The world trembled.
The Chronicle of Ages transformed into a vast painting that blotted out the sky, and ancient heroes and emperors stepped out one after another.
Figures as divine as they were demonic emerged among the clouds.
There was a tall, majestic giant of a man, fat as a ball, holding a tattered sack. The sack depicted every kind of thing in the world and was called the Dead Man's Bag.
There was the Chaotic Body giant emperor, tall and lean. At first glance, he looked like a scholar in a crown and long robe, with a long beard. But on closer inspection, one discovered something terrifying: his white beard was actually made up of countless slender, tender-white baby hands writhing about.
There was also a short, emaciated woman in black, draped in the ancient character "Medicine." Her brows and eyes were solemn and imposing, and she seemed to be the True King of the Chaotic Body Era.
White arcs of electricity flashed across the sky, illuminating every face they had worn throughout the history of the Nine Provinces.
At that moment, the entire world simultaneously rang with an inexplicable sound of tides rising and falling.
"What is that?"
Everyone seemed to hear water surging. Looking more closely, they saw that the painting had stretched into a super-long scroll resembling Along the River During the Qingming Festival.
People flowed through it, and villages and royal cities from every era appeared. Faint voices seemed to drift from within.
"Is that... the Historical Scroll Painting?"
Every person, every inhabitant of every continent, could hear that indistinct historical clamor. It was as though children were chanting, old men murmuring, and women opening their arms in song.
They were all recounting sorrowful historical ballads.
"Go, my friends."
The painter smiled and waved his