On a nameless and forgotten Mountain Peak stood a Crimson Pagoda. A gathering of statues that sat cross-legged could be seen outside the Pagoda..

 

They were tense as they had sat there with cross legs for centuries, some even millennia, patiently waiting to opportune time for when the man in the Crimson Pagoda was to break loose.

 

In between the statues, there were others, both young and old.

 

Amongst these people bearing a weapon was a young man at the peak of his Immortal Youth. He studied the seated Elder to his right and asked the Venerable Senior, "It had been decades, Venerable Shu; why do we remain seated in this place, watching this Pagoda?"

 

The Young Immortal may have left his mortal flesh, but his impatience remained apparent in the ears of many. The one called Shu opened his eyes and then his mouth. No words nor sound came out, but he managed to speak with the young one nonetheless, "It is so we can protect the balance. It had been foretold that it shall come alive, sometime these millennia. Thus, we remain here, waiting for said time."

 

"Is this not but a Legend, Venerable Shu? I have lived for a thousand years, yet this Pagoda had remained stagnant eons before my birth. The Pagoda could very well awaken thousands of years later; why bother watching it now? We shall react to it when others do!" the young man argued with fervor.

 

The youth had been with the Venerable Shu to learn how to steel his mind and stretch his reach. But it was clear that he had failed.

 

However, Venerable Shu was patient with the young Immortal, "You speak as if we have been here for such a long time. A mere 77 years, and you are already speaking as if we are the only ones here…."

 

"We may as well be alone, Venerable? Only a handful of us are present; we arrived here before any other did—sigh—Venerable Shu, I could have reached greater heights if I had gone to a different place."

 

The young one was angered, for he was dragged here 77 years ago to meditate before a Pagoda. He was a genius with unlimited potential, yet he remained seated before some construct of the past.

 

"How shortsighted you are…." Venerable Shu spoke as he abruptly raised his head, "It appears it is time."

 

"What…?" He asked, but the Venerable stood up, ignoring his inquiry.

 

The Young Immortal was confused as he followed the gaze of the great Venerable. He looked at the Pagoda and found nothing had changed, when all of a sudden, he felt his core trembling from an unknown force.

 

Clink! The sound of a clinking chain reached his ears, and as it did, his ears hurt and bled from his seven orifices before coughing up a mouthful of blood.

 

He fell on one knee and then saw Venerable Shu stretch his right arm and then use his fingers to pluck something from open space. Spatial Ripples appeared, and as Venerable Shu retracted his hand, there was now a purple chrysanthemum on his palm…

 

'The Purple Chaos?' the young man whispered as he saw Venerable Shu take out the greatest treasure of their Realm.

 

But he had no time to be amazed as the "Statues" around him cracked with golden light.

 

The "Statues" broke into many pieces as if they were shells, and inside, the hidden masters of both, Demon and Human Races came out.

 

Those who had watched over the Pagoda for centuries finally decided to move. One after the other, Golden Light appeared, and their light illuminated an area that spanned for kilometers.

 

The young man was in awe of this sight. All of the Hidden Masters brought out unimaginable treasures as they prepared for a fight.

 

In pitch-black darkness, one man, with no power, was chained. He was aged, but his visage remained youthful. He had no cultivation but remained alive despite everything else.

 

His eyes had long turned white, for it had been so long since it last caught a glimpse of sunlight. He could no longer see anything, and similar to his prison, his vision was like the abyss.

 

Clink! Clank!

 

The chains that remained motionless for uncountable years finally moved. This sound sent ripples to the Crimson Pagoda, which he had been imprisoned in.

 

His coarse voice would not have reached anyone if this was the outside world, but from that place, his voice pierced the void and into a mysterious realm.

 

"You who have been pinned from the world, answer my call and rise… help me become who I was destined to be."

 

The void remained silent, and the world of Spirits remained untouched. The being he called asked for did not answer; instead, it remained silent like it had always been since its creation.

 

The chained man, however, did not feel disappointed. Since he threw everything away to call for its name, he already knew that it would not be easy.

 

This man, whose name had already been forgotten by him and everyone else, had lost everything other than his desire. His desire was one thing, to call upon the beast that lies dormant beyond the Ninth Layer of the Spirit Sea.

 

It was something that existed long before anything else lived. It was the being that had its body become the personification of Time.

 

The chained man once again made a coarse sound as it called once more, "I shall grant you your deepest desire if you come with me—I will grant you Freedom."

 

This should have been the millionth time the chained man spoke of this word. It had remained dormant since long before. However, this time around, it opened its eyes and peered into the chained man's soul, or rather, it could only see his soul.

 

The being in the Sea existed between reality and the metaphysical plane. It did not belong to the Mortal Realm, nor did it belong to the Spirit World. It was a being beyond such things.

 

The moment it opened its eyes, the chains inside the Pagoda made a clinking sound once more.

 

It directly communicated with the chained man, "You are a mere Mortal. If not for the connection you have made with my Realm to keep your body frozen in time, you would have not lived past three weeks, yet you speak of such a thing called freedom? Why should I believe you?"

 

The chained man smiled; he was devoid of anything else but the truth. He had no more strength he could use for trickery. His soul and body had already been dried out of every essence, but he managed to retain his sanity.

 

"I know what you want. I know that you want to get out of that place. You could have cut off my connection to you if you wished to do so, but you kept me around thinking that I would break."

 

"…"

 

The being was silent—the chained man was correct; he continued his words, "I'm a mere nobody in your eyes…I have forgotten what I want, what my name is, what I went through to be in this situation, but my emotions remain true, and what I sought after remains unchanged… I want to find the depths of this world."

 

The being in the Sea of unknown opened its second eyes, it began to think, and in a mere second, it made millions of decisions.

 

It then decided to speak once more, "Scholar of the Ninth Circle, I accept your terms. But, once my body emerges from the Sea of Origin, the very essence will be overturned. Your existence shall become the Center of everything, and you will regain your memories, and with it, you will gain my memory as well…in short, you will become me, and I shall become you.

 

"If you die, I go back to the Sea of Origin, but if you survive, the Universe shall change. You and I will be encased in the Egg of the Universe, where we shall wait for eons until the balance of Time, Chaos, and Spirit is restored. And then… the Truth will be opened to us.

 

"Like you have said, I want Freedom, but unlike what you know, what I want is something more, and that is to fulfill my role— to become the Catalyst of the true [WORLD]!"

 

The man who had been chained for so long nodded his head in agreement. He has nothing to lose if he dies, but if he survives, he will gain everything the Universe has to offer!

 

"Do it! Show me the truth of this Universe!"

 

And as his rough voice finally echoed into the world and then…the chains began clinking. These chains were bound to the very Core of a World, and for it to shake meant that the Mountain it was chained on would tremble.

 

Outside, the heroes of their age heard the clinking of what they once called the World Chains and began to fight back. They used their mystical powers to hold back the being inside. They started puking blood, and millions of people summoned Spirits to help them keep the Pagoda in check.

 

However, their efforts proved to be futile as the being in the Sea of Origin moved.

 

The body of the being in the Sea shifted, and the moment it did, every world and dimension turned.

 

Everything turned dark as the body of a Serpent blotted the globe of any light. The head of Giant Serpentine tanked the entire Universe and then reached the highest point of Heaven.

 

One of its eyes looked directly into the Crimson Pagoda, "Break!"

 

The Crimson Pagoda then crumbled and what was seen as a human body. A human wearing nothing appeared inside the mythical Pagoda; his red hair flowed as his obsidian blood dripped out of his body.

 

The World Chains slowly disappeared from his ankles and wrists. The Highest Heaven shook, and then, the people that surrounded the area acted without hesitation. They were fearful of the being that blotted everything, but they were more afraid of the thing that would happen after.

 

The chained man regained his freedom; he looked around but failed to see anything other than darkness. It was then that his head was sent flying up to the air.

 

"I did it!" the expert shouted aloud.

 

However, the nutritionless body that turned to mush didn't die. Having his head taken failed to kill the man from the Pagoda.

 

As if the world reversed itself, the splatter of blood gathered and then regained its form. While everyone was flabbergasted, the man uttered one word, "Kneel."

 

Boom!

 

A massive pressure caused everyone at a one-kilometer radius to have their head be buried on the ground. The man who had no power regained some of his potency when the being of Origin surfaced from its Sea.

 

The man then heard the being of Origin.

 

"Call my name."

 

The man raised his hand and whispered, "Aether…."

 

With those words, the Serpent responded, and slowly its body lost form. It quickly entered the man's body, and then, there was silence—the power that restricted everyone disappeared.

 

The man finally remembered everything about himself.

 

He who had forgotten everything was someone who was once considered a Scholar. He was no master of the sword, the halberd, the bow, or any weapon. He was a master of words and a genius who reached untold stages in pursuit of peace. He understood everything about peace and then moved on to the next.

 

He sought after everything and then went on a rampage to see the truth of death and destruction. After gaining the knowledge of peace and carnage, he retreated to a mountain peak where he and the being of Origin spoke to each other.

 

In pursuit of everything, the Scholar managed to catch a glimpse of the Truth, so he went after it with an almost maniacal intent. As he got close to his goal, the entire Highest Heaven stopped him and chained him to the world before imprisoning him in the Pagoda.

 

But little did they know that he merely let them imprison him for him to speak more intimately with the being of Origin.

 

He lost his strength, but with his connection to the Origin, he was kept alive.

 

Over time, his mind was eroded from every other memory, but his desire to learn the truth remained. And in his pursuit of finding the truth, the only thing he gained was something he had already known—his name.

 

His black tears flowed, for he finally understood that he would be the only thing that would matter the moment he learned of everything. And the truth would become himself.

 

The pressured fogeys raised their heads and saw a man with the brightest smile. With tears of black blood, they saw him turn to them in disappointment; he opened his mouth to share the truth of this Universe, "Ye Feng."

 

In that instant, Ye Feng became the center of everything, and as its foundation disappeared, the Universe was destroyed in accordance with the forgotten will.

 

Ye Feng closed his eyes, but before he did…he whispered something. His voice was devoured by the void. He lived a life without anyone by his side, and he died, forgotten and alone.

 

Thus, with his end, the Egg to a new Universe was created.

 

The birth of a new reality, started, with the end of he who had nothing.