Before the Sky Falls

In a golden age of cultivation, everyone could become an immortal. When he left, the Great Dao stretched boundlessly before him. Five hundred years later, he returned to find the myriad worlds reduced to ruins. Chu Tianshu was the eldest senior brother of Qingyun Sect, more gifted than even his master. During an excursion to gain experience, he stumbled into a hidden realm and lost contact with the outside world. He struggled for years in that realm, breaking through from the peak of the Four Symbols realm to the early Eight Trigrams realm. He led ordinary people against disasters and fought evil natives, completely unaware that the true horror had yet to come. By the time he emerged, five hundred years had passed outside. The golden age had collapsed. The Epitaph Disaster swept across the heavens, erasing existence, memories, and traces. His master bore eighty percent of the disaster alone, forcibly delaying destruction by five hundred years. His second junior sister sacrificed herself to save their third junior sister, leaving only three words carved on a stele: “Don’t come back.” Their third junior sister had vanished. Her diary went from densely packed pages to a handful of words, ending abruptly with: “Eldest Senior Brother, if, ” The stars above were celestial bodies formed from immortals, holding up a shattered world. The ruins below were the wreckage left by colliding worlds. Ordinary people were being forgotten. His master was still holding the front line. Looking back at him, she gave him a faint smile. “Do what you believe in.” He had no supreme treasure, only the knowledge and power he had gained in the hidden realm. He would head southeast to find his third junior sister, return to the hidden realm and end the Epitaph Disaster at its source, and cross that final threshold before his master could hold out no longer, becoming an existence beyond Return to Taiji. His master held the line. His second junior sister stood watch. His third junior sister was alive. The immortals held the heavens, and ordinary people held on, too. “Don’t come back.” But he had already returned. This time, he would hold up the sky.