Quinn Shepherd beamed, gently pushing the old man's hand back through the Gate of Bearing Heaven and closing the portal. "Heaven-Guide Venerable is doing just fine. I've left him at Jade Capital Academy, where he's now training alongside the First Human Emperor and thirty-five other Human Emperors. He's become quite formidable—when I abdicate, he'll be the thirty-eighth Human Emperor..."
The old Underworld Courier refused to leave, so Quinn forced the door shut, finally closing the Gate of Bearing Heaven. With a thought, he dismissed the portal.
"Young Master, the seawater's turned black," Annie said, peering down into the depths.
Quinn looked down. Sure enough, the sea had turned pitch-black. In the darkness below, a paper boat floated, and the old Underworld Courier, his lantern glowing with resentment, shone its light up at him.
Dragon-Qilin caught sight of the scene underwater and shuddered, fur standing on end. He leapt up in terror.
Quinn sighed helplessly. "Nether-Venerable, if you visit Jade Capital Academy yourself, you'll see I'm telling the truth. Why keep following me?"
The old Underworld Courier slowly faded from view, his voice echoing eerily: "I'll make a trip to Jade Capital Academy. If I find it isn't as you say, I'll come back and have a proper talk with you!"
Only then did the darkness beneath Quinn's feet finally disperse.
Not long after, another Underworld Courier arrived at Jade Capital Academy.
The worlds of the living and the dead are separate. The Underworld Courier, unwilling to interfere directly in the living realm, hid in the shadows to observe instead of showing himself.
Then, he saw the Human Emperors of the Human Emperor Hall 'training' a chubby little boy.
The old Underworld Courier's smile froze, thinking, "That chubby boy can't possibly be Heaven-Guide Venerable..."
"Ethan Lan, show us your moves!"
The burly Human Emperor Connor Hayes sealed his own Divine Treasuries, then began to pummel the chubby boy. After Connor, Ethan Shaw took over, and after Ethan, Patriarch Amber Brooks had his turn.
The old Underworld Courier's face turned pitch-black, overcome by an urge to end the world.
Fortunately, though the chubby boy was beaten hard, the Human Emperors were careful not to endanger his life.
The Human Emperors circled the thoroughly cowed Heaven-Guide Venerable, critiquing his every move: 'That technique's no good, that one's wrong.'
"It's tradition in our Human Emperor Hall: no beating, no talent; no thrashing, no success."
"Another tradition: once you've learned something, you must beat up your teacher!"
"You're not allowed to learn from us! We never use our master's techniques—everything is self-created! If you don't create your own arts and divine abilities, how will you ever beat that brat surnamed Qin?"
...
Hearing this, the old Underworld Courier relaxed. Though the Human Emperors' teaching methods unsettled him, their goal was excellent.
Quinn, Annie, and Dragon-Qilin continued onward in the direction the Underworld Courier had pointed. After more than ten days, they still hadn't found Drakebar Dragon Kingdom. The sea held nothing but waves and flying fish; it was like a desert, enough to drive anyone mad.
Dragon-Qilin again tried to float motionless on the surface, but Quinn was too exhausted to beat him back into motion. Instead, he dragged the massive beast forward by the tail, walking atop the water.
Annie, sick of eating nothing but sea fish and beasts these days, slumped on Quinn's shoulder, eyes dull. Occasionally, she'd lift a paw to pick a fish bone from her mouth.
Quinn took out Queena White's old sea chart, glanced at it, then tossed it into the ocean.
Queena White's chart was drawn forty thousand years ago. The blue sea had turned to mulberry fields; the geography of the Eastern Sea was no longer as she once saw it.
Moreover, the Origin World had been sealed once and, after being unsealed, its geography changed drastically.
Especially the sea: the mountains beneath the waves had shifted in ways impossible to detect, and many islands on the surface had vanished, making orientation nearly impossible.
Suddenly, Quinn tilted his head, his voice hoarse: "Annie, do you hear singing?"
Annie weakly replied, "Young Master, you must be hearing things—there's no singing... Wait, there really is singing!"
They followed the sound of the song and soon saw a colossal skeleton, half submerged in the sea and half towering above the waves.
It was an unimaginably massive divine dragon skeleton. The sea was deep, yet half its bones still stood above the surface—one could only imagine how enormous it had been in life.
The song came from the skeleton itself. As Quinn and the others approached, they saw that it was the bone dragon singing.
Its dragon skull opened and closed, and the song poured from its mouth. Yet all that remained was bone—how could it still sing?
The bone dragon's song was rough, long, and low, like a poet of the sea, saturated with melancholy and sorrow.
"Young Master, what is it singing?" Annie couldn't understand Dragon Tongue and asked.
"He's singing of his homeland in very ancient Dragon Tongue."
Quinn had spent years deciphering Dragon Tongue inscriptions in the True Dragon Lord's nest, so his research ran deep.
"His homeland is Drakebar Dragon Kingdom."
Listening to the bone dragon's song, Quinn translated: "He says Drakebar Dragon Kingdom was a beautiful place. God-dragons roamed the waves, sang Dao-songs, built splendid palaces on islands, and ruled the vast ocean. The sea races worshipped them, offering food, pearls, and treasures. Life was joyful; many god-dragons went abroad as rain-bringing Dragon Kings, highly respected by humans."
Suddenly, the song turned bleak, tinged with killing intent and confusion.
"He says that one day, the Heavenly Court's Feather-Guard Corps arrived and destroyed his homeland. The god-dragons were torn from their families, enslaved, chains driven through their bodies. Many captives were beheaded, their blood staining the sea red, and many slaves were herded onto ships."
Quinn continued, translating the bone dragon's lament: "The Feather-Guard Corps used their flesh and blood as sacrificial offerings for the Heavenly Emperor to consume. Their king, Lord Drakebar, was captured alive, enslaved, and sent to the Heavenly Court for judgment. His homeland was destroyed, and he became a homeless wanderer. Whenever he missed home, he'd return to the devastated land and see stray ghosts drifting there."
Dragon-Qilin, hiding behind Quinn, nervously peered at the dragon skeleton. "Cult Master, where is his homeland? And why did he die here?"
The bone dragon had long since died. Its longing for home kept it singing this Dragon-race homesick song, unable to answer them.
(This part of the chapter isn't finished yet~.~ Please click the next page to continue reading!)
"Is this Lord Drakebar the same one Queena met in the Eastern Sea all those years ago?"
Quinn thought for a moment, then activated All-Gods Natural Art to enlighten the bone dragon.
Suddenly, the dragon bones towering above the sea began to shake violently. Waves soared sky-high as the skeleton tore free from the water, stood upright, and roared, "Homeland! Homeland! I cannot let my bones rest elsewhere—I must return to my homeland!"
Quinn stood below, the floodwaters swirling around but parted by his yuanqi.
The youth looked up and called loudly, "Where is your homeland?"
Whoosh—
Suddenly, the bone dragon soared into the air, whipping its head and tail as it tried to fly away. But lacking flesh and divine power, it only managed a short distance before crashing down, scattering its bones across the sea in a shower of foam.
Quinn used a spirit-calling technique to awaken it. Miraculously, the divine dragon's skeleton reassembled, soon restored to its former shape. Instead of flying, it swam rapidly through the sea.
"Follow it!"
Quinn leapt onto Dragon-Qilin's head. Dragon-Qilin hurried after the bone dragon, which swam faster and faster, barreling across the waves—until, suddenly, it vanished from sight.
Quinn froze. Dragon-Qilin reached the spot and cautiously extended a paw, only to watch it disappear into thin air.
"It's a concealment formation."
Quinn stepped inside. Instantly, the ocean receded, replaced by a sweeping, grand vision: countless divine beings herding dragon-headed, human-bodied Lord Drakebar citizens to the sacrificial blade. Heads fell without number, blood flooded into the sea, waves of blood soared skyward.
Overhead loomed a colossal altar, blood surging upon its surface—a spectacular ritual sacrifice.
Shouts from the Feather-Guard Corps' divine generals rang out. The people of Drakebar Dragon Kingdom became the sacrificial offerings; their flesh and blood were presented to the Heavenly Court, a feast for the Heavenly Emperor and all his ministers.
Quinn was stunned, shaking his head in disbelief.
Suddenly, the vision faded, and a bleak, desolate reality appeared before him.
The earlier scene was just a flashback—a memory of the Dragon-Han Era, when Wayne Gale led the Feather-Guard Corps to suppress Drakebar Dragon Kingdom, slaughtering its people as offerings to the Heavenly Court.
What lay before him now was the present.
Ahead, countless massive dragon skeletons sprawled across a vast continent. Everywhere, bones lay scattered; in the ruins of grand dragon palaces, ghost-fire swirled among the remains, animating the Drakebar dead to stand and wander.
It was like a ghostly underworld. Bone dragons with floating ghost-lights in their eye sockets swam through the air, while in the sprawling city, some bone dragons strolled the bustling ghost market. He even saw a real ghost bazaar.
The Drakebar dragons acted as if still alive, trading goods in the dragon city.
He could even hear the sounds of haggling.
Quinn led Dragon-Qilin and Annie into the city of Drakebar Dragon Kingdom. Compared to the colossal divine dragons, he was like a mere speck—even Dragon-Qilin in true form was a dwarf here.
In prehistoric times, the divine dragons built a magnificent civilization and a grand kingdom here. Surrounded by wandering bone giants, Quinn watched them live on as if carefree and alive.
Yet the scene was indescribably eerie.
He spotted the bone dragon that had led them here, now transformed into a dragon-headed, human-bodied Lord Drakebar, seemingly reborn and weaving through the air.
To Quinn, it was all bare bones; but in its eyes, Drakebar Dragon Kingdom was no ruin, but a place pulsing with life, where all the Drakebar dragons still lived.
Excitedly, it greeted the animated skeletons, utterly unaware that it and its kin were long dead.
Everything here was just the restless dead of Drakebar, repeating their former lives in confusion, forgetting they had already died.
Yet this Lord Drakebar, having returned home, finally let go of its obsession and found peace.
"Cult Master, do they not know they're dead?" Dragon-Qilin asked, trembling with fear.
Before Quinn could answer, all the divine dragons of Drakebar seemed to hear the question. Every bone turned in unison to stare at Dragon-Qilin.
Dragon-Qilin, startled, quickly hid behind Quinn, tucking his tail and shivering.
Crash!
Like a tidal wave, the once lively Drakebar Dragon Kingdom collapsed. Every bone fell, ghost-lights extinguished, not a single Drakebar dragon remained standing.
They hadn't known they were dead—until Dragon-Qilin's words awakened them. Instantly, the undead lost control of their bones, and the entire kingdom died in a single moment.
The clatter of bones faded, and a profound silence fell. Not a sound could be heard.
The sky gradually darkened.
A mournful sigh echoed. Ghost-lights floated up, and tiny paper boats sailed in from the Netherworld, each with an Underworld Courier standing at the prow.
Quinn greeted them, and the Underworld Couriers returned the salute.
"The Drakebar dragons here have been dead for nearly a million years. Not knowing they were dead, their souls lingered out of longing."
One Underworld Courier explained to Quinn, "Their will to live was so strong that I couldn't enter to guide their souls. Only now, when they've realized they're dead, can I lead them to the Netherworld."
Quinn looked around. Most of the Drakebar skeletons had their heads severed, dragon skulls lying on the ground. He frowned, voice hoarse: "Nether-Venerable, in the Dragon-Han Era, the Feather-Guard Corps commander Wayne Gale—my senior brother—was he truly so cruel? Did he really have to exterminate the Drakebar race and kingdom?"
"Wayne Gale was not the cruel one."
The Underworld Courier replied, "It was the entire Dragon-Han Heavenly Court that was cruel."
Quinn was stunned.
"Sacrificing a rebellious race or nation to the Heavenly Court and Heavenly Emperor was common practice in the Dragon-Han Era."
The Underworld Courier continued, "The Feather-Guard Corps suppressed the rebellion, destroyed Drakebar Dragon Kingdom, and sacrificed its people to the Heavenly Emperor. In that era, such things were normal. Your senior brother was just following local custom—he couldn't change anything. To change would make him an outcast. Throughout the Dragon-Han Era, this was a frequent occurrence. Why must the Heavenly Emperor die? Why must the Heaven Alliance destroy him at any cost? This is the reason."
Quinn's hair stood on end.
The ancient god Heavenly Emperor did not die an innocent death!
(Afternoon update: The author, Zhai Zhu, will do his best to finish the next chapter on the high-speed train!)