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START of ARC 1, "A NEW FELLOWSHIP"
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Long ago, space had mysteriously split open. A giant crack had opened up and, from that crack, had emerged an unconscious, blue-eyed child. Finding themselves close-by, the two kings and two queens of Worldslord Flying Island - the four Divine Beasts - took him in and welcomed him as one of their own. The child, they named Xu Ling, and the five of them lived together as brothers and sisters, with the four friends choosing to keep the existence of the child a secret from the outside world.
Unfortunately, one day, the news of a mysterious child appearing at the floating island reached the ears of Tian, the Heavenly Lord. Urged by a prophecy foretelling of his defeat at the hands of a "youth born of space", Tian set off to Worldslord Island to kill the young Xu Ling!
Among the four Divine Beasts, it was the Vermillion Bird, Ren Hong, whom had developed the closest relationship with the blue-eyed child. This resulted in her giving her life in order to save Xu Ling's: thanks to Ren Hong's sacrifice, Xu Ling survived his first encounter with Tian and escaped into the mortal world, where he would hide and live as a simple human youth for a few years… until, on one fateful day, he met with a gargantuan, golden dragon; a mighty Primordial Beast named Blindlight. With that encounter, Xu Ling gained a powerful ally; a friend that would accompany him in the centuries to come.
Time passed, battles were fought, dynasties and clans were uprooted, empires fell… and eventually, that once small and powerless child had somehow reached the pinnacle of the world!
In his quest to kill Tian and avenge Ren Hong he had gathered a following of millions; an army of humans and beasts so numerous their arrival could be discerned from the vibrations of the ground. Regardless of commoner or emperor, earthly or heavenly, all had to bow before Xu Ling and the might of his army; the army with which Xu Ling would wage war against the Nine Heavens and carve a path towards the palace of Heavenly Lord Tian!
Ever since Ren Hong's death three hundred years ago, Xu Ling had been fighting to avenge her for many mortal lifespans. During this time, his hatred towards the Nine Heavens had only ever increased, especially when coming to know of Tian's evil ways and oppressive actions: many had suffered at the Heavenly Lord's hands, so much so that Tian's title had slowly been changed from Lord… to Tyrant; Heaven's Tyrant, Tian! And yet, all those people could do had been cursing in their hearts, not daring to voice their true thoughts…
But!
Finally, under the lead of Xu Ling, those bottled up feelings could be vented! Millions gathered under the banner of Xu Ling, creating the largest army the world had ever seen! Finally, after suffering in silence for so long, the commoners could finally rebel against Tian and his Nine Heavens by following the figure of the blue-eyed youth; a blue-eyed youth that, like an evil demon, he would cause entire worlds to be drenched in the blood of his enemies, and, like a just messiah, he would warmly welcome the oppressed under his wing and kindly guide them onto the road of cultivation.
Eventually, all the people of the cultivation world, lands that spanned across multiple planes of existence, a land that had stayed underneath the dominion of the Nine Heavens for far too long, had come to look forward to their clash… The final, decisive battle between Heaven's Tyrant and the Evil Saint!
Finally, after centuries of war, Xu Ling had managed to reach the throne room atop Tian's celestial palace. There, Tian had been waiting for him, determined to accomplish what he had failed more than three centuries prior.
Three hundred years ago, the two had met for the first time. Before then, neither had had any feelings of animosity towards the other, and maybe, if Tian had not acted and planted that seed of enmity himself by killing Ren Hong, they might not have been standing across each other at this very moment. Perhaps, none of this would have happened. And yet, because of four words, a ruler's fear of being overthrown, and a child's untimely appearance, there they were; within a throne room at the summit of the celestial sphere, about to clash for their second and last time.
The countless battles, schemes, plots, risks and sacrifices had all been for that one moment; a chance at taking Tian's head and ending his tyrannical rule once and for all! For that cause, all to get him into that one Throne Room, way, way too many had died… As such, Xu Ling had solemnly walked in, prepared for a fight to the death for the fate of the world!
Xu Ling had trampled over Clans and Empires and had eventually carved his name in history. He had achieved a status and cultivation base that very few would ever have dreamt of. For that reason, when the announcement came out into the outside world nobody could believe it… no one could bring themselves to acknowledge that their hope, their messiah, Xu Ling… had died! In that final battle at the pinnacle of the world, Tian, Lord of the Nine Heavens, had struck Xu Ling down and ended his rebellion once and for all!
The Evil Saint: his strength had been the stuff of legends, his knowledge had made countless sages bow their heads in shame, his persona had gathered him way too many admirers to count! Indeed, Xu Ling had been one of the greatest… Unfortunately as it turned out, Tian had been even greater!
And like so, a thousand years passed. Xu Ling's story turned into mere tales, buried by the sands of time and by the pressure of Tian. Slowly but surely, the Evil Saint slowly began to be forgotten, becoming the umpteenth "evildoer" to have died at the hands of the "just" Heavenly Lord…
Only Xu Ling's old companions, those few who had actually been by Xu Ling's side at that time and survived, would occasionally reminisce of a smiling, blue-eyed youth, of their dream of a free land, a land without Tian…
"Ahhh," they would sigh: the times of those blue eyes, of that confident smile, of their fixation with Tian's head, of their dream of freedom… those times had all died together with him.
Xu Ling… had died that day, one thousand years ago-
"YAMA! YOU MASSIVE BITCH, YOU ACTUALLY DARE TO SEAL ME HERE?"
-or so the world had been led to believe.
Because you see, there was a secret to the Evil Saint that barely anyone had any knowledge of. And that was; Xu Ling could not die!
Or, more accurately, for some reason he could not be harmed fatally, as the world itself would act to prevent that from happening! Scratches? A ton. Mortal wounds? Not a single one in three hundred years of war! It was as if a mysterious law had dictated that Xu Ling could not be killed.
At the moment of his victory, Tian had also been stumped by this: when the time came to finally finish his defeated opponent, Heaven's Tyrant found out, to his dismay, that no matter how much he tried… he just could never land that finishing blow!
Weapons? They would miss!
Magical abilities? They would dissipate!
Step on that unkillable cockroach of a man until it died? He would slip and stomp his own foot instead!
Just how was he, the mighty Tian, supposed to kill off the annoying bastard???
The answer to that dilemma had come under the form of Yama, King of Hell. Yama, urged by Tian, separated Xu Ling's soul from his body and sealed it, after having wiped away his memories, at the entrance of the Yellow Springs: that way, although the guy would not die, he also would never be able to wake up and return into the world of the living!
Accordingly to common sense, that should have been enough.
Reality had other ideas…
Not even a thousand years after the seal had been put in place, something strange happened; an amalgamation of Spiritual Energy, Will and Qi had cracked the Yellow Springs open, freed the trapped Evil Saint of his shackles, restored his memories, and assimilated into his soul.
In the present, a ghostly, blue-eyed youth was standing on top of a vast, dark plateau; that plateau was none other than the top frame of a pair of massive black gates; the entrance to Hell! Below him, around the gargantuan door, was an expanse of blackÂÂÂÂ, coal-like dirt traversed by massive, ethereal rivers, incessant streams made up of none other than the decaying, yellow souls of the dead.
The ghostly blue-eyed youth looked around, witnessing as the yellow rivers flowed past him, beyond the black gates: there, those yellow rivers would converge into the Yellow Springs and head towards the reincarnation altars, where Yama, the Judges and "old lady" Meng (#1 Miss Hell for three eons straight) would take care of the reincarnation processes. But now…
"YAMA! YOU MASSIVE BITCH, YOU ACTUALLY DARE TO SEAL ME HERE…"
"YAMA! YOU MASSIVE BITCH, YOU ACTUALLY DARE TO SEAL ME HERE…"
"YAMA! YOU MASSIVE BITCH, YOU ACTUALLY DARE TO SEAL ME HERE…"
The shout had been so loud it echoed from one corner of the underworld to the other! As for the person in question, how could he possibly not have heard it?
Spurt!
How could the poor King of Hell possibly have ever imagined that anyone would ever dare challenge his authority and even outright curse at him in his very realm, where, he was supposed to be a deity, an almighty god? And yet, the all-powerful him had just been scared shitless, so much so he had spat out a mouthful of tea. Yama looked around to see the other judges and a youthful lady, the beautiful Miss Meng, looking back at him just as confused as he was.
Yama gave the lot of them a bitter smile and wiped his mouth with a black napkin. He somehow was able to keep a straight face as he told them, "If you all could excuse my esteemed self, it seems someone is calling for This King…"
Meanwhile, having heard no reply to his yell, the ghostly youth had already shouted once more, "Yama! Come out here, or don't blame me for being impolite! Send me back out there RIGHT NOW, YOU BLOATED KING OF YELLOW TRANSPARENT PEOPLE!"
B-Bloated king of…
Yama's face twitched as he noticed a few judges were actually struggling to keep a straight face. Little Fanguan, their newest member, had even begun crying due to how painful it was to hold himself back from laughing.
As for 'old lady' Meng… Yama sighed in relief when he noticed her expression looked normal. Of course, as soon as he turned around, the extremely hot girl collapsed on the floor, wheezing loudly.
Couldn't you at least keep it up until I could no longer hear you? As your superior, don't I deserve at least that much?
Feeling pained yet not daring to give voice to his true thoughts, Yama could only act as if he hadn't seen or heard anything and walked straight towards the ghostly figure atop Hell's Gate.
"It's about time, Yama, you huge cockblocker! Quick, get me back out there so I can continue my final battle with that other bastard you hang out with!"
"ESTEEMED Evil Saint Xu Ling..." Yama gritted his teeth, "First off, that so-called 'final battle' of yours lasted ten seconds, and all your contribution to it had been being Tian's punching bag! After he spent more than ten days trying to figure out a way to kill you, he called This King over and asked This King to seal you down here... This King took pity on you and, in order to prevent the Heavenly Lord from beating you up any further, This King acted and-"
"Ah! And that's where you are wrong! Punching bag? I was not simply getting beaten up! It was an extremely well thought-out tactic! I was slowly tiring him out! Get hit, hit him… Rinse and repeat and, no matter how many lives the bastard could possibly have had left, then I could have killed Tian in just a month or two!" The blue-eyed youth looked at Yama in contempt and derision. "Eh! Then again, I wouldn't expect a mere Yama to figure out the hidden genius of my ways! Fine! I'll forgive you this once because of your good intentions, but you should really not interfere in the affairs of grown ups…"
The King of Hell felt his pressure rising and held himself back from strangling the ghostly youth right there and then.
"Tch! Alright!" He finally yelled, "This King will send you back out! However, This King can't choose whose corpse you'll inhabit in your next life… AT most, I can influence it a little, so it probably won't be your old, unkillable body… Therefore, this King suggests you brace yourself-"
"Eh, as expected of Yama," the ghostly youth interrupted the King of Hell not hiding the look of disdain in his eyes, "Not even capable of doing his only job properly and get me a suitable body… Eh! Typical Yama!"
"..."
It absolutely won't be yours!
It most certainly, surely, DEFINITITELY won't be yours you massive dick!
Just get reincarnated into a mosquito and get squashed to death already!
Yama gritted his teeth and waved his sleeve, "Just go already you huge nuisance! Do you have any idea how much overtime This King had to do because of your stupid quest? The number of average deaths quintupled by the week! QUINTUPLED, This King says!"
"Oh, yeah sorry about that." Feeling a strong suction force affecting his body as effect of Yama's actions, the ghostly youth did not resist it and instead allowed himself to be carried by it. Just as he was about to be teleported away, Xu Ling looked at Yama in confusion, "But since you know that by sending me back there I will resume my grand quest and even more people will die… why would you still agree to do it? Are you really as idiotic as I make you out to be or are you just a masochist?"
"..."
It's because This King'd rather have a billion extra souls than hearing a single more word coming out of your mouth! F*ck off already!
Of course, the above words couldn't be spoken since, as King of Hell, he still had a reputation to maintain…
"Pfff-!"
Yama still almost shed tears as he noticed his hot co-worker Meng had long since stopped pretending any different and was actually laughing nonstop, going as far as slapping her thighs repeatedly! As for the judges, they were neither girls, nor were they hot, so they could only hang on in some way or another and hope their boss wouldn't reduce their already criminally low wages…
Meanwhile, back in the world of the living...
Whoosh! The soul of Xu Ling had bound itself onto an unfamiliar body laying supine on the ground.
Through his corporeal body's five senses, the reborn soul had excitedly witnessed as the coal-like black soil beneath him turn into fresh dirt; the air, so still in the underworld, he could feel occasonally brush in waves against his exposed skin; the sky, pitch back in the land of the dead, he had looked as it had immediately filled with countless gleaming stars!
The sky... The wind... The earth... They were there.
They were all there!
Xu Ling sent a command to his new body and a small hand entered his field of view. At first, he was taken aback: the hand was really small, and the skin covering it looked so soft it was as if water could be squeezed out with but a light pinch. He frowned, as such a hand had clearly never held a farming tool, let alone a weapon: it was simply that smooth!
In the end however, he smiled: he had always liked a challenge! And this time around, his starting point would be much higher anyways! Training a new body to desirable standards from scratch wouldn't take too long either way.
As he inhaled and exhaled contentedly, the golden spark of light that had freed him of the clutches of the underworld and had entered his body let out a warm current, which spread from his chest and then traversed his whole body.
Then, as he concentrated on breathing in what should have been the cold air of the night… he noticed it not to be cold at all. In fact, some smoke was even mixed in. As he breathed and it entered his lungs it even stung a bit... Xu Ling turned his head and, sure enough, off in the distance, he could discern the vague outline of a burning village. Although he felt slight pain from having inhaled the smoke, he still let out a light chuckle. He sat up, and black strands of hair fluttered in the night wind before his eyes. Slowly, the gaze of the child turned upwards, focusing on the beautiful starry sky above him. Finally, Xu Ling forced himself to stand up. Being able to walk again, feeling the world through his own body, a small pair of golden eyes blinked ecstatically as a hint of reminiscence flashed by the pitch-black pupils.
In the night lit up by the flames and the starry sky, a small mouth opened and a short string of words came out:
"Blindlight… Xiao Lan… Master…"
"Ren Hong…"
"I'm back!"