The war was over.
Taiyi and Feng Jiu, once the pillars that bore the heavens, had fallen. Their names were etched into the annals of history, spoken in reverence across every realm, desert, and sea. A day was set apart as a sacred holiday—The Day of Remembrance. On that day, countless beings gathered outside the sealed heavenly realm, offering tributes to the mighty Heavenly Emperor and the sole Empress of the myriad diversified world.
Though peace seemed to drape itself across creation, it was fragile, like a thin veil over a chasm. The heavenly realm remained sealed, its royal family annihilated, and the throne stood empty. With the external threat gone, the leaders of the realms turned back to daily struggles, carving dominion from the ashes.
The Fire Realm passed to Feng Xia, younger sister of Feng Jiu. The Flower Realm withdrew into seclusion, its gates shut tighter than ever. The survivors of the Celestial Dragon Race, once sovereigns of heaven, withdrew into the mists, vanishing to an isolated island in the East Sea. The ruler of the East Sea had perished in the war, and soon after, the sea itself collapsed into chaos as its protector fell.
Cowards who hid during the war crawled out from their holes, rising to power in the vacuum left behind. Others who survived grew stronger through blood and loss. The balance of power fractured, and unease lingered in every heart.
And yet, in the silence that followed devastation, something stirred.
---
The Chaotic Lotus
In a dark void beyond the ken of mortals, a twelve-petaled lotus drifted endlessly. For countless years, it floated alone, drinking from the chaos of creation. Nestled within its petals, a small, snake-like creature slumbered. Its scales shimmered faintly, and two tiny horns crowned its head—marking it as a dragon.
On this day, for the first time, the creature's eyes opened.
A ripple of power spread as the little dragon wriggled free, its body glowing with threads of chaos. It had no memories of birth, no knowledge of its parents. For it, the lotus itself was mother and father. The two wandered together through the void, devouring the endless chaotic aura.
Time held no meaning there. Years, centuries, perhaps millennia passed unseen. Until at last, the lotus pierced through the barriers of the sealed myriad world and descended.
It landed upon the East Sea, where the waters had long since fallen into ruin.
The young dragon remained upon the lotus, absorbing its essence, growing day by day. Until, at last, the inevitable came.
It swallowed the lotus whole.
In that moment, its body stretched, bones cracked, bloodline surged. A thunderous roar exploded from its throat, echoing across the entire East Sea. All creatures trembled and bowed instinctively, for before them stood not a beast, but a sovereign.
When the light dimmed, the dragon's form shifted into that of a young man. His features carried an uncanny resemblance to Taiyi, and the blood that flowed in his veins radiated the same supremacy.
The East Sea had found its new ruler.
On the day of his birth, auspicious signs lit the skies. The omen spread across the eight deserts and three seas, proclaiming to all that a new sovereign had risen.
---
Far away, in a hidden chamber deep within the Fire Realm, another miracle occurred.
A figure lay shrouded in silence, her breathing faint, her face pale as ash. She had been presumed dead for countless years. But on this day, her eyes fluttered open.
Feng Jiu.
Her heart beat once more, though her memories were scattered fragments. The war, Taiyi, even her daughter Tie Ling—gone, locked away in the depths of her soul. What remained was instinct and the ache of something missing.
She had finally fused the opposing bloodlines within her body, but in doing so, she had burned away all her cultivation. She awoke not as a supreme sovereign, but as a mortal woman. The verdict of heaven was clear: she would start again.
The Fire Realm elders concealed her rebirth, sending her into the lower realms, where mortals still walked beneath the dome that separated them from the immortal world.
---
The aftermath of the Dusk of Gods left scars that even time could not erase. The myriad diversified world, once countless realms and divisions, had collapsed into a single whole. Mortal and immortal lands were now separated only by the East Sea, while the dome that enclosed creation stood as the last reminder of the realms that once were.
Godhood itself had vanished from the path of cultivation. Since the war, no new god had been born. The path forward was cut off, leaving only the immortal way.
In this new order, the stages of the immortal path became the road to supremacy:
Minor Realms: Human Immortal → Earth Immortal → Heaven Immortal → Golden Immortal
Major Realms: Lower Immortal → Middle Immortal → High Immortal → Peak Immortal
This was the ladder upon which countless beings now struggled, dreaming of reaching heights that no longer touched the divine.
---
And there, amidst the chaos of the East Sea, the child of the lotus lived on.
Though he bore the body of a dragon, his face echoed Taiyi's. Born into turmoil once again, he knew no peace. From the day he could walk, he fought—scheming, enduring, clawing his way upward. The sea itself was a crucible, and he was its blade.
But unlike before, this life was different.
As he grew, fragments of memory returned—faces, battles, laughter, grief. And always, always, the vision of a woman clad in red, her beauty engraved into the marrow of his soul.
Though he had no grand ambitions, no desire to rule heavens or worlds, one vow crystallized within him:
"I will not repeat the mistakes of my past. This time, I will walk the path of emotions."
Even without memories, his heart yearned. He would find her, the woman of red. And for that, he needed strength, status, and power enough to defy fate once again.
He cultivated the Yin-Yang Scripture, painstakingly recreating it from memory, even adding new techniques and spells. He pushed his body to its limits, advancing to the peak of Heavenly Immortal before his true journey had even begun.
This was not the end.
It was the beginning of a new era.