The bird-headed deity tilted his head, flapped his wings, and said gruffly, "You really don't know what crime you've committed? Think harder! When Lord Hades chops off your head, at least you'll die knowing why."
Quinn Shepherd was bewildered; he truly couldn't recall committing any crime.
"Could it be for taking the Lunar Ark? But the Lunar Ark doesn't belong to Nether City—it's the Moon Shepherds' property. Lord Hades despised the Moon Warden and refused his surrender, so even if I took the Lunar Ark, it shouldn't count as a crime, right?"
He was planning to enter Nether City anyway to look for the Village Chief, and to see if the Young Patriarch was there too. So even though the bird-headed deity claimed he'd committed a crime, Quinn wasn't worried—in fact, he was a little curious.
Besides, even if he wanted to run, there was no way to escape now.
Suddenly, Aiden Starr's roar echoed out: "Quinn the Divine Doctor, what did you do to me?"
Quinn looked back—this so-called greatest being in the world couldn't even tell which part was himself anymore. His body was draped with all sorts of limbs, and the heads—male and female, old and young—none of them belonged to him.
Now that they'd entered the Dead-Alive Realm, the original consciousnesses of those limbs had returned. The missing parts reappeared, each one fighting to reclaim its own body, squeezing out Aiden Starr's own awareness until it barely existed.
At this point, he couldn't control this bizarre, massive patchwork body at all!
"Aiden Starr, what did you do to us?" Twenty or thirty heads shouted in unison, then the limbs started fighting each other, rolling around like a giant ball.
Quinn said softly, "Aiden Starr, I didn't do anything to you—it's what you did to them. You stole their limbs, and that's why you've become what you are now. In this Dead-Alive Realm, the living are dead and the dead are alive. Look at me, look at Bruno the Dragon-Qilin, and you'll understand what I mean."
Aiden Starr was completely immobilized—only the limbs belonging to others could move. He'd stolen so many parts from so many people that the only things left that were truly his were his three hun souls.
Even his Primordial Spirit had been stolen from someone else!
The bird-headed deity turned to look at Aiden Starr and said, "Aiden Starr, Lord Hades wants to see you too. There's a Primordial Spirit inside you that interests him. All right, everyone—come with me."
The giant meatball that was Aiden Starr howled, desperately trying to leave the Dead-Alive Realm. But none of the limbs on his body obeyed him—instead, dozens of legs and arms worked together to crawl toward Nether City.
"Let me go!"
There was real terror in Aiden Starr's voice—this was the second time in his life he had felt fear.
The first time had been when he opened the Life-and-Death Treasury and realized his own life had a limit—when his lifespan ran out, the Netherworld beneath the Life-and-Death Treasury would swallow his Primordial Spirit, casting him into eternal darkness!
That was a terror he simply couldn't accept.
After opening the Divine Bridge Treasury, he discovered the bridge was broken. Even with all his genius, he couldn't repair it—so Aiden Starr chose another path, a different road to immortality.
He stole the limbs of others.
Since he couldn't become a true god himself, and his own flesh would inevitably age, he decided to seize other people's limbs to replace his own decaying body.
He was proud and ambitious—still intent on attaining godhood by other means. Anyone who caught his eye had to be among the world's very best, those who had reached the god-realm in some way.
Though he didn't always kill these so-called lambs in his eyes, some still died because of him.
Now, those people had come back to life from death, while he himself was as good as dead. They were tearing apart the true god-body he had painstakingly assembled, trying to rip him to pieces!
That same terror gripped him again—the primal fear of life and death!
The bird-headed deity shifted his feet slightly, found a comfortable position, then tucked his head and squatted on the mountaintop. He said, "Aiden Starr, you've committed plenty of crimes, but this time Lord Hades isn't really after you—he's interested in the Heavenly Court remnant hiding inside you."
"Heh heh heh..."
Suddenly, a cold, sinister voice echoed from inside Aiden Starr: "What kind of Lord Hades? Just another leftover from the old era! You're all after me, aren't you?"
"Ghost-Ear Witch God!"
Quinn’s heart jolted. He saw Ghost-Ear Witch God’s Primordial Spirit suddenly swell out from the many-branching body of Aiden Starr, expanding into a colossal, terrifying giant hundreds of yards tall—towering and monstrous, even larger than the mountain peak itself. The god’s eyes blazed like volcanic craters, ringed by searing flames, and beyond the flames, a darkness thick as ink.
Looking down from above, Ghost-Ear sneered at the bird-headed deity on the mountain and said, "You’re another remnant of the old era. I’ve seen you before—back in the Supreme Sovereign Era, you were a night-roamer, a jailer-owl spirit who watched over souls and could freely travel between Youdu and the living world. You called yourself Red Plume! Red Plume, I offer you a formal bow!"
He bowed low, head to the ground, but the bird-headed deity remained steady atop the mountain, not moving a feather.
Ghost-Ear Witch God was startled and bowed again. This time, the bird-headed deity just lifted one leg and scratched the corner of his beak.
Ghost-Ear Witch God’s heart trembled. He spun and tried to flee, dashing madly toward the edge of the Dead-Alive Realm.
He wasn’t truly dead—his body was still suppressed under Sun Mountain in the Great Ruins. Here, he was only a Primordial Spirit, but his speed was unmatched in the world—faster than any god’s legs could run.
In a flash, he crossed the mist-sea and was almost out of Nether City’s reach.
At that moment, Red Plume spread his wings and soared into the sky. A fierce wind howled past Quinn and the others!
Quinn looked up and saw a giant bird with a human face, wings stretching immeasurably wide, blotting out the sky. With a single claw, he seized Ghost-Ear Witch God’s massive Primordial Spirit!
In the next instant, the bird-headed deity flapped back, slammed Ghost-Ear Witch God to the ground, and resumed quietly preening his feathers atop the mountain.