The five Ancient Clans are five clans dating hundreds of thousands of years, predating the rise of the Flame Emperor and Martial Ancestor, thus appearing in the Great Thousand World before the stories of Battle Through The Heavens and Wu Dong Qian Kun. They are extremely powerful with at least one Saint-level Heavenly Sovereign, and an old power that even famous powerhouses, like the Xiao Yan and Lin Dong, are not willing to offend. The five Ancient clans are the Ancient Buddha Clan, the Ancient Maha Clan, the Ancient Spirit Clan, the Ancient Terminal Clan, and the Ancient Desolate Clan.
Each of them, except for the Ancient Maha Clan, possessed a Primal Celestial Body. Ancient Maha Clan only safeguarded the Primordial Immortal Body, but did not own it. They were given the mission by the Immortal Emperor to safeguard it until a worthy inheritor appeared, Although the Ancient Maha Clan had developed a Sovereign Celestial Body ranked eight (using their knowledge of the Immortal Golden Body that was passed down by the Immortal Emperor), it was weaker than that of Primal Celestial Bodies which were the top 5 most powerful Sovereign Celestial Bodies. They got greedy over the Primordial Immortal Body and wanted to monopolize it. Over the years, they plotted against many Immortal Golden Body cultivators in the shadows, to prevent them from entering the Primordial Immortal Pagoda where the Immortal Emperor placed the Primordial Immortal Body to recuperate after he used almost all of its power sealing the Heavenly Evil Monarch.