Quinn Shepherd and his companions arrived at the Imperial Preceptor's Manor, but the Imperial Preceptor was nowhere to be found. His wife was in the front hall teaching their child to read; flustered, she hurried out holding the child's hand and said, "My husband went to see the emperor and hasn't come back for days. Yunjian, quickly greet your godfather!"
The little boy beside her was only three or four years old. In a soft, childish voice, he called Quinn, "godfather."
Quinn's face flushed red and he stammered, "Sister-in-law, I'm not even married yet—how can I be a godfather?"
The Imperial Preceptor's Wife laughed. "When Yunjian was born, we already worshiped you as his godfather. Can the Cult Master refuse to recognize it?"
Quinn thought for a moment, then pulled a huge wing from his Glutton Dragon Pouch and plucked a Vermilion Bird Feather from it. "This is a Vermilion Bird Feather—once belonged to an Execution Platform-level expert. Let Yunjian play with it for now. The wing itself is too heavy and dangerous, but the feather is light. Wait, I'll suppress the Vermilion Bird Sacred Flame inside first."
He sealed the Vermilion Bird Sacred Flame with Heavenly Fire Dao runes, then handed the three-chi-long Vermilion Bird Feather to Jiang Yunjian. The little boy took the feather and swung it at the stone lion by the gate—a flash of fire split the stone lion cleanly in two.
The Imperial Preceptor's Wife was startled and quickly snatched the Vermilion Bird Feather away. "You can play with it when you're older!"
Quinn led the Woodcutter Sage, Aurora Yates, and the First Human Emperor to the palace. The Empress said, "His Majesty was abducted by the Imperial Preceptor—they said they were going to the Imperial Academy, but it's been days and the emperor hasn't returned. Right now, the Crown Prince is acting as regent, handling state affairs."
They went to the Imperial Academy next. Grand Rector Leonard Goodwin shook his head. "His Majesty and the Imperial Preceptor aren't here either. After gathering students to design Solar and Lunar Arks, they took many of them to the Supervising Foundries in Goldenridge City. The emperor went along too."
Aurora Yates smiled. "This emperor doesn't sit on his throne—he just runs around all day."
They arrived at Goldenridge City, the Imperial Preceptor's hometown, where the greatest number of Supervising Foundries were concentrated—over a hundred in total.
Before they even saw Emperor Evan or the Imperial Preceptor, they saw countless huge boats crossing the river, transporting massive, precisely machined components to Goldenridge's largest Supervising Foundry.
Those components were surely for the Solar and Lunar Arks.
In the Pioneer Era, Solar and Lunar Arks were forged from stone, but here, they were made of metal—a process that consumed vast wealth.
Quinn also saw many women from True Heaven Palace of the Western Lands helping out. Leading them was a familiar face—Kira Bear, daughter of Raina Bear.
After a few years apart, Kira Bear had grown to eight or nine years old and was now at the Goldenridge Supervising Foundry, casting spells to activate the components, making these hulking parts float and assemble themselves automatically.
"Cult Master big brother!"
Kira Bear was delighted to see him, but even happier to see Bruno the Dragon-Qilin. She rushed over, abandoned Quinn, and hugged Bruno’s whiskers with glee.
Quinn was momentarily ignored by the little girl, who then leapt onto Bruno’s tail. Bruno lifted his tail, and the girl slid all the way from its tip to his forehead, giggling nonstop.
"The Solar and Lunar Arks being forged by the Imperial Preceptor and the emperor—every component seems to be cast from a mold. Each Supervising Foundry only manufactures a dozen or so parts, then they’re assembled together."
Quinn was amazed and stepped forward to examine the components. The runes on them interlocked with extreme precision; combined with the Western Lands’ “all things have spirit” arts, assembly could be completed rapidly.
“This is a superb method for mass-producing Solar and Lunar Arks!” Quinn praised repeatedly.
The Solar and Lunar Arks were designed by the Woodcutter Sage, but in the Pioneer Era, their manufacture wasn’t this precise. As a result, the arks varied in size and production was slow.
But here in Goldenridge, the Supervising Foundries could produce Solar and Lunar Arks quickly!
When they finally found the Imperial Preceptor and Emperor Evan, both had already fallen asleep inside the Supervising Foundry. The Earthwalker Clan people were working overtime forging all sorts of components, with divine-blooded smiths less than five feet tall flitting around the parts.
"You’re looking for the mud-turtle emperor?"
Lady Clayborne stroked her beard and, in a thunderous voice, bellowed, "He’s over there playing corpse!"
Quinn, the Woodcutter, and the others followed her pointing finger and saw two grown men sprawled out in a corner of the foundry. Amid the deafening forging noise, they were both sound asleep.
The Imperial Preceptor and Emperor Evan were both handsome men—though middle-aged, they always paid attention to their appearance.
But now, both sported unkempt beards and filthy, tattered robes. The Imperial Preceptor’s foot was planted on Emperor Evan’s face, while the emperor hugged the Preceptor’s leg and slept soundly.
Nearby, many court ministers and Imperial Academy students also lay sprawled out in the corners of the foundry, sleeping soundly.
Aurora Yates was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "Now I understand why the Grand Celestial Teacher has such high hopes for them. With an emperor and an Imperial Preceptor like this, they truly are the leaders of reform."
The Woodcutter Sage asked, "Should we wake them?"
"No need. They’re gods, yet even they’re this exhausted—it shows just how hard they’ve worked these days."
Aurora Yates said, "I never imagined an emperor would personally oversee such trivial work, nor that a reformist Imperial Preceptor would be so hands-on. This Preceptor is even better than you were in your day."
The Woodcutter Sage laughed. "Back then, I just tinkered with ideas and let others do the work. Honestly, I was afraid of trouble and rarely got my own hands dirty."
Aurora Yates said, "You were a sage—you stood too far above the people."
The Woodcutter Sage fell silent, then said hoarsely, "The Heavenly King's criticism is right. When disaster struck, I led the resistance, but our defeat was catastrophic. Only then did I realize how distant I’d been from the people, from the army. As a Celestial Teacher, you must plan from above, but also enter the army and the mortal world. I kept too much distance; when I finally intervened, I misjudged reality and brought about disaster. In that, I was inferior to Prince Qin Wu."
The First Human Emperor was stunned, looking at him in disbelief.
The Woodcutter Sage said, "Though I haven’t seen him in twenty thousand years, I’ve always admired him. In that chaotic era, he may have deserted, but when he saw the people suffering, he took up the burden again, protected them, fought desperately, and led them to Everpeace at the cost of his life. Without Prince Qin Wu, there would be no later Everpeace."
Tears glistened in the First Human Emperor’s eyes; he turned away and quietly wiped them.
The Woodcutter Sage saw this and said, "But later, he did sink into despair—always blaming himself, unable to escape the shadow of desertion. That’s why I looked down on him. Now that he’s moved past it, I’m truly gratified. In truth, he always did better than me during the disaster."
Aurora Yates smiled. "No need to disturb them—let’s go."
They left the Supervising Foundry. Outside, Kira Bear played for a while, then got back to serious work and finally finished building a great ship.
The little girl took out the White Tiger Pearl and gently tapped the bead. The enormous land-ark slowly stood up, shaking the ground.
Inside the Supervising Foundry, Emperor Evan and the Imperial Preceptor were startled awake. They rushed out and, seeing the ship come alive, wept with joy and hugged each other, laughing and crying.
Quinn called Bruno and, together with Aurora Yates and the others, had already gone far. From a distance, Emperor Evan glimpsed Bruno and wondered, “When did Lord Quinn arrive? Why did he leave again? The emperor and Preceptor are here, and he didn’t even say hello before leaving! Bring pen and ink! Today is a day of great joy—I’m in high spirits, so I’ll write him a big ‘正’ character!”
The Woodcutter soon took his leave, saying, "I’m still searching for the Farmer and contacting others, so I can’t stay here. Fisherman, let’s go."
The Fishing Elder left with him.
The First Human Emperor also took his leave, saying, “I have urgent matters to attend to.” With that, he hurried off.
Quinn blinked, watching them depart, and thought, “It’s understandable for Teacher Woodcutter to be busy, but why does the First Ancestor have so much to do? What is he up to?”
Aurora Yates looked at him and smiled. “Little brother, do you have business too? If not, why not come with me to find Heavenly King Tian Shu and help Yama King rebuild Fengdu? Then we’ll visit Lady Tianyin, and after that, I’ll take you to meet Heavenly Duke, Earth Count, and other Throne-level experts—it’ll be greatly beneficial for you!”
Quinn was very tempted.
If he could follow a Throne-level powerhouse like Aurora Yates to meet all these divine beings and experts, it would surely broaden his horizons!
“I still have sword pellets to forge…”
Quinn hesitated and said, “Sister, why don’t you go see Lady Tianyin first? Once I finish forging my sword pellets, I’ll come find you in Fengdu.”
Aurora Yates smiled, “That works. I’ll go look for that rascal Tian Shu first—he’s timid and who knows where he’s hiding. Once you’ve finished forging, if you can’t find us in Fengdu, come to the Tianyin Realm.”
Quinn nodded, and Aurora Yates drifted away.
“Bruno, let’s head to the Tujiang Supervising Foundry!”
Quinn leaped onto Bruno’s forehead, and Bruno immediately dashed toward the Tujiang Supervising Foundry.
In the Tujiang Supervising Foundry, the sword pellet, originally over thirty zhang in diameter, had been hammered down to just over ten zhang, but even the giant mechanical golems couldn’t make it any smaller.
Quinn took out the Vermilion Bird Wing and used the Vermilion Bird Sacred Flame to refine the sword pellet, personally forging it with both his physical body and soul, tempering it again and again, imprinting his rune techniques into the pellet with the flame’s power.
After more than ten days of forging, the sword pellet shrank to three chi in size, but it still couldn’t achieve the fluidity of sword-as-water.
Quinn put away the Vermilion Bird Wing and switched to refining the pellet with Heavenly Fire Dao, working for another half month until the pellet was only one chi across.
He tried activating it, but channeling his vital energy was strenuous—it took great effort to transform the pellet into flying swords for combat.
“I cultivate both divine and demonic arts; maybe I need to temper it with demonic flame as well…”
Quinn’s mind stirred. “What would happen if I used my demonic cultivation to channel Heavenly Fire?”
He blinked and was about to experiment when he suddenly remembered something. He moved the sword pellet out of the foundry, chose a deserted spot, then took out the Heavenly Fire Prism. Reversing his divine store, his body surged with rolling demonic energy.
Quinn activated the Heavenly Fire Prism, unleashing the full power of the Heavenly Fire.
Outside the foundry, Bruno was sound asleep. Suddenly, a thunderous boom woke him; he lifted his head, squinting, and saw black flames rising dozens of miles away.
Bruno yawned, staggered to his feet, took two steps, then flopped down and went back to sleep, muttering, “The Cult Master should survive…”