The month leading up to the Myriad Realms Banquet was a period of unprecedented activity across the cosmos. While the great leaders of countless realms scrambled to prepare tribute, decipher the intentions of their mysterious host, and forge frantic, last-minute alliances, Ao Xian himself was undertaking the preparations with a calm, detached amusement.
Ao Xian now had to create a venue. With a single, creative thought, he reached into the chaotic void that separated the realms and carved out a new, stable reality. He forged a pocket dimension, a perfect, self-contained world whose only feature was a colossal, floating island of polished, white jade.
Upon this island, he erected the 'Myriad Realms Pavilion.' It was not built, but willed into existence. Its roof was a living constellation of captured light, and its pillars were carved from the fossilized bones of ancient, primordial beasts that had died before the current era. It was a structure of impossible grandeur, a neutral ground that belonged to no realm, governed by no law but his own.
At Long Jing's command, one million celestial soldiers materialized, their forms coalescing from pure light. They were beings of pure law and order, extensions of Ao Xian's will. Their purpose was not to guard his home, but to staff his new venue. With a silent, perfect synchronicity, they teleported to the Myriad Realms Pavilion, their presence a silent declaration to all who would arrive that this was a place of absolute order.
Ao Xian's maids traveled to the new pavilion to begin their work, each overseeing a different aspect of the preparations.
Hu Mei'er, the playful Celestial Fox, was in charge of the guest list and seating arrangements. She stood in the center of the vast, empty hall, a massive, shimmering celestial chart floating before her. "Oh, this is delightful!" she giggled to herself as she worked. "The Sect Master of the Heavenly Sword Sect has a blood feud with the Matriarch of the Nine Poisons School... I'll seat them next to each other. And the Demonic Emperor of the Ashen Devil Empire once tried to steal a concubine from the Great Khan of the Beast Rider Tribes... they can share a fruit platter." Her seating chart was not designed for comfort; it was a masterfully crafted web of old grudges and hidden rivalries, designed to create the maximum amount of tension.
Lian Xin, the Succubus Queen, was in charge of the "entertainment." She wove illusions from pure desire and fear that would drift through the banquet hall. For the righteous guests, she created visions of celestial maidens and divine beasts. For the demonic cultivators, she conjured phantoms of their deepest desires and most hated rivals, all designed to subtly probe their emotional weaknesses.
Feng Wu, the Divine Phoenix, was tasked with preparing the feast itself. The ingredients were all sourced from the celestial city and transported to the pavilion's kitchens. She selected fruits like Celestial Melons that contained the essence of a nebula, and Sun-Kissed Plums that held a sliver of a sun's warmth. The main course would be a roast Qilin, a divine beast raised in the celestial gardens, its meat so pure that a single bite could grant a century of cultivation. It was a feast so extravagant that a single crumb would be considered a supreme treasure in the lower realms.
Long Jing, the Primordial Dragon, was in charge of security. With the celestial soldiers already in place, her task was simple but absolute. She personally walked the perimeter of the jade island, her draconic will reinforcing the very laws of the pocket dimension. She laid down a single, unspoken rule that every guest would feel the moment they arrived: this was the domain of her Young Lord. Here, he was the only heaven, the only law. Any hostile intent, any attempt at violence, would not be punished; it would be instantly and absolutely erased.
As the preparations continued, the guests began their perilous journeys. The spatial coordinates provided in the invitations were not a simple location; they were a test, leading to a stable entryway Ao Xian had created in the chaotic void.
Sect Master Jian Wushuang of the Heavenly Sword Sect did not travel by ship or beast. He simply became a sword. His body dissolved into a single, impossibly sharp streak of silver light that cut through the chaotic void, his sword will a perfect, unyielding blade that parted the spatial storms before him. He traveled alone, his face a mask of grim determination.
The Demonic Emperor of the Ashen Devil Empire, however, traveled in style. His conveyance was a massive, mobile throne of bone and obsidian, carried on the backs of a dozen hulking, enslaved demons. The throne was surrounded by a shimmering shield of demonic energy, which sizzled and popped as it repelled the chaotic qi of the void. He sat upon his throne, his expression one of sullen arrogance, surrounded by a retinue of his most powerful demonic generals.
The leaders of the hidden factions, the Immortal Alliance and the Abyssal Court, traveled in secret. The Void Sovereign of the Abyssal Court simply opened a rift in the fabric of reality and stepped through. A representative of the Immortal Alliance, a woman in a white, featureless mask known only as the 'Oracle,' traveled by riding the very currents of fate, her form a shimmering, illusory mirage.
One by one, the most powerful beings from a thousand realms began to converge on a single, impossible destination.
In his celestial city, Ao Xian observed their progress, his expression calm and analytical.
"The guests are all so different, Young Lord," Hu Mei'er commented, having finished her seating chart of doom. "The righteous are grim, the demonic are arrogant, and the schemers are hidden. How will you manage them all?"
"By treating them all exactly the same," Ao Xian replied, a confident smile on his face. "Whether they are a righteous hero or a demonic tyrant, a hidden schemer or a noble king, in my house, they are all just guests. They will sit at my tables, eat my food, and play by my rules."
He stood up and looked towards a celestial mirror showing the grand, celestial gate that marked the entrance to the Myriad Realms Pavilion. The first of his guests were about to arrive. "The wolves are gathering," he said, his voice filled with a quiet, eager anticipation. "Let the banquet begin."