Endless ruins.
Endless void.
In the profound darkness, an enormous gray boulder shaped like a snail shell floated silently amid the ruins, keeping out all the shattered stones and curled boundary membranes around it.
Yet the gray boulder had been hollowed out.
Vast quantities of Primal Chaos Source Substance filled its interior.
An oval, pitch-black world lay quietly curled within the boulder, rising and falling slightly as though alive.
With every rise and fall, it drew in great quantities of Primal Chaos Source Substance...
From time to time, a fissure opened on the surface of its pitch-black boundary membrane, and light spilled out.
It shone beyond the boundary, but the Primal Chaos Source Substance outside obscured it, turning it into a hazy glow.
Through those fissures, one could see rolling mountain ranges, ceaselessly surging rivers, lakes, and seas within...
Majestic grandeur, graceful beauty, jagged peril, intricate splendor-scenery and civilization alike could be found there.
Countless figures traveled to and fro within.
Soaring pavilions gleamed vermilion, with cassia halls and orchid palaces...
It was truly a sacred land of immortals!
Within this world domain stood a simple courtyard floating among the clouds.
The courtyard was simplicity itself, without mountains or water, trees or flowers.
A short, middle-aged man with two glossy black tufts of mustache stepped out of the house, then turned and bowed deeply and respectfully toward the doorway.
"...Thank you for your guidance, Dao Master. Without you, I fear I would never have perfectly harmonized my primordial spirit and Dao domain in this lifetime."
"Should you ever need anything, everyone in Red Heaven Palace, myself included, will be at your command, Dao Master!"
Inside the doorway, bright light fell before the threshold, illuminating drifting dust and making the room beyond seem all the darker.
An aged voice drifted out,