"Let's call it the Demonic Court."
Zhang Huan walked the length of the Ancient Road, and the respondents were countless. After all, the status of a quasi-emperor was laid out there, making him already a supreme powerhouse in an era that was not a Golden Age.
A few Great Saints hurried over to pay visits; they were all Great Saints guarding cities, and from their mouths Zhang Huan learned that among the seeds of the Ancient Road in this era, only one person had achieved the Quasi-Emperor Realm.
A single desolate sentence summarized a millennium of scenery.
Originally, the Ancient Road still had a few monstrous talents who had hope of achieving the Quasi-Emperor Realm. They became Great Saints in five hundred years, and with further tempering, it was very likely they would break through within several centuries.
These old Great Saints on the Ancient Road had all placed their bets, holding confidence in these few.
Alas, a sudden change occurred, and these few lost their lives at the hands of the Ancient Road executioner. Their followers also died seven or eight out of ten, and there were no longer any decent seeds left.
"Fortunately, that executioner suffered a tribulation some days ago and perished together with another quasi-emperor."
An old Great Saint carried glee in his eyes, thinking to himself that the nameless quasi-emperor got what he deserved.
Zhang Huan had a deep impression of these past events, telling them that he was the person who beheaded that quasi-emperor.
"You—you are the other person who caused the Extreme Dao War a few days ago?!"
An old Great Saint asked cautiously. Zhang Huan remained silent, nodding to signal assent.
"Hiss~"
The several Great Saints present were all shocked. This news was a storm that would sweep across the universe; it was far too startling.
No one doubted the truth of Zhang Huan's words. Strongmen had a strongman's self-esteem and disdained to lie; what came from the mouth of a quasi-emperor was the truth.
Judging by this, the quasi-emperor before them also possessed an Imperial Weapon, and for a moment, the hearts of all the Great Saints beat wildly.
Seeing that Zhang Huan's appearance was young and handsome, and that the raising of his hand contained boundless blood qi, he was not an old thing like them who missed out on the path ahead, but very likely a young new emperor.
For such a person, the Dao Path was clear, and it was not impossible to sit on that sole emperor's throne in the future. Being able to meet someone who took the initiative to create a force was a blessed affinity.
"May I ask, Quasi-Emperor, how long has passed since you began cultivating the Dao until today?"
A Great Saint could not help opening his mouth to ask Zhang Huan.
"A little over a thousand years, I suppose."
Zhang Huan replied calmly.
"I wonder if we might join the Demonic Court."
Another's eyes lit up, and no longer able to hold back, he cupped his fists and spoke. The next moment, the several Great Saints beside him likewise spoke straightforwardly.
They were moved, wanting to follow a quasi-emperor who was still young and had a boundless future. Quasi-emperors were rare in this era, and the Demonic Court was bound to become a hegemony in the starry sky.
Having guarded this Human Ancient Road for the better part of their lives, it was time to step down; there were still many sights in life they had never seen.
With their Great Saint strength, coupled with joining the Demonic Court right at its creation, at the very least they would be founding members in the future, and their status and power would be monstrous.
Who would have thought that Zhang Huan shook his head.
"This Demonic Court of mine is not a place to enjoy blessings. Creating it is not to plunder the resources of the universe, but for another purpose."
Some things had to be said upfront. He only wanted people who sincerely joined the Demonic Court, lest hidden dangers arise in the future and it get penetrated into a sieve by the Divine Ruins.
He recounted the matters concerning the nameless quasi-emperor, the owner of the demonic art, and one of the restricted zones—the Divine Ruins—narrating the connection between the three, and bluntly stated that he founded this force precisely to deal with the Divine Ruins.
The old Great Saints looked at each other in dismay, none of them knowing that these people and events had such a huge connection behind them.
Thinking of what Zhang Huan was about to do, at this moment they actually found it hard to speak further, the words stuck in their throats.
Even though they were usually called respected predecessors, looking at Zhang Huan now, their eyes could not help but carry a hint of respect.
To be able to make an enemy of a restricted zone, and whose target was a restricted zone scion, this boldness was not something just anyone could have. The mere name of a restricted zone was enough to make ninety-nine percent of people shrink back.
Only the Void Emperor of ten thousand years ago and a very small number of people could have the courage to face the terrifying restricted zone that had existed through the ages.
The old Great Saints admired him, but Zhang Huan interrupted.
"I am not doing this for the sake of greater justice, and I cannot compare to the martyrs. It is merely because of Dao contention, coupled with being unable to bear seeing the common people suffer oppression by the restricted zones and live like ants barely surviving to become provisions."
He could not calmly compare himself to Void, knowing that he was not the kind of person Void was, willing to sacrifice his life for righteousness. Such words would not have caused him to practice the demonic art to devour cultivation levels when he was weak.
His actions and deeds were solely because he could not bear to annihilate human nature, driven by a strongman's sense of responsibility.
"If you have the ambition to resist the restricted zone scions who are wreaking havoc on the common people together with me, then join the Demonic Court. Otherwise, you had better peacefully spend your twilight years on one side, so as not to face the peril of losing your lives."
Zhang Huan had said all there was to say, and the several Great Saints hesitated.
Unexpectedly, after going through a round of internal struggle, the old Great Saints all chose to stay.
To burn brightly one last time, and when the time came to be buried in the earth, they would be able to rest in peace.
They could not bear to see someone fighting the restricted zone while they hid in a corner of the universe to enjoy leisure alone. They had all grown up on the stories of Void, understood great righteousness, and wanted to contribute their own part of strength to resist the restricted zone.
With this resolve, they indicated to Zhang Huan that they would join the Demonic Court.
It made Zhang Huan look at them in a new light. He had not expected the awareness of these old Great Saints to be so high, putting him to shame, and filling his heart with indescribable admiration.
"This old man is going to call a few close friends; they are all trustworthy old fellows who have long been fed up with the restricted zones."
A Great Saint laughed and departed, treating himself as a part of the Demonic Court from this moment on and throwing himself into recruiting more powerhouses for it.
The remaining few Great Saints also temporarily left for various reasons, but they would all return once the Demonic Court was truly established somewhere in the future.
Conversing for a long time with a Great Saint in the city where he was staying, Zhang Huan brought up that Ancient Road seed who had broken into the Quasi-Emperor Realm.
She turned out to be an acquaintance—the Innate Dao Embryo of Jade Pool.
At the mention of the reasons behind it, the old saint sighed with regret.
When she first arrived on the Ancient Road, she was merely at the Sage realm. Some coveted the great reputation of the Dao Embryo and wanted to forcibly subjugate her, but the force they belonged to was slaughtered through, arousing the interest of those powerhouses in the second half of the Ancient Road right from the start.
As she forced her way through increasingly formidable checkpoints, the Dao Embryo's strength also surged, rapidly reaching the Great Saint Realm. At this point, only two hundred years had passed since she first came to the Ancient Road.
She always came and went alone, never saying a word about the force behind her. Countless forces had tried to recruit her or arrange marriages, but all were rejected.
More than five hundred years ago, she had already begun to undergo her Quasi-Emperor Tribulation, which was shortly after the nameless quasi-emperor bathed the Ancient Road in blood.
All the surviving Great Saints were advising her to make complete preparations before undergoing the tribulation, but her mind was made up and her foundation was sufficient. She was unwilling to miss the opportunity and spend another century polishing her shackles, wanting to break into the Quasi-Emperor Realm in one go.
As the Innate Dao Embryo, she had this confidence.
She selected an ancient battlefield on the Sole True Path, and the Quasi-Emperor Tribulation manifested in the sky, attracting countless gazes. Some were shocked, some admired; at that time, everyone thought the Dao Embryo was going to rise strongly, rule an era, and become an empress praised as an eternal legend.
The old Great Saint reminisced, tears welling in his eyes, carrying both unwillingness and indignation that remained unpacified for a long time.
He had watched the Dao Embryo rise, and when she was weak, he had also sheltered her. From the bottom of his heart, he regarded her as a young emperor who had yet to rise, placing high hopes on her.
Pity that everything changed because of that Quasi-Emperor Tribulation.
The vast aura attracted the whereabouts-unknown nameless quasi-emperor, who wanted to use Emperor Power to kill the Dao Embryo on the spot.
At that time, the Dao Embryo was undergoing the tribulation and unable to attend to other matters. Everyone thought the Dao Embryo was finished, but a Great Saint holding the Immortal Tear Green Gold Pagoda turned the situation around, bringing hope and stalemating with that quasi-emperor who was unwilling to reveal his identity.
Only then did everyone realize that the peerless and talented young girl was actually the Jade Pool Saintess, the next Saint Lord, who had long since communicated with the Holy Land and summoned an Imperial Weapon to guard the field.
The distant onlookers immediately felt at ease and let out a long breath. As the two stalemated, the Jade Pool Saintess successfully underwent the tribulation, and just as she was about to step into the Quasi-Emperor Realm, another wave of Extreme Dao Aura descended, launching a surprise attack upon her body.
The situation changed in the blink of an eye. Just when they thought she was going to succeed, they never expected it to be the beginning of despair.
Preserved by various secret arts, coupled with the wondrous nature of the Innate Dao Embryo, the Jade Pool Saintess did not die on the spot, barely managing to survive. However, her aura was withered, the Emperor Power had shattered half her body, and even her cultivation level was damaged as a result.
The Quasi-Emperor Tribulation had been crossed with extreme difficulty, and by the time the lightning tribulation dissipated, the Jade Pool Saintess was left with only one breath.
The unknown Imperial Weapon wanted to unleash another strand of Emperor Power to completely eradicate the Dao Embryo. Seeing this, the Jade Pool Great Saint could no longer care about entangling with the other person, and immediately urged all his strength to take her and flee toward the Big Dipper.
"No one expected that a second Imperial Weapon would appear to launch an assassination against her at that time."
The old Great Saint sighed deeply. Since ancient times, there were only so many Imperial Weapons. Having one used to slaughter the monstrous talents of the Ancient Road was already unprecedented through the ages, yet no one thought another would commit the same evil deed.
After this, the old Great Saint took time to visit the Jade Pool Holy Land to offer condolences to the Saintess.
The conclusion of Jade Pool was that being able to survive was already fortunate enough. If she wanted to advance further, unless a supreme powerhouse refined an unsurpassed divine medicine to cure her Dao injuries and various hidden ailments, even engaging in a Daoist battle would be difficult.
The old Great Saint knew that her Dao Path had reached its end. Without a Great Opportunity, she would never again be able to reproduce the wondrous and strange phenomena of the Dao Embryo.
Putting aside the so-called supreme powerhouse, simply obtaining that Immortal Divine Medicine was impossible unless an emperor sought it out personally; from ancient times until now, it was hard to beg for even a single fruit.
Even if one existed, its value was boundless—selling the greater half of Jade Pool's family fortune would not be enough to exchange for a single one. It could be said that the fate of the Dao Embryo had already been sealed.
A heaven-defying talent of a generation, originally pinned with high hopes and a seed capable of attaining the Dao, was instead harmed by others, stopping short at the very moment of her rise, like a flash in the pan that hurriedly lost its bloom.
Who could listen to such a story without feeling melancholy.
Certain Extreme Dao forces committed all sorts of evils, even extending their demonic claws to young Dao-cultivating seeds. Because of this, the old Great Saint harbored resentment, vowing to seek justice for the Jade Pool Saintess and find the truth.
Therefore, upon learning that one of the Imperial Weapons came from the Divine Ruins, he was the first to join the Demonic Court founded by Zhang Huan.
"To think that this young girl still failed to break free from so-called destiny."
Zhang Huan felt melancholy. In the first simulated life, the Dao Embryo died early, and he never got to witness her demeanor.
Although she entered Jade Pool in this life and brought out the greatest potential of the Dao Embryo, she still failed to attain the Dao, falling into a desolate end.
Could there really be some kind of destiny and metaphysical Dao that wove a person's life in advance?
Minor trends could be altered, but major trends were hard to defy?
Zhang Huan did not believe in these things. He firmly believed that a person's life was composed by oneself. If there truly were any art of destiny, then what about himself?
Rising in a counterattack from an insignificant person with low aptitude to become a quasi-emperor who suppressed all worlds, how could that be explained by something like destiny?
"I once shared a period of friendship with the Jade Pool Saintess. She was harmed by Extreme Dao forces, and I also feel regret; sooner or later, I will find the true culprit."
Zhang Huan informed the old Great Saint.
One of the two Extreme Dao forces had already surfaced, and it was precisely the Divine Ruins, one of the restricted zones. The other would not hide for long; since it had made a move against the Dao Embryo, it would certainly reveal its traces again.
Bidding farewell to the Ancient Road, Zhang Huan proclaimed to the starry sky, continuously seeking and recruiting capable people and eccentrics who dared to resist the restricted zones. From then on, the Demonic Court grew mighty, becoming one of the top powers in the universe.
As the backbone of power, Great Saint Realm powerhouses were crucial; they were the key to monitoring the Divine Ruins and abolishing the minions of the demonic art's owner, while people with lower strength were different.
Zhang Huan did not count on them to contribute much power in the process of resisting the restricted zones, mainly relying on them to contribute information.
However many low and middle-tier cultivators there were, he absorbed them and scattered them across the starry sky to find ancient stars and star domains infected by the demonic art, mark them, and conduct a detailed investigation into the arrangements made by the demonic art's owner over the years.
Ten years later, in a star region adjacent to the Big Dipper, a resplendent star exuded a heart-palpitating pressure, brilliant and radiant. This was the headquarters of the Demonic Court.
Originally a dead and desolate star, it had been refined with supreme divine power to produce life force, resonating with the Dao and becoming extraordinarily wondrous.
On a magnificent and majestic mountain, palaces scattered various auspicious radiances amidst falling flower petals. Inside them, Zhang Huan sat quietly, as if sensing something, his whole body surging with thick and powerful blood qi.
Red hair grew out from his body, and his form was invaded by weirdness and ominousness, reaching an extreme of terror. For a time, he looked like a wild man, and even though he discovered it in time and used blood qi to steam it, it was still difficult to banish this red hair.
"The curse of the Underworld; in the end, it discovered that I was still alive."
Zhang Huan looked into the distance, gazing far across the other end of the sea of stars—that was where the Underworld resided.
Across boundless void, without seeing the person, it could use karma as a thread to cast a curse. The methods of the Underworld were uncanny.
Excavating so many of their ancient tombs was at the very least a heavy blow that rattled the Underworld's foundations. The Underworld would not let the matter rest; the curse was merely a warning shot, and there would be astonishing methods to follow.
His skin and flesh, smooth and rounded like jade, released a holy light. Zhang Huan's entire body was covered in Dao principles, steaming the red hair with various Daoist Dharmas and suppressing the curse.
He had long since made preparations. Since he dared to do it back then, he naturally dared to bear the consequences now, and he was not afraid of the Underworld in the least, sitting quietly as one, unless a Supreme Being personally emerged into the world to obliterate him.
"The Underworld... I haven't settled this karmic tie yet, and yet it has delivered itself to my doorstep."
Zhang Huan's gaze was piercing. It was time to go out and seek some opportunities; the battlefield where the Underworld resided had never been visited before, so this time he would probe its true depth.
Stepping out of the palace, the place was packed with people for a moment, all concerned about Zhang Huan's physical condition.
The blood qi that had previously covered numerous star regions signaled the occurrence of something unknown, making them uneasy.
Here, there were old Great Saints who had come from the Human Ancient Road, as well as powerhouses who had been quietly cultivating in various star regions, and the rest were practitioners of the demonic art who had come to seek refuge.
Among them was the Great Saint Zhang Huan had rescued back then, who had also defected over upon learning the goal of the Demonic Court.
This group of people were all counting on Zhang Huan to lead them in eradicating the so-called restricted zones and breaking through the schemes of the restricted zones.
"No matter. How are the results of the Demonic Court during these years of my seclusion?"
Zhang Huan glossed over it with a single sentence, claiming that he was merely cultivating a certain high-power secret art and failed to control his blood qi, which caused such a phenomenon.
As the master of a court, he was closely tied to the prospects of the force, and Zhang Huan did not want to stir up unnecessary storms. Stability of people's hearts led to the success of all things.
Before you continue