Quinn Shepherd's yuanqi stirred slightly, and a thick strand of energy, as thick as his arm, silently drew out the Grand Guardian’s Sword. His gaze locked onto the writhing tentacles, tracing the movement of their muscles to deduce the position of their owner.
Suddenly, he stabbed forward with his left hand, fingers joined; the Grand Guardian’s Sword rang out, piercing the gray mist like lightning. A shriek echoed from within the fog as the spiderweb trembled—a woman with eight claws on her back raced across the web, her eight razor-sharp limbs stabbing down at Quinn!
Quinn spread the fingers of his right hand wide and yanked hard—the entire spiderweb suddenly lifted, wrapping the eight-clawed woman in its center. Quinn channeled his yuanqi, and the Grand Fostering Heavenly Demon Sutra contracted; the woman trapped in the web was sliced into pieces!
Quinn let out a breath of relief. The threads formed by the Grand Fostering Heavenly Demon Sutra shrank back, weaving themselves into gloves on his hands, spotless and free of blood.
“What exactly are these Skyfiends? Not quite human, not quite beast, not quite demon, not quite insect—they’re just too bizarre.”
He stepped onto the spiderweb and walked forward, but not a single sound was made—Crippled Joe’s Heaven-Stealing Leg Art was truly light and nimble.
The Grand Guardian’s Sword flew back, landing in the mouth of the fish-dragon on his back. Quinn maintained the fish-dragon’s scabbard form with yuanqi, always ready for battle.
He carefully approached the corpse of the Skyfiend slain by the Grand Guardian’s Sword. Examining the body, he saw it had eight legs, each a long tentacle—truly a terrifying sight.
“This thick fog isn’t good for me, but it’s not good for these Skyfiends either. As long as they can’t all swarm me at once, I can stay alive!”
Quinn stood in the gray mist, no longer moving—he listened intently to the strange noises around him.
At that moment, everything around him suddenly fell silent—there wasn’t a sound to be heard.
Quinn picked up a pebble and flicked it with his finger. The stone landed, and aside from its crisp rolling sound, there was no other movement.
He waited a moment longer and flicked another pebble—still no reaction. Quinn let out a breath. “I must’ve killed all the Skyfiends. It should be safe now…”
Suddenly, a gale swept through the valley, scattering the thick gray fog. Quinn saw his surroundings clearly—and his scalp prickled. All around him stood hundreds of Skyfiends, far more than he’d imagined.
Just moments ago, he’d stood perfectly still—and these hundreds of Skyfiends had also stood motionless in the fog, waiting for him to slip up. Quinn had never realized so many were lurking right beside him!
He leapt into the air, riding the gale to break through the clouds—just as he soared upward, hundreds of Skyfiends moved as one, lunging for the airborne youth!
All these Skyfiends were divine-ability users. There were eight main types: the first, a fish-scaled, frog-footed monster; the second, a lava giant; the third, a handsome youth; the fourth, an ugly hag; the fifth, a human-like woman with a scorpion tail; the sixth, a woman with eight claws on her back; the seventh, a monster with eight long tentacles; and the eighth, a brute whose arms were two giant serpents.
At this moment, the hundreds of Skyfiends lunged upward, unleashing all sorts of bizarre divine abilities and strange limbs at Quinn in the air—there were so many attacks, it was impossible to defend against them all.
Quinn’s hair stood on end—there was no way he could block all these attacks in time!
Just then, Buddha-light erupted from his brow—a towering Buddha leaped forth from between his eyebrows.
"Om mani padme hum!"
The Buddha pressed its palms together, Buddha-light bursting out in rings—countless severed limbs flew in all directions, the gale sweeping the Skyfiends away.
The Buddha-light gradually faded. The Buddha phantom before Quinn dimmed as well, until it finally vanished.
That was the Buddha phantom Grandpa Mark left within Quinn’s brow—a life-saving measure that would only erupt in mortal danger, but could be used just once before dispersing.
Quinn let out a sigh of relief, then paused, puzzled: "Why did a sudden gale blow the gray fog away just now? If not for that wind, the Skyfiends wouldn’t have spotted me."
Just then, he noticed the source of the gale: it was the Lunar Ark.
This colossal vessel was slowly rising. It was so immense—far larger than Dragoncrest City—that its movement stirred up the gale, scattering the gray fog.
"The Solar Ark needs a Sun Warden to steer it forward—does the Lunar Ark also have a Moon Shepherd? If a Moon Shepherd guards this place, maybe there are people of my clan aboard…"
Quinn’s spirits lifted. He saw, in the temple of the city nearest the Lunar Ark, a pillar of black smoke rising—clearly, something terrifying had sensed the commotion here.
Without hesitation, Quinn dashed out of the Nether City gate, legs pumping as he sprinted toward the far side of the mountain. Crippled Joe’s Heaven-Stealing Leg Art showed its full power beneath him—he moved like a shadow, impossibly fast!
The Lunar Ark was stirring—someone must be controlling it. But the situation was far too dangerous for Quinn to approach and investigate.
He raced over several mountain peaks. Ahead, a sea of mist appeared—Quinn was about to charge straight through when a sudden suction pulled at his feet, snatching away the wind beneath him, and he plummeted from the air!
Boom.
Dust billowed as Quinn smashed a crater into the ground. He slowly stood up, realizing he’d landed in the same village he’d encountered upon coming ashore.
The villagers all put down their work and rose to their feet, staring at him with strange, unsettling eyes.
The one who stole the wind from beneath Quinn’s feet was a blacksmith, wielding a bellows made from human skin stretched over a giant clamp, forming an air pouch with springs inside. The nozzle was fashioned from a human head.
The blacksmith gripped both handles of the bellows—it was he who’d sucked away the air beneath Quinn, causing him to fall from the sky.
At the door of a nearby cottage, a plump woman stood up from chopping dumpling filling, clutching two bloody cleavers.
Behind Quinn, a burly man stopped pounding rice and lifted his pestle—a hammerhead the size of a crock, dripping blood. In the mortar lay a severed human head.
At the edge of the village, a tailor was cutting cloth—except the cloth was sheets of human skin. She stood up, holding scissors in one hand and a measuring tape in the other.
At the dye shop, an attendant hung up freshly dyed cloth—sheets of human skin fished out from vats of blood. Seeing Quinn fall, he put the skin down and wiped his bloodstained hands on his chest.
A child squatting by a house spat out a finger bone he'd gnawed clean. A fat white pig shuffled past, a pale human arm dangling from its mouth. At the village entrance, an old man puffed on a pipe made from human bone—the smoke rings he blew formed skulls that shrieked before fading away.
More and more villagers appeared before and behind Quinn, blocking every way forward and back.
Behind Quinn, his Fish-Dragon Sword spat out a blade, his left hand gripping a knife in reverse.
Suddenly, his yuanqi surged, flooding into the painting Deaf had drawn on him with flood dragon blood. Terrifying power poured into his limbs and bones—he felt the strength of a flood dragon, and Deaf’s art made him feel like a god!
Though he appeared skeletal, it was only an illusion—his flesh and skin were still there, just invisible and intangible.
When the Village Chief awakened his Divine Firmament Heaven Eye, Quinn realized this truth.
Now, as Deaf’s painting activated, Quinn felt terrifying power fill his body—his yuanqi soared, and a mighty serpent coiled around him!
His aura exploded—water vapor surged beneath his feet, forming crashing waves in which a Black Tortoise loomed, half-concealed.
He was like a god now, his body brimming with boundless power!
He felt like a god of water—able to reshape rivers and mountains with a gesture!
Break out of this village!
That was the only thought in Quinn’s mind—no matter what, he had to break out!
A tearing sound came from all around—villagers’ skins split open, and hulking figures squeezed out from within. These villagers weren’t human at all—they were Skyfiends!
Children, women—even the pig—all transformed, revealing themselves as Skyfiend sorcerers, some with the Seven Divine Treasuries opened!
Only the old man with the human bone pipe remained unchanged at the village entrance.
"Kill!"
Quinn roared and charged toward the village entrance!
The instant he broke through, Skyfiends exploded into action behind him, attacking from all sides!
Quinn’s hands crossed—boom! A tidal wave surged forth, a mighty river like a giant serpent swept up the attacking Skyfiends, smashing houses to pieces with its force!
Quinn stabbed with the Grand Guardian’s Sword, driving it into the river—each sword form the Village Chief taught him, thrust, lift, chop, cloud, cleave, hang, point, wipe, was executed flawlessly!
The river was instantly dyed red with blood, corpses of Skyfiends floating in its wake.
Beneath Quinn’s feet, a Black Tortoise surfaced, carrying him through the surging river toward the village entrance. Behind him, the village lay in ruins, corpses strewn everywhere after the flood.