"Leon, I didn't expect your senses to be so sharp. I can't sense any apprehension, but anyone above the level of full-shifter seemed to be able to sense it. The reason is that we've gotten close to the head of the Sacred Lion Beast. Leon, do you know what a sacred beast is?"

"What is a sacred beast?

Upon hearing the Princess Royal's question, Merlin was slightly taken aback. He had heard of sacred beasts before. According to legends, during ancient times, the sacred beasts were the most superior of all the almighty beasts. They were the most powerful almighty beasts.

However, Merlin had never considered in length as to what a sacred beast was.

"Lisa, do you know what a sacred beast is?" Merlin calmed the apprehension in his heart and asked softly.

"Of course I know what a sacred beast is. Many people only know that, in the ancient Almighty Beast World, there were countless numbers of almighty beasts all over the world. They were the absolute overlords of this world. However, how many people know of a time before the ancient almighty beasts existed? Actually, before the era of the ancient almighty beasts, this world was a desolate and barren place. There were only a small handful of almighty beasts. They were born naturally and carried the will of the world. They were greatly treasured by the entire world. These almighty beasts were the sacred beasts!"

"Later, perhaps the sacred beasts felt that the world was too desolate, or perhaps due to in-fighting, fresh blood dripped into the ground. As they were sacred beasts, every drop of blood contained unimaginable magical properties. Consequently, some powerful almighty beasts were born from these droplets of blood. These almighty beasts were the descendants of the sacred beasts. They had a portion of the sacred beast's powers, but still far less than the sacred beasts. This marked the origins of the ancient almighty beasts!"

"It can be said that all the almighty beasts that came after the ancient almighty beasts are descendants of the sacred beast. Therefore, when they faced the sacred beasts, they will naturally feel the suppression of their bloodlines. Your Blood-eye Dragon must be very subdued now, right? This is the power of the Sacred Lion Beast's head. Even though it has died millions of years ago, the aura it exudes is incomparable to any almighty beast."

After listening to the Princess Royal's explanation, Merlin took a look at the Blood-eye Dragon's will inside his Awareness. True enough, the Blood-eye Dragon had curled into a ball and dared not move, seemingly sensing a fearsome existence. Its entire body trembled in fear.

Was this the same arrogant, bad-tempered Blood-eye Dragon he knew before?

"Carried the will of the world… Sacred beasts, I hope you don't let me down!"

A thrill flashed across Merlin's eyes. Previously, he had speculated that the sacred beasts were the manifestations of the Almighty Beast World's will. Now, it seemed like his speculation was correct.

"Leon, relax. Although the Sacred Lion Beast's head contains infinite authority, it is already dead. As long as you don't try to resist, it won't affect you."

Merlin nodded and followed after the Princess Royal once again. They continued to move forward. The nearer they got to it, the stronger the aura became. However, as the Princess Royal explained, as long as Merlin did not resist it, the aura only made him feel apprehensive. It could not cause him any harm.

After some time, Merlin and the Princess Royal arrived at a slightly dilapidated palace. The Princess Royal took out an identity nameplate and placed it inside a groove on a table. Then using her fingernail, she gently slit her finger. A drop of blood immediately trickled onto the nameplate.

"Hum."

Suddenly, the entire dilapidated palace changed. From the table, a large pitch-black hole appeared.

"This… Space-time transmission?"

Merlin was completely stunned. Space-time transmission was considered common in the Void Zone but in the Almighty Beast World, space was impenetrably solid. Achieving space-time transmission would require unimaginable power.

"Yes, it's space-time transmission! Back then, the royal family ancestors spent constant effort to set-up this space-time transmission portal. The Sacred Lion Beast is in a completely sealed location, so it is only possible to enter via this space-time transmission portal. In addition, in order to activate the space-time transmission portal, one must possess the royal family nameplate, as well as the bloodline of a descendant of the royal family. Those with weakened bloodlines are unable to activate the space-time transmission, only a descendant of sufficiently viscous royal blood can activate it."

"Therefore, those who covet the royal family's Sacred Lion Beast are simply wasting their energy. How can they possibly find the location of the Sacred Lion Beast?"

Merlin looked at this pitch-black space-time portal and acknowledged in his heart, this was indeed an extravagant effort. However, he immediately thought of a problem.

"If someone were to destroy this space-time transmission, then would it mean that even the royal family won't be able to enter the place where the Sacred Lion Beast is?"

"Yes, in theory, that is so. However, the space-time transmission portal was set-up by the ancestors of our royal family. If it could be destroyed so easily, it wouldn't have existed for so many years. Let's go, don't delay any further. This space-time portal cannot exist for a long time."

With that, the Princess Royal picked up her nameplate and led Merlin into the space-time portal.

"Whiz".

As their two figures gradually disappeared, the pitch-black portal gradually shrunk. Finally, it was completely restored, as though nothing had happened inside this dilapidated palace.

…

Inside the dark space-time portal, a powerful squeezing sensation was tearing at Merlin's body. Nonetheless, how strong was his body at this time? This bit of tearing was still manageable.

Even the Princess Royal, a Fourth-form shifter, was capable of withstanding it.

Actually, the Princess Royal's abilities were not subpar and could even be considered powerful. Due to her top-tier bloodline, a Fourth-form shifter was already comparable to full-shifters from the low-tier almighty beast bloodlines. However, she was a high-ranking Princess Royal of the royal family, so she never had to use her abilities. If even the Princess Royal was forced to show her hand, the royal family must truly be at the verge of life and death.

Of course, in Merlin's eyes, the Princess Royal was still considered very 'weak.' Although a Fourth-form shifter and a full-shifter were only one level apart, this level constituted a world of difference with a significant gap.

In reality, the transmission only took a short time and was almost instantaneous. However, it felt like a very long time inside the transmission portal. Finally, Merlin saw a flicker of light at the end of the darkness.

"Swish".

Finally, Merlin and the Princess Royal's figures were transmitted to a dull stone palace. Every corner was filled with a suppressive aura, and the space-time transmission portal had disappeared.

"There is no one here?"

Merlin sensed his surroundings and found that inside this dull stone palace, there was no one. From the beginning of the transmission portal all the way to this place, there seemed to be no guards. This exceeded Merlin's expectations.

"Guards? Of course we have them. Look closely at those stone walls," the Princess Royal said with a smile.

"Stone walls?"

Merlin looked closely and discovered that there were stone statues in front of the stone walls. However, what use could these statues be?

"Hehe, these statues are real living creatures who were petrified by the royal ancestors using their Supreme Talent. If there was an intruder, they will immediately awaken. In addition, the abilities of these stone statues are quite formidable. Almost every statue is high-tier almighty beast bloodline full-shifter and strong contender."

"What? All of them are high-tier almighty beast bloodline full-shifters?"

Merlin was slightly skeptical. After all, high-tier almighty beast bloodlines were so rare, how could there be so many high-tier almighty beast bloodlines in this place, and all of them achieved the level of full-shifter?

When he approached these stone statues, they began to vibrate violently. The two stone status closest to Merlin vibrated swiftly, shaking off the dust on their bodies. Then, layers of emerald beam encapsulated the stone statues. Following that, Merlin discovered that two enormous auras were quickly awakening.

These stone statues were real living creatures. The two stone statues quickly awakened and transformed into two burly men. Upon seeing Merlin, the two men did not hesitate to full-shift.

"Boom."

The terrible almighty beast bodies appeared before Merlin. It was an incredibly patterned giant tiger with a pair of wings on its back.

"Sky-tiger King? This is a powerful high-tier almighty beast!"

Merlin was shocked. He was very knowledgeable, so as soon as he saw the almighty beast, he knew that it was an ancient high-tier almighty beast that was recorded in the books.

Soon, the other man also wielded his full-shift form. He shifted into a black python, and on its head was a flame that appeared to be burning. It looked quite bizarre.

"Flame Python? This is also a high-tier almighty beast!"

At that moment, Merlin fully believed the Princess Royal's words. Every stone statue placed here was of a high-tier almighty beast bloodline, and have achieved full-shift.

They might be slightly inferior to Merlin's Blood-eye Dragon, but still undeniably ancient high-tier almighty beasts!

Just as Merlin was about to full-shift, the Princess Royal shook her head. She gently walked up to the two almighty beasts, and two drops of fresh blood dripped from her finger. Instantly, the two almighty beasts let out a low growl and weakened rapidly. Then, they resumed their original positions and turned into two lifeless stone statues.

"All of these stone statues are controlled by our ancestor's Supreme Talent. They will guard this place forever. Only the bloodline of the royal family's descendants can restore them into stone statues," the Princess Royal said calmly.

Merlin glanced at the stone statues. There were at least twenty-five status, which meant that there were at least twenty-five fearsome existences consisting of high-tier almighty beast full shifters. If this force was brought outside, the royal family could easily conquer the Holy Dragon Empire.

This was considered one of the hidden weapons of the royal family. The foundation which the royal family had accumulated over thousands of years was truly extraordinary.

The Princess Royal seemed to see through Merlin's thoughts and shook her head helplessly. "Unfortunately, we can't bring any of the stone statues in here outside. They cannot pass through the space-time portal. Back then, our ancestors must have laid some restrictions. Thus, the stone statues can only remain in this place and guard the head of the Sacred Lion Beast forever."

It turned out that the stone statues could not be brought outside. Otherwise, they would have been a truly fearsome force to reckon with!

"Follow me!"

The Princess Royal led Merlin forward. Every time they got close to a stone statue, she would drip a drop of fresh blood. Fortunately, the Princess Royal had the bloodline of a top-tier almighty beast, so her blood-qi was very rich. Otherwise, merely controlling these stone statues would have depleted most of her energy.

This dull and suppressive stone palace was very large. The walls around them were formed using thick stone slabs, which were almost completely impenetrable. At the same time, Merlin sensed that this place felt like it was underground. Besides the space-time portal, there was no other way to enter or leave this place. This stone palace was completely sealed.

After walking with the Princess Royal for a while, the sense of apprehension in Merlin's heart increased several folds.

"Almost there?"

Merlin's heart prickled cautiously. The legendary sacred beast represented the will of the Almighty Beast World. Although it was dead, Merlin must still exercise extreme caution.

Perhaps others might not be too concerned with the will of a world, but Merlin was not from this world. The Illusory World which resided inside his body, along with its natural order were considered the 'greatest enemy' of any Latitude Cosmos. Once exposed or discovered, the consequences were unimaginable. At this moment, Merlin did not have the ability to defy the will of a Latitude Cosmos, like what he did to the Void Zone, no matter how much weaker this Latitude Cosmos was.

Therefore, Merlin had to meticulously cover up the aura of the Illusory World and hide it in the deepest part of his body.

"Well, Leon, take a look, this is the head of the Sacred Lion Beast!"

Finally, the Princess Royal led Merlin to a spacious hall. Merlin looked up. The hall was approximately the size of five or six football fields combined. It was difficult to imagine that such a spacious hall could be built underground.

However, the true wow factor for Merlin was not the spacious hall, but the incredibly immense head which was almost as large as a mountain top. The everlasting head radiated a golden glow and exuded an overwhelming aura. Merlin felt his heartbeat quicken.

"The head of the Sacred Lion Beast?"

Merlin finally saw the head of the Sacred Lion Beast. The entire head was golden in color. There was an inexplicable sense of timelessness, as though even after millions of years, this Sacred Lion Beast's head will continue to exist.

"The will of the world?"

While Merlin was reeling from shock, he was also silently sensing the aura emitted by the head of the Sacred Lion Beast. However, he did not find any aura of the will of the world, which had been his greatest worry.

Perhaps, in the past, the Sacred Lion Beast indeed represented the will of the Almighty Beast World. However, following its demise, the will of the world disappeared.

"How did such a powerful sacred beast die? What kind of power could kill a sacred beast?"

Merlin walked around the huge head of the sacred beast. He could see that the Sacred Lion Beast's head had been cut down by an immense force. The incision had been cut through cleanly.

Perhaps, due to this reason, the Sacred Lion Beast's head could be preserved intact.

"Wait, what about the blood inside the Sacred Lions Beast's head?"

Merlin suddenly discovered an irregularity. Inside this enormous Sacred Lion Beast's head, there was not a single drop of blood!