Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three months later, in a newly built complex of Heavenly Palaces centered on the Phoenix Nest in the Eastern Wasteland, the Undying Empress beat a war drum herself. Her jade arms, white as frost, struck it in a steady rhythm.
This was no ordinary drum. It was the Heavenly Emperor's General-Summoning Drum, left behind by the Undying Emperor. Its material was extraordinary, and when it was forged, blood oaths had been sworn with the generals who had once served the Undying Divine Dynasty.
Whether the emperor's generals themselves or their descendants, all would feel the drum's summons and obey the oaths in their blood when it sounded.
Deep in the universe.
Powerful clans heard a summons rising from their blood: "Heed my command. Return to the Big Dipper—"
"The Divine Dynasty rises anew. The myriad clans shall submit—"
"The Son of the Emperor has emerged. Peace shall reign throughout the universe—"
The command spread across the universe with astonishing speed. Even those in its remotest Border Wasteland or its oldest secret lands could not escape the blood oaths of loyalty sworn a million years ago.
On an ancient star.
A group of bull-headed people gathered around the oldest among them. Suppressing the call in their blood, they listened quietly to their clan leader's words.
"At the dawn of the Primordial Era, the ancestors of our Great Strength Bull Demon Clan chose to serve the Undying Emperor, the Deity of that age, so they might survive in the universe. They swore an oath rooted in our blood."
"Back then, our ancestors could not have imagined that our clan would endure for a million years. Nor could they have imagined that, after countless generations, the Heavenly Emperor's General-Summoning Drum would still call to us."
"If the drum had sounded