# Chapter 2: The Wheel of Reincarnation Turns
The Reincarnation Pool had existed since the beginning of time, a vast silver ocean where souls were cleansed of their past lives before being reborn. Its waters had always been peaceful, processing the endless stream of souls with gentle efficiency.
Until now.
The pool churned and boiled as energies beyond its comprehension crashed into its sacred depths. The ancient consciousness that governed the reincarnation process recoiled in shock.
"This one burns too bright," it whispered to itself. "It carries too much. I cannot cleanse what refuses to be cleansed."
The essence that had been Riven Aurelius sank past layers of ordinary souls, past the gentle currents meant for normal reincarnations. It plunged to the very bottom of the pool, where only the most extraordinary souls were processed—those destined for lives of either magnificent greatness or terrible suffering.
Usually both.
"So be it," the pool's consciousness decided. "Let the mortal realms deal with what heaven cannot contain."
Reality rippled as the essence touched the deepest point, causing the silver ocean to pulse with life, absorbing all the nearby souls before entering the wheel of reincarnation.
Somewhere in the eastern Constellation Continent, in a small but prosperous empire, a child was being born. A child who would grow up beloved by his parents, trained in the finest arts, given every advantage their love could provide.
A child who would, in exactly ten years, lose absolutely everything.
As the wheel of fate began to turn, seven fragments of a shattered sword felt the soul force of their former master's rebirth across impossible distances. They began to emit divine pulses, drawn by forces that made even gods nervous, toward a convergence that would shake the foundations of heaven and earth.
In his fortress of shadow and starlight, the Void Emperor paused in his meditation, ice running through his eternal form. That laugh—he had heard it before, but it couldn't be possible. Even Riven Aurelius couldn't have planned this far ahead. Or could it be that the chess piece had finally found a way to fly out of the chess board?
Had he?
Narrowing his eyes into slits, the Void Emperor looked down at the Immortal realm, his vision seeming to cut through time and space and even dimensional barriers. He was looking at a newly ascended Immortal. It had been over a million years since Riven died, and in this million years he had searched basically the whole of heaven but still couldn't find anyone with Riven's talent or even a trace of the celestial slaying sword. But all was not lost because he had still been able to find ten heaven prodigies with natural talent. Since then he had kept an eye on them, watching them, but it took him over nine hundred thousand years to find the first six and just ten thousand years ago he found the last four. Two of them had just ascended to the Immortal Realm—one over a century ago and the other a few days ago.
The preparations began immediately. If his greatest enemy had truly found a way to cheat death itself, then their war was far from over, and perhaps they wouldn't have to wait for a long time. And who knew? This time Riven might be under their absolute control. Their plan had not been compromised—it was only beginning anew.
In the golden halls of a distant empire, a baby's cry echoed with the faint echo of divine ambition and the promise of either ultimate triumph or complete destruction.
The Supreme Sovereign had returned to the world after a million years.
He just didn't know it yet.