Kunlun.
It was the ancestor of all mountains, the pinnacle of heaven and earth.
Crimson cliffs and strange rocks, sheer walls and wondrous peaks; above, colorful phoenixes sang in pairs, while below, azure luan birds danced together. In the woods roamed long-lived deer and immortal foxes, and in the trees perched spirit birds and black cranes.
This was an immortal summit that mortals could never glimpse, even if they spent their entire lives trying.
And atop Kunlun, amid the rolling sea of clouds, a pool lay still.
Its surface was clear as a mirror, unstained by even a speck of dust. Neither falling leaves nor drifting blossoms dared disturb it. Within that pool, whose age no one knew, two enormous fish slowly stirred the water.
One black, one white.
Head following tail, circling endlessly.
The black and white fish swam exceedingly slowly.
Yet with every sweep of their tails, a ring of profoundly mysterious ripples spread across the surface.
As those ripples expanded, the mountains, rivers, and earthly veins of the Nine Provinces appeared faintly reflected upon the water, as though every sight in this world flowed ceaselessly within the pool.
Suddenly.
The pool faltered slightly, and both fish stopped swimming at once.
At that moment, the formerly placid surface inexplicably erupted into a violent disturbance.
At its center, blood-red waves churned.
The image reflected there was none other than the Blood Sea blotting out the sky above Cloud Province Prefecture.
"Hmm?"
Sensing this change, an ethereal voice resonant with the Dao sounded within the pool, as though descending from the nine heavens.
In an instant.
The black and white fish abruptly broke their head-to-tail formation, then coalesced into a vortex of qi and leaped out of the water.
As the vortex swirled, its radiance dispersed, and it transformed directly