[Synopsis]
Whenever the last branch is swallowed by darkness, Jiang Xi dreams of the World Tree that pierces heaven and earth. Its bronze trunk is riddled with cracks, and countless divine realms blossom across its branches like frost flowers. In his palm rests the final cluster of karmic flames that has yet to die out.
The realms of light and darkness hang in the void like two intertwined butterfly wings. At the edge of the endless night, the black robes of the Plunderers flutter like crows. They cut open the gods’ chests and take their golden divinities, then forge the karmic flames into spears that pierce the walls between worlds. Jiang Xi witnessed the moment the dark realm collapsed: countless fragments like stars fell into the darkness, while the Plunderers stood amid the ruins with arms spread wide, welcoming the crown bestowed by the newborn realm.
An existence from beyond this world, Jiang Xi bears a double curse: he is the white butterfly flitting between the two realms, forever forced to choose whether light or darkness will survive.
“Look, we were always two sides of the same coin.” The Lord of the Dark Realm caressed the shifting dark pattern on Jiang Xi’s neck, a fingertip tracing the golden flame burning in his left eye. Beneath them, newborn darkness crept along the World Tree’s roots, and the thirty-three heavens hanging from its crown fell into endless night one after another. Jiang Xi’s hand trembled as he gripped the chain. This time, would he burn himself to light the realm of light, or abandon the past and fly to a new world?
