For 789 years, Heavenly Emperor Fu Yan ruled the Four Realms and successfully defended his throne eight times in a row. Twenty years ago, while suppressing a Chaos Primordial Beast, he was invaded by the power of chaos. His imperial power was greatly diminished, a secret known only to a handful of trusted aides.
The century-old barrier is about to weaken, and the Demon Realm lies in wait, sharpening its blades. Fu Yan leaves three secret orders and ventures alone into Kunlun in search of the Origin of the World, the key to repairing the barrier. Time rifts crisscross the mountains. After a fierce battle with a Chaos Worm that feeds on time and space, he subdues it by binding it with his imperial soul, only to discover that the Origin of the World is a world seed tainted by chaos. When he touches it by force, his imperial power is exhausted, his body is destroyed, and his imperial soul falls into reincarnation.
When he opens his eyes again, he has become the good-for-nothing son-in-law of the Ye family in the mortal world, disgraced and on the verge of death after his betrothal is broken off. His meridians are blocked and his imperial soul sealed. Only the mark of time and space left by the Chaos Worm can help him rebuild his cultivation. To an emperor who ruled for eight hundred years, mortal schemes and the disdain of aristocratic clans are no more than pieces on a chessboard. Yet in the cracks between the mortal realms, he discovers that remnants of the Primordial Beast still remain, and that the Demon Realm's agents have long been at work.
From fragments of an edict to enthrone an emperor in the Ye family's ancestral grounds, to a mystery involving souls in the Ghost Realm's cycle of reincarnation; from the chaos taint inside his second disciple to the demon lord's chaos-tainted demonic blade beneath the Southern Heavenly Gate, Fu Yan rebuilds his cultivation and gathers his old allies, drawing ever closer to the truth. The system of changing rulers every century was not established by the ancient Heavenly Emperors. It is a slow-acting poison with which chaos has been feeding the Four Realms. Even the ruler of the Demon Realm, desperate to ascend the throne, has long since become a vessel for chaos to descend into the world.
The old emperor has fallen, and a new age is about to begin. This time, he will not hold the Four Realms in check alone. He will destroy the old order, reforge the barrier, and distribute the Origin of the World among the Four Realms, so they can share their fate and stand together against chaos.