It was seemingly an everlasting space.
The tides it brings and the twists it unravels, all messages heard and seen within this small spherical world of life.
There were many that assume the same world of life, only that the slightest differences in the tides and twists can make them more or less familiar, or unfamiliar.
They all live within a never-ending stream running deep into the infinite unknown.
One of these worlds was where this story begins.
The three realms of this world lived in peace and harmony with each other but their own.
The heavens had the authority to bring balance and changes in the realm below them while the underworld had the authority to bring mortal souls towards judgement and reincarnation above them with the help of the demon realm.
The realm between heaven and the underworld was the mortal realm, filled with souls living in limited forms. The immortals and gods descend down to complete trials and tribulations due to the realm's complexity of matters related to the heart, emotions, and morals.
And today was the very day that a god's fate with a trial was inevitable.
— • —
A banquet was held for the Heavenly Emperor's birthday in the Heavenly Palace. Many important gods and immortals came to wish His Majesty well and gave valuable gifts for his eternal reign.
The heavenly emperor's son was the God of the Sun who was accompanied by his wife, the Goddess of the Moon. They brought their many children to greet their heavenly grandfather, who was ecstatic to meet them and to see how much they've grown.
He started with the first-born eldest daughter, whose jade beauty was admired by many male immortals along with her calm and solace temperament. As the child of two gods, she was fully born the Goddess of the Eclipse.
The rest of the children were also born gods or high immortals, which by continuous devotion to cultivation will enable them to become gods.
The youngest child was a high immortal of the Bright Star, hence the Bright Star Immortal. By the others' standards of beauty, her youthful appearance was average and common unlike her elder siblings whose appearances are unique to them.
But it didn't bother the child in the slightest.
"Hahaha, Ji'er, come. Let Grandpa see you."
The heavenly emperor directed the youngest to come closer, happy to see her grown up.
"Ji'er, what outfit are you wearing this time? How come you look like a boy? Is this what mortal humans usually wear in the modern times that you call as?"
"Heavenly Grandfather, Yue Ji often wears outfits from the parallel mortal realm. That realm is only exclusive to those who are in charge of it but since it has been the center of tourism through the water mirrors, Yue Ji would go there and learn about the realm's culture."
The eldest daughter informs him as she flicks Yue Ji's forehead lightly.
"Yue Ji, what did I say about wearing these outfits? Are you wanting to be a fool by being laughed at by others? Go and change."
"Xing'er, it's fine. If Ji'er is comfortable wearing it then there's no need to pester her anymore. She's a stubborn one you know."
Yue Xing sighs and bows in curtesy before heading to her seat followed by the rest of the siblings. Yue Ji was the last one to bow to their grandfather and while heading to her seat, she notices the judgmental stares coming from the noble immortals.
But as a master of nonchalance, the Bright Star Immortal ignored the negative looks and sat down on her spot without a word.
"I am very delighted to have all of you attend to this birthday of mine. For this special day, I shall grant all the opportunity to witness the sight of the Divine Pearl Mirror's foretold prophecy once everyone is satisfied with the banquet."
As the Heavenly Emperor sat back down on his throne, the immortals and gods stood up to simultaneously thank him for his benevolence and wish for his long reign of eternity. The banquet then starts as they all sat back down.
A group of beautiful female immortals walk down to the center of the banquet, dancing for everyone to admire while the zither plays music at the same time.
Yue Ji however, was bored of the same traditions in every party event. She rather prefer the parties that the parallel mortal realm held instead, where they fully went wild and danced more energetically than this slow-paced and boring dance.
Yet the high immortal wasn't that cruel to disrespect their customs, it was just that she had a different preference of interests.
Suddenly, one of the messengers of the heavenly emperor quietly walked over to relay his message.
"The God of War has selected his successor."
It was all that the Bright Star Immortal could make out as the rest were concealed by her grandfather.
The God of War had chosen his successor?
He has never thought about getting a successor and had refused the other immortals who wanted to be his student.
Who was that lucky immortal?
Yue Ji's curiosity sparked, but soon forgot about it after a few dances.
After the banquet ended, the Heavenly Emperor announces that it was time to visit the Divine Pearl Mirror to see a new prophecy in the making. The immortals and gods head over to the Divine Palace with the heavenly emperor leading the way, while Yue Ji sensed that the brightest star in the sky had began shining unusually.
It was, however, replaced with a forgotten reminder of something she forgot to do.
"Yue Chen, I forgot to go get my dress today so can you tell elder sister that I'll be right back? I'll pay you star drops!"
"Wait, Yue Ji-"
The Bright Star Immortal quickly ran off in the form of starlight glitter before the slightly older youngest brother Yue Chen could finish his sentence. She almost forgot about the dress tailored with slight, parallel mortal fashion design!
While she was absent, everyone saw that the Divine Pearl Mirror started to move. The reflective surface began to produce waves of ripples as a light from the ceiling shined down on its surface.
Then the brightest star in the heavenly sky descended down as a shooting star, reaching the Divine Palace and hitting the Divine Pearl Mirror directly!
"Your Majesty! T-That's!"
One of the immortals pointed to the Divine Pearl Mirror, where the brightest star became a visible image on the screen.
The heavenly emperor widened his eyes in realization.
'. . .Bright Star Immortal? Ji'er's a part of this prophecy?'
He thought as the image of the star started to descend down into a land filled with prosperous residences and palaces, showing a symbol before the image disappeared.
Hou.
'Hou? What does that have to do with Yue Ji? Could it be. . .'
Yue Xing looked behind her, only to realize that Yue Ji wasn't there.
"My siblings, where is Yue Ji?"
The siblings looked around and didn't see their youngest sibling anywhere, whereas Yue Chen walked up to the front to see her.
"Yue Chen. Where is Yue Ji?"
"Yue Ji. . .Yue Ji went to pick up her dress. . .she forgot about it so she told me to tell you that she was going to get it. She left before I could say anything else."
Yue Xing flicked his forehead lightly in anger.
"Idiot! Why did you let her go alone? You know how the snow immortals will pick on her when she's not with any of us! Go fetch her, quickly!"
The eclipse goddess pushed Yue Chen gently forward for him to find Yue Ji by becoming a trail of star glitter.
"Eldest sister, the Divine Pearl Mirror showed the Heavenly Bright Star which represents Yue Ji. Could it be that something is going to happen to Yue Ji?"
The second eldest asked Yue Xing.
"We don't know for sure, but Heavenly Grandfather should. He knows best."
The Divine Pearl Mirror lights up in an array of colors, sending gold letters in front of everyone. The Sun God, Yang Tian, reads the message out loud.
"The brightest star falls, the soul of which it follows becomes its sacrifice."
As the message was being read, Yue Ji was holding her folded up turquoise dress in her hands as she quickly walked back to the Divine Palace in a hurry. A frost storm suddenly blew her to the ground, dropping her dress while she was taken away by it into the sky.
She tried halting the storm with her own magic but her failed attempt caused her to realize that the magic was stronger than her own.
'If this isn't the snow immortals' magics, then it must be Lixue!'
Lixue was the current Goddess of Ice and Snow and had a bad impression of Yue Ji because she had broken the goddess's beloved ice statue on accident when they were young children. Lixue forgave her in later years when she ascended to a goddess, but never talked to the star immortal since then. Her attendants however took the chance to bully the high immortal without their goddess knowing.
The young immortal had apologized long before, and had grown used to the ridiculous insults they would give her that became her entertainment.
The storm stopped moving Yue Ji in the sky when the Ice and Snow Goddess appeared in front of her with her snow immortal attendants.
"Bright Star Immortal, shouldn't you be at the Heavenly Emperor's birthday banquet? Why have you encountered my frost storm that's supposed to bring winter to the mortal realm?"
Lixue questioned her while her snow immortal attendants mockingly smiled at Yue Ji, who paid them no attention and greeted the goddess even if she was reluctant to.
"Bright Star Immortal Yue Ji respectfully greets Ice and Snow Goddess Lixue. Replying to goddess, I happened to forget a dress tailored for me while at the banquet so I had to leave for a bit to retrieve it."
"Is that so? Then where is your dress?"
Yue Ji perked her eyes up at Lixue.
"I dropped it when the frost storm took me away."
Lixue muttered an "oh" sound and snapped her fingers, making the storm disappear for Yue Ji to descend down onto the ground of the Mortal Realm Bridge leading to the Mortal Realm Gate pit, landing right in front of her.
"It really took you all the way here to the Mortal Realm Gate, how weird. The frost storms never take anyone away."
One of her attendants hands her the young high immortal's dress adorned beautifully, tracing her hand over the fabric.
Yue Chen was following the trace of starlight to where his youngest sister went, finding her with the Ice and Snow Goddess and her attendants.
"Yue Ji!"
He sped up by teleporting and appeared in front of Yue Ji and Lixue. He greets Lixue as his eyes focused on the dress she was holding.
"Valiant Star Immortal Yue Chen respectfully greets Ice and Snow Goddess Lixue."
When Yue Chen appeared and spoke, the goddess's hand stopped and lands her sight on him with mysterious thoughts reflected in her eyes.
"Rise. My frost storm had brought your sister over to the Mortal Realm Gate so I must apologize for taking her time. Xue Wan, give the dress back to the Bright Star Immortal."
Xue Wan was one of her attendants and one of Yue Ji's bullies. Despite not wanting to give it back to the high immortal, she had no choice under the watchful eyes of her goddess and Yue Chen.
"Bright Star Immortal Yue Ji respectfully thanks Goddess Lixue for your kindness."
Yue Ji receives her turquoise dress back from the attendant and thankfully bows to Lixue.
"Alright, you both better head back to the Divine Palace. The Heavenly Emperor will worry about two of his grandchildren missing from viewing the prophecy of the Divine Pearl Mirror."
When Lixue started walking back with Yue Chen and Yue Ji, a shadowy figure came and punched the goddess back powerfully. Yue Chen caught her quickly as the snow attendants display defensive stances against the intruder with Xue Wan speaking as the leader.
"Who dares show disrespect towards the Ice and Snow Goddess?! Show yourself!"
The dark aura around the human-like figure expands, shaping itself into a large dragon looking at them from below. It roars loudly throughout the Heavenly Realm with powerful sound waves throwing the snow attendants into the air, resulting in Yue Chen defending the goddess and his sister with a star barrier.
"What's that sound?"
An immortal said back at the Divine Palace as everyone looked towards the heavenly sky to see overwhelming dark clouds coming from the Mortal Realm Gate. The Heavenly Emperor's face turns serious and instructs the Sun God to hurry there with the God of War and palace soldiers.
Yue Chen couldn't hold the star barrier for long and soon broke apart, sending him into the air.
"Brother!"
Yue Ji screamed for him but the impact from the roar sends Lixue and her flying away next to the gateway of the mortal realm. The high immortal fortunately landed next to it but the goddess wasn't able to, directly falling into the pit.
"Lixue!"
The goddess's hand was held by Yue Ji, who saved her from falling. Lixue breathed heavily, as the punch earlier sustained her a heavy injury making her unable to stabilize her focus.
". . .Let go. I've done my mortal trials so I know what to do in the mortal realm. It's still early for you to take your trials, so let go of my hand."
"No! I won't let go! I won't give you up ever! Never ever! I still haven't repaid you for my sins!"
"We were young children then! I've already forgave you for what you did so you don't need to do that!"
"I can't do that! I know you still hate me, because you never talked to me ever again since that day!"
"I-"
Lixue grew quiet.
Indeed, she hasn't talked to Yue Ji since then. Even if she forgave her, the presence of the young star immortal could only remind her of that time thus never wanting to interact with her again. But it didn't mean she hated her entirely!
The roar grew louder and powerful, sending out a dark wave to hit Yue Ji from behind and knocking her out.
"GUuh!"
"Yue Ji!"
Lixue panics as Yue Ji releases her hand and fell into the pit along with her, the goddess holding the unconscious high immortal who was emitting the dark aura from the shadow dragon.
'Such a powerful aura! It's at least more powerful than a god!'
The snow goddess used up her remaining power to transfer the dark power out of Yue Ji, only to discover that it had already started to mix in with her meridians.
"I've got no choice but to seal it in you. When you finish one of your trials, it will slowly disappear as you gradually start to gain power. Be well, Yue Ji, and good luck."
Lixue uses her power to plant a lotus tatroo on her shoulder which seals the flow of dark power from changing her affinity. The goddess gave her last smile and faints, both of them disappearing into snow dust and stardust as they fall into the mortal realm.
Two shooting stars entered the mortal sky that day, both of which entered the Hou Kingdom in different directions a few miles away from each other.