People discussed it among themselves. Wan Qing's origins were far too mysterious.
Even with powerful demons from every faction supporting him this time, the outcome remained shrouded in uncertainty when he faced a visitor from a forbidden zone.
That was a Life Forbidden Zone! Since ancient times, ages had come and gone, holy lands had fallen, and Great Emperors had grown old, yet the forbidden zones endured. Even repeated campaigns by Ancient Great Emperors had failed to raze them.
This gathering in the Central Plains should have been an exchange among the great Heavenly Prodigies, yet it had drawn out such a supreme powerhouse.
He called himself Shen Ming, a name that sounded like the words for "divine being." His strength was immense, rivaling an Ancient Saint's. Laws rippled around him, his feet remained untouched by dust, and his physique was powerfully built.
He was a terrifying powerhouse from a forbidden zone who looked twenty-five or twenty-six. His presence bore down on everyone, and the light between his brows blazed like a torch. Clad in a black Nether Iron Divine Garment that flashed with cold crystalline brilliance and a distinctive metallic sheen, he resembled a god of war who had crossed the primordial ages to emerge from antiquity.
The man facing him wore peerless azure robes, divine light encircling him and laws slumbering around him. An extraordinarily brilliant lotus mark adorned his brow. He stood beyond the mortal dust, untouched by its stains, peerless as the wind brushed past him, like a true Immortal appearing in the world once more.
Neither spoke a word, yet their auras cleared everyone from their surroundings as they clashed in secret.
"You're strong for someone in this realm!" Shen Ming spoke for the first time. He had emerged from one of the seven great Life Forbidden Zones. Even now, he could sense a terrifying aura from the Azure Emperor, one that could contend with his own without falling short!
"But you're no match for me!" He was supremely conceited, his confidence rooted in his origins.
The Azure Emperor stared fixedly at him. He had only just entered the Half-Saint realm, while this man was already an unparalleled Saint King approaching the Great Saint realm. He had lived in ages long past and prolonged his life through some unknown, brutally cruel method.
"Let's end this quickly! I emerged ahead of time to capture you! With the dharma-ending era now upon us, I still need to return to the forbidden zone and seal myself away until a great age arrives!" Shen Ming's expression was cold, his gaze enough to seize the soul.
Two Demon Sages stepped out from behind the Azure Emperor. They, too, were Saint King-level powerhouses who had looked down upon the world in distant years, unrivaled beneath the heavens, Heavenly Prodigies of their generation.
Both were demon powerhouses from the Central Plains. Upon hearing that someone from a forbidden zone had come for the Azure Emperor, they had hurried over.
Nothing could be allowed to happen to the Azure Emperor!
Every demon powerhouse agreed on that!
The demons were now scattered like loose sand, yet all acknowledged the Azure Emperor as a Heavenly Prodigy. If anyone could unite the demons again, it could only be him!
Wan Qing's strength was terrifying, comparable to an Ancient Great Emperor's, and his origins were no less extraordinary than those of an emperor's son!
Some among the demons had already begun reverently addressing him as the Azure Emperor!
"The demons have always carved out their own territories, crowned themselves kings, and honored their sages as supreme. I never thought they'd stand up for Wan Qing today!" A cultivator looked at the two Saint King-level Demon Sages in surprise.
"You don't know the whole story, brother. Wan Qing's talent is monstrous. Rumor has it that once he enters the Saint realm, he'll be able to fight and kill Saint Kings, and even Great Saints won't be able to do anything to him! He rivals an Ancient Emperor in his youth!"
"He's that terrifying?"
"They say Wan Qing has unlocked divine prohibition! A divine ability exclusive to Ancient Great Emperors!"
Shen Ming said coldly, "Heh, so what if you've unlocked divine prohibition? Until you become a Saint, you're nothing but an ant! If I wanted to kill you, those two beside you could never stop me!
"The dharma-ending era is approaching. Do you demons really believe someone can still attain the Dao and become a Great Emperor? This world has already begun to wither. Even Great Saints are rarely seen; they're either in seclusion or have sealed themselves away!
"Only a handful of Saint Kings still walk the world! In an age like this, who can attain the Dao? Who can become an emperor?"
No one could refute him. He spoke the truth.
They had gradually begun to sense that this world was no longer as suited to cultivation as it once had been. It had entered the legendary dharma-ending era!
Wan Qing might possess heaven-bestowed talent, but in the end, he still could not shatter the legend of the dharma-ending era!
"Cultivation has always meant defying heaven. Who said no one can attain the Dao in the dharma-ending era? And what if I defy heaven?" the Azure Emperor said, his gaze blazing, utterly fearless before this man.
What bold words! Yet no one considered them arrogant. Wan Qing's talent was simply too astonishing!
Shen Ming sneered and struck at once, wielding boundless divine power. Black runes surfaced on his hands, manifested from an ancient scripture left behind by a supreme being in the forbidden zone!
Wan Qing held the Azure Divine Lotus and unleashed a mysterious power: the rule that shattered all arts, capable of breaking terrifying powers of law.
Boom!
The two abandoned their silence and clashed!
Powerhouses immediately activated formations to keep the violent shock waves from destroying this place.
The two demon Saint Kings struck without hesitation. So what if he was a powerhouse from a forbidden zone? They feared him all the same! Who had not dreamed of razing the Life Forbidden Zones in their youth? Most had simply failed to achieve their hopes, their sharp edges worn smooth by time.
Had they not feared that their clans would be attacked in their absence, they would have already charged into the Life Forbidden Zones at their age!
In this regard, they fell far short of human Saints. Those people would burn themselves at the slightest provocation, undergo ultimate sublimation, and launch a final, decisive battle against a Life Forbidden Zone, trading their lives to take down one of its powerhouses.
Ancient Great Emperors had done precisely that, and human Saints naturally refused to pale beside them.
Boom!
"Let's fight beyond this world!"
Perhaps concerned that this place would suffer collateral damage, the two demon Saint King-level powerhouses spoke at once, leaping into the starry sky to do battle there.
Shen Ming was naturally unafraid, even fighting one against three. "As you wish!"
He had that confidence!
"I remember now... this man is an emperor's son! His father is an Ancient Supreme! An Ancient Emperor of the Primordial Myriad Races!" At that moment, a vastly experienced great figure spoke, visibly shaken.
Everyone turned to look. He was a powerhouse fond of investigating the past of the mythological era and the primordial era. He rarely quarreled with others, came and went alone, and had always been collecting historical records.
His words were practically the benchmark in that field!
The primordial era... roughly several hundred thousand years ago. It had been an age of extraordinary splendor, with myriad races standing in power and primordial emperors reigning supreme, while humans were reduced to meat for their tables...
This figure from a forbidden zone was actually the son of an Ancient Emperor from the primordial era!
Everyone could not help speculating. Could the Life Forbidden Zones have been formed by the Primordial Myriad Races of old? Such rumors had circulated since ancient times, after all. Now that this figure had brought it up, they could hardly avoid reading more into it.
"Though I have no regard for the demons, I hope Wan Qing survives this time!" a human powerhouse said. Relations between humans and demons were far from harmonious, and disputes frequently broke out.
But compared with the demons, humans hated the Primordial Myriad Races even more. That was a bleak past, humanity's darkest hour, a dark age when enslavement by the Primordial Myriad Races had been their reality.
"If Wan Qing survives, perhaps he can change the current situation, with humans and demons as incompatible as fire and water!" someone else said.
Wan Qing's attitude toward humans was not particularly bad; it could even be called friendly. He often discussed the Dao with the Heavenly Prodigies of the great holy lands.
It was said that this was because one of Wan Qing's elders had been a human cultivator. Sadly, that elder had fallen.