In the heart of Qin Chuan, where the dragon veins converge, Chengcheng stands tall as the key that holds back demons. It is more than a city: it is a bulwark preserving humanity and a beacon amid the ashes of civilization.
A hundred thousand years ago: At the dawn of creation, the clear and turbid forces separated. But the turbid force did not vanish. It congealed into the primal source of annihilation, known as the Entropy Husk. Its power could erode stars, reverse time, and return all things to the void. The ancient gods and demons, along with the sages among humanity's emperors, sacrificed their shattered divine bodies and extinguished stars to seal it deep beneath Qin Chuan.
A thousand years ago, the foundations were laid: As the Zhou dynasty declined, rites collapsed and order fell apart. The dragon energy scattered, and the seal gradually weakened. Ying Zheng, the First Emperor, swept across the six kingdoms not for territory, but to unravel the secrets of heaven. Knowing that the Entropy Husk was about to break free, he devoted the strength of the entire empire to gathering the scattered dragon veins and the fortune of the eight directions. He forged the Mausoleum Tower as the lock's core and established the Nine Cauldrons Demon-Sealing Formation across the land of China. Its nodes were scattered like stars: some were famous mountains, some vast lakes, and some great cities. Chengcheng was one of them, and also the formation's central hub! A million laborers spent ten years in blood and tears building the tower. On the day it was finished, dragons roared through the heavens and subterranean fire surged. At last, the Entropy Husk was sealed once more.
Guarded through a hundred dynasties: The Han strengthened the foundations of the Qin formation. When Buddhism and Daoism flourished under the Tang, the power of faith became its fuel. The Song and Ming schools of Neo-Confucianism brought order to the earth's veins and the flow of civilization... Generation after generation, the sages devoted themselves to the task. Some hid in the imperial court, some retreated to the mountains, and some lived among the common people. They offered their wisdom, their flesh and blood, and even the fate of their nations to maintain this precarious balance. But when the Manchus entered the pass, they favored horsemanship and archery over the arcane arts. The classics gathered dust, the inheritance was severed, and the foundations of the formation were maintained less and less...
