The Primordial World lay in deathly silence.
It was not the usual tranquility, but a crushing heaviness that remained after a great Tribulation had left all things holding their breath. The shattered firmament had barely knitted itself back together, allowing a few strands of dismal light to spill onto the scorched, cracked earth. Yang Jian stood silently at the edge of an abyss-deep canyon. His silver armor was dim, and only the third eye between his brows leaked threads of solemn golden light as it opened and closed, vigilantly scanning the devastated world. Beside his feet, the Xiaotian Hound crouched, a low, stifled whimper rolling in its throat. Its sleek black fur stood on end, and its amber beast-eyes were fixed intently upon the strange source of light in the center of the canyon.
The light, soft to the point of being eerie, hovered quietly amidst the ruin. It emanated from a twelve-petaled World-Purifying White Lotus, slowly rotating. In the heart of the lotus curled a newborn infant. The baby’s body was like jade, radiating an aura of purity and innocence, completely at odds with the destruction surrounding it.
Chapter 431