The sky was a sea of ​​fire and ash. Lightning bolts of Qi tore through the air, and the earth trembled as the supernatural forces clashed in the skies. Once majestic, the mountains surrounding the main city were now nothing more than piles of smoking rubble. The greatest buildings of the Blue Star—once symbols of human might—were nothing more than ruins, crumbling under the weight of the invasion.
On the ground, a man lay, surrounded by dust, death, and the lifeless bodies of his allies. John, one of the most powerful cultivators of the Blue Star, was now reduced to a mutilated being, his right arm and right leg cut off in the battle. His breath was ragged, each inhalation a struggle against the unbearable pain and the collapse of his reality.
Around him, the bodies of the other powerful cultivators lay motionless. Those he had guided, taught, encouraged to ascend to the realms of cultivation… all dead, their power reduced to nothing with a single flick. John could still sense the remnants of their Qi in the air, but they were rapidly evaporating, as if their existence had never had any meaning.
Above him, a gigantic shadow. The flying ship of the invaders. In an instant, these cultivators from beyond the stars had conquered this world, destroyed its greatest warriors, and taken what they wanted. The leader of these beings floated in the air, imposing, dressed in dark, sparkling robes, marked with runes John did not recognize.
His face was serene, almost amused. This being did not seem to have moved a single muscle during the fight, except for that single flick that had destroyed all hope for the Blue Star.
John looked up at him with difficulty. A flood of rage boiled inside him, but his body no longer responded.
— "So you're the most powerful in this world? A mere dominator?" the invader said, his voice echoing in the distance, tinged with contempt. "I expected more."
John spat blood, his muscles trembling. The humiliation was worse than the physical pain.
— "Who... are you? Why attack us? Why this destruction?"
The invader slowly descended to the ground, his feet touching the ravaged earth with inhuman lightness. He observed John, as an entomologist would examine a dying ant.
— "Do you really want to know? Unfortunately, little dominator, you are not worthy of knowing." he said, smiling. "Even if I told you who I am or where I come from, you wouldn't understand. You cultivators in this small world are limited by your ignorance. You think you've reached the peaks, but you can't even see the base of the mountain."
He raised his hand and casually pointed to the sky. "This world is just a pebble lost in the vastness of the universe. There are tens of thousands of worlds like yours. Some more developed, others even more primitive. We are simply here to…" He paused, as if to savor his words. "Take what is ours. Slaves, Resources, treasures, and… entertainment."
His smile widened. "You have developed your little cultivation techniques, it's fun. But it's nothing compared to what we have in the real cultivation worlds. You even managed to cultivate to the level of dominator, which I still can't understand. Anyway. The women of your world, the lands rich in Qi... all of that belongs to us now."
John struggled to get up, but his mutilated body no longer responded. Every word of this being pierced his soul. He thought back to his own path of cultivation, to everything he had learned, accomplished... and yet, in front of this man, he was nothing.
2000 Years Ago – The Rise of Qi
Two millennia ago, the Earth—or rather, the Blue Star, as it was named after this event—experienced an upheaval that no one could have predicted. The rational and Cartesian scientists of the time observed a phenomenon that defied explanation: a breach had opened in the sky, a crack in the very fabric of space and time. Through this crack, a new energy had poured onto the planet. The ancients had called it Qi, this mystical force that had transformed the very nature of the Earth.
The first decades were chaotic. Governments collapsed, civilizations experienced revolutions. Only those who understood how to wield this new force survived. Martial arts masters, hermits, and sages emerged from the far corners of the world, explaining that this energy, once confined to legends and myths, was real. Qi could strengthen the body, prolong life, and enable superhuman feats.
Thus began the era of cultivation.
Over the centuries, modern nations had restructured themselves around this new force. Sects, schools, and clans had emerged, each seeking to unravel the mysteries of Qi and attain immortality. The dream of every cultivator was to reach the top, to acquire ultimate power, and to escape the limits of death.
It was into this world that John was born, two thousand years after the arrival of Qi.
John had grown up on the American continent, in a sect of modest but respectable fame. From a young age, he had been fascinated by the legends of ancient cultivators, beings who could manipulate Qi to reshape mountains or shatter oceans. He had worked harder than anyone, training day and night, fighting to reach realms of cultivation that few could imagine.
The path of cultivation was difficult and unforgiving. Many failed, their bodies and souls unable to bear the pressure of the Qi. But John was different. His ambition was stronger than the pain, stronger than the limitations imposed by his body. He rose through the ranks, reaching levels of power that commanded admiration, but also fear. Other cultivators saw him as a prodigy, a being destined to surpass human limits.
Then, he reached the Dominator Realm, a level never before seen on the Blue Star. He had become a living legend. The most powerful cultivators respected him, and even the greatest sects sent disciples to him for training. Under his tutelage, cultivation on the Blue Star had reached a peak.
But John knew that this was just the beginning. Immortality, true power, lay beyond what he knew. He felt, deep down, that there was more, far more than the Blue Star could offer.
And today, he had been proven right.
John gritted his teeth, struggling to stay conscious. "So that's it? You come, take everything from us, and leave? Why let us suffer?"
The invader laughed coldly.
"Let us suffer? Do you really think your world is that important? We've barely scratched your planet. If I wanted to, I could reduce this whole world to ashes with a simple gesture."
He held out his hand, and a black Qi orb appeared in his palm, crackling with evil energy. John looked at it, feeling the end approaching.
— "But no," the invader continued, turning off the orb with an amused smile. "I will let you live with your failure. Join your friends in the afterlife and tell them that the universe is much larger than their little dreams of immortality."
— "What use is all this to you... I honestly don't understand..." John tried to stand and face the individual in front of him.
— "You are very resilient, little dominator. I don't really understand your resilience but I respect it, many would have given up but you fight until the very end." The individual approached John and looked at him with disdain.
— "How is this possible… I who have become the number one figure on the Blue Star… how do I find myself on the brink of death in the face of a single man's flick? How!?" John, wobbling on his mangled legs, his muscles burning with pain, tried to stand up. He refused to fall, not yet. His eyes, once full of pride, were now filled with confusion, rage, and despair. He, a Dominator, the most powerful on the Blue Star, was reduced to what he never imagined he would be: an ant.
The mysterious cultivator looked at John with undisguised amusement. He approached him slowly, his hands clasped behind his back. His gait was not that of a conqueror in a hurry to finish a battle, but that of a superior being who savored every moment of domination.
— "Ah, the questions of those who approach death..." he sighed, shaking his head. "Always the same. How, why, does it make sense? Endless questions, to which you can never find answers."
John felt anger boil inside him, but it only made his pain worse. His breathing was ragged, each word he spoke costing him energy he no longer had.
—"Then tell me…" he growled. "What don't I understand? If I'm so weak, then what haven't I seen?"
A cold smile stretched across Long Ao's face, as if he had been waiting for this question all along.
—"Do you really want to know?" he asked mockingly. "Do you want to understand why, despite all you've accomplished, you're nothing compared to me? Very well, I'll give you a glimpse of the truth before you die, little dominator."
He held out his right hand, palm up, and an orb of Qi appeared in the palm of his hand, this time not black, but a silvery glow, shot through with thousands of filaments of light. The Qi in that orb was unlike anything John knew. He could feel the infinite purity and density of the energy condensed there. It was as if he were looking at an entire world encapsulated in that tiny orb.
"What you call Qi," he said, playing with the orb in his hand, "is barely a degenerate version of what truly exists in the universe. On your little world, the Blue Star, you clung to these bits of cosmic energy like insects cling to the light of a flame. You built your kingdoms, your sects, your dreams of immortality… but it was all an empty dream."
He threw the orb into the air, where it dissipated into a haze of bright energy, illuminating the darkening skies.
—"What you have achieved, this realm you call Dominator, is but a small peak on a mountain you cannot even imagine. In the universe, there are cultivators who could annihilate entire worlds with a single gesture, destroy star systems without even blinking."
John looked at him, his mind struggling to accept what he was hearing.
—"What? Annihilate… entire worlds? But I… I have risen to levels that no one on this planet has ever achieved. I control the forces of nature, I manipulate Qi like no one has ever done before me… How could there be such a gap?"
A laugh rang out again, filled with scathing irony.
—"Poor ignorant child." He moved even closer to John, so close that John could feel the overwhelming aura emanating from him. It was as if he was facing a raging sea, an unstoppable natural force. "You think you've seen the extent of the cosmic forces because you've tamed the Qi of this small planet? You haven't even begun to explore the true forces that govern the universe. Your Dominator Realm? That's a ridiculous title in the true cultivation worlds. Do you know what a saint, a celestial star, an emperor or even a legendary is? You're not a true dominator, true dominators awaken their martial spirit, once they reach that realm and after reaching the legendary realm, the martial spirit comes to life and the true road begins. The dominator realm is not even halfway to reaching the celestial realm and even the divine realms."
John clenched his fist, although his body could no longer bear this tension. His muscles were about to give way under the effort, but his mind refused to let go.
— "So these hundreds of years have been nothing but dust? Am I really qualified to have this title?" Indeed, John had no martial spirit; he immediately realized that the so-called realm he had reached was in reality only a pseudo stage. This information made him mad with rage at himself.
The mysterious cultivator made a vague gesture towards the sky. "Do you think we need Qi to be powerful? Qi is just one energy among many others. There are deeper, more ancient forces that you will never understand."
John fell to his knees, unable to bear the weight of these revelations. He had dedicated his life to cultivation, to reaching the summit, but that summit was only an illusion, a mountain hidden by a dense fog.
—"So… I'm just an ant…" he muttered, more to himself than to Long Ao. "My whole life… it's all been an illusion."
The mysterious cultivator smiled, pleased to finally see the acceptance in John's eyes.
—"Exactly. But you're not the first to discover this truth, and you won't be the last. The weak always fight for their place, unaware that they are only pieces in a much bigger game."
John, exhausted, felt his vision blur. His thoughts drifted to his disciples, his friends, all those who had counted on him, who had admired him. He had been their hope, their guide to a future he thought he had mastered. But he was none of those things. Not in the face of the vastness of the universe. Not in the face of these terrifying truths.
He raised his head one last time towards Long Ao.
— "Do me a favor… before I die I would like to know who you are."
The mysterious cultivator's gaze darkened.
— "One more question…" the mysterious cultivator sighed "Well this will be the last question I answer. I am the holy heir of the Dragon God Holy Land located in the celestial domain, my name is Long Jian. I don't know why you wanted to know who I was but now that your wish has been granted you can die."
His eyes, sharp as a predator's, narrowed slightly as he lazily raised a hand toward the sky. The atmosphere around him seemed to vibrate under the pressure of his Qi, as if the entire universe were bending to his will. With a simple gesture, he summoned an energy so dense that even the air became heavy, every particle quivering under the power it released.
The remaining cultivators, scattered across the ravaged lands of the Blue Star, felt an icy coldness invade their souls. The ground began to tremble, gaping fissures forming across the mountains and oceans. The sky, which moments before had been only twilight, became a black sea streaked with violent golden lightning.
Long Jian exhaled slowly, as if unleashing such force was a mundane exercise. He opened his palm, where a sphere of dark golden energy formed, swirling with the destructive power of the heavens themselves.
"That's all it takes," he said in an icy voice.
The orb, small but so charged with colossal energy, gave off a burning heat that seemed to devour even the light around it. In a split second, he threw it lazily toward the center of the planet, like one would throw a stone into a pond.
As the orb touched the surface, time seemed to stop.
A wave of silent energy spread from the point of impact, radiating at an inconceivable speed. Then, the most horrifying sound ever heard, erupted. The ground heaved like a raging ocean, mountains were crushed into dust, and oceans evaporated in an instant under the intensity of the heat.
The very heart of the planet seemed to disintegrate. In seconds, giant fissures spread across the continents, spewing flames and torrents of magma into the air. Pillars of golden light burst forth from the ground, marking the collapse of the Blue Star's ground forces.
Long Jian stood motionless in the skies, watching without emotion.
"So fragile," he murmured, as the Blue Star shattered into pieces, splintering into shards of incandescent rock. "So fleeting."
John closed his eyes. The pain, the humiliation, it was all too much to bear. His last thought was of his disciples, his friends, everyone he had lost today.
Then emptiness.
But that wasn't the end.