More books were destroyed. Quinn Shepherd was finally enraged: the First Human Emperor treated the hard-won efforts of all the past Human Emperors as worthless. The life’s work of Village Chief, Connor Hayes, and the others—all of it was being ruined by the First Ancestor!
Quinn’s yuanqi surged and exploded; crimson energy turned into a blood ocean, corpses of gods and demons drifting in its waves.
Village Chief’s Sword Diagram, second form—One Sword Opens the Pioneer Era, Blood Like an Ocean!
His swordsmanship differed from Village Chief’s: Village Chief’s sword art had fourteen forms, but Quinn had fused eighteen basic sword moves into this strike. Though its intent fell short and there were minor flaws, its power already far surpassed Village Chief’s original.
As he unleashed the move, the First Human Emperor’s figure suddenly rose from the blood ocean, sword-qi carving a path and scattering the sea. Countless god and demon corpses whirled up, becoming his weapons, and lunged at Quinn.
Bang! Bang! Bang!—
Streaks of blood burst from Quinn’s body as he was sent flying—the First Human Emperor’s yuanqi swords had pierced him, leaving bloody wounds.
He slammed hard into the wall of the Human Emperor Hall, then crashed to the ground, sprawled facedown.
Bruno the Dragon-Qilin roared in fury, jaws gaping as he charged at the First Human Emperor.
The First Human Emperor’s five fingers flickered, and runes burst from his fingertips to form a sealing sigil as wide as a man. It stamped onto Bruno’s open maw, sealing him shut.
Quinn charged in, unleashing Human Emperor Colin Mercer's Word-Law Arts—five glyphs spoken into being: Seal appeared beneath the First Human Emperor's feet, Forbid encased him, Fix formed before him, River coiled around him like a dragon, and Mountain pressed down from above.
The Word-Law Arts—five characters chained in a breath—were a brilliant divine technique created by Human Emperor Colin Mercer.
Yet the five glowing glyphs shattered with a crash—the First Human Emperor's palm descended like the heavens overturning, smashing everything in its path.
Quinn roared in fury, dragon shadows writhing across his skin, muscles coiling like dragons around his bones, his spine surging upward like a true dragon.
True Dragon Overlord Body!
He had painstakingly fused the True Dragon Nest's methods with the Overlord Three-Core Art, elevating his physical cultivation to unprecedented heights.
This was his strongest flesh-and-blood divine art.
He twisted his right hand for pure-yang, left hand for pure-yin, overlapping the palms to meet the First Human Emperor's strike.
Heaven-Turning Yin-Yang Palm!
This was the Third Human Emperor’s signature divine art. The Third Ancestor only taught Quinn the opening form, but he extrapolated the 'stacked palms' variant himself.
At this moment, he stacked pure-yin palm force atop pure-yang, both erupting together—yin and yang converged, and the power surged explosively!
Boom—
Quinn staggered back, then switched—left hand pure-yang, right hand pure-yin—again stacking his palms to meet the First Human Emperor’s fist. But before his attack could erupt, the force within that fist shattered the yin-yang structure, blasting Quinn away!
"The Third Human Emperor was a failure too. Using his moves, you’re doomed to lose."
The First Human Emperor’s palm wind slammed the ground—Quinn, just landing, was sent airborne, then crushed down again by a sealing imprint, slammed flat.
Buzz.
Twin beams of divine light shot from the First Human Emperor’s eyes, smashing into Quinn—so powerful it nearly cut him in half, scorching the ground red-hot.
Quinn rolled, sprinting to dodge the gaze, darting through the Human Emperor Hall like lightning. His own eyes brewed divine light—he unleashed twin beams that collided with the ancestor’s.
Bang.
His divine eye technique was overwhelmed, pinning him against the wall.
"You met him?"
The First Human Emperor withdrew his gaze, strode to the Third Human Emperor’s bookshelf, and plucked down a manual—expressionless. "Now you see: the Heaven-Turning Yin-Yang Palm he spent a lifetime perfecting is utterly useless. Should've tossed it in the latrine years ago! His books aren’t even fit for wiping your ass."
Quinn slid down from the wall, blood trickling from his lips, watching as the First Human Emperor tore up books—defeat weighing on his heart.
This opponent was the strongest Quinn had ever faced. Both fought at the Seven Stars Treasury realm, but Quinn had already fused his Six Directions and Seven Stars Treasuries, erasing all realm barriers; the First Human Emperor still had them.
On paper, Quinn’s yuanqi cultivation far surpassed the First Human Emperor thanks to his fused treasuries—but in actual combat, it made no difference at all.
The First Human Emperor was flawless—no weaknesses anywhere. He hadn’t fused his treasuries, yet physically he was leagues beyond Quinn.
He was like a teenage true god—his fists, legs, muscles, skin, hair, bones, and tendons all at a level Quinn could only dream of.
His organs were equally formidable: heart pumping with thunderous force, sending blood instantly to every limb, magic power circulating at blinding speed.
His lungs drew deep, swirling breaths, storing vast air; his kidneys coordinated every ounce of strength, keeping his body in perfect stability.
Heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys—gallbladder, stomach, bladder, triple burner, intestines—each organ matched to a celestial body and realm, perfectly integrated with his divine treasuries.
His five organs and six bowels operated in perfect harmony, each mapped to the Five Luminaries and Six Directions Treasuries—his flesh and divine treasuries fused into a seamless whole.
Every heartbeat was like a great bell, sending qi-blood surging instantly to every extremity.
His lungs drew in vast airflows, his kidneys coordinated total-body strength, his eyes shone like sun and moon, forming a Seven Stars configuration with his inner treasuries.
His dantian roared like the Mute Smith’s—a blazing furnace-sun driving his body at constant peak output.
Even his Primordial Spirit was extreme: not a floating entity, but perfectly laminated with his flesh—heart-movement became attack, divine movement became yuanqi technique, a single thought unifying both into blindingly fast assaults.
By comparison, Quinn’s greatest pride—his powerful, stable Primordial Spirit, his ability to send it out of body, his dual-cultivation innovations, even his superiority to Victor Bloom—were still not enough.
The First Human Emperor instantly mirrored and crushed every attempt Quinn made to follow his integrated model.
He battered Quinn around the hall, then out into the cemetery—his eyes shooting cutting beams that pinned Quinn to walls and scorched the stone red.
"All these books and graves are trash produced by trash. Every Human Emperor before you was useless—their lives wasted fighting High Heaven. Keep this up and you’ll be the same."
Quinn staggered up again and again, sealing his wounds, shouting through blood that Village Chief never lied to him: being Human Emperor brings no benefits, only pursuit and mortal danger. He chose it anyway—because if no one does it, there will never be hope. "You won’t do it—why won’t you let me?"