Escape! [P1]

In the realm beyond death where the souls of those recently deceased wander and no color except for a decaying grey, white and black existed; there was an endless plain of white. If one looked close enough, they would find out that the white plains were all bones of countless races whether they be humans, devils, beasts or giants.

Among the endless fields of bones, a gigantic skeletal figure that oozed dark miasma sat upon a throne of a liquid tar-like substance that wriggled like slime.

Spikes protruded from it's body and a crown of rusted black iron rested upon it's head, around it's neck was black cape worn from the passing of endless years. What should have been it's face, there was only a pitch black void that seemed to absorb all light.

Before the skeletal being there was a massive three legged cauldron, simple in shape in design yet exuding an aura of ancientness.

He sat there sleeping as countless souls threw themselves into the cauldron of reincarnation. Good, bad, the cauldron didn't discriminate and wiped away all past memories before reincarnating them into newborn lives. Though there were exceptions, powerful cultivators would be judged on the merits and demerits before either being reincarnated or sent to oblivion.

The skeletal being had existed since the earliest living being drew it's first breath. He knew not how he came to be but it didn't bother him as he did not care. The only thing that mattered to him was his purpose for being and that was to guide the souls of the dead, and he had done so for years beyond counting.

His existence remained unknown till the rise of the progenitor of cultivation who had the enough strength after death to retain his memories and thus his name came to be, given to him by the first cultivator.

He was called Diyu, the faceless one.

After his discovery and the explosion of cultivation in the primordial era, many tried to encroach upon his domain via secret techniques using the souls of others for benefits or by completely avoiding the cycle of reincarnation.

Some even tried to take his seat as the lord of the underworld, though they all failed and were punished severely. No matter who it was that interfered with his duties, they all met bad ends. Nobody could escape the wrath of Diyu.

Across the fields of bones flew a black raven, it's gorgeous black feathers seemed to shine in the dull underworld. Flapping it's wings vigorously, it flew towards the mountain-like Diyu who hadn't seemed to have moved in thousands of years.

The raven perched itself on Diyu's giant finger and cawed loudly, awakening the sleeping Diyu.

"What is it?"

Diyu's voice shook the underworld scaring the various souls into shivering messes.

"Mighty Diyu! Someone is interfering with souls again!" The raven cawed with a hint of panic in it's tone.

"The pesky cultivators? Send the death guards, I don't have time to deal with every single incident.." Diyu replied as his void of a face rippled like a pond which had a pebble thrown in it.

[All you do is sleep, you have plenty of time..] The raven complained inwardly.

The raven shook it's bird head and said urgently. "No mighty Diyu, It's different! All the souls existing on Nraka suddenly disappeared!"

"What!?" Diyu voice resounded like a bell, shaking the underworld even more.

"We've also lost all contact with the soul guides in charge of that area.." The raven said meekly, clearly frightened by the outburst of Diyu.

Diyu began to tremble as he cursed in irritation. "Bastards..I'll have to go there personally and see who had the guts to mess with my rule! Taking souls from me!? Humph!!"

He stood up and growled in anger. "Wait for it insects...I'll send your souls to oblivion!"

//Lord Zhao's Orphanage~//

Within Lord Zhao's office Celestial Qiao sat in the center of the room as he focused on a yellow runic circle with intense gaze, the power emanating from it caused the scroll racks to rattle and shake.

A bead of sweat dripped from Celestial Qiao's troubled brow as his hands formed various shapes causing the circle to flicker and sway, yet no matter how hard he tried to maintain the runic circle it eventually dissipated into a shower of light. Before the light dispersed completely however, a part of it briefly flashed.

Seeing this, Celestial Qiao let out a haggard breath as he closed his eyes in contemplation. He had finally discovered something useful.

As he was thinking deeply, the door to the office opened and the sound of faint steps reached him.

"No luck?" A cold feminine voice asked with a hint of worry which was barely concealed.

Opening his eyes, Celestial Qiao saw a woman to his right. It was Celestial Xue with her stoic form as straight as the giant sword strapped to her back and the simple blue robe which expertly concealed her figure.

Letting out a deep sigh, Celestial Qiao replied. "After numerous tests, I've discovered that we have been isolated. It's as if the outside world had completely disappeared, like it never existed."

Celestial Xue let out a gasp as she struggled to maintain her demeanor. "You mean to say, someone has managed to completely seal off all of Nraka? A true primordial continent? How is that even possible!? It's so large that to call it endless wouldn't be an exaggeration!"

"Not completely.", Celestial Qiao shook his head and said. "I just detected some remnants of the Violet star's light. The barrier that traps us isn't airtight."

Celestial Xue showed a look of understanding. "It would be impossibly hard to conceal the light from a primordial continent's main star...are you saying that there may be a gap in this net we have found ourselves in?"

Celestial Qiao showed a bright smile. "I believe so, I'll inform Lord Zhao immediately."

"He's in the putting children to sleep so keep your voice low." Celestial Xue advised as she rubbed her neck tiredly.

"What about the others?" Celestial Qiao casually asked.

"They're meditating in the assembly hall, I'll be going there in a bit."

Celestial Qiao seemed to have thought of something as he frowned.

He stood up and walked towards the window. Pulling back the curtain, he observed the outside attentively.

"Something wrong?" Celestial Xue asked with a hint of caution in her tone.

"It's too quiet.." Celestial Qiao looked outside and noticed that numerous devils had filled the streets, some were trembling in fear, others had the look of someone who had lost their soul.

The strangest thing was that it had become quite bright outside as if it were the dawn of a new day.

"What is it?" Celestial Xue moved up beside Celestial Qiao and looked outside curiously.

"That's odd...the Violet star disappeared with all the other stars, it should be completely dark." Celestial Xue commented.

"No! This light isn't violet, It's red!" Celestial Qiao shouted as he punched the window into dust and poked his head outside.

A cold sweat traveled down his back as his pupils dilated as they focused on a certain object flying down towards the continent of Nraka.

It was a gigantic being made of rock and fire.

Celestial Xue poked her head out and as soon as she saw the fiery being, her face went pale as a sheet.

"W-what is that!?" Celestial Xue stuttered with a stunned expression.

"Now that's just unfair! Is that the disaster Lord Zhao spoke of?" Celestial Qiao was panicking internally, if he didn't care about face he would be running around in circles screaming, "THE END IS NEAR!".

Shaking away the stupor, Celestial Qiao collected his thoughts and shouted. "Lord Zhao! Come quick!"

"What is it?"

With his shout echoing throughout the orphanage, in the next moment a voice came from behind the two Celestials.

Lord Zhao observed the two Celestial's who were looking out of his broken window with a deep frown.

Celestial Xue seemed to be completely mesmerized, not even noticing Lord Zhao's entrance.

Celestial Qiao pointed towards the distant sky while whispering. "Lord Zhao.. we need your protection."

Lord Zhao walked towards the window and pushed the two aside, his gaze instantly coming upon the descending calamity. He could feel the heat from it bathing his face.

"Shit!" Lord Zhao cursed as the fiery meteor-like being crashed over the horizon resulting in a blinding light.

Many devils in the street screamed in pain as they were blinded. To their horror, it was only mere seconds later when they felt their strong sturdy skin on fire.

The weaker devils had completely caught fire while the stronger ones threw themselves into the shade of buildings and alleyways.

Lord Zhao gulped as the impact site of the fiery being caused a massive cloud of stone and debris that billowed into the atmosphere. Beneath that immense cloud, there was wave of fire and ash that washed over the landscape like a heavenly flood and it was barreling right towards them!