Prologue
The celestial river stretches into the distance, its starry sands drifting and sinking.
It is where the souls of the world go and return, the end point of a Soul Guide's power, and its beginning.
Legend has it that in ancient times, a gifted cultivator, moved by the suffering of wandering souls with nowhere to go, created the art of guiding them across. Taking the Dao into their body and using their heart as a lamp, they led the dead across the celestial river and into reincarnation. The founder of this path and its sect was named Yue Chen.
He was like the bright moon, with a heart as clear as crystal. He especially loved wearing red, saying that it could illuminate the deepest darkness and show lost souls the way home.
Yet a thousand years ago, Grandmaster Yue Chen suddenly fell. The reason remains a mystery. The core art of guiding souls was lost with him. Though later Soul Guides inherited his title, they could not carry on his true legacy.
There was only one person, named Meng Shi, who had lived through a thousand years of reincarnation. Though his memories had grown dim, he still faithfully worshipped a portrait of the Grandmaster in his long-faded red robes, walking the boundary between the mortal world and the underworld.
He was the strongest Soul Guide of his age, the greatest after Yue Chen himself.
No one knew that he was, in fact, a wisp of soul consciousness Yue Chen had defied heaven to leave behind a thousand years ago, using up his own essence and lifespan.
On yet another rainy night, the wheel of fate began to turn once more.
