Ben Coates and his party finally arrived before the sky-ship. Along the way, another twenty or thirty people had perished, falling to the bizarre attacks of Nethergloom Ravine’s creatures.
Your Highness, these two old monks possess formidable cultivation, nearly reaching the Tathagata Realm!
Witch King Gordon’s eyes lit up when he saw the two old monks seated on the cliffs. He said, “Their flesh could be refined into excellent treasures! I’ll go retrieve them!”
Ben Coates gave no comment, and Witch King Gordon immediately led his men to fly up to the niches in the cliff, collecting the bodies of the two old monks.
Though the two old monks were dead, their bodies still radiated Buddha-light and Buddhist chanting, resisting the surge of demonic qi from the Netherworld. As soon as their bodies were taken, the demonic qi behind the honeycomb seal surged violently, shaking the seal!
The demonic qi rushing out from the cracks in the honeycomb seal suddenly intensified. The impact caused many new fissures to appear, and some existing cracks widened considerably.
A deep, muffled voice faintly echoed from behind the seal, then the demonic qi abruptly withdrew, and the terrifying shock subsided.
The silence was uncanny.
“At last, I’ve arrived—a ship that could carry my hopes of becoming a god!” Ben Coates gazed at the sky-ship from beyond the heavens, even his ancient, unshaken mind stirring with excitement. Lotus flowers bloomed beneath his feet as he strode toward the treasure ship.
The group boarded the ship and began searching everywhere. Suddenly, a Grand Witch discovered an open door and hurried to report it.
Ben Coates led his men into the room, with several warriors scouting ahead. As they entered, the door behind them suddenly closed. When those warriors opened the door again, Ben Coates and his group were nowhere to be found.
Ben Coates’s companions searched all around, and their numbers gradually dwindled. Even though Ben Coates cared little for their lives, he could not help but grow uneasy.
Don’t wander around!
Ben Coates’s expression grew serious as he carefully examined the doors. He sneered, “It’s a harmonization technique—a spatial harmonization, interlocking layer upon layer. I’ve seen records of this art in the Little Jade Capital Sect, dating back to the Pioneer Era!”
Witch King Gordon, who hadn’t gotten lost, rejoiced at the words: “Your Highness must surely know how to break the spell!”
Ben Coates shook his head: “There’s no record of a solution in Little Jade Capital Sect. But harmonization is a spatial algorithm, and my mastery of numerology is second to none—even the Dao Lord might not surpass me. Figuring out the solution is no trouble for me! Let’s go. I want to see if the gods’ harmonization can really stop me!”
In the study of the treasure ship, Quinn Shepherd closed the Keane Clan Genealogy. “The last generation of the Pioneer bloodline is Fenix Greenwood Keane. Could he be the owner of this ship? The Keane family line runs from Ye Greenwood Keane to Fenix Greenwood Keane, long and unbroken—a true noble house. The owner of this ship, Fenix Greenwood Keane, shares my surname. Could we be related by blood?”
He was about to return the genealogy to the shelf, but on a whim, he stopped and stuffed the thick volume into his Glutton Dragon Pouch.
Just as he set the genealogy aside, the Old Man in the Painting suddenly appeared out of nowhere, running onto the desk and manifesting on the paper.
Quinn Shepherd was about to catch this strange painting spirit when a figure blurred before his eyes—a young man abruptly appeared at the desk and walked straight toward him. Quinn couldn’t dodge in time, but the young man passed right through his body—a mere phantom.
This young man had an extraordinary bearing, and his appearance gave Quinn Shepherd a sense of familiar intimacy as he passed through Quinn’s body.
Quinn was startled and quickly turned around, only to see the white-clad young man calmly making a gesture to open a door before disappearing.
He hurried forward and, sure enough, saw a doorway.
Quinn Shepherd opened the door and stepped inside, once again spotting the white-clad young man. This was a grand hall within the ship. Suddenly, the previously empty hall filled with people coming and going, many appearing from nowhere.
Caught off guard, Quinn watched as people rushed about, passing straight through his body in their hurry. The hall was chaotic—they must have encountered some catastrophe. Some couldn’t keep their balance, tossed about by the jarring motion.
It seemed the ship had been struck, and this time the impact was even fiercer. Many people were flung across the hall; some were badly injured, coughing up blood.
The white-clad young man raised his hand, freezing everyone in midair. Then, slowly, he set them down—despite the ship’s violent shaking, they stood steady on the floor.
A dignified, elegant woman hurried toward the white-clad young man. The two spoke quietly, the youth seeming to comfort her before heading outside.
Quinn’s gaze lingered on the woman, a look of confusion in his eyes. For some reason, he felt an inexplicable sense of kinship—just seeing her made him feel close to her.
He hesitated for a moment, but chose to follow the white-clad young man.
The white-clad young man walked down the corridor, passing through one doorway after another. With a wave of his hand, a sword flew up and hovered behind him, following every step.
Quinn Shepherd paused, then summoned his own Worryless Sword. The blade trembled lightly, seeming to resonate with the sword behind the white-clad youth—as if they were one and the same.
The white-clad youth stepped onto the bow, looked up at the sky, and spoke. Suddenly, the heavens shook violently—a colossal serpent appeared, jaws gaping wide.
The serpent seemed impossibly distant, yet its size was overwhelming. Only its head and neck emerged from the black sky, while the rest of its body vanished into darkness.
Atop the serpent’s head stood terrifying beings—not human, but living gods like those depicted in the temples of the Great Ruins. Yet these were real, living deities.
They were attacking the ship, each blow carrying the weight of world-ending destruction.
Quinn was entranced by the young man’s swordsmanship—it was unlike any mortal sword art, suffused with a strange, profound rhythm. It reminded him of the 'dao' that both Village Chief and Dao Lord had spoken of.
The difference was, Village Chief’s dao approached swordsmanship through technique, while Dao Lord’s dao approached it through mathematics.
[Omitted: Irrelevant webnovel system message.]
The path taken by the white-clad youth’s swordsmanship was different from both Village Chief and Dao Lord’s—it contained another kind of sword-dao, though Quinn couldn’t discern its nature.
His perception had not yet reached that level.
He watched, utterly entranced. In the past, his swordsmanship was all about technique—mastering the art until he reigned supreme. But ever since Village Chief appointed him as Human Emperor and honed his sword skills in the village, he entered the realm of 'method,' beginning to create his own sword forms.
Later, under the guidance of the Yankang Grandmaster, his mastery of method grew deeper and more profound.
At the level of method, one could be called a master.
Above method lies the realm of dao—the level attained by Village Chief, which even Dao Lord and the Yankang Grandmaster have yet to reach.
Now, standing at the height of method, Quinn Shepherd could appreciate the intricacies of the white-clad youth’s swordsmanship. He couldn’t grasp the true dao within, but he could sense its subtle wonders.
The white-clad youth’s swordsmanship approached the dao, brimming with endless mysteries. His foes were mighty gods, yet he still held them at bay!
Suddenly, disaster struck—a terrifying power shook space and time. A giant hand reached out, meeting the Worryless Sword head-on. Instantly, the blade melted, dissolving and snapping in two. The ship, along with the broken sword, sliced through the sky and plunged into the dark earth below.
Behind the giant hand, the serpent carried gods in pursuit, chasing after the falling ship.
Quinn Shepherd fell alongside the ship, feeling every jolt as it crashed from the sky. The treasure ship tore through the heavens—a massive white bat statue flashed past—then smashed into the earth, tunneling deep underground.
Then, he felt a violent jolt as the treasure ship crashed through a colossal underground statue, smashing into the honeycomb seal.
Amid the chaos, Quinn Shepherd saw that the casualties aboard the ship were severe—many perished in the collision. The woman emerged, gathering the survivors and leading them away from the ship, escaping into the Netherworld.
The white-clad youth, gravely wounded, chose to remain, standing guard on the ship before the honeycomb seal in the Netherworld.
Outside, a giant serpent lowered its head from the abyss, and atop its flattened skull stood imposing gods.
The serpent slithered down into the abyss, swimming through the earth, slowly drawing closer.
Suddenly, the phantoms before Quinn vanished, leaving him alone on the ship’s deck. A cold wind swept by, making his clothes flutter.
He looked back and saw the Netherworld looming in the darkness.
Now, at the bow of the treasure ship, he had entered the world of the Netherworld.
Unseen to him, a massive eye appeared beneath the ship, larger than the vessel itself, gazing at him with eerie interest.
Quinn Shepherd stared blankly at the bizarre Netherworld, where creatures of every color glowed and drifted far from the ship.
A group from the ship, led by the woman, broke into the Netherworld, while the white-clad youth remained behind to hold off the serpent and the pursuing gods.
Is the white-clad youth still alive?
Did he fall in battle here, or did he fend off the gods and then enter the Netherworld to search for his family?
Did they come from Worryless Village?
They share my surname—could they be my kin?
And who is hunting them?
Quinn Shepherd steeled himself. Perhaps all he needed was to make the ship airborne, and it could return to Worryless Village!
His heart burned with excitement as he strode from the bow to the cabin door. Surely the ship had something like a compass, recording the route to Worryless Village.
Village Chief had once given him a mirror, said to be a map to Worryless Village. But the mirror bore Village Chief’s seal—Quinn could only read the map once he was strong enough to break the seal.
That mirror was found aboard the unparalleled warship, which had been shattered on its journey to Worryless Village. But this ship remained intact—so there must be an unsealed map here as well!
He pushed open a door and entered the bridge. At the bow, a massive eye slowly rose, then another lit up—two vertical pupils staring.
A gigantic serpent’s head appeared in the darkness, its tongue flicking silently as it stared at Quinn Shepherd entering the bridge.
Quinn sensed something and turned, but saw nothing—the two eyes had already faded into the darkness.
[Omitted: Irrelevant author note about update schedule.]