The vast and mysterious Kan Palace did not change in the slightest because of the conflict between Miao Tathagata and the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor.
The Kan Palace still appeared like the void of the Great Desolation—boundless and infinite.
Countless lifeless ruins from the Desolate Ancient Era floated, shimmered, and shifted like brilliant stars in the night sky, akin to the myriad realms of the Great Desolation.
As was widely known,
the emergence of the Desolate Ancient Black Hole determined the apocalyptic prophecies recorded in the Book of Fate.
Answers to many questions—whether the True Lord of Original Sin would be born, whether the Three Thousand Great Daos would be slaughtered, whether the present Heaven and Earth would be reborn—along with all the unknown secrets of eras like the Desolate Ancient, the Grand Antiquity, the Remote Antiquity, and the Ancient Times, would all come to light.
Especially with the appearance of the Nine Palaces of the Desolate Ancient Era, it signified that the fate determining the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth had truly begun.
The giants of the Great Desolation, the Thirty-Six Cave Heavens and Seventy-Two Blessed Lands, the Nine Heavens and Nine Abysses, the Guixu and Desolate Ruins, the forbidden lands and sacred grounds—all the experts from above and below who should have come had arrived, and even those who shouldn't have come had also arrived.
Some had entered the Qian Palace, some the Gen Palace, others the Zhen Palace, the Xun Palace, or the Li Palace.
Exactly how many experts had entered the Qian Palace, and who had entered the Gen Palace, no one knew.
Perhaps it was because the Nine Palaces of the Desolate Ancient Era were too mysterious, or perhaps because they were too dangerous, or maybe because too many experts had entered them—everyone was proceeding with extreme caution, none daring to act ostentatiously.
Miao Tathagata's arrival in the Kan Palace with such high-profile fanfare had truly drawn the attention of many experts within the Kan Palace, and possibly not just the Kan Palace; it might have also caught the notice of many experts in the other Nine Palaces of the Desolate Ancient Era.
First,
he was simply too high-profile.
Setting everything else aside, the mere fact that a Great Sun radiance illuminated the void of the Kan Palace was enough to attract everyone's attention.
Moreover, upon his descent, sutras filled the sky like falling snow, transforming into countless Buddhas paying homage to him, the sounds of chanting Buddhist scriptures permeating the void, especially that sacred Great Buddha that blotted out the sky—it was impossible for him to keep a low profile.
It must be known that the Kan Palace was devoid of life and shrouded in darkness. Miao Tathagata's appearance was like the rising sun after dawn, illuminating Heaven and Earth.
Under such circumstances, it was utterly impossible to ignore his presence.
Second,
Miao Tathagata's fame was too great, his strength too formidable. Ruling over the eight Buddhist sects, he was hailed as the Buddha Emperor of the Western Heaven, one of the veritable overlords of the Great Dao in the present Heaven and Earth.
In a sense, Miao Tathagata's very existence directly influenced the fate of the Great Dao of this Heaven and Earth.
Not because of his great fame and formidable strength, nor because he was an overlord of the Great Dao, but because many knew that Miao Tathagata had long coveted the position of the True Lord of Original Sin.
In other words, Miao Tathagata had always wanted to become that True Lord of Original Sin recorded in the Book of Fate, to slaughter the Three Thousand Great Daos, cause Heaven and Earth to be reborn, and become the absolute overlord who would usher in the Era of No Dao!
It was no exaggeration to say that even if Miao Tathagata appeared without the Great Sun's radiance, without the countless Buddhas paying homage, without the chanting of Buddhist scriptures, without the sacred golden Buddha blotting out the sky, his mere appearance, no matter how low-key, would attract the attention of certain experts.
Right now, within the Kan Palace, many experts were watching from afar.
Some lurked in hiding, secretly spying; others hid within the various Desolate Ancient ruins.
At this very moment, within one such Desolate Ancient ruin, stood a group of four.
One was an old man with white hair and beard, who appeared kind and benevolent.
One was an old woman leaning on a cane.
And there was a middle-aged man whose face was filled with murderous aura.
Strangely, the one standing at the very front was a young man with a face like fine jade, dressed in brocade robes and jade garments.
Though called a young man, whether it was his graceful figure or his exquisitely beautiful, peerless features that looked like a painting, he resembled a beautiful woman dressed in men's clothing.
This woman was currently looking up, eating a bright red spirit fruit while gazing at the distant void, as if watching a spectacle.
She glanced now at the Great Sun illuminating the Kan Palace, now at the sacred Great Buddha blotting out the sky, and at Miao Tathagata sitting cross-legged on the Buddha's palm. Looking at the countless Buddhas paying homage to Miao Tathagata, the woman curled her lips disdainfully, muttering something under her breath as if she found Miao Tathagata quite distasteful.
Then, she looked at the Four-Faced Skull Heads that almost blotted out half the sky from the twelve directions, and at the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor standing atop the skull heads—though battered and bruised, he remained utterly arrogant. She laughed and said, "What's this guy's name again?
Heavenly Dragon...
Heavenly Dragon True Emperor!
Right!
This so-called Heavenly Dragon True Emperor looks quite impressive! To be able to fight Miao Tathagata for so long with just a single avatar is no simple feat!
Truly remarkable!"
The old woman leaning on her cane also looked into the distant void and replied, "The young miss is correct. The Heavenly Dragon True Emperor is indeed no simple figure."
"Grandmother, do you know what this thing the so-called Heavenly Dragon True Emperor summoned is?
It looks quite frightening."
"That is the Four-Faced Skull Hell Guest."
"Four-Faced Skull Hell Guest?"
The woman's willow-leaf eyebrows furrowed slightly. Clearly, she had never heard of any Four-Faced Skull Hell Guest.
"It is a kind of Creation."
"There's such a Creation?"
The old woman explained, "The Four-Faced Skull Hell Guest is called a Creation, but it isn't entirely one. It's more like an undying, indestructible Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts."
"This Four-Faced Skull Hell Guest is also an undying, indestructible Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts?"
"Yes."
"Alright then."
The woman shook her head slightly, feeling rather surprised.
She might not have heard of the Four-Faced Skull Hell Guest, but she was very clear about the term 'undying, indestructible Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts'.
She knew that undying, indestructible Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts were all transformed from overlords who had dominated Heaven and Earth throughout the ages.
Since ancient times, the number of overlords who dominated Heaven and Earth was not particularly large, but it was certainly not small either. Especially during the Desolate Ancient Era—an era of Great Dao contention and fierce rivalry among heroes—countless overlords who dominated Heaven and Earth were born.
Yet almost all of these overlords vanished with the end of the Desolate Ancient Era.
Yes.
Vanished.
Actually,
rather than saying they vanished, it would be more accurate to say they died. It was said those overlords all perished in the Desolate Ancient Era, their physical bodies and even their souls turning to dust.
However,
it was only their physical bodies that turned to dust, only their souls that turned to dust.
After all, they were all overlords who had dominated Heaven and Earth. Even if their bodies and souls turned to dust, their Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts had long been cultivated to an undying, indestructible state.
These Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts might have lost their original selves, their egos, but they all inherited the spiritual will of those overlords, making them extremely powerful and terrifying.
It was said that after the Desolate Ancient Era ended, some of these Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts drifted into the Nine Abysses, some into Hell, and others into the endless Desolate Ruins beyond the heavens.
Like the Heavenly Dragon True Emperor's Four-Faced Skull Hell Guest, it was a Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts that had wandered in Hell. But which overlord who dominated Heaven and Earth this Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts belonged to in life, no one knew.
The only thing known was that without exception, all undying, indestructible Divine Sense and Demonic Thoughts were mysterious, powerful, terrifying, and dreadful existences.