Inside the core of the Earth, with molten rock and metal floating around, could be seen a baby.  A human baby. In its arms it held a cauldron. The baby's eyes were open, staring seamingly out into blank space, having no rhyme or reason for which it constantly looked around.  Of course, the baby had a reason. A normal baby is not generally found bathing in flames with temperatures near those at the surface of the sun. The baby was watching humans go about their lives.  That's right! The baby did not have only heaven defying heat resistance, but could also see through the Earth!

Now, obviously this baby was not normal.  Anyone would be able to tell this at a glance, but if this same person took a second glance, their eyes would not be on the baby, but on the cauldron.  The cauldron was not simply abnormal, it was abnormally abnormal. A simple look from the naked eye would tell the viewer that this cauldron was not colorful.  It was either white, black, or gray, but which one, no one can say. it seemed to be white at one moment and black at the next. Not quite flashing because the switch happened so rapidly, but a melding of color.  That being said, a constant switching of black and white does not create gray, but imitates it.

If they took a magnifying glass they would be able to see runes carved all over the surface of the cauldron, and with a microscope they would be able to see not only these runes, but that each and every one of these runes was made up of even smaller ones.  

A cultivator would be even more stunned by this cauldron.  Spiritual energy, normally only detectable in heavenly items was visible around the cauldron, as if it was being sucked in.  This is a sight only seen when heavenly materials are born and for a short period of time suck in spiritual energy. For a "normal" heavenly object, if they can even be referred to as such, this suction would last for hours at the most, and maybe reach a radius of a few miles.  Clearly, this cauldron went against the heavens! A heavenly object would only create this suction when it was in the final stages of its maturity; the cauldron did it constantly. A mortal would see nothing as their eyes have not yet been tempered by spiritual energy, and thus could only see the mundane.  

Suddenly, the spiritual energy dissipated, and for the first time since time immemorial, the baby which had been nourished by the resources of an entire universe, moved.  

Simultaneously, outside this universe, a team of cultivators inside a ship were making their way around the circumference of the universe.  Why? Because they needed to reach a trading post where they would be able to sell their spoils from the battle they had just won. Inside the ship:

Ji Huang, a grizzled old man missing a limb was complaining, "Jesus Christ!  The hell of mortals is aptly named." He was of course referring to his partner who he had just drugged and thrown into the "Hell of Mortals."  As a high leveled powerhouse, his partner could live in space for years if needed as long as he had spiritual energy to sustain him. Unluckily for him, he had been thrown into the universe with no spiritual energy.  Immediately after being thrown out into space, he had woken up. Like the inside of a planet in the example of the baby, it is not exactly easy to sleep there. After seeing where he had been thrown, he was overcome with terror.  This universe, known for being a death zone, would suck the spiritual energy out of any cultivator if they came within its boundaries. As expected, Ji Huang's partner, Tai Ming, had immediately lost all spiritual energy and began to die.  

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Inside the ship, Ji Huang, proud of his decision to overthrow his partner, was exclaiming to the other cultivators, "Now that we have gotten rid of that money grubber, our profit from selling this top level immortal armor and weaponry will be doubled!"  The other cultivators, who were weaker, were slightly nervous. "You wouldn't throw us out there to die would you boss?" "Of course not," he replied. Inside his head he was thinking, "Stupid idiots, why would I kill you guys when I can sell you off as slaves when we get to the trading post?  The only reason I even killed Tai Ming is because he's stronger than me and I wouldn't be able to enslave him."

Just when he started feeling accomplished, he was grabbed by the neck.  "Ji Huang, you backstabbing asshole, prepare yourself to enter the next life!"  Ji Huang was stunned, "How did you not die, I saw you lose all spiritual energy, how are you alive?"  Tai Ming, believing himself to be chosen under heaven replied, "How could I die so easily? I'm a genius.  After losing all spiritual energy, I almost died, but all of a sudden I realized I could absorb spiritual energy again and came back to kill you.  How could a genius like me be killed in such a stupid fashion?" Of course, sometimes imagination and reality are not the same, and Tai Ming's wizened body had already lost all hopes at ever advancing in his cultivation.  Clearly he was not the genius he said he was, and Ji Huang realized this, "Tai Ming, let go! the Hell of Mortals has stopped working! There must be a heavenly treasure which was absorbing the spiritual energy for billions of years!  If we team up we can get it and both be rich!" Not being the brightest bulb in the box, Ji Huang thought about it and decided to team up for the sake of profit, forgetting what had almost gotten him killed 2 minutes ago, trusting Ji Huang.  Although both had limited intelligence and/or foresight, they both realized that the reason why no cultivators could live in the Hell of Mortals was because they would be robbed of their spiritual qi, their ships would have energy from its power source stolen, and soon, neither the ship nor the cultivator would have the ability to move.  With the suction ended, neither of these would be a problem, and they would be able to travel freely throughout this unexplored universe. What none of the cultivators questioned was why they could not see the suction of spiritual energy. The reason why, is because the cauldron was not just so heaven defying as to create this massive vortex of energy, but also shield its actions from the spiritual sense of cultivators. Normal suctions from heavenly materials would not steal energy from cultivators or ships.  None of them questioned this either.

"All right, let's head to the middle of this universe!" And so, they flew to the middle of the universe; and so, they flew towards Earth.  

All around the realm, people received messages about what had happened to the Hell of Mortals, and some of the strongest beings in the realm began to enter the area to search for the heavenly treasure.