In the endless darkness, a gleam of light flickered in and out of sight.
Though faint, it was conspicuous as the only source of light.
The flickering, feeble glow gradually spread, faintly illuminating a few shapes in the darkness.
The darkness was not nothingness.
There were grainlike spheres, straight-edged geometric blocks, and writhing tentacles.
People, beasts, objects, spheres?
Indistinct and hazy, they lay somewhere between existence and nonexistence.
Suddenly, the light flashed violently, like lightning, like thunder.
For an instant, the endless darkness seemed to light up.
Everything, every trace that had once been illuminated, vanished.
Only an enormous snake shadow remained, filling the endless space, its hollow eyes looking down at the source of light.
At the source of light, a human figure stood, looking up at it.
Only an instant seemed to pass, yet that instant was eternity.
Liuyin City.
In the quiet chamber, Dongguan jolted awake.
"Just now, that was-" A snake shadow appeared in his eyes, his divine power steaming, cold sweat beading on him.
"A dream." Dongguan extended his hand, and a black bone, somewhat resembling a turtle shell, appeared in his palm.
The black bone emanated fluctuations that seemed faint but were exceedingly high in essence and affected the soul.
The snake shadow in his eyes vanished, but his expression remained somewhat dark and unsettled.
This thing must be sealed away. As he thought this, secret patterns flashed into being with his thoughts.
Time, space, cause and effect, immeasurability-all Nine Origin Great Daos manifested, even stirring the Supreme Rule, and were inscribed upon the bone with its strange, flickering fluctuations.
The once unfathomably mysterious bone seemed to become ordinary.
"Whew."
Dongguan let out a long breath, then put the bone away.
His consciousness sensed within his body, where a strangely shifting snake form lay