If the Dragon-Keeper Lord had hidden the True Dragon Nest somewhere else, Quinn Shepherd wouldn’t have praised him for being cunning. In Oldridge Village, after all, cunning is considered the highest compliment.
If the Dragon-Keeper Lord had hidden the True Dragon Nest on his own body or on the Flood-Dragon King, that would have been normal thinking—precisely the sort of thing that makes the target easy to find. Instead, he stashed it inside an utterly inconspicuous ink-green flood-dragon, letting the beast swallow it. This kind of non-human logic truly deserves praise.
So Quinn didn’t hesitate to compliment the Dragon-Keeper Lord.
The Dragon-Keeper Lord ignored him, focusing all his energy on molting, forcing himself out of his old skin. As long as he shed both layers, he could kill Quinn Shepherd, reclaim the True Dragon Nest, and regain his status as True Dragon Lord.
Quinn patted the ink-green flood-dragon on his shoulder. The dragon obediently nuzzled his palm, making a baby-like sound: “Maha!”
Quinn activated the Dragon-Controlling Mantra, establishing a link with the ink-green flood-dragon. He handed over the Worryless Sword, trying to make the beast attack the Dragon-Keeper Lord. But the dragon was too terrified to strike, shaking off his mental control.
The ink-green flood-dragon wasn’t just raised by the Dragon-Keeper Lord—it had a natural fear of him and dared not attack. Even with Quinn’s strength and a divine sword in hand, he couldn’t inflict a fatal wound; at best, he could pierce the god’s flesh.
The Dragon-Keeper Lord was gravely wounded—his injuries were fatal. Grandpa Blind’s strike had done tremendous damage, and Quinn had personally poisoned him, so now he needed to molt twice to erase the wounds. Even if he succeeded, his vitality would be greatly diminished.
"I’m out of Triple-Break Powder, and there’s no time to refine more poison. Dragon-Qilin may be at the Heaven-Man realm, but even if he wields the Worryless Sword, killing the Dragon-Keeper Lord would still be tough… Maybe I should test the power of the Solar Jade Eye…"
With that thought, he prepared to pull out the Solar Jade Eye, but after a moment’s hesitation, he changed his mind and instead took out the Lunar Jade Eye from his Glutton Dragon Pouch.
This is the Yong River, where the current is fierce. The Solar Jade Eye unleashes an intense blaze, but its power is inevitably weakened when it collides with the water.
Quinn had never tested the Lunar Jade Eye's power, but it was not afraid of water; submerged, it could display its full potential.
Quinn approached the Dragon-Keeper Lord's neck and set down the massive eyeball. The Dragon-Keeper Lord ignored him, focused on his molting.
Quinn adjusted the Lunar Jade Eye's position, aiming it at the Dragon-Keeper Lord's neck, then made a few calibrations.
He was using the Lunar Jade Eye for the first time; the Solar Jade Eye, on the other hand, he'd tried before—its power was immense, slicing open the Qu Mountain God Temple and destroying that stretch of seabed.
When designing the Solar-Shooting God Cannon for Emperor Evan, he referenced the Solar Jade Eye's construction and incorporated many of its forging concepts. After all, the Imperial Preceptor had only passed on the cultivation method for the Solar-Shooting God Eye, with no record of the cannon's design.
Quinn drew on the Solar Jade Eye's structure to turn the Solar-Shooting God Eye into a cannon.
He speculated that the Qu Mountain God Temple might date back before the Pioneer Emperor era, since its rune markings differed greatly from those of today and the Pioneer era.
After pondering for a moment, Quinn activated the Lunar Jade Eye.
The Jade Eye slowly opened, its enormous interior gradually glowing, as if a full, round moon were hidden inside.
Both the Solar-Shooting God Eye and the cannon required an external energy supply, so Quinn had crafted many pill furnaces to provide power. Yet the Lunar Jade Eye and Solar Jade Eye had no such mechanism; Quinn puzzled over this for ages, never figuring out the source of their energy.
He had several bold theories: perhaps each Jade Eye truly contained a miniature sun or moon, granting it endless energy. But this idea was so outrageous that even Quinn couldn't believe it himself.
A second guess, more plausible, was that ancient humans or gods mastered a peculiar formation that drew energy directly from nature.
But this theory had its flaws—when Quinn activated the Jade Eyes, he sensed no mysterious energy surging nearby.
His third guess was even wilder: maybe the Lunar and Solar Jade Eyes were actually spatial transmission artifacts, far more complex than ordinary teleportation arrays, akin to portals.
Such a treasure would require a giant portal on the sun or moon's surface, and another inside the Jade Eye. Linking the two, it would channel energy from the celestial body, unleashing it through the Jade Eye—explaining its terrifying power and why it needed no external energy supply.
But who could possibly travel to the sun or moon to build such a portal?
Besides, Quinn and others had calculated that all celestial phenomena here were fake—even the sun and moon were painted illusions stuck to the sky. How could anyone leave this world, let alone build portals on those bodies?
He longed to dissect the Jade Eye and examine its inner workings, but didn't dare risk it.
At last, the Lunar Jade Eye finished gathering energy. Quinn controlled it, and its pupil narrowed to a vertical slit—a thin blade of light shot forward!
The Dragon-Keeper Lord had already crawled out most of his neck. The light blade swept across his throat without any obvious effect, but wherever the beam passed, a razor-thin ice wall suddenly appeared at the bottom of the Yong River, stretching an unknown distance and splitting the riverbed in two!
Plenty of fish monsters and water beasts swam through the river. Suddenly, a large fish was sliced cleanly in half by the nearly invisible ice wall.
Yet the fish monster seemed completely unaware, still swimming as though nothing had happened, its body split down the middle into two halves—each half swimming on its own.
There was no blood flowing from its severed body. Not only that, but its organs and even brain tissue were plainly visible along the cut.
The two halves of the fish monster swam around, utterly oblivious to their condition.
Quinn Shepherd stared in shock, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.
"Does the Lunar Jade Eye have no real power—only the ability to slice things apart? Why don't they die after being cut?"
He couldn't figure it out, thinking to himself, "Maybe the wounds on these fish monsters are frozen, so there's no bleeding? But the frozen layer must be extremely thin, or else the fish wouldn't be able to keep swimming."
Suddenly, blood began to seep from the two halves of the swimming fish monster—apparently the ice sealing the wounds had melted. The scent of blood spread, and soon the two halves were swarmed by other fish monsters, gnawed down to bare bones.
The Dragon-Keeper Lord, in the middle of molting, had already stopped moving. His eyes darted around in terror as he witnessed the fate of the fish monster—a chill ran down his spine.
Quinn adjusted the Jade Eye and sliced another fish monster down the middle. That fish was split in two as well; Quinn summoned both halves with his yuanqi and pressed them back together.
The two halves fused into a whole, and the fish swam away as if nothing had happened.
Quinn was stunned, then broke into a delighted grin. "So the Lunar Jade Eye can do this too?"
The Dragon-Keeper Lord's eyes spun wildly. His body behind his neck squirmed—not crawling forward, but retreating, trying to shed both layers of skin at once.
"Don't move, Dragon Lord!"
Quinn lifted the Jade Eye and traced a circle around the Dragon-Keeper Lord's neck.
The Dragon-Keeper Lord remained frozen, his eyes filled with terror. A pale line appeared around his neck, encircling it from one side to the other.
Quinn tried to shake his neck, but it wouldn't budge. He immediately pulled out a massive iron hammer and, using all his strength, struck along the white line.
Crack.
A crisp sound rang out, and the Dragon-Keeper Lord's scalp tingled. His voice went hoarse as he rasped, "Wait—"
Quinn swung the hammer again, striking hard. Another crack echoed, and the Dragon-Keeper Lord screamed, unable to hold back, "Wait, I have something to say!"
Quinn paused, curious. "What do you want to say, Dragon Lord?"
"What good does it do you to kill me?"
The Dragon-Keeper Lord spoke cautiously, afraid a loud voice might snap his neck. "Even if you kill me, you'll only bring High Heaven's wrath. Stronger gods will descend, hunt you down, and still twist the Yong River into another Great Ruins!"
Quinn hammered down. "If soldiers come, I'll fight them; if floods come, I'll block them. I'll kill one first and deal with the rest later!"
"Stop! We're just High Heaven's gatekeepers. One dead god is nothing, but if two die and the true gods are alerted, that's the end of the world!"
The Dragon-Keeper Lord cried, "I have no grudge with you! I'm just following orders in the lower world—why must you wipe us all out?"
Quinn stopped, smiling coldly. "If Everpeace is destroyed, what does that have to do with me? I'm from the Great Ruins anyway—if Everpeace becomes another Great Ruins, I'll be even more at home. Besides, if I let you go, won't you just come back to kill me? You wouldn't speak for Everpeace in High Heaven, so what's the use of keeping you around?"
The Dragon-Keeper Lord's face shifted between hope and despair. Suddenly, he gritted his teeth. "I can swear by Tu Bo—if you let me go, I'll never seek revenge!"
Quinn raised the hammer. "If you won't seek revenge, then killing you changes nothing."
The Dragon-Keeper Lord trembled. "Stop! I can teach you how to seize dragon veins and wield the True Dragon Lord's power!"
Quinn lowered the hammer, eyes glinting. "What else?"
The Dragon-Keeper Lord's facial muscles twitched. "I can guard the Yong River dragon vein for you!"
Quinn's expression grew solemn. "Swear by Tu Bo!"
The Dragon-Keeper Lord clenched his teeth. "I swear by Tu Bo!"
Quinn smiled faintly, put away the hammer, and steadied the Lunar Jade Eye. Suddenly, he transformed into his Earth Star Lord form: human head, serpent body, with the Gate of Bearing Heaven manifesting behind him.
The twin doors of the Gate of Bearing Heaven swung open, revealing the deep, shadowy world of the Netherworld.
Quinn said gravely, "You may swear by Tu Bo now. Don't try any tricks—I've done this before, and you won't outsmart an honest man like me."
"Honest man..."
The Dragon-Keeper Lord's eye twitched, but he obediently swore the oath. As the words left his mouth, he couldn't help but revert to his true form—a colossal flood dragon, over a hundred li long, sprawling across the riverbed. A black, qi-forged chain appeared, one end linking him to the Yong River, the other to his soul!
If he broke the oath, the chain would drag his soul into the Netherworld, erasing him utterly.
Quinn carefully examined the wording of the oath—no loopholes. He smiled. "Once the ice ring around your neck melts, your body will be whole again. Recall your Flood-Dragon King and guard the Yong River well."
The Dragon-Keeper Lord, now a giant flood dragon with a mountain-sized head, looked at Quinn with a complicated expression. Suddenly, he asked, "I've always called you a naive kid, but I never knew your name. May I ask, who are you really?"
Quinn rose toward the surface with the ink-green flood-dragon, his voice echoing from beneath the water: "Quinn Shepherd of Oldridge Village, Heavenly Demon Cult Master, current Human Emperor."
The Dragon-Keeper Lord was stunned, then slumped in defeat. "So you're the Human Emperor... Who taught you to be like this? You're even harder to deal with than the Sword God in the old days..."