Before creation... Before the Creator, there was an infinite ocean... Of nothing... Call it unmanifest emptiness. Unconsciousness of God. The sea of Brahma.
Before Time and Space
Before Life and Death
Before Beginning and End .
Before all ... IT came to be , was the source from which all things emerged... and to which all things returns .
......
" ARTHUR !!! "
A Voice fell onto the ears of a young man with clear blue eyes that reflected the endless skies within them and a glimmer of hope and a burning desire hidden behind them .
Arthur , woke up with a start as he quickly grabbed his robe and appeared through the entrance of his small cave .
Standing in front of him was his childhood friend, Mathew wearing a similar grey robe that a symbol on his chest . A symbol that made anyone know that who they were or rather which sect they belonged to , The Azure Sect .
Azure Sect was one of the strongest sect in the entire eastern continent of Myriad Divine Planet , Ranked by the Divine Eyes Agency at number 5 in the Eastern Continent . It is a place of dreams for millions of cultivators around the continent .
Every five years , the sect opens its doors to select new disciples to join as hundreds of thousands take part in the selection process, only a few talented one are able to successfully become its member .
Arthur and Mathew who had been childhood friends and had entered the sect together this year only were extremely excited and eager to learn advanced level cultivation techniques and take part in competition to make a name for themselves.
" Yo " Arthur greeted Mathew .
" What hey !!! Quickly come and register with me , i have found a new mission to take !! "
Mathew without wasting any time shouted as he started flying towards the mission hall .
Arthur who was still sleepy immediately woke up from his dizzyness and exclaimed .
" Really !!!? "
" YEAHHH!!! " Mathews voice echoed from the distance as Arthur too took out his sword and climbed on to quickly fly towards the mission hall .
.....
As this was rhe year that new disciples registered, the mission hall that used to be free and crowd free had now turned into a fish market .
Hundreds of new disciples covered the floor of the mission hall fighting to grab any and all mission that the sect posted in the hall .
For these new Cultivators , these mission were their lifelines and their only way to earn the Azure points .
As all sorts of individual entered the Sect every five years and that too from various backgrounds and nations . The Azure Sect had its very own currency , this helped in both ensuring that individuals with poor background werent discriminated and oppressed .
Although this system worked , it wasnt perfect as the rich always found some loopholes .
Mathew was one of these rich guys who found a loophole , as for why a rich nobel was friends with an orphan like Arthur .
It had something to do with something that happened ten years ago .
Mathew as a dukes son was kidnapped by a rival of his family and was being transported by slave traders to the enemy's outpost . Thats where a young frightened Mathew met Arthur who had been sold by the orphanage to the slave traders .
Arthur was determined to escape , but upon meeting Arthur he knew he couldnt leave him behind .
Arthur risked his life to escape with Mathew and eventually Mathews family soldiers rescued the two young boys.
Every since that day , Mathew and Arthur stayed together , Arthur was became Mathews close aid and a friend .
It was fortunate, that upon their tenth birthday when their spirit roots awakened , Arthur and Mathew had very similar talents and started to train together .
Arthur had ambitions and so did Mathew , Mathew wanted to make his father proud and become strong enough to lead his family into the next generation.
Arthur on the other had wanted to explore the limits of cultivation as well as the world .
Both of them , trained together , cultivated together and fought with one another to hone their skills and abilities .
Mathew loved to use an Axe and Arthur was a swordsman . Eventually they turned thirteen years old and the selection for the Azure Sect arrived .
After an arduous month and multiple levels of trials and combat evaluations , both of them managed to join the Azure Sect .
Mathews Parents were extremely proud of their son as they too had spent their time in the Azure Sect . Arthur on the other hand held his small amulet that had accompanied him through his birth in his hand .
He didnt know what this amulet was but ever since he could remeber , it had been hanging around his neck .
.....
Arthur and Mathew rushed to the Mission hall and met Mathews 'friend' and got registered for the mission.
They had to investigate the bandit group around the Ten fog peaks .
" According to the information given by the sect , their are seven bandits that had reached the peak of Qi refinement, two are pesudo Foundation realm Cultivator and the leader is suspected to have reached the foundation realm ."
Mathew gave Arthur the details of the mission as the two flew towards the Sects exit .
Arthur had a smile on his face , one for he was excited as this was the first mission he was going on , second because he was going to an entirely new place and third because he had Mathew by his side .
For Arthur , Mathew was not only a friend but akin to a brother.
Even though the gap between the two was huge , Arthur never felt any malice from Mathew and unlike other haughty nobel kids , Mathew was truely kind towards him .
Ten Fog Peaks was a small mountain range that formed the border between two nations , Ming dynasty and Xu Kingdom . The peaks were surrounded by a mysterious fog throughout the years as for the reason no one knew as as far back as history went , it had alwasys been like this .
Strong cultivators of Nascent soul and even above had visited the peaks to investigate and check if it was a natural phenomenon or caused by some treasure , but returned empty handed with no explanation.
Eventually the peaks lost their mystique and were seen as nothing but an attraction .