The year 10000 of the Yulan Calendar arrived. It should have been a milestone year celebrated by everyone on the Yulan Continent, yet its very beginning was utterly shrouded in endless gloom and deathly silence.
The spiritual energy of the world fell into utter disorder, surging violently through the void. Usually gentle and nourishing to all things, it had now become savage beyond measure, bringing a faint sting as it swept across the skin. The air across the entire continent seemed clenched tight in an invisible hand. An oppressive, stifling, murderous atmosphere permeated every corner. The sky remained dark all day, with none of the familiar warm sunlight. Lead-gray clouds hung so low that they seemed ready to crash down at any moment and crush everything in the world. Even the wind carried a bone-piercing chill, mingled with a faint scent of blood and the wild musk of beasts, heralding the arrival of a world-ending catastrophe.
Klan City's tallest watchtower pierced the clouds. From its summit, one could overlook the entire city and the vast lands stretching thousands of miles into the distance.
Shiheng stood alone at the tower's tip. His black robes snapped and billowed wildly in the howling wind, yet a steady presence surrounded him. No matter how fiercely the wind raged, he remained utterly motionless. His gaze was as deep as an ancient, icy pool. It pierced the layers of dark clouds and fixed on the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, stretching for thousands of miles in the distance, while an intractable gravity settled between his brows.
Above the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, ink-black clouds churned furiously like towering black waves, blotting out the sky and sun and shrouding the entire range. A vast, majestic, icy pressure bearing endless destruction slowly awakened in the deepest reaches