Records of the Nine Heavens - Xū Líng

Heavenly Plains, about one year prior to the human*, Xū Líng's, first appearance in the world: in this location, with it being outside of the Nine Heavens, the restrictions on the Four Kings were lifted, thus allowing them to stroll freely through the incredibly massive Plains.

[*actual race remains unknown]

Here, many centered the very beginning of a tale that would span from the small Earth of a low-tier plane of existence to the greatest Heavens!

Here, began his legend.

According to various tales, the Four Kings had gone out for a stroll to try to ease their youngest sibling's mind whom, after the death of her mother, had shown no signs of recovery. Even after more than a thousand years had passed, her spirit had ever since been on the verge of breaking.

Ren Hong, King of the Flames, daughter of the greatest airborne beast, Emperor of the skies and the source of all air currents, the Roc, and the genius Primordial Beast, Lady Jin FengHuang who was born due to the Primordial Flame Emperor’s tears.

And yet, even the powerful blood containing the legacy of two Primordial Emperors couldn’t stop her mind from slowly, but surely, fall even deeper into despair.

The tales of the Heavenly Plains lead her three older siblings to try their luck; maybe the beautiful sight of the world’s most beautiful plants and flowers all gathered in one spot would be able to mend her wounded spirit?

Such a random choice brought about unforeseeable results.

The exact night the four siblings reached the Heavenly Plains, just as the sun rose up into the sky and the first ray of sunlight fell down… it happened. He appeared.

[...]

Suddenly, a rift in space, spanning countless miles in both height and length opened and he came out: around his body was a vortex of glowing runes, swirling around the young child like a barrier of some sort, protecting from the gargantuan rift.

No matter how viciously it bit down, the void failed to devour the youth back in, as the glowing symbols interfered. However, despite keeping the rifts at bay, the runes were slowly shrinking, the light emitted from their ethereal figures dimming with each passing moment: soon, they would disappear and, along with them, the boy would die too!

What to do? At first, the Four Kings didn't mind the boy. After all, it could be seen he was a simple human. Why should Kings amongst Beasts like them worry about tending to the flickering flame that is a human's life?

What’s more, the strength of the Dimensional Rifts on such a high-quality plane as the Heavenly Plains were so terrifying even Ren Hei, the eldest of the siblings, possessing the greatest cultivation, deeply feared having any sort of contact with them.

Sensing the danger, neither Ren Hei, nor Ren Bai or ren Long moved a finger and simply resigned themselves to take up the role of bystanders in the extremely short life of the youth, born from a spatial rift.

This would have been the end of the Evil Saint: no matter how powerful he would become in the future, at the time he was nothing more than a mortal!

Indeed, it would have been the end for the strongest human, that is, if it had not been for her: Ren Hong!

Due to the importance of thess event it should be emphasized that, had it not been for the Vermillion Bird's pity on the young boy, the tales of the Evil Saint would be nothing less than some writer's fantasies! And yet, moved maybe by the young child’s twisted fate, maybe because she empathized with him and saw him as a fellow victim of a grim fate, Ren Hong took pity and flew into the sky!

Under the shocked gazes of her three siblings, she charged through the Heavenly Plains! She shot up, into the sky like a crimson phoenix, leaving blazing infernos wherever she passed. And, just as she reached the peak of her flight… a single, final, step crashed down upon the dimensional rift!

In total, nine sets of ninety-nine steps was all it took for the calamity to be completely wiped away!

The Divine Fire King whom had been lying dormant for countless years after Tian’s rise to power and Lady Jin FengHuang’death, had woken up! With Eight-hundred, ninety-one steps, she had saved the young boy from the hungry fangs of the terrible Dimensional Rift.

A power capable of rivaling even the Heavens! And yet, she had refused to use it for all, except to save the flickering flame that was a measly human child’s life!

Without a doubt, that had raised countless questions in the minds of the three Divine Kings who earlier had instead chosen to abandon the boy to his fate… questions that had been instantly shot down by one of the lady’s most well-known quote.

After landing on the ground, the child sleeping peacefully in her arms, Ren Hong had glared at her shocked brothers and sister with contempt and pronounced the famous words before leaving immediately after.

These were the words that so deeply shook the great Kings of the Beasts, Earth and Sea:

"You have the power... and yet you only use it against your enemies, not for your friends or for those that do not have the chance to wield it! What exactly differentiates you from Tian? Is it the number of people you have killed? I doubt that a young Heavenly Beast killed as many as us Divine Beasts during the old times... tell me, my older siblings... are we really different? I refuse to be in any way similar to the one who was the reason my mother died! I cannot change the past, but while I am not then, I am now! If I can act now and change the future, I shall! That is why, this boy shall not die today!"

Such words stunned the Three Divine Kings and, according to the three themselves, that time, they had actually bowed their head in shame as they looked at their youngest sibling walk away, the young boy in her arms...

[...]

The boy's awakening only brought more and more questions about his origins as his memories had been completely sealed away... however, while he himself did not remember, his body did and he immediately began to show great talent in philosophy, mathematics and, most of all, calligraphy.

His understanding and peculiar views of the world, seen through the innocent eyes of a child, and elaborated with the mind of an experienced elder, baffled even those beings millions of years old.

As of now, the origin of his name, Xū Líng, has always remained a mystery and a focus of many theories. What people do know for sure that something happened when the Black Turtle left the room and left Ren Hong and the young boy alone after he had first woken up.

[...] and all that was due to Xū Líng's sudden change in attitude. According to Ren Hong herself when she described the strange events to her brothers, she told them that it had been as if the young boy had suddenly turned into some kind of ancient being [...]

It is unknown how Tian found out of the boy's presence on Worldlords Floating Island just a few years after his appearence. He had just suddenly appeared there one day and chaos had broken out: although the three older Divine Kings hated the Tyrant of the Nine Heavens, their fear and their fear for his power didn't give them the strength to resist.

However, she, who had grown so close to the young boy to the point her feelings wavered couldn't bear to sit still. That day, the flames blazing on the body of the Vermillion Bird, Ren Hong, rose to the Heavens!

Previously, many cultivators had intruded within the island, hoping to achieve great fame by slaying the Four Kings.

Her three brothers absent, what those cultivators had found on the island was none other than Ren Hong. At the time, angered by their attempts to harm the young Xū Líng and forced to show her true form, the flames of her rage had burned high enough to almost touch the sky*.

[*It has to be noted, this occasion was also what brought Xū Líng to discover Ren Hong's true identity as the King of all Flames, the Divine Fire King! This would be a day that would end with the two's relationship to become even more solid than it had been before, to the point some wonder whether any feelings between the two had arisen there…]

However, those flames, compared to those now burning tall and fierily in front of the Lord of the Nine Heavens, looked like mere dying ember.

In fact, no flame in the world would probably ever be able to achieve such destructive force such as the pillar of destruction that had appeared then, surrounding the majestic Vermillion Bird's figure when she had faced Lord Tian head on!

The details of what happened on the day the Lord of the Nine Heavens went to Worldlords Flying Island are also unknown. What is known however, is that even then, Lady Ren Hong's strength had still turned out as being far below Lord Tian's; He, who had almost grown to a level capable of rivaling the true strength of the First Ancient's, also known as either Hundredth Xū or Lord Jade Emperor.

In this case, it should be obvious that Lady Ren Hong's resistance could have been considered futile and the boy's destiny sealed... who would have known that instead, this would turn out to be one of Tian's greatest slip-ups! That's right! That day, Lord Tian actually failed to eliminate the boy due to some circumstances, the exact events unknown!

The records only mention that, after Tian presumably killed the Divine Fire King, a shrill cry had sounded out and a blinding light had exploded outwards from Worldlords Flying Island, and had sent Tian flying through the sky while bellowing in rage... it was a pure miracle that Tian survived the blast, but after disappearing for a short while he appeared once more, silencing any rumor about his death.

Still, when the light dimmed, Xū Líng had long since disappeared and, no matter how Tian searched the Flying Island afterwards, the Lord of the Nine Heavens would be unable to find him...

He would only meet him again after decades, centuries. At that time, one would be a Lord of the Nine Heavens, the other a paragon, walking unhindered across the many Earths.

On one side, armies of countless Heavenly Beasts, wearing the garments of the Nine Heavens. Behind them was the path to the Palace of the Heavens where the mighty Lord rested!

On the other, hordes of Beasts and Humans, shouting the name of the Evil Saint from the bottom of their lungs. And in front of them, fighting more fiercely than any other, he would be found: clad in robes stained with the most extravagant blood splatters, and donning the fieriest, fiercest, most terrifying smile. And it would be with such a smile that Xu Ling would climb, step after step, the long stairway to the luxurious Throne Room, at the very top of the world!

Excerpt from the work: Records of the Nine Heavens

Author: unknown