"Fatherly love is like a mountain. So Northern Emperor Black Tortoise and his consort literally pressed a mountain on Crown Prince Yooming for six hundred thousand years."
Inside the Heavenly Dragon Imperial Palanquin, Quinn Shepherd said to God-Queen Langwo, "They went to such lengths to protect their son. Prince Umbral, scheming against Northern Emperor Black Tortoise, showed astonishing patience too—he kept at it for four or five hundred thousand years. But this time, he won't get his way and will suffer a small setback. I saw him persistently sending insect eggs to eat the gourd vine, so I knew his real target wasn't the Five-Thunder Gourds."
Langwo's eyes flickered. She said, "I got news in a god-city near the Artifact-Class Heaven-Guide Venerable: the Ten Heavenly Venerables are about to go to war with each other. The gods and demons stationed in Northern Extremity Heaven are talking about it, and they're terrified."
Quinn perked up and asked, "The Ten Heavenly Venerables are finally tearing each other apart?"
"All because of the Heavenly Emperor eggshell. Six of the Heavenly Venerables were already fighting over it, but hadn't gone all out—until Flame-Venerable showed up, openly demanding those six hand over the eggshell. Of course, none would admit they had it, so Flame-Venerable threatened to search them himself."
Langwo spoke lightly, but Quinn could hear the danger underneath.
Flame-Venerable wants to search them?
Venerable Dawn, Consort Qiang, Consort Yan—these Heavenly Venerables have such exalted status, how could they tolerate such humiliation? Especially since some are women, and even the Heavenly Emperor's consorts!
"Those six couldn't accept Flame-Venerable's demand to search them. But then Fire-Venerable arrived to back him up. With Flame-Venerable's power and Fire-Venerable's support, the others were no match."
Langwo said, "Heavenly Court is roiling with hidden currents—it's extremely dangerous. There's rumor that the Ten Heavenly Venerables plan to recall all Artifact-Class Heaven-Guide Venerables from the heavens and bring them back to Heavenly Court for battle. Even the Ten Guards of Heavenly Court have mobilized! Armies of gods and demons from every heaven are being dispatched to Heavenly Court."
"Even the Ten Guards of Heavenly Court have mobilized?"
Quinn's heart chilled. He stood up and paced, thinking aloud: "No, that's not right. The Ten Guards—Left and Right Feather-Guard, Dragon-Martial, Divine Strategy, Divine Might, Divine Martial—only take orders from the Heavenly Emperor. The Ten Heavenly Venerables can't command them. If the Ten Guards are moving, it can only be by order of the Ancient-God Emperor. But all Ten Heavenly Venerables can control the Emperor's puppet body, so they'd just sabotage each other and nothing would get done. Something's off here..."
Langwo blinked her big eyes, watching him pace. "What are you saying?" she asked.
"The Ten Heavenly Venerables' civil war is just a show. The real goal is to lure the snake from its burrow."
Quinn stopped, suddenly clapped his fist into his palm with a crisp snap, and said gravely, "If the Ten Guards weren't moving, maybe it really would be infighting among the Heavenly Venerables. But if the Ten Guards are mobilized, that's impossible!"
The Ten Guards of Heavenly Court are the most powerful armies under the Heavenly Emperor, each with its own specialty. They answer only to the command token—not to anyone else, not to any Heavenly Venerable.
Back in the Dragon-Han Era, Wayne Gale led a hundred thousand Feather-Guard Corps and wiped out the Drakebar Dragon Kingdom. That kingdom even trapped the Empress in Home's End Abyss for years!
Sure, there were plenty of twists and secrets in that story, and the Empress wasn't as strong back then as she is now. But even so, you can see how terrifying the Ten Guards' power is!
To mobilize the Ten Guards, only the Ancient-God Emperor can give the order. But for that to happen, the Ten Heavenly Venerables must all agree—otherwise, if they all try to control the Emperor's puppet body at once, it'll be chaos.
If the Ten Heavenly Venerables were really fighting, no one could mobilize the Ten Guards!
Now that the Ten Guards of Heavenly Court have been mobilized, this can only be a trap to lure the snake from its burrow!
"It's a setup targeting the ancient gods! The Ten Heavenly Venerables' split and civil war is just a façade—it's all to lure the snake from its hole!"
Quinn frowned and said decisively, "If any ancient god can't see through this and thinks the Ten Heavenly Venerables have really fallen apart, they'll be doomed for sure!"
Suddenly, the Heavenly Dragon Imperial Palanquin slowed—they had arrived in Western Extremity Heaven.
Just then, Dragon-Qilin's voice came from outside the carriage: "Heavenly Venerable, we can't go any further! The gods and demons guarding this place have blocked the road!"
Quinn stepped out of the palanquin and looked ahead. He saw tens of thousands of gods and demons encircling an Artifact-Class Heaven-Guide Venerable, building Sky-Bulwark City.
The towering city was a spectacular sight, stretching from earth to sky. Western Extremity Heaven is rich in metal, and this Sky-Bulwark City was built entirely from pure metal, its height astonishing—taller than the mountains of Western Extremity Heaven, and just as thick!
Countless gods and demons slit their wrists, letting divine blood gush out onto the metal walls. Rune masters, wielding giant brushes soaked in god-blood and demon-blood, flew along the ramparts, inscribing sigils on the walls as they went!
Runes were branded into the walls, some glowing gold, others shining red.
Inside Sky-Bulwark City, pill furnaces on the warships blazed to life. Giant bronze beast nozzles spewed tongues of fire dozens of miles long, slowly floating the warships up into the sky.
On the warships, hundreds of gods and demons rushed about, donning divine armor and weapons, forming battle formations at their commanders' shouts.
In the city, giant beasts hauled massive cloud-carts piled high with divine weapons, straining toward the ramparts.
On either side of the streets, countless alchemists fired up pill furnaces so large ten people could barely encircle them. Divine dragons breathed fire beneath the furnaces as Heavenly Court's alchemists worked frantically, with apprentice boys tossing in herbs nonstop.
Freshly refined spirit pills were sent up to the ramparts, ready to heal the wounded in battle.
Quinn watched from afar. Heavenly Court had stationed a million troops in Western Extremity Heaven, and now the war machine was in motion—Sky-Bulwark City was rising at an astonishing speed.
Even though Heavenly Court was rotten to the core, this speed of mobilization filled him with dread!
Heavenly Court's war machine moved far too fast!
But opposite Sky-Bulwark City, White Tiger Palace of Western Extremity Heaven was on the move, advancing toward them.
Clearly, Western Emperor White Tiger had gotten word of the Ten Heavenly Venerables' civil war and planned to seize the world's most terrifying weapon before the Heavenly Venerable in charge could recall the Artifact-Class Heaven-Guide Venerable!
(End of this chapter segment. Click next page for more!)