Prelude to Chaos

At Imperial castle

Inside the court solemnity pervaded. Emperor Long Huang sat on his throne and his brows were stretched. Ministers present were silent and among them sat four people in the uniform of Martial soul sect.

A middle aged man was enjoying fruits and wine behind him were two man and a woman all wearing purple robes. He was was Wang Qi a stage-7 Nirvana elder from Martial Soul sect and the person fully responsible for Long Empire. The offerings, cultivation resources and selection of disciples are supervised by him. Exchange of information and execution of orders from Martial Soul sect is also his responsibility. The men and woman standing behind him were his disciples. The woman was eldest princess and two men were second and third prince of Long Empire respectively.

Emperor Long Huang was mulling over what to do. Two days ago elder Wang Qi appeared with new orders from sect. The selection of disciples which was supposed to happen two year later will be hastened and it'll take place every two year instead of five. Margin for selection of disciples will be reduced as well. All these changes pointed to only one thing, a War between monsters and humans.

The last time a war between Humans and Monsters happened 3000years ago and humanity came on top chasing Monster race from central plains to western region. A war means massive deaths and loss of civilization as a whole but coexistence is not an option either since hierarchy is needed for peaceful times to exist in the turbulent chaos. What depressed Long Huang more is that Long Empire will be at the forefron of the invasion. Long Empire is attached to the coast of ocean where myriad species of monsters exist. While it might even take a century for the war to start but that doesn't provides any kind of relief since in war among races a power without Monarch is like willow leaf on turbulent waters that can be torned any moment. Long Empire was established 1600years ago but it might not survive another century. The more he thought the more exhausted he felt. At this moment Wang Qi spoke

"Emperor I just received a message that 10th elder has left for the ocean, please don't get stressed you still have time to prepare and if it's 10th elder I don't think much monsters will be left alive in nearby waters." Wang Qi felt slightly apologetic, Long family has taken good care of him for two centuries but Monarchs are key players in racial wars so he can't do anything even he feels that chances of their survival are slim.

Long Huang's eyes lit up and he nodded while hiding his inner excitement. He understands that Wang Qi is only a normal elder in Martial Soul sect but true power of sect is concentrated among 19 main elders, Sect master and Grand elder. Anyone above stage-5 can become elder in Martial soul sect but one needs to be atleast stage-9 to become a main elder. Among the 19 main elders first 8 are true Monarch and below them are all Stage-9 Nirvana saints just one step away from achieving Monarch. A qualitative change happens from Stage-8 to stage-9 and if 10th elder really goes on a slaughter then it'll be a total Wipeout, it has been a long time since any of the main elders showed up but now that one of them has made an appearance which will hasten the aggression from other side as well. Long Huang again felt worried

BOOOM

But at this exact moment an icy eagle 5meter in height blasted through the gates of court and headed for him

"Presumptuous" the saints shouted and the hall rumbled but

"Silence" Long Huang stretched his hands and the eagle was petrified

BOOM

It exploded into splinters and a silver necklace shot towards him. He caught the necklace and looking at the broken drop of blood his expression became icy

BOOOM

His eyes were boiling with murderous intent and tiles under his feet turned to dust

"What happened father?" Feeling the unsettling atmosphere eldest princess spoke up

"Crown prince has died." Long Huang spoke calmly

"What how's that possible?"

SWISS

Long Huang disappeared without answering, he also wanted to know how his son got killed in his own capital but he was even more worried about his first wife. He knew how much she doted on him since his son is dead there's no point in mulling over it, the perpetrator will be awarded with most cruel torture before death but he wasn't willing to lose her as well. He flew with full speed but looking at the frozen field in the center of capital along with thousands of people his heart sank

BOOOM

Two dragon wings emerged from his back and his speed exploded, he's a stage-7 saint and combined with rush wherever he passed space shattered. People in Long capital saw a blinding light passing through leaving a trail of destroyed space which was slowly healing.

BAM

Long Huang landed on the ruins of the old castle and ran inside the chamber. He couldn't care less about thousands of people frozen into icicles while many had died but a large chunk was still alive but he paid them no heed.

Inside the chamber everything was frozen even the moisture was crystallized and snow was falling from the sky trying to submerge the sinful land. In the middle of chamber there wasn't any snow rather the whole area of 30meter was devoid of it instead there was a 10meter long ice crystal oozing thick law of ice. Inside the crystal was a women with long white hair hugging the severed head of crown Prince Long Pinyin, unlike before his eyes were close and there was a peaceful expression on his face.

Long Huang just stood there slightly stupefied and dazed. Wan Danhwa's heart had died thus her hair turned white and she went into deep slumber. Long Huang can ask his father to forcefully wake her up but that won't heal her dead heart. She'll only wake up when she desires. A small ice crystal slowly fell on Long Huang's hands as he infused his divine sense in it four faces appeared in his mind. The image belonged to Mo Dao who was in Zan Bejo's disguise and three of his underlings entering the deep space.

Wang Qi arrived a few seconds later

"What happened here?" Wang Qi was confused

"Pinyin was killed before she arrived and perpetrators disappeared right before her eyes. One of them knew space laws and he was only a Grandmaster."

Wang Qi pondered, he was calm outside but shell shocked inside.

"Anything else?"

Long Huang passed the divine sense to him. Wang Qi took out a small golden block covered in saintly runic inscriptions. This device is used for exchange of information among sect members. He silently passed everything he knew to 10th elder who was nearby.

"You should start searching for them?"

"I know, I won't be hosting you anymore. Empire accepts all the changes made by sect and we'll prepare accordingly ahead of schedule."

Wang Qi flew out without saying anything, now he wasn't the highest ranking member from sect thus he had no major powers in decision making without consent from 10th elder.

Long Huang stayed for quite a while then left after sealing the whole area.

Meanwhile

About 20km away from Anyang lies a valley surrounded by mountains. There wasn't any vegetation or animals a few ago but recently a group started camping the place. They were of course Mo Dao's first followers led by Wu Yun.

Thousands of miles away from the location a ship was sailing the clouds moving towards Anyang at a very fast speed. On the deck of ship a young man stared at the clouds feeling lost.

"Senior brother is there something on your mind you look a little lost lately." A sweet voice woke him from revery

Looking back a young girl with delicate eyebrows and charming face walked towards him.

"You should rest it'll be hectic after reaching Anyang."

"What about you, that wasn't the answer I asked for."

"Haha I couldn't sleep in anticipation."

"Then how about we sleep together." She took a step forward and spoke in his ears

"Not today" he distanced himself from the girls and moved for his room. After entering the room he opened the inscriptions and sat on his bed. He slowly took out a box and as soon as it was opened an intense bloody smell pervaded the whole room but soon he closed it.

This young man was Chen Xuan a descendent of chen family from Anyang. Three years ago he was selected as a core disciple of Martial soul sect by virtue of his hard work, cultivation talent and combat strength. Everyone praised him and he even became one of contenders for the seat of Holy Son of Martial soul sect but the sweet dream shattered like a glass.

Chen Xuan isn't talented at all when he was young he got bullied by his cousins and brothers at a family gathering thus he jumped of a cliff to suicide but instead got teleported to a place of Inheritance. What genius what bullshit talent?

There was a blood pool along with a lot of cultivation resources and techniques. Chen Xuan cultivated in that place for half a year and after absorbing the blood pool his aptitude also became monstrous. He searched around the place but all other chambers were sealed and later he was teleported outside. After returning from that place he cultivated, got famous, fought for selection at capital and got selected as a core disciple of Martial soul sect. He got chosen as a disciple by 15th elder, hooked up with junior sister and has a lot followers but the main problem remained. He cultivated to stage-7 grandmaster in just three years but for a few months he didn't felt any significant increase in cultivation. Searching around he found the reason pretty quickly.

The place he was teleported to was a demonic Inheritance site and without receiving the complete Inheritance he won't be able to breakthrough stage-8 let alone sainthood. The site Inheritance belonged to Blood Demon sect which was destroyed centuries ago and Chen Xuan really thanked his lucky stars that he wasn't crushed into dust by the space distortion.

There was no way Chen Xuan would reconcile living a normal life leaving all the luxury and respect he had garnered. He made a blood contract with cultivator from Black Lotus Sect in exchange for blood bead condensed from 10000lives he'll do three things for him as long as they don't bring him a direct harm. He practically sold himself and betrayed the sect but he doesn't regrets his decision in the slightest. Closing his eyes Chen Xuan focused on cultivation.