With the soul of the Asura god destroyed, all their ranks weakened so much as to be insignificant to the armies of men. The day was won, but the price was heavy. 7 Saints, the pinnacles of humanity, the beacons of hope, gave their immortal souls to seal that power. And so it was that men evaded the jaws of desolation once more by the skin of their teeth. But as surely as the sun rises and sets each day, the sea of chaos does not sleep easy for long. New Ashuran were born, albeit significantly weaker than their predecessors. Their corruption would grow out of control if left alone. Men needed new champions if they were to keep this new world they had fought so hard to acquire. Thus they turned to their prayers to the gods once more, and once more they were answered.

While the world was full of cultivators, many of whom would someday become gods themselves, none had the true spark of divinity necessary to push the hoards of Asura back, only to keep them at bay. New lands were forbidden to men by their own lack of power. Until the fateful day that the gods saw fit to grant artifacts. It was not known at the time, but each artifact would serve as a mark of honor to the saints who had held back the tide of destruction before them. These burdens of great power would only ever show themselves in the 7 sacred archetypes: The Sword, The Spear, The Dragoon, The Caster, The Berserker, The Ruler, The Archer.

Despite their cultivation stages being the same as their peers, they were simply… more than others. They grew stronger, understood more, fought harder. They took up their burdens and cultivated with the knowledge that they were the new defenders of men. The last light in the darkness. In time, every land and nation knew of them and worshiped their achievements. It was then that these, the pillars, of humanity would become known as the Exalted.