Wave after wave of fierce wind swept across my face. The grasslands were stirring with the storm, but I felt nothing—only the sight of wild grass pressed low by the wind, and the grave, earnest face of the Ancestor Ghost before me.
Memories I had deliberately forgotten began to surface in my mind, sprouting like mushrooms after rain. Pain gnawed at my heart, and my thoughts grew increasingly chaotic.
Back when I was still trapped in that darkness, I learned the truth. From the mouths of the Founding Emperors, I was warned again and again: if the day of choice ever arrived, I would have to decide—or everything would end.
The Founding Emperors once told me about their war in the living world. After their victory, the two of them entered this darkness, drawn by its will.
During that war, they divided the Eight Great Clans, so that each would take turns governing Juchen. But in Yvonne May's generation, Juchen became her permanent possession.
Juchen, originally two instincts—Jules and Darren—belonged to the Founding Emperors. When they departed, they fused these instincts into one: Juchen. They sensed a dire, silent threat intent on devouring the world, so they left Juchen behind rather than taking it with them into the darkness.
Even after leaving, their connection to Juchen never broke. In the darkness, they would use Juchen’s instinct to peer into humanity’s future, unwilling to see their hard-won achievements turn to ash.
While using Juchen to foresee the future, the Founding Emperors discovered something strange: as humanity grew, the energy released when people died and returned to nature diminished.
This phenomenon defied the cycle of the Yin-Yang worlds. The power of life and death should be balanced, but something was devouring the energy of the dead. At last, the Founding Emperors uncovered the truth—it was Hell.
Hell, which was meant to bear the weight of the Yin-Yang worlds, was endlessly devouring everything—and its hunger only grew. The cycle of power became wildly imbalanced, disasters plagued the world, and death loomed over all. This was what the Founding Emperors saw.
After the three humanoid figures emerged, the mountain formed from Hell ceased its collapse. The figures had no consciousness or awareness, completely ignorant of their own nature. Yet after prolonged observation, the two Emperors realized that these beings were likely the result of Hell being tainted by Buddhist power and other forces from the living world, manifesting into physical forms. Their range of activity grew larger, and their movements became more frequent.
Until one day, a malevolent ghost named Yin Choujian arrived and began teaching the three figures cognition. The two Emperors grew anxious—they had no means to leave the darkness and intervene. All they could do was watch as Yin Choujian taught the figures to think and perceive, something that seemed utterly inconceivable to them.
Everything the three figures experienced afterward astonished the Emperors. For years, they debated every aspect of these beings, concluding that they were incarnations of Hell itself—manifestations of Hell’s will within the Yin-Yang world.
Plagued by constant anxiety, the two Emperors finally decided to ally with the Dark Banquet, which had established itself in this world. Using dark mirrors born from this shadow realm, they cast seeds infused with their own consciousness into the living world, with one goal: to eliminate the three figures.
Yet as the seeds of darkness matured, there came a time when the three figures could no longer be found. The Emperors kept sowing the seeds, hoping to locate the figures, but their efforts were in vain.
At that point, the two Emperors turned on each other, forging weapons for the future—tools of utter destruction meant to annihilate Hell, which continued to devour the energy of the Yin-Yang world.
Days passed, one after another, until Hell opened its eyes once more. The Emperors grew alert, but Hell’s awakening was brief, its eyes closing again. They thought it was a coincidence, but as they continued to observe, they discovered a person in the Yin-Yang world who had neither a past nor a future. This discovery made them instantly wary.
This person was named Zhang Qingyuan. He had no future, no past; no one knew where he came from. Even the Six Paths of Reincarnation established by the Underworld could not determine Zhang Qingyuan’s origin.
As events unfolded, the Emperors began to scrutinize Zhang Qingyuan, unable to glimpse either his past or his future. When Zhang Qingyuan died for the first time, the black substance washed out by the Forgetting River beneath the Bridge of Helplessness filled the Emperors with dread—it was the power of Hell.
The Underworld was stunned. Only then did the Emperors see Zhang Qingyuan’s past and future—nothing but destruction, nothing left behind. In the end, they realized that Zhang Qingyuan was one of the three figures born from Hell’s fragment in the living world, embodiments of Hell’s will.
With each of Zhang Qingyuan’s actions, the Emperors’ anxiety grew. They witnessed events that neither human nor ghost could ever accomplish, unfolding through Zhang Qingyuan, whose power continued to swell. Both his past and future selves were equally formidable—his strength had reached a level that could obliterate everything.
Yet what puzzled the Emperors was that at the terminus of the past, Zhang Qingyuan did not destroy the world; instead, he became a righteous figure, one who harbored kindness. In the future, however, Zhang Qingyuan had already annihilated the world. Although it all began because of the Wraithlord, the Wraithlord merely acted as a catalyst or guide in the world’s destruction.
After piecing together clues from every time and space, the Emperors reached a conclusion: the one who would ultimately destroy the world was Zhang Qingyuan.
The Emperors then began searching for a solution. When Zhang Qingyuan entered this darkness, they resolved to kill him—only to be stopped by Zhang Qingyuan’s future self.
Yet, as the seeds of darkness matured, there came a time when the three figures could no longer be found. The Emperors kept sowing these seeds, hoping to locate the figures, but their efforts were in vain.
At that point, the two Emperors turned on each other, forging weapons for the future—tools of utter destruction meant to annihilate Hell, which continued to devour the energy of the Yin-Yang world.
Days passed, one after another, until Hell opened its eyes once more. The Emperors grew alert, but Hell’s awakening was brief, its eyes closing again. They thought it was a coincidence, but as they continued to observe, they discovered a person in the Yin-Yang world who had neither a past nor a future. This discovery made them instantly wary.
This person was named Zhang Qingyuan. He had no future, no past; no one knew where he came from. Even the Six Paths of Reincarnation established by the Underworld could not determine Zhang Qingyuan’s origin.
As events unfolded, the Emperors began to scrutinize Zhang Qingyuan, unable to glimpse either his past or his future. When Zhang Qingyuan died for the first time, the black substance washed out by the Forgetting River beneath the Bridge of Helplessness filled the Emperors with dread—it was the power of Hell.
The Underworld was stunned. Only then did the Emperors see Zhang Qingyuan’s past and future—nothing but destruction, nothing left behind. In the end, they realized that Zhang Qingyuan was one of the three figures born from Hell’s fragment in the living world, embodiments of Hell’s will.
With each of Zhang Qingyuan’s actions, the Emperors’ anxiety grew. They witnessed events that neither human nor ghost could ever accomplish, unfolding through Zhang Qingyuan, whose power continued to swell. Both his past and future selves were equally formidable—his strength had reached a level that could obliterate everything.
Yet what puzzled the Emperors was that at the terminus of the past, Zhang Qingyuan did not destroy the world; instead, he became a righteous figure, one who harbored kindness. In the future, however, Zhang Qingyuan had already annihilated the world. Although it all began because of the Wraithlord, the Wraithlord merely acted as a catalyst or guide in the world’s destruction.
After piecing together clues from every time and space, the Emperors reached a conclusion: the one who would ultimately destroy the world was Zhang Qingyuan.
The Emperors then began searching for a solution. When Zhang Qingyuan entered this darkness, they resolved to kill him—only to be stopped by Zhang Qingyuan’s future self.