Countless phantoms and visions, including the shattered heavens, the fractured earth, the turning stars, and the infinite workings of creation itself, emerged from the flames and flooded Ji Jue’s sight before forcing themselves into his soul. The world turned before him, revealing its true form.

Finally, Ji Jue saw what lay at the end of the flames. It was the source from which all things had come.

An emerald eye slowly opened, gazing toward this place and Ji Jue. It knew neither sorrow nor joy, neither shock nor fear. It was lofty beyond reach and utterly indifferent, looking down upon all the turmoil of the mortal world—the endless cycle of war and peace, the interweaving of conflict and cooperation—and bearing witness as every futile cycle repeated itself once more. 

What had been would be again. What had been done would be done again. There was nothing new beneath the sun. All the changes of creation were merely another turn in the cycle of strife and slaughter.

Drawn by the esoterism’s call, the Great Abomination of the mortal world, the Putrefied Furnace...