Adrian Chime, the Chiming Divine Son, looked out over the thousands of three-headed, six-armed gods and demons of the Hanging Realm. All he saw were faces twisted in near despair—the shock and fear etched so clearly that he wondered if he’d somehow learned to read hearts.
But that wasn't it.
The gods and demons of the Hanging Realm had lost all courage to keep fighting—a thing unimaginable in the Chiming Era.
In the Chiming Era, gods and demons were fiercely brave, unafraid of death. When escorting survivors to the Hanging Realm, the Chiming gods fighting rearguard fell from ten thousand to a thousand, with only one in ten surviving, yet never broke ranks. From a thousand to a hundred, they never broke. From a hundred down to one, they still fought to the death and never retreated.
But now, after fifty thousand years in the Hanging Realm, the gods have lost that unyielding faith.
Adrian Chime looked up. Three suns and three moons hung overhead, two with neat holes blasted through their centers. He glanced down at the gleeful infant waiting for another clash of Crimson Emperor’s Eye—clearly treating the whole spectacle as a game.
Why did it turn out this way?
Adrian Chime felt lost. Everything had been going as planned—was it all thrown off just because he tried to send Quinn Shepherd into the Crimson Emperor’s Thought Maze?
But he hadn’t invited Quinn to the sacred mountain—Quinn had come running on his own, clearly itching for adventure. Adrian had merely taken the opportunity to invite him into the temple.
Even if he’d sent Quinn away then, the boy would’ve just sneaked in on his own.
Adrian Chime’s thoughts scattered. "Did I make a mistake? I shouldn’t have invited him—if I hadn’t, none of this would’ve happened… No, that’s not right. Things probably would’ve gone wrong anyway…"
Suddenly, several gods and demons rushed toward the divine city, shouting, "Divine Son, Quinn Shepherd has turned into a giant infant and started a massacre! We’ll seize that Everpeace princess and use her life to threaten him—force him to surrender!"
“No—we of the Chiming Divine Dynasty don’t sink to such disgrace…”
But as Adrian Chime spoke, his voice grew quieter. That giant infant was Quinn Shepherd. He watched, powerless, as Quinn kept swelling larger and younger—regressing from youth to an immense, unmatched baby.
“Baby Quinn” was too strong—Adrian Chime had no way left to fight back. If this dragged on, the Hanging Realm would be obliterated, and the last survivors of the Chiming Era would be slaughtered.
Maybe capturing Lynn Ling—threatening her life—was the only choice left.
It was despicable—but with the survival of the race at stake, he had no choice but to stoop so low.
Those gods and demons stormed into Lynn Ling’s residence. One grabbed her without a word, bound her, and soared into the air, shouting at the infant, "Quinn Shepherd, if you don’t stop, I’ll crush your Everpeace princess to death!"
The infant was unmoved—in fact, he grew even more excited, clapping his hands in anticipation of Lynn Ling’s death.
The god flew into a rage, ready to kill Lynn Ling—when suddenly, an axe-light shot from her brow, splitting him cleanly in two.
Adrian Chime, shocked and enraged, threw everything he had into a direct assault—only to be caught in the giant infant’s massive grip. He struggled desperately, but couldn’t break free from those five crushing fingers.
The infant opened his huge mouth, rows of razor-sharp teeth glinting as he lifted Adrian Chime toward it, ready to bite him clean in two.
Inside the Qin-glyph continent, Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar shot into Quinn Shepherd’s body, shouting, “Now’s the time!”
Quinn Shepherd frantically unleashed his Tri-Element Divine Will, his consciousness surging nearly out of control with Heaven Duke’s aid. A blast of divine power shattered the seal, and the infant Fenix Greenwood Keane suddenly felt his body slipping out of his own control—demonic energy and will pouring into the third eye.
“Who’s ambushing me?”
He forgot all about eating Adrian Chime, grabbing at the golden willow leaf on his brow and pulling it off.
He’d used the golden willow leaf to seal Quinn Shepherd, Heaven Duke, and Crimson Emperor’s thoughts in the Qin-glyph continent. Now, feeling something strange at his brow, he tore off the leaf to investigate.
But as soon as he removed the leaf, Crimson Emperor immediately clashed with Great Brahma King Buddha’s consciousness above the Qin-glyph continent, loosening the seal. Quinn Shepherd’s divine will surged in, fighting for control of the body.
The infant panicked—his body was shrinking rapidly, demonic energy and will flooding into the Qin-glyph continent and into Quinn Shepherd.
With power draining away, he lost all control—his body kept shrinking, but even so, he was still many times bigger than Adrian Chime.
Inside the Qin-glyph continent, Quinn Shepherd felt a torrent of power rushing in—his cultivation soared beyond anything he’d ever imagined, his body overflowing with endless energy, as if he could crush the sky and shatter the earth.
“Such incredible power… I’m starving—”
Quinn Shepherd’s voice became bone-chilling. His body grew taller, surrounded by thick Netherworld demonic energy. The demonic will flooded his mind, warping his every thought—every negative emotion twisted into greedy, wicked impulses.
“I really want to eat something…”
Quinn Shepherd licked his lips. Butterfly-wing patterns unfurled from his third eye, evil energy flooding the Qin-glyph continent.
Crimson Emperor was startled, shouting, “Heaven Duke, he’s lost control!”
Suddenly, another infant tumbled from a rift in the sky, swept along by a whirlwind of demonic energy—his body shrinking as the black column spun him downward.
“I’ll eat my brother first!” Quinn Shepherd’s eyes lit up, mouth wide, waiting for the demon-baby Fenix Greenwood Keane to fall in.
“Heaven Duke!”
Crimson Emperor’s face changed dramatically, shouting, “If he eats Fenix Greenwood Keane, he’ll become a complete demon!”
Inside Quinn Shepherd, Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar flashed through every corner of his body, shouting, “Celestial Fivefold Seal! Great Heaven Exorcising Seal!”
Light exploded inside Quinn Shepherd, blasting every trace of Netherworld demonic energy out of his body.
“Heaven Duke, you ambushed me!”
Quinn Shepherd burned with anger, but as the demonic energy left his body, he returned to normal, suddenly sobering up. “That demonic will was terrifying—I couldn’t withstand it at all. In an instant, I was almost turned into a demon. Thank goodness Heaven Duke intervened.”
Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar emerged, looking up to see the demonic energy flooding into Fenix Greenwood Keane’s infant body—he was growing larger again.
Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar turned pale, grabbing Quinn Shepherd and racing for the sky. “Crimson Emperor, the demon-baby’s restored—run!”
Crimson Emperor rushed for the rift, his body transforming into a streak of flickering light—but a chubby hand grabbed him mid-flight.
At the same moment, Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar was snatched by the tail—both plummeted from the sky, faces pale with shock.
“Quinn Shepherd, get out—now!”
Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar summoned all his strength and hurled Quinn Shepherd out. The world spun—and when Quinn opened his eyes, he was standing at a riverbank, clutching Prince Adrian Chime’s neck.
“I made it out?”
Quinn Shepherd, startled and relieved, quickly pressed the golden willow leaf to his brow, sealing his third eye.
“Brother! Bad brother!”
Inside Quinn’s brow, the giant infant raged and leapt, trying to break free—but the golden willow leaf was now fused with Tu Bo’s seal and the Buddha’s suppression. No matter how powerful his magic, he couldn’t break out.
“Bad brother—eat him!”
After a moment, the giant infant plopped down, grabbed the battered Crimson Emperor, ripped off one of his arms and tossed it aside. “Grab the bad brother—eat him!” He ripped off another arm.
Crimson Emperor was torn apart, but in the distance, Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar peeked out from behind a mountain, whispering, “Crimson Emperor, endure it—don’t move. He’ll get bored soon and stop playing with you. Just hold on…”
Crimson Emperor was only a consciousness—no matter how many arms or legs the infant tore off, they grew back instantly. But the pain was very real.
In his mind, he was still the Chiming Divine Dynasty’s emperor—how could he endure such humiliation?
Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar muttered, “I have a bad feeling he’ll play with you for a long time before he calms down…”
By the river, Prince Adrian Chime was still clutched by Quinn Shepherd—he coughed blood and collapsed. Quinn came to his senses and let go. Adrian, shocked and badly hurt, fell to his knees, coughing violently.
The giant infant nearly crushed Adrian Chime, but his body was forged by the Creation Art—he survived, though barely.
Quinn Shepherd looked around, bewildered.
Above, the sun and moon looked like two cakes with holes punched through them. Nearby, the divine city was in ruins, the sacred mountain split in half, the temple vanished, and all around lay the corpses of gods and demons from the Floating Realm—black Netherworld demonic energy still curling in the air.
In the sky, thousands of three-headed, six-armed gods and demons stared at Quinn Shepherd in terror. Adrian Chime knelt at his feet—no wonder they were all in despair.
“Kill me if you must… but please, spare a remnant of my Chiming Era people!”
Quinn Shepherd scratched his head, “Prince, if I said this was all a misunderstanding—would you believe me? I couldn’t control myself either.”
Adrian Chime’s expression was full of doubt.