This was a withered, desolate stretch of primordial wilderness, filled with countless great mountains and endless mountain ranges.
In the heavens, the sun shone round and bright, its warmth nurturing all that existed in the world.
It hung high overhead, and by all rights the land should have been bright with daylight. Yet everywhere its light reached lay in gloom, as though dusk had fallen.
It seemed utterly devoid of life.
"Splash, splash..."
This was a strange region. A closer look revealed that all the primordial wilderness, all those sprawling mountain ranges, were drifting upon a great river formed of red liquid, a sight both mysterious and terrifying.
Following the red river with one's gaze, one could see a mound in this strange region. It resembled an unremarkable ancient grave, one that seemed to have lain split open for a considerable span of years.
Under a searching gaze, that place should have appeared sinister. In truth, however, it seemed incomparably sacred, for the faint light revealed that it alone remained unstained by the bloody waters, which did not approach it.
It stood utterly apart from its surroundings.
Following the bloody waters closer, one could see a living being in that inconspicuous, split-open ancient grave, gazing blankly at the sky with no light in his eyes.
He hugged his knee with one hand and held a Rotten Wooden Box in the other. His head tilted to one side, he maintained that pose as he stared at the sun high above, motionless as a statue.
"Xi..." The living being seemed to have endured since time immemorial, and his voice, too, seemed to echo from the distant ages into the present, steeped in the epic weight of time.
When he first saw that self-luminous source of light hanging in the heavens, he had not known what it was or what to call it. But at some later moment, a word had stirred in his mind.
Sun.
That seemed to be the name of the self-luminous source hanging in the heavens, and what it rightly ought to be called. No matter how time flashed past, its name could not be changed.
Meanwhile, as he gazed at the sun for long stretches, a single word had also stirred within his heart at some point.
Xi.
This seemed to be a very important word, one connected to the self-luminous source called the sun. Yet however he pondered or puzzled over it, he could not recall any more specific meaning.
"Who am I..." The living being had been pondering this in a place where time seemed frozen. The sound he had uttered earlier had merely slipped out unconsciously after he stared at the sun for too long.
He did not know where he was, why he was here, or even what he was.
He had forgotten a great deal.
As time passed, the living being gradually withdrew the hand hugging his knee, then placed both hands on the Rotten Wooden Box, as though activating some sort of switch.
The next moment, his figure vanished from beneath the sunlight. He arrived in an unknown place, appearing before a magnificent ancient temple.
It was steeped in the weathered weight of history!
Clearly, this ancient temple had extraordinary origins. Though built entirely of wood, it shimmered with showers of light, dazzling beyond measure and incomparably sacred.
It was almost time.
Of course, this did not mean some unusual moment was approaching. Rather, he sensed that his time outside for a "breath of air" had come to an end.
The living being did not know where he was, why he was here, or even what he was, but he knew his body was not in very good condition.
He had once found this feeling absurd. During his long stretches of gazing at the sun, many words and phrases had sprung forth and touched his mind, gradually giving him memories of something called "common sense."
And by the reasoning of "common sense," he had found no wounds on his body, nor any symptoms of discomfort. Thus, he had believed himself perfectly healthy, with no need to heed that feeling.
However...
"Rumble..."
As though sensing the living being's arrival, the ancient temple emitted unusual fluctuations, stirring up activity he did not understand.
At the same time,
The inconspicuous, split-open ancient grave outside also stirred. Some kind of rhythmic sound emerged from the Rotten Wooden Box, shaking the already cracked grave until its fissure widened further. And after this melody rang out, the red river waters flowing around this place began to boil as well, as though alive, as though "vomiting blood."
Clearly, this Rotten Wooden Box had tremendous origins and possessed unfathomable power. It seemed that both the red river's change of course as it flowed past this place and the great grave's splitting were deeply connected to it.
"Quiet down..." The living being experienced an emotion known in "common sense" as "irritation."
This scene had played out more than once. He had once thought the melody sounded like celestial music amid the silence, but after hearing it far, far too often, he now found the long, narrow object terribly noisy.
As though hearing his words, or perhaps sensing his mood, the Rotten Wooden Box stopped making sounds and fell silent.
At this, the living being experienced an emotion known in "common sense" as "surprise." He had said those words a hundred times, if not a thousand, yet only this once had it "yielded."
Strange.
Unusual.
For some reason, these two words from "common sense" came to the living being's mind.
He did not dwell on it, however, because he merely found it "strange," merely found it "unusual."
In other words, "strange" and "unusual" were only two words from "common sense" to him, nothing of any great consequence.
The next moment, the living being walked into the ancient temple. As though treading upon stairs in the void, he made his way step by step to its center.
There, at the highest point in the center of the ancient temple, a mass of light could be seen. It radiated the aura of heaven and earth being cleaved into being, pouring forth endless chaos, as though it had endured throughout all ages.
Though the living being did not know what that mass of light represented, he knew it was something unquestionably beneficial to him. He had awakened within it, and he felt a bond with it as close as shared blood.
As he sat cross-legged within the light, radiant mists surged forth in an instant, and some kind of energy spread outward. Vast swaths of multicolored light shone as well, while a gentle, peaceful breeze stirred through the rising haze.
Abundant vitality!
"It seems... the vitality has diminished a great deal again?" The living being did not understand the vitality he spoke of. He said this only because "common sense" had taught him that the substance the light conveyed to him ought to bear that name.
But this thought lasted only an instant. Whether because the time had come or for some other reason, he soon fell asleep and gradually grew still.
Yet although the living being had grown still, neither this region nor the ancient temple settled down. Gradually, even his sleeping body began to stir.
The chaos emanating from the mass of light began to glitter with crystalline radiance, like one condensed world after another, brimming with vitality, as though capable of nourishing all things.
At the same time, the living being's supposedly unblemished body suddenly erupted with boundless black light. Like some substance of utmost corrosiveness, it rotted his flesh in an instant, exposing bones that appeared to have been hacked by blades and swords.
That was not the end. In the very next instant, his bones began to rot as well, and all manner of afflictions erupted at once.
His body was terribly broken, as though torn apart, with a split beginning at his skull and extending all the way down to his abdomen.
This was undoubtedly a horrifying sight!
A living being who had been perfectly intact, showing no ominous signs whatsoever, was now rotting all over. As though ravaged by the most terrifying substance imaginable, he had become a monster.
Suddenly, just as the deterioration was about to spread to the living being's head, a wave of power that could make all the heavens tremble swept forth from the mass of light within the ancient temple.
Then brilliant light appeared out of nothingness, as though summoned from elsewhere. That radiance, which seemed capable of illuminating every heaven, enveloped the living being.