The Primordial Wilderness knew no years.
The Trading Net grew increasingly prosperous, and the Myriad Races Shop displayed all manner of wonders. The circulation of resources across the Primordial Wilderness reached unprecedented heights.
Merit and Fortune became quantifiable, tradable "wealth," and the practice of doing good and accumulating merit quietly took root.
The Heavenly Court had only just been established and had yet to earn the recognition of the various factions. Still, the Thirty-three Heavens Palace towered above Buzhou Mountain, heralding the further perfection of the Heavenly Dao Order.
Everything seemed to be moving toward greater prosperity and order.
Yet beneath this seemingly peaceful surface, an inexplicable, unnerving sense that something was wrong began to spread quietly throughout the Primordial World.
At first, there were only subtle signs, difficult to notice.
On the Seaside of the East Sea, a wandering cultivator who had practiced there for years opened his eyes one morning and suddenly felt that the clouds on the horizon seemed a little darker than usual.
He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Everything was as it had always been. Thinking something had gone wrong with his cultivation, he paid it no mind.
Deep in the Western Desert, an Earth God who guarded an oasis suddenly sensed an extremely faint pulse, like a heartbeat, coming from deep within the Earth Veins during his routine patrol.
The pulse vanished in an instant. He could not even be sure it had been anything more than his imagination.
On the Northern Darkness Ice Field, a Primordial Fierce Beast that had slept for ten thousand years let out a low growl in its dream. When it awoke, it looked around in confusion but found nothing.
In the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains of the Southern Border, a Da Luo Golden Immortal who was meditating