I always found it stupid how fragile human life is... and I do not mean that in the philosophical sense. Rather, in the cold and brutal physical sense of how it is ready to vanish at the snap of someone's fingers. 2020 was one such year that focused on showing the world, just how fragile they are.

August 1st, 2020.

The eight-month of a year that made humanity think how the worst movies they watched about the apocalypse, looked rather fun when compared with the crap they were going through. The eight-month of a year filled with a pandemic virus ravaging the world, earthquakes that wanted to devour cities whole, super-volcanoes on the brink of eruption and people who had enough lies shoved down their throat by corporations, going bonkers and plunging the barely stable world’s social life in absolute mayhem as result.

People dying every day was not an uncommon occurrence, even if overlooked. For example, from 2018 to 2019, 7.5 people were dying daily for every 1000 people alive. In 2020, it only got slightly bumped to 7.6 because someone considered bat meat to be a delicacy he wanted to experience. However, even with that happening... it was not that much of a difference when the losses were accounted for. Month after month, after month, people have been going through things that they shouldn’t even touch upon in normal times and that... changed them. Even those who only watched others mentally break down from afar, unknowingly experienced the same unnerving changes. Humanity began to show its uglier and darker side with each day passing, making it look like things would get worse first, before getting any better.

Until the first day of August that is. We all remember it starting with a low static-like sound, akin to a radio auto-calibrating itself, or trying to find the right frequency. Then, it transformed into a silent hum that was strangely audible even for people stuck in roaring traffic, or those blasting music at festivals.

It made everyone across the globe stop whatever they were doing and look at the sky quizzically.

Unknown to any of them, a black dot the size of a thumb appeared between the clouds, and even if they couldn’t see it using their sight, they felt that it was there with their entire being. Historians would later record the events following the appearance of this dot and name it the ‘Collapsing Minute Nirvana’.

From 11:59 AM to 12:00 PM EST, the black dot in the sky elongated and with its transformation, immense pressure began boring down on the entire planet from the skies.

To humans which didn’t experience much in the way of fear in their normal lifetimes, this pressure brought with it a primordial terror that forced everyone to bow their heads, be them elderly or infants, none daring to look straight at the sky. To make matters worse, the laws of physics governing Earth were ‘collapsed’ and time, as well as matter, was simply frozen in place. Unbelievable scenes were occurring all over the world, such as one courageous surfer in Fiji freefalling after he tried riding a monster wave, with the behemoth body of water trailing just slightly behind him.

However, he suddenly stopped... he wasn’t floating or flying, either. He was just stuck in place just like the air itself became a platform to support him.

Somewhere else in the world, in a car accident in Bangkok, a person’s car was also frozen in time just as the headlights crushed their way through the door of another vehicle and were staring the unfortunate driver dead in the eyes, less than 20 centimeters away from him.

People are innately afraid of what they do not understand and nothing of which was currently happening could be described as 'comprehensible'. Even then, there was no panic. Why? Because willing or not, every living being on Earth was bowing their heads in reverence towards the black line in the skies, unable to understand how they were still able to see the scene of it growing, through the walls of their buildings, waves of water, oceans of people or even after just looking straight down at the ground.

Amidst the silence that took over the world, everyone’s hearts shook in fear as two hands broke through the straight line, pulling at each side of it differently, obviously it an attempt to cross over. With their hearts in their throats, they watched as a person no taller than the average male stepped out in the open air and just... stood there. The ‘man’ had long dark hair caught in a ponytail and he looked about 30 years old. He wasn’t good looking or bad looking, as one could call his features... average. If there was one feature of his that stood out though, were his lips on top of which a sneer took form instantly after taking just one look at the world under his feet. When he saw the entire world bowing in reverence, a feeling of superiority bloomed in the man’s heart and couldn’t help but think of the ones under his feet as blades of grass, easily swayed by the powerful winds. However, remembering that he had a job to do, the sneer faintly vanished and a solemn expression took its place.

His words boomed across the air, resonating in the ears of each mortal in the world.

[Everyone is to receive His Majesty’s Profound Immortal Clear Lake’s edict!](?)

Once his words stopped echoing in the now silent world, a golden scroll filled with unreadable markings manifested out of thin air. The man held it in his left hand and brought his right thumb to his mouth. Biting on the flesh, bright red blood began to flow from it. He then pressed his bloodied thumb on the scroll and strong reverberations shook the entire world, seemingly bringing it to the point of destruction. Not even seconds later, a blue ring of flame was sent out from the scroll, devastating the clouds above each blade of grass or block of ice on the planet. Tumultuous black and foreboding clouds were formed right after and lighting struck everywhere, demolishing buildings and the people inside. It took but a moment, but the destroyed buildings began slowly reconstructing themselves and the people inside were shown as being somehow still alive, while the sky itself cleared.

For humans, it looked almost as if time went in reverse, making the man in the sky look down with contempt.

[Hmph! Not even a ten seconds tribulation. This world is truly small, primordial trash... Ahem! Listen and rejoice, mortals! Upon his daughter’s breakthrough to the Half-Immortal realm last month, the esteemed Profound Immortal Clear Lake decided to celebrate such joyous occasion by creating good karma for young mistress Soaring River, his beloved only child. As result, 361 primordial worlds were selected to have their Spiritual Qi sparked and allow their inhabitants to embark on the road of cultivation. Your world is one of them. Rejoice and be thankful for his Majesty’s benevolence!] (?)

With his roar, humans everywhere, be they young or old, males or females, sick or of sound body, all kneeled on the ground and banged their heads on whatever was under their feet. Be it concrete, wood, or dirt, every being on Earth almost split their heads in this brutal show of gratitude, for an act of charity they received but didn’t understand the first thing about. All they could still ‘see’ even when their heads were facing the ground and blood was covering their eyesight, was the cold smile hung upon the lips of this messenger, obviously enjoying their plight.

[*Sigh*...](?)

Suddenly, an audible sigh could be heard coming from the direction of the now enlarged spatial deformation and a second person came through. With this sigh, the pressure on the world vanished and the pain everyone suffered disappeared with it. Not only that, but the wounds on their heads began healing at a rapid pace, while the blood itself receded. Taking measured steps, a kind and benevolent-looking man in his fifties approached the first messenger, that now sported an expression of extreme disgust, akin to have eaten a fly.

[What are you doing here?](?)

[Purple Snake Luo, do you not understand the reason for which I am here? Or are you just acting dumb again?](?)

[You shitty undying old fart! What did you call me? Are you perhaps courting an early death?](Purple Snake Luo)

[With your puny strength and your Tao heart so weak that you need to oppress mortals to feel superior, when have I, Floating Cloud Jing, ever feared you?](Floating Cloud Jing)

Even when seeing this sudden turn of events happen where two people were suspended up in the air and were sparring with verbal swords, not even a single person on the ground dared to as much as breathe loudly, scared that they might attract attention to themselves. In the air, around the person named Luo a black, chilly looking cloud was slowly forming. Without wasting any more useless words, he sent a fist crashing towards the person named Jing. To everyone’s surprise, the black air condensed in the physical form of a fist and was hurtled through the air and towards its target at an alarmingly fast speed, barely perceptible to human eyes.

Being spared from the immense pressure and humiliation brought by the ‘Purple Snake’, everyone had good feelings towards the latecomer that extended the helping hand, therefore, nobody wished to see him harmed. However, with such un-godly speed and strength heading his way, everyone’s hearts turned cold in fright. What would happen to them, if their benefactor would perish? Wouldn't they be the next target for venting?

[Hmpf! It seems that if I don’t teach you a lesson today, you will climb over my head in the future.] (Jing)

With a cold harumph, a pure-white cloud formed around him and he sent a palm out to meet the ferocious strike of his attacker. There were no loud sounds when the two strikes met, rather, it was more of a feeling you get, like when watching a rock break through a sheet of paper. The palm the kind old man dished out, tore through the attack conjured by Purple Snake Luo. In an attempt to protect himself, the latter sent out his fists in quick succession numerous times... the palm, however, came forward with an indomitable will, crushing everything in its path. In the end, it only stopped after hitting Luo’s chest, making him throw up a mouthful of blood and fly away like a broken kite dozens of steps away.

Regaining his footing after a while, he stared at the old man Jing with hatred and trepidation.

[You... You broke through!?](Luo)

[The heavens had mercy on me and shone the light of providence on my cultivation path. When young miss broke through, I was by her side guarding and luckily caught a glimpse of the ascension’s energy, allowing me to take another leap forward.](Jing)

[Lucky undying old fart! To think your dog-shit luck was that good and broke through... However, you are only one level above me. How the hell is your strength that high!?](Luo)

[Hehe! That’s for me to know and for you to worry about. His Majesty sent me here because he knows about your petty and vile temper, therefore worried that you might harm the hearts of these mortals. It seems that in his unbounded wisdom, his Majesty was right once again. You are to leave and present yourself to the Punishment Elders. They will be the ones to decide on your fate.](Jing)

After saying his piece to the younger Luo in a deadpan and emotionless tone, the perpetrator's face grew pale white and gnashed his teeth with unbridled fury and humiliation. To think that he, Luo Yun, a young genius from high birth was taken over by this old trash and even lost his lord’s trust as result... Reaching inside his sleeves, he took a piece of paper with strange symbols on it and crumpled it. After that, he simply vanished from where he stood and left behind an astonished world-full of people and one old man remaining peerless in the skies with a cheeky grin on his face.

It was obvious that he waited for a long time to deliver this proverbial slap on the face, as well as the non-proverbial one that hit the chest. Readjusting his emotions slightly, he turned his sight back to the mortal world under him and smiled gently.

[You all might have been scared by what just transpired and you are right to be so. The opportunity His Majesty is giving your world, opens it at the same time to another ruthless one, governed by one single rule: whoever’s fist it’s harder, is in the right!](Jing)

Upon saying such rough yet truthful words, he could sense fear growing in people’s hearts. However, few of them brewed feelings of excitement to which he nodded his head gently. The martial path of cultivation requires a firm mind and an unyielding heart. To be frightened when provided with such an opportunity... this shall separate the weak from the strong. Who knows... maybe in the future, a peerless genius or two might even appear from this small primordial world.

He cleared his throat and continued.

[We are what you can call, cultivators. A cultivator is someone who absorbs Qi from Heaven and Earth to temper his body, mind, and spirit, all to go against the preordination of fate. A cultivator can easily shatter mountains and upturn rivers with a casual move of his hands but only uses such strength to fight against the cycle of Samsara. If a mortal person can live for only 70-100 years at best, a cultivator can live forever, given that his cultivation reaches a high enough realm. You are probably wondering why there wasn’t such a person in your history so far. The reason behind it is the lack of Spiritual, as well as Primordial Qi in your world. With the edict of my master Clear Lake, however, his Profound Immortal Qi forced your world to go through a cycle of Nirvana and is currently forming its very first wisps of Qi.](Jing)

It was obvious that everyone had incredulous looks on their faces, while others were scared out of their minds, some troubled, some excited and some even expectant. However, it was even more obvious that not even a single one of them wished for the old man’s explanations to stop.

[I know that you have much you want to ask, but time is always limited. Through my master's edict, let everyone be bestowed upon with the basic knowledge!](Jing)

With a clap of the old man's hands, drops of rain were formed out of thin air. Each of those drops was heading indiscriminately towards the people that were still frozen in time. No matter who it was, no matter what background, past, gender or skin tone, a drop fell onto the forehead of each person in the world, sending them in a temporary daze.

[With this, you now have a basic understanding of your situation at least. Well, since your world has embarked on the cultivation path to immortality, in six months the first recruitment trial will begin. Those with high potential can bring much glory and even more rewards back to their world. Also, to further celebrate the breakthrough of my young miss, for seven consecutive days and nights, no deaths shall occur in your world! This is the will of my master and so it shall be done! Absorb the knowledge you were given and prepare yourselves accordingly. I look forward to your results in half a year.](Jing)

With those words left behind, the old man walked back into the space-time rift and the rift itself slowly closed behind him. Time started flowing again for the humans back on Earth. However, with the final edict of ‘His Majesty’ being in effect, there were many lives saved. The surfer who would’ve likely drowned was washed ashore and after vomiting, a couple of liters of water out of his lungs and stomach was perfectly fine... albeit, scared out of his mind. The two drivers in Bangkok that might’ve died, survived as well, even if they both suffered from many, many broken bones. All around the world, people were buzzing about like headless flies after undergoing the unbelievable events that just passed.

Chaos doesn’t even begin to describe what was going on right now on Earth.

.............................................................................

At the same time, in a small and rather quiet city, a youth was standing on a balcony in a daze. His left hand was rubbing his forehead that was previously smashed against the concrete floor under his feet and was staring grudgingly at the sky. In front of his eyes, there was a building that was ongoing construction and a huge crane above it seemed to mock his shameful act of gratitude to the whatever-lord that graced them with his gifts.

The mountains in the distance seemed to have turned more vibrant, as the skies were turning black with clouds once more, showing the imminent storm that was brewing. This youth, however, knew that the rain won’t be your everyday usual rain. Thanks to the ‘kick-start’ the undying old fart Clear Lake gave his world, this rain will condense wisps of Qi, allowing the planet to undergo another bout of evolution.

From his previous calm and composed bearings, the youth extended his right hand, took a long careful look, and shouted inwardly in panic as result.

“Absolute and undeniable F*CK! Why the hell did I return in time!?”