Battle of Quasi-Emperors

After the three ancestors had spoken, the ancestral shrine fell into a brief silence.

After a long while, the body-cultivating ancestor slowly rose to his feet. His frame was so imposing, and his eyes were full of resolve. Since responsibility for the Lineage had fallen on his shoulders once more, he would shoulder it alone!

"Rest assured. Everything our Lu Clan once lost, I will take back, one by one!"

That was the confidence of a Four-Tribulation Quasi-Emperor.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Central Province.

A black-robed middle-aged man slowly appeared on a desolate plain.

He gazed at the lifeless scenery beneath the dim sky, his face devoid of emotion.

Boom!

Suddenly, a vast cavern appeared out of thin air.

At the sight of it, excitement flickered across the black-robed man's previously expressionless face.

He hurried into the cavern.

"Master, are you preparing to emerge from seclusion?"

Feeling the chill in the depths of the cavern, the black-robed man asked softly.

The next moment, a raspy voice sounded from within the cavern.

"Have you found a method to extend my lifespan?"

Hearing this, the black-robed man hurriedly dropped to one knee. "Reporting to Master, Ancestor Danyang, who lived over eight hundred thousand years ago, has appeared again. Your disciple suspects he possesses a lifespan-extension method. Otherwise, how could a mere Saint King like him have lived until now?"

"Is that so? Then why haven't you acted?"

The black-robed man's expression changed slightly. "Please quell your anger, Master. The Lu Clan that Ancestor Danyang belongs to is extraordinarily powerful. Even with six Saint Kings joining forces, we couldn't win."

"Useless!"

A furious shout rang out from the depths of the cavern.

In an instant, the entire desolate plain trembled.

The black-robed man's face turned deathly pale, and crimson blood streamed from the corners of his mouth.

But soon, an illusory figure slowly appeared before him.

"Master, you...?"

Before he could finish, however, his vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

A short while later, outside the cavern.

The black-robed man appeared on the desolate plain once again.

But his demeanor had changed abruptly. His eyes were deep, like an abyss, and his cultivation had risen from Saint King to Quasi-Emperor.

"Unfortunately, my true body cannot come out, or the Heavenly Dao would sense me immediately. My lifespan is nearly exhausted, and my current strength is insufficient. I simply cannot break through the third heavenly tribulation."

"For now, I can only make use of this body. But even with the strength of a One-Tribulation Quasi-Emperor, it will be enough to capture Ancestor Danyang."

He muttered to himself.

In fact, the vast majority of Quasi-Emperors in this world faced the same problem.

With a heavenly tribulation looming, if they were not confident of surviving it, or simply could not survive it, they could only hide themselves to avoid being sensed by the Heavenly Dao.

That was also why Quasi-Emperor experts so rarely appeared in the world.

The Heavenly Dao's position was: show your face and get insta-killed.

"We, your descendants, pay our respects to Ancestor Dali!"

Inside the ancestral shrine.

The clan leader, Lu Qingshan, had led the Lineage's three great elders to pay their respects to the newly awakened ancestor.

Ancestor Dali was his title.

He had lived more than three million years ago. In that era, he had devoted himself to the Dao of Strength, breaking ten thousand techniques with sheer force and defeating countless renowned experts.

And now, he was even stronger than he had been back then.

"Thank you little fellows for your hard work all these years. Now that I've awakened, I'll naturally do everything I can to help the Lineage."

"I, your ancestor, have no other talents, but if there's anyone you don't like the look of, just tell me. Even if they flee to the ends of the earth, I'll pound them into meat paste."

Hearing Ancestor Dali's words, Lu Qingshan and the others did not find him excessively violent in the least. On the contrary, his every word filled them with a profound sense of security.

"Ancestor Dali, to tell you the truth, some time before you awakened, someone came knocking on our door to attack the Lineage."

"If not for Ancestor Xuanzhen's sect-protecting grand formation blocking their assault, the Lineage would surely have suffered heavy losses. Although they've retreated now, our clansmen still don't dare leave the sect, for fear that they'll take revenge from the shadows."

Lu Qingshan promptly explained the Lineage's current predicament.

After all, they were Saint King experts. If they wanted to target the Lu Clan from the shadows, it would be all too easy.

He couldn't very well keep the clansmen from going out, could he?

Sure enough, when Ancestor Dali heard that someone had come knocking on the Lineage's door, he could no longer restrain his fiery temper. "How dare they! Do they really think our Lu Clan is easy to bully?!"

Ancestor Tianyan hurriedly said, "Senior Dali, I'll divine their location."

Unless the others also cultivated the Dao of Divination, divining their location would be no trouble for Ancestor Tianyan. He hadn't done it before because, even if he had worked it out, there would have been no point.

But things were different now. With Ancestor Dali here, as long as they could find the others, if they got away, he was this ↓.

Meanwhile.

Another uninvited guest arrived in the sky above the Lu Clan.

"So this is the Lu Clan?"

"According to my disciple's memories, the Lu Clan seems far from simple. I'm afraid there's more to them than just three Saint Kings."

Since Ancestor Danyang, who had lived more than eight hundred thousand years ago, was still alive, it was equally possible that the Lu Clan's other ancestors were still alive too.

But so what?

The gap between a Saint King and a Quasi-Emperor was as vast as the distance between heaven and earth.

What he truly had to be wary of, then, was whether the Lu Clan might have a Quasi-Emperor expert.

And if they really did, would that expert risk being sensed by the Heavenly Dao to attack him?

After pondering for a moment, he ultimately walked toward the Lu Clan, step by step.

The desire to extend his lifespan had overcome everything else.

Besides, this body wasn't his. If his disciple died, he could simply take another.

Hummm-

A wave of pressure belonging to a Quasi-Emperor engulfed the entire Lu Clan like a torrential downpour.

In an instant, panic spread.

Countless clansmen were horrified.

Had someone come knocking on their door to attack again?

Inside the ancestral shrine, several ancestors looked up at the void beyond the sky at the same time.

"He actually dared to come back?"

"No, that's not right. That presence... he's a Quasi-Emperor!"

"How is that possible? How did he break through to Quasi-Emperor in such a short time?"

The three ancestors recognized the black-robed man, and every one of them found his Quasi-Emperor presence hard to believe.

Ancestor Dali, however, gave a cold smile.

"Wait a moment. I'll be right back."

Then, under their gazes, Ancestor Dali strode out of the ancestral shrine with an arrogant swagger.

"Ancestor Danyang, show yourself at once, or I'll begin a massacre!"

The black-robed man shouted his challenge from the void, unaware that danger was already approaching.

"A Quasi-Emperor! Heh, what a coincidence. A big shot from the Lu Clan just survived a heavenly tribulation, and now a Quasi-Emperor has come knocking. This should be a good show."

There were major powers keeping a constant watch on the Lu Clan.

They all grew excited at the sight of a Quasi-Emperor.

"Yes. It looks like a Quasi-Emperor-level battle is inevitable."

"I wonder whether the Lu Clan can make it through this crisis too, or whether this Quasi-Emperor will drag them down from their pedestal."

The world was abuzz with speculation.

The black-robed man in the void, however, remained on guard, watching to see whether a Quasi-Emperor-level existence would appear from the Lu Clan.