Three millions years ago.
A domineering figure could be seen flying freely in the sky, his long hair fluttering with the wind.
Blood covered his body from top to bottom yet it couldn't even reduce part of the domineering aura that was emitted from him.
He crossed half of the immortal world splitting the sky in half by his one charge.
His aura alone seemed to make Heaven and earth tremble.
His one charge crossed half the world stopping only when reaching what seemed like a limitless forest with an inconspicuous purple willow tree at its depth.
He had just destroyed the Celestial Court and obtained the Three Keys of Destiny as well as the Domain of Life and Death yet even that wasn't enough for him.
The Tree sensed his arrival and revealed its Rank 9 Aura to deter him yet it merely felt like a gust of wind to him, even seeing a legendary existence in front of him, he remained completely unmoved.
"You dare call yourself the Tree of eternal life!"
His red eyes shined with red light, he didn't seem too serious despite facing a Rank 9 existence which countless would tremble before.
He didn't move nor approach the tree, only waving his hand.
One movement of his hand and the entirety of millions of kilometers that Tree of eternal life ruled was annihilated instantly!
All its beings, the beings that walked, that flew, that swam, that had their own ecosystem, all with their own special powers and attributes. All annihilated.
All the divine trees, All the special ecosystems, All the laws of Heaven and earth. All annihilated.
Even the earth itself overturned from its depths spreading bottomless ravines and abysses all over the hundreds of thousands of miles around it.
One movement of his hands annihilated everything.
Only the Tree of eternal life remained in what used to be an entire region filled with life.
This figure however wasn't surprised.
From the Tree, Hundreds of thousands of figures began to emerge before soaring in the sky, they looked ethereal and purpleish before they turned into flesh bodies and soared trying to defend the Tree. All were existences in the 8th rank.
The figure only waved its hand.
All annihilated.
"Fang Yuan! Please Let it go! Why waste time here! the Tree of eternal life cannot be destroyed by you anyway!!"
A bloody figure that only had its upper body left showed up far away behind him before speaking.
"The Gate of Destiny is before you! why waste time on this insignificant worm." the figure spoke trying to deter him.
Fang Yuan however spoke : "A supreme immortal emperor is begging me to spare this tree hehehe, I didn't expect you to survive."
The figure felt absolutely humiliated, it gritt its teeth while gasping for air.
Six million years of accumulation in the Celestial Court.
The First Era of 5 Immortal Emperors.
The Celestial Court was nearly omnipotent yet it was all destroyed by this one man! it was over, the righteous path couldn't recover anymore!
Primordial Demon sneered : "The Tree of eternal life was supposed to contain unimaginable secrets of eternity yet in the end it was nothing but a worthless worm! You call endless illusion realms eternal life?!"
"We both know that you cannot destroy the Tree of eternal life." the figure haggardly spoke before he laughed in his pathetic state.
"You cannot destroy the Tree of eternal life because you do not believe in it!"
Fang Yuan already knew, the Tree of eternal life or rather the Tree of souls both existed and did not exist at the same time.
it was a supreme unique creation Heaven and earth that has existed for countless years and was considered a secluded Domain of Heaven and earth.
It existed without physically existing and it was invulnerable against those that didn't believe in it as if it were just a dream.
Fang Yuan didn't desire to destroy it nor did he care, he merely wanted to curb the future generations from settling for such a cheap option.
"Either attain immortality or Die."
The Tree of souls could create endless dream realms that were extremely realistic, it could create millions if not billions of them using its own consciousness.
The Tree allowed those desparate and near death to choose a cheap option to escape death and they could all live within it as long as they passed its test.
Not only that, once one was apart of it, they would experience such Bliss that they would never dare to step out of it, let alone stepping from illusory heavenly realms into this ruthless world.
This made a lot of people enslaved to this Tree and its morality, not even daring to look beyond it.
People's ultimate dream would be the Tree of eternal life, no one desired to die after all.
Although the survival rate wasn't substantial, it was still overwhelming and a huge part of humanity settled their dreams of eternal life for this cheap option.
Even this pathetic immortal emperor that wanted to stop him desired and believed he could enter the domain of the Tree of eternal life to survive since his body was already injured beyond repair.
The Tree had such nickname because as long as one merged their consciousness with the Tree, they would have unlimited lifespan as long as the Tree was still alive as they would become part of the Tree's consciousness forever.
Fang Yuan knew he could destroy the Tree if he exerted himself but he couldn't care less.
He descended.
Walking slowly.
Step by step, until he reached Tree.
The Tree didn't move, it knew it couldn't take him down even if it suicided.
He moved before placing his hand on the trunk of the Tree, the Tree was ethereal and untouchable by him since he didn't believe in it making his hand passed through it as if it didn't exist.
Yet this was more than enough.
"Let's see whose the Emperor of illusions."
All types of multicolored dao marks rippled as runes appeared on the top of his skin, they spread rapidly enveloping the surrounding hundred of thousands of kilometers, not slipping a single centimeter.
They looked like multi-colored nets, in them all types of paths were merged : Heaven path, Earth path, Human path, Wisdom path, Dream path, Chaos path, Shadow path, Space path, Time path, Rule path, Law path, Qi path, Light path, Darkness path, Soul path, illusion path, Lightning path, Refinement path, Formation path, Transformation path, Yin and Yang path....
The formation surrounded the whole region.
Fang Yuan slowly closed his hand before clenching it.
Immediately! the whole net that surrounded the whole region resonated and rose up sending ripples throughout time and space before closing in and on itself using a heaven-shaking power to envelop the entire hundreds of thousands of kilometers around the periphery before finally closing and enveloping the Tree of eternal life permeating every fiber in its being effectively encompassing it and fixing its space-time existence in one moment as all types of dao runes surfaced on it making it physical again.
The world shook!
Time and Space twisted, it even seemed Time would move backwards and forward randomly as well as stop at times.
Space cracked like glass, it seemed as if the very foundation of existence in the immortal world was shaken.
"I curse you with two million years of slumber that you may experience true darkness."
Fang Yuan only put his hand on the trunk.
His eyes shone before the Tree vanished like thin air.
It could still be perceived before by high enough existences but it now it completely disappeared as if it never existed and entered what seemed like an eternal slumber.
"Time to go check out the Door of Destiny."
...
All over the Celestial Court, Black flames raged consuming everything around the entire realm.
They devoured everything annihilating everything in sight.
Divine Mountains and Lakes, Beautiful sceneries straight from Heaven now looked like a Hellish realm of death energy.
The remaining Immortal Emperors who bore the Heaven's will tried their absolute best to curb its expansion yet it seemed it was inevitable that the Black flames will consume everything in the Celestial court and even risk seeping outside.
"Fuck! There is no doubt about it! this is the Primordial Chaos!"
Upon hearing him the only remaining Immortal Emperor's heart sank!
The Celestial Court had its own Dimension, its own world with its own enclosed heavenly realm seperate from the world.
"If this seeps outside the Celestial Court, not only Humanity but the whole world will be in danger!" a female voice echoed.
"Yeah. it is inevitable, Uraya, escape! I will activate the self-destruct mechanism and sacrifice the Celestial Court to ensure the eradication of the Primordial Chaos!"
"What?! are you insane, are you planning to destroy this entire realm with all the beings that live here?! Destroying the millions of years foundation of our Celestial court!"
"Immortal Empress! This is an order! Uraya, please listen to me, take with you the survivors and escape! look for Empress Hong Tian, she should still be alive! I will remain here making sure no Primordial chaos seeps to the outside world."
"What?! are you insane?! please tell me you're joking, you won't leave me behind?! right Yang Chen?! please atleast come with me. you can activate the self-destruct mechanism and still escape!"
"Purple lotus immortal venerable is already dead, Empreror Chen Fei is already dead, Emperor Wu zhen has chased the Primordial demon and is probably already dead. Fang Yuan has already taken the Domain of Life and Death as well the Three keys of Destiny."
He continued : "Our Loss is certain, even the Garden of eden has been destroyed, all we can do is leave behind the seeds for the future generations. Dying today or in a few centuries later changes nothing, the Celestial Court we inherited from the Venerables of Humanity for million of years, all our Ancestors and their legacy has been lost!"
Tears streamed out of his eyes but he held them back :
"However we musn't Lose Hope! As long as hope no matter how small, no matter how fragile remains, all our sacrifices would have been worth it!"
As long as we can protect that small flickering spark of humanity, one day! it will ignite into a small fire, one day, it will consume some fallen branches and turn into a beautiful flame and one day, it will consume the wood of Heaven and earth and ignite into majestic fire burning in a brilliant blaze lighting up the whole world!
One day! One day! we will surely rise up again!
I cannot risk the Primordial Chaos seeping outside, I'm sorry Uraya, Farewell. This is the end."
As he said his last words he couldn't help but wipe his tears, turn and smile at Uraya before rushing towards the depths of the Celestial court.
His eyes turned cold, almost inhuman as an intense resolution became apparent in his eyes.
In that moment, he cared neither for Uraya nor the Celestial Court, only to curb the Calamity that the Primordial Demon had unleashed!
Uraya could only hold back her tears yet she couldn't help but cry, rushing to save the survivors with her uptmost effort before finally teleporting out of the Celestial Court.
As soon as they teleported outside, a deafening explosion that encompassed the entire world rang!
However the explosion was contained and did not damage any of the surroundings, it looked like a formless force stopped the explosion as well as encompassed the Celestial Court before vanishing like thin air.
The entire world was shaken!
The Celestial Court, the Symbol of Humanity and its rise in the immortal lands at its peak with 5 Immortal Emperors, the organisation that paved the road of Humanity in this ruthless world had been destroyed!
Immortal Empress Uraya could only float in the sky, looking at the place where the Celestial Court used to exist.
She whimpered as tears ran down her face, she could only mumble : "Please, save us "Ara"
Empress Hong Tian layed on the ground, she was heavily injured and only looked at the sky before she stretched her hands as if to touch the stars or try to grasp what remained from the Celestial Court.
Yet her hand could only stretch before falling as light faded from her eyes.