At the beginning of everything, there was nothing. Then the origin firmament came into existence. It established laws like space, time, energy, yin & yang, chaos &order and just about everything else. It established reality.
The firmament gave birth to 4 Universes with different laws and through the interaction of these laws, life was created. These life-forms differed from each other and since the laws of each Universe were separate, their evolution path was unique and different from each other. While all this was going on, a being was born out of the origin firmament. This being gained sentience as soon it was born and learned that he was a part of origin firmament, perhaps a part of it gaining intelligence. He watched as these 4 Universes developed and the life-forms in them evolved. Many eons passed and he eventually got bored having nothing to do. So he decided to enter into a deep slumber to establish his control on the entirety of the origin firmament and maybe by the time he woke up, these Universes may give him a pleasant surprise.
[After Countless Eons]
(The Plane of Gods, 1st Universe)
“Hey Raga, why have you been frowning for the past few days? Even His Highness noticed your sour mood in yesterday’s meeting. What’s wrong with you?” A feminine voice full of charm and grace asked a man whose face was frowning non-stop.
“I don’t know Freya, but I have been having this feeling that something big is going to happen in the coming years, something which will shake the very foundation of this Universe. Even with my divination, I can’t pin-point what this thing is, something that has never happened before” replied a voice with concern.
“What? You are the God of Divination, there is nothing you can’t divine. How is it possible that you are unable to divine anything? Are you getting paranoid for nothing?” the feminine voice said with disbelief.
“Oh trust me, my intuitions have never been wrong. It was my intuition which warned me about the attack of Abyss King in the last Primordial War and we could prepare ourselves beforehand. I just hope whatever this thing is, it does not have evil intentions. *Sigh* Maybe I am really overthinking things.”
“Hahaha, you need some cheering up old fellow. Come, let’s go to Aztog’s Palace and drink some wine. His divine wines are the best here.”
With that, the two figures disappeared.
(At a far distance from all 4 Universes)
A ripple spread out from a point which spread throughout the 4 Universes disturbing their laws for a split second before everything went normal. The disturbance was so minute that nobody in the 4 Universes felt anything. At the origin of this disturbance, a pair of pitch black eyes opened. They had stars in them and whoever stared into it would feel like they contained a Universe of their own.
These eyes then landed on the 4 Universes and scanned everything before a twinkling of excitement flashed in those eyes. "It seems like I have been asleep for a very long time. I never expected that these life-forms will grow so much and these Universes will develop in this way. They indeed gave me a pleasant surprise."
He then looked towards the first Universe. This Universe had actually split itself into three planes with each plane carrying different concentration of energy & depth of laws. The life-forms in this Universe had somehow gained the ability to absorb the energy, something they called spirit energy, to evolve and merge their bodies with laws and gain eternal enlightenment and immortality.
Then his eyes shifted to the 2nd Universe. This Universe had developed an intelligent consciousness which was in control of all the laws in it and called itself The System. Every Life-form could use this system and got rewarded by it by doing some actions.
"Interesting."
Then those eyes landed on the 3rd Universe. This Universe functioned somehow similar to the 1st Universe, with the only difference being that majority of the life-forms in this Universe were born with an innate-ability to bend a few laws according to their will and they call this their ability. Apparently only a selected few out of all the life-forms had an ability, something probably related their evolution many eons ago. They too absorbed energy which they called universal energy to evolve their bodies.
Then came the last of the four, the 4th Universe. This particular Universe was the smallest out of all and was pretty normal in comparison to others. The life-forms there absorbed energy they called mana. These life-forms did not had any ambitious goal like immortality or anything, rather this universe seemed more peaceful than the other three.
All in all, it seemed like these life-forms had considered immortality as their final goal.
"Heh, they think they can become immortal? Only laws are ever-existing in the Multiverse. All those life-forms who hail themselves as Immortals are strong only because they have established a connection to the source of laws. As soon as the connection is broken, they will lose all their powers."
But he had to agree that these 4 Universe had developed in a way that he had never anticipated in the initial stages of their development. He was really excited to visit these worlds and explore to his heart’s content.
"Now that I have established my full control over the origin firmament, I have nothing else to do. Maybe going down there and relaxing is not a bad idea afterall."
In the end, he decided that he will go around a tour of the Universes and gain a better understanding of how they function. He also wanted to confront some intelligent life-forms and enjoy being in the company of someone else. With that though in mind, he decided to first start with the 1st Universe.
"Let’s begin with the lowest plane and go up from there."
Each plane of the 1st Universe was a stretch of a huge horizontal plane where most of the life-forms resided. Planets and Stars did exist, but they couldn’t support life-forms. The most abundant species on this universe called themselves humans so his first job was to create a human body. He started making a male human body of age 18. Then he created the rest of the body carefully. He kept his face normal in appearance and his physiqe a bit above average. He had silver hair & pitch black eyes which had stars in them. But he had no idea that him using his powers which came from the origin firmament to create a body will obviously not result in an ordinary body. The average body that he had created will be considered heaven-defying and peerless in the 1st Universe. Also, even though he assumed his appearance was normal, his normal may not be normal for people down there.
After he was done, he nodded his head in satisfaction and was happy. This was his first creation after his birth, so obviously it gave him a sense of satisfaction which he had never felt before. He then rushed into his newly created body and got himself familiar with it.
"Hmm….not bad. The experience of having arms and legs is interesting. I wonder what that thing hanging between my legs is used for. Oh well, we’ll find out eventually."
Then space rippled around him and he was gone.
In the lowest plane of the first Universe, in a forest somewhere, space rippled and a young man appeared suddenly. He looked around and observed his surroundings with surprise, like he had never seen trees in his life. After looking around, he walked in a random direction.
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"I have no idea where I am. I could use my powers to locate myself, but it wouldn’t be fun that way. I’ll look around for a bit first. Oh right! People in this Universe have names, so I’ll need one too. What should I name myself? Hmm….considering the naming sense of people here, let’s go with Long Huan. Yup, that should do."
After walking for hours, he was getting bored and just was about to use his powers when he heard some sounds coming from nearby. Even though he was not using his powers, his senses were still very sensitive and he could hear things from miles away easily. Long Huan smiled and dashed towards the origin of the sound. As he got closer, he realized that a few people were battling ahead. He got closer and could see that 10 black clothes figures were battling 2 young women and were almost on the verge of successfully killing/capturing them. As he got close enough, those people could also sense that there was someone else among them and all of them turned their heads towards Long Huan. Long Huan surveyed the people here and was thinking whether he should get involved when a charming feminine voice shouted “Hey you, run! Don’t come any closer”. Long Huan looked where the voice came from and realized that it came from one of the girls who was being attacked. He was impressed, considering they were in precarious situations and obviously needed help but they still refused to endanger someone else's life to save themselves and advised him to run away.
“Punk, it is your unlucky day today. You have witnessed something you weren’t supposed to and now you’ll have to pay with your life” said one of the black clothed man and pounced towards him. Long Huan smiled and just raised his left hand. As soon as the black clothed figure came a metre distance from his, his body felt like it crashed into an invisible wall and he was tossed backwards with the sound of a few bones breaking clearly. The other black clothes figures became alerted seeing this scene and all of them looked towards a tall muscular man among them who was probably the leader of this force.
The leader signalled 4 men to attack Long Huan again only to be met with the same fate as the first one. The leader realizing their mission cannot succeed, signalled for retreat and the black clothed figure dashed back into the forest. Long Huan did not chase after them and instead looked at the two woman who sighed and slumped down panting. He walked towards them and they tensed up a little.
“I mean no harm ladies. I was wondering, since I helped you little, would you both be kind enough to point me towards the exit of this forest, perhaps towards a nearby city?” he asked raising his hands in the air.
Both of them relaxed a bit and one of the girls wearing a violet coloured robe replied “Umm…thank you for saving us. My name is Shi Lan and this is my friend Han Bai. We were actually on our way to Phoenix City after completing a sect mission when we were ambushed by these black clothed men all of a sudden. They had outnumbered us and if not for your timely arrival, we would have probably lost our lives. If you don’t mind waiting for a bit, we can travel together to the Phoenix City, what do you say?
“Very well, we’ll do as you say” Long Huan replied and sat down nearby. He was well aware these two girls were injured and probably needed some time to heal themselves. He could use his powers to heal them instantly but then he would have to explain a lot of stuff which would be a pain. Now that his mind was not focusing on anything, he silently observed these girls and realized these two could be considered quite good-looking considering the standards of this world. The violet-clothed girl had long black hair, icy-blue eyes, cherry red lips and had an aura of charm around her. The other girl was a blonde with brown eyes and a gentle aura around her. She was wearing blue robes and he noticed that both of them had a particular medallion hanging from their waist.
The blonde girl whose name he remembered to be Han Bai, caught his stare and assumed that he was staring at her chest, which was quite big actually. Her face turned red and she started fidgeting. Long Huan noticed her weird actions and smirked. A few hours passed and the girls stood up, now looking more energetic and lively.
“Let’s go mister, we are done recovering” Shi Lan declared.
“I am Long Huan” Long Huan replied and stood up as well. Shi Lan nodded and started walking towards a particular direction with Han Bai and Long Huan following her. They walked for many hours and even encountered some beasts but they were swiftly killed by the girls. Finally they reached a clearing in the forest and Long Huan could see the silhouette of a huge city surrounded by huge walls from this distance. Soon, the trio exited the forest and walked towards the city walls.
“Is this your first time here brother Long?” Shi Lan asked suddenly.
“Ah…yes. I am actually new to this country. Throughout my life, I have lived with my grandfather in the mountains and I don’t have much idea of the world. Now that I am old enough, I thought of venturing out into the world and gain some experience. If you don’t mind, can you tell me about this country a bit?” Long Huan replied. This was a nice opportunity to get some information and he wouldn’t miss it for sure. Both girls were surprised after knowing about his circumstances but complied nonetheless.
“Sure. The country we are currently in is called the Holy Dragon Empire and is ruled by the Holy Dragon Imperial Clan. Apart from them, there are 3 powerful sects who are as strong as the Imperial Clan but they have existed in harmony since the foundation of the Empire. These sects are the Sword Immortal Sect, Rising Sun Sect and Roaring Lion Sect. There are other powerful clans and sects out there but they are not as strong these three. Right now, we are heading towards Phoenix City, a major city of the Empire and also where Sword Immortal Sect resides. We are disciples of Sword Immortal Sect by the way.” Shi Lan finished with her explanation and the trio reached the city walls. There was a long line of people waiting to enter the gates and trio joined them.
“Thank You” Long Huan said. So that medallion on their waist was a symbol of their sect most probably. It was hexagonal in shape with a dragon coiling around a golden sword etched on it. After some time, their turn came and the girls got free pass since they were sect disciples but Long Huan was not and he was asked to pay 10 copper coins. Long Huan scratched his nose awkwardly and looked at Shi Lan. She got the message and paid the money for him. "I should find a way to earn some money as fast as possible, seeing as how important it is in day-to-day life."
They entered the city and Long Huan was looking at everything excitedly. There were a lots of building, some tall some short. The streets were bustling with lots of people and he even spotted some Sword Immortal Sect’s disciples walking around.
“Brother Long, as a thanks for saving us, we would you to eat lunch with us. It’ll be our treat and you can’t refuse” this time it was Han Bai who spoke and she gave him a smile. “She is probably a shy type girl who speaks very less around strangers” Long Huan thought.
“Well, you don’t need to” Long Huan started but after a glare from Shi Lan continued “but since you guys insist, then sure. Lead the way”. Shi Lan and Han Bai happily nodded and they walked into a nearby restaurant called Delicious Feast. As soon as the boss saw the trio he happily walked out “Miss Shi, it’s nice to see you here. What would like to have today?” he asked. Seemed like this fellow knew Shi Lan. Shi Lan smiled and said “Today I am here with some friends. Bring your best Uncle Luo”. The boss nodded and went in to arrange for the dishes. The trio walked to a nearby empty table and sat down.
“So Brother Long, do you cultivate? What is your cultivation level? If you don’t mind answering that is” Shi Lan finally asked what has been in her heart from the moment she saw Long Huan. She couldn’t detect a thread of spirit energy on his body which could only mean two things. Either his cultivation is way higher than her or he is not a cultivator. Judging by the incident which took place in the forest, it should be the former but she was doubtful.
“Haha…I am not a cultivator Miss Lan. Actually due to some circumstances I was not allowed to cultivate since I was a kid.” Long Huan replied with an embarrassed smile. He realized that we was quite good at acting. He obviously didn’t need to cultivate since he was the ruler of everything but he couldn’t say that right?
“Ohh…..I understand. Brother Long then must have used a spirit artefact to deal with those thugs. By the Brother Long, what do you plan to do next?” Shi Lan asked. Han Bai was sitting there quietly observing Long Huan and when this question was raised, even she showed at interested face.
“Spirt Artefat?” Long Huan thought. He then remembered that the life-forms in this Universe used weapons made up of special ingredients so they could channel spirit energy through them and were called spirit weapons. A spirit weapon which didn’t consume the energy of the user but charged themselves naturally by absorbing the spirit energy in the air were named spirit artefacts and were normally very rare. These artefacts had stronger attack power than spirit weapons and were highly coveted by cultivators. These girls had assumed he had a spirit artefact since he didn’t have any spirit energy in his body.
“Well, that’s not a bad alias.”
“Ah..yes, something like that. Well, I was planning to maybe join a sect and experience cultivation now that I can. I’ll think about other things from there.” Long Huan replied. He had realized that joining a sect will be the best idea to know more about this cultivation oriented society and start his adventure.
“Excellent” Shi Lan suddenly clapped her hands in delight and said “Brother Long, there will be an entrance ceremony happening in the Holy Dragon City, the capital city of this Empire 5 days from today. I recommend you to participate in it and try to get selected by one of the three great sects. If you are lucky, then maybe you could join our sect as well.”
“Oh?”