For a stretch of days, incidents erupted one after another across the land. Strange objects fell from the heavens, unusual treasures emerged, demons broke free of their seals, and heaven and earth underwent drastic changes.
Even the North Sea gradually began to show ominous signs.
No sooner had Nie Yingzhi seen the reports coming in from various quarters than he learned from the local City Gods that investigations had found no evidence of the previously reported anomalies at the energy-vein nodes. Nothing there appeared different from normal.
Only the surrounding spiritual energy and Heaven-and-Earth Origin Energy had undergone some alteration, seemingly becoming turbid.
Comparing this against the ten omens of doomsday, Nie Yingzhi recognized it as a portent of the five turbidities evil world.
The shifting of stars, the collapse of heaven and earth, and the other omens did not necessarily mean literal changes to the stars, the land, or the sky.
Rather, they referred to changes in cultivators' fates and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
One day, a confidential letter arrived from the western North Sea. The White Sand Commerce Guild, under Luo Jingwei's control, had discovered abnormal celestial phenomena in several places.
Such things had become commonplace lately. Mortal people everywhere frequently saw the sky turn crimson, as though stained with blood, or fire clouds fill the heavens like blazing flames, or smog shroud the world in darkness. There was really nothing novel about it.
Yet as Nie Yingzhi continued reading, he noticed something amiss.
"Primordial murk, with foul odors emerging from time to time, like the stench of fish?"
Before long, he summoned several advisers to discuss the matter and ask their opinions.
One dismissed it. "Sect Master, the North Sea has many island kingdoms, and island kingdoms have many harbors. What's so strange about