"You spent too little time in the Dragon-Han Heavenly Court. You only stayed there for a short while, so you have no idea how dark the Dragon-Han Era truly was."
The Underworld Courier elder's face was hidden in the gloom, making it impossible to see his features. His voice was utterly emotionless: "During the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor era, countless postnatal races were exterminated. Even the demigod races lived in constant fear. What you saw at the Jade Pool was only the most glamorous side of that era. You know nothing of its ugliness."
Quinn Shepherd was silent for a moment, then asked, "How ugly was it?"
Suddenly, the Underworld Courier elder extended a finger and tapped him on the forehead.
Quinn's vision changed instantly, entering the Underworld Courier elder's memories.
He found himself in what seemed like a primordial era. People wore animal skins or grass skirts, their clothes tattered and worn, but not far away stood towering divine temples, resplendent and luxurious beyond belief.
In front of the temple was a towering altar. Those half-naked, starving people fed the finest food to the most beautiful boys and girls, then offered these children on the altar to pray for favorable weather.
A flash of light passed over the altar. The Heavenly Emperor and the Heaven Court gods appeared as projections, taking those boys and girls to feast upon.
He saw another scene: a race that did not offer blood sacrifices to the Heavenly Emperor and Heaven Court gods. Their people were seized by towering deities, dragged to the altar, beheaded as sacrifices to appease Heaven's wrath.
Below the altar lay countless corpses and bones, piled into mountains.
The Underworld Courier elder showed Quinn Shepherd another memory. In it, slaves of many races were mining the Origin World's mountains. These cultivators had chains piercing their bodies, pus oozing from their wounds, and bare feet as they trudged into bottomless shafts, digging ore by the divine metal's harsh glow.
Guarding these enslaved cultivators were the divine beings of the Skyvault Heavenly Court.
The Underworld Courier elder's memories shifted again, bringing Quinn into yet another recollection.
It was a war between races across the heavens. Before battle, chieftains ordered sacrifices—slaughtering civilian slaves as offerings to the gods of the Heavenly Court, praying for divine aid. Countless corpses piled at the front lines, their blood staining the clouds red.
When war broke out, the gods and demons of the Heavenly Court descended to enjoy the sacrifices.
These ancient gods fought on the battlefield, but not against other gods from the court—instead, they attacked the mortal armies. Whichever side wiped out their foes first was the victor.
To the ancient gods of the Heavenly Court, wars in the lower realms were nothing but games—painless amusements that let them feast on blood sacrifices.
But for the mortal races, each war was a struggle for survival.
Every battle forced them to make sacrifices to the Heavenly Court. If they didn't, their entire race would face extinction.
Quinn Shepherd's whole body trembled as he broke free from the Underworld Courier elder's memories, gasping for breath like a drowning man crawling ashore.
Such a terrifying era—no wonder Wayne Gale, the founding patriarch, could only go along with the customs of the time.
The Underworld Courier elder said, "What I saw was just the tip of the iceberg. There was much more I couldn't witness. This was daily life in the Dragon-Han Era. With such a Heavenly Court and such an Ancient God Heavenly Emperor, both demigods and postnatal races wished for nothing more than to see him destroyed."
Quinn steadied himself. He'd only stayed briefly in the early Dragon-Han years—during the Jade Pool Grand Assembly, when all the leaders and ancient gods gathered in the Heavenly Court for a lavish celebration.
What he'd witnessed was truly the most prosperous, splendid side of that age.
He hadn't gone down to the lower realms, hadn't seen how the common folk lived across the heavens.
So he never felt much aversion toward the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor. When he thought an alliance was possible, he even reached out through Yan Qiling to make contact and join forces.
Only now did he realize how naïve he'd been.
Quinn had proposed the founding of the Heaven Alliance and was one of its earliest elders, but he never understood why Cloud Venerable and the Alliance would join forces with Haotian Venerable's Dragon-Sky Heavenly Court, ignoring their bitter grudges just to plot against the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor.
Looking back now, the Heavenly Court built by the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor was unimaginably brutal, plunging all races into terror—afraid their extinction could come at any moment.
Back then, the conflict between demigods and postnatal races wasn't the main issue—the real enemy was the Dragon-Han Heavenly Court.
So Skyvault and Dragonsky Heavenly Courts had to unite; all races, demigods and mortals alike, had to join forces. The Ancient God Heavenly Emperor had to be destroyed.
This world was never simply black and white. Now, the Heaven Alliance has decayed, becoming just another corrupt Heavenly Court ruler. But back then, the Alliance was filled with heroes fighting for the survival of every race.
It was the Heaven Alliance's plot to destroy the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor that brought about later eras—the Chiming Age, Supreme Sovereign Era, Kaihuang Era, and now the Everpeace Era.
Otherwise, if the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor's rule had continued, the entire cosmos—all the heavens and worlds—would have been trapped in that savage age, unable to progress.
Though the Heaven Alliance later fell to corruption, in its early days it accomplished something that benefited all postnatal races and even the demigods.
Destroying the Ancient God Heavenly Emperor—that was a deed of immeasurable merit.
"So, was my alliance with the Heavenly Emperor a mistake?" Quinn Shepherd wondered aloud.
In the ruins of Drakebar Dragon Kingdom, Underworld Courier elders silently drifted in on paper boats, ferrying the souls of Drakebar's people aboard.
Some Drakebar souls refused to board, flying wildly through the air to evade capture.
The Underworld Courier elders raised their lanterns, and when the light shone on the Drakebar souls' faces, they lost consciousness, stumbling blankly into line to board the boats.
The little boats, filled with Drakebar souls, sailed into Youdu and vanished from sight.
Soon, the place fell quiet again—a silence as dead as the grave.
"But if we don't ally with the Heavenly Emperor, Everpeace is doomed. Just facing Earth Mother alone is enough to destroy us."
Quinn withdrew his gaze, lost in confusion, wandering aimlessly through the bone-strewn dragon city.
Dragon-Qilin tactfully kept his distance, not disturbing him.
"The Heavenly Emperor deserved to die, but if we don't ally with him, Everpeace won't last. If he comes back to life and reclaims his body, we'll be dragged right back into that savage age!"
"The Heavenly Emperor can be used, can buy us time—but he must never be revived!"
"He must not be revived. Let him remain in this half-dead state."
Quinn Shepherd calmed his mind and began searching everywhere for traces his First Senior Brother, Wayne Gale, might have left behind.
Wayne Gale was meticulous. When he left something for Quinn in Guixu, he must have foreseen that the place might one day be lost.
So he would surely have left clues.
But Drakebar Dragon Kingdom was now a ruin, vast as the Everpeace continent, littered with relics. Searching for Wayne Gale's clues could take forever.
As Quinn wandered, he suddenly turned and lay down, hands behind his head, staring blankly at the sky from a heap of dragon bones.
After a while, he slowly closed his eyes and drifted into sleep.
Dragon-Qilin snorted with laughter. "Even Annie has lazy moments..."
Just as he said this, a tiny Quinn Shepherd poked his head out from Annie's hair, glancing around and babbling nonsense.
Dragon-Qilin jumped in fright, about to speak, when more tiny Quinns began crawling out—stretching, moving their arms and legs, muttering in an unintelligible language like sleep-talk.
Then, from Annie's mouth, nose, and ears, even more little Quinns emerged, running everywhere and babbling nonsense.
Soon, Dragon-Qilin had nowhere to stand and quickly floated into the air.
The tiny Quinn Shepherds rose on the wind, burrowed into the earth, or chanted over Drakebar skeletons—until the bones stood up with a clatter.
Some little Quinns perched on skulls, horns, or eye sockets, brimming with pride as they waved and shouted, "Maha—"
Dragon-Qilin understood the word. As half a dragon, he knew 'Maha' meant excitement, travel, and many things at once.
The tiny Quinn Shepherds rode Drakebar skeletons, ran wild across the land, soared into the sky, dove into ruins or the sea—searching everywhere, making a huge commotion.
"Maha, maha!"
Whenever the little Quinns met, they exchanged serious words.
Dragon-Qilin and Annie stared in amazement as more and more tiny Quinns poured out, until the once-dead Drakebar Dragon Kingdom was bustling, with countless little Quinns searching everywhere, overturning the land.
"I've heard of this technique—it must be Great Brahma King Buddha's Emperor's-Throne True Sutra from the Buddha Realm."
Annie transformed into human form, scooping up a tiny Quinn, who raced across her palm, then scrambled all over her body, spinning in circles.
"They say this technique only works while sleeping—very mysterious," Annie said.
Annie giggled as the little Quinn tickled her, unable to help herself. "Stop! That tickles... Come out, you can't go in there!"
She tried to catch him, but the tiny Quinn scrambled onto her head, seized a feather, and pointed sternly ahead, shouting, "Maha—"
Annie couldn't help sprouting wings, taking flight and following the little one's direction.
Another tiny Quinn leaped onto Dragon-Qilin's head, shouting 'Maha, maha' as he rode him at full speed.
Sky, earth, and sea were filled with these little figures, their three eyes shining as they used divine sight to search for Wayne Gale's clues.
Suddenly, all the Quinns rushed back to the dragon city, diving into Quinn Shepherd's brow and vanishing.
Quinn yawned, stretched, and smiled. "Finally found it!"