The Heavenly Realm was endless.
Vast skies arched over continents that floated like jeweled islands in a sea of starlight. Rivers of glowing Dao flowed across the firmament, weaving through mountain ranges whose peaks pierced suns.
Immortal palaces glittered like constellations, suspended in the void, their golden spires catching the radiance of eternal stars.
Here, every breath was saturated with spiritual qi. A single drop of dew upon the petals of a celestial lotus could birth a mortal genius.
A single grain of soil from the holy mountains could nurture a sect for a thousand years. This was the Heavenly Realm—the dwelling of immortals, emperors, and beings whose slightest gesture could overturn worlds.
And like every coin has two sides, the heavenly realm was similar in that way, too.
Above the shining lands, a storm of heavenly decrees churned, blotting out the stars. Lightning the size of mountains lashed against a crumbling golden palace.
At the center of the storm stood a man drenched in blood. His once-imperial robes were shredded, his power deprived, and his anger surging with fierce intensity.
Xuanyuan Wudi, the Immortal Emperor.
He had once ruled the Middle Heavens with his strength, bending countless immortals to his will. His name had shaken the heavens and cowed the mortal worlds. But now, the heavens themselves had turned against him.
"You dare defy the Heavenly Dao?" a voice thundered from the firmament. It was not a single voice, but countless layered together, resounding through eternity.
"Your greed to seek the Heavenly Dao for yourself, when it is meant for everyone? For such blasphemy, you, sickening, vile creature, will suffer in the eternal void."
Listening to the thunderous sound, Xuanyuan Wudi laughed.
Then, a colossal spear of light pierced the world barrier of the middle heavens and struck down the entire divine palace.
Yet, his laughter shook the realm.
"Erase me? Foolish heavens!" His roar shook realms, his voice echoing across the layers of creation.
"You cannot erase the will of a true sovereign!"
Even as his body collapsed, his soul blazed with immortal fire. With trembling hands, he formed a seal older than the cosmos.
Runes surfaced across his flesh, twisting against the order of reincarnation; the world order screamed in anger.
His body shattered into fragments of light. Yet a wisp of golden-black essence streaked free, piercing the storm, diving through the layers of the Heavenly Realm.
From the Upper Heavens, past the Middle, past the Lower, through the veil of tribulation—into the Mortal World.
***
Far below the grandeur of the heavens, in a humble backwater village of the Mortal World, a boy swung a wooden sword against an old oak tree.
His movements were clumsy, his breath ragged, and his palms were covered with blisters.
Sweat drenched his thin frame, his ribs showing through his patched clothes.
Yet his eyes—dark, steady, unyielding—never faltered.
This was Ma Jin.
An orphan in the Qincheng Village located in the countryside of Zhongyuan, he survived there all alone. People came and left his village, and he was very much interested in the stories they brought.
He had heard the stories of cultivators who flew across the skies, who shattered mountains with a flick of their fingers, who ascended to the Heavenly Realm to pursue immortality.
And he wanted it all.
"If I can temper my body," he muttered, slamming his sword again, "then one day... I'll step onto the path of cultivation. One day, I'll reach the heavens."
His voice was quiet, but his heart burned with fire.
Unseen by mortal eyes, the wisp of Xuanyuan Wudi's soul streaked across the night sky like a falling star. It pierced through the clouds, dove into the clearing, and sank directly into Ma Jin's body.
The boy froze.
And then...
An inhuman scream escaped from his throat.
His vision darkened, and the world dissolved into a void.
...
Ma Jin stood trembling in an endless darkness.
Where am I?
No words escaped from his mouth, as there was no air to speak through. The darkness around him was unfamiliar and strange, causing him to shiver even when he didn't have a body.
Suddenly, before him, a colossal figure took shape—taller than mountains, robed in black embroidered with golden flames, eyes burning like suns of annihilation.
The void quaked with his presence.
"Mortal boy," the figure declared, voice echoing like thunder across eternity.
"Your fortune ends here. I am Xuanyuan Wudi, the Immortal Emperor. Consider it an honour, your feeble body shall serve as the vessel of my return."
At those words, Ma Jin's heart pounded.
This...this is unacceptable.
He tried to run away from the figure, and surprisingly, he could feel that a distance, a rift was forming between the two of them.
But...
It seemed his fate was unavoidable.
The emperor raised his hand. "Struggle is futile. Surrender, and perhaps a fragment of your soul may remain. Resist... and be devoured."
Golden-black soul energy surged forward, rushing to engulf Ma Jin.
He tried to evade the energy, but his invisible body couldn't move.
No...I don't want to die....
But then—something stirred.
Deep within Ma Jin's fragile soul, a light flickered. It was faint, almost imperceptible, but profound beyond measure, something strong and...odious.
The emperor froze.
His vast essence trembled in shock.
"What... is this?"
The light swelled, forming a whirlpool. Its pull was absolute, dragging at Xuanyuan Wudi's essence.
"No!" the emperor roared, summoning immortal runes, tearing at the void.
"This is impossible! A mortal soul cannot—"
The whirlpool surged, devouring him piece by piece. His screams split the void.
"I am Xuanyuan Wudi! I will not...be...consumed...!!"
But his words dissolved into nothing; the emperor's soul was swallowed whole, and then the void shattered.
Ma Jin collapsed onto the dirt, clutching his head. His mind burned as memories not his own flooded in—wars across immortal worlds, palaces in the Middle Heavens, the roar of rebellion against the heavens themselves.
It was too vast, too terrible, too overwhelming.