Forty-nine years after the collapse of the heavens.

In the pitch-black sky, the lone moon hangs solitary.

Since that grand cataclysm, the Stars have fallen.

Between heaven and earth, apart from this disintegrating cycle, there remains only a sliver of crescent moon, with no other light source.

On the contrary, in the deepest recesses of the very distant land, where all the Stars have fallen, at the center of the ’Heavenly Pool’ at the end of the Heavenly Sea’s turbulent waves, there exists a shadow like a candle flame, releasing a dim bluish-purple radiance.

This light seems to be the remnants of the Sun, yet also like twinkling Stars, it is distantly opposite the solitary moon, rising with ten thousand rays, illuminating in all directions.

Between the sky’s moon and the earth’s stars, the endlessly fragmented Sky Island clusters formed from the shattered lands of the Great Wilderness bathe thus in eternal light and darkness.

Without the Sun, the Great Wilderness Realm, it’s hard to call it perpetual night, as the light of the crescent moon and the stars of the abyss still illuminate book pages, people walking on the Path can still see each other’s faces.

But if you were to call it eternal day, it would be even less fitting, for the light cannot even illuminate the distant mist, let alone the murky white cloud sea churning at the edge of the Sky Island, and beyond the cloud sea, the other Sky Islands still steeped in eternal darkness.

Their depths are dim and obscure, like a night that refuses to be awakened, like a kind of...

Profound fear.

The Great Wilderness.

At the edge of the Day Realm, in a corner of the Dusk Ring archipelago.

A seemingly unremarkable rhombus-shaped Sky Island.

Several hills encircle the highest mountain at the center of the Sky Island, the bodies of the hills and the mountain are dotted with numerous caves, spewing heat, as if something inside is burning.

Between the hills and mountain, water flows in torrents.

Using the river as a source, dense Arrays spread across the hills and mountain like a dragon’s Scale Armor, these Arrays flash in varying colors, from afar they resemble rainbows etched on the earth, and their effects vary; some can fortify the mountain’s structure, some can enhance the Power of registered entities, some can restore vitality, and some can accelerate Spiritual Fiend flow.

But more of them are the Arrays that permeate the depths of the mountains, reinforced together with all other Array effects.

Their effect is quite simple.

It is to ’glow’.

At this moment, this mountain shaped like a Sword Blade is glowing, the light bursting from the caves and mountain body like sharp swords, shredding the nearby dimness.

Numerous Sword Lights form jagged teeth, slicing open the domain of the Dark Realm, and the boundary of the Day Realm therefore stabs violently deeper into the darkness.

"The Fire Seed has been ignited!"

A cheer rings out from within the mountain: "We did it!"

—This is the edge of habitable land, a twilight place barely illuminated by light.

Since the heavens collapsed and the Sun fell during Candle Day, the lands of the Great Wilderness shattered, becoming boundless Sky Islands, the world lost the light capable of illuminating it entirely, only a semicircular area centered on the ’Heavenly Pool Candle Star’ had bright enough light.

The surviving humans, dragons, Qilin, and phoenixes huddled together in this area, helping each other.

It’s somewhat amusing to say — the conflict among the four clans stretched for hundreds of thousands of years, each clan held a Blood Sea vendetta against another, each had an absolutely reasonable Cause and Effect for creating bloodshed.

This intricate web of Cause and Effect, those hatreds, betrayals, honors, vows, and forgiveness, and the hate towards forgiveness itself, had long brewed into a murky liquor impossible to unravel, just one sip could drag even the most sober and rational person into a dream whirlpool beyond their control.

No one originally could escape this vortex.

No clan of the four could truly achieve ultimate victory, none could dominate this World alone, no matter which side, none would ever permit one-sided triumph.

They would rather all lose together than allow one side to win, reaching a pointless end.

And the supreme Heavenly Demon would descend in this void.

This was the predetermined result.

However...

Humans cannot, but a sword can.

When the Evil Suppressing Sword and the subsequent world-altering transformations it brought killed seventy percent of the population of the Great Wilderness, and the strongest above all [Astral Spirits] were forced to ascend to the Great Void, the wars of all clans were forcibly paused.

In the end, it’s humans who carry hatred and the past.

As long as enough people are killed, killed with no time or attention for anything else, killed so that legacies and memories cannot be passed down, killed so that history is fragmented, then even the most unlikely things will be forced to happen.

Just like now, the exhausted four clans have long forgotten hatred and join hands, sincerely cooperating.

For survival, and also for the future.

Enveloped layer upon layer by Arrays, the inscribed mountain is gradually becoming crystal clear, with each uttered prayer, the incense and thought power from distant Sky Islands, and the light from the star of the Heavenly Pool are guided by the altar at the mountain’s core, injected into the core of the Sky Island, causing the bluish-purple light to grow increasingly strong and dazzling.

If nothing goes wrong, this Sky Island will become a small Sun capable of illuminating 118 surrounding Sky Islands, it already is; its radiance has already pierced through the mists of the Dark Realm, though the light is not strong enough to fully sweep away those shadows.

Forty-nine years have passed, people have explored the known world of significant Transformation, the ’Day Realm’, and have arrived at the world boundary named the ’Dusk Realm’.

Light and warmth are precious, Sky Islands suitable for habitation are crowded and scarce, and on this basis, exploration is an inevitable matter.