The No-Regrets Watch-post was already crowded with many divine-ability users from High-Emperor Heaven, as well as some from Everpeace—including students from Heavenly Saint Academy. When they saw Quinn Shepherd, Granny Sue, and the others arrive, they were both shocked and delighted, rushing forward to greet them: "Grand Rector! Professor Sue, Professor Blind!"
There were also students from River Lee Academy, who greeted Bashan, the Grand Rector, making the scene lively and bustling.
Bashan chuckled, "You little rascals are quick on your feet—you actually got here before me."
As Grand Rector of River Lee Academy, Bashan hadn’t come here just to look for Butcher—his main purpose was to seek a breakthrough in High-Emperor Heaven. On his way past Heavenly Saint Academy, he saw Butcher preparing to leave, so he hurried to catch up.
He had left the affairs of River Lee Academy to Champion Grand General Martin Ma, who was nearly as skilled as Bashan himself. After the wars were settled, Emperor Evan kept Martin Ma’s general title and also appointed him as a Libationer at River Lee Academy to assist Bashan.
There were also disciples from Goldenridge Academy and Yong River Academy. The Everpeace Imperial Preceptor served as Grand Rector of Goldenridge Academy, while Yong River Academy’s Grand Rector was Sabrina Yunzhi, assisted by Yu Yuan Chuyun and Yu Yuan Chuyu.
Sabrina Yunzhi had once sent Yu Yuan Chuyu to find Quinn, borrowing the Dragon King Lord Kuanlong and the Hundred-Year Mountain God Baixi to teach at Yong River Academy.
At that time, Quinn wasn’t at Heavenly Saint Academy, so Lina the Spirit Fox and Serena Yunxiang received Yu Yuan Chuyu. They negotiated a teaching fee for Lord Kuanlong and Baixi, and arranged for Yong River Academy’s students to regularly visit Yong River and Hundred-Year Mountain for worship, which moved the Baixi deity to tears of gratitude.
After the lively greetings, Quinn asked Butcher, "Grandpa Butcher, just now you mentioned an Emperor’s Throne-stage cultivation method—what do you mean? Are there different tiers of god-realm techniques?"
Butcher replied, "After crossing the Divine Bridge and entering the Heaven Palace, I could only stand outside South Heaven Gate. But from there, I could glimpse the scenery inside the palace—vague visions of several holy lands, each magnificent and sacred. I deduced that gods must have several realms, probably divided according to those holy lands. The highest and most sacred is the Emperor’s Throne in the High Heaven Hall!"
Everyone crowded forward, making Butcher's head ache. He said, "I honestly don’t know much about the god-realm divisions. I’m not clear on the specific stages. Mute Smith, Mute, come over here! They’re all staring at me like dumb roe deer! You know more—come explain it to them!"
Mute Smith set down his chest, drew out his pipe, took two slow puffs, and said deliberately, "Ah, ah, aba..."
The academy students clearly knew the drill—they immediately looked to Deaf. Deaf stared at Mute Smith, who exhaled a puff of smoke that formed into a gate.
Deaf explained, "The first god-realm stage is outside South Heaven Gate, called Revered God. That’s just after crossing the Divine Bridge—you haven’t entered the palace proper yet. Passing through South Heaven Gate is the second stage, True God. But only if every aspect of your body reaches god-level can you withstand the pressure of South Heaven Gate and step inside."
Grandpa Blind praised, "Mute really does know his stuff. What comes after that?"
Mute Smith blew out another smoke ring, which turned into a Jade Pool. Deaf continued, "The third stage is called Jade Pool—also known as Heavenly Pool or Jade Terrace. That’s the Heaven God realm."
Mute Smith’s smoke formed an ominous execution platform—another holy land, but saturated with killing intent, enough to make anyone shudder at a glance.
Deaf said, "The fourth stage is the Execution Platform—highly ominous. If you can’t cross it, you’re dead."
Mute Smith’s smoke turned into a fifth image—a palace complex.
Deaf went on, "This holy land is called Jade Capital—the imperial city where the Heavenly Emperor resides. Jade Capital should be the fifth god-realm stage."
Mute Smith exhaled another smoke ring, which formed into the High Heaven Hall. Deaf said, "That’s the High Heaven Hall Butcher saw—the sixth stage is probably called High Heaven Hall."
Everyone watched as Mute Smith blew a puff of smoke into the High Heaven Hall, where it transformed into the Emperor’s Throne. The Emperor’s Throne should be the seventh stage.
Bashan glanced at Deaf, then at Mute Smith, puzzled. He whispered, "Senior Brother, what exactly did Uncle Mute say?"
Quinn whispered back, "Exactly what Grandpa Deaf said."
Bashan scratched his head, still confused. "How does Uncle Mute know so much? Even the High-Emperor Heaven divine-ability users don’t seem to know about the later stages. How is he so knowledgeable about the god-realm divisions?"
Quinn replied helplessly, "In our village, Grandpa Mute knows the most—he just doesn’t talk much and never gossips. I suspect he’s a descendant of the Heaven-Craft Clan, and his secrets probably come from the Other Shore Ark…"
Night fell, and the various divine-ability users in the watch-post settled down to rest. Quinn accompanied Granny Sue, Grandpa Blind, and the others outside to inspect the ruins of the City of No-Regrets.
The battle for the City of No-Regrets must have been especially brutal. High-Emperor Heaven had sixty-four god-cities. Although the demon race attacked many of them and the wars were fierce, most cities survived. Only a few were utterly destroyed—and No-Regrets was one of them.
Though only ruins remain, with broken walls and shattered buildings everywhere, the city’s former grandeur can still be glimpsed in what’s left.
Lingering remnants of the ancient god-demon war still haunt this place—divine-arts aftershocks lie dormant, drifting like rosy clouds and casting an eerie glow in the darkness. Some residual divine arts are dazzling, like lotuses glowing in the night, blooming among the rubble.
Quiet lotuses bloom amid the rubble, drawing in unwary visitors who come to admire or pick them—but touching one triggers the full power of god-demon divine arts!
If these residual divine arts erupt, their power would be terrifying—easily pulverizing Heaven-Man and Life-and-Death realm experts.
The ruins hold more than just lotuses—there are forests, lush grasslands, birds, beasts, white foxes, Vermilion Birds, and treasure-like artifacts such as flying swords, pagodas, and cauldrons. They look like treasures, but touching them means instant death.
Quinn looked around; the divine-arts remnants formed by god-demon runes are hard to erase over time, making this place extremely perilous.
He had seen similar phenomena in the Doomlands, but fortunately managed to avoid them.
It must have taken God Sang Ye a lot of effort to clear a safe area here and set up the watch-post for High-Emperor Heaven’s divine-ability users.
Granny Sue, Grandpa Blind, and the others studied the divine arts here with great focus. Grandpa Blind’s god-eye could analyze their mysteries, which he explained to the group.
Their cultivation path now differs greatly from Quinn and prodigies like Victor Bloom. For Granny Sue, Butcher, Deaf, and the others, they no longer need to fight to witness god-demon arts; just studying the remnants lets them grasp their secrets and absorb their essence to make up for their own weaknesses.
“These god-demon divine arts are still a bit crude—not fully refined.”
Granny Sue examined carefully and shook her head, saying, "The divine-ability users of the Everpeace Empire, having lacked a path to godhood for twenty thousand years, have instead refined their divine arts to extreme precision, constantly creating new techniques. Thus, their arts are more exquisite than those of High-Emperor Heaven."
"However, their cultivation methods are stronger than ours, able to temper every aspect of the flesh."
Grandpa Blind inspected and said, "Though the god-demons use such crude divine arts, they can still unleash unimaginable power. It shows their physical bodies, primordial spirits, and yuanqi are all far superior to Everpeace. Quinn, don’t underestimate them just because you have an Overlord Body."
Quinn nodded solemnly, "Don’t worry, Grandpa Blind—I won’t underestimate anyone."
Lina the Spirit Fox hesitated, remaining silent.
Grandpa Blind and the others had just arrived in High-Emperor Heaven and didn’t yet know what Quinn had accomplished. Since the battle at Departure City, Quinn had become the strongest Seven Stars–realm divine-ability user in High-Emperor Heaven, and after fleeing for a hundred thousand miles, he’d slain nearly all the Seven Stars–Six Unities demon disciples. Even Heaven-Man realm demon experts now avoided him.
Just ask around, and you’ll hear of Quinn’s growing renown.
Suddenly, Quinn was startled. He stared at a shadow moving through the ruins, seemingly unaffected by the lingering divine arts.
“Quinn, what are you looking at?” Grandpa Deaf asked curiously.
Quinn’s body trembled; he suddenly broke away from the group and ran toward the shadow. The villagers were alarmed—divine-art remnants were everywhere, and even Quinn’s strength wasn’t enough to withstand them.
If a chain reaction of divine arts was triggered, the entire No-Regrets ruins could erupt—even they wouldn’t dare wander recklessly!
Grandpa Blind hurried after him. “Stay here, I’ll go find him!”
Quinn followed the shadow, activating the Nine Heavens Divine Eye Art to avoid the divine-art remnants and draw closer.
The shadow flickered through the forbidden zone like drifting sand, sometimes scattering, sometimes gathering. It seemed to notice Quinn and suddenly stopped.
Quinn dodged the god-demon divine-art remnants and finally stood before the shadow, staring intently.
The shadow stared back, seemingly curious.
Neither could see the other’s face—only a body like black sand.
Quinn reached out his hand; the shadow did the same. Their palms touched, but there was no resistance—they passed through each other.
Quinn was shocked, his body stiffening as he silently watched the shadow.
Grandpa Blind rushed to Quinn’s side and quickly pulled him away. “Quinn, that shadow is likely a remnant of god-demon divine arts—how could you be so careless? Why would you rush into this forbidden zone?”
A rustling sound came, like demons whispering in the dark. Grandpa Blind trembled, turning in shock to look at the shadow.
The sound was the shadow speaking!
“Grandpa Blind, he’s not a divine-art remnant—he’s a person.”
Quinn’s shock hadn’t faded. He murmured, “He can move through the darkness of the Great Ruins, just like me. We’re the same kind… Only those who can merge into the darkness can be seen by High-Emperor Heaven’s people! I think I’ve met a Demon Overlord Body! Strange—why would a Demon Overlord Body appear in the Great Ruins…?”