The Dry Leaf Village on the Hundred Desolation Mountain of the Blood Demon Sector was the one of the poorest and most barren towns even by the standard of the Blood Demon Sector.
The residents who lived in the undeveloped mountain village had to get up to dig for their food before dawn every day.
The morning sun had only just shed dazzling redness and glamorous purple colors to the ridge of the Hundred Desolate Mountain when the Dry Leaf Village was simmering with all kinds of sounds.
The insects started scarifying the soil and gathering the honey, the minotaurs were ploughing the land, which was suffering from drought, and the hunting team made of were-tigers and werewolves set off to the depths of the Hundred Desolation Mountain, hoping to try their luck and see if they could run into a few fat preys.
“Brother. Come on. Rise and shine!”
At the east of the Dry Leaf Village, inside a particularly ragged woodhouse, a young girl was shaking a sleep bag weaved from vines.
The girl was small in size. Her eyeballs were gold, and the features of a felid could be found on her face, especially her ears, which were as furry as a cat’s ears.
Her arms were smooth and hairless, no different from those of human beings, but her hands and feet had grown the volar pads and the sharp talons of the felids.
The young girl was wearing very cool clothes. She only covered her breasts and her waist with beast hides. A belt with a lot of bone adornments was hanging from her waist. On the right side of her body was a bone container polished from the hollow leg bone of an enormous demon beast.
She shook for a long time, but there was no response from the sleep bag at all. The cat-eared girl mumbled in dissatisfaction before she took out a sharp bone needle from the container and stabbed into the core of the sleep bag of vines.
Hissing sounds came from the sleep bag. Then, just like quickly dispersing mimosa, the vines all retreated back to the walls of the woodhouse.
A drowsy young man fell out from the sleep bag and sat on the ground in a daze, his only eye blinking in confusion.
The young man who was addressed as ‘brother’ by the cat-eared girl looked vastly different from her. He maintained most of the features of a human being. The only thing different about him was his exceptionally long canine teeth, which protruded out of his lips like coldly shining daggers, and the intense demonic air around him.
The young man seemed to be heavily wounded. His left eye and left arm were tied up by dirty bandages from which the fragrance of medicine could be smelted.
His left arm was obviously much smaller than his right arm. It was dangling freely from his shoulder as if it had completely withered.
The cat-eared girl took out a voluptuous bud from her container. She then pinched the bud and pushed the pollen to her palm, before she blew at the young man. After a ‘pu’ sound, the slightly simulative powder was flying everywhere inside the room.
“Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!”
The young man sneezed heavily. His right eye, which was an amber color, was finally clear again.
The cat-eared girl smiled. “Morning, big brother.”
The young scratched his nose and nodded.
“How is it going? How is it going? Do you feel better today? Can you recall more things than yesterday now?”
The cat-eared girl blinked her big eyes and asked in a hurry, “Do you remember who you are and who I am?”
The young man grinned and said in a coarse and feeble voice, “My name is Lei Qi. I’m a native of the Dry Leaf Village of the Hundred Desolation Mountain, born and raised in this place. I have never left the Hundred Desolation Mountain in all my life. I used to be the best hunter in the village.
“You are my sister Lei Lan. We have a brother named Lei Chuang. The three of us live together.
“Half a month ago, an enormous meteorite hit the Hundred Desolation Mountain, causing a great forest fire. The Dry Leaf Village was soon affected. All the villagers went to the mountain to put out the fire, but I was trapped by the fire and heavily burned, and I unfortunately fell off a cliff.
“When I was found, I was already out of shape. My brain was damaged, too, resulting in the loss of all my memories.
“After I was rescued, I lay in bed for half a month before my body gradually recovered, and I can more or less recall things of the past right now.”
“Excellent!” Lei Lan, the cat-eared girl, was overjoyed. “You’re finally smart again. Not as muddled as a few days ago anymore.
“Come on, brother. Let’s review the knowledge that I’ve taught to you in the last couple of days, including who we are and where we come from. Do—do you remember them?”
The young man tilted his head and thought hard for a moment. Then, he nodded solemnly and replied, “I do. We are demons.”
“We are indeed demons. Then what exactly are demons? I read the Legends of Ancient Demons to you yesterday. Do you remember what it said, brother?” Lei Lan asked, her voice shaking and full of hope.
The young man coughed lightly and said unhurriedly, “According to the Legends of Ancient Demons, the demons are created by the Primeval Lord of Heaven.
“Long, long ago, before the universe was born, we and the creator of the universe were all floating in the endless nothingness.
“He was the primeval spirit of the world, known as the Primeval Lord of Heaven.
“The Primeval Lord of Heaven floated for billions of years in the nothingness. One day, he thought of something and decided that he wanted a change. Then, an immeasurable big bang took place in the endless nothingness. In a moment, the universe was born in the big bang.
“The universe that was born was seething like magma in places and freezing like a glacier in others. The planets collided into each other heavily and ripped each other apart, turning into raging nebulas. The nebulas then swirled and condensed rapidly, turning into uneven planets again.
“The universe was exactly such a pot of hot soup. Chaotic, disordered, and utterly devoid of any pattern.
“The Primeval Lord of Heaven admired pattern, order, and tranquility. He made the most original regulations for the chaotic universe, which were known as the ‘Great Dao’. There were three thousand items of the Great Dao in the beginning, which included the most fundamental laws of nature for the functioning of the universe.
“Triggering the big bang and establishing the three thousand items of Great Dao drained almost all the energy of the Primeval Lord of Heaven, who was about to enter hibernation.
“He was not satisfied with the rough and messy world. Before he fell asleep, he created the Pangu Clan, the first intelligent species in the universe, with the last bit of his spiritual energy. He also entrusted an arduous task to the Pangu Clan, which was to calm the furious and chaotic universe.
“During the long time while the universe was being calmed, since the environment of every world was different, the Pangu Clan evolved as they modified all the planets. They turned into twelve different clans, which were the Twelve Ancient Demon Clans, our ancestors.
“In the scorching planets full of volcanic eruptions and magma, the Pangu Clan evolved into the ‘Zhurong Clan’, which could manipulate fire freely at will and even live inside magma.
“In the planets that were wreathed in oceans, the Pangu Clan evolved into the ‘Gonggong Clan’, which could manipulate the undercurrents and tides and rein the undersea creatures.
“In the desolate planets that had nothing but mountains and rocks, the Pangu Clan evolved into the ‘Houtu Clan’, which was enormous in size and could lurk deep below the ground to absorb the microconstituents inside the rocks.
“In the gaseous planets without continents or oceans, the Pangu Clan evolved into the ‘Tianwu Clan’, which could control the wind, and the ‘Qiangliang Clan’, which could feast upon thunder and lightning.
“In the worlds with few resources and sources of energy, the Pangu Clan evolved into a new clan named the ‘Kuafu Clan’.
“The Kuafu Clan chased after stars throughout their life. They built great rune arrays outside the stars and collected every bit of spiritual energy emitted by the stars, which they would use to build other worlds.
“It was a grueling job. Countless members of the Kuafu Clan were unfortunately burnt to ash when they were swept by the solar prominence and the solar storms while they absorbed the energy of the stars. Some of stars of the Kuafu Clan even failed to resist the high temperature of the stars and lost their momentum, only to be captured by the gravity of the stars and fall to the center of the stars.
“However, the next generation of the Kuafu Clan would still carry on their predecessors’ duty and chase after the stars.
“In their prime years, the Kuafu Clan could even enshroud a star with a great rune array, producing a ‘Kuafu Sphere’, thereby absorbing every drop of spiritual energy from the star.
“Just like that, with the collective endeavors of the Kuafu Clan, the Zhurong Clan, the Gonggong Clan, and all the other ancient demon clans, a great number of Sectors were created, and everything was flourishing!
“The golden years at the beginning of the universe are known as the ‘Primeval Era’.
“However, when there is sunlight, there is shadow; when there is birth, there is death; when there is righteousness, there is evil; when there is order, there is chaos.
“The Primeval Lord of Heaven represented the order, pattern, rules, and the Great Dao of the entire universe. However, the ultimate existences that stood for mess, disorder, and destruction were born during the big bang, too.
“They were ‘Chaos’.
“Life stands for hope, but life gives birth to mess and disorder, too. While the twelve ancient demon clans established the Sectors where billions of creatures developed, the Chaos was slowly expanding in darkness and corrupting the creatures’ hearts, too.
“In the end, the Pangu Clan made of the twelve ancient demon clans had an earthshaking primeval war against the species under the control of Chaos.
“In the primeval war, the skies of countless planets were torn apart, the ground collapsed, and the atmosphere was broken.
“Many planets were even directly absorbed by the stars and turned into insignificant solar storms.
“The primeval war lasted tens of thousands of years. In the end, the Pangu Clan defeated the species controlled by Chaos and sealed Chaos completely.
“However, the primeval war consumed the potentials of the Pangu Clan and drained their vitality. The broken planets could not be restored quickly, either.
“In order to mend all the Sectors that were bordering on destruction, the twelve ancient demon clans combined all their essence and produced a thirteenth ancient demon clan—the Nuwa Clan!
“When the twelve ancient demon clans fell asleep, the Nuwa Clan would carry out the ‘Sky Fixing Plan’ and repair all the Sectors!
“In order to repair the Sectors that had been damaged as quickly as possible, the Nuwa Clan created a brand-new species as their assistants—the human beings!”