temple and Dao Gate, Quinn had already let go of all prejudice, no longer caring about such petty disputes.
Now, having opened his own demonic divine treasury, with half his body in demon-dao, his vision has broadened and his heart grown even more tolerant.
That’s what growth is.
A person often grows up without realizing it; only when you look back do you see how much you’ve matured, how your mindset has changed.
Even though God Sang Ye was already a lofty deity, his breadth of vision and insight might not necessarily surpass Quinn Shepherd’s.
Beyond personal talent and comprehension, it also depends on one’s experiences. Quinn, having been molded by the nine elders of Oldridge Village since childhood, and leaving the Great Ruins during Everpeace’s reform era, plus his own origins and adventures in Youdu and Nether City, had unknowingly raised his insight to a very high level.
At last, Granny Sue pulled Goddess Sky Gale’s Primordial Spirit out from her body. Sky Gale’s Primordial Spirit was now sealed, unable to escape; if a deity’s Primordial Spirit does get free, it might possess another person or even a plant spirit.
—Possessing another person is called usurpation; possessing a plant spirit is called heterodox cultivation.
“Who’s going to interrogate her?”
Granny Sue turned back to the group and said, "She must know plenty of secrets about the demon race. If we can extract them, it could be a huge boon for High-Emperor Heaven. But my methods are a bit too harsh—I'm really not suited to interrogate her. She is a beauty, after all."
God Sang Ye was introducing himself to Grandpa Blind and the others; hearing this, he shivered, glancing at Sky Gale’s body and thinking, ‘Truly ruthless. This woman first flattened Sky Gale’s chest, then her face…’
His gaze landed on Granny Sue’s face and lingered there, his mind suddenly drifting to the idea of finding a new wife for Sang Hua. He quickly composed himself, looked away, and didn’t dare let his thoughts wander further. He said, “Let’s leave the interrogation of Sky Gale to True God Pang Yu. After all, Sky Gale is a deity of High-Emperor Heaven—a leader with high status and great power. It’s a bit much for us to interrogate her privately.”
Crippled Joe chuckled, “Why make things so complicated? Just have Apothecary feed her some bugs—she’ll spill everything within an hour, guaranteed.”
Lina the Spirit Fox piped up excitedly, “We could also have Grandpa Blind use the Black Dragon Spear to split her Spirit Embryo and soul—she’d turn into a regular mortal!”
Grandpa Blind patted her little pouch and laughed, “My spear’s called Dragon Reaver, not Black Dragon Spear.”
“That’s right.”
Suddenly, the Black Dragon Spear on his back came alive, circling slowly around Lina the Spirit Fox. Only the skull at the tip remained, and the Black Dragon muttered in a slow, gravelly voice, “I’m called Dragon Reaver, from the demon race’s Dragon King. Still, you weren’t entirely wrong. I, together with the young master, can indeed separate her soul and Spirit Embryo—but it would be excruciatingly painful.”
Lina gazed curiously at the Dragon Reaver divine spear, then suddenly thought of something else. She raised her hand, her eyes sparkling. “Wait, wait! I just thought of another one! We could have Grandpa Smith refine her Primordial Spirit into liquid, then pour iron water over it and see if she talks!”
“This little fox spirit’s got a wicked streak!”
God Sang Ye shivered again and said, “Better let me escort her for interrogation. Gentlemen, I’ll take the lead for a bit. The No-Regrets watch-post up ahead—please help hold it for two days!” With that, he grabbed Sky Gale’s body and Primordial Spirit and hurried away.
Quinn quickly called out, “Granny Sue, Grandpa Apothecary, how did you all end up in High-Emperor Heaven?”
Granny Sue raised her hand, wanting to pat his head, but Quinn ducked down. Granny Sue patted him anyway and laughed, “You’ve grown taller again, almost caught up to Apothecary. If you get any taller, Grandpa Blind will only reach your waist.”
Grandpa Blind grumbled, “Granny Sue, I’m still growing! Look at God Sang Ye over there—he’s over twenty thousand years old, with a giant head. The longer you live, the taller you get!”
Granny Sue shot him a look. “Grandpa Blind, your brains are only so tall. Quinn, we came to see you, and also to check out the cultivation methods here—to see if there’s a way to break through. We’re all stuck at a bottleneck. The High-Emperor Heaven gods you sent to the Heavenly Saint Academy are impressive, but if we want systematic advancement, we have to come to High-Emperor Heaven and seek deeper techniques.”
Quinn had indeed discussed with the Everpeace Imperial Preceptor and True God Pang Yu about sending some young gods to Everpeace to study divine arts and techniques. At the same time, they could bring High-Emperor Heaven’s cultivation methods back to Everpeace, making up for what Everpeace’s systems lacked.
With both sides’ gods learning from each other, their strength would improve by leaps and bounds.
But that only helped gods at the communication level. For Granny Sue and the others, who had already completed their Divine Bridge and were stepping into or about to step into the Celestial Palace, it wasn’t enough.
After all, most High-Emperor Heaven gods sent to Everpeace to study were not at a high cultivation stage, while Granny Sue and her group needed a system for god-level cultivation.
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Quinn thought for a moment, then asked, “So who’s in charge of the Heavenly Saint Academy now?”
“Master Heavenly King and Jade Heavenly King are in charge. There are a few elders there too.”
Granny Sue laughed, “Those High-Emperor Heaven gentlemen are so naive—almost pitifully dumb. They just can’t seem to master arithmetic. Better let the old Heavenly Kings from the Holy Cult handle things. Sang Ye just asked us to help him hold the No-Regrets watch-post, so we’re heading over.”
Quinn nodded. The group chatted and joked, and Quinn quickly forgot all about his blood-soaked backside, joining Grandpa Blind, Grandpa Smith, and Crippled Joe in their banter.
The Jadehide Ox saw Bruno the Dragon-Qilin’s four stubby legs striding off, its eyes lit up, and it trotted over to Bruno, stood upright, and began circling him again and again.