At the same time.
Countless enormous creatures swam through the vast Heavenly River.
Near the center of the Heavenly River, where the enormous Heavenly Pillar had collapsed, everything lay in a boundless haze, chaotic and empty.
A being whose features could not be discerned stood shrouded in mist, holding a sword. Beside him lay an incomparably enormous Turtle Yao, towering between heaven and earth, its size almost impossible to make out.
The Turtle Yao's four legs plunged into the Heavenly River like pillars. Its enormous head tilted beside the collapsed Heavenly Pillar, whose broken surfaces, where it had snapped in two, were mottled with blood, as though telling some tale.
The sword-wielding being stood atop the enormous Turtle Yao's head. He gently stabbed downward with his sword, then scooped out some brain matter and began eating it.
Only after a long while did he belch. Looking at the Turtle Yao beneath him, he said quietly, "They say that in the Mythic Era, human immortals and gods feasted on dragon liver and phoenix gall as supreme delicacies. But in my opinion, a Heavenly Yao's brains are quite good too. Those brains bursting in your mouth, mixed with the impact of a Heavenly Yao's power-simply marvelous."
With that, it fell silent, seemingly listening to something.
"What? You call me cruel for eating even a corpse?"
"Ridiculous!"
"When I'm hungry enough, believe me, I'll even eat myself!"
It curled its lips, then tore off another piece of the giant turtle's flesh and ate it bite by bite.
"That's what makes you so good. No matter how much I eat, you never run out. It's been a full thirty thousand years since the first Heaven's Rift, and you really do keep growing as I eat."
"I'm almost sick of eating you, you know!"
No