The water kirin carried Quinn Shepherd past several imperial tombs before finally spotting the Dragon-Qilin. Dragon-Qilin was busy bragging to a group of dragons and qilins, boasting so loudly it seemed to shake the heavens.
"I've got myself a human just to brew pills for me!"
The dragon kings and qilins looked on with envy. As Dragon-Qilin was speaking, he spotted Quinn Shepherd and the others approaching and abruptly clammed up.
Heaven-Guide Venerable called Dragon-Qilin over. Seeing Quinn Shepherd looking utterly exhausted, Dragon-Qilin was startled and hurriedly said, "Let me carry the master instead—my stride is steady, and I won't jostle him at all."
Heaven-Guide Venerable lifted Quinn Shepherd onto Dragon-Qilin’s back. Dragon-Qilin snuck a glance at Quinn Shepherd’s expression, only to see his face dark and moody, and immediately grew anxious: Did the master overhear what I just said...?
The dragon kings and qilins watched with envy as he carried Quinn Shepherd away. Only after they had gone did they all sigh and say, "Such promise at a young age!"
"Dragon-Qilin may be young, but his vision and wit are sharp. Keeping a human around just to brew pills for himself—why didn’t I think of that back in the day?"
......
Dragon-Qilin carried Quinn Shepherd out of the subterranean hall and into the ruined temple’s main room. The phoenix followed, glancing around.
Grace Gongsun hurried to tidy up the rooms, saying, "I usually live in the Earth Mother Temple and only keep my own rooms in order. I’ll prepare a few more rooms for Sister Phoenix and Brother Quinn Shepherd."
The phoenix took out a gleaming golden nest and said, "I can’t sleep in anyone else’s bed. Lay out my nest properly."
Grace Gongsun agreed and took the nest from her.
Soon, everything was ready. Quinn Shepherd sat at the bedside, looking much better. He said, "Sister, I’m feeling much better now. You don’t need to fuss over me. Earth-Origin Dao Fruit really works—I can feel my vital energy recovering, and I’m fine."
Grace Gongsun looked him over carefully and saw that his complexion had indeed improved. She was filled with envy and said, "That fruit is no ordinary thing. It’s an Earth-Origin Dao Fruit from the Origin-Root Tree, the very root of heaven and earth in the Origin-Capital Realm. It draws on the realm’s spiritual power and Earth Mother’s own Dao, so it’s unimaginably rare. Earth Mother almost never gives them away—she only picked a few in the very first year of the Dragon-Han Era, and those went to the Heavenly Emperor to serve a handful of ancient gods at a banquet. Even then, only a select few got to taste it."
Quinn Shepherd turned his head, and the halo behind him rotated with the motion, always hovering at the back of his head. It gave him a vague sense of unease.
The Earth-Origin Dao Fruit was nestled inside the blessing-halo bestowed by Earth Mother Primordial Lady. It looked shriveled and dry, but the energy within was astonishing—far too intense to simply bite into and taste.
But what unsettled him wasn’t the Earth-Origin Dao Fruit itself—it was the blessing from Earth Mother Primordial Lady.
He had met most of the Seven Heavenly Venerables before, and each one had a ring of halos behind their heads—those were the ancient gods’ blessings.
The blessings of the ancient gods had all sorts of effects: longevity, fortune, agelessness, immortality, indestructibility, and more. But even with all these blessings, Heaven-Guide Venerable was still assassinated—body and soul both destroyed.
It wasn’t until a million years later that Quinn Shepherd finally brought him back to life—though now he had lost all his memories and was left in a daze, like a child.
Clearly, even divine blessings can’t truly guarantee your safety.
"This blessing-halo I’ve received probably works more like surveillance. Even if I escaped from here, Earth Mother Primordial Lady could still sense my location through it. I wonder if there’s any way to get rid of it?"
He felt sluggish and yawned.
Grace Gongsun immediately got up and said, "Brother Quinn Shepherd, you should rest."
She left the room and closed the door behind her. Quinn Shepherd instantly sprang to his feet, full of energy—the picture of health, with not a trace of his earlier fatigue.
He activated the Creation Mystic Art, transforming into a three-headed, six-armed form. Now, with three heads, the halo couldn’t hover right behind any one of them.
He scrutinized the halo closely. Inside, countless intricate runes flowed and shifted—the halo was made entirely out of runes, each one a minuscule particle of light.
Quinn Shepherd studied it for a while, then frowned.
Besides primordial-magnetism runes, there were all sorts of other runes woven in, far more complex than he’d imagined.
Primordial-magnetism runes were easy enough—Granny Sue had already deduced over nineteen hundred of them. If the halo were made only of those, he might have a chance to crack it.
But the other runes in the halo were a real headache. Some formed river-like patterns, some looked like plants and flowers, and others were mysterious textures with no obvious purpose.
Clearly, Earth Mother Primordial Lady’s Dao was incredibly complex.
The halo was a divine-art construct built from these runes. As for how to break it and escape Earth Mother Primordial Lady’s tracking—Quinn Shepherd was completely stumped.
"Wait, Ethan Cloud Celestial Teacher!"
His eyes lit up. As the scholar among the Four Celestial Teachers, her learning might not be as broad as the Woodcutter Sage’s, but her cultivation was leagues higher. Maybe she’d have a way to crack the halo.
Thinking of this, Quinn Shepherd reached for the Earth-Origin Dao Fruit floating inside the halo. He grabbed it, but when he tried to pull the fruit out, he ran into trouble.
As soon as he tried to pull out the Earth-Origin Dao Fruit, countless strands of light surged around the halo, fine as silk, connecting to the fruit. He could barely move it before hitting unimaginable resistance!
"Other people have to buy their treasures, but Earth Mother Primordial Lady just forces hers on you—whether you want them or not!"
Quinn Shepherd fumed inwardly. The fruit and halo were embedded at his back, impossible to shake off!
For anyone else, Earth Mother’s blessing and the Earth-Origin Dao Fruit would be priceless treasures. For Quinn Shepherd, though, they were just a burden and a danger—he’d love nothing more than to chuck them as far away as possible.
Streams of energy from the Earth-Origin Dao Fruit kept pouring into his divine treasury, absorbed by his Primordial Spirit and used to expand his inner Six Directions continent, making it broader and deeper than ever.
"The benefits of the Earth-Origin Dao Fruit are truly staggering. Too bad it probably contains Earth Mother Primordial Lady’s divine sense—she can track me through it."
Seeing he couldn’t remove the Earth-Origin Dao Fruit, Quinn Shepherd gave up and thought, If I just drain all its energy, won’t that get rid of the surveillance?
He drove his Overlord Three-Core Art, drawing energy from the Dao Fruit and refining it into pure mana. The art then nourished his Primordial Spirit and flesh, strengthening his divine treasury.
His cultivation surged higher and higher. At this rate, he’d soon have enough mana to break through the barrier of the Life-and-Death Realm.
"Wait a second—my Six Directions continent’s World-Bridge Tree is absorbing the Dao Fruit’s energy even faster than my Overlord Three-Core Art!"
Quinn Shepherd was astonished. The World-Bridge Tree was an idea proposed by Victor Bloom; he’d helped refine it when they first created it together.
This World-Bridge Tree was remarkably similar to the divine tree standing at the center of the Origin World, planted by Earth Mother Primordial Lady.
Now, the World-Bridge Tree was devouring the Dao Fruit’s energy, growing stronger by the second!
Quinn Shepherd paused. The World-Bridge Tree was rooted in his Six Directions continent—just like the ancient divine tree rooted at the center of the Origin World!
The Origin World also had a divine tree rooted right at the heart of heaven and earth!
"Victor Bloom really is second only to me. His World-Bridge Tree system secretly harmonizes with the Dao of heaven and earth—amazing!"
Quinn Shepherd marveled, "The title ‘Pseudo-Overlord’ fits me perfectly! With the World-Bridge Tree absorbing the Dao Fruit’s energy, I’ll be able to refine it even faster—and that means one less way for Earth Mother to spy on me!"
But he quickly realized he was still too naive. No matter how much energy he and the World-Bridge Tree absorbed, the Earth-Origin Dao Fruit’s reserves didn’t seem to shrink at all!
The energy he’d burned through so far was maybe a ten-thousandth—or even a hundred-millionth—of what the Dao Fruit contained!
"Earth Mother Primordial Lady really is generous..."
Quinn Shepherd shook his head, feeling a headache coming on. He pushed open the door and stepped outside. There, Dragon-Qilin was leaning against the wall, legs splayed, butt on the ground, practicing in a bizarre posture.
When he saw Quinn Shepherd come out, Dragon-Qilin scrambled to his feet, eyes bright with excitement. "Master, is it time to eat?"
"Yeah."
Quinn Shepherd took out a pile of spirit pills and poured Dragon-Qilin a whole basin, asking offhandedly, "Bruno, how far have you gotten in your 'How to Raise Your Human' manual? What chapter are you on now?"
Dragon-Qilin kept his head down, munching away. "I'm still stuck on Volume Two, Chapter Six... Haven't finished it yet..."
Suddenly, he realized what he'd said and froze, hair standing on end.
Quinn Shepherd let out a cold laugh. "You're way too slow!"
Dragon-Qilin clamped his tail between his legs and dared not say a word.
Quinn Shepherd kept sneering, making Dragon-Qilin sweat bullets. Just then, Grace Gongsun and Heaven-Guide Venerable came from behind the temple, carrying a plate of fruit. Seeing Quinn Shepherd out of his room, Grace brightened. "Brother Quinn Shepherd, I picked some fruit for you—all homegrown and super fresh!"
Quinn Shepherd quickly thanked her, tried one, and found its flavor lingering on his lips. "Sister, your fruit is huge and sweet!" he praised.
Grace Gongsun was delighted. "Brother Blue, go bring some to Sister Phoenix so she can try them too."
"No need."
From the rooftop, the phoenix’s voice rang out. Quinn Shepherd looked up and saw the phoenix, now a woman in bright clothes, standing atop the temple, staring toward Jade Capital City with fierce battle intent radiating from her.
Quinn Shepherd felt a stir and leaped up to the roof. The phoenix scowled. "Get down! This isn’t a place for you!"
Quinn Shepherd quickly said, "I made some spirit pills—would you try one and see if it suits your taste? If not, I’ll tweak the recipe."
The phoenix relaxed a little. "Don’t call me ‘Sister’—it’s too sweet and familiar. My name is Autumn Cloud Phoenix. Just call me God-Venerable Autumn Cloud."
She sampled a pill. "Too much fire attribute. I’m a phoenix, I cultivate the Saint-Fire Dao. Your pills are too low-grade in fire quality for my taste. You don’t need to fuss with pills now—Earth Mother’s business is more important. Just focus on your cultivation!"
Quinn Shepherd grinned. "God-Venerable Autumn Cloud, I don’t need seclusion to cultivate. I’ve always trained on the move—fighting actually makes me improve faster. What are you watching up here, anyway?"
Autumn Cloud Phoenix frowned at his continued use of ‘Sister,’ but let it slide. "You really cultivate faster when you fight?"
Quinn Shepherd nodded.
"Then I’ll take you to fight!"
Autumn Cloud Phoenix said, "Grace, you all stay here. I’ll take him to Jade Capital City for a fight!"
Grace Gongsun protested, "How can you do that? Brother Quinn Shepherd was just gravely injured—you can’t drag him into battle! If anything happens, how will you answer to Earth Mother?"
On the rooftop, the phoenix paced anxiously, unable to settle down.
Quinn Shepherd was puzzled. "God-Venerable Autumn Cloud, is something on your mind?" he asked.
Autumn Cloud Phoenix didn’t answer; she just stopped and kept staring at Jade Capital City.
Grace Gongsun called out, "Brother Quinn Shepherd, come down and have some fruit! There’s plenty left!"
Quinn Shepherd had no choice but to jump down and join them, filling up on fruit. When the plate was empty, Grace wanted to go pick more, but Quinn Shepherd smiled, "Sister Grace, I’m already full. By the way, what’s that little green sprout behind your head?"
He reached out and touched the tiny sprout in the halo behind Grace Gongsun’s head.
Grace gasped, blushing deeply. "Don’t touch... you mustn’t touch that," she whispered shyly.
Quinn Shepherd was genuinely curious. "Why not?"
Grace’s face turned even redder, and she couldn’t bring herself to answer.
"Idiot!"
Autumn Cloud Phoenix jumped down, sneering. "That’s Grace’s Primordial Spirit! Why are you touching her spirit? It’s way too stimulating for her—you might as well touch her body! Her Primordial Spirit is weak; she was originally a sprout from the Earth-Origin Dao Fruit’s core, and only gained intelligence after Earth Mother had me water her with Yin Water. But she has no fruit flesh, so her spirit never got proper nourishment and is frail."
Quinn Shepherd flushed. "Sister Grace used her Primordial Spirit to save me—I don’t know how to repay her..."
"Just marry her!" Autumn Cloud Phoenix snapped, pacing irritably.
Quinn Shepherd’s eyes lit up. "Would the Earth-Origin Dao Fruit help Sister Grace? If I channel its energy to her, could it strengthen her Primordial Spirit?"
Grace quickly refused. "How could I accept that? Earth Mother gave you the Dao Fruit for your own cultivation—I..."
Quinn Shepherd smiled. "There’s so much energy in the Dao Fruit, it’s easy to reach the Life-and-Death Realm—I can’t possibly use it all."
He took Grace’s hand and tried channeling some of the Dao Fruit’s energy to her. She meant to refuse, but as the power surged in, she felt an overwhelming comfort, as if she were back in the fruit’s core—safe and content.
The little sprout behind her head slowly unfurled, its two tiny leaves trembling.
"No!"
Suddenly, Autumn Cloud Phoenix erupted in rage, phoenix flames blazing around her. "I have to find that little traitor and give her a good thrashing!"
Quinn Shepherd was taken aback. "Who does God-Venerable Autumn Cloud mean?"
"Qi Xiayu!"
Autumn Cloud Phoenix seethed, gritting her teeth. "That little hussy betrayed the Phoenix Clan! Come on, we’re going to Jade Capital City—I’m going to beat her senseless!"