Summer sweltered, autumn cooled, and winter tucked all things away. In the blink of an eye, the year 491 of Ming had passed.
But in this age, heaven unleashed murderous intent and the Demon Calamity governed fortune. It was an age of great contention, nothing like peaceful times, so even in little more than half a year, many events of far-reaching consequence had taken place.
First came the Northern Faction. Jiupanpo, the founding Sect Master of the Bare Body Sect in Longzhou Danxia, on Longdong's northern frontier, had failed to take Mount Kongtong despite her prolonged assault. With her lifespan nearing its end, she could only abandon the Immortal Treasure within the mountain and forcibly attempt her tribulation and ascension that summer.
As might reasonably have been expected, she failed.
Unexpectedly, however, this demon did not perish miserably beneath the heavenly tribulation. Instead, she escaped with a thread of life and became a Wandering Immortal. Clearly, the Demon Calamity surged in mighty waves, influencing heaven's fortune—even such a fiend had been allowed to survive.
After narrowly escaping death to become a Wandering Immortal, her fear of heavenly tribulation naturally sank deeper into her bones. Desperate for a protective Immortal Treasure that could help her weather future tribulations, she drove the Northern Faction into an even fiercer siege of Mount Kongtong.
Nor was hers an isolated case. Soon afterward, at the beginning of autumn, Xu Wan, the Netherworld Sage and ruler of the Ghost Kingdom on Mount Beimang in Heluo, attained the station of Earthly Immortal. He called forth extraordinary signs across heaven and earth: ink-dark clouds shrouded both banks of the Yellow River throughout Long, Jin, and Luo, his dreadful might surging to the skies. No one knew when he had laid his plans, either. On the very day he