Under the gazes of countless beings from many races, Yuangeng stood in the ancient, ponderous stone coffin and unhesitatingly began his first cycle of breathing since emerging.
He had suffered grievous injuries in that battle at the end of the Immortal Ancient Era. Not only had his body been crippled, but his primordial spirit and the Dao Seed within him had nearly been annihilated. He had buried himself in the coffin for many years, and although the Burial Domain Method and the stone gate had healed all those old wounds, his body remained severely depleted.
Of course, Yuangeng noticed that the star he stood on teemed with an unusually abundant aura of life. Unwilling to incur the sin of slaughter, he deliberately avoided it and focused his mind on the boundless starry sky overhead.
"Inhale!"
The saints of the Hundred Clans saw it clearly: as the ancient being in the stone coffin drew a breath, the entire sky was affected, and vast swaths of stars abruptly lost their radiance.
In turn, the ancient being's aura surged rapidly. His black-gold battle robe, long since ruined by the erosion of time, naturally crumbled to dust. Beneath it, his withered flesh and bones received nourishment for the first time in ages, swiftly growing full and vigorous.
At his chest, the seed that seemed to embody every mystery of Lunar Essence in the universe pulsed as well. It naturally stirred the world beyond his body, drawing down boundless Lunar Essence Dao Laws, each beat stronger than the last.
Throughout this process, the supreme sovereign deep within the Ancient Mine made no move. Where Imperial Dao Laws converged, those indifferent eyes watched the unfathomable man in the ancient coffin. Though his body remained still, he had long since readied himself for battle.
"Fellow Daoist, the years within a coffin are uncertain. Your emergence today may be considered a fulfillment."
Once Yuangeng finished his breathing, a surging divine sense emanated from deep within the immortal source, transforming into thunderous sounds of the Dao that echoed across the horizon. Without question, they came from the sovereign deep within the Ancient Mine.
Considering that the ancient man before him might not even belong to this era, the sovereign used fluctuations of divine sense to convey his thoughts directly.
"..."
Faced with the divine sense transmitted by a being on his own level, Yuangeng remained silent for a long time before sending out deep fluctuations of his own.
"May I ask what year it is?"
As he spoke, Yuangeng stirred the Lunar Essence Dao Laws, weaving himself a simple, ancient-style robe from moonlight. He stepped out of the ancient coffin, then carefully put away both the stone coffin and its lid, drawing them into his body.
"This is the age after the Desolate Heaven Emperor. From the perspective of a different cultivation system, that emperor is probably the only figure I know who can serve as a landmark in history."
At the bottom of the Ancient Mine pit, the ancient sovereign-level being spoke in an indifferent voice. He showed no excessive astonishment at an ancient being like Yuangeng, merely speaking slowly as he recounted the history he knew.
In truth, to cultivators at the sovereign level, beings from before the Mythological Era or practitioners of entirely different cultivation systems were hardly secrets too shocking to accept. The universe was too vast. Though fragments of history concerning the Chaotic Ancient Era were exceedingly scarce, they certainly existed.
In the distant past, someone had unearthed an extraordinary corpse, suspected to have come from before the Mythological Era. It had awakened to sentience and attained the Dao as an emperor in this era.
Of course, the ancient being he had encountered today was exceptional. Not only did he possess memories from before recorded ancient history, but he had also reached the sovereign level through a different cultivation system.
"The Desolate Heaven Emperor..."
Upon hearing the Desolate Heaven Emperor's title, a long-sealed fragment in the deepest recesses of Yuangeng's memory was uncovered. He murmured the name again, momentarily lost in thought.
As a transmigrator, Yuangeng had suspected upon emerging that he was probably in the age of Shrouding the Heavens. The Primordial Ancient Mine was simply too distinctive. Whether in the Immortal Ancient Era or the Chaotic Ancient Era, sovereign-level cultivators had avoided this place like the plague. Only in the age of Shrouding the Heavens had the Primordial Ancient Mine been fully "utilized."
Yet even with his suspicions confirmed, he was still astonished. His slumber had spanned an entire Chaotic Ancient Era. Buried in the Immortal Ancient Era, he had only been awakened in the age of Shrouding the Heavens. The time and events he had missed were beyond imagining.
"It seems my conjecture was indeed correct. The Desolate Heaven Emperor truly is an unfathomable existence. Even a being from before ancient history such as yourself has heard his name."
Yuangeng's expression evidently pleased the sovereign beneath the Ancient Mine. He repeated the Desolate Heaven Emperor's name in a low voice. No longer indifferent, his voice carried a trace of complex emotion, filled with admiration and yearning for that ancient figure who bore the title of Heavenly Emperor.
Yuangeng said nothing. He knew that emperor's title solely because he was a transmigrator; he had never had any dealings with that Immortal Emperor-level being.
Crack!
He was just about to obtain more information about this era from the sovereign in the Ancient Mine when he suddenly noticed that the hill-sized mass of immortal source at the bottom of the mine shaft was shaking. Fine cracks spread across it, obscuring the withered face of the being deep inside.
"What are you trying to do?"
Yuangeng narrowed his eyes slightly. From his knowledge of the original Shrouding the Heavens, self-severed sovereigns did not readily break their own seals. For them, exposure to the air was tantamount to setting their lives on an extremely short countdown.
Crack!
At his words, the sound of the immortal source cracking rang out again. The withered being seated cross-legged within it curled his lips into a cold, chilling smile. His divine sense fluctuations carried no emotion whatsoever.
"Perhaps you have already seen through it, Fellow Daoist. I am dying. My cultivation path has reached its end, and I have made not an inch of progress in a million years. My lifespan was exhausted many years ago. I will likely pass away in meditation within the next hundred years."
"Thus, I need your flesh and bones to prolong my life. I also need to examine your cultivation method, as well as that seed cultivated in union with your life, to verify my own cultivation path."
"I hope you will oblige me, Fellow Daoist!"
Boom!
The instant he finished speaking, the hill-sized mass of immortal source shattered completely, turning into pure vital energy that flowed into the body of this ancient sovereign who had lived through endless years. His true body emerged: an utterly withered old man, like a dried corpse. Silver-white Dao Fire appeared around him, scorching the myriad Daos until they split apart.
Crack! Crunch!
At the same time, light flashed in the old sovereign's hand, and a mangled head appeared. He stuffed it into his mouth and chewed forcefully. The teeth-grating sounds of bones breaking and flesh tearing rang out, making the legs of the watching saints from the myriad races tremble.
As he swallowed the head, with its mingled imperial primordial spirit, flesh, bones, and laws, the old sovereign received tremendous nourishment. His withered body filled out at a speed visible to the naked eye. His gaze sharpened, and even his sparse, yellowed hair grew thick.
Whoosh!
A platinum battle-axe as long as an arm appeared in his hand. A vast, ponderous, unfathomable Dao resonance spread outward, pressing down until the entire Big Dipper Ancient Star trembled faintly.
That was the Dao of Strength.
At a glance, Yuangeng saw through this
sovereign's power to its essence: pure Dao Laws of Strength. Cultivators of this kind usually possessed formidable bodies, pursued Ultimate Strength, and believed that strength could shatter all arts.
During the Immortal Ancient Era, Yuangeng had heard of the Heavenly Horned Ants in the Primordial Ancient Realm. That race followed the path of Ultimate Strength.
"Is that... Emperor Jun from the beginning of the primordial age? He actually lived until now."
Below, quite a few of the primordial saints recognized the silver-white battle-axe in the sovereign's hand. It was an imperial weapon forged from immortal gold, belonging to an ancient emperor who was exceptionally skilled at tempering his body and adept at battle.
At that moment, the hearts of all the watching saints from the myriad races surged. They stared at the clash of those two immense sovereign Dao resonances, countless thoughts racing through their minds.
None of them had imagined that, within their lifetimes, they would witness a clash between two entirely different cultivation methods.
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