The scripture of the Grand Fostering Heavenly Demon Sutra still coiled itself into a single thread. Granny Sue handed the thread to Quinn Shepherd, but he shook his head and said, "Granny, you should keep the scripture for now. Luofu Heaven is full of dangers, and it won't do me any good to hold onto it here."
Granny Sue took out a small bamboo basket—round at the top, square at the bottom, a delicate little flower basket. She placed the thread inside. The basket also held some scraps of cloth, a pair of scissors, and silver needles—her spirit weapon, no doubt.
The two of them gazed at the blood river swirling in the sky. They saw how it trapped the halberd-bearing god atop the altar, locking him in the center. This sacrificial ritual was clearly more than just summoning gods or demons.
The blood river didn't simply radiate a summoning light; instead, streams of blood plasma split off, weaving mysterious patterns in the air—profound runes that could only be the demon clan's sacrificial arts.
The sacrificial method came from the demon clan. Quinn Shepherd had studied some of these arts himself—summoning ghosts, dispatching gods, using command sigils—these were all forms of sacrifice, originally taught by the Nethervault Demon King. He passed this art to the Everpeace Empire to summon his own descent and invade, but after encountering Quinn, that plan was abandoned.
—The demon clan has many heavens; both the Nethervault and Luofu Heaven are among them. Now, both worlds are on the brink of destruction, each seeking a way to preserve and prolong the lives of their own people.
In fact, most sacrificial arts originated with the demon clan. They created countless rituals, building a unique civilization system—one very different from that of the Everpeace Empire or High-Emperor Heaven.
Humans also learned some sacrificial arts from the demon clan. The Grand Fostering Heavenly Demon Sutra, for instance, contains many such rituals—demon-cultivation techniques passed down and refined.
What humans learned from the demon clan wasn't just sacrificial arts, but also many demonic techniques. For example, the witchcraft of the Loulan Golden Palace came from the Ghost-Ear Witch God, who was once a demon god from the Heavenly Court that later descended into the Netherworld.
"Something's not right!"
Granny Sue studied the blood river coiling around the altar in the sky. More and more blood-red runes were appearing, while the halberd-bearing god from the Great Ruins seemed utterly trapped, charging again and again in an effort to break the ritual, but never able to escape.
He even tried to rush off the altar, but it was no use—he couldn't break free.
The demon god conducting the ritual wasn't actually that strong—otherwise he wouldn't have fallen to Granny Sue's sneak attack. His power was far beneath that of the halberd-bearing god, but his sacrificial method was deep and unfathomable.
Even after dying at Granny Sue's hands, his blood-and-flesh sacrifice still held the halberd-bearing god fast at the center, leaving him no way to escape!
"He's planning to sacrifice the halberd-bearing god too!"
Granny Sue shivered, muttering, "He's treating the halberd-bearing god as an offering, tying him to the blood river, sacrificing him to some ancient existence—summoning it to descend..."
Quinn Shepherd wasn't deeply versed in sacrificial arts—he was actually less knowledgeable than Granny Sue—but even so, he could see the halberd-bearing god was in dire straits.
The halberd-bearing god wore heavy, scaled armor. Now, beads of blood slowly oozed out from beneath it, floating upward to merge with the blood river above!
Not only that—his war halberd and armor were both beginning to lose their vital essence!
The demon god's sacrificial method was terrifyingly powerful!
The halberd-bearing god was far weaker than before, his strength fading and his blood draining away, making it harder and harder for him to resist the sacrifice.
"Granny Sue just killed a demon god—probably the top sacrificial expert of the demon clan! You’ve slain an incredibly important demon god!" Quinn Shepherd cried out as he saw the halberd-bearing god’s predicament.
Granny Sue said sadly, "But I can’t save the god on the altar. If we rush onto the altar, we’ll only lose our lives. We can’t even stop this sacrifice, can’t prevent the descent of that ancient existence…"
On the altar, the halberd-bearing god dashed frantically, but his strength drained away ever faster. At last, he gave up fighting and stood atop the altar, gazing skyward at something unseen.
This was the end of the road for a god. He was about to be broken down as a sacrificial offering, becoming the fuel to summon another ancient existence.
"I should have died long ago…"
The voice of the halberd-bearing god echoed, tinged with loneliness and desolation. He stood atop the altar and spoke loudly, his words carrying far: "I should have died long ago, should have perished in the great disaster twenty thousand years ago. I should have fallen on the battlefield like my comrades, not faded away, not become a stone statue in the Great Ruins, not clung to a worthless hope or future…"
Quinn Shepherd and Granny Sue stood stunned, watching the halberd-bearing god atop the altar. They wanted to save him, but were utterly powerless.
The god knelt on one knee, bracing his war halberd against the blood sacrifice, his voice sinking low: "Hope, future, Carefree Haven… We’ve been silent for so long, Pioneer Emperor, so long that we’ve lost the will to fight, so long that our stone statues have gone cold, so long that the common folk we swore to protect have all died, that we no longer see familiar faces, that even the land has changed! And you…"
Suddenly, his voice rang out, shaking the heavens: "Pioneer Emperor, what about you? Where are you?"
Is your ideal world that Carefree Haven where you hide?
Can you bear to watch your old soldiers, your loyal followers, wither away one by one?
Can you bear to watch the country change, to see the people you protected grow old and die?
Why haven't you appeared?
Twenty thousand years have passed, and you still haven't recovered from failure? Haven't regained your confidence, still unwilling to leave Carefree Haven? We've been waiting for you, waiting for you to summon your old troops and fight the Heavenly Court again! Where are you?
...
Quinn Shepherd and Granny Sue heard his voice echo through the heavens and earth; in this dying Luofu Heaven, no one could answer his questions.
My Wild-Goose Feather Company, dissolve with me!
High atop the altar, in the thick crimson light, the god rose to his feet and poured all his remaining strength into his divine weapon. In that instant, a blinding radiance burst from the summit, so dazzling that none could bear to look directly. Only his thunderous voice rolled across the sky, echoing like heavenly thunder.
The Pioneer Emperor is gone, but the spirit of guardianship remains!
I, Loren Yu, old subordinate of the Pioneer Emperor, Heaven-Emperor Star, Yaoguang Division general, with this ruined body, will protect the clanfolk and block your arrival!
Soldier-dissolution—
God-dissolution—
Light erupted, shaking the world with a deafening roar. A terrifying shockwave surged outward from the altar's summit. Granny Sue instantly unfurled the Da Luo Starfield Force, shielding herself and Quinn Shepherd as the surging blast engulfed them!
The radiant halo swept across the Da Luo Starfield Force with a hum. The ground heaved like scorched brittle bread, flipping over and over. As the halo shattered, a ruined planet drifted overhead, stirring up monstrous waves, but even those towering swells were held back by the blast and soon retreated, flooding the land.
The eruption was brief. Soon, calm returned around the altar. The blood river that had shrouded the altar was gone. The god atop the altar and his war halberd had vanished, leaving only a broken, bloodstained altar behind.
The god had dissolved himself, erasing his Primordial Spirit and using his own sacrifice to break the ritual, preventing the ancient existence the demon god sought to summon from descending.
Quinn Shepherd stared at the bloodstained altar, unmoving for a long time. Granny Sue finally urged, "Quinn, let's go. He chose his own release—it’s a good thing for him. He kept his promise and fulfilled his wish. Let’s head to the next altar. Maybe we’ll find the Saint Woodcutter…"
Quinn followed her in silence. Granny Sue was a bit unused to it and looked back with a smile, "Quinn, what are you thinking? This isn’t like you."
"I’m thinking… maybe my ancestor, the Pioneer Emperor, wasn’t the great hero I imagined after all."
Quinn Shepherd was lost in thought. "After I learned I was from Carefree Haven and a descendant of the Pioneer Emperor, I always imagined him as a peerless hero, a giant among men with supreme ideals and countless heroes following him, someone both approachable and admirable. But…"
He shook his head and was silent for a moment. "Maybe he wasn’t that kind of person. Maybe he was just a cowardly old man, too afraid to die, lacking that courage or vision, hiding in Carefree Haven and living out his days in indulgence. Maybe he betrayed the countless heroes who followed him…"
Granny Sue blinked and suddenly laughed. "Quinn, you’re still just a kid—why think so much? When I was your age… hmm, Li Tianxing already had his eye on me, and I was scheming how to get rid of him… The Village Chief, when he was your age, was still playing in the mud!"
Quinn Shepherd chuckled, "The Village Chief was probably already apprenticed by then, being groomed as the next Human Emperor—no way he was playing in the mud! Granny Sue, you’re joking again."
Seeing him smile, Granny Sue laughed too. "I raised you from a baby. I wasn’t very nice when you wet the bed and didn’t want to look after you, but now that you’ve grown up, I’m always worried about you leaving me, leaving the village. I keep wondering if you’re doing well, always afraid you’ll get hurt. Maybe that’s how parents feel. I don’t want you to grow up so fast and have so many troubles—you should be carefree… It’s all that deadbeat Village Chief’s fault, making you the Human Emperor! When we get back, I’m splashing black dog blood on his statue!"
They arrived near the second altar. From afar, they saw a demon god attacking the altar, trying to seize control.
Two gods and demons battled fiercely, the scene utterly astonishing.
"Isn’t Bu Riluo afraid the Saint Woodcutter will get angry and blood-sacrifice all of Luofu Heaven?" Quinn Shepherd shook his head.
Granny Sue set down her little flower basket, dug out scissors and some ragged cloth, and with flying fingers threaded a needle and stitched together a tattered shirt. She smiled, "Bu Riluo is preparing bargaining chips! The more altars he captures, the stronger his hand in negotiations! Go—"
The tattered shirt she’d just sewn flew up and darted toward the battlefield, wrapping itself around the demon god.
[Author’s note: Xuzhou is over thirty degrees now—just days ago it was zero! Can’t take this weather. Haha, today marks ten years since Zhai Zhu started writing at Qidian. Thanks for everyone’s support, and especially to Junmeng for the gold alliance reward—deeply grateful! It’s the end of the month, the monthly ticket ranking is in danger, please vote!]