Jianmu was the core of Jianmu World Island, the World Tree that supported heaven and earth. No matter where you were in this vast world, you could see its outline simply by looking up, as if it stood at an immeasurable height, magnificent and majestic.
As people gazed up at Jianmu, they could also see a wooden dragon coiled around its branches.
When the dragon's head emerged from Jianmu's foliage to gaze down upon the world, its eyes became the sun and brought light to the world. When it retreated behind the leaves, night fell.
Everything in the entire world revolved around Jianmu and the wooden dragon. Together, they were the true heart of this world.
When Jianmu World Island had first risen, the divine battle between the wooden dragon and an invading High God had won the island tremendous renown and brought it peace that had lasted to this day.
However, the wooden dragon was lazy. It usually stayed atop Jianmu and rarely moved.
The day-to-day administration was left to the other ten true gods. Among them, Wood Fruit and Wood Leaf—innate deities born from Jianmu—held the highest standing. The remaining eight had joined over time. They were powerful deities with an affinity for nature, and had earned recognition from Jianmu and the wooden dragon.
Each was a formidable deity, already renowned before joining.
Ordinarily, even among the subordinate deities of a common High God, it might be difficult to find one with this level of strength. Yet here, they were gathered in numbers—a testament to the deep foundations of Jianmu World Island itself.
But in recent years, after Jianmu World Island had enjoyed too long a period of comfort, troubling signs had begun to emerge within it. In the past decade, there had already been three major incidents