Six hundred thousand years ago, in the era of the Dragon‑Han Heavenly Court, Cloud‑Venerable tamed the Celestial River, letting it flow across the land. Time swept by in a rush, its waves washing away countless heroes.
Another hundred thousand years passed in the Dragon‑Han Era. The Dragon‑Han Heavenly Court absorbed the Dragon‑Sky Heavenly Court, leaving only Sky‑River Court in the Earth‑Mother Origin World.
Though Cloud‑Venerable was endlessly resourceful, leading the human race and negotiating with the demigods, the tide of fate was unstoppable. Even he began to feel powerless.
The Heaven Alliance gradually split apart, forming rival factions.
On this day, the conflict between Dragon‑Han Heavenly Court and Sky‑River Court finally erupted.
The Heavenly Court’s grand army marched on the Origin World. Great Sun Star Lord led the Zhou‑Tian star‑deity legions and the Heavenly and Earthly Star Generals as the vanguard; the Heavenly Court Ten Guards mobilized, all Four Heaven Gates and Four Celestial Teachers deployed, and the Heavenly Emperor ordered each Heavenly Venerable to command their own forces against Sky‑River.
Great Sun Star Lord was killed before he could achieve victory—struck down by a stray arrow at the front lines. Another ancient god fell, and his restless soul drifted into the Netherworld.
Venerable Vast‑Sky’s army had just stepped out of South Heaven Gate when he put away his divine bow and arrows, saying coolly, “You knew too much.”
Inside Sky‑River Court, Cloud‑Venerable prepared two jade boxes and handed them to his first wife, smiling: “Take these boxes and go. Give them to Dao Ancestor. If, in the future, he meets Quinn Heavenly Venerable and Shepherd Heavenly Venerable, give one box to Quinn, and one to Shepherd.”
The Grand Matriarch of the Cloud Clan put away the jade boxes, tears streaming down her face. “Your Majesty, what about you?”
Cloud‑Venerable smiled, gazing at the Heavenly Court’s advancing army. He said, “I’ll stay behind. This Dragon‑Han revolution was never complete. We thought we’d overthrown the ancient gods, but after stealing power, all we did was crown a new batch of ancient gods. Real reform requires blood—and it will begin with Cloud.”
He sent his wife away.
Cloud‑Venerable emptied his mind, looking at the oncoming Heavenly Court army. The thunderous war drums shook the heavens and earth. As he watched the endless tide of soldiers, he quietly recalled his life—so many things accomplished, and so many left unfinished.
Regrets filled his heart. He remembered faces, and the passionate moments that made blood boil.
“I wasn’t strong enough to do it all. If, back then, I’d gone along with you—moved Sky‑River Court into Dragon‑Han Heaven and seized power—maybe I could have survived. But…”
He laughed loudly. “How could I ever go along with you? If I did, all beings would still be livestock, still sacrifices on the altar. What difference would there be between me and the ancient gods? Dao‑friends of the future, what I couldn’t finish—I leave to you!”
The battle for Sky‑River Court was unspeakably brutal—words could not describe it.
In the Origin World, nearly all human civilization was wiped clean, leaving only shattered ruins.
During the war, Cloud‑Venerable was besieged—by Venerable Vast‑Sky, Flame‑Venerable, God‑Emperor Jadecrest, Galen the Ancestral God‑King, Void God‑King, the newly risen Consort Cherise, Her Majesty the Empress herself, and the mysterious Marcus Fang. So many top experts closed off all escape.
In the end, the human Heavenly Emperor fell.
Sky‑River Court was conquered. The gods of Heavenly Court flooded in to loot its wealth, only to find the palaces nearly bare—strikingly austere.
“Cloud‑Venerable, all for show!”
Many sneered, “He’s just pretending to be poor to win people’s hearts. He must have a hidden vault! Everyone knows the person who stole from Radiant Sun Hall was him—he must have hidden those treasures away, kept his own private hoard!”
But no matter how thoroughly they ransacked Sky‑River Court, they never found any so‑called Cloud‑Venerable treasury.
For a long time afterward, demigods scoured the cosmos for treasure, trying to discover the fate of the Radiant Sun Hall hoard.
Moon‑Venerable, with Venerable Skysoar and other human prodigies, fled in defeat. Eventually, Moon‑Venerable’s lofty ambitions faded away; heartsick, she withdrew into the Peach Forest.
Because Venerable Skysoar was still useful, Her Majesty the Empress personally spared her.
Cloud‑Venerable’s corpse was collected by Marcus Fang. A year later, Marcus entered the Grand Void Expanse and placed the corpse at Emperor Darius’s brow, smiling: “Cloud‑Venerable, do you remember? I said all three of you would become my war trophies—you’re the first!”
The spot at Emperor Darius’s brow was missing its Taichu Primal Stone—Cloud‑Venerable’s body made the perfect plug.
Inside the Supreme Divine Sense Domain, no one could reach this place. At most, they could glimpse Emperor Darius’s war trophy.
"And as for Moon-Venerable and Skysoar Venerable, rest assured—they too will become my trophies!"
Marcus Fang laughed, "Because there is another me in this world!"
Sky-River Court was treated as a massive war trophy and sent up to Dragon-Han Heavenly Court, merging with it. Because Cloud-Venerable had opened the Divine Bridge Treasury and benefited all under heaven, the Heavenly Emperor pardoned his clan, relocated the Cloud family to the Heavenly Court, and established Cloud Manor, no longer pursuing their crimes.
But in the Origin World, all that remained of human civilization were ruins.
Time flowed on; unknowingly, tens of thousands of years of darkness passed, and once more the spark of civilization was lit. Suffering humans trudged through thorns, floods, and beasts, struggling forward.
One day, some strong male hunters carrying longbows were out hunting. They chased a wild deer into some ruins, where the deer vanished among the battered relics of an ancient civilization.
These hunters, looking like primitive men, wiped mud from their foreheads and stared blankly at the traces of civilization left behind.
In the distance, the vast Celestial River plunged down, crashing into the land and becoming a river a thousand miles wide, roaring onward.
This was where the Celestial River crashed into the Origin World, also known as Floodmouth Gorge—the source of the catastrophic floods.
Nearby, several valleys shaped like footprints marked the ancient legend: a god once braced the falling Celestial River here and saved all living things.
But this was just legend—no one truly believed it.
People of this era were primitive and ignorant; only a few basic cultivation methods survived, and human gods were exceedingly rare.
At that moment, a sturdy red-haired man suddenly looked up and saw a statue of a three-headed, six-armed god.
The statue’s muscular body was twisted and fierce, all six arms raised high as if supporting the Celestial River falling from the sky.
The statue’s face was already eroded beyond recognition, but its stance struck Reed Redford with overwhelming force, leaving him deeply shaken.
The spirit of bearing the Celestial River to shelter all beings moved him to tears. Unconsciously, he entered deep Dao-comprehension beneath the statue, sitting there for more than ten days.
Afterward, Reed Redford often returned to the ruins, pondering his own techniques and divine arts.
"Chief Reed!"
His tribesmen found him and cried, "The Celestial River’s water is rising—a great flood will soon engulf this place! Please order the tribe to move at once!"
Reed Redford rose, revealing his three-headed, six-armed Primordial Spirit, and led his people on a long migration eastward.
He glanced back to see the three-headed, six-armed statue in the ruins swallowed by surging floodwaters.
He turned away, leading his tribe toward the east.
A red sun leapt from the sea, flooding the sky with crimson light. Behind them, the floodwaters glowed blood-red in the dawn, devouring everything in their path.
——Mid-month update: Quinn’s journey through the Dragon-Han Era comes to a close, Cloud-Venerable’s history has passed, and the age of Shepherd Heavenly Venerable begins. Vote for monthly tickets!