Shi Feiyang spoke with Perfected Red Staff at length, chiefly about the Calamity of Heaven and Earth.
Perfected Red Staff told him, "The great calamity of Earth Immortals comes once every thirteen hundred years. After every ten cycles, there is a spiritual energy decline. Whenever that happens, the North Star in the heavens changes position, and the throne of Emperor Ziwei in the Immortal Realm changes hands..."
As it turned out, Earth's axis extended out into space, ultimately pointing toward the North Star. Thus, no matter how Earth turned, the North Star remained motionless in the distance.
The North Star was also called the Purple Tenuity Star. Its full title was Emperor Ziwei of the Central Heavens and North Pole, Eternal Guardian of Earth's Axis, Unchanging Through Ten Thousand Ages.
Yet whether the Three Pure Ones or the Four Sovereigns, they were all, in essence, Golden Immortals.
Even among Golden Immortals, there were higher and lower ranks.
Below the Heavenly Immortal level, one's realm was determined by whether one's primordial spirit was pure yang.
Above the Heavenly Immortal level, one's realm was determined by whether one's primordial spirit could achieve union with the Dao.
The Three Pure Ones and Haotian Shangdi had attained the highest degree of union with the Dao, followed by the Four Sovereigns. Although Emperor Ziwei eternally guarded the central heavens, even he had to relinquish his position once every thirteen thousand years.
Correspondingly, the North Star toward which Earth's axis pointed also changed. The North Star of more than ten thousand years ago was no longer the North Star of today.
Changes in the heavens and the gods drove changes in the earth and humankind.
Across the earth, natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis would occur in rapid succession.
Humans and livestock would