Quinn Shepherd manipulated countless jade slips, sending them swirling around the jade pillar. The runic marks on the slips projected into the pillar, forming the shape of a young man. As the slips moved, the youth inside the pillar slowly rotated his body.
Quinn could clearly see the internal structure of the youth’s brain, as well as the inner workings of each organ.
By shifting the position of the jade slips, Quinn could even magnify the youth’s organs to inspect their finer details.
This youth was Heaven‑Guide Venerable.
Standing before the jade pillar, Quinn scrutinized Heaven‑Guide Venerable inside it. The image reflected by the jade slips felt subtly wrong to him.
The projection of Heaven‑Guide Venerable inside the pillar was unlike that of other ancient gods. For the others, numerology arts reconstructed their Dao runes, replaying their Dao; but Heaven‑Guide Venerable was built directly from numerology arts shaping his fleshly body.
These jade slips weren’t meant to recreate Heaven‑Guide Venerable himself, but merely to reconstruct his physical body.
Quinn closely inspected the runes on the jade slips. As he expected, these were not Dao runes, but Creation‑Dao runes.
Earlier, the hundreds of floors of jade towers had slips inscribed with Dao runes—marks formed by Dao Ancestor using numerology to deconstruct the ancient gods’ Daos.
Numerology Dao runes and Creation‑Dao runes are different. The Creation‑Dao was also invented by postnatal races, but it isn’t structured by numerology arts.
Quinn himself was an expert in this field—the runes on the jade slips posed no difficulty for him.
"Why did Dao Ancestor use these Creation‑Dao runes to reconstruct Heaven‑Guide Venerable’s flesh?"
He pondered. The weight of these Creation‑Dao runes was clearly less than the Dao runes on the other floors. When Heaven‑Guide Venerable died, his cultivation had just reached the Heavenly Palace realm and he had only just become a god.
Yet Dao Ancestor placed the Creation‑Dao runes on the highest floor, putting Heaven‑Guide Venerable above the ancient god Heavenly Emperor. What was his intention?
Quinn looked down and saw the jade pillar ran straight to the very bottom. Spiral stone staircases wound upward around it, and on each of the pillar’s six faces were rows of bookshelves filled with jade slips.
Quinn mused. Dao Lord Lucas Lin and Sterling Xiao were climbing toward the top floor, while the red‑clad girl, Scarlett Redshaw, was still unconscious.
Suddenly, a thought struck him. His vital energy surged and thundered down the jade pillar!
Sterling Xiao was startled, thinking Quinn meant to kill him. But he saw Quinn’s vital energy pouring into each floor, sweeping up the jade slips from the shelves. With a loud rustling, countless slips unfurled, all turning toward the pillar!
Hundreds of floors, an uncountable number of jade slips—now, all of them opened at once!
Controlling so many jade slips at once was taxing, even for Quinn, who stood at the very peak of divine arts mastery.
At that moment, the runes on the jade slips lit up, shining into the jade pillar. Instantly, images of ancient gods, large and small, appeared within the pillar.
Just then, the beams of light converged, a pillar of radiance shooting upward through the center of the jade pillar!
Buzz—
All the light poured into Heaven‑Guide Venerable’s body at the very top. In an instant, blinding brilliance burst from the jade pillar!
Quinn shielded his eyes. After a moment, he adjusted to the glare and looked into the pillar.
The ancient god phantoms, formed from the runes on the jade slips, refracted through some marvelous structures inside the pillar and turned into points of light within Heaven‑Guide Venerable’s body. These points gradually gathered, forming the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury.
Once the Spirit Embryo Divine Treasury was formed, the Five Lights Divine Treasury followed, each of the five planets—metal, wood, water, fire, earth—hosting a phantom of an ancient god.
Next came the Six Directions Divine Treasury. Earth Mother Primordial Lady and Origin Wood emerged within the light, while smaller ancient gods—dragon veins, phoenix nests, mountain and river gods—each took their place.
Then, the Seven Stars Divine Treasury appeared. Sun, moon, stars, and the star river manifested; the Great Sun Star Lord and Moon Goddess appeared in their respective orbs, and the 360 Week‑Star Righteous Gods took their positions among the stars of the river.
Together, the stars and the star river constructed the phantom of Heaven Duke, forming the Heaven and Man Divine Treasury!
Quinn looked again—below was the Life‑and‑Death Divine Treasury, with Youdu manifesting and Tu Bo standing in the darkness beneath Origin‑Capital.
Next came the Divine Bridge Divine Treasury—a single divine bridge stretching straight to the Heavenly Palace!
Quinn gazed at the Heavenly Palace, his mind shaken. He saw even more runic light dots forming an unimaginably grand palace within Heaven‑Guide Venerable’s brow.
It wasn’t just one palace—there were thirty‑six Heavenly Palaces!
Not only thirty‑six palaces, but also seventy‑two Treasure Halls!
This was a complete Heavenly Court!
But the complexity of this Heavenly Court was beyond imagination—built from the Dao runes of countless ancient gods. Even the Heavenly Emperor was merely an ancient god seated in the Hall of Supreme Harmony!
Leaving aside the Heavenly Court itself—just the seven Divine Treasuries were vastly different from those of ordinary divine arts practitioners.
The Divine Treasuries inside Heaven‑Guide Venerable contained the Dao runes of Heaven Duke, Earth Mother, Tu Bo, and many other ancient gods, far more complex than those of present‑day practitioners.
Yet even such intricate Divine Treasuries were dwarfed by the Heavenly Court!
It was clear that the Heavenly Court built by Dao Ancestor inside Heaven‑Guide Venerable was staggeringly complex and meticulous.
If this method were made public, it wouldn’t overturn the current cultivation system—it would perfect it on an unprecedented scale!
"Did Dao Ancestor compile all this in the Grand Archive Tower to be used by the Heavenly Court’s elite?"
Quinn was stunned.
The scene inside the Grand Archive Tower was overwhelming, but it wasn’t as simple as perfecting the Divine Treasury and Heavenly Palace cultivation systems.
Any ancient god whose Dao secrets had been fully deciphered—if they ever disobeyed, they could simply be replaced!
Heaven Duke and Tu Bo would likely face the same fate.
Yet what puzzled Quinn was—why Heaven‑Guide Venerable?
"In fact, the runic marks on the highest floor could be transformed into anyone. Why choose Heaven‑Guide Venerable specifically?"
He was thoroughly baffled.
Moreover, Heaven‑Guide Venerable’s soul was incomplete—a portion of it was hidden in this Outer Heaven Court. Quinn found Dao Ancestor’s actions utterly inscrutable.
"Heaven‑Guide Venerable’s soul is missing its memories. Is Dao Ancestor planning to recreate him and implant those memories into the new body? But would the Heavenly Emperor in the court allow that?"
(Irrelevant system message, skip translation.)
"Or does the Heavenly Emperor believe Heaven‑Guide Venerable’s flesh is the most perfect, and intends to reincarnate into this body?"
"Maybe the Heavenly Court cultivation system isn’t truly perfect, and the Heavenly Emperor needs Heaven‑Guide Venerable’s memory and wisdom to refine it further!"
"Is this Dao Ancestor’s idea, or the Heavenly Emperor’s?"
His head gradually began to ache—Dao Ancestor’s motives were just too baffling.
He’d once met Yanzi Ling, disciple of the ancient Heavenly Emperor. Yanzi Ling had revealed that Dao Ancestor was helping the ancient Heavenly Emperor, but the ancient Heavenly Emperor and the Outer Heaven Court’s Heavenly Emperor were clearly different people—bitter enemies, locked in a struggle to the death!
Dao Ancestor stood with the ancient Heavenly Emperor, yet served as Grand Archive Tower master in the Outer Heaven Court, helping the Heavenly Emperor there build this vast archive!
Now, Dao Ancestor had summoned Quinn and the others into the Grand Archive Tower and revealed the Outer Heaven Court Heavenly Emperor’s plans!
"Is Dao Ancestor good or evil? Neutral, or secretly biased? Or is he just…"
Quinn’s expression grew odd. "…a professional shit‑stirrer?"
Dao Lord Lucas Lin and Sterling Xiao came over, staring dumbstruck at the scene inside the jade pillar. Both were so shocked they couldn’t speak.
"Brother Sterling!"
Quinn grinned. "Have you ever seen the Divine Treasury and Heavenly Court systems inside the Grand Archive Tower?"
Sterling Xiao shook his head in confusion.
"Then have you ever heard of them?" Quinn pressed.
Sterling Xiao shook his head again.
"If you’ve never seen nor heard of them, do you think anyone in the Heavenly Court cultivates using this system?"
Quinn coaxed him along: "Anyone who cultivates this system would be unimaginably powerful, invincible among their peers. They’d be someone like me—maybe you’d even think they had the Overlord Body, another Quinn Shepherd, someone you could only look up to but never reach. Have you ever met such a person?"
Sterling Xiao snapped back to his senses, giving Quinn a strange look.
Dao Lord Lucas Lin also secretly thought Quinn was rather shameless—who boasts like that?
Still, Quinn was right. Anyone cultivating the Heavenly Court system would be invincible among their peers, someone others could only look up to.
If someone truly cultivated the Heavenly Court system—from the seven Divine Treasuries to the seven Heavenly Palaces—they’d be unmatched in their realm!
Should they reach the Heavenly Court realm, they’d surpass all ancient and modern figures—even outstrip the ancient gods themselves!
The only pity was, here lay only the structure of the Divine Treasuries and Heavenly Court—no actual cultivation method.
The Grand Archive Tower held countless jade slips inscribed with Dao runes. Integrating all these runes into a single method would be an immense undertaking!
Lucas Lin even wondered if any method could possibly accommodate such a vast cultivation system!
"Besides, this cultivation system isn’t perfect."
He glanced at Quinn. Sterling Xiao didn’t know the system’s flaws, but Quinn surely did.
First, the system still includes the Divine Bridge Treasury.
But Quinn’s Celestial River Treasury has already replaced the Divine Bridge Treasury—it’s superior.
Second, the seven Divine Treasuries are isolated from one another—they haven’t formed a unified treasury. Even if Origin Wood is rooted in the Six Directions Continent, it remains incomplete, unable to connect with the Divine Bridge.
If replaced with Quinn’s Celestial River Treasury, this flaw would be perfectly resolved.
Third, the imperfection lies in the calculation methods used by Dao Ancestor for ancient gods.
Dao Ancestor used only macroscopic calculation methods—like the Supreme Mystery Canon and Maiden Canon—lacking microcosmic methods. The microcosmic method is precisely Quinn’s Microcosmic Canon, perfected by the Dao Sect of Yankang!
Without the Microcosmic Canon, Dao Ancestor’s deconstruction of ancient god Dao runes remains incomplete.
These three limitations mean Dao Ancestor’s Heavenly Court system is imperfect.
There may well be other flaws, but for now, Lucas Lin could only identify these three.
"Now I know why Dao Ancestor summoned us here."
Suddenly, Sterling Xiao sighed, his expression bleak. He laughed at himself, "So that’s it. Now that I know the Grand Archive Tower’s secret, I can’t stay in the Heavenly Court any longer. If I want to survive, I have to leave—otherwise, if the secret gets out, I’ll be dead for sure."
He gave a bitter smile.
He’d once been utterly loyal to the Heavenly Court, but now he had no choice but to defect.
The more secrets you know, the greater the danger.
Now that he knew the Grand Archive Tower’s secret, if Dao Ancestor reported it to the Heavenly Emperor, his death would be swift and certain!
Quinn and Lucas Lin faced the same predicament.
They had to keep this secret—if they didn’t, Dao Ancestor wouldn’t need to kill them; someone else would.
Dao Ancestor had summoned them, perfectly resolving the issue of which side to take.
He wouldn’t side with Quinn or Sterling Xiao—just by calling them both over, he erased all factional lines and had them standing together.
"This is what the village chief meant by an old fox," Quinn couldn’t help but marvel.
Only now did he realize how childish it was to think killing Sterling Xiao would force Dao Ancestor to take his side.
Such an old fox could easily see through their little schemes.
"Brother Sterling, what will you do when we get back?" Quinn asked, smiling at Sterling’s troubled expression.
"I’ll return to Azure Cloud Heaven, help cover up the evidence, and pin it on Earth Mother Yuanjun. She won’t mind such a small thing."
Sterling Xiao sighed, "Then I’ll fake my death and disappear, far from the Heavenly Court. I won’t contact my mother—I’ll hide as far as I can… Dao Ancestor’s move was ruthless!"
Quinn laughed, "So you’ll hide away and study this Heavenly Court cultivation system? Waiting until you’re strong enough to stage a comeback?"
Sterling Xiao replied coolly, "My cultivation and intelligence are no less than yours—I naturally have such ambitions. While Dao Ancestor hasn’t sent us back yet, I need to memorize all the Dao runes on these jade slips. Excuse me!"
He hurried downstairs.
Lucas Lin watched him go, then said, "Chief Quinn, the man in the jade pillar is your imperial brother."
Quinn nodded, "It’s a long story. Let’s not get into it now—let’s go downstairs and copy the runes from the jade slips!"
Lucas Lin sighed, "Even if you told me, I wouldn’t dare listen. This place is frightening enough as it is."
He and Quinn went downstairs together. Lucas Lin whispered, "Sterling Xiao didn’t realize—you never used your primordial spirit when you fought him."
Quinn glanced at him.
Lucas Lin smiled, "No need for that look—I know your true strength. You always say you’re just a hair stronger than me, but I know your ‘hair’ is a straight line—and it’s probably a vertical one."
Quinn was about to protest, but Lucas Lin said, "Others think you’re bragging, but really, you’re too modest. With your Divine and Demonic Treasuries, all fourteen treasuries unified, and the Celestial River running through, your strength is beyond human. If you bare-handedly killed a demon god, I wouldn’t be surprised."
Quinn sighed, "You truly understand me, Dao Lord Lin. My humility is learned from the National Preceptor of Yankang—he always says he’s just a straight line ahead, so as an Overlord Body, I must be a line ahead of my peers."
Lucas Lin was silent for a moment, then said hoarsely, "If you keep talking like that, someone’s going to beat you to death."
(Irrelevant author message, skip translation.)