Steward Foster saw this and said, "You have guests, so I won't disturb you. I still need to pay back a few more families. Two of them were robbed so badly by recent thieves that if I don't repay them, they'll probably go hungry for days..."
Crippled Joe and Grandpa Mark walked over. Crippled Joe looked radiant with pride, while Grandpa Mark wore the same indifferent air as always, as if wealth and poverty had nothing to do with him.
Quinn invited them in, saying, "Crippled Joe and Grandpa Mark, where have you two been these past few days?"
Grandpa Mark replied, "Crippled Joe dragged me to Lizhou for disaster relief."
Crippled Joe laughed, "Lizhou was ravaged by rebellion—disaster everywhere, corpses lining the roads. Since Grandpa Mark and I made a bit of money lately, we went to help out. Don’t be fooled by our flashy clothes—they’re all fake. This gold chain is just wood painted gold, and the jade pendant is fake too. Grandpa Mark pawned all the real stuff to buy rice and flour for Lizhou. Your Heavenly Demon cultists were there helping with relief, so we handed the money and grain to them."
He told Crippled Joe and Grandpa Mark about summoning the demon. Crippled Joe was astonished, "Really? You didn’t embarrass me, did you? Got tricked by that Demon King, huh? You should've handed this to Grandpa Mark—he's got three eyes and is the best at subduing demons."
Suddenly, Grandpa Mark’s brow split open, revealing a pale flesh sphere that rotated sideways to show an eye. Buddha light burst forth, shining straight into Quinn’s brow!
A shrill, chittering scream rang out from Quinn’s brow—a voice cried, "If you kill me, you die too!"
"Earth Sovereign’s Ninefold Oath?"
Crippled Joe and Grandpa Mark were visibly shaken. Grandpa Mark quickly closed his third eye, his expression grave. "Quinn, you’ve got guts, but that oath is deadly. The Earth Sovereign’s Ninefold Oath is incredibly dangerous—how could you make such a pact so lightly? And your opponent isn’t even human, but a demon-god from another world!"
Crippled Joe shook his head, "This is pure nonsense! You’re playing with your life! Why make an Earth Sovereign’s Ninefold Oath with him? You should’ve just told us—we could’ve killed the Demon King ourselves!"
Quinn said, "I wanted to learn the Netherworld Tongue."
"No need for an Earth Sovereign’s Ninefold Oath. Just hand him to Butcher—Butcher will have him singing in three to five days."
Crippled Joe shook his head, "Butcher loves dealing with gods and demons. Three to five days and they’d beg for a quick death. If Butcher can’t kill him, I’ll teach you how!"
Quinn flushed. "The Earth Sovereign’s Ninefold Oath is already sworn—it can’t be undone. Now I’m preparing to summon the demon and need your help, Grandpa Mark and Crippled Joe."
Grandpa Mark said, "Just summon them and destroy them."
Quinn went to the Imperial Academy’s treasury, bought some bones, took out his talisman treasure, and began the summoning.
The Imperial Academy teaches every kind of art—orthodox, demonic, and Buddhist. Some spells require human bones for cultivation, so the treasury keeps a supply on hand.
With practiced ease, he quickly activated the runes on a demon-god idol. This time, there was no terrifying spectacle like at Heaven-Wave City, nor did Quinn see the Nethervault. Clearly, the demon-god summoned now was nowhere near as powerful as the Nethervault Demon King.
Suddenly, the sky over the Imperial Academy changed. A vast torrent of demonic power smashed through the heavens and crashed down like a black pillar, striking straight toward the Scholars’ Quarters!
In that instant, countless Academy Fellows and scholars were alarmed, as were the Grand Rector and Grand Libationer. Even the capital’s experts and the city’s garrison were startled and turned to look this way.
Meanwhile, in Quinn’s courtyard at the Scholars’ Quarters, the summoning continued. The wooden demon-god idol crackled and snapped, growing taller and larger. Suddenly, a voice filled with demonic malice roared, "This lowly world, prepare to face the wrath of the Jaha Demon God of Dutian!"
Just then, Buddha light erupted above the Imperial Academy. A colossal Buddha sat in midair and pressed down with a palm spanning dozens of acres. With a thunderous crash, the Jaha Demon God’s descending will and power, along with the swelling wooden idol, were crushed to powder before they could fully manifest!
Leonard Goodwin led the Academy officials to the scene. Quinn poked his head out of his courtyard and said with a cheerful grin, "Perfect timing, gentlemen—a demon-god just jumped out and got killed by one of my elders."
Leonard Goodwin’s heart skipped a beat. With a half-smile, he said, "Lord Quinn, be careful not to wreck the Scholars’ Quarters. All right, everyone, disperse—Lord Quinn’s elders are here, so nothing bad will happen at the Academy."
Quinn shook his head and said to Grandpa Mark and Crippled Joe, "Grandpa Mark, Crippled Joe, I’ll reconnect your arm and leg now."
"This looks like Lord Quinn was summoning demons. Why isn’t Grand Rector Goodwin giving him a hard time?"
Everyone was baffled: "Summoning demons in the Scholars’ Quarters is a capital crime! Why is the Grand Rector letting him off?"
Leonard Goodwin slipped away first, cold sweat pouring down his brow. "His elders are here—was it the blind old man who stirred up Yongjiang with a single staff, the cripple who stole my sword scabbard, or that murderous half-bodied old brute? No wonder His Majesty said I can’t afford to provoke him. He was right! These fiends actually dared leave the Great Ruins and come to the capital. Lodo City really isn’t safe anymore—every kind of monster and demon is running loose here..."
Quinn shut the door. The Academy officials, still jittery, quickly called out the other scholars from the Scholars’ Quarters: "It’s extremely dangerous here. Don’t stay in the Scholars’ Quarters for now, or you might die without even knowing how. Go hide somewhere else for a few days—come back when things calm down!"
The scholars, still shaken by the sudden appearance of the demon-god and Buddha, realized the Scholars’ Quarters were no longer safe and hurriedly left.
"Why didn’t you summon the other four Demon Gods?" The Nethervault Demon King’s voice echoed in Quinn’s mind, demanding an answer.
Quinn shook his head. "I’ve kept my promise and summoned your subordinate. Now it’s your turn to teach me the Netherworld Tongue."
The Nethervault Demon King hesitated. "There are still four other idols..."
"Demon King, I’ve fulfilled my half of the oath. Summoning one counts as summoning; summoning five counts as summoning. It’s all the same."
The Nethervault Demon King was furious, then suddenly burst out laughing. "You sly little brat, just waiting for me here. Fine, fine—good thing I kept a trick up my sleeve. I’ll teach you the Netherworld Tongue, but only one sentence. When I swore the oath, I never said I’d teach you all of it."
Quinn’s eyes widened.
The Nethervault Demon King, smug, continued, "I’ll only tell you the words on that door. As for the writing on your scroll, don’t even think about it. If you want the whole Netherworld Tongue, you’ll have to go to the Netherworld and ask yourself!"
These past days, Quinn’s god-form had taken on the Earth Star Lord shape; the phantom door behind him gradually clarified, and the writing on it became visible—though the scroll’s text was still blurred.
Quinn probed, "If I summon the other four idols, will you teach me the writing on the scroll?"
"No way!" the Nethervault Demon King snapped.
Quinn breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. "Then just teach me the sentence on the door."
The Nethervault Demon King uttered a strange cadence, as if spoken by a soul—like the twisted cries of millions of ghosts. Quinn tried to imitate it, but found humans simply couldn’t make such sounds, and was dumbfounded.
The Nethervault Demon King chuckled, "Some languages can’t be learned by lowly beings like you. Your sounds come from your throat, but the Netherworld Tongue doesn’t."
He was just saying this when, suddenly, Quinn managed to speak—not from his throat, but straight from his soul. The sound matched the Demon King’s cadence almost exactly!
The Nethervault Demon King froze, alarmed. "This kid is clever—he figured out in an instant it’s soul-voice, not throat-voice. If he grows up, I might not be able to beat him... Best to kill such a smart brat early!"
Quinn kept practicing soul-voice, and after a long while, finally mastered the sentence. "What does it mean?" he asked.
The Nethervault Demon King didn’t answer. Quinn was about to press when he finally said, "It means ‘Gate of the Primordial Earth.’"
Quinn was stunned. "Gate of the Primordial Earth? You’re not lying to me?"
The Nethervault Demon King laughed. "Lie to you? Why would I lie? It really means ‘Gate of the Primordial Earth.’"
Quinn was doubtful. The Demon King was suddenly so generous—there had to be something wrong with this ‘Gate of the Primordial Earth.’
Quinn’s eyes flickered. He smiled, "Nethervault Demon King, you can leave my body now. I’ve made you a divine idol-automaton out of cold iron and gold crystal. You can possess it and do whatever you want—summon demons, whatever."
The Nethervault Demon King laughed, "You want to trick me out so that one-armed old monk can kill me? I’m not that stupid."
Quinn shook his head and said to Grandpa Mark and Crippled Joe, "Grandpas, I’ll reconnect your arm and leg now."
Grandpa Mark said, "If you reconnect our limbs, that demon-god will probably try to escape. Better to destroy him now."
Quinn replied solemnly, "I can’t go back on my word. I promised to make him a divine idol-automaton and let him possess it, so I have to keep my promise."
Grandpa Mark said no more. Quinn cleared the bed for him to lie down, took Grandpa Mark’s arm from the medicine cauldron, and began reattaching it.
As he was busy with the surgery, a flash of lightning shot from Quinn’s brow and struck the eight-armed, four-faced idol at the door.
Crippled Joe raised his eyebrows and grinned, "Let this Demon King run eight hundred miles if he wants."
The Nethervault Demon King tested the idol’s body and found it moved freely—so he bolted for the door.
He’d barely run outside the courtyard, taken a dozen steps, when—click!—his leg joints locked.
Next, every joint in his body clicked and locked up, like a series of padlocks snapping shut. The idol’s eight arms were raised, one foot lifted but unable to touch down—completely frozen, unable to move.
"You sons of—set me up!" came a furious, cursing voice from inside the idol.
Lina the Spirit Fox poked her head out of Quinn’s courtyard, glanced at the frozen idol, and sniffed, "Didn’t Young Master tell you? He said it would be a mechanism idol—see, you triggered the trap! By the way, do you think Young Master is actually a male fox turned spirit? He’s awfully sly..."