The other Human Emperors all wore strange expressions, each remaining silent.
Travis Tuo had always been the most reliable of all the Human Emperors. His mastery of numerology was said to be unmatched in the world, but now, faced with Quinn Shepherd's Overlord Body, even his calculations had failed.
When confronted with an 'Overlord Body' like Quinn Shepherd, even the slightest miscalculation would leave them utterly humiliated!
To be safe, they would rather not trust Travis Tuo's numerology skills at all.
Human Emperor Travis Tuo, fuming with anger, leapt off the bridge and shouted, 'You don't trust me? How could I be wrong? I'll go down there right now and cripple that kid for you!'
'Grand Firmament Star-Palm!'
......
On the bridge, the Second Human Emperor said unhurriedly, 'See? I told you he miscalculated. Now he's the one drifting away. If we had trusted him, we'd be the ones floating downstream.'
The other Human Emperors, including the Third Ancestor, deeply agreed. Human Emperor Nolan Qing leaned out, gloating, 'Master, where did you go wrong in your calculations?'
Human Emperor Travis Tuo looked utterly defeated and said woodenly, 'His Primordial Spirit. I miscalculated the strength of his Primordial Spirit—it's much stronger than I expected... But now, I think I've seen through him!'
He leaped out of the water, landing back on the bridge, dripping wet and beaming. 'This time I definitely won't miscalculate. I'm sure I can find his flaw! Just trust me this once!'
The Human Emperors of every generation just laughed it off. Human Emperor Nolan Qing's eyes flashed. 'Since Master has seen through his weakness, why not go down again and defeat that brat? We'll cheer you on!'
Human Emperor Travis Tuo pulled out his spirit-abacus and smacked it on his disciple's head. 'As my disciple, instead of supporting me, you gloat at my expense! What did I teach you? I taught you numerology, and you went off to study music! You go down there and hit him for me!'
Nolan Qing turned to the delighted Human Emperor Colin Mercer and kicked him off the bridge. 'I taught you music, but you went and cultivated Law-Following Word Arts! Go down there and hit him for me!'
Seeing Quinn Shepherd rush over, Human Emperor Colin Mercer quickly waved his hands, shook his head, and said solemnly, 'Human Emperor Quinn is truly an Overlord Body. There's no need to fight.'
Quinn Shepherd immediately withdrew his attack, smiling. 'I'm not a warmonger either. I just think that the divine arts and techniques of all the ancestors and masters here still have room to improve. But truly, your arts are powerful—if you keep developing their potential, they'll far surpass anything before. Especially Ancestor Colin Mercer's Law-Following Word Arts; it's the most marvelous technique I've ever seen!'
Human Emperor Colin Mercer couldn't help but beam with joy, delighted. 'You really think my technique is extraordinary?'
Quinn Shepherd nodded, crossing his hands and moving his steps across the river, mimicking a sealing gesture. 'I saw Ancestor use this move to ambush Nolan Qing, sealing him instantly. What divine art is that?'
'That's the Seal Character Formula!'
Discussing his own divine art, Human Emperor Colin Mercer couldn't hide his excitement. He personally instructed Quinn Shepherd, teaching him how to channel yuanqi for this Seal Character Formula and how to pronounce it. 'Law-Following Word Arts relies on sound-dao and rune-dao. You have to fuse body movement, footwork, and sound-dao into one, then add the yuanqi rune array to activate it! Watch closely!'
He activated his own yuanqi, moved his steps in two circles, crossed his hands, let his energy burst forth, and shouted, "Seal!"
As soon as the word left his mouth, his yuanqi spread like ink beneath his feet, forming a giant Seal character. Quinn’s vision went black, all sound vanished from his ears, his five senses were completely sealed, and he couldn’t even sense his own yuanqi!
The next instant, the sensation of having his senses sealed disappeared.
“What an incredible divine art!”
Quinn was thrilled, and eagerly asked Human Emperor Colin for guidance. After a moment, he began to try it himself, performing the Seal Character Formula and shouting, "Seal!"
A giant Seal character immediately appeared in the river water beneath his feet!
Human Emperor Colin was stunned. "He learned that fast? My life’s greatest technique, and he mastered it after seeing it once? Does the Overlord Body really exist? Was it not just a story Village Chief made up?"
He could hardly believe it. After Village Chief entered Nether City, he treated tricking Quinn into believing he had the Overlord Body as his greatest achievement, boasting about it to all the past Human Emperors without hiding a thing.
In fact, every Human Emperor except Quinn knew the Overlord Body was fake—only Quinn himself was kept in the dark.
Yet now, Human Emperor Colin was starting to think Quinn might actually be an Overlord Body.
"Let me teach you the Strength Character Formula next."
Human Emperor Colin’s eyes flashed as he transmitted the Strength Character Formula to Quinn. Once again, Quinn mastered it in mere moments. When he activated the technique, a Strength character composed of runes and arrays appeared behind him, accompanied by the sound and rhythm of the character, which unleashed the power of the array and multiplied his physical strength several times over!
Human Emperor Colin was utterly astonished; mastering Law-Following Word Arts in such a short time should have been impossible. He had only invented the technique in middle age, after training under Human Emperor Nolan Qing and achieving extraordinary skill in sound-dao, but wanting to break away from Nolan Qing’s path, he studied tirelessly and also reached great heights in calligraphy, runes, arrays, body-method, footwork, and fistwork.
He spent decades integrating everything he’d learned before finally creating the Law-Following Word Arts, inheriting the Human Emperor’s Seal, and earning the respect and awe of sects and schools all over the martial world.
For Quinn to master Law-Following Word Arts in just moments—did that mean his attainments in calligraphy, runes, arrays, body-method, footwork, and fistwork were also extremely high?
Even if Quinn was highly accomplished in all those fields, mastering in moments what had taken Colin decades to integrate was simply too astonishing!
Quinn then learned the Stabilize Character Formula from him. This technique was performed with a single palm strike, causing a Stabilize character about a yard wide to appear in front of him—and Quinn mastered it just as easily.
Human Emperor Colin was more and more shaken.
Suddenly, the Third Ancestor’s voice rang out: “Little Quinn, come learn my move!”
Colin snapped out of his shock and looked around, only then realizing that many Human Emperors had left the bridge and gathered around them. Even Amber Brooks, Ethan Graves, Qi Kang, and the others who had drifted downstream were now present, all staring at Quinn with strange expressions.