The ancient coffin tolerated no desecration-unless you happened to have a very special face.
Anyone who approached with murderous intent and no reverence would be met with a heavy-handed beating!
In later ages, this was also recorded at the Demon Emperor's Tomb on the Starry Sky Ancient Road.
So what if a Great Saint came?
They still had to meekly bow before the Demon Emperor!
Demon Emperor Xue Yueqing had forged his dragon body from myriad bloodlines, astounding the world.
But the being represented by this ancient coffin was even more terrifying, truly standing above the Demon Emperor, beyond any dispute!
The Heavenly Court's Killing Saints chose to yield immediately, retreating far away.
The humanoid creature sealed in divine source nearby was not so fortunate. His divine source shattered, and he fell to the ground. Before his bewilderment had even cleared, the flesh all over his body had been battered into a bloody pulp, leaving him lying in his own blood!
Only after that towering murderous intent receded did he manage to stand and restore his body. His eyes burned red as he stared at the four figures before the Dragon Nest.
He recognized their race. They were... humans.
Every race had its own distinctive aura of blood and vitality, and humans were no exception.
In later ages, when Beidou's Road to Immortality opened and the Forbidden Zone Supremes emerged, knowledgeable onlookers had discerned from those distinctive auras that there were human Great Emperors among them.
Once cultivators of the various races reached a certain level, they could all assume human form.
But having human form and being human were two different things.
"Humans... blood food for the primordial races, and now you dare set foot in my sacred Dragon Nest!"
The humanoid creature growled. He... was also a Saint!
More precisely, an Ancestor King!
At the end of the primordial era, he had sealed himself in divine source, oblivious to spring and autumn, smuggling himself through time. He intended to emerge in the age when the Road to Immortality opened and pursue the immortal path his ancestors had spoken of.
Though it was unclear what qualified a mere Ancestor King like him to pursue a chance at immortality... everyone needed a dream.
Time stretched into the distance, and eight or nine hundred thousand years passed in the blink of an eye. When he opened his eyes again, he was first crushed half to death. After finally managing to stand, he saw those whom the primordial races had regarded as blood food standing there with cold, fierce expressions, right on his race's sacred, supreme ancestral grounds?!
Had the blood food turned the world upside down?
What, the blood food had become Saints?
What was there to fear!
Their Myriad Dragon Nest had even captured a human Great Saint alive!
If not for their desire to obtain the humans' two Emperor Scriptures, that Great Saint would have been suppressed and killed long ago!
"You forced me to emerge! You will all die and become blood food for my race!"
The Dragon Nest's Ancestor King roared.
But an icy gaze turned toward him. It belonged to the current Lord of the Heavenly Court. His eyes were fathomless, mottled with the traces of time, as though faint ripples were constantly spreading through them.
The Immortal Divine Medicine was right before him. The hope of living another lifetime had been within easy reach. He had been on the verge of beginning his second life, attaining the Quasi-Emperor realm, and matching the First Generation, only to be forced back by an ancient coffin... this was the cruelest possible denial at the very brink of release!
No matter how well he cultivated his composure, the murderous intent in his heart boiled like an ocean at that moment.
"Blood food? You're the blood food!"
"This is the desolate ancient age, not the primordial age!"
"The primordial age had its Ancient Emperors, and the desolate ancient age had its Great Emperors. Who was inferior to whom!"
The Lord of the Heavenly Court spoke coldly and flicked a finger. There was no light, no sound, yet the Dragon Nest's Ancestor King shuddered and froze. A perfectly round hole appeared silently between his brows, where his Immortal Platform lay and his primordial spirit resided!
The next instant, the Ancestor King's body went limp. He collapsed to the ground, a corpse!
With the ancient coffin before them, desecration and offense were forbidden. They could not unleash techniques that destroyed heaven and earth.
Yet this Lord of the Heavenly Court was powerful beyond belief. With a flick of his finger, he had silently wiped out an Ancestor King, annihilating his primordial spirit!
The Killing Saints of Hell and the Human World felt their hair stand on end at the sight. With methods like these, was he still merely a Great Saint?
"My disciple!"
A grief-stricken cry rang out. Dragon qi seethed within the Myriad Dragon Nest as a terrifying expert awakened, emerging from the stillness of divine source into this age.
He had not wanted this. He had dreamed of becoming immortal and emerging in the age when the immortal path opened.
But someone had attacked their ancestral grounds, invaded their home, and killed an Ancestor King... how could he keep sleeping?
A Great Saint's aura surged like a vast ocean, incomparably fierce. Standing at the pinnacle of life, the pillar of this Ancient Imperial Clan had appeared!
No, that was not all!
Whoooo!
A horn sounded. For a moment, it seemed they had returned to the primordial era, to the age of the Dragon Emperor, when the dragon-horn call shook the cosmos and every race beneath the heavens bowed in submission!
The horn's call set the blood of this race's members boiling, drawing involuntary dragon roars from them.
Even those in the deepest slumber within divine source had their spirits stirred at this moment, awakening from oblivion!
Roar!
At that moment, dragon roars rang endlessly through the Myriad Dragon Nest. The auras of Ancestor Kings shot skyward, one after another. Ten, twenty...
So many Saints had lain dormant, only to be roused and revived today... how terrifying would it be when the strength of a Primordial Imperial Clan descended upon this world?
Unlike in the desolate ancient era, divine source liquid could occasionally be found on Big Dipper Ancient Star during the primordial era. In the desolate ancient era, it could only be obtained through the intervention of an Ancient Great Emperor!
The Primordial Imperial Clans had claimed far too many blessings. This was also why so many Ancient Imperial Clans had gathered on this ancient star.
Every race had its own ancestral star, so why insist on putting down roots on Beidou rather than returning home?
To wait for the Road to Immortality?
Who knew how many tens of thousands of years remained before the Road to Immortality opened!
It was solely because of divine source liquid, solely because of the will of the Saints!
Formed from a chaos body, Big Dipper Ancient Star had held far too many blessings during the primordial era. In the desolate ancient age, old Saints with little lifespan remaining could ultimately do nothing but pass away in seated meditation. Yet in the primordial era, old Ancestor Kings nearing the ends of their lives could find divine source liquid and seal themselves away!
Accumulated generation after generation, this would become a terrifying reserve of strength, especially for the Primordial Imperial Clans!
At that moment, even the Killing Saints of Hell and the Human World were shaken, though they were Saint Kings and certainly no weaklings.
An old Killing Saint of the Heavenly Court also frowned, feeling the pressure.
Only the current Lord of the Heavenly Court remained unperturbed, as though he had witnessed a similar scene before, a comparable gathering of Saints-or even one that surpassed it.
Clang!
Only when a clear bell rang did his brows draw together slightly, and even then, only by a fraction.
"So, you're an Imperial Clan... pardon my disrespect."
Though he spoke of disrespect, he showed not the slightest sincerity. He said softly, "Very well, I'll take the loss and give a little ground... you needn't move out of this Dragon Nest. Just leave me a corner to use as a place to stay."
Silence fell over the Dragon Nest.
The next instant, the Ancestor Kings' murderous intent surged like a sea. Great Saint Qian Lun spoke one word at a time. "What do you take this place for?"
"What place is it... does that make a difference?"
The Lord of the Heavenly Court said softly, "Even if it were a Life Forbidden Zone, even if it were Saint Cliff, interwoven with Emperor Formations, I... might still be able to force my way in!"
He spoke quietly, with an indescribable confidence.
Boom!
A Killer King was blasted apart, exploding in midair.
A figure walked forward at an unhurried pace. It was "Wushi." It was Feng Jiu.
"The Killing Saints have all left."
Feng Jiu spoke leisurely. "Let me see the secrets of the Assassin Heavenly Court..."