Quinn Shepherd took a long, deep breath, forcing down the tremor in his heart.
To reforge Lady Umbral's soul, the Soul-Calling Rite alone was not enough.
The Soul-Calling Rite is a divine art that draws souls back from the Netherworld, letting the dead return to their flesh.
But Lady Umbral had been devoured by husk-ghosts until only her skin remained; her soul, too, was surely eaten clean, fused into the Umbral World itself, now part of countless grains of black sand.
To restore her soul, he would have to reinvent the Soul-Calling Rite!
It was the Pioneer Divine who 'awakened' Quinn, prompting him to use a remade Soul-Calling Rite to gather Lady Umbral's soul.
As long as Lady Umbral's soul returned, it could block the Netherworld's control over the Great Ruins' darkness.
Besides, Lady Umbral surely knew countless secrets unknown to mortals. She might help Quinn unravel many mysteries of the Great Ruins. And as a heaven-born goddess, her support could ease Everpeace's burdens.
Of course, all this depended on whether his remade Soul-Calling Rite worked—whether it could truly gather Lady Umbral's soul. If he failed, he would never escape her pursuit, and death would be his only fate.
Her footsteps grew heavier and heavier. Through the dim air, Lady Umbral's towering figure loomed, half-hidden in shadow.
She had followed Quinn Shepherd's voice here, but the one occupying this skin was a husk-ghost, not the true Lady Umbral. Lacking her vast divine arts, the husk-ghost couldn't see through the gloom—only locate by sound.
Quinn focused intently. Behind him, the Gate of Bearing Heaven suddenly manifested, and the scroll in his hand grew clearer, shedding its dimness.
Standing atop the spire, he opened the ancient scroll and began reciting its Netherworld Script, his voice flowing in measured, arcane Netherworld Tongue.
Suddenly, the Gate of Bearing Heaven behind him flipped—where once it opened outward, now it swung inward. The lintel became the threshold, and the threshold became the lintel.
The Gate of Bearing Heaven, as its name suggests, is the portal that joins heaven and earth: heaven is Profound Capital, earth is the Netherworld. Above the lintel lies Profound Capital’s domain; below the threshold is the realm of the Netherworld.
Before, Quinn had never considered what lay between heaven and earth. Now he understood: between them is the human world—but there is also a place called heaven’s yin.
Now, by inverting the Gate of Bearing Heaven, heaven and earth were reversed—so heaven’s yin shifted from below the world to above.
Of course, this didn’t mean he literally flipped the Umbral World atop Profound Capital. What he changed was the internal structure of the Gate of Bearing Heaven divine art.
By altering the divine art’s structure, its function and effect were completely transformed—this time, the reversal was absolute.
The scroll in his hand wasn’t a tool for casting spells, but a reference to ensure every syllable he spoke was flawless—a Netherworld Tongue dictionary, in effect.
As his voice rose and fell, the highs grew sharper and the lows deeper—until the Gate of Bearing Heaven no longer exuded ghostly wind, but began to shine with light.
At the same time, Lady Umbral finally locked onto his position, striding straight toward him, her form growing ever clearer.
When the black mist before her dispersed, she appeared in front of the high tower.
Without hesitation, the Pioneer Divine snapped open the Book of Life and Death. Its radiance instantly splashed across Lady Umbral’s face!
Lady Umbral’s features twisted as she let out a piercing scream, black smoke pouring from her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.
Whoosh—
She raised a hand to shield her face, but her fingers writhed like worms, rapidly shriveling away.
Her other hand swept up, clawing toward the Pioneer Divine atop the tower—but that hand too was drained by the Book of Life and Death’s light. When it landed on the spire, it was only a weightless skin, unable to harm Quinn or the Pioneer Divine.
Quinn stayed utterly focused, chanting Netherworld Tongue without pause. The Gate of Bearing Heaven grew ever brighter, pouring out more and more light—so brilliant it flooded out, accompanied by a thunderous sound that shook the world.
That sound merged perfectly with Quinn’s own voice, as if amplified by the Gate of Bearing Heaven a thousandfold, echoing back and forth across heaven and earth!
With a resonant hum, the Gate of Bearing Heaven’s light shone down on Lady Umbral, and her screams grew even more shrill—deafening, nearly drowning out Quinn and the Netherworld Tongue echoing from the gate.
Suddenly, she shifted, dodging the Book of Life and Death’s radiance; her hand rapidly regenerated.
This heaven-born goddess seized the tower’s base with one massive hand and, impossibly, lifted the entire colossal spire!
The Pioneer Divine hurried to reposition the Book of Life and Death, bathing her face in its light once more. Black smoke gushed from her features, which withered visibly, leaving her a faceless woman.
Quinn’s Gate of Bearing Heaven tracked her every move, its light never leaving her face.
The light from the gate grew ever brighter; the highs of its voice rang out louder, the lows rumbled deeper, making ears buzz and chests vibrate in resonance.
Her body was illuminated, while darkness surged madly toward her, flooding into her flesh—even as the darkness within her erupted out through her features!
Lady Umbral struggled and howled, swinging the high tower as if it were a mere toy. Such terrifying power was truly world-shaking—a testament to her divinity.
Quinn stood firm atop the spire, unmoved no matter how she swung the tower, calmly turning pages and chanting on.
The Pioneer Divine did everything he could to keep his footing, holding the Book of Life and Death steady so its light could drive more black sand from Lady Umbral’s face.
At the same time, the surging black sand formed a roaring torrent of darkness, thick as dragons, pouring madly into Lady Umbral’s body.
This was the Soul-Calling Rite!
Quinn’s improved Soul-Calling Rite was summoning Lady Umbral’s soul—the moment his divine art activated, every fragment of her spirit, no matter how tiny, hidden in the black sand throughout the entire Umbral World, was drawn toward her body.
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Not only that—his divine art could reach even the Great Ruins and every heaven connected to the Umbral World!
The Soul-Calling Rite was originally a Youdu spell, but since Everpeace sorcerers rarely studied the Netherworld Tongue, over time they replaced it with Demon Speech.
Even so, the Soul-Calling Rite could send divine power straight into Youdu, snatching the souls of the dead from Tu Bo himself.
That alone showed how uncanny this divine art truly was.
Only after Quinn mastered the Netherworld Tongue did the Soul-Calling Rite return to its true form. The first time he unleashed its full power was in the ominous lands of High-Emperor Heaven, where he awakened thousands of fallen gods and demons in a single sweep!
That time, he snatched the souls and Primordial Spirits of gods and demons from Tu Bo, which was why the underworld envoys stormed in, furious.
Today, Quinn unleashed his improved Soul-Calling Rite to summon Lady Umbral’s soul particles from every heaven and the Great Ruins linked to the Umbral World—no less than before.
But that wasn’t all he intended.
Not only did he mean to gather every shard of Lady Umbral’s soul, he would reforge her spirit and resurrect this heaven-born goddess who had been dead for countless ages!
Even within the sealed Qin-glyph continent deep in his Vertical Demon Eye, Quinn’s obscure, profound chant resonated faintly, drawing the attention of Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar, the Crimson Emperor thought-shard, and the giant baby Fenix—all fell silent, listening intently.
“Not bad for a naughty little brother.”
The baby sat on the ground, pulled his thumb from his mouth, and said in a milky voice, “Once you catch her, just yank off her head and eat it.”
Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar looked grave and muttered, “He’s starting to take advantage of me.”
The Crimson Emperor thought-shard found Quinn’s Netherworld incantations unfathomable and hard to grasp. “How exactly is he taking advantage of you?”
Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar sighed, “He’s inverted the Gate of Bearing Heaven, stolen my light, and is using it to reforge someone else’s soul.”
The Crimson Emperor thought-shard jumped in shock. “He dares steal your power? Is he trying to overturn the heavens?”
Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar said, “What wouldn’t he dare? He even dares to keep you and me locked up in here—what’s a little light theft to him? Luckily, he’s not stealing much. He’s just flipped the Gate of Bearing Heaven, borrowing my light to shine on the Umbral World so he can resurrect Lady Umbral.”
The Crimson Emperor thought-shard’s face grew serious. “Lady Umbral is dead?”
“She died before you did.”
Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar said coolly, “Back then I sensed her death, but I couldn’t see into the Umbral World—could only sigh. Whenever I moved, the Umbral World moved too, always hiding in my shadow. That’s why I couldn’t save her.”
The Crimson Emperor thought-shard’s eyes flickered. “She died before me? That means she died in the Dragon-Han Era. If she’d died in my era, there’s no way I wouldn’t have known. There were three rival Heavenly Courts in the Dragon-Han Era. Tell me, Heaven Duke—which Heavenly Court killed Lady Umbral?”
Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar glanced at him and said blandly, “You’re already dead. Stop asking so many questions. What I’m really curious about is Quinn Shepherd—this boy has created a divine art that can even reassemble souls scattered to dust. If he succeeds, it might just mark the start of a new world-changing era… How can anyone be this clever and strange?”
The Crimson Emperor thought-shard sighed. “He’s not just clever and strange—he can imagine what others can’t, or won’t. What no one else dares to think, he dares. What others call rules or laws, he’s never taken as fixed. That’s why he can create divine arts that even Heaven Duke finds astonishing.”
Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar chuckled. “He may have ideas, but whether he can pull it off is another matter.”
Just then, the chant Quinn sent into the Qin-glyph continent suddenly grew heavier and more staccato, each syllable bursting out one by one.
Heaven Duke’s ray-avatar turned grave again, murmuring, “If he succeeds, even the Dao-rules of heaven and earth will start to shift. Crimson Emperor, do you feel the subtle changes in the Great Dao?”
At that moment, high above the Qin-glyph continent, the great Buddha who had been meditating in silence suddenly woke, opened his eyes, and exclaimed, “The Great Dao has shifted? Who… Eh? Heaven Duke, Crimson Emperor, when did you two get here?”
“Old Buddha, don’t come down! Don’t come down!”
The Crimson Emperor thought-shard quickly waved his hands, stopping the Buddha from descending. “If you come down, you’ll be trapped too—and end up getting thrashed by the big-headed baby just like us!”
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