When heaven and earth first emerged from chaos, demons and monsters ran rampant, and the human world was in turmoil. On Mount Kunlun, at the summit of the Central Continent, the Venerable Hongjun founded the Daoist faith and took on disciples, spreading its teachings throughout the world in order to exterminate evil and rescue all living things from peril.
For those who cultivate the Dao, ten years of practice marks the beginning of the path; after a hundred years, one gains a modest measure of magical power; after two hundred, one begins to grasp the wondrous Dao; after four hundred, one has a basic understanding of cultivation; after eight hundred, one begins to make real progress; after fifteen hundred, the nascent spirit first takes shape; after three thousand, the Dao heart is firm; after five thousand, one's Dao and virtue are lofty; after eight thousand, one begins to comprehend the secrets of heaven; after twelve thousand, one is reborn anew; after eighteen thousand, one ascends amid rosy clouds; after twenty thousand, one's cultivation is complete and one returns to the root; and after thirty thousand, one escapes the cycle of reincarnation... Legend has it that escaping reincarnation is the ultimate goal of all beings in the Central Continent: the ability to regenerate flesh, blood, and bone, live as long as heaven and earth, and attain eternal life.
But immortality cannot be achieved through hard cultivation alone. On the path to enlightenment, every realm comes with its own tribulation.
