In his ten-thousand-word proclamation, the cultivator Gu Xinghan revealed the true nature of the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array to the world:
To set the array in heaven’s place,
to steal its scepter and command.
A shadow bound to every form,
it watches over the lands.
Cultivation is siphoned away,
an offering to Tianxuan alone.
All living beings yoked as beasts—
before them, the Great Dao ends.
The proclamation enumerated the evils of the Soul-Locking Array and pointed out that the true form of the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array was, in fact, the former Myriad Immortals Alliance’s supreme treasure, the Tianxuan Mirror.
To attain the Dao and achieve transcendence, the Tianxuan Mirror intended to use all the world’s cultivators as sacrificial offerings.
Gu Xinghan called upon cultivators to unite, to shatter the Soul-Locking Array, and restore clear skies to the Xuanhuang World.
Although the Celestial Alliance immediately issued a refutation, denying the claims, and placed a Heavenly Execution Order on Gu Xinghan, the various abnormalities that had occurred throughout the world in the century since the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array’s implementation were plain for all to see.
The Celestial Alliance’s vehement denials could not silence the murmuring discontent of the cultivators.
For a time, the cultivators seethed with indignation.
Yet the Celestial Alliance had ruled the Xuanhuang World for millennia, and its accumulated prestige and intimidation remained effective.
Those who answered Gu Xinghan’s call and truly dared stand up in rebellion were pitifully few.
They were just scattered sparks, quickly suppressed by the Celestial Artificers dispatched by the Alliance.
Gu Xinghan himself, however, remained uncaptured.
His efforts were not entirely in vain.
The seeds of doubt had been sown, and cultivators grew increasingly wary of the Tianxuan Mirror and the Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array.
Across the Xuanhuang World, cultivators began secretly researching methods to evade the Tianxuan Mirror’s gaze.
A trend of internal division gradually began within the Celestial Alliance itself.
News kept surfacing of Alliance-appointed cultivators privately expressing dissatisfaction with the Soul-Locking Array, only to be apprehended and severely punished as examples.
In Anchor Year 268, an image was projected onto the green sky of the Xuanhuang World.
Though it was swiftly scrambled and the rest of its contents lost, that single fleeting moment of broadcast was enough to set the flames of rebellion roaring among the cultivators:
Somewhere unknown, a wall climbed endlessly into the clouds.
Countless cultivators lay sealed within it, deep in unnatural slumber.
Only their faces broke the surface, eyes sealed shut, each wearing an eerie smile.
"Fellow Daoists, this is the Eternal Immortal Wall. Every cultivator who has disappeared over the past century is imprisoned here by the Alliance—"
The voice, tinged with urgency, was cut off without warning.
It was only a glimpse, yet the dense multitude of faces on the Eternal Immortal Wall was enough to chill the blood of every surviving cultivator in the world.
To be lost in an illusion, imprisoned for eternity. How was that any different from death?
This was beyond horrifying. Beyond monstrous. The Celestial Alliance had crossed a line that no cultivator, whatever their allegiance, could stomach.
Instantly, cries to overthrow the Celestial Alliance and shatter the Soul-Locking Array rose one after another across the Xuanhuang World.
Within the Alliance itself, the opposition faction that had lain dormant since the array’s proliferation chose this moment to strike.
War instantly engulfed the Xuanhuang World.
Xiao Heng’s Immortal Avengers were one among the many resistance organizations.
Han Wuyou, Xiao Heng, Su Xiaomei, and others joined the war against the Celestial Alliance.
The combined strength of the vast majority of the world’s cultivators was formidable, without a doubt.
But the number of Celestial Artificers produced by the Celestial Alliance far exceeded anyone’s imagination.
The great war raged for three full years.
The cultivators’ ranks dwindled continuously, while the number of Celestial Artificers never seemed to diminish.
Had the Celestial Artificers not held back, striving to capture cultivators alive rather than kill them outright, the cultivator faction would have been crushed long ago.
Their decline was plain for all to see, and no prospect of victory remained. The cultivators were gradually routed, the war slowly devolving into a one-sided hunt.
In Anchor Year 273, the Celestial Artificers discovered a stronghold of the Immortal Avengers. Zhang Haobo and Su Xiaomei fought a desperate, bloody rearguard action to cover the retreat of their comrades. In the end, both fell in battle.
Yet even their sacrifice could not prevent the Immortal Avengers' destruction.
At the critical moment, Su Changyu achieved a breakthrough on the battlefield and detonated his power, taking the pursuing Celestial Artificers with him in a mutual demise.
Only then did Xiao Heng, Han Wuyou, and the others manage to escape with their lives.
In Anchor Year 274, Xiao Heng, grievously wounded, succumbed to his injuries. With his dying breath, he passed the legacy of the Immortal Avengers to Han Wuyou.
Han Wuyou accepted the charge with tears in his eyes.
Relying on the techniques, A Single Hand Veils the Heavens and the Furnace of Myriad Forms, Han Wuyou went into hiding, moving from place to place, and was never captured.
By Anchor Year 290, only a handful of cultivators remained alive in the world. The Celestial Alliance's pursuit gradually slackened.
In Anchor Year 304, the Celestial Alliance issued a Great Pardon. Any cultivator in the world who was willing to return to the Alliance and cultivate the Heaven-Mending Record according to an annual minimum quota would have all past transgressions forgiven.
One by one, cultivators began to return from the wilderness to the Alliance.
In Anchor Year 315, having observed that those who had returned earlier faced no mortal danger, more and more cultivators chose to go back.
In Anchor Year 324, the Celestial Alliance initiated a construction project of unknown purpose across all provinces. Enormous golden obelisks rose from the earth, standing tall at the heart of each region.
In Anchor Year 369, Han Wuyou broke through to the late-stage Nascent Soul realm. Adopting the alias He Buyou, he returned to the Celestial Alliance and went deep undercover.
Han Wuyou discovered that by this time, all key administrative positions within the Alliance had been taken over by Celestial Artificers.
For those cultivators who surrendered, the Alliance still provided corresponding cultivation resources. The price, however, was a heavier cultivation requirement for the Heaven-Mending Record.
In Anchor Year 370, Han Wuyou deprioritized his own cultivation progress and began to devote himself to studying the Heaven-Mending Record.
In Anchor Year 393, after twenty years of single-minded, unwavering cultivation of the Heaven-Mending Record, Han Wuyou accumulated a vast amount of Heaven-Bestowed Points and received commendation from the Celestial Alliance.
He was granted the rank of a 4th-grade Celestial Artificer and appointed to the position of Immortal Overseer, responsible for managing and supervising the Heaven-Mending work of over a thousand cultivators.
In Anchor Year 404, across the Xuanhuang World, massive beams of light erupted from the tops of the obelisks, spearing directly into the heavens. The earth and sky trembled. The energy eruption from the obelisks lasted for a full seven days.
In Anchor Year 412, after nearly forty years of research and synthesizing the insights into arrays he had gleaned from the broken array disc, Han Wuyou finally comprehended the true purpose of the Heaven-Mending Record.
The Tianxuan Soul-Locking Array sought to steal the authority of heaven itself, attempting to usurp its place.
But the core of the Soul-Locking Array, the Tianxuan Mirror, had overestimated its own capabilities. It could only barely maintain the full operation of the entire Soul-Locking Array while in a state of extreme overload.
Therefore, it needed external help to shoulder part of the burden. Only cultivators could commune with heaven and earth. This was why the Celestial Alliance needed cultivators to practice the Heaven-Mending Record, and why Celestial Artificers could not replace them.
Han Wuyou glimpsed a faint hope of overthrowing the Soul-Locking Array. Yet, at the same time, a sliver of worry entered his mind.
Because if the Tianxuan Mirror were to transcend and complete its metamorphosis, then it would no longer need cultivators to practice the Heaven-Mending Record.
He kept this to himself, harboring the knowledge in silence, continuing to bide his time and wait for the right moment.
In Anchor Year 434, Han Wuyou received orders to travel to Tianpan Province with a squad of Celestial Artificers to deal with an Oddity incident. Through casual conversation, he learned that in recent years, the spread of Oddities throughout the world had shown a gradual, creeping upward trend.
In Anchor Year 459, the obelisks once again shot beams of light outward into the world. From the heavens, the sound of thunderous roars echoed down.