Chapter 1661: The Source of the Ominous Power

Beyond the heavens lay an endless crimson ocean. With every spray of its waves, vast broken worlds shattered into pieces. This terrifying Sacrificial Sea, known as the place where Immortal Emperors offer sacrifices, surged with crimson waves reaching the heavens.

Even the heavens appeared as an isolated island before it. Its waves crashed against the sky, churning and erasing countless past and present timelines. These were the innumerable universes destroyed long ago; each wave was once a brilliant, vibrant grand world, now transformed into the mists of history—incomplete, shattered, and devoid of life—forming this crimson Sacrificial Sea.

It was vast and boundless; even Immortal Emperors could easily get lost within it. They required clear coordinates, lest they fall into unnamed places where time was disordered, or into realms of utter desolation.

Deep within the crimson ocean stood a grand, towering altar, perfectly silent. The surrounding waves had stilled and calmed, unable to touch it.

The powerhouses of the ominous race, regarded as supreme beings by all worlds—the only three remaining beings at the peak of their path—all wore solemn expressions, filled with awe, as they prayed and offered sacrifices before the altar.

Countless blood-red lights flowed into the altar.

Fallen enemies, formidable adversaries, and others served as excellent offerings. With their remaining blood and brilliance, they were sacrificed upon this ancient altar.

If any outsider were to witness this, they would surely tremble with fear, for three Immortal Emperors had actually knelt down and kowtowed before the altar.

The Grand Sacrifice!

For the ominous race, this was the most sacred of rituals, allowing for no mistakes.

In this era, Huang, Ye, the Empress, and others had all fallen in battle. There were no Emperors left in the world, Dao Ancestors had turned to ash, and Immortal Kings had all perished. All powerhouses across all worlds were dead, their lingering might flowing, making them the best offerings.

The four living Ancestors were extremely cautious, lying dormant in their ancestral land to recuperate and restore their origins. However, the Grand Sacrifice could not be jeopardized, so they ordered the three Immortal Emperors to meticulously oversee it.

Throughout the long river of history, some had questioned the origin of the ominous power, the truth behind the Grand Sacrifice, and the essence of the ominousness. Yet, no one had ever been able to explore it to its end.

Even the beings at the peak of their path in the Calamity Land merely acted on orders, not knowing for whom they were truly sacrificing.

In fact, for a very long time, Immortal Emperors were unaware of the ultimate meaning of this ritual. Only in recent times did they begin to grasp it, realizing that there truly seemed to be such a being!

Long ago, some Immortal Emperors even believed this was merely a symbolic ritual, not even a sacrifice to a specific being.

Now, in this epoch, a few words from the Ancestors revealed part of the truth: the source of their power seemed to point directly to an existence that had once left its mark in the world!

This horrified the Immortal Emperors, filling even supreme beings with deep dread. For whom was this Grand Sacrifice? There was actually a corresponding being!

However, that being seemed to no longer exist; it had passed away, vanishing into dust under the long sky of history.

The Ancestors, seeking greater power, continuously offered sacrifices. They hoped that the slightest traces left by that individual in the infinite universes might manifest, or even a wisp of their consciousness might revive, to grant them enlightenment and help them ascend to a higher realm.

This made the Immortal Emperors' scalps tingle. How could such a monster exist in this world?

The origin of the ominous power, the genesis of ominous beings—all pointed to a single being?

However, what had dissipated could ultimately not return, and what had been utterly erased could never be revived. This somewhat put their minds at ease.

After the Grand Sacrifice, the three continuously retreated until they were very far away. Standing on the crimson Sacrificial Sea, one Immortal Emperor then cautiously spoke, "Where did this altar come from? Why do I feel it's older than our ancestral land, older even than the Ancestors themselves? It gives me a sense of infinite historical vicissitude and profundity."

The other two peak beings shook their heads, remaining silent. They did not wish to linger in this place for too long, and the three quickly departed.

Only after they had gone extremely far did they seem to hear a faint, almost inaudible sigh, seeming real yet illusory, resonating from deep within the crimson Sacrificial Sea.

The three supreme beings suddenly turned, staring back in the direction they had come from. On the dark altar, vaguely... a blurry figure seemed to turn its head. Was it gazing back at the path of the past, or was it rising to recall something?!

In an instant, the three peak-level powerhouses felt their scalps explode. There truly was... such a monster?!

However, that blurry figure disintegrated in an instant. All traces vanished as it crumbled from existence, unable to remain, everything returning to nothingness.

"Did you... see that?" "Was that the being whose slightest trace the Ancestors longed to revive and manifest? He wasn't merely imagined; he actually existed?!"

"Such a grand sacrifice, yet it only allowed him to vaguely manifest for an instant," another commented. "If the Ancestors knew, they would surely rush here in a frenzy. But they ultimately missed it. Who exactly was he, and what was his identity?"

Even the three Immortal Emperors trembled, feeling intense unease. In their view, the Ancestors were already the ultimate beings, beyond infinite universes, the strongest across all past, present, and future timelines, with no higher realm to ascend to. Yet now, after countless epochs of grand sacrifices, a blurry figure had finally briefly manifested on the altar, revealing a terrifying truth that made even peak-level beings fearful.

"What's dead is dead. Let's go!" one Immortal Emperor said, unwilling to stay any longer.

"The master of the Three-Life Bronze Coffin!" It was only much later, after they had completely left the Immortal Emperor's sacrificial ground, that the one among the three peak-level beings who had lived the longest spoke with a solemn expression.

Only he had heard fragmented whispers, and now he revealed those limited secrets.

"What?"

"Huang's bronze coffin, Ye's bronze sarcophagus, actually... once belonged to one person."

"The three-layered coffin, the Three-Life Bronze Coffin, buried one person on the plateau. The Ancestors studied it for many years but gained nothing. Later, they allowed the coffin to drift away, hoping to observe if others would gain anything or if the bronze coffin showed any anomalies. However, they were disappointed."

"In that incredibly ancient era, the Ancestors had deduced the coffin's name: the Three-Life Bronze Coffin. They also had various conjectures, but after waiting for infinite ages, epoch after epoch, they gained nothing, and so they ceased to care."

"Now, it seems the Grand Sacrifice exists for the person buried in that bronze coffin. Does he have three lives, ending after the third, or might he reappear after the three lives? It's a terrifying mist; we cannot see clearly."

Suddenly, the terrifying aura of the Ancestors emerged. In the ancestral land, four ancient monsters, like malevolent spirits, opened their eyes and looked towards the three Immortal Emperors deep within the Sacrificial Sea. One of them spoke.

"He... appeared?!" The Ancestors were actually trembling.

The source of all their power originated from that being.

Back then, they rode the coffin into the plateau, replaced the bronze coffin, and buried themselves in the Calamity Land, thus forging their invincible Ancestor bodies. How could they not be wary and awed by that unknown existence? They desperately wanted to obtain everything about him!

Unfortunately, when they first entered the depths of the plateau and buried themselves beneath the earth, they immediately fell into slumber, remembering only these few things, their past having turned to ash. In fact, their true past selves had died that very day, corrupted by the ominous power, and the Ten Ancestors emerged only after their physical bodies became reanimated.

The truth was, their original selves had all died, replaced by newly born ominous true spirits inhabiting their already ominous physical bodies.

The source of all power, the origin of the ominous, all came from the pit where the bronze coffin was buried and the plateau.

"Do you know what the primordial substance is?" The Ancestors finally held back, not rushing out of the plateau, remaining in the Calamity Land to continue healing. But across countless universes and timelines, they still projected clear words into the minds of the three Immortal Emperors, filling them with even greater awe.

"It's very likely the ashes of the master of the Three-Life Bronze Coffin!" one Ancestor whispered.

A strong wind blew, tearing the sky. Crimson waves surged, as if billions of powerhouses were taking form, but ultimately shattered again, becoming mere spray. Fragmented grand worlds continuously came into being and perished, one after another.

The Sacrificial Sea was not peaceful. The Immortal Emperor's sacrificial ground was eerily sinister, slowly fading into obscurity.