"I've cultivated for 100,000 years, i've traveled the space of the Vast tree realm for 50,000 years, I visited thousands of galaxies and millions of worlds, I have seen the wonders of life and felt terror of death, yet reaching the edge of the universe is still beyond my grasp, now it is ending"
-Unknown human cultivator ~ Heavenly rebirth stage
The Vast tree universe, a spirit realm that has existed for over 82 billion years and given rise to innumerable different species of plants, animals, insects and the unknown has come to an end.
The universal barrier has been broken passing the critical point it can no longer be fixed nor defended.
The casualties of war surpassing over a few trillion not counting mortal lives as a billion galaxies had been silenced as a mere afterthought.
A red-pink light beam flared in the void releasing such a horrid screaming sound it affected galaxies a billion light years away irregardless of space.
This beam ignored all laws as it obliterated everything along its path before seemingly hitting its target, the explosion caused the surrounding space to burn leaving a stain in the reality of space that would therefore never host life ever again.
As for any galaxies in the vicinity, if they weren't already dead galaxies then now as billions of stars simply disappeared they are surely no more.
The beam had obliterated over a thousand galaxies with a single blast in seconds, no mortal beings could have seen it coming only for another beam to replace it striking the same area once more.
This scene took place a thousand times every second across a great scar in the void, all in an effort to slow down the incoming calamity.
Those that remained started to evacuate among their tribe, clan, sect, empires or species who hold the best chance at survival.
Escaping the various nearby planets mortal space ships left their home planets setting off on decade to millennia long journeys to find new planets to call their home wishing to avoid their imminent demise.
Depending on the advancement of each race some would be capable of faster then light travel while others had advanced to the point of inventing stellar teleportation.
Anyone else below such technological advancement was not worth mentioning in the eye's of cultivators.
Those who can't cultivate are known as mortals, while those who can cultivate are called Immortal cultivator's.
In general no mortal could ever hope to out run the calamity, it was not something on a mortal scale anymore.
Peak mortal technologies can compare only up to the level of deity transformation in terms of fire power, for reference someone at the deity transformation stage can control an entire planets fate.
From the weather to the seas even to the land below, all the energies of the world could be used at will.
Mortals could build energy generators covering entire stars, weapons to blow up said stars and even participate in galactic wars involving cultivators but in the end once a cultivator reached the realm of body reformation they would no longer be bound by the laws of mortal life.
An exploding star? It may hurt or even kill someone at the deity transformation stage but to one beyond that point it was no different then a hot shower, even tearing space would result in nothing more then a paper cut.
If the cultivator couldn't heal this may seem like a death by a thousand cuts was possible, unfortunately reality was different.
While mortals may consider planets as indispensable resources, a cultivator at body reformation stage or above can simply create planet on a whim.
This did not mean no value could be gained for such beings, simply the things such beings valued are not the same.
Spiritual Qi, the energy used by cultivators to rule the universe could only form in places filled with life.
This energy could not be used by mortals, it could not be harnessed by any machines created by them and it couldn't even be observed by them, to a mortal spiritual Qi was considered a fictitious fabrication used by cultivators to lie about the real source of their power.
This did not mean mortal couldn't use items that held spiritual energy inside of them, simply they couldn't control it.
A sword was simple, you swing and it cuts.
The same would apply for a sword infused with spiritual Qi, the only difference is that a cultivator could also extend the sword, make it sing songs, split the sky and should that sword exist long enough, it can turn into its own being.
Within the Vast tree realm over fifty thousand spirit continents vast in size held trillions of mortal souls, among those trillions less then three in every one hundred was eligible to become a cultivator.
Mortals could not see or step foot inside of these continents, only after death would one be eligible to be reborn to such a place.
Being reborn on a spiritual continent was not a lottery, those who lived life in a way that the scales of life couldn't determine good or evil were sent to spirit continents for final judgement.
The lives of mortals on such continents could only be said to be simple.
Technological advancement of any kind was not allowed for mortals, this wasn't a rule set by cultivators but a rule of the afterlife.
Mortal souls are there to be judged one last time free from all the desires of the mortal world, if one fails to live a humble life then their soul will be turned into spiritual Qi sent back to the planet they hailed from.
That was oblivion, true death.
Mortals did not know the universe as they knew it was coming to an end, living their lives in ignorance as they seek their final judgement.
Many spiritual continents on the forefront had been destroyed with all life extinguished, even the land had been grounded down to nothing more than dust.
These continents were the most unfortunate of all being the first to meet the calamity, few species escaping the carnage.
The mortals within those continents are said to be fortunate for they will not have to watch as their protectors abandon them, they will not have to know that every passing day is counted down, they will die unknowingly before they could even perceive that their life has ended once more.
That is not to say that only mortals couldn't get away, for even cultivators the so called 'immortals' had been incapable of escaping even if they used every means available to them.
Among many continents away from the calamity was a continent know as the Emerald pine spirit continent.
It was a vast continent of over 4.7 billion Kms of spiritual land with a plethora of different environments, ecosystems and with many different alien races.
This continent was primarily ruled by humans cultivators a race/species that was neither small nor large in the grand scheme of things but was not weak in any sense of the word.
Currently all living beings whom could cultivate scoured the lands for absolutely every resource they could, for every ounce of information that could give them the edge over others, for every capable hand they could rope to their side.
One could see entire ecosystems being razed to the ground, mountains and rivers collapsing even before the great calamity reached them.
This could be said to be wanton greed or it could be said to be desperation.
To the mortals that lived in or near the zones beings razed to the ground, it was Armageddon.
What could once be considered sacred land or purgatory to those undergoing judgement was now no different then hell.
For smaller powers that lived on planets away from spirit continents, they could only count on word-of-mouth to reach them on time to leave the mortal realm and leave this universe behind.
All across the land cultivation sects, family's, clans, empires, kingdoms, and individual races prepared everything they could for one last shot at life, one last attempt to reach true immortality.
-Salvations Arks- the last attempt at life that was 'gifted' to the countless races across all spirit continents littered the skies in all major cities and towns.
The arks could encompass vast areas from as small as 1 Km to 250 Kms leaving it up to the individual to fill these arks with as much possible variety as they possibly could, not everyone could afford to craft arks of gargantuan sizes so most are limited to arks of 5~50 kms in size, some with double or even triple layers to make the most use of available space as possible.
The vast majority of Arks across the universe could only be on the smaller scale due to high ranking cultivators falling in battle, going missing after the collapse of the united army's final campaign or simply running away, greatly hindering the evacuation efforts of the vast majority of different powers within the Vast tree universe realm.
But this did not stop people for pushing for much as they could, if they could not build the larger more intricate Arks then they will build many smaller ones.
If the ark was too small then fill it with space formations, if it was of decent size then do the same on a larger scale either way.
If you couldn't afford to do so, then rob your neighbor or go raze the mountains.
Within the Emerald pine continent was a territory known as the Five family union, which was as said - Five families ruling over their own respective zones as to not cause unnecessary conflict.
These five families while united in name rarely ever cooperated yet at this moment no one fought the other, while it was not so rare for them to be united as one to fight a foreign threat, it was not often that they looked so serious.
At this moment every member within their respective families loaded every resource that they had acquired into arks as they prepared to set off from their homelands into an unknown future with more peril around every corner then they could imagine.
The Five family union was not a small place, there lived 430 million mortal inhabitants roaming the cities among which over 10 million are cultivators from a wide variety of ranges from local cultivators to foreign cultivators passing through rushing to their respective homelands or making a bid for a spot on the Arks within the Five family unions control .
With so many people living within the borders of the Union and given the limited space on the Arks, no mortals will be allowed to roam the arks unless they are sealed in stasis.
Luckily mortals very rarely required much upkeep, should one batch die another can replace them.
The arks are large but not large enough to keep mortals alive while awake within the arks, the artificial environments could not sustain such numbers while traveling in the void.
Many mortal planets had been taken from the lower realm and sent into pocket dimensions as a result, these planets would serve are zones of reincarnation for mortal.
While they couldn't sustain much life, a few billion at most they would be able to supply a steady flow of Qi.
The arks themselves would act like spirit continents, allowing for those in need of additional judgement to properly be judged.
Each family had to make a choice of how many mortals to take and how many to leave behind, this could be just a few million or tens of millions it will all depend on how much one is willing to lose.
While cultivators stay awake and manage the facilities of the arks, they would be the ones undergoing the risks of traveling in the endless void and should they fail to protect the arks while its not certain that they the cultivator will die, all mortals within the arks will certainly perish.
A cultivator who fails to protect the life of one they are in charge of, it will lead to karma from the heavens.
In general cultivators used mortals undergoing judgement as servants in the afterlife.
This helped to serve both as punishment from the heavens to the mortal and a chain to bind a cultivator to the mortal realm.
Why? Because any mortal that successfully reincarnates will gift positive karma to cultivators, helping to raise the luck of a cultivator attempting to breakthrough to higher ranks.
While those that fail to reincarnation will turn into negative karma and Qi, so while the cultivator might lower their luck they will gain a portion of the spiritual Qi created in return.
It was a wildly effective strategy that hindered the vast majority of cultivators from ever ascending beyond the heavens.
After all the only way to create spiritual Qi was for the living to die and enter the cycle of reincarnation.
That is to say, many cultivators would tempt mortal souls into a frivolous life to quickly gain a bust of Qi in the future regardless of the negative karma gained.
While not everyone used such methods, it had become the number one strategy for the heavens to control the fate of cultivators.
In total the arks will collectively hold over seven million awake cultivators traversing in-between each ark for their daily needs, most cultivators being of low rank will for a period of time need to consume food supplies albeit at a manageable rate unlike if they were mortal.
Fasting pills that lower hunger and provide nutrition could be produced for fairly cheap being easy to refine in batches with alchemy but all pills are non renewable resources as such many raw materials are sourced and preserved for later use.
Eventually even those would run out aswell leaving the weak to fend for themselves, at that point all bets were off.
This was done intentionally as there are no records within the union itself of such vessels going on voyages through the void outside the Vast tree realm on such a scale.
Those that adapt to the situation fastest will be given benefits to preserve their lives, while those that intend to keep the statue quo will only suffer.
No one was allowed a free ride paying quite the price to be allowed in or provide services required amongst cultivators that could possibly be required at some point into the Unknown.
Of course these are arks owned by Five families and not some benevolent organisation, in the end the five family's will be the biggest benefactors from a successful launch and arrival at whatever the destination might be.
All of it banked on the idea that they would arrive at the unknown destination.
One of the biggest problems to be faced in the future would be all the cultivators with unsavory pasts and criminals which may have snuck in under disguise, after all it was not possible for everything to go perfect when you are tryin to escape as quickly as possible.
Many problems would arise while things that should have been left behind hitched a ride or were unintentionally brought along.
Sigils on the side of the vessels flared as they activated partially as a pre-launch test to make sure they actually did what they are supposed to.
To the mortals this frenzy of construction that happened over a period of a hundred years was an economic boom like no other.
The past hundred years had been enough time for a few generations to strike it rich, although this wealth wouldn't follow them in reincarnation it would make them pacified in this life.
"Sir Rubio our vessels are ready, the passengers have boarded and all equipment and goods have been accounted for, we await your order"
A man with dark golden hair in his late thirties looked toward the sky.
Vessels littered the sky from top to bottom as each family finished their preparations.
"... We will wait a few more days, do not allow anyone to leave the arks let them get accustomed to their new home, in silence. In the meantime I will hold the celebrations for the successful completion of the arks, the mortals we will have to leave behind now... They were our foundation. It is only right we host a celebration for them to partake"
The man looked defeated.
He ruled over the current generation of the five families for over a century.
Ever since his elders had been conscripted into the united army, he had taken charge over his respective family.
As the years passed he kept on rising both in political power and military might, eventually being elected as the representative for the five family union yet at this moment all of it seemed so fleeting.
As time passed ships were loaded to the brim with spiritual artifacts, plants, animals, materials, and other needs cultivators may have throughout the journey.
More arks and flying ships arrived in the horizon from all across the five family union joining into an armada that would being terror to any who saw it.
As mortals celebrated the completion of the arks, the last of the passengers walked onto the ships and without any further ceremony the Arks took to the sky, speeding up seemingly without looking back at all those left behind in their homeland where they grew up and lived for the better part of their lives.
Dead bodies lay at the launch platforms of the many arks, whether they are mercy killings or simply in order to defend the ark is up to ones judgement.
Those inside the arks stayed silent.
For three days none were allowed to speak, none were allowed to mourn, none had the right to a voice.
Should they speak let them join the dead.
This scene was happened in every spirit continent or large planet of every alien species, some on a small scale of less then five Arks, others with entire fleets of over one-hundred Arks to even thousands of ships for the major races within the Vast Tree realm.
No one knew the destination, no one could claim to have even seen the entire universe or even knew just how great of a calamity they faced, they had no choice but to leave.
Only the top brass of each race knew the true details all others had simply been given the choice of believing the warning of what was to come or not believing.
Should they ignore the warnings they would simply be left behind but under the collective panic even the most ignorant person would eventually understand that they should do something.
With the hope of finding a safe area to call home once more, with the hope of further progressing on the path toward immortality few would dare think to mock those left behind.
As for the mortals and unlucky cultivators who watched the vessels leave one after the other each had their methods of grieving, the suffering of mortals had only just began.