Quinn was still uneasy, deciding to recalculate everything from scratch to see if there were any mistakes. It wasn't that he distrusted the Black Tiger God, but because opening a passage between two worlds and building a spiritual energy migration World Bridge was completely unprecedented—if something went wrong, he had no idea what the consequences might be.
For example, when Quinn refined pills to heal injuries, every new elixir could bring unexpected side effects. If a pill's medicinal power was off, it could be remedied—but if something went wrong with a bridge linking two worlds' spiritual energy, how could you possibly fix it?
The Black Tiger God quickly rolled up the blueprints and charged out, grinning, "Hurry up, hurry up! I can't wait to test it!"
Quinn had no choice but to follow him out of the tower, asking Sabrina, "Sister Hua, what brings you all here?"
"The City of Departure has been rebuilt, but within a thousand li around it, there are still many demons roaming about, scattered everywhere. These demons use the flesh and souls of our High-Emperor Heaven commoners for their cultivation, which is a huge threat."
Sabrina said, "We've been looking for you for a long time. We were hoping to train with you and wipe out those wandering demon cultivators."
Rain He added, "When Furylo was in the City of Departure, he kept the demons in check and forbade them from harming the commoners. But as soon as Furylo left, the remaining demons couldn't restrain themselves. To demons, our people are both food and materials for refining treasures and cultivation. So lately, many villagers have suffered. Originally, Sister Sabrina planned to go to the God-Binding Tower first, but she had to postpone it."
Quinn frowned. "Furylo kept the demons from harming the commoners? Why would he give such an order?"
"To win hearts and minds."
Shu Yao's face was grave. "A city can fall, a nation can perish, even gods can die in battle, but the human heart is the hardest to conquer. Furylo is a demon god with grand ambitions and a masterful hand. If he doesn't harm the commoners, they won't rebel. Even if he squeezes them for more, making them slaves to the demons, mining ore or gathering herbs, it means even the lower demons can throw themselves into the fight wholeheartedly. An enemy who can conquer hearts is the most dangerous kind."
The altar kept spinning. With every quarter turn, waves of spiritual energy burst forth. This energy was the demonic qi and nature from the demon spirit weapons, unleashed!
Thanks to Quinn and the Black Tiger God's meticulous calculations, as soon as the barrier between the realms was broken and the funnel-shaped bridge built, energy from both worlds would stabilize the bridge, preventing collapse. The demon spirit weapons' demonic qi and nature would be exhausted in this blast.
The altar spun layer after layer, accumulating energy to the limit. Suddenly, a black beam shot skyward, surging with tremendous power!
Thousands of cultivators and gods, along with Quinn and the Black Tiger God, all looked up, smiling—until their smiles froze.
In the sky, that black beam struck the half-sun with overwhelming force. The half-sun instantly vaporized, turning to ash in the black light!
The Black Tiger God's ears flattened against his head, his mouth wide open. "We're doomed... Junior Brother, is this just trouble, or is it a disaster?"
Huge beads of sweat dripped from Quinn's left eyelid, splashing onto his cheek. Then sweat poured down his forehead like a waterfall, forming two curtains over his eyes.
Quinn struggled to turn his neck and look at the Black Tiger God. The tiger, in boyish form, was sweating even more, soaking his shirt.
"Senior Brother, look at the faces of the people below." Quinn's voice was hoarse and low.
"You look. I don't dare. I'm afraid they'll kill us... Do you think they'll kill us?"
Sabrina cheered, "Do we need a blood oath to never betray the Cult?"
Quinn couldn't help but laugh, shaking his head. "We're not some infamous demonic cult, we don't do blood oaths. And the believers don't worship the Cult Master—just a respectful greeting is enough, no kneeling or grand ceremony. The Cult Master is a Sage, not an emperor. I'm in a hurry to finish the World Bridge right now, so we'll skip the details. After ten days, when you come back and the realms are connected, I'll have the Everpeace branch explain everything to you."
Sabrina and the others left, satisfied, together with Shu Yao.
"Founding the Cult in High-Emperor Heaven was simpler than I'd imagined," Quinn thought to himself.
Feeling a surge of emotion, Quinn glanced at the Black Tiger God beside him, eyes flashing. "Senior Brother Tiger, do you want to join the Cult?"
The Black Tiger God shot him a look and snorted, "Our master never recognized your Heavenly Saint Cult. Stop wasting your breath—let's hurry up and finish building the World Bridge!"
Man and tiger quickly arrived at a massive pyramid-shaped altar, towering like a mountain. Steps led upward on all sides, culminating in a broad, flat platform at the peak. Blood-sacrifice runes were carved all around, and High-Emperor Heaven's cultivators had piled countless bones here to summon the stone statues and divine spirits from the Great Ruins.
The runic system Quinn and the Black Tiger God designed for the World Bridge was built atop the altar's sacrificial runes; only a few needed modification. Man and tiger immediately set to work, re-inscribing and adjusting the runes.
After a short while, True God Pang Yu arrived with Rain He, delivering a mountain of demon spirit weapons. He smiled, "Young friend, are these enough? If not, Brightfall City has another batch—several times more than here."
Quinn was overjoyed. "That's more than enough—thank you, True God!"
True God Pang Yu smiled, "Is there anything my disciple and I can help with?" Rain He looked eager to join in.
The Black Tiger God was about to accept, but Quinn quickly shook his head. "No need! True God, you must be busy, and Rain He should go train as well—I wouldn't dare trouble you both!"
True God Pang Yu did have much to attend to, so he left with Rain He. The Black Tiger God grumbled, "Building the World Bridge needs so many refined parts. The two of us will be working for ages—why not let them help?"
"Senior Brother, look at the sun in the sky!"
The Black Tiger God looked up and suddenly understood. "You're right—we can't let High-Emperor Heaven's gods and demons help. Who knows what disaster they'd cause!"
Man and tiger immediately set to work, smelting demon weapons and forging the components needed for the World Bridge. There was no need to remove the demonic nature—just melt and reforge.
Both were master forgers and expert calculators. Every component was crafted with extreme precision, and every rune imprint had to be accurate down to the smallest temporal unit—absolute perfection was the goal.
The Sun-Maker God had refined High-Emperor Heaven's sun into a crooked mess because his design tolerances for each component were too low. According to Quinn's calculations, the blueprint for that half-sun only went down to the 'hu' or 'wei' order, which was why the sun turned out so lopsided and unsightly.
To make a sun that looked perfectly round in the sky, you had to calculate at least down to the 'shunyu' or 'shunxi' order.
The half-sun hanging in the sky was dozens of times larger than the altar. Quinn demanded that every altar component be precise to the highest order—'instant'—which made the sun's flaws all the more glaring to his and the Woodcutter Sage's eyes.
The Woodcutter Sage was also a master of numerology and forging, so he couldn't stand the sight of High-Emperor Heaven's crooked sun either.
After ten days, Sabrina, Shu Yao, and the others hurried back, bringing hundreds of cultivators, waiting for Quinn and the Black Tiger God to activate the World Bridge.
Quinn and the Black Tiger God were still busy atop the altar, adjusting and testing, not daring to slack off for a moment. In these ten days, they'd only slept two or three times—exhausted, but their spirits burning bright.
Not long after, more gods arrived—Pang Yu, God Sang Ye, and others—bringing thousands of cultivators. The crowd circled the altar, marveling at its strange beauty: gigantic black-metal components fused into the altar like lances, blades, and spears, all pointing at the sky.
Those components were covered in mysterious runes, deep and hard to decipher. Even more runes appeared below the altar, where Quinn and the Black Tiger God had hollowed out the interior and filled it with enormous components—an unimaginably complex structure.
The altar itself had been hollowed out into a complicated channel, packed with countless components, each rune linking the entire assembly together.
The whole altar felt like a single integrated machine, with an intricate inner structure.
Thousands of cultivators and gods walked around the gigantic altar, admiring it from every angle. Quinn and the Black Tiger God had created a new kind of industrial beauty—heavy, asymmetrical, full of shadows, metal, and runic lines.
This beauty was unconventional—born of asymmetry, shadow, and the texture of metal and runes.
The Woodcutter Sage was also a master of numerology and forging, so he couldn't stand the sight of High-Emperor Heaven's crooked sun either.
After ten days, Sabrina, Shu Yao, and the others hurried back, bringing hundreds of cultivators, waiting for Quinn and the Black Tiger God to activate the World Bridge.
Quinn and the Black Tiger God were still busy atop the altar, adjusting and testing, not daring to slack off for a moment. In these ten days, they'd only slept two or three times—exhausted, but their spirits burning bright.
Not long after, more gods arrived—Pang Yu, God Sang Ye, and others—bringing thousands of cultivators. The crowd circled the altar, marveling at its strange beauty: gigantic black-metal components fused into the altar like lances, blades, and spears, all pointing at the sky.
Those components were covered in mysterious runes, deep and hard to decipher. Even more runes appeared below the altar, where Quinn and the Black Tiger God had hollowed out the interior and filled it with enormous components—an unimaginably complex structure.
The altar itself had been hollowed out into a complicated channel, packed with countless components, each rune linking the entire assembly together.
The whole altar felt like a single integrated machine, with an intricate inner structure.
Thousands of cultivators and gods walked around the gigantic altar, admiring it from every angle. Quinn and the Black Tiger God had created a new kind of industrial beauty—heavy, asymmetrical, full of shadows, metal, and runic lines.
This beauty was unconventional—born of asymmetry, shadow, and the texture of metal and runes.
Quinn and the Black Tiger God installed the final component and double-checked the altar's position in the other world. They exchanged a look, excitement shining in both their eyes.
"Are you ready?"
The Black Tiger God's eyes gleamed. "I'm ready to unleash the power of the runes!"
Quinn nodded firmly. The Black Tiger God poured his divine essence into the activation rune. Instantly, the rune lit up, its glow flowing along the lines, igniting others. The light split in two, cascading like water to illuminate even more runes!
A constant hum filled the air as the light poured into the altar's interior, then seeped out, flowing over each step and lighting up every rune mark on the altar.
Finally, all the light converged at the base of the altar.
VMMM—
A violent tremor shook the altar. Suddenly, each tier floated up, dividing into over nine hundred layers, each rotating in a different direction—a quarter turn at a time. After each turn, the runes on each layer aligned perfectly—an incredible feat of precision!
Quinn and the Black Tiger God stood on one of the floating tiers, exhilarated, while the cultivators and gods below and above the altar grew excited as well.
The sight of the giant metal altar roaring to life was truly magnificent!
With every quarter turn, waves of spiritual energy surged forth—energy drawn from the demonic qi and nature of the demon spirit weapons!
Thanks to Quinn and the Black Tiger God's meticulous calculations, as soon as the barrier between the realms was broken and the funnel-shaped bridge built, energy from both worlds would stabilize the bridge, preventing collapse. The demon spirit weapons' demonic qi and nature would be exhausted in this blast.
The altar spun layer after layer, accumulating energy to the limit. Suddenly, a black beam shot skyward, surging with tremendous power!
Thousands of cultivators and gods, along with Quinn and the Black Tiger God, all looked up, smiling—until their smiles froze.
In the sky, that black beam struck the half-sun with overwhelming force. The half-sun instantly vaporized, turning to ash in the black light!
The Black Tiger God's ears flattened against his head, his mouth wide open. "We're doomed... Junior Brother, is this just trouble, or is it a disaster?"
Huge beads of sweat dripped from Quinn's left eyelid, splashing onto his cheek. Then sweat poured down his forehead like a waterfall, forming two curtains over his eyes.
Quinn struggled to turn his neck and look at the Black Tiger God. The tiger, in boyish form, was sweating even more, soaking his shirt.
"Senior Brother, look at the faces of the people below." Quinn's voice was hoarse and low.
"You look. I don't dare. I'm afraid they'll kill us... Do you think they'll kill us?"