In the realm beyond death where the souls of those recently deceased wander and no color except for a decaying grey, white and black existed; there was an endless plain of white. If one looked close enough, they would find out that the white plains were all bones of countless races whether they be humans, devils, beasts or giants.
Among the endless fields of bones, a gigantic skeletal figure that oozed dark miasma sat upon a throne of a liquid tar-like substance that wriggled like slime. Spikes protruded from it's body and a crown of rusted black iron rested upon it's head, around it's neck was black cape worn from endless years. What should have been it's face, there was only a pitch black void that seemed to absorb all light.
Before the skeletal being there was a massive three legged cauldron, simple in shape in design yet exuding an aura of ancientness. He sat there sleeping as countless souls threw themselves into the cauldron of reincarnation. Good, bad, the cauldron didn't discriminate and wiped away all past memories before reincarnating them into newborn lives. Though there were exceptions, powerful cultivators would be judged on the merits and demerits before either being reincarnated or sent to oblivion.
The skeletal being had existed since the earliest living being drew it's first breath. He knew not how he came to be but it didn't bother him as he did not care. The only thing that mattered to him was his purpose for being and that was to guide the souls of the dead, and he had done so for years beyond counting.
His existence remained unknown till the rise of the progenitor of cultivation who had the enough strength after death to retain his memories and thus his name came to be, given to him by the first cultivator.
He was called Diyu, the faceless one.
After his discovery and the explosion of cultivation in the primordial era, many tried to encroach upon his domain via secret techniques using the souls of others for benefits or by completely avoiding the cycle of reincarnation. Some even tried to take his seat as the lord of the underworld, though they all failed and were punished severely. No matter who it was that interfered with his duties, they all met bad ends. Nobody could escape the wrath of Diyu!
Across the fields of bones flew a black raven, it's gorgeous black feathers seemed to shine in the dull underworld. Flapping it's wings vigorously, it flew towards the mountain-like Diyu who hadn't seemed to have moved in thousands of years.
The raven perched itself on Diyu's finger and cawed loudly, awakening the sleeping Diyu.
"What is it?"
Diyu's voice shook the underworld scaring the various souls into shivering messes.
"Mighty Diyu! Someone is interfering with souls again!" The raven cawed with a hint of panic in it's tone.
"The pesky cultivators? Send the death guards, I don't have time to deal with every single incident.." Diyu replied as his void of a face rippled like a pond which had a pebble thrown in it.
'All you do is sleep, you have plenty of time..' The raven complained inwardly.
The raven shook it's bird head and said urgently. "No mighty Diyu, It's different! All the souls existing on Nraka suddenly disappeared!"
"What!?" Diyu voice resounded like a bell, shaking the underworld even more.
"We've also lost all contact with the soul guides in charge of that area.." The raven said meekly, clearly frightened by the outburst of Diyu.
Diyu began to tremble as he cursed in irritation. "Bastards..I'll have to go there personally and see who had the guts to mess with my rule! Taking souls from me!? Humph!!"
He stood up and growled in anger. "Wait for it insects...I'll send your souls to oblivion!"
Lord Zhao's Orphanage~
Within Lord Zhao's office Celestial Qiao sat in the center of the room as he focused on a yellow runic circle with intense gaze, the power emanating from it caused the scroll racks to rattle and shake.
A bead of sweat dripped from Celestial Qiao's troubled brow as his hands formed various shapes causing the circle to flicker and sway, yet no matter how hard he tried to maintain the runic circle it eventually dissipated into a shower of light. Before the light dispersed completely however, a part of it briefly flashed.
Seeing this, Celestial Qiao let out a haggard breath as he closed his eyes in contemplation. He had finally discovered something useful.
As he was thinking deeply, the door to the office opened and the sound of faint steps reached him.
"No luck?" A cold feminine voice asked with a hint of worry which was barely concealed.
Opening his eyes, Celestial Qiao saw a woman to his right. It was Celestial Xue with her stoic form as straight as the giant sword strapped to her back and the simple blue robe which expertly concealed her figure.
Letting out a deep sigh, Celestial Qiao replied. "After numerous tests, I've discovered that we have been isolated. It's as if the outside world had completely disappeared, like it never existed."
Celestial Xue let out a gasp as she struggled to maintain her demeanor. "You mean to say, someone has managed to completely seal off all of Nraka? A true primordial continent? How is that even possible!? It's so large that to call it endless wouldn't be an exaggeration!"
"Not completely.", Celestial Qiao shook his head and said. "I just detected some remnants of the Violet star's light. The barrier that traps us isn't airtight."
Celestial Xue showed a look of understanding. "It would be impossibly hard to conceal the light from a primordial continent's main star...are you saying that there may be a gap in this net we have found ourselves in?"
Celestial Qiao showed a bright smile. "I believe so, I'll inform Lord Zhao immediately."
"He's in the putting children to sleep so keep your voice low." Celestial Xue advised as she rubbed her neck tiredly.
"What about the others?" Celestial Qiao casually asked.
"They're meditating in the assembly hall, I'll be going there in a bit."
Celestial Qiao seemed to have thought of something as he frowned.
He stood up and walked towards the window. Pulling back the curtain, he observed the outside attentively.
"Something wrong?" Celestial Xue asked with a hint of caution in her tone.
"It's too quiet.." Celestial Qiao looked outside and noticed that numerous devils had filled the streets, some were trembling in fear, others had the look of someone who had lost their soul.
The strangest thing was that it had become quite bright outside as if it were the dawn of a new day.
"What is it?" Celestial Xue moved up beside Celestial Qiao and looked outside curiously.
"That's odd...the Violet star disappeared with all the other stars, it should be completely dark." Celestial Xue commented.
"No! This light isn't violet, It's red!" Celestial Qiao shouted as he punched the window into dust and poked his head outside.
A cold sweat traveled down his back as his pupils dilated as they focused on a certain object flying down towards the continent of Nraka.
It was a gigantic being made of rock and fire.
Celestial Xue poked her head out and as soon as she saw the fiery being, her face went pale as a sheet.
"W-what is that!?" Celestial Xue stuttered with a stunned expression.
"Now that's just unfair! Is that the disaster Lord Zhao spoke of?" Celestial Qiao was panicking internally, if he didn't care about face he would be running around in circles screaming, "THE END!".
Shaking away the stupor, Celestial Qiao collected his thoughts and shouted. "Lord Zhao! Come quick!"
"What is it?"
With his shout echoing throughout the orphanage, in the next moment a voice came from behind the two Celestials.
Lord Zhao observed the two Celestial's who were looking out of his broken window with a deep frown.
Celestial Xue seemed to be completely mesmerized, not even noticing Lord Zhao's entrance.
Celestial Qiao pointed towards the distant sky while whispering. "Lord Zhao.. we need your protection."
Lord Zhao walked towards the window and pushed the two aside, his gaze instantly coming upon the descending calamity. He could feel the heat from it bathing his face.
"SHIT!" Lord Zhao cursed as the fiery meteor-like being crashed over the horizon resulting in a blinding light.
Many devils in the street screamed in pain as they were blinded. To their horror, it was only mere seconds later when they felt their strong sturdy skin on fire.
The weaker devils had completely caught fire while the stronger ones threw themselves into the shade of buildings and alleyways.
Lord Zhao gulped as the impact site of the fiery being caused a massive cloud of stone and debris that billowed into the atmosphere. Beneath that immense cloud, there was wave of fire and ash that washed over the landscape like a heavenly flood and it was barreling right towards them!
A vein popped on Lord Zhao's forehead as an unfathomable power radiated from his body. His power wrapped around the orphanage like a blanket as the city began to quake, the shouts and screams of the devils were drowned out by the tsunami-like wave of crushed rock and fire heading towards them.
"Brace yourselves!!" Lord Zhao shouted alerting everyone in the building.
*BOOM!!*
Everything within the visions of the three had been completely obscured. The city before them had disappeared as the only thing that was visible was a river of black ash and smoke that flowed over the orphanage, not leaving any damage whatsoever.
As the shockwave passed, Celestial Qiao's vision became clear. What was once a prospering city had become an endlessly flat plain covered in smoke and glowing rocks of fire.
The orphanage stood alone in eerie silence, the ground around it had been peeled away leaving it on what looked to be a pillar of rock.
"Celestial Qiao! Tell me you've found our escape route!" Lord Zhao relaxed his body causing the barrier surrounding the orphanage to disappear. The moment it did, the stifling heat hit their faces. Luckily the orphanage was built with sturdy materials otherwise it would burst into flame.
"Yes I have." Celestial Qiao nodded his head urgently.
He condensed the information into a jade crystal before passing it to Lord Zhao.
"I see..the light of the Violet star.." Lord Zhao stared again towards the outside before muttering. "We need to leave right now."
The two Celestials followed his gaze and noticed something rising in the distance, like a sun which rose over the horizon.
Both Celestial Qiao and Celestial Xue were shocked, the bodies shaking slightly.
A gigantic being of fire slowly stood up, dispersing the cloud of smoke with his movements.
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Lord Zhao lept out of the window, flew into the pitch black sky and shouted. "Throne! Come to me!"
His body shook as a soft blue light engulfed his figure. From the doorway, the rest of the Celestial's appeared.
The old Celestial Yi's eyes lit up as he mumbled. "Celestial Throne, I was able to see it in my lifetime."
Many of the Celestial's focused their sights on Lord Zhao who grew larger and larger, eventually reaching a staggering thirty thousand kilometers tall. Behind him materialized a giant throne made of silver crystals, Celestial dragons made of gold coiled upwards as the armrests of throne were held by their heads. The throne itself was built into the face of a planet which was green and full of vitality, countless spirit beasts roamed it's forests and mountains.
The giant Lord Zhao sat himself on the throne like a heavenly emperor as illusionary blossoms surrounded him. His hand reached downwards and plucked the orphanage from the ground after which he gently placed it on his left arm rest.
This was the Celestial Throne! Also known as the Celestial King realm for when one ascends to the throne, they would be a king above all.
Celestial Qiao watched in awe at Lord Zhao's might. He himself and the other Celestial's were still far away from the Celestial Throne.
"The resources needed to craft a throne are unimaginable..I wonder were he got them from?" Celestial Lingqi, the beautiful devil in the purple dress muttered in envy.
"Lord Zhao is from one of the Celestial devil clans, because of his high cultivation he was only disowned for his radical views...anyone else would have been killed." Celestial Bing said solemnly as her robe fluttered in the breeze.
Celestial Xue looked towards the fiery giant in the distance fearfully. Even at their current height, all they could see was it's legs, hands and a small part of it's waist. The rest disappeared into the void of space.
"Where does it come from?" She asked with an audible swallow.
"It has to be from beyond the golden gate.." Lord Zhao's powerful voice boomed like thunder from above.
The Celestial's collectively gasped at the revelation.
"The legendary golden gate!?" Celestial Qiao shouted uncontrollably. He had heard of this mysterious gate from his many travels and had heard many legends about it.
The Golden gate laid at the center of the universe at it's highest point, far above even the Celestial realm. It had existed since the beginning of time, since before the first races.
For countless eons, the most powerful beings of every race had all meditated beneath the Golden gate in an attempt to uncover it's secrets, many had tried to open it yet all failed unquestionably. It was believed that beyond the gate was true godhood, eternal life and the next realms in the path of cultivation.
The fire giant began to raise it's hand which disappeared through the cloud layer.
Seeing this, Lord Zhao's eyes narrowed. "Hold on!" His shout shook the heavens as his throne glowed an imperial grey.
The Celestial's felt the throne tremble as it began to move. The planet sized Throne turned away from the fire giant causing thunderous gales and hurricanes on the land below.
Using their immense Qi to hold their legs in place, the Celestials felt their vision blur as the Throne became a streak of light speeding across the landscape at blistering speeds.
Behind them came a brief flash of light followed by a towering pillar of flame which shot into space. The continent beneath them began to crack as deep fissures spread across it's surface.
High Up above flashes of gold revealed more titanic beings descending upon the world.
"Heavens..there's more of them.." Celestial Yi stroked his long white beard nervously, pulling out a few hairs in the process.
Just ahead of Lord Zhao's throne, a blue giantess collided with the ground sending large chunks of earth and rock flying outwards from the impact. Her skin was pale blue and covered in a faint charged aura that caused the air around her crackle and explode into sparks. The outline of her perfect face was shrouded in an electric fog and her locks of hair were all colossal dragons made of black lightning. She was the Titaness of thunder, lightning and the heavenly tribulation, Iona.
The shockwave rattled Lord Zhao's Throne world causing various natural disasters on it's surface, only the Celestials and the orphanage were spared the brunt of it.
"Lord Zhao! Our escape route is above it's head!" Celestial Qiao shouted fearfully.
"I know..this is going to get rough! Protect the orphange!" Lord Zhao's voice resounded in the Celestial's ears.
With Celestial Bing keeping the children safe inside the orphanage, the other Celestials quickly set up a perimeter around the orphanage
Feeling a sudden shift in the Throne world, it began moving even faster as it narrowly evaded the largest masses of rock and earth falling from the sky. What it could not dodge, it weathered with several asteroid sized rocks colliding with it making the surface tremble terribly as if a world ending earthquake were occurring.
Iona the Titaness had already raised her hand, the movement of which caused the weather to change. Above in the sky, lightning stronger than the tribulation of a Celestial formed and struck the landscape like a heavenly hammer dealing out divine punishment.
As the Throne world came closer to the giant lightning goddess, the terrifying size between the two was revealed in full. Even though the Throne World was massive by itself, compared to the Titaness before them they were merely the size of a grain of sand.
"Hah!!" Celestial Yi struck a boulder into pieces with a powerful punch. He no longer had the look of an old man with one foot in the grave, his body had grown to a tremendous size of three thousand meters with rippling muscles that had shredded his upper robe. His wrinkled face had become that of a handsome middle aged devil with a vibrant purple beard that was no longer white.
Celestial Yi looked upwards and saw that another larger rock was heading towards him. With the orphanage just below him he had no choice but to take it head on.
"Dammit!"
Gritting his teeth, Celestial Yi caught the rock ten times his size. He held the rock like a god carrying a world on his shoulders.
"Argh!"
His bones creaked and his muscles tore under it's immense weight. Just as he was about to buckle, a streak of light passed by Celestial Yi slicing the rock into smaller pieces.
Celestial Yi let out a sigh of relief as the smaller rocks fell to the side harmlessly, he turned his head to the woman who had landed on his shoulder. "Than you Celestial Xue."
Celestial Xue nodded and flew off to help other struggling Celestials.
While the Celestials were desperately protecting the orphanage, Lord Zhao had begun flying higher.
His Throne World had just reached the elbows of the Titaness when she finally raised her hand just behind her slender shoulder. In the palm of her hand an immeasurably huge bolt of lightning condensed. Like a javelin thrower, she threw the bolt of lightning into the distance striking the earth below.
The moment the bolt touched the ground, it exploded into a storm of lightning which tore through the continent leaving abyssal chasms of bottomless depth. Just her throwing motion made a powerful gust of wind which threatened to blow Lord Zhao's throne world away, though using his strong cultivation he managed to tear a way through the gales.
"We're almost there." Lord Zhao said with a hint of exhaustion in his voice.
Celestial Qiao sat tiredly on the remains of a massive boulder, looking around he saw that the others were in similar ragged shape. Celestial Yi had returned to being an old man as he coughed and gasped for breath. Celestial Lingqi had her gorgeous hair all frizzled from lightning strikes and Celestial Xue looked like a beggar with her ripped robe and chipped sword.
Turning his gaze towards Nraka, he let out a despairing sigh. Although Nraka wasn't the prettiest of the earth realm primordial continents, it was still the ancestral grounds from which the devil race spawned and now it looked like the very vision of an apocalypse.
Lord Zhao could already see the vast blackness of space as his Throne World left the atmosphere of Nraka. Before him was the gigantic head of the Titaness Iona, her face now covered by a thick net of lightning.
She didn't see the seemingly insignificant spec that was Lord Zhao's Throne World and continued her spree of destruction. Seeing that she didn't notice him, Lord Zhao wiped a sweat from his brow and continued onward. As he flew deeper into the black void of space he noticed a shimmering aurora light that seemed to be escaping from a long curved crack that stretched on beyond his mighty sight.
"There it is Lord Zhao! The hole in the net!" Celestial Qiao cheered loudly.
The surrounding Celestial's felt their spirits lift, they could finally see hope. The freedom from this nightmare laid just before them.
Lord Zhao carefully flew into the crack, the violet light faintly growing brighter by the second. It was a tight fit as his throne world grinded along what looked to be the barrier walls. After twenty minutes, the light from the Violet star had become bright enough to illuminate the surroundings.
"That's odd.." Celestial Qiao frowned as he inspected the barrier wall as the Throne world maintained it's flying speed. The barrier seemed to pass by in a blur yet that wasn't a problem for his sharp, inquisitive eyes. Under the light, it revealed that the wall was a pristine white like jade.
"What did you discover?" Celestial Lingqi asked curiously. She had regained her beautiful refined appearance with neatly combed hair, her makeup redone and a fresh new dress colored green with golden frills.
Celestial Qiao lifted a truck sized boulder and threw it effortlessly at the barrier wall causing an explosion of dust, it left no visible mark on the barrier. With a look of confusion he cupped his chin and muttered something under his breath.
"Celestial Qiao?" Celestial Lingqi tilted her head.
"The barrier is solid." Celestial Qiao responded.
Celestial Lingqi processed the thought before gasping. "You're saying it's material solid!? Not a barrier made of energy?"
Celestial Qiao nodded gravely.
"I see the Violet star. We're almost out!"
Both Celestial Qiao and Celestial Lingqi heard Celestial Xue's excited shout. Looking forwards they could see a massive star glowing with an intense purple light hovering at the edge of an opening that extended for countless miles. Outside the opening they could barely see the darkness of space and the myraid sea of stars which populated it.
"This is the final stretch!" Lord Zhao grinned hopefully as he increased the speed of his Throne world.
Passing the scolding hot Violet star which had bathed the continent of Nraka in it's light for many years, they finally escaped from the barrier with gleeful shouts.
The happy cheers were however quickly silenced. All Celestial's were staring upwards, their eyes completely focused on a certain thing which attracted their gazes like magnets.
Celestial Qiao's teeth were chattering as if he had caught the worst of colds, Celestial Xue and Celestial Lingqi had both collapsed weakly in each other's embrace. Celestial Yi let out a weak cough before sitting down and closing his eyes, even Celestial Bing had come out as tears of blood fell from her pale eyes.
There was one thing in common with them all and that was the pure despair and hopelessness radiating from their changing expressions.
"We were never close at all. There was never any hope.. of escape.. " Lord Zhao sighed as the light in his eyes flickered and gradually disappeared.
Above them was a cosmic sized being, it looked to be a statue as it was human in shape yet it had the unfeeling coldness of an inanimate object. Lines were oriented along it's various joints as if it had been built piece by piece by some omnipotent craftsman.
The Jade statue depicted a woman of otherworldly beauty with her eyes closed and peaceful expression on her face, the wings her back that stretched outwards longer than any known galaxy and the wings on her head arched upwards like a valkyrie's crown, so large she was that it made the monstrous titanic beings they saw before look like tiny ants.
Below them were her hands which had enclosed the continent of Nraka in her palms like one would a butterfly, what they had escaped from wasn't some almighty barrier but just a tiny gap in her fingers.
There was a rumbling the caused the space to ripple and tear. The Celestial's turned their gazes downwards and saw the jade statue closing the gap between her fingers crushing the Violet star until it exploded in a brilliant supernova.
"Trying to escape?"
A woman's voice echoed in their minds causing them to shudder.
The jade statue's eyes opened, golden light spilling forth from them illuminating the entire void.
"There is no esc- eh!?" The woman's voice sounded surprised.
"WHO DARES SNATCH MY SOULS!" An enraged roar echoed throughout the void. A tear in space appeared before the jade statue as two bony hands reached out and pulled the tear wider.
Lord Zhao's eyes lit up. He recognized the voice, a benevolent savior had come! Not wasting this god-sent opportunity, he poured every last inch of vitality he could muster into his throne world causing it to light up like a small star.
The Celestial's all watched excitedly as space began to bend around the Throne world. A look of pity was seen glittering in Lord Zhao's eyes as he stared at the bony being coming out of the space tear.
"Thank you for your sacrifice King Diyu." He whispered gratefully.
In the next moment Lord Zhao's Throne World turned into a thin streak of light that disappeared into the vast darkness of space.
Diyu opened the tear just enough for his body to fit through, all around him trillions of his death soldiers poured through like a great flood. It was an vast and powerful army, one strong enough to threaten the dominant races of the universe.
After finally squeezing through the spacial tear, he sighed tiredly; going from one dimension to another is incredibly taxing even for him. As he looked around curiously, he expected to see his army ripping the culprits to pieces and delivering their traitorous souls to him for their awaiting punishment but there was nothing at all.
It was strangely quiet as he noticed all his soldiers hovering silently in space, all of which were shivering uncontrollably, their gazes all locked onto one thing.
Looking upwards his courageous heart nearly leapt out of his chest, the void he had for a face rippled violently; though if he had a proper face it would certainly be showing an expression of extreme shock.
The Jade statue's succulent lips curved into smirk.
"I did.." A heavenly voice echoed in Diyu's mind making him break out into a cold sweat.
"Uhh.. um.." Diyu stuttered as he stared at the enormous statue, the power he sensed from it shook his soul. Even though he was the king of the underworld, overseer of the dead and powerful beyond measure he felt that just a single cough from the statue would annihilate his entire existence.
"If you want souls.. I'll give you souls."
"Huh?" Diyu's face rippled in confusion.
"The souls of two universes which shall be used to power my breath cannon." The statue's smirk grew as it spread it's wings wide.
"What!?" Diyu backed up in alarm as he gathered all the power he could.
Two beams of light left the statue's wings and tore dimensions striking two distant planes.
"Ah!" Diyu held his head painfully, the screams of innumerable souls resounded in his ears. Looking at the two beams, countless souls traveled through them and into the jade statue like an endless river.
When the screams stopped, the beams of light disappeared. The jade statue opened its mouth towards Diyu and his army and from within the darkest depths of it's throat, there pulsed a gargantuan mass of golden light.
Feeling his inevitable end approaching, Diyu spat out a glob of black spit which corroded the space around it and glared at the statue before him.
"So be it!" He roared desperately. He was the proud and mighty king of the underworld! He had existed since life began! He will not cower in fear, no.. he shall fight to the last breath!
Around him his vast army had already turned into dust from the power emanating from the colossal statue. Standing his ground defiantly with his cape fluttering behind him, he gathered the essence of all his might into his fist.
"I don't know who you are...but you're one.. big.. bitch!!" Diyu cackled madly. "HYAAH!!!" Punching forwards, a black light exploded forth from his fist forming a giant black dragon. With a wag of it's tail, it flew straight towards the statue's open mouth with godly speed.
"Your precious souls are here, take them!" The statue's gaping mouth opened wider stretching beyond it's natural limits, from her mouth golden light burst forth with unfathomable force behind it.
Golden light instantly bathed everything in its blinding brilliance, the black black dragon didn't even last a second before it perished into nothing.
"ARRHHH!" With arms wide open, Diyu embraced the statue's galaxy shattering beam. His form began to crumble away as the golden light intruded upon his underworld that laid beyond the spatial crack behind him wiping it from existence.
As the golden light died down, the Jade statue came back into view. It looked down at where Diyu once stood and harrumphed.
A satisfied voice came from the frighteningly powerful statue. "Not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth.."
The statue looked to where Lord Zhao and the Celestials had disappeared and snorted softly before closing its eyes.