The guards stationed at the World Bridge saw Young Master Cyrus Qi and Lord Sunstar arrive. Though they were stunned by Lord Sunstar’s overwhelming power, they didn’t question much—after all, the Everpeace Empire is home to many gods, and it’s common for deities to travel up to High-Emperor Heaven to study.
The gods of High-Emperor Heaven are far stronger than those of the Everpeace Empire, though they fall short in arts and divine abilities. A few of them, taking advantage of the current lull, have even gone down to Everpeace to learn new techniques and spells.
“Honored elder, may I ask you to register your names?” One of the guards stepped forward, holding out brush and ink respectfully.
Lord Sunstar picked up the brush and wrote his title in the register. He glanced at Young Master Cyrus Qi, his expression questioning. Cyrus Qi said calmly, “Go ahead and write it.”
Lord Sunstar acknowledged, wrote Young Master Cyrus Qi’s name in the register, set down the brush, and the two of them headed west together.
“Strange. That god seems to take orders from that young man, but the youth doesn’t look all that powerful. How could a deity be following him?”
The guard was astonished. Looking down, he saw the name ‘Qi Young Master Jiuyi’ written in the register.
Everyone was baffled. “Who exactly is this Qi Jiuyi? What’s his background?”
Beside the fiery abyss at the ruins of the City of No-Regrets, Bruno the Dragon-Qilin and the Jadehide Ox stared each other down, training hard. Both knew the other was a lifelong rival: the Ox dreaded Bruno’s qilin pearl, while Bruno was well aware that the Ox’s combat experience and endurance outmatched his own—so he pushed himself to practice even harder.
The Jadehide Ox also knew that Bruno, that fat dragon, was a schemer who’d long wanted to take him out. Seeing Bruno training so fiercely and spitting out a dragon pearl—one that was growing bigger and bigger—the Ox felt a surge of danger and doubled his own efforts.
Bruno the Dragon-Qilin and the Jadehide Ox squared off, muscles taut, each refusing to back down. Their rivalry made Quinn Shepherd smile with genuine satisfaction.
Suddenly, a thunderous boom echoed inside Quinn Shepherd. Within his Demon-Path Divine Treasuries, the Six Directions Treasury shattered its wall and opened, sharply boosting his cultivation.
He ran the Overlord Three-Core Art, splitting his cultivation into god and demon paths. Divine yuan and demonic yuan flowed along perfectly matched channels, but because the demon Seven Stars Treasury was still unopened, the two sides couldn't fully synchronize.
If the two paths aligned completely, cultivating the Overlord Three-Core Art would be effortless. But now, demonic yuan halted at the Six Directions Treasury, forced to wait until divine yuan finished its circuit through the Seven Stars Treasury before the process could restart.
This mismatch wasted precious time, made it easy for Quinn to lose focus, and slowed his progress—he couldn't concentrate enough to break through to the Heaven-Man Realm.
"Once I open the demon Seven Stars Treasury, I need to fuse Seven Stars and Six Directions into a single system. Only then will my cultivation stabilize, and I'll have a real shot at the Heaven-Man Realm."
Quinn Shepherd's yuanqi kept circulating. The Mute Smith had sealed the third eye at his brow—Granny Sue insisted it was for his own good. Even sealed, Quinn felt no discomfort; his yuanqi still coursed through the third eye's route, quietly strengthening it.
The Mute Smith had forged a Golden Willow Leaf to seal Quinn's third eye—a process that took ages. Grandpa Blind, Granny Sue, Butcher, and Deaf all pitched in, designing the sealing formation, branding their divine power into the leaf, and refining it until it was perfect.
Granny Sue herself pressed the Golden Willow Leaf onto Quinn's brow, covering the eye. The Oldridge Village elders solemnly warned him: unless it was life or death, he must never remove the leaf.
Delicate, intricate patterns shimmered across the Golden Willow Leaf, beautiful enough to be an ornament. Lina the Spirit Fox saw it, grew instantly envious, and begged for a willow leaf of her own.
Grandpa Blind and Deaf spoiled Lina the Spirit Fox, coaxing the Mute Smith into forging another Golden Willow Leaf for her. This time, it wasn't a seal—Grandpa Blind and Deaf inscribed a god-eye and a painted-world array onto the leaf, embedding a labyrinthine formation inside its miniature world.
Deaf affixed the new leaf to Lina's forehead. She was ecstatic—every so often, she'd activate it, and a beam of light would shoot from her brow, slicing open boulders and blasting deep craters into the earth.
Lina the Spirit Fox had studied spells and divine arts under Selena Fox, one of the Five Elders. Her cultivation was formidable. Selena Fox had been the Village Chief's companion in life, and now presided over all demonfolk in the Everpeace Empire. Quinn Shepherd had even invited her to teach at Heavenly Saint Academy several times—their friendship ran deep.
Granny Sue, Butcher, and the rest each developed cultivation methods tailored to themselves, training diligently. Together, they discussed the body's yuanqi circulation and created a diagram that fused all their strengths into a unified system.
Yet each elder had their own focus, so everyone tweaked the diagram to suit their individual needs.
Quinn Shepherd asked Granny Sue for a copy of the new body map, keeping it safe and stored away with care.
"Quinn, you already have something better. Why do you want to keep our technique?" Granny Sue asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Granny, you've done something remarkable. The body map you created is really a method that tempers both the flesh and Primordial Spirit in every way."
Quinn replied earnestly, "My technique is almost impossible for others to learn—it isn't just the Overlord Body, but the whole system is difficult to master or pass on. Your art, though, combines the best of Oldridge Village's elders, and it's simple to practice. That means it can spread far and wide, and maybe, one day, most of Everpeace's gods will be your disciples."
Granny Sue paused, then laughed. "We never thought about it like that."
A strange excitement welled up in Quinn Shepherd's chest. Back when he'd first sketched out the body's yuanqi circulation, he hadn't thought so far ahead—he'd simply been in a state of enlightenment, intent on building a system perfectly suited to himself. That was how he stumbled into the realm of Dao-level cultivation arts.
Not long ago, Quinn had shared his method with Granny Sue, the Mute Smith, and Butcher. They hadn't overthought it either—just pooled their strengths to fill in their gaps, striving to reach True God level.
That simple, almost accidental act led to a technique that tempered every facet of flesh and Primordial Spirit—a truly comprehensive cultivation art.
It was the first True God-level cultivation art in the Everpeace Empire that could be spread to all.
Its merit was immeasurable.
Granny Sue and the others hadn't realized what they'd achieved, but Quinn Shepherd saw it clearly.
Once this art spread, most gods and demons in the Everpeace Empire would become disciples of Granny Sue, Butcher, and the rest—their legacy would fill the land.
Quinn Shepherd looked around. The City of No-Regrets had truly suffered disaster without cause, now a massive abyss of fire. He thought, "There's no way to explain this to God Sang Ye. He only asked us to guard the watch-post for a few days, and now—not just the post, but the whole city is gone. Should I rebuild the watch-post...?"
Suddenly, Grandpa Blind shuddered, closed his eyes, and 'looked' westward with his heart-mind. He said gravely, "The demon race is advancing—vanguard troops are already close!"
Quinn Shepherd quickly looked west, but saw only endless mountains shrouded in demonic mist; at best, he could see a few hundred miles, with no sign of any demon army.
Granny Sue and the others looked too, but all they saw was demonic mist swirling far off—nothing like what Grandpa Blind sensed.
"The demon vanguard army is still five thousand miles out," Grandpa Blind reported.
Grandpa Blind opened his eyes and said seriously, "Your god-eyes aren't fully trained, and you haven't cultivated a heart-mind eye. You can't see that far yet."
Quinn Shepherd knew Grandpa Blind's heart-mind eye was extraordinary—it could see things even god-eyes couldn't. He hadn't expected it to reach five thousand miles.
"The demon vanguard is made up of elite troops—countless demon fiends, swift and powerful!" Grandpa Blind warned.
Grandpa Blind closed his eyes again, speaking rapidly: "There are many demon gods commanding them! They're terrifying—they've sensed my gaze and are searching for its source! Notify the Imperial Preceptor of Everpeace immediately, or we won't have time to respond!"
Quinn Shepherd responded without hesitation, "I'll use the Three-Yuan Divine Communion Art to contact Saintess Yunxiang and the others in the City of Departure!"
He sent his Primordial Spirit out at once, linking up with Saintess Yunxiang, Lord Marcus, and the rest. Meanwhile, five thousand miles away, the towering demon ancestors bent low, their massive demon eyes bursting with firelight, scouring a thousand miles in every direction for the source of Grandpa Blind's gaze.
Grandpa Blind had used the heart-mind eye's divine art to 'see' them. The demon gods sensed a hostile gaze but couldn't locate the spy. One after another, Youdu demon gods roared in fury, driving waves of demon fiends to flood the mountains and surge eastward.
Grandpa Blind kept probing, voice grave: "There are many demon gods, and they're strong. We have no natural defenses here—we must retreat quickly! They're coming too fast—"