It was said that the multiverse had cycles. That it would wane and wither and die, only to be reborn once more from its cosmic corpse. It was said that the reality we now knew was only the stable ground between two extremes and that eventually even this world would fall and existence would be born anew.

Creation myths were prevalent within the larger multiverse. Many sects worshiped strong cultivators as gods, and that went even more so for God-Imperiums. But out of all of the beliefs that congregated throughout the multiverse, none were as strong as the worship of the Primordials.

The Primordials were the four beings that preceded the multiverse. They were those that had broken past the last cycle and pushed forward onto this one. They were Gods, and not in the metaphorical sense either, Gods with a capital G. Beings like them made people like me look like mortals and even their fellow God-Imperiums strived to equate to them in power and influence.

They were Tree, Beast, Insect, and Human. These were not the names of their species but rather the names of the Primordials themselves. It was us who were named after them, and they were the shout that the multiverse echoed. They had been there first before anything had been and they had shaped everything that came after.

It was why you could find reflections of them in any life-bearing universe, even one that was completely depleted of ambient qi. You would find plants, bugs, and animals anywhere, and humans would pop up alongside them. It was also why culture and languages were so similar to one another. It was said that the Primordials had initially shaped reality by merely existing at its highest level and that their strength made their qi echo into the very core of existence.

And though that was a very mythical interpretation of a behavior qi did naturally exhibit, it was somewhat true. The stronger you are the more impact you have on the multiverse. It was why you saw African, Asian, and European culture in every developed human society ever. The first few human God-Imperiums that came after the Primordials had been of varying cultures, and those cultures had also echoed throughout the multiverse guiding the rest of humanity to follow in their footsteps.

Nothing was a direct reflection of course, but it was a reflection nonetheless. Out of the first beast came phoenixes and dragons, and after that came a myriad of others and humans had also split into numerous groups of elves, dwarves, and neanderthals. The variety of insects and plants was outrageous, but since they reproduced at a much higher variety than humans or beasts, it made sense that they outnumbered us in species.

It was similar with culture and language with each civilization having a large amount of differences with one another but a surprising amount of similarities as well. Clothing, language, food, people, animals, bugs, and plants, all of it was influenced by the God-Imperiums, who were in turn influenced by the Primordials, and that was why they were Gods with a capital G.

Anyways that's beside the point.

The real star of the moment was me floating in my little pool of primordial qi. Well, I wasn’t floating in it, more wading in a space suit. You couldn’t touch primordial qi, otherwise, it would go rotten. It was called primordial because it was the stuff that everything else was made out of, the metaphysical base unit of the multiverse.

It was time, space, matter, laws, daos, souls, and everything in between. It was existence without information, unflavored and untouched. If everything in the universe was a differently flavored potato chip, then primordial qi would be Salt and Vinegar. Everything else had a quality to it, primordial qi didn’t, and that was why the stuff was so damn valuable. It could become anything and everything. It was infinitely versatile but because of that, it was infinitely rare.

One of the reasons the stuff was so hard to find was because finding it was a surefire way to ruin it. Primordial qi was meaningless, literally. No quality, no nature, just plain old stuff. And while that made it extremely valuable, it also made it extremely volatile. It desired meaning and if it came into contact with something that already had it, well, it would quickly adopt it as its own. And everything aside from primordial qi had some sort of nature to it, even touching it with your divine senses would ruin it immediately.

The only way to truly interact with the thing was to not touch it, which is a hard thing to explain. But if I had to explain it, I’d say it was like wearing a space suit made out of nothing to wade through a pool made out of something.

This whole process was heavy on the metaphysical side, but I had worked out a way to interact with primordial qi myself. It was a challenging complex mobile array, but the project was harder than anything in recent memory and forced me to grow new skills, so it was a win-win overall.

The goal had been to study primordial qi and all of its capabilities. Maybe even replicate it, if I could. But holy shit was this stuff weird. How do you study something without any meaning to it? I mean, it was a dumb endeavor, to begin with, but I was hoping for something. Some form of enlightenment or understanding, but it was hard to glean information from something uninformative.

I had thought, naively, that I could learn something from it at my current rank but that seemed to be my arrogance speaking instead of my common sense.

Then the question was, what do I do now?

I could sell this location. It’d go for a pretty penny at the right auction houses and I knew sixteenth ranks would pay me their right nut for this place. I’d seen one of them marry off their whole bloodline just for an unverified reservoir of primordial qi. They were crazy about this stuff, but I’d never known why.

But that idea was shot down pretty quickly. Every time one of these things was discovered, the discoverer would get the attention of the multiverse and every asshole from all corners of reality would know their name, and I couldn’t afford to have those types of eyes on me. Not with what I was planning.

I could use it, though it wouldn’t be of much use to me. I’d been spending the last few trillion years as time to gather all the materials I would need, so it would be a waste.

Maybe I should just blow it up?

The thought was a little ridiculous, but I’ve been feeling more ridiculous lately. Sure it’d be a waste, but there would probably be some insight in the action. I’d witnessed the recreation of countless universes in my time, but I’d never seen the initial spawning of one. That would be a strange experience, a direct look at the creation of everything.

I thought about it, my power flirting with the void that separated me from the primordial. Dane would have never done this. He would have tried to store the stuff or leave it until he needed it.

But then again, I wasn’t Dane.

There was an explosion, which I imagined would have been ear-shattering if not for the lack of time-space and matter for the sound to travel through. And with that, where there had been almost nothing, suddenly, there was everything. Primordial qi disappeared as it took on meaning and shape. It was an almost instantaneous reaction but with perception like mine, I watched it all unfold like a feature-length film.

The primordial qi divided, changing from one to two. The first division. There was no real nature to either chunk of qi, aside from the nature of opposites. Then each half divided once more and again, and again, and again, and again. Eventually, every bit of qi was as different as every other. From complete unity to complete division. From Yang to Yin.

I was familiar with this stuff. This was called chaos qi and it was infinitely more common than its primordial counterpart. While primordial qi was stuff without meaning, this was stuff with too much meaning. Every single ounce of qi here had a different law tied to it, a lot of them were nothing more than bits of remixed information, completely and totally useless, but some of the stuff was familiar.

There was gravity, nuclear fission, and some strange variation of electromagnetism. It was all a jumbled ball of chaos. Sure there was meaning here, but there was also a complete lack of order. If primordial qi was like an uncut puzzle board with no picture on it, then this chaos qi was a puzzle with infinite pieces that were taken from other puzzles. It was a mess.

Yin and Yang. Chaos and order. That was what birthed everything. Life, existence, laws, even people, were a mix of these things. Chaos was difference, changes, division, and order was unity, sameness, dullness. One without the other was entirely useless.

Existence, at least the useful kind of existence, couldn’t exist on one of those things alone. We needed consistency to keep the world together, some form of order. But too much order and we would all be reduced to one meaningless blob, primordial qi. It was as organized as anything could be, so similar that it lacked all meaning of its own. Because to have meaning, to have value, things needed to have contrast. It was like how blind people couldn’t imagine color, not because their brain couldn’t process light but because they had never seen a difference, black wasn’t a color for them because black was color, and that destroyed color itself.

But chaos was the same, too much and everything would crumble. Order was the leash that kept the world together and chaos was the thing that was meant to divide it. None of this was new to me, but still, this was different. There was something more here.

My body shuddered and my soul shook as all I had seen and witnessed flowed through me. Existence, reality, time, people, everything, was just and inbetween, even us so-called immortals. And in that moment, that small instance of eternity, I saw what all of those sixteenth ranks must have been searching for.

The pattern that was not a pattern, the rise and fall of everything.

The eventual decay and rot of eternity.

All of it unraveled itself before me, and I felt something I hadn't felt in a good long while.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Growth. I felt a tremor in my qi as I went up a realm and I broke through to the thirteenth realm.

********

1,000,000,000 years later

I was almost done, it had taken me so long but I was almost done. I couldn’t even remember when I started on this endeavor, but that happened with immortality, at some point you get so old alone that you forget to remember time itself, and it slips by an epoch or two when you’re not looking.

But this would be my last stop.

I looked, staring at the massive galaxy cluster. This was the Divine Beast Emporium, a large clan spanning throughout the multiverse, even having a presence in the lower realms.And this place here was their center of operation, the Divine Killaguan Seal. This whole universe was under their jurisdiction, and that was evident if you looked closely enough. Almost every planet here had life on it, and all the stars had at least twelve planets orbiting them constantly. Each planet sat in their own respective Goldilocks zone and hosted whatever lifeform had been deemed worthy on their backs.

There were portals everywhere, each hauling in new beings and hauling out old ones. This whole place was a collection of life. Beasts, humans, insects, or plants, they could all be found here, and you could buy them if you had the proper wealth. Of course, you could sell them here too. The criminal underworld here was the largest slave trade in the multiverse. All of it was approved and constantly monitored by the Divine Beast Emporium, though they would never admit to that publicly.

I looked at its center and saw the oblivion that was sealed there. It was Killaguan, an eldritch monstrosity at the level of a God Imperium. It was a malicious corruption of laws and orders that was so chaotic and convoluted that its mere ability to exist was considered a miracle. I looked away. Very few things could make people as old as me sick, and that thing was one of them. I’d been here before, anyone who had surpassed the ninth realm had made their way here at one time or another. Materials were needed and the Divine Beast Emporium was the best supplier in the universe. But I was disguised this time and I held back my cultivation level to the ninth stage, making sure not to stand out.

The giant galaxy cluster was a habitat, a sort of terrarium display case for any customers that might come and want to buy their wares. In it were countless planets, each of them harboring many different lifeforms and beasts, some of them naturally grown while others were selectively raised. It was the best place to buy and trade any form of life.

I made my way to a small golden light just at the edge of the cluster, approaching the planet with trepidation. The planet itself was huge, bigger than most stars in the universe and it had an infinitely diverse population. This universe was a peak realm, able to compare to the best clans and sects out there. If you wandered the realm below you’d find all types of people with all types of stories walking around. I stood out a little as an unaffiliated ninth-rank wandering into the planet, but that was okay. In a place like this, standing out just a bit was a perfect way to fit in.

I flew across the planet's atmosphere, my body being carried by my sword until I reached a large, continent-sized city. It was grand and indescribably beautiful, but I’d seen it all before at this point, and I didn’t care to see it again. I focused on keeping my head down and flew quickly.

The grandness of this place couldn’t be explained with words. There were castles and pagodas everywhere, each of them reaching wide into the sky and hosting an innumerable amount of people. Some restaurants served anything from dragons and phoenixes, some even served humans though those weren’t out in the open. One place sat upon the back of a tenth-rank celestial turtle. These were majestic beings, said to float through the space between universes, but here they were mere steeds of glory.

Though for all its glory, this place was a ticking time bomb. You could say the wrong thing, piss off the wrong person, hell you could even glance at a girl the wrong way and suddenly be thrown into a life-and-death fight for no reason. I wasn’t worried. I was far too old and too strong to be thrown into these petty displays of power, but caution was warranted.

Finally, I made my way to the center of the city district. There was a giant black and blue steeple at the center of it all. The building was taller than any mountain on the planet and extended deep into the sky, pushing past the clouds and condensing into a small sun. This was where the God Imperium lived.

I had to be careful here. I was strong but I was walking very close to the strongest now. If I pissed somebody off, I would be swatted out of existence by forces that I still couldn’t quite fathom.

I went to a smaller building. The building itself was still immense in size but it was much lower than the steeple.

“Honored master,” a soft voice spoke. “Allow me to serve you and fulfill your needs during this time.”

I looked to my left to see a beautiful girl bowing to my side. Her lips were cherry red and her skin had a golden tan to it that seemed to make her glow. A part of me, the part from Bill, was astonished at her beauty. No one he had known on Earth had ever come close to being this good, but Dane had seen better. Dane had seen women so entangled with the law of beauty and seduction, that a mere breath from them would be caught and sold as a drug that gave the highest pleasure.

I nodded and gave her a piece of jade.

She took it from my hands and sent her sensing into it to see the list I’d composed. Her face was calm, but I could see both stress and joy dancing in her eyes.

“All of this Honored Master?” She asked.

I nodded.

“The estimated cost-”

“Will not be a problem,” I cut her off.

“Of- of course, Honored Master. I was not implying that it would be, it is merely that the price should be known before the transaction. If my words have displeased you I can-”

“It’s fine,” I interrupted. “I am not insulted. Just go fetch me my wares.”

I almost added please at the end of that statement, but that would make me stand out even more. Politeness to those beneath you was taken as weakness in the cultivator world.

I understood the girl’s concern. The species and beasts that I wanted were quite rare and expensive, but the amount that I had asked for would make it so that my purchase would probably be the most expensive one they’ve had in a few months. It didn’t compare to their highest sales, but this sale would be an opportunity for the girl to get a promotion within the clan. Hopefully.

I could see people being greeted by all types of people when they flew in. One man was greeted by a large and beefy man that walked straight up to him and kissed him on the cheek. Another lady was greeted by a young boy. Another found himself in the arms of a gorgeous woman who wrapped herself around him like a piece of cloth. Those were the perks of being strong. People would do almost anything to please you, and the woman in front of me was no different. Her beauty, strength, and allure, were all meant to be tools of the Emporium to make my experience ‘enjoyable.’

These greeters had most likely been raised from childhood to 'serve' whatever master called upon them. The Emporium raised its workers like they did their animals. Every greeter here was a specimen, a delicacy meant to be tasted by the shoppers, tools of pleasure and nothing more.

Disgusting. That’s what this world was, pure and honest nastiness.

“This Mei Shan greets Honored Master,” the girl said.

She had returned this time, followed by a host of servants. They were all women, each of them draped in beautiful suggestive clothes. Mei Shan was amongst them, her outfit had changed significantly and she walked with a sultry strut.

“Honored master, this Mei Shan’s master wishes to speak with you in private to further discuss the logistics of your wares.”

I nodded after some careful consideration. It was this way with large purchases. You buy from a clan and the clan wants to establish some bond so that you’d buy from them again. Loyal customers and all that.

I knew they’d assume that I was a representative of some large clan somewhere but I didn’t care much either way. My goal was to get what I needed and get the hell out of here.

I walked with them, catching the occasional peeking glances flying past my direction. It was considered rude to use your divine senses in places like this, so everyone saw with their eyes and listened with their ears instead of swaying their sights far above you.

We arrived at a large door. It was big and golden and shiny and was practically screaming of power and position, which meant that it was most likely held by some small man who wanted to think of himself as big.

I almost sighed as I saw the man at his desk. He was everything you’d expect of an arrogant Son of Heaven. He wore expensive shimmering clothes and had small priceless jewels and artifacts hanging casually about his person. You could probably start a successful middle-sized sect with all the wealth in this room, but unfortunately, it would never be anything more than decoration.

“Hello, fellow Daoist! Forgive my intrusion into your business, this Kin Jey heard of your request and sought to meet you in private.”

Kin Jey. Flashing his family name already.

“It is an honor to meet one of the Jey Clan’s Scion,” I replied, giving a traditional half bow. The man didn’t return the gesture.

“I was looking over this list you had given us and I wanted to discuss some things with your request fellow Daoist.”

“Ah, of course, of course. I am merely a humble customer.”

“Humble?” He asked a little arrogantly.

“This purchase is far from humble, my friend. The things you are asking for, not only are they rare, but they are also dangerous, very dangerous.”

Kin Jey paced around as if he was concerned about the sales. I wasn’t stupid. I’d dealt with politics before and I sincerely hated it, but that was also why I had learned to master it.

Kin Jey didn’t have a good reason to call me. That was obvious. My purchase stood out in many ways, but not enough to deserve severe inspection. The lifeforms I was asking for were dangerous, but that would be none of their business for the most part. It’s not like the Emporium cared about the consequence of their sales.

No, what Kin Jey wanted was what I had. Here he was, a cultivator sitting so close to the top of the pecking order, a direct descendent of a God Imperium, yet he still preyed on those he deemed weak.

A part of me wanted to tell him the truth. I wanted to tell him that I was just a lone cultivator spending all my resources on a big project. I wanted him to send a group of cultivators to chase me, or better yet, I wanted him to try to kill me himself. Then I could put him down for his ungodly selfishness and end him like the thieving dog that he was.

I put up a farce.

“Ah yes, we are aware of the strangeness of these requests. My clan did stress the utmost secrecy and significance of this request, however.”

“Oh?” Kin Jey questioned.

“Surely your clan would trust the Jey Clan with their reasoning for such things?”

He was bargaining up, asking for a lot more than what he wanted.

“I am afraid that I was not given heed to such knowledge. This lowly one was sent to merely fetch the wares.”

I denied him.

“Ah, such is the way of the elders I suppose, in your clan or mine,” he replied.

I again gave a half bow to show respect.

“What is fellow Daoist’s name, by the way?”

There it was. If he knew my name, he could look into my clan. And depending on the strength of my clan, he would figure out if he would kill me or let me go.

“I am sorry but even my name is meant to be clandestine. The clan would prefer our purchases go unnoticed by everyone, lest our enemies see our plans.”

“Ah,” Kin Jey spoke, nodding his head in false wisdom.

“Well, fellow Daoist, it would be better if I knew your name, but if not, then I shall sow some good karma with gifts. Surely then we will meet again.”

“Oh do not trouble yourself, this one is not worthy of such things,” I replied.

“No, no. I have caused trouble for you, I am sure. Mei, prepare yourself and your sisters, surely this honored master has some use for concubines.”