"In my delusions I thought of myself as an elite, as someone high and mighty that no other can compare to, I crafted vessels to ferry the stars traveling the universe that none could compare too, only to find out how small my view really was"
-Unknown human mortal
The Beast continent of - Sun reach - deep inside the south of the Vast tree universe, was one of eight primordial wild lands that birthed the demonic beasts of the vast tree realm.
Out of the eight primordial wild lands only 3 remained standing after 80+ billion years, having gone through innumerable wars over it's control and changing hands countless times the current rulers of this continent had turned it into a pseudo holy land, open only to demonic beasts.
Tens of billions marched from one end of the continent to the other, from the largest titan size behemoths covering mountain ranges to those as small as a mouse.
Each headed towards the western most point of the continent for a chance to get a spot in the - Heavenly beast ark - a gargantuan ship of over 2.5 million Kms one of only three Arks on the Sun reach continent.
Its scale was beyond comprehension, from afar it looked no different then a miniature version of the Sun Reach spirit continent itself.
Above this colossal ship two similar sized vessels lay in waiting.
Each of these mega Arks had a minimum of three layers with the flag ship having five layers, the Sun reach continent had been razed for everything of worth to the point that even the spiritual nature of the continent was on the brink of total collapse.
Floating all around these arks beasts that could only be described as living moons protected each ark from any threat that may near.
Below, titans carrying planets on their backs surrounded the edges of the arks ready to use their bodies to protect the arks from harm.
Each ark was equiped with the finest of weaponry with no expenses spared, a single volley capable of rendering entire galactic clusters uninhabitable if not outright annihilated.
While it's firepower was considerably strong it wouldn't harm most cultivators at or above the golden cocoon realm of cultivation, not that it mattered as such cultivators are too few to care about.
Even if such cultivators approached the vessels, did they not have such cultivators of their own?
Demonic beasts were tougher then normal beings, they did not have a cycle of reincarnation like that of other beings, they had one chance at life, as such they were given greater gifts at birth then all.
From strength, speed, longer life spans, to natural instincts unmatched by other beings, they were favored by the heavens as the true inheritors of spiritual Qi.
It was only through the intervention of beings known as gods that other races gained the ability to use spiritual Qi.
This intervention did not cause problems at first, demonic beast were naturally stronger and more gifted in the use of Qi but these lesser beings had one thing demonic beings lacked.
The ability to quickly grow stronger without the need to live for millions of years, they called it cultivation.
These cultivators had also been taught by the gods how to craft treasures made of spiritual materials, these treasures eventually becoming lethal weapons enough to pierce the hides of even the toughest demonic beast.
For a period of time demonic beasts fought using only their heaven given might but as time passed and the weaponry of these cultivators became more lethal they had to adapt.
The demonic beasts were not originally proficient in crafting treasures but they weren't stupid either, learning what they needed they overcame the gap in knowledge after billions of years of accumulation, the high ranking demonic beasts no longer had weaknesses from lack of treasures even being one of the most proficient in crafting treasures.
Billions of species, each with different requirements for the environment they inhabited within the ark required territories of certain sizes with various temperature zones to mimic reality, every ark had to be the most advanced treasure ship they could possibly craft.
Space formations that could increase the total landmass densely packed each millimeter of these arks pushing the void path to its limits.
Yet even with such methods at best they will only encompass one third of the original landmass of the Sun Reach continent as even if space was available it would not be stable beyond a certain limit .
To alleviate this flaw every 50-100 kms of space was considered a spot to be fought over where the entire environment would be changed according to the winners specifications.
These winners would then bring demonic beasts of their own territories to inhabit this space thereby giving hundreds to thousands of weaker species a spot on the Arks by default albeit with less rights.
A natural food chain would be made this way allowing for a continuously replenishing environment for those at the top to feast on.
Of course the high tier demonic beasts could not be guaranteed to bring members of their own species as not every beasts enjoyed each others company, let alone for extended periods of time.
So certain rules had to be made that split the territory between a male and female pair, two of each NOT including the winner, the winner would get the majority of the earned territory as was their right.
If a species reproduced through any other means outside of a male female pair, adequate changes will be made.
These territories granted to the winners 'kin' would be made in mirror realms, small pockets of space that are self contained in objects or environments that allowed for reflections to form.
Pocket dimensions are considered non-conflicting with the rest of the void path marks, being as they aren't part of the arks themselves.
This allows for greater chances of a species survival as two winners of the same species are not guaranteed.
The battles would become intense and desperate but no one backed down, eventually all spots would be filled and the loading of materials and changing of environments would begin with any leftovers stored away for future needs.
Demonic worlds are much more massive then many alien species worlds and continents, such that the amount of rare heaven and earth treasures were plentiful and never lacking.
Demonic beasts which did not settle down or had ran solo without subordinates also participated, these demonic beast would be granted access to an ark upon rendering their service for a specified time, any children born before or after entering the ark were expected to be grandfathered in to servitude all the same.
No different then mercenaries for hire, they were given little and expected to give their all.
Should one not like it, well they can just die, no one gets a free ride.
A wandering demonic beast was currently taking upon himself a challenge set upon by one of the five Ark lords on the flag ship - Wandering beast - this demon beast was not large only 6m long and 3m tall, It looked like a leopard just with a red coat of fur.
This demonic beast was truly fast avoiding every obstacle sent towards it, as the test progressed the difficulty increased but the demonic creature did not slow down instead increasing its speed to match the difficulty of the test, the demonic lord overseeing the test was impressed by what he saw and gave it a passing mark.
"He will be useful as a scout given some more time to grow, given his young age we can use him for an experimental void adaptation method in the future" the demonic lord spoke to his subordinate's.
This demonic beast was one of many who would succeed in a bid for survival.
Although it would lose the majority of its freedom along with their children and children's children, it was still better then simply giving up.
Following this period of time every demon beast entering the Arks would be guaranteed to be the most elite members of the sun reach continent and the hope of their species.
Many alien races throughout the vast tree realm held their own trial grounds large or small but while many had already left their respective continents, others had only just started.
Regardless of the outcome the most elite members of each race would be leaving the Vast tree universe seeking more time for cultivation, and hopefully a new home.
....
The Golden phoenix palace - above heaven
One of the three unparalleled holy lands of the Vast tree realm.
This was the homeland of records, everything from formations, pill recipes, panacea of all kinds, locations of rare materials, history, cultivation practices along with the location of all major or rising powers within the vast tree realm could be found here.
While not everything in the universe was recorded as not everyone wanted to share their secrets with others the golden Phoenix palace still held absurd amounts of information.
Any force in the Vast tree realm with connections to the Golden Phoenix palace was almost guaranteed to be a major power of their region.
For the past seven billion years the palaces prestige had not fallen, many incompetent palace lords have graced its halls yet because of its reputation a replacement would quickly be in order.
The palace had not always been at the peak or even considered an unparalleled holy land, it was not until Heaven breaking Tamra roamed the realm did this palace rise in prestige.
Currently a group of peak grade cultivators held a meeting, the discussion was rowdy and seemingly lively but a heavy air could be felt in the air.
"Lord Debian! Do your words hold truth?! Are there really less then 5 years before we must leave? Didn't we confirm to at least have 30 years before the corruption could affect the majority of the vast tree realm?"
A woman's voice sounded with concern.
A rough sounding mans voice sounded out to answer her.
"We have been constantly monitoring the spread of the corruption at all times, we can say for certain that as the corruption keeps spreading it does not keep to a constant speed. Instead it seems to increase speed as it further devours our realm, it no longer has anything impeding its advance and is only gaining energy cutting our time down significantly."
"What of the army? Last I heard they held firm even if they eventually got pushed back" an old man questioned.
"The army is too far spread, originally the battle took place in a small gap created in the realm barrier but after the line broke, any and all containment options simply... aren't possible, not in a timely manner at least. The current strategy is to deny any resources that may strengthen its advance" A woman answered calmly.
Another ancient sounding voice sounded "So what losses are we expecting now?"
Another man sounded out "fuuh! Losses?! I doubt we can lose much more. How many heaven breaking lords have been lost so far? By the time they revive we will all be dead"
A mocking mans voice responded "we can still expect to lose the rest of the realm :)"
The first woman spoke once more "silence! We can't waste time, send word out immediately to the remaining continents to speed up their respective evacuations"
The message would not arrive on time for the vast majority as the vast tree universe was simply gargantuan, fortunately the golden Phoenix palace was not the only major cultivation holy land
While it may be one of the pinnacle's of all holy lands, it didn't always hold the title nor could it always hold the peak.
Across the universe major powers sent out warnings to their allies which continued to be passed down the grape vine until it would eventually reach the ears of even lone cultivators.
Through this even if the golden phoenix palaces message never reached its destination, major powers would already have evacuated those they deemed to have value or importance to them.
"Sigh..." A sigh loud enough to be heard across the room entered everyone's ears..
All 8 people within the chamber turned around, they noticed a man in his late thirties appear from thin air "The corruption was not something that we alone could have stopped, we can at least try and save more then half of the Arks heading toward the northern quadrants. Send out the remaining forces of the united army not already in combat, delay the inevitable for one additional year minimum!"
The man commanded and no one refuted.
...
Within the lower western quadrant of the vast tree realm the calamity known as corruption spread quickly, countless creatures perished while the land tore apart, one could try to fight one last time for one last chance but in the end it was to no avail.
Empires fell in the blink of an eye, while leaders of a millennia disappeared before they knew what hit them.
Qi convergence, Foundation establishment, Core formation and even Nascent soul cultivators died while eating, sleeping, training or even headed straight into the calamities direction not knowing it what was ahead.
The few powerful enough to notice fought for their lives only to be taken down in seconds without even a scream.
Deity transformation cultivators exploded in the thousands every second leaving nothing but destruction behind, yet these bright events that should have attracted the attention of all nearby got swallowed up by the yellow earthy dust kicked up by the calamity in mere moments .
Even light struggled to escape this calamity as it was sucked in alongside everything else never to be seen again.
But life never stops its struggle for survival, even while a continent was being devoured by the corruption a group of rouge cultivators was taking off on a flying ship less then two kms away from the advancing corruption speeding up as quickly as it could.
"Speed up!!! Speed uppp!!! Were still not fast enough!"
"We're already going as fast as we can, if we go any faster the flying ship will not last!" the man feared overloading the vessels energy core causing burnout.
This was a group of over a thousand cultivators using the fastest flying ship that could be found among the 6 states of the - Middle lands - spirit continent residing in the western quadrant.
Traveling at speeds of over 350,000 kms a second they could only just keep a step away from disaster.
At such speeds even light became as sharp as a blade, if not for the fact cultivators could ignore the laws of physics with spiritual Qi, each person would long have died.
Spiritual energy was this sort of miracle, it was beyond any rational understanding at best of times while other times it simply made no sense.
The laws governing spiritual Qi while seemingly lax were actually rather more rigid then one might think.
As this corruption spread the spiritual energy of the continent slowed it down just enough for the vessel to keep a distance away.
"The corruption is sucking in and scattering the spiritual energy behind us! it's difficult to propel ourselves away from its influence!"
"Then make a false connection! All we need is a moment with an intact dragon vein to speed away to a relatively safe distance!"
This group was relatively experienced amongst cultivators of the same level, they had all gone through trials and tribulations with successful ventures though mired in failure.
"Wind element users anchor yourselves to the aft of the ship hurry!"
"!??"
"Go to the rear! the- the back! The back of the ship!!!" The captain of this vessel had enlisted the help of even the passengers, giving orders to the best of his ability.
"Jackson! Fire the forward canons, we need enough spiritual energy around the ship to establish the false connection with a dragon vein!" He screamed his order so that allay hear, should this jackson fail another will know to take his place.
"Everyone else prepare to infuse energy into the ships core!"
No one on this ship spared energy to talk in a low voice, the sound coming from behind them was so loud that it could deafen the ears if heard for too long.
The spiritual energy around them had entered a frenzy blocking all forms of communication outside of direct speech.
"Fire!"
Muffled explosions sounded, a smoky mist formed up ahead quickly covering the flying ship.
The explosions distance couldn't be considered far, in less then one fifth of a second the flying ship had arrived at the same location they fired on.
The canon fire continued for several seconds not stopping for a moment, this caused the ship to be pushed back a little bringing each person to question their lives.
"Now! Infuse energy into the ships core! Wind spiritualist propel us forward! Activate the ships dragon riding formation, connect to the dragon veins ahead forcefully!"
Quickly all orders were carried out, the flying ship successfully speed away fifty kms before it activated the Dragon riding formation on the sides of the ship and as if on an invisible railroad lay below it sped up almost three times as fast.
"Hahaha! We did it! ride the dragon vein for 9 million kms more and then break into the void! Gain speed go! Go!" The captain bellowed with all his might in joy.
This group of cultivators became some of the few - who while caught off guard by the rapid advancement of the calamity, had managed to escape the destruction of a continent while speeding off into the void.
The calamity seemed to advance far too slow to cover the entirely of the vast tree realm within five years but in truth had this spiritual continents energy not been in the way, the flying ships passengers wouldn't even have noticed they had died.
The calamity had only sent a small tendril to surround the continent, the true might of the calamity had yet to reach this location.
The continent from which this group had just successfully escaped from, had itself helped this small group of cultivators get away but their journey had just begun.
As for the continent, it would like all the rest die unable to do anything.
Cultivators above body reformation fought for a while before choosing to run away, no amount of effort could save this continent now.
While flying ships are good for inner realm space travel, meaning they can for the most part travel anywhere there is space inside the vast tree universe it did not mean safety.
To travel the vast tree realm one required more then just technology or luck, one needed law defying technologies that would enable one to even reach other galaxies inside the vast tree realm within a reasonable time frame.
Mortals would generally die never getting the chance to see other galaxies, cultivators had the option to travel to these galaxies they simply needed to survive the journey.
The vessel this group trusted in could at best travel between galaxies in around 10 minutes given the space in-between is relatively clear of obstacles that allowed for it to truly devote all its energy simply to movement.
Looking into the storm that is known as the calamity of Corruption one could see gargantuan silhouettes rushing forward followed by thousands of shadows, it seems that the trouble is not yet over for this flying ship and its passengers.