"Do you know how a cultivation prodigy is born? First they require a soul, than they require a will and lastly a body is forged, but none of it matters for the heavens decide whether or not you are born to cultivate. The very system of breaking away from the heavens is dependent on the heavens themselves, whether you are born with talent or not depends on the winds of fortune granted by the heavens, every treasure, every meeting, every passing hour it's all pre-ordained by heaven, so are you truly free? or a proud son of heaven?"
-Pescre the valiant ~ Heaven defying lord
In
the
beginning,
there was nothing.
The concept of infinity was a falsehood, the concept of space was void the very thing that allowed darkness to 'exist' was simply reduced to null.
No heat, no cold, no energy or form of any kind, just an absolute 'void' one cannot step in, perceive or comprehend, simply knowing of it would earn you the grant total of nothing.
The word 'void' is already too much, devoid would be closer to the truth but one must start from something in order to understand nothing.
Why? Because one cannot comprehend true 'nothing', if you close your eyes and simply cease all functions you can still see the darkness.
Yes darkness the very thing that can only be possible because of the lack of something in a given space.
How is it possible for not even darkness to exists? From the moment you wake, to the moment you die darkness will accompany you.
Nothing can exist if there is nothing in the first place.
Without space how can there be dark? One must have space for a 'void' to form to create the dark.
Space isn't simply defined by distance, yes it is the simplest way to understand space but in the end what makes space 'space' is the distance between one destination and another in the end.
It is in this distance between destinations that we 'see' darkness, a void where nothing exists between destinations.
One may not be able to see these infinitely far borders in our night skies but they exist nonetheless, or better yet look at your hands they are made of a truly unfathomable amount of something right?
Every skin cell, muscle fiber, bone, every atom, every proton, electron, quark, each of these things may seem to be a single united whole but in truth at the very smallest level of creation a space separating one form of energy from the other exists.
No matter how you try to spin things in your head space and darkness are inescapable even if that space is unseen or so wide and far that we will never live to see the end of it.
One would think that would be it, the start and end of the beginning.
Nothing should exist as it should not be possible for anything to ever be when nothing can ever be.
Here the first problem arose.
If this nothing is as is than surely it must be finite or maybe infinite? No walls or borders could ever exist in this nothing or it should... and it will persist forever flawless without a single spot ever out of place.
But how can nothing be flawed? Or how can it be eternal if it never was?
If nothing is infinite it will cause a contradiction, the contradiction of space.
On the other hand if this nothing is limited, meaning it is confined within a certain area than this will cause the contradiction of scale.
As such with both contradictions in mind, the birth of the first and only being occurred.
An impossibility that couldn't have happened in a world of nothing, yet it did.
A being of infinite space yet none at all, of total darkness yet shinning brighter than anything ever was or will be.
A being that has always existed yet never did.
All of these contradictions in their own right with no answer to be found as to why such a being can or should exist.
No it was even worse, how can nothing an inexistence that isn't real in the first place even produce something? We give this words 'nothing' 'devoid' meaning in our world but in the end it is just a word without truth in a world with nothing.
Yet so it was that nothing became something.
The only being looked around itself and saw there was nothing.
It thought for a moment before attempting to move.
There was no movement in it's body. A body what was that? Move? Move where? There was nothing but itself.
Because there is no space to go, it was confined in a world of nothing as the only being and only object ever to exist.
How can nothing confine something it thought.
Yet, it did.
The being looked in front yet behind itself or so it thought? Could it tell directions in nothing? Was it spinning was it stationary was it floating or was it even there...
So it stood or existed for an unknown amount of time, time it knew not passed.
Time. What was time to a being that knew not of aging? What was eternity? What was there to look forward too?
The concept of time had no meaning here, it was alone.
...
Alone?
How could it be so sure it was alone.
Surely if it is something than somewhere in this vast or maybe limited nothing something must be right?
'Something besides I'
How long had it been here. What did it look like. No what did something even look like.
All this 'time' it had simply been as it simply was 'something'.
'I see? Or I think I see? If my sight is false than can I simply see as I see fit?'
Another 'it' had appeared to take the step it had wanted to take.
The being looked on in confusion. Was this how it looked or was it simply as it wanted to look? No what was it even looking at?
'In the end does it matter?' the being thought to take another step.
With every step it wanted to take, another self would take the step for it and in front of each of these beings another would appear to take the step for it in-turn.
It watched for a moment or it could have been an infinite amount of time it could not tell, all of this happened from thought with no real change to it's nothing.
By the time it noticed that it could no longer take a step in any direction, the other selves had each taken steps in every direction an infinite amount of times obscuring the view of this nothing it inhabited.
Had it gone delusional? It saw many variations of itself with no end in sight yet none of it was real, it couldn't touch, couldn't interact, couldn't even see a point to being.
In the end all it could do was live in delusion.
Soon it started to get a little more creative with its delusions, some of these phantom selves seemed to disappear only to reappear in another position, or maybe they always were in such a position.
It was a being without a concept of space after all, reality was as it deemed it to be.
'How can this be? How can they- I, be there and yet not? I can see what they see and yet I cannot, I can be where they are, yet I am not, I decide what is to be yet I do not'
Indeed, each step it or they took, it could perceive and decide on the next step it could and would take, from here it almost seemed like another something had been made able to move about and be independent of it self.
Maybe it felt like walking in all directions at once, so it did.
Maybe it felt like walking a path it once took, so it did.
This was all in falsehood yes but to the being it was the closest it had ever been to another being.
Yet it never truly took a single step for there was nowhere to go, it's steps merely a thought. It never would interact with another being for it simply was the only being.
Nothing besides itself could exist, not a light, not a shadow, not a...thought?
Yet it's every decision could be seen in every corner of its sight, at every point in time and...
'Time?' it wondered.
'Can I go back to change what I once thought and saw?'
So it did so, at every point in time every choice it had ever made in-between each step it made a different choice.
With each choice it changed a past self disappeared yet the line of thought of past choices it made did not end because of this, each self kept making choices as if the past had never changed regardless of the change that occurred at that time.
But this brought a thought to its mind.
'Since I've changed the past, yet never affected the present, do my choices even matter?'
So once more it thought, this time for quite an imperceptible or maybe incomprehensible amount of time.
'Ah I see, in the end for a being such as me time is of no consequence, for every choice I make I can follow through to the end or I can simply go to a time before I made such a choice and simply make a different one, whether or not it matters is pointless to think about?'
In the end it had nothing to do and nowhere to go, all it could do was remember its past choices and perceive them as if they are as is, even if nothing came from it.
At some point in time it got bored, endless choices being made at all points in time, endless changes being made to each choice in-between, and an endless amount of time spent creating a vision of there being something in this 'nothing'.
The being thought to itself.
'There is nothing, yet I am something. Something is... Something. What... Is in something?' slowly a thought formed slowly madness took over.
Maybe it was time it looked inside of itself.
Somehow.
Someway.
After an unknown amount of time it finally found space.
<+== Unbeatable spirit journey ==+>
Grand elder of the unbeatable spirit sect, Rol Varu with the defeated elders Rook and Solus along side their disciples and followers took to the skies on a flying ship made of wood.
Leaving behind a sect filled with sorrow at this loss, they embarked on a journey they will never return from.
The new sect master of the unbeatable spirit sect stood firm as he watched the flying ship disappear from view, with this departure the sect had lost 1/5th of it's elders along with many capable disciples whom had followed their masters on their journey.
Sect master Hon had yet to achieve deity transformation being just one short step away from advancing past the peak of nascent soul, with the loss of the only deity transformation stage cultivator within the sect the sect master had to prepare for when the wolves come knocking.
The grand elder and his following left at night when the chances of being seen dropped significantly, it would have to be kept a secret from the outside world that the sect was without their biggest protector but things don't stay hidden for long.
Everyone already knew the grand elders lifespan was at its end, even if they played it off like he was alive and well people would naturally doubt.
The sect had enjoyed a marvelous fifteen thousand year long history, during this time they held complete domain of the entire continent overcoming many a tribulation.
"What are you all standing around for, get back to your duties! The sect will not fall from simply this. Elder Ha it will be your duty to hide this loss from the outside for as long as possible, do not let the truth leak"
"As you say sect master"
Sect master Hon was old but he was no fool, even if the surrounding sects gathered as one to oppose them it would be unlikely to harm them.
No what he feared most was not a gathering of forces under one banner, what he feared was the loss of control from within.
The sect had lost three elders under his watch, the sect had lost a flying ship, the sect had lost many talented disciples, the sect had lost their grand elder.
All of this happened without a single soul dying from some calamity or tragedy.
At least with a calamity they had something to point a finger at but instead all that the sect master felt was an odd silence.
Above the sky the grand elder and his company faced fierce heavenly winds that shook the wooden flying ship to its core.
The flying ship was not of great build and quality, its age had long surpassed it's lifespan and now it was being forced to ascend to a place it wasn't designed to traverse.
Built from spiritual wood aged over five thousand years it had been considered a fine flying ship at the time of construction, Three thousand years ago with many praising it.
Now however the wood had many splinters, it creaked when stepped on and it no longer held an aura of magnificence.
Grand elder Rol Varu had fixed many of the problematic formations covering the flying ship before setting off and even reinforced several key areas of the flying ship but his knowledge on flying ship construction was rather limited.
The grand elder now took it upon himself to stabilize the flying ship with his own spiritual power greatly lessening the strain on the flying ship but limiting the grand elders movement to a sitting position.
"Elder Rook, you are the second strongest here I am putting you in charge of the daily activities alongside the defense of our disciples but for now steer the ship, elder Solus I heard you are accomplished in the dao of formations I need you to fix and improve the formations covering the flying ship to the best of your ability, elder Nia you have followed us here without being asked and have sacrificed much by doing so but now I must ask of even more, the pendant given to you by elder Ha, fuse it with the flying ship" Grand elder Rol Varu was struggling to keep the flying ship intact with just his strength.
Traveling the void of space was not something done by the average spirit cultivator, it required one to enter body reformation stage to travel without dying by simply entering space.
The only other way was to have a flying ship of superior build or one that was designed to encapsulate the spirit beings inside thereby isolating them from the harsh forces of space.
The grand elder being a stage too low couldn't survive for long without aid let alone with an entire flying ship full of people that trusted in him.
Elder Solus was the first to take action quickly traversing all areas of the flying ship checking every formation and crack on the wood for even the slightest of error.
He just like the grand elder had never participated in the creation of a flying ship so the task at hand was well beyond his depth of knowledge, as things stood he was hammering random pieces of wood on a sinking ship.
The only saving grace was his knowledge of formations, while he couldn't upgrade what was already there he could multiply the number of formations given he had enough materials to do so.
'I can't even tell what half these formations do, for all I know I could be increasing the use of spiritual Qi instead of alleviating the strain on the elder' formation after formation the flying ships wood was carved up and engraved with thousands of new paths for the grand elder to power.
His specialty was on empowering formations not strengthening, basically he could amplify the affects of spells and treasures to a certain degree but beyond that he really couldn't do much.
The canons on many flying ships followed the same principal, one simply casts a spell and the ship will amplify the power of said spell given that the power is available somewhere on the ship of course.
While some formations clearly helped lower the strain on the grand elder, others had simply increased it.
Through trial and error elder Solus managed to buy time for elder Nia to do as asked.
The wooden ship shook again, a green light spread from the stern of the flying ship all the way down to the hull, up the main mast and all the way to bowsprit as an egg of light formed around the flying ship.
Elder Nia had successfully fused her pedant with the flying ship, with it the spread of a verdant scent reached the noses of everyone aboard.
The grand elder let out a deep breath, he couldn't relax just yet but to the very least he could now stand.
Creak*
A floorboard sounded causing the elder to pause.
'The heavenly winds are far stronger than I imagined, have we even left the planet yet? Better have a look'
Passing a few rooms the grand elder looked at the disciples that had followed their masters, did they deserve such a fate? Traveling the void before he was ready was already a risk yet he for some reason he increased the risk by bringing more people.
'ha... I don't know if the universe is truly ending but if it is I will at least bring them to safety. Wherever that may be'
A few of the disciples noticed the grand elder and from a sitting position lowered their heads in respect.
The elder simply moved on as he made his way to a wooden door that lead outside of the passengers cabins.
Opening the door a fierce and sharp wind blew past him, quickly he exited and saw the night sky.
'Is this still inside the planets atmosphere?' the elder had spread his spirit Qi across the ship to reinforce it but his spiritual sense had been focused only on the inside.
Now that he had some freedom of movement his looked out beyond the confines of the flying ship.
'Is that the planet? Records always showed it to be elongated but it's rather round isn't it? Or is it just that I misinterpreted the records?'
The grand elder looked at the planet that seemed like a moon in contemplation.
"Grand elder! Has the situation settled?" Above the elder standing by the wheel on the quarter deck elder Rook was breathing heavily.
The grand elder took a moment of pause before answering "For now we are safe. It will take a moment more to stabilize the ship but the immediate danger is now over"
Elder rook relaxed his body a little, he was tasked with steering the ship but where too he didn't know.
Space to him didn't have any markers for him to base anything off of, right now they simply headed up as far and as long as they could.
"Grand elder is there any particular direction we should be headed?" Even so he wanted some sort of assurance.
"Go to that place, the thousand year star" the grand elder looked up at a group of stars where one among them shined far brighter than the rest.
"The chiliad epoch heavenly body? How long will it take us to get there?" To elder Rook the Sun and stars were of two different entities, he did not know just how far such a star truly was.
"It is not the destination we seek but that in-between that we require" the grand elder sat to the side as he stared at the ever shrinking planet.
<+== Unbeatable spirit journey end ==+>
Far away in the southern quadrant of space a snake like creature traveled the void exuding an aura of dominance so fierce the spiritual Qi across several galaxies trembled.
The snake like being had scales thicker than planets and stronger than star metal, teeth larger than the sun and sharper than mountains, claws that could rip black holes asunder without effort, from a single whip of it's tail space would crumble, when it's mouth opened fear spread across the cosmos and wherever it's eyes looked life would kneel in terror.
This demonic spirit being was a dragon.
In the spiritual realm very few beings could claim to be at the apex of their category, after all whom could claim to have fought everything like them in the universe and won?
Among scaled creatures none had a greater claim to king of beasts than the dragon. The only thing was no one seemed to agree which type of dragon held that glory.
Was it the western four legged dragon, the eastern azure dragon, the south's sea dragons, the norths void dragons, or was it one of the lesser dragons with fewer members to their name?
So far no one could give a proper answer to this question as dragons didn't typically tend to wander far from their territory.
This particular dragon hailed from the east where many colorful variations of serpentine dragons flew in the sky yet now it traveled the void in the south where the dragons flew not in the sky but swam in the sea.
Of course this wasn't out of the ordinary since very clearly space is not the sky or sea and as such it did not matter what type of dragon it was but it was still a long way from home.
As it continued to travel the environmental space started to change.
The sound of waves, the rumbling of the seas, space had been terra formed into a vast ocean that swallowed up galaxies forcing entire suns to fight to stay alive.
"Have you come to challenge us little one?" A voice came from all directions boiling the nearby sea's.
The azure dragon from the east stopped as it starred defiantly at the sea.
"This one is not here for battle, This one was tasked with the deliverance of a message" the azure dragon spoke.
"Oh? Don't hold back, tell us" the ocean rumbled.
"The message will only be told to the underworld serpent, no others!" The azure dragon growled as the sound of wind spread in the void.
Was a fight unavoidable? No he was outmatched here, the sea dragon had clearly said 'us' multiple times it was surely not alone.
The ocean started to churn "Really? But I am such a good listener"
The ocean collapsed onto the eastern dragon forcing it to escape before it could crushed under the weight of the water.
"Aw where are you going I just wanted to talk" the ocean chased after the azure dragon leaving a trail of destruction behind it.
The azure 🐉 was at a clear disadvantage in this fight the other dragon was clearly of higher stage than itself, it would be foolhardy to fight them let alone in an area it did not know.
'Shameless sea snake, this one will repay the debt one day' the azure dragon internally thought.
<+== Echo's of past ==+>
The fifth clone had begun to travel with the merchant convoy across the great plains headed east toward the ancient sky city of Kal, a place he would hopefully find a space capable flying ship.
While he enjoyed travelling the land he couldn't linger for long he had to find the pure one's after all.
The convoy was made up of around six hundred carriages each about twelve meters long, seven meters wide and eight meters tall being pulled by bulls four meters tall.
Each carriage carried an assortment of goods or personnel with a healthy helping of guards keeping watch over the surroundings.
The fifth clone was at the tail end of this convoy with a group of around fifteen other carriages all suffering from the same thing, dust from those ahead being kicked up at them.
'At least the journey so far has been peaceful... Although I keep getting the feeling I'm being watched' the fifth clone cleaned his face with his hand as he used his divine sense to try and find the location of those staring at him but he had so far failed to find anyone.
'The direction I feel it coming from changes regardless if I look for it or not, sometimes I even feel it coming from in front of me but clearly nothing is there. Is this some sort of advanced cloaking technique?'
"Ah eith clowe come here for a second" a young girl called from a carriage ahead.
"Its fifth clone, Fffff-fifth cloÑe! I keep telling you" he responded.
The girl giggled "Ok ok don't throw a fit"
The fifth clone approached the girl by jumping atop one carriage to the other.
"What is it you need of me miss Fe'ea?" He lowered his head so that it was just below hers, it was simply the custom of this tribal merchant group and the fifth clone abided by it.
"Well~ I'm not sure really" the girl said with uncertainty.
"?" Was she wasting his time? No it didn't seem like she wanted to simply play around.
"Eith cloune I noticed that you tend to look around a lot and uh- have a good sense of things? I mean you seem to notice things before others right?"
"The young lady is correct, I am well practiced as a scout my senses are sharper than most" to be more clear he wasn't trained as a scout it was simply that his spiritual sense was specifically sensitive, it was also the reason the spear saint Hajl took him as a disciple.
"Well can you sense something for me?" She asked in a lower tone.
Sensing she did not want to be heard he drew his ear closer.
Whispering into his ear she said "I feel something looking at us" The fifth clone showed no change on his face
'Can she also sense it? She isn't even a foundation establishment cultivator yet. No that's not important right now, is she sensing the same thing as me or something different? Either way I can't show it'
"I see, I will find those rings for you young miss. Worry not I'll be discreet" he lowered his head and headed back to his carriage.
'The little miss is only at the 4th level of Qi gathering, is this weird feeling I'm getting because of my over sensitive spiritual sense or does it have to do with her age? Should I ask some of the other children in the convoy as well?'
The fifth clone was unsure, such actions would naturally draw the attention of others.
'I am only a late stage foundation establishment practitioner, compared to master I am nothing. However masters spear will enable me to use power similar to a peak stage golden core spirit for a brief moment, whatever comes I must not reveal this until the end' Was danger ahead or was it simply - 'No'.
'I do not make guesses, any error on my part could lead to injury similar to masters. I cannot allow myself to fall into the grasp of corruption, I will prepare according' the fifth clone grasped his spear firmly.