Records of the Nine Heavens (First Excerpt)

Records of the Nine Heavens - Overview of the Nine Heavens:

< The Four Primordial Emperors >

A long time ago, Space ruptured and broke off into countless, boundless plateaus seething with Spiritual Energy; the Planes of existence.

That was how, amidst an uncountable amount of similarly vast lands, the grand True Earth and the True Heaven came to be.

Each of them strictly followed the laws and regulations written in the Qi and were rich in Spiritual Energy, just as each held their own Earth and Heaven. However, differentiating itself from many others, there was only one Plane which held an Heaven capable of birthing life.

And it was right there in that Heaven, the True Heaven, that a single race of Beasts was born.

They were the first generation of these Beasts of Heaven, born straight from the energy of the primordial Heavens and the Stars. These ancient ones, as the forefathers of life, they named themselves the Primordial Beasts!

In between many Primordial Beasts of varying might, four stood out amongst the rest: whether it'd be their fighting power or the terror they'd instilled in the heart of their enemies, no one was above them! Simply put, they were to Primordial Beasts what gods would be amongst the mortals… Starting from four opposing corners of existence, they conquered their way to the middle, where they met and found themselves to be equals: instead of fighting, as the pinnacle beings of the world, they acknowledged each others' hegemony over their own territories.

Each became a ruler of their portion of the True Heaven, a single power ruling over existence: the Heavenly Realm came to be!

Thus as overlords of an era, they became the Primordial Emperors.

Even then though, war did not end. Slaughter continued as countless factions formed beneath them: some rose one day just to be slaughtered the next, in a manner that showed no signs of stopping; a vicious cycle that only sought to birth itself, in the spite of all that it brought along...

Witnessing the first and foremost law of life, the Four eventually grew to reject and despise it.

The Emperors, their existence way above the rest, tired of the mundane matters and disgusted by the never-ending struggles for power, left the world and disappeared from the True Heaven and True Earth. The other Primordial Beasts took this as a tacit approval for an all-out conflict and this lead to the largest scale war that would bathe the Heavens in the golden blood of the forefathers.

The Endless Slaughter!

During its millions of years of struggle, many powerful beasts appeared and rose to prominence, namely:[…]

< Aura Dragon, Father of External Aura Manipulation >

At the beginning, It was nothing less than a pebble. Then, as Heavenly power rained down, this small rock was given life and intellect. Through trial and error, it eventually found a way to condense an artifact of energy, creating a stable Spiritual Energy weapon to control and fight with. Feeling however that it had yet to unveil the deepest secrets of this path, the weak Primordial secluded himself and began studying the mysteries of Spiritual Energy…

After millennia spent in seclusion, the peculiar beast finally created a suitable vessel to inhabit: inspired by the great dragons that ruled the food chain, it crafted a draconic body out of Aura. It, a lowly pebble, finally became a He, a fully-fledged Primordial Beast, capable of holding its own against its strongest brethren!

And, witnessing the ethereal glow adorning his new body, he chose to call that state of 'artifact' Spiritual Energy… Aura!

Alas, as the Endless Slaughter reached its apex, he who had hidden from the world ever since birth, reappeared with twelve powerful monsters by his side, each made out of the mysterious Aura and infused with quasi-life, birthed of his incomparably sharp Will: the Twelve Aura Beasts!

With a single wave of his hand: the sky would darken as countless gigantic blades fell like raindrops, golden blood flowed like rivers and the Earth would be rended and punctured...

At that time, the once insignificant pebble had long since been forgotten, and all that remained was the powerful Aura Dragon, creator of Aura Manipulation!

[...]

< Leviathans of the Seven Seas >

The Seven Leviathans, kings of the depths! As lords birthed by the seven seas of the original Earth, their gargantuan bodies alone would generate waves capable of ravishing the lands, tall tsunamis that would reach the clouds and wash away all that happened to be in their path.

Their fused technique especially, capable of calling forth the true power of seven ancient, powerful Qi brought forth destruction as, just like seven meteors, the Seven brothers blotted out the sky with their massive figures and the macabre rain of the broken corpses of their enemies…

Waves, control, time, space, macro force, micro force, and gravity; when put together, they could challenge the rest of the Primordial Beasts inhabiting the true Earth all on their own! Powerhouses of the land and sea!

[...]

< Heaven Devouring Dragon, Primordial Dragon King, … >

Of course, nobody should forget about him, the Golden-Scaled Calamity!

Once a young Sky Dragon, a lineage of all but ordinary beings for Primordial Beasts standards. And yet he alone, among the rest his species, who had never stood out until then, suddenly rose to prominence!

As regarding how… well, his innate inability to control Aura didn't allow him be on par with the Aura Dragon on that aspect, while his capabilities in regards to the Seven Hidden Mysteries were just about the same as any other Primordial Beast.

It was only when he first bathed in the blood of an enemy of his, an unnamed avifauna that had dared barge into his territory, that his hunger for heavenly flesh finally awoke. This insatiable urge led him to massacre after massacre, reappearing whenever he'd smell the sweet scent of golden essence!

Before he knew it, his bloodthirst and hunger for the divine had bent the world around his fangs, allowing him to eat stronger and stronger preys the more he'd devour! And the stronger his preys, the more he could devour!

Thus, he ate…

And he ate.

And ate.

Ate and ate…

Ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. And ate…

ATE THEM ALL!!!!!

He devoured and absorbed countless opponents, becoming so durable, heavy and condensed that many planes would tremble from his presence alone!

As a fiend capable of swallowing anything, even the True Heavens, if angered, he thus came to be known as the Heaven Devouring Dragon! His other title of Dragon King, would be bequeathed later by the other olden beasts, out of respect, and horror; hopeful that submission would spare them from the fauces of the fearsome hunger that dyed even his pitch-white scales, a molten gold!

In the future, mortals would refer to him as Blindlight for, his body, so powerful that it was capable of cracking through the Earth and destroy entire Planes of Existence with its weight alone, had become so bright few could stare at it directly. This was because of the countless essences his body had absorbed during the War, as well as the powerful blood of the many experts that had dyed his scales!

Yet, even then, he'd never attain the title of Emperor. Even he'd only be one amongst many more: above countless, on par with some, but forever doomed to remain below the Four.

[...]

[…], the Black Dragon ruling the skies, the Titan of the Sword Caves, the undying Lady of Flame Jin FengHuang... They all rose to prominence during this period of nonstop war and slaughter!

Even the Demon of the Gate of Death, Yama: he'd eventually awaken his true fate as King of the Underworld itself, the Realm that appeared naturally in the Planary System to welcome the never-ending number of souls, which had dispersed into the atmosphere... With his Gates of the Underworld and Eyes of Yama, he became the Lord of such a Realm and made him one of the most feared Primordial Beasts in any Plane!

And just like them, Countless other Primordial Beasts rose across the millions of years of the war, but most simply died; mere moths drawn to the flame of ambition. Countless stragglers hanging on to dear life onto a rotting boat, caught in a never-ending rapid; the purest law of nature, the cycle of struggle, victory, and defeat, of the strong as mere stepping stones for the stronger.

…that was until, the strongest came.

< The Jade Emperor >

Out of nowhere, apparently out of thin air, a young boy with red eyes and an inexplicable mark on his forehead also joined the bloody war, the Endless Slaughter!

A single triangle inscribed into a square, that same square inscribed into a circle; extremely mysterious, holding countless mysteries within, this strange mark was right between his eyebrows: it represented the Underworld below the Earth and the Heavens above them both! The Heavens above all!

A single finger attack: this was all it took for him to separate the True Heavens from the True Earth, and the True Earth from the Underworld!

Following unknown laws of cause and effect, the scission of a single one caused the countless Heavens and Earths to separate as well! A single finger created the world as we know it!

Many people in the future would claim to have witnessed the power of that single attack: the versions vary. One record speaks of an extremely flashy finger attack, filled with the might to destroy everything that it faced towards. Another describes an extremely casual pointing of his one index finger; all but simple, yet containing such wisdom about the world that it was able to exterminate any resistance the Underworld, the True Heavens and the True Earth offered, and as such, they all couldn't help but follow.

Such power, the rift that had now appeared between the Underworld, the Heavens and Earth, an insurmountable chasm that couldn't be mended back together: it marked the end of all conflict.

After he had done that that, the boy had lifted his head, his voice reaching each and every being in any plane and every corner of any and all worlds:

"You are brothers, you are above all else, yet we all slaughter each other for power! Now, you have witnessed my power, and it is out of your reach, even given eternity! Now that we know no power can rival mine, end this meaningless war once and for all! Despair! Fear! Hate! Be relieved! I am now your ruler and assure you peace! This is what I, Hundredth Xū, have come to be in this world for!"

Hearing that voice that spread throughout the Planes, the four Primordial Emperors reappeared into the world and then acknowledged the power of the newcomer as being:

"The word that moves the Qi; the Qi that moves the world; the world that makes up the word. Insurmountable, perfect; the true body of our illusion, a lord of all that can be described by his words, and thus, reality."

The four Emperor, thus, returned and helped this unknown boy to become the ruler of the Heavens: this boy would grow up to become none other than the Jade Emperor. His mentors and friends, the four Emperors, soon grew accustomed to this boy with red eyes and the strange mark in between his eyebrows.

He would gain their respect and friendship, becoming more than friends: soon, they became family! As for his descendants... they would be referred to as Ancients!

The Ancients would populate the lands and, soon, many more of the powerful beasts would also descend to the others Earths and Heavens and rise to prominence there; with their efforts, the scarred, barren Earth would soon come to bear life, as many different races would grow and come to evolve there…

Excerpt from the work: Records of the Nine Heavens

Author: Unknown