A Lone Flame in the Dark of Night

He emerged from the endless mist, only to stumble and fall toward the ground.

He awoke on the legendary Immortal Mountain, and from that moment on became the only guardian left in this world.

He knew almost nothing about himself or this unfamiliar world, but the nearly mechanical rationality in his mind urged him to save the last flickering ember of civilization. The night was no longer safe, and bizarre creatures rampaged through the darkness. The towering city walls had become one of the only two things humanity could trust. The other was the light that burned through the night, bringing the last hope to the darkness. Blood-red seas, blue suns, and muttering whispers in the dark. Dazzling immortal arts, tangled branches of cultivation, and pills named after stars that held mysterious effects. Precisely engineered puppet armor, roaring boilers, and technology from ancient times that defied comprehension. This bizarre new world upended everything he thought he knew. Was this a world of immortal cultivation or a science-fiction world?

But before he could worry about protecting this world, a more immediate question confronted him:

Does anyone know why the spiritual energy of a righteous guardian deity is a purplish-black, ominous-looking flame-like mist? Huh? Huh?