"I'm twenty-three this year."
Quinn Shepherd replied honestly, "I've wasted twenty-three years of my life, and to this day I've accomplished nothing. Just thinking about it makes me sigh and nearly brings me to tears."
"Divine Doctor Quinn, to have achieved so much at twenty-three is already extraordinary."
Aiden Starr turned around, raised the mirror in his hand, and sincerely marveled, "Twenty-three years old, not only the Heavenly Demon Cult Master, commanding a million divine arts practitioners, but also holding high office as Grand Rector of Heavenly Saint Academy, and secretly Human Emperor. On top of that, the richest man in the world, with connections everywhere. To reach all this at twenty-three—who else in this world could do it? Only you!"
He lifted the mirror to take a look, but didn't catch Quinn's reflection. Slightly surprised, he heard Quinn's voice call out from afar, "Bruno, Bruno! Tell the newcomers—this is the Great Ruins. Don't wander around after dark, or you'll get yourself killed! Get a few loud voices over here, have them shout a warning: nobody leaves the city at night!"
Aiden Starr put away the mirror and strode after him. When Quinn finally stopped moving, Starr took out the mirror again, turning his back to Quinn and trying to catch his image—but once more, Quinn's reflection was missing.
Quinn's voice rang out from the distance again, "Yuxiu, could you find a few dozen court painters? Starr has given me a drawing—I need hundreds, maybe thousands of copies made and sent all over."
Aiden Starr's brow twitched as he thought, "If the person Lady Lurien is searching for really is him, then he definitely won't copy the jade pendant in the drawing. Am I just being paranoid? But why is he avoiding me?"
He caught up to Quinn again, his eyes flickering with uncertainty. "If he tries to run again, I'll suppress him with magic and pin him in place!"
Just then, the Ling family's plump-cheeked princess tilted her head, studying the drawing in surprise. "The jade pendant in this picture—I think I've seen it before!"
Aiden Starr jolted, forgetting all about catching Quinn's reflection. He hurriedly asked, "Princess of the Ling family, you really have seen it before?"
Lynn Ling had been in charge of military intelligence on the northern frontier these past months. The snowfields had left her complexion pale and fair, and with her body growing, her face had become a bit longer, making her look more refined—though she was still plump-cheeked.
She'd come to the capital this time to report on her duties. Now that Quinn had built the Between Life and Death bridge, she took the opportunity to visit Dragoncrest City—not just to meet her lover, but also to train herself in Between Life and Death.
"I saw it once."
After her northern military experience, Lynn was much more mature than before. She still favored men's clothing, which suited her bold temperament. She said, "I saw it in a ruin in the Great Ruins."
"The Great Ruins!"
Aiden Starr was stunned. He quickly asked, "Was it a young boy who lived there?"
Lynn Ling replied, "No, not exactly. There were inscriptions like that in the ruins, and inside I found a tiny swaddling cloth and a little wooden horse. It looked like a child had once lived there."
Quinn glanced at Aiden Starr, who fell silent for a moment, clearly communicating with that monstrous eye hidden in his Life-and-Death Treasury.
Quinn eyed the mirror in Starr's hand, intrigued. Starr had been trying to catch his reflection with it, which was why Quinn had kept dodging.
"Senior Starr, you like carrying a mirror too? Is that some kind of extraordinary treasure?"
Quinn's eyes glinted as he reached for the mirror. "Mind lending it to me for a second? I think I've got a pimple—I want to take a look..."
Smack!
Aiden Starr slapped his hand away, stuffed the mirror back into his Glutton Dragon Pouch, and said coolly, "Don't touch my things. You're poisonous. Princess Ling, where exactly in the Great Ruins did you see that place? Can you take me there?"
He was clearly in contact with the monstrous eye in his Life-and-Death Treasury—it must have wanted him to go investigate.
Lynn Ling hesitated. "I still need to make a trip to Nether City, so I don't have time to escort you. But I do remember the geography—I can draw you a map."
Aiden Starr thanked her.
Lynn Ling asked Quinn for pen and ink, then sketched out a map. Starr, keeping his composure, asked, "Is there anything dangerous there?"
Lynn Ling laughed, "If it were dangerous, would I have come back alive? Who in this world is stronger than Senior Starr?"
Aiden Starr smiled. "If you made it out alive, I surely can too. Divine Doctor Quinn, care to join me for a trip?"
Quinn hesitated, "Senior, why do you need me to go to the Great Ruins with you to look for someone? I've already helped you search, and I'll plaster this drawing all over Everpeace—if I hear anything, I'll let you know. You go track down the jade pendant; I need to visit the Human Emperor Hall and pay my respects. If I keep putting it off, the past emperors will curse me to join them sooner!"
Aiden Starr studied the map Lynn Ling had drawn and said seriously, "Princess Ling, if I don't find the inscription from the jade pendant at that site, you know what will happen. Your Ling family will be erased from existence!"
Lynn Ling shivered, forcing a smile. "I'm not lying to you..."
Aiden Starr turned and left.
Quinn and Lynn both breathed a sigh of relief. Lynn wiped the sweat from her brow, about to speak, but Quinn raised a hand, and she quickly fell silent.
The two of them understood each other—at once, their Primordial Spirits left their bodies and shot far away.
They flew tens of thousands of li from Dragoncrest City before stopping. Lynn's Primordial Spirit asked, "Cowherd, what is that place, really? Is it dangerous? My entire Ling family's fate is riding on your directions!"
She'd spoken that way because, while Starr was distracted, Quinn had secretly used the Skyfeather Clan's spiritual thought-wave language to tell her what to say and how to draw the map.
The Skyfeather Clan don't speak aloud—they communicate entirely through spiritual thought-waves. No need for words; a single mental ripple and everyone knows each other's thoughts, acting in perfect sync.
Though mental communication has its drawbacks, it's extremely useful for secrecy.
"Don't worry. Everything you told Starr—he'll see it all when he gets there. He just won't find anything actually useful."
Quinn's Primordial Spirit said, "If he goes there and turns back right away, he'll make it out. But if he insists on digging for more clues, whether he escapes will depend on his wits. Back then, Village Chief and the others nearly didn't make it out—they were only saved because Grandpa Mute led them back. When Starr returns, he won't have any reason to take revenge on you, since you didn't lie."
The place he meant was the one they'd once suspected to be Carefree Haven—a colossal divine ship forged by the Heaven-Craft Clan. But the Heaven-Craft Clan never made it to Carefree Haven. They were ambushed by enemies and, along with that unimaginably huge ship, trapped inside an enormous three-dimensional spatial seal.
The Heaven-Craft Clan spent countless generations and countless lives just to get a single child out of that seal—and Quinn suspects that child was Grandpa Mute.
Village Chief and the others only made it out because Grandpa Mute led the way.
If Starr steps into that place and turns back immediately, he can get out. But if he goes deeper, he'll be trapped by the spatial seal.
Lynn Ling breathed a sigh of relief. "But why is Starr looking for you? That jade pendant is obviously yours."
Quinn shook his head. "I don't know either. But there's something terrifying hiding in his Life-and-Death Treasury, forcing him to act. I only saw its eye, not its body. Starr fell from Nether City into Youdu and lived to return—whatever's in his treasury, that eye must belong to a demon god from Youdu!"
Lynn Ling frowned. "What if Starr manages to escape?"