One by one, towering gods and demons rose to their feet, gazing at the youth walking toward them.
The command token is a symbol of authority, the credential for mobilizing troops—among the Heavenly Court’s Ten Guards, they recognize the token, not the person.
The Ten Guards of the Heavenly Court serve only the Heavenly Emperor. Without the command token, even the commander cannot move the army.
There are only two ways to mobilize the Ten Guards: one, by command token; two, by the Heavenly Emperor’s personal presence.
Now that Quinn Shepherd holds the command token, he is the Right Commandant of the Feather-Guard Corps, wielding the power to command this mighty army!
The command token was taken away by the founding patriarch Wei Suifeng and entrusted to the Azure Desolation Elder, who then passed it to Quinn Shepherd. Quinn boarded the ship with the command token, but could never truly command these most formidable gods and demons—until he reached the source of the Ghost Ship’s time cycle.
The Feather-Guard Corps shifted from virtual to real form, and at last Quinn could wield the token to control this terrifying force.
Standing before the formation, Quinn’s features gradually shifted, reverting to the face of Shepherd Heavenly Venerable.
Among the Nine Heavenly Venerables: Shepherd Heavenly Venerable, Quinn Heavenly Venerable.
The gods and demon soldiers of the Feather-Guard Corps watched his face change. Though surprised, none questioned it.
Each of the Nine Heavenly Venerables of the Dragon-Han era had their own strengths and unique talents, but the most enigmatic were Quinn Heavenly Venerable and Shepherd Heavenly Venerable—like dragons whose heads you see, but never their tails.
No matter who it was, as long as they held the command token, they were the leader.
Quinn raised his hand; a sword flew out, slicing through the pillar inscribed with Venerable Skysoar’s poem.
As the pillar flew toward him, his body swelled and grew; he reached out, grabbed the pillar, and strode forward, with thousands of Feather-Guard gods and demons following close behind.
Zechariah Lee, nerves taut, kept close behind Quinn, only to find him leading the gods and demons straight toward the great hall where the Empress Coffin lay.
In front of the hall, an immensely powerful dragon god was trapped amid chains, glaring fiercely at Quinn, and roared, “Heaven and earth may change, but the Thirty-Six Immutable Constants do not! What does it mean? Tell me—what does it mean?”
Quinn paused, his mind reeling.
Zechariah Lee hurriedly said, “Cult Master Quinn, why did you stop? That dragon keeps repeating the same thing, raving mad...
Quinn shook his head, regaining clarity. He pointed at Lord Drakebar and laughed, “When I boarded the ship, you said the same thing. I always thought you were mad, babbling nonsense. Turns out you weren’t asking others—you were asking me!”
He felt a strange sense of absurdity.
Lord Drakebar's eyes blazed with madness, his voice harsh: "Out with it—what does it mean!"
Quinn Shepherd smiled faintly. "Only by breaking the Immutable Constants can you escape." With that, he turned and led the Feather-Guard into the grand hall.
"Break the Immutable Constants?"
Drakebar froze, then roared, "How do you break them? Don't walk away! Come back and tell me—how do you crack the Immutable Constants?"
Quinn stepped into the hall, where eight colossal dragons stood guard over the Empress Coffin, each one bound in heavy chains.
At this moment, none of the eight dragons had been turned to stone.
He reopened the passageway, led the Feather-Guard deep into the ship’s interior, then sealed the way behind them. In a low voice, he asked, "Did General Wei ever teach you how to set up the Four-Phase Calamity Array?"
Thousands of gods and demons sprang into action, forming up into the Four-Phase Calamity Array, lining the ship’s keel with military precision, awaiting inspection.
Quinn made a quick inspection and let out a breath of relief. Wei Suifeng had trained these soldiers well, passing down the Four-Phase Calamity Array from the Grand Fostering Heavenly Demon Sutra.
He walked to the heart of the array, planted the pillar inscribed with Venerable Skysoar’s poem at its center, and murmured, "The Four Emperors should be arriving. If they don’t board the ship in this cycle, all my preparations will be for nothing. Please, let them come…"
Suddenly, the Ghost Ship shuddered softly and came to a halt.
"This ship vanished for twenty thousand years, and now it’s surfaced again."
A deep, resonant voice echoed from outside—the same voice Quinn had heard before. It was the Northern Emperor Black Tortoise.
Back at the Jade Pool Grand Assembly, when Ox San Duo rampaged through the Heavenly Court, he tried to snatch up the Celestial River for a brawl, but Northern Emperor Black Tortoise pinned it down.
So it must be Northern Emperor Black Tortoise who stopped the Ghost Ship.
He claimed to be an ancient god born in the Celestial River—halting a Ghost Ship cruising the river was child’s play for him.
With the Celestial River under his command, spotting the Ghost Ship was a breeze.
The voice of Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon carried over: "Brother Black Tortoise, the Empress Ambush is riddled with secrets, and the Feather-Guard vanished on their return. Put together, these two events are a tangled web—worth digging into… Western Emperor, Southern Emperor, you’ve finally arrived."
Four overwhelming, sacred presences descended. Quinn’s heart settled: "Just as I hoped—all four Emperors are here! This is my one shot to break free. I can’t afford a single misstep!"
"The Empress Ambush, the Feather-Guard putting down the rebellion, their disappearance on the Celestial River—twenty thousand years ago, these events rocked the world."
Qin Mu heard a familiar voice and couldn't help but smile—it was Scarlett Vermilion.
Scarlett Vermilion was none other than the Southern Emperor herself.
Her voice continued: "Rumors ran wild back then. I heard that General Wayne Gale sent someone ahead to the Heavenly Court to report what happened at Home's End Abyss before returning. I investigated: Wayne Gale's man reported to the Heavenly Emperor that the Empress had died at Home's End Abyss, and Wayne Gale was bringing her corpse back to Heaven by ship. But the Empress's body should've been on the Feather-Guard ship, which vanished along with the whole corps. Yet the Feather-Guard disappeared, while the Empress's corpse appeared in Heaven. I can't make sense of it."
Another woman's voice rang out—Western Emperor White Tiger: "Scarlett, did Great Sun Star Lord tell you all this? I asked him too. He said the same thing: that 'Little Bird' knows all sorts of secrets. It's not just the Empress coming back from the dead that's suspicious. There's also Wayne Gale's messenger who reported to the Emperor—he suddenly vanished, evaporated into thin air! No trace left. Too strange!"
"Stranger still, all these bizarre things happened on the Celestial River, yet Black Tortoise claims he knows nothing!"
Scarlett Vermilion replied coolly, "You expect me to believe anything on the Celestial River escapes your notice? Yet you play ignorant, Black Tortoise. Very suspicious."
Northern Emperor Black Tortoise gave a cold snort.
Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon coughed and said, "Black Tortoise isn't that kind of person. It was Black Tortoise who let us know when this ship reappeared and called us here to witness it together. If he were behind all this, why invite us? Now that we're here, let's board and get to the bottom of it!"
Suddenly, the Ghost Ship lurched—clearly, the Four Emperors had broken through the black mist shrouding it and boarded the deck.
"This ship is strange!"
The Western Emperor's startled voice rang out: "Some kind of power is trying to invade me!"
"I'm feeling it too! Something bizarre is trying to seize control of me!"
"It's not control—it's stripping away our power... Not just our power, our bodies too! This force wants to fuse us into itself!"
"This ship... it's alive! It's a trap!"
Boom—boom—each thunderous crash sent waves of terror through the ship. The Four Emperors were trying to break Venerable Skysoar's divine art.
Eastern Emperor Azure Dragon transformed into a massive dragon, tail lashing, and flew out of the Ghost Ship into the black mist. Yet the next moment, he reappeared on deck, moving quickly with a look of shock.
Azure Dragon tried again and again—each time, he left the ship, only to instantly reappear on deck. He must've tried dozens of times, but no matter how powerful an ancient god-emperor he was, even he began to panic.
The other three ancient god-emperors each tried their own methods to escape. Scarlett Vermilion was fastest, flying as a Vermilion Bird, but no matter how she sped or soared, she always ended up back on deck.