Chapter 1 A Dream In The Forest

Absolute nothingness, an endless undefinable void, yet simultaneously minute. The concepts of time and space, right and wrong, black and white, yin and yang, life and death, they simply didn't exist. Until the "entity" opened it's eyes.

In an instant the void was filled, or was it that the void itself had become something? There was no right answer to this question.

A fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a second passed, and across the cosmos stars and planets formed. This was the beginning of space and time.

Unfortunately the "entity" was dissatisfied. Many wonders had been created, but it all just seemed empty. Like a soulless husk, a shell with no real substance. Because of this he created "them", 5 beings infinitely close to his power, yet just as far from it.

Space, Time, Law, Reality, Reincarnation, were their names. Each presiding over their own pieces that made up the cosmos.

And then, the "entity" shut it's eyes.

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"Haa! Haaa!" A young man lying in the woods breathed out exasperated. 'What was that.... a dream?' He pondered looking back on the dream itself. Out of all the things that happened he distinctly remembered those eyes.

Out of nowhere they appeared and then as if nothing had happened they disappeared back into the void. "I've gotten quite the overactive imagination." The young man muttered to himself with a sarcastic smile.

"Where to now." He said to himself before beginning to walk through the forest. For nearly a month now he'd been lost in the forest, luckily he hadn't come across any Demonic Beasts during this time otherwise he'd be toast, but that didn't mean he was having an easy time.

Most of his clothes had become rags by now, and he talked to himself constantly just to make sure he wouldn't go insane. "I guess there's a reason they call this Forest the Labyrinth." He fake chuckled out of self pity.

The young man then continued to walk through the forest, until he came across a boar. It was about 2 meters long and a meter tall. 'Finally I've found lunch.' With that thought the young man quieted down before hiding in a nearby bush.

"Rustle."

Jumping out of the bush the young man punched the boar in the face before repeatedly pounding on it, but the boar wasn't going to take the beating lying down.

"GRAHHH!"

With a visceral roar the boar attempted to attack the young man to no avail, dying less than a minute later. After making sure the boar was dead, the young man grabbed its corpse before dragging it to a nearby cave.

While he couldn't find his way out of the forest, he knew at least some locations around the forest. Specifically the various uninhabited caves which he used to rest at if he happened to be in the vicinity.

Roasting the boar over a small flame the young man then cut off small chunks before biting into them. "Still tastes like shit." He muttered before continuing to eat more. While he didn't like the food he didn't have the luxury of being picking while lost in the forest.

"If only that Martial God never appeared, none of this would've ever happened." The young man said to himself depressedly.

Ten years ago Hong Tian Wang the strongest cultivator, broke through the great bottleneck thought to be the end of cultivation and became a Martial God. At first this brought the world great joy.

After all someone breaking through such a bottleneck meant a greater chance for those in the future to do the same, which meant in the long term cultivators the world over would become stronger on average allowing for greater lifespans and overall a better quality of life.

But this was too optimistic a view. Less than a week after becoming a Martial God, Hong Tian Wang seemingly disappeared from public view and out of the woodwork geniuses appeared one after the other.

Each and every genius had a desire to reach the heights of Hong Tian Wang and even surpass him which led to them rallying their various factions and going to war with one another. Defeating another faction meant more resources, which would mean faster cultivation and more strength.

So it was a no brainer to them. Everyone thought that the Martial God would step in and stop the mess, but he never did. Because of this more and more geniuses began to participate in what became known as the Grand Battle for Supremacy throwing the world as a whole into chaos.

By now this had been going on for 5 years, and a month ago the young man's City had fallen victim to the "Grand Battle" forcing him to flee to save himself.

Thinking about this caused the young man to scowl in hatred. He hated the Martial God, he hated those geniuses, and he hated the Blood Flame Empire for trampling on his home.

"I'll have my revenge..." The young man convinced himself, it would be a long hard journey but he believed, no he HAD to get his revenge no matter the cost.

He still remembered those soldiers, the city burning to the ground, his family, and that man. The young man simply couldn't live with himself if he didn't get revenge, or at least tried to.

"One day, one day soon." With that he left the cave once again. He'd get nowhere sitting on his ass he needed to get out of the damn forest.