The rescue operation was in full swing inside the Shixi Building, while at the same time, a grand banquet was being held in the mansion of the second leader of the Dark District.

The second leader's surname is Ji and given name is Zhao; his true form is a red-crowned crane.

His origins are quite extraordinary; the story begins a thousand years ago—

At that time, Ji Zhao was one of the cranes in the Jade Pool of the Nine Heavens. Although he had developed intelligence early on, he was of ordinary talent and had never been able to cultivate into a human body. He was also the smallest in size and was ostracized by the other cranes, always alone.

On one occasion, the Queen Mother of the West, who loved socializing, held a Peach Banquet by the Jade Pool, inviting all the gods and immortals of the Nine Heavens to taste and appreciate the peaches together.

Among the guests was a lively young child, with a remarkably intelligent appearance, a round face, dark eyes, and a natural crimson lotus mark between his brows—a unique symbol of a descendant of the gods.

In the beginning of the world's chaos, Pangu split the heavens and the earth, and the Heavenly Dao divided the four realms, from which the gods were born in response to the call of the Heavenly Dao.

The gods exist independently of the four realms. They are a race of fixed numbers who do not experience birth, aging, sickness, or death. As long as heaven and earth exist, they exist.

From birth, they are able to control the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, ignore the laws of time, and even create new life forms. Therefore, their initial role in the Four Realms was that of managers, mainly helping the Four Realms establish their own rules.

Later, the boundaries between the four realms became increasingly clear, and humans, demons, and monsters embarked on completely different paths. Their rules also became more and more perfect, and the gods completed their mission.

The Heavenly Dao was quite satisfied at first glance, but then it thought: The human, demon, and monster races have just shed their status as "newbies in the workplace" and are barely able to stand on their own, but they haven't even cultivated a few proper immortals yet. Compared to your divine race, which starts with a max-level configuration... it's really an eyesore!

Although the Protoss are equipped with "benevolence and mercy" as a default attribute, nothing is absolute. Who knows what might go wrong? What if a Protoss suddenly decides to destroy the world? Wouldn't all their efforts be in vain?

What should we do?

The Heavenly Dao then wanted to reclaim the privileges granted to the gods.

However, once you've used them and achieved your goal, it's unreasonable to just kick them aside. Besides, they're not stupid; they certainly wouldn't be happy to be discarded after using someone. Therefore, to compensate and appease the gods, Heaven granted them a condition—

The Protoss are allowed to "reproduce".

It's often said that the more you lack something, the more obsessed you become with it. As the rulers of the gods, they have witnessed the birth and death of countless beings in the Three Realms. Every day, old lives pass away, and new lives are born at every moment. This mysterious and beautiful cycle of life fascinates and fascinates them.

They had initially been quite vocal about losing power, but upon hearing the condition offered by Heaven, they immediately—

"Give it to us! It's just power, we'll give it all back to you! Hurry up and give us our sweet, soft new life!"

Of course, Heaven wouldn't actually let the gods reproduce on their own, so Heaven started to deceive again—

"Look, whether it's humans, demons, or monsters, they all experience birth, aging, sickness, and death. The birth of new life is often accompanied by the passing of old life, in a continuous cycle... If you want new life, you must also follow this rule. Only when the old goes can the new come."

It has to be said that Tiandao is a master of workplace manipulation. With just a few words, he easily transformed the conflict between the boss and employees into an internal conflict among the employees—"It's not that I'm not giving you opportunities, but you have to compete for them. There's only one position, so the most capable will take it!"

For the Protoss, who are known for their willingness to sacrifice, a one-for-one exchange is perfectly fair!

Thus, the deal was successfully completed.

Since then, every ten thousand years a god has fallen, and his remaining divine power has transformed into a golden elixir, which is swallowed by another god who has been chosen. The golden elixir takes a thousand years to mature within the god's body before it is born.

This child was the "precious darling" that the gods had been waiting for for a full 10,100 years before finally being born.

Its status is evident.

So when the toddler pointed his chubby finger at the cranes in the Jade Pool and cried out in a childish voice, "Big bird, I want it! Big bird, I want it!" Ji Zhao, who was standing alone in the corner of the Jade Pool in a daze, was suddenly grabbed by the neck and lifted up.

It is said that he was chosen because he looked very different from those flamboyant cranes who knew the child's identity and deliberately approached him to show off their feathers.

Ji Zhao: ......

After that, Ji Zhao was naturally given as a gift by the Queen Mother of the West to the young god named "Xi".

The gods reside in the highest part of the Nine Heavens, where a magnificent silver palace stands, entirely crafted from Kunlun cold iron.

The realm of the gods is perpetually frigid, filled with biting winds, and covered with snow as high as a person. This is nothing to the gods, who have their own protective shields and travel by teleportation. But Ji Zhao suffered. He fell seriously ill as soon as he arrived. His feathers lost their luster, his eyes lost their luster, and he became thin, weak, and pitiful.

Although Xi was born a god, she still has the temperament of a child and only has a short attention span for everything. She was displeased with Ji Zhao's listless appearance and forgot about him in the blink of an eye.

The other gods didn't pay much attention to the little crane either. Their focus was on showing off the sweet and soft little life to the other races, and they didn't care about any other details.

And so, Ji Zhao became a "wandering crane" that no one cared about, all in a daze.

He dared not leave the palace, though it was just as cold inside, at least there was no snow that would engulf him or wind that would cleave him in two.

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