Atop a mountain soaring a thousand zhang into the heavens, with flat plains stretching endlessly around it, the world was divided into two halves.
On one side shone a brilliant golden light, bringing those who gazed upon it a sense of serenity and peace.
On the other side, pitch-black deathly qi surged endlessly. A single glance was enough to make one feel as though they were staring directly into death itself.
At the very boundary between these two worlds lay two ancient books—one black and one golden.
Surrounding them were countless remnants of a terrifying battlefield: mutilated flesh, severed limbs, broken weapons, and rivers of blood flowing across the land. Skulls covered the ground as far as the eye could see.
Beneath the blood river lurked countless resentful souls and evil spirits, screaming and wailing without end.
Yet the aura emanating from those spirits was extraordinarily terrifying.
Every single one of them had once been an immortal-level powerhouse who had dominated an entire region.
Each was so powerful that it felt as though a single strike from them could flatten the heavens and shatter the earth.
Among the countless skeletons, some radiated dazzling golden light, while others emitted sinister and ominous darkness.
The battlefield had existed for millions upon millions of years, yet the skeletons still retained their enormous forms.
Some still possessed intact bodies.
Bright-red blood continued to flow through their veins.
Some even had hearts that still beat—
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
It was almost as though these people were still alive, their flesh merely stripped away from their bodies.
Divine artifacts and spiritual treasures floated throughout the battlefield.
Ancient treasures, cultivation techniques, strange treasures, and countless priceless relics lay scattered across the ground.
This desolate and tragic battlefield was known as the Demon-Suppressing Cauldron.
Legend said that this was the place where the greatest battle of the ancient Age of the Divine had taken place.
The Age of the Divine was the strongest era in the history of cultivation.
Powerhouses were as numerous as clouds.
The Demon Dao, Immortal cultivators, and Buddhist cultivators all possessed abundant resources.
It was also the most peaceful era among the three factions.
But one day, a Heaven-Defying One was born within the Demon Dao.
He sought to forge a supreme treasure that would allow him to officially defy the heavens.
The Demon Dao became increasingly evil.
They massacred the Buddhist Sect and the Immortal Sect, plunging the entire world into misery.
They stopped at nothing.
Killing.
Robbing.
Destroying.
Wherever the Demon Dao went, blood flowed and corpses piled high.
An entire Primordial Realm was reduced by half.
In the end, they successfully created an ancient scroll.
Seeing this, the two great righteous factions—the Buddhist Sect and the Immortal Sect—joined forces.
Together, they created an unprecedented existence:
the Immortal-Buddha Child.
He was born specifically to counter all the evil properties contained within the demonic artifact.
It took ten thousand years to refine his soul.
Another ten thousand years to forge his bones.
Thirty thousand years to temper his tendons and construct his body.
Then another twenty thousand years were spent constructing an extraordinarily complex and chaotic network of meridians.
It was the deepest, most complicated, and most powerful meridian system of the entire Age of the Divine.
At that time, the Demon Dao took the Heaven-Defying One as their supreme leader and created the first great origin of the Demon Dao—
Gathering Demon.
The Immortal-Buddha Child did not disappoint the two righteous factions.
In only five thousand years, he matured and rose to the pinnacle of both factions.
With his existence, the Immortal and Buddhist factions finally gained enough strength to fight the Demon Dao on equal terms.
The three factions remained locked in a stalemate for seven thousand years.
Then the Immortal-Buddha Child successfully cultivated the Demon-Suppressing Scripture.
Only then did the righteous factions begin to gain a slight advantage over the Demon Dao.
Perhaps the sect masters of the two factions had become too impatient.
Perhaps they had simply overlooked something.
While creating his body, they had forgotten to give him emotions.
They had forgotten to give him the compassion of Buddhism.
Thus, although he drove the Demon Dao back step by step, the damage inflicted upon the living beings of the three realms was equally devastating.
Humanity's spiritual energy and destiny declined.
The laws of heaven and earth became increasingly chaotic.
The Demon Dao relied upon the aura of humanity to cultivate, so as human destiny declined, their cultivation gradually weakened as well.
Seeing their opportunity, the Immortal-Buddha Child led countless experts from the Immortal and Buddhist factions—tens of millions of cultivators and elites from countless sects—to surround Tainted Mountain.
They intended to completely destroy the Demon Dao.
But no one knew whether it was because the Immortal-Buddha Child was still young and reckless...
Or whether he simply did not care about the future of the two factions.
That battle became a catastrophe.
The Immortal, Buddhist, and Demon Dao nearly perished together.
Not a single faction was left with enough strength to preserve its original inheritance.
That battle became known as the greatest disaster of the three realms.
Tens of trillions of living beings perished.
The world's human destiny was reduced by seventy percent.
Blood rained from the heavens for three hundred years.
A crimson blood mist lingered for another thousand.
Nine-tenths of all cultivation techniques, treasures, secret arts, and inheritances were lost.
Even three million years later, the descendants of that era still trembled whenever the catastrophe was mentioned.
---
3,080,000 Years Later
Three million and eighty thousand years after the great battle of the Age of the Divine...
Deep within the Chi Ye Desert, there existed a small tribe known as the Toad-Shell Tribe.
It was an insignificant tribe.
Only a few dozen crude tents stood scattered across the barren desert.
Some were so old that their roofs were already torn and riddled with holes.
The people of the tribe were sturdy and dark-skinned, possessing the rugged appearance of simple farmers.
Inside the largest and most prosperous tent in the tribe, six elderly men sat around an old wooden table.
Their brows were tightly furrowed.
None of them spoke.
Their eyes were fixed upon an ancient map made from animal hide.
After a long silence, one of the elders finally spoke.
"Chief... We should take the risk."
He paused before continuing.
"The earth vein beneath our territory is almost exhausted. If we don't abandon everything and make one final attempt... our tribe will eventually be wiped out."
The old man sitting at the head of the table remained silent for a moment.
Then he sighed.
"I know."
His voice was weary.
"But, Old Fifth, we've spent thousands of years searching within a radius of ten thousand miles."
"We haven't found even the slightest trace of another earth vein."
"And as for the dangers beyond our territory..."
"Ferocious beasts."
"Other tribes."
"If we make even one mistake, our tribe could be destroyed even faster."
The other elders fell silent.
The chief looked around the table.
"Then does anyone have a better plan?"
One of the elders suddenly said,
"Why don't we defeat the Hung Tribe and the Di Tribe and seize their earth veins?"
The chief immediately glared at him.
"Excellent idea."
His voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"You want to destroy our tribe even faster?"
"The three forces have restrained and supported one another for generations."
"We rely on one another to survive the waves of beast tides and demonic mist."
"If we destroy one side, the remaining faction will simply reap the benefits."
"In the end, we will lose even more."
"Hmmm..."
Everyone fell silent once again.
The atmosphere inside the tent became heavy.
The six elders sitting here were the six people who held the greatest authority within the tribe.
Although they appeared to be merely seventy-year-old men, every one of them had actually lived for more than a century.
The chief was a short old man with silver hair, a thick beard, and a scar running horizontally across his nose.
He wore a beast-skin outfit that clearly distinguished him as the chief of the tribe.
His name was Yong Shou.
The second elder, Yong Jin, had a head of golden hair.
The countless wrinkles on his face only made his hardened appearance even more intimidating.
His upper body was bare, covered in enormous tattoos that radiated a faint golden light.
The third elder was Yong Mu.
He had green hair and a muscular, bare upper body covered in strange tattoos of the same color as his hair.
The fourth elder was Yong Shui.
His expression was stern and composed.
A blue snake was wrapped around his neck, while strange tattoos covered his body.
The fifth elder was Yong Huo.
His entire body was crimson red.
Not a single strand of hair grew upon his bald head.
His physique was tremendously muscular, and he looked as though his body might burst into flames at any moment.
The sixth elder was Yong Tu.
He possessed a solemn expression and dark-brown skin.
At that moment, he was casually grabbing a handful of soil from the ground...
and chewing it.
These six elders were the core pillars of the Toad-Shell Tribe.
Each of them possessed the potential to lead the tribe toward becoming the strongest force in the entire Chi Ye Desert.
They were also the reason the tribe had managed to preserve its population of several thousand people.
But lifespan had always been the greatest enemy of cultivators.
The younger generation had been weaker than the previous generation for decades.
For the past ten years, the six elders had already realized that their lifespans were approaching their limits.
Thus, they had desperately tried to nurture the younger generation.
They searched for talented children.
They sought potential heirs.
They hoped to find even a single extraordinary seedling capable of carrying the tribe into the future.
But...
Not a single promising talent had appeared.