1 Creation
Earth realm, that's what everyone calls their home. well that is because, at the beginning of time, the universe consisted only of dark chaos, in the form of a cosmic egg.
Within the egg lay a sleeping giant named Pan Gu.
Pan Gu, the first living creature and the creator of the world woke up and stretched causing the egg to split open.
Pan Gu then lifted the light part of the egg which formed the heaven and the sky.
Meanwhile, he sank the heavy part of the egg which formed the earth.
These two parts became Yin (the earth) and Yang (heaven and sky) respectively.
Pan Gu grew 10 feet taller each day. This went on for 18,000 years, and as Pan Gu became taller, he pushed the earth and sky farther apart and shaped them with his tools until they reached their present position and appearance. Exhausted by his work, Pan Gu finally fell asleep and died.
When Pan Gu died, parts of his body were transformed into different features of the world.
According to some stories, his head, arms, feet, and stomach became great mountains that help to anchor the world and mark its boundaries.
Other stories say that Pan Gu's breath was transformed into wind and clouds; his voice became thunder; and his eyes became the sun and moon.
Pan Gu's blood formed rivers and seas; his veins turned into roads and paths; his sweat became rain and dew; his bones and teeth turned into rock and metal; his flesh changed into soil; the hair on his head became the stars; and the hair on his body turned into vegetation.
Some myths say that humans developed from fleas and parasites that fell from Pan Gu's body and beard.
Other stories, however, tell how Pan Gu created humans by shaping them from clay and leaving them in the sun to dry.
When a sudden rain began to fall, Pan Gu hastily wrapped up the clay figures, damaging some in the process, which explains why some humans are crippled or disabled.
Many kinds of myths and stories circulated of how the Earth Realm was created. but Pangu's creation was the most popular among them.
...
A dark blue sky and a depressing atmostphere linger around the capital of Ashdown Empire.
The children in the capital could be heard crying and weeping. The mothers' grinding effort to soothe the crying babies had only been proven futile.
A few elderly were seen praying in an all pious and sacred way. Towards the end of their prayers, they bent their old and rigid torso, kneeled down and kowtowed to the hills in the distance. All were solemn and ceremonial.
The people there were suprised by the arrival of Tian Gong. The people who wanted to visit their empire has been dwindling as the Emperor has been seeking rouge cultivators anywhere for unknown urgent request.
The commotion lasted for quite a while before steadily diminishing to silence and serenity again.
Even though the empire has gloomy atmosphere, The innocent puffy faces of the children were glowing with crimson blush. It was the blush suggesting their residency at the highland plateau since birth. The blush, complemented by the constant bashful smiles on their faces, highlighting the simple and innocent nature that typically belonged to every child.
Tian Gong looked around through the depressing yet bustling streets of capital. He found many disturbing things around the alley and corners. "What had happened here ?", Tian Gong questioned himself before he came here was what he had in mind.
It was strange and ominous, but was it really the cause of this baffling and strange commotion? Was it really that important of a request for the Empire to stoop so low?
He arrived at the gatherings for the request. He wanted to at least hear what this ridiculous request will be.
Grand music of trumpets greeted everyone in the gatherings. They all paused with their chatter and noise and look ahead to the entrance.
A majestic robe and a pure white clothes of an Emperor came to their view. Though with crestfallen face, dignified and an indomitable aura can be felt around him. His face is so serious that his eyebrows are lower and pulled closer togethern and his lips that is drawn tightly as if he is reluctant to tell the other party.
The Emperor sat down and stared at the rouge cultivators one by one that came to his request. He sensed one unusual cultivator that has peeked his interest.
They tensed at the stare of an Emperor but quickly regained their composure and Tian Gong noticed that the Emperor had stared at him longer than the others.
"I thank you all for coming to the gatherings I made. I am the 4th generation Emperor of Ashdown Empire, Xiao Wen. All of you may have been curious as to why I made this gathering and... how desperate I am. I humbly behest everyone to participate in a artifact search i'm about to conduct. The artifact is a spirit bag treasure of the empire. Whoever can find this artifact of the empire, can have lifetime gratitude of the empire, a position in my officials or a...guidance to ascension. This artifact is far more important than these three rewards I will bestow. This artifact contain something that will solve the crisis of my empire that is currently facing.", The Emperor said grimly and bowed down, unusual for his title, to the rouge cultivators. He was desperate enough to bow down to the commoners, forsaking his dignity as an emperor.
They were all flabbergasted by the Emperor's sincere words of humanity with in. At first they just went to know what will the rewards is but they quickly changed their minds to full cooperation.
They all calculated the pros and cons of accepting the rewards and found almost nil reason to fool them. They decided to agree with the request of the emperor and quickly told the emperor to stand up. In which the emperor was delighted with the positive answer. Tian Gong who had doubts and suspicion since the start decided to accept albeit with different plan.
'Of course I didn't say what's inside the spirit bag. If they were curious as to what the contents are, they won't be able to. The artifact need the blood of the current emperor of Ashdown to unseal it', he snickered in his mind and unbeknownst to everyone they are being fooled.
The Emperor gave an illustration of the spirit bag to each of them and sent them with a smile to start their search.
When all of them was gone, the Emperor's anger was visible as veins pop out. He was angry as an anomaly he didn't expected would pop up. He called his shadow guards to secretly put a spy on Tian Gong.
