The patriarch of Wanchu — a supreme figure of his generation — had actually perished within the Ten-Thousand Dragon Lair. A violet Primordial being had peeled open his skull, and his brain matter spilled down. His upper body, streaked red and white, collapsed to the ground.
This was no ordinary powerful figure — he was one of the masters of the Eastern Wastelands in this age. He stood in a class that the ordinary Great Capabilities could not even begin to approach. No one in the mortal world could stand shoulder to shoulder with him — yet he had been killed.
This was no less than a great earthquake. The impact was enormous. Everyone was stunned to the core. Their very bones went cold. The Ten-Thousand Dragon Lair was too savage — even a patriarch had begun to fall!
“Roar…”
From deep within the ancient caves, Primordial beings howled and screamed. Several of them, nearly divine, were surrounded by halos of light, leading the ancient sacred creatures as they pressed in upon the powerful lords from all sides.
In the distance, the Black Emperor shrank its neck, its eyes flickering as it said: “Damn it — too savage. Even a supreme patriarch’s head has been torn off.”
“You know well enough — now hurry up and get us out of here!” Ye Fan grabbed it by its bald tail, nearly hoisting it upside down.
“When this Emperor handles things, you can have peace of mind. No one in this world treasures their life more than I do!” the Great Black Dog said, baring its teeth, and wrenched itself free.
Then a flash of light blazed, and a mysterious web of veins and patterns materialized around them — precisely the fragment of the array diagram left behind by the Void Emperor.
“We can cross the void at any moment,” the Great Black Dog transmitted, yet it had also grown considerably more cautious — even somewhat unsettled. After all, a supreme patriarch had been killed. Before long, the Eastern Wastelands would be shaken to its foundations!
“Flash!”
A clear light shifted. They vanished from where they had been standing, reappearing in a dragon cave not far away that had not yet been engulfed in the fighting.
“You truly want to go in?” Ye Fan grabbed a tuft of hair from the side of its head.
“Damn it, let go. This Emperor knows exactly what I’m doing! This is a genuine dragon lair. There could very well be things here that the world cannot even imagine. If we could obtain them, ascending to the heavens in a single step might not be out of the question.”
Without the dog needing to say a word, Ye Fan already understood what kind of place this was. According to the records of the Heavenly Source Tome, if a True Dragon had ever existed in this world, this would undoubtedly be its abandoned lair.
The Primordial beings were latecomers who had migrated in and fallen into slumber here. What truly lay within a True Dragon’s ancient lair was almost impossible to imagine — for a True Dragon was a being that stood alongside the immortals, spoken of only in legend.
“There are still powerful beings that have not yet awakened and emerged!” the Monkey reminded them.
“I know. For now, let us hide in this dragon cave and let them fight their life-and-death battle.” the Great Black Dog said.
By now they had drawn close to the heart of the Ten-Thousand Dragon Lair — resting in a cavern just nearby, quietly waiting for their opportunity.
A long howl rang out. A force as vast and boundless as the open ocean surged with overwhelming power. The human Great Capability Nangong Zheng’s strength and courage were world-shaking — with his bare hands, he slew five Primordial ancient creatures in succession.
Then he locked into a great battle with a violet ancient being that was nearly human in form — turning that entire area into a land of absolute destruction, which no other creature dared approach.
That was the same being which had destroyed the patriarch of Wanchu. Its entire body blazed with violet light, its scales dark and forbidding, a violet gold pagoda suspended above its head like a mountain as it bore down upon Nangong Zheng.
“Boom!”
A tremendous collision between the two — nothing could withstand it. The Ten-Thousand Dragon Lair had primordial patterns woven through it, indestructible for all eternity — yet the ancient caves nearby still crumbled and collapsed.
Several half-step Great Capabilities and a handful of Primordial ancient creatures were swept into the collapse. In an instant, they were reduced to pulp. They vanished in the blink of an eye.
“Clang!”
From Nangong Zheng’s brow flew a small tree — radiant with ten thousand beams of light, firing off strand after strand of primordial chaos sword energy that could cut through anything!
“Crack!”
The violet ancient being’s violet gold pagoda cracked open — it had failed to hold back that small tree, which pressed ever closer.
“Splat!”
Nangong Zheng opened his mouth and exhaled a breath of primordial vital essence. The small tree blazed even more brilliantly — heavy as a hundred million tons — as it pressed down from above, pinning this Primordial being beneath it.
“Roar…”
The violet-blazing Primordial being fought with everything it had to resist, yet still could not withstand the pressure of the small tree. Its entire body cracked and split, blood gushing forth.
Everyone was greatly astonished. Nangong Zheng’s dominance over the southern part of the Eastern Wastelands — his unrivaled and unchecked supremacy — was no empty claim.
“Splat!”
He exerted force with a single shake. The small tree — barely over a foot in height — shook violently, sending ten thousand sword beams cascading down. The nearly-human Primordial being shattered with a crack.
Bone fragments and shredded flesh scattered in every direction. The scene was savage — yet utterly stunning. The ancient creature that had destroyed the patriarch of Wanchu had been cut down by a human Great Capability.
“Nangong Zheng’s reputation is well-earned. He actually killed a Primordial being this powerful!”
“Even the patriarch of Wanchu was no match for that violet creature.”
People could only marvel in their hearts. There was no time for them to dwell on it. Every one of them was fighting for their lives, desperately trying to break out.
“There truly is a formidable one. This person is astonishingly powerful!” the Great Black Dog exclaimed in shock.
“He has seen the remains of the Ruthless One and walked out of the Ancient Bronze Immortal Hall alive. He is no ordinary person.” Ye Fan said simply, without further elaboration.
Ye Fan, the Black Emperor, and the Battle Saint Ape concealed themselves within the dragon cave, having by now entered deep into the vast ancient caverns of the Ten-Thousand Dragon Lair.
They waited. More Primordial beings that had awakened had not yet emerged — and whatever remained within was almost certainly of supreme power.
“Be ready. If they are humanoid in form, we flee immediately,” Ye Fan warned.
“Roar…”
Not far away, the battle had grown even more brutal.
That supremely dominant ancient creature — nearly human in form, bearing the tail of a crocodile and clothed in dense golden scales — had fought its battle against the Ji Clan patriarch to the point of white-hot intensity.
Its methods were ruthless and terrifying. In the course of the battle, it had consecutively killed nine Supreme Elders of various sacred grounds — and the Ji Clan patriarch was powerless to stop it.
“Shk!”
This golden Primordial being gained the upper hand. At a critical moment, it employed a secret technique and moved through the void, appearing directly before the patriarch of the Zifu Sacred Ground.
It endured a strike from the Ji Clan patriarch’s ancient mirror at its back — spitting out a stream of golden blood — and then coordinated with another Primordial being to launch a combined assault on the Zifu patriarch.
The Great Dao unfolded into a dense web of patterns that came pressing down like a tidal wave, turning the space around the Zifu patriarch into something eternal — locking him in place for just a brief moment.
The golden creature let out a great roar, charging forward in a single burst, unleashing a peerless killing force and spreading a boundless aura of terror.
“Splat!”
At the critical moment, the Zifu patriarch broke free — but it was a step too late. His left arm was seized and wrenched off alive. Blood gushed like a fountain.
A second patriarch had nearly been killed!
This was only a single scene among many. Elsewhere, other life-and-death battles were raging simultaneously. The Queen Mother of the West, the War King of the Southern Ridge, and the divine monk of the Western Desert were all locked in combat.
Their opponents were all ancient creatures nearly human in form — each one supremely powerful. All sides had been pushed to their limits. Ancient pagodas, divine war halberds, and radiant relics of ten thousand beams of holy light clashed in life-and-death duels.
Nearby, other masters of sect-patriarch caliber were also fighting with their blood and lives. Already several powerful lords had fallen, their bodies and spirits utterly destroyed — reduced to nothing but pools of blood and pus.
“Boom!”
A supreme killing energy spread through the air. Three Primordial beings emerged together from the Ten-Thousand Dragon Lair — each a step stronger than those nearly-human ancient beings that had come before.
Every heart sank. Three beings of such power materializing all at once — with the current balance already shifting in the wrong direction, the outlook could only be grim!
“Caw!”
At the critical moment, the Raven Daoist stepped forward to meet one of them. This ancient demon was of unrivaled power, having lived over three thousand years. In battle strength, he was beyond compare.
“Boom!”
A more terrifying battle was ignited. Both sides clashed with devastating force. Within the ancient cave, blood, flesh, and shattered bone flew through the air — a scene of absolute human carnage and terror.
“Go — our opportunity has arrived!” the Great Black Dog said in a low and urgent voice.
The fragment of the Void Emperor’s array pattern flowed with clear radiance. A flash of light, and they were transported deep into the interior of the Ten-Thousand Dragon Lair.
“Dead dog — we’re actually in here now!” Ye Fan knew there was nothing more to say. They could only move forward.
“If you do not enter the dragon’s den, how can you obtain immortal treasures?” the Great Black Dog said, its copper-bell eyes blazing with divine light.
“How is it that we weren’t sent several million li off course this time…” Ye Fan said, puzzled.
“You truly have so little faith in this Emperor. This is only a few li away — how could there be any deviation?!” the Great Black Dog said indignantly.
“Be careful. Once a Primordial King awakens, not one of us will escape alive!” the Monkey warned.
By now, Ye Fan had come to understand that among the Primordial Royal Clans, those who reached the pinnacle could ascend to the rank of Emperor — yet even throughout all the boundless ages of the Primordial Era, there had been only a handful.
But even so, once a member of the Primordial Royal Clan had grown to full power, they were at the very minimum comparable to an ancient sage of the human race — with some even reaching something akin to the Great Completion Sacred Body.
“This Emperor has sealed off all aura with the Void Emperor’s array pattern. Have no fear.” The Great Black Dog said so, yet even it had grown tense — even a little unnerved. After all, a supreme patriarch had been killed. Before long, the Eastern Wastelands would be rocked to its very foundations.
Deep within the Ten-Thousand Dragon Lair, the vital essence of life surged like the tide. Dragon qi rolled like a great river. In the deepest part, it was as though a dragon comparable to an immortal truly lay in slumber.
“That source block is enormous!” Even Ye Fan was stunned.
Not far away, a divine source block of four or five cubic meters blazed with a crimson red radiance — like raging fire burning within it. At its very core were a number of divine source crystals. Sealed within was a being that was virtually indistinguishable from a human.
“This one is not that clan’s King,” the Monkey judged. That clan had once produced a Primordial Emperor — a being of power that nothing could compare to!
The interior of the Ten-Thousand Dragon Lair was pitted and uneven, riddled with ancient caves, filled with the accumulated desolation of countless ages. Dragon qi surged like seas and oceans. Auspicious light rippled and flowed.
“A massive chunk of divine source!” The Great Black Dog’s black fur stood straight up all over its body.
Two li away, inside an ancient dragon-shaped cave, rested a divine source block three meters in length — its radiance piercingly brilliant. Sealed within it was a violet-haired middle-aged man in deep slumber. He was completely human in appearance.
No scales, no beast’s tail — nothing of that kind. He was powerfully built and striking in appearance, stirring an involuntary desire to kneel before him. Sealed within the divine source, sleeping here in silence.
This was a fully mature member of the Primordial Royal Clan — comparable to an ancient sage of the human race, perhaps even more terrifying. Even the Monkey was deeply unsettled.
The Great Black Dog’s fur prickled with unease as well. They were still two li away, and yet not one of them dared to advance another step. They gave the location a wide berth, carefully skirting around it.
“I want immortal treasures — not divine source…” it consoled itself, yet kept glancing back at that enormous block of divine source, again and again, unable to tear its eyes away.
Not long after, they saw another massive block of divine source. Sealed within was a young woman — utterly serene, as human as any young girl, with nothing to suggest she was a Primordial being.
Yet sensing carefully, one could detect a force within the girl’s body as vast and terrible as the ocean — lying dormant, waiting. Were it to erupt, heaven and earth alike would be destroyed.
“Damn it — another King. There are probably about as many as on Purple Mountain!” the Great Black Dog muttered.
They pressed straight ahead. Their destination was clear — making for the scarlet ancient coffin, where the immortality medicine had taken root, ten thousand currents of dragon qi coiling around it, the entire plant blazing with brilliance.
The ancient coffin drifted in place. One could not say how many ages had passed since it first came to rest here. Buried beneath blocks of divine source several cubic meters in volume, the ancient and primordial aura of the coffin still could not be concealed — carved all over with the marks of countless ages.
“I can’t bear it…”
The Great Black Dog was the first to reach its limit. That scarlet ancient coffin was too terrifying. Even with the protection of the Void Emperor’s fragment of the array pattern, the supreme killing intent still seeped through.
Whether the Black Emperor, Ye Fan, or the Monkey — all three of them had physical bodies that were among the rarest in the world. Yet at this moment, even they showed signs of beginning to crack.
The immortality medicine had taken root in the heap of divine source beside the coffin, like cast gold — less than a foot in height, ten thousand tiny dragons coiling around it, brilliant and dazzling beyond all description.