Young Master Cyrus Qi wore a smile, but his gaze was icy cold. At this moment, his aura reached its peak.
His fighting spirit surged to the heavens.
For a long time—two or three years, perhaps—he had been searching for an opportunity, searching for the perfect chance to defeat Quinn Shepherd!
He was a favored child of heaven, blood of the Red Empress of the Southern Heavens, a teenage prodigy who had mastered two Emperor’s‑Throne scriptures. He carried dreams and ambition into the lower worlds—only to be ambushed by Quinn Shepherd and Zechariah Lee the moment he arrived!
After that, he was defeated again by Quinn Shepherd in a one‑on‑one duel.
Two defeats—an unbearable humiliation.
Now, by disturbing Quinn Shepherd’s Dao‑heart, he finally had a golden chance to wash away his disgrace!
He had waited for this moment—he had orchestrated it himself!
"He who learns from me lives; he who merely imitates me dies."
Quinn Shepherd motioned for Bruno the Dragon‑Qilin to step back, then said seriously, "In a duel between masters, striking the heart comes first. I’ve always excelled at attacking Dao‑hearts. You, Zechariah Lee, Victor Bloom, and the Grand Venerable—all of you survived my blows and made it this far. You’re all talented; I’ve watched you grow. But you made one mistake: instead of attacking directly, you tried to imitate my heart‑striking methods. The moment you made that choice, you were doomed to lose—because I’m better at it than you."
Flames surged around Cyrus Qi, swirling into the vision of Ninefold Phoenix Perches on Phoenixwood. He forced himself not to dwell on Quinn’s words, sneering: “Your techniques and divine arts will never match my Qi clan’s Emperor’s-Throne supreme scripture. My great divine art defeats your three moves with a single strike!”
His divine art surged faster and faster—many times quicker than before. Clearly, after losing to Quinn last time, he’d steeled himself, suffered, and devoted himself to relentless cultivation, achieving astonishing progress!
The Emperor’s-Throne scriptures are unfathomably deep. Cultivators in Everpeace, for example, must grind out every step, endlessly pondering and refining, stumbling into enlightenment only by a stroke of luck.
Even the once-in-five-centuries prodigy—the Everpeace Imperial Preceptor—needed decades, even centuries of accumulation, and crucial guidance from the previous Sword God Village Chief before he could break through to the Dao-realm and attain a sword cultivation so profound that even Quinn Shepherd could only look up to him.
The Oldridge Village elders—Butcher, Grandpa Blind, Deaf—each reached astonishing heights in their own Dao-realm, but only after a lifetime immersed in a single pursuit, enduring hardship, setbacks, and adversity at every turn.
Even someone like Quinn Shepherd, with the legendary Overlord Body, faced unimaginable setbacks just trying to step through the sword path’s doorway.
In the Human Emperor Hall, the First Human Emperor shattered his own bones and destroyed the inherited techniques of past emperors, brutally beating Quinn—striking him in body, spirit, Dao-heart, and skill—until Quinn knelt in the mud, praying helplessly as the Second Human Emperor’s remains were destroyed before his eyes.
That blow nearly broke Quinn for good. Only after did he survive Taeming Heaven, fight on the battlefield, and find enlightenment in Departure City. The blood and tears of those trials are not for outsiders to know.
Cyrus Qi was different. Raised in the Heavenly Court, taught by the Southern Heaven Red Empress Qi Xiayu, then apprenticed to the Nether City Black Emperor, he cultivated both Emperor’s-Throne scriptures.
The Emperor’s-Throne scriptures are vast and profound, able to grant enlightenment and let one reach the Dao-realm without the grinding hardships faced by the Imperial Preceptor, Butcher, or Grandpa Blind, nor the setbacks they endured.
Cyrus Qi’s cultivation journey was smooth sailing, but precisely because of this, his Dao-realm—elevated by scripture—had serious shortcomings.
He’d always thought that in his realm, even if not invincible, he’d rank among the top ten—until he met Quinn Shepherd, that mud-splattered bumpkin from the lower world.
After losing twice to Quinn, he finally realized his own shortcomings: the Dao-realm enlightenment brought by Emperor’s-Throne scripture wasn’t truly his—it hadn’t cut deep enough.
From then on, he pursued his own understanding, which is why he’s made such rapid progress and improvement.
On the Azure Parasol Tree behind him, nine-headed phoenixes cried out. One spread its wings and soared, circling the tree. In the phoenix nest, another egg cracked open—a tiny nine-headed chick fluttered its newborn wings, feasting on wind, dew, and phoenix fire, growing swiftly and soon taking flight as well.
Quinn raised his eyebrows. In just a moment, sixteen nine-headed phoenixes flew from the nest, each trailing a long, brilliant tail, swirling around him. Their cries filled the air, and from their beaks rang clear Dao-sound.
He stood there, surrounded for ten li in every direction by giant nine-headed phoenixes weaving through the air, forming a wondrous formation.
Within that formation, Cyrus Qi stood opposite him, the Azure Parasol Tree at his back. The fiery blossoms bloomed like tiny trumpets, clustered thickly together, while drifting fire-clouds pulsed with a strange rhythm among the branches.
The youth beneath the tree carried himself with effortless composure.
Suddenly, all sixteen nine-headed phoenixes dove together, engulfing Quinn!
The force of sixteen nine-headed phoenixes—what kind of power was that?
In an instant, phoenix feathers became swords, wings were blades, claws were hooks, beaks were spears—thousands of spirit weapons struck at Quinn all at once. Add to that the blazing phoenix fire incinerating everything, and Quinn’s spot became a sea of flames, the epicenter of a world-shaking explosion!
A terrifying shockwave swept out in all directions. Wherever it passed, mountains and stones floated, shattered, melted, evaporated. The flames formed a ring of blinding light, surging outward and devouring everything—only after expanding fifty li did its power finally fade!
In the heart of the blast, brilliant sword-light suddenly flared, piercing phoenix heads, severing necks, slicing wings and feathers and claws!
“Quinn, your greatest divine art is spent. You’re no match for me now!”
Cyrus Qi laughed aloud, his palm power punching through the blast’s core, driving straight for Quinn’s back.
Quinn spun and struck with his own palm. The two were still thirty zhang apart, but their palm forces exploded, colliding in midair!
Cyrus’s palm unleashed a bridge of phoenix feathers—countless sword-like plumes shot forward so fast they formed a flying bridge.
Quinn’s counterstrike formed a crystalline road, surging toward Cyrus’s palm force. Countless crystals sprouted and expanded in every direction, each with a unique structure. Suddenly, fire erupted inside the crystals!
It was Heavenly Fire—the Dao of Heavenly Fire—flames even more terrifying than phoenix fire. It melted the hidden might within Cyrus’s sword-feathers and surged straight for him.
Cyrus’s face changed dramatically. The Azure Parasol Tree floated forward; he grabbed its trunk, roared, and swung the tree as a weapon, meeting the Heavenly Fire Dao head-on!
Boom—
Their palm forces collided with the ancient tree. The impact wasn’t as vast as the earlier blast, but within a small radius its threat was even greater!
The ground beneath their feet melted completely. Both were crushed under the weight of their own powers, bodies growing unbearably heavy.
Bruno the Dragon-Qilin watched from afar, the massive Sword Pill strapped to his back. He thought, "Without a spirit weapon, the Cult Master might be at a disadvantage... This Sword Pill is so heavy—should I put it down?"
Just as the thought crossed his mind, a deafening crash erupted—the ground shook violently, and Quinn and Cyrus vanished.
When the aftermath of their clash faded, Bruno saw a huge pit at the site—its mouth a hundred zhang across, bottomless.
Bruno hurried over, poked his head into the pit, and looked down.
He saw that the pit hadn’t been blasted open by their powers—it was a hollow beneath the earth, collapsed by their fight.
"Looks like the underground chamber beneath the Godsever Mountains—there are chains down there, sealing a giant saber..."
Bruno hesitated to go underground. During the battle against the Upper Realm, Quinn and the others had found all sorts of bizarre things beneath the Godsever Mountains.
The underground chamber was uncanny—not only did it hold a saber spanning north to south, but also a floating temple, with chains binding the blade.
Stranger still, one of Everpeace’s stone statues had burrowed down here—its head stuck beneath the saber. The Imperial Preceptor had shattered the space with the Quake Cauldron, linking this place to a demon world.
Most peculiar of all, this saber was the dividing line between Everpeace and the Great Ruins.
"My food supply is at stake—I have to go, in case the Cult Master runs into trouble."
Bruno leapt down, qilin fire blooming beneath his feet to support his bulk as he flew into the hollow.
The hollow was vast—massive chains bound a saber of staggering length, its blade pointing down, the head of a towering stone statue wedged beneath its edge.
Not far off, a floating great hall sat beneath the blade.
Bruno looked around and finally spotted Quinn and Cyrus. Now the two of them were standing perpendicular to the hollow, fighting atop the saber’s face.
The saber’s surface was bright as a mirror, flawless, reflecting their figures with uncanny clarity—almost as if two Quinns and two Cyruses were brawling.
The surface was so smooth that their reflections seemed like moonlight on water. No matter how fiercely they fought, the saber’s face showed not a ripple.
Cyrus took on his nine-headed phoenix deity form—nine bird heads atop a human body—while Quinn remained three-headed and six-armed. Now the fight was close-quarters, fists and limbs tearing flesh, both of them battered and bloody.
Suddenly, Bruno noticed something uncanny. The saber no longer reflected their bodies, but showed a nine-headed phoenix and Quinn’s Primordial Spirit locked in battle!
Somehow, both Quinn’s and Cyrus’s Primordial Spirits had been drawn into the saber—inside its hidden world, their souls now fought!
"I’ve said all along this place is weird..."
Bruno rushed forward to help Quinn, but when he looked down at the mirror-bright blade, he froze. Reflected there was another Dragon-Qilin—majestic and powerful.
Bruno’s hair stood on end. Through his own Primordial Spirit, he saw his physical body!
"My Primordial Spirit’s been pulled into the mirror too!"
His four legs flailed—he felt as if he’d stepped on solid glass, but also on nothing at all. Panic seized him.
"There are ghosts—"
Before he could finish, both Cyruses—bloody and battered—came rolling toward him, tumbling a dozen times and landing at Bruno’s feet. One landed beneath his physical body, the other beneath his Primordial Spirit.
Bruno looked up to see two Quinns—one on each side of the mirror—walking over. Both stopped in front of the fallen Cyrus.
—La la la, I’m home! I wrote 3,600 words this chapter. I’m not proud, just wagging my little piggy tail to the sky~~