A scholar left rubbings of ancient patterns all over the delve, seemingly depicting events from the history of the Xianzhou…

According to the calendar era system used by the Xianzhou, the day of departure is deemed as the beginning of the Star Calendar. Hence, things that took place before the departure, called the history of the Primeval Imperium Era, are often neglected.

It's not a secret that the Xianzhou originated from a certain famous ancient world before it departed. However, the coordinates of that world, whether erased by the Xianzhou people or just lost in time, have long since become a secret and unreachable place. From there comes a myth that is still well-known to this day.

In that civilized world, the sovereign whose name is no longer remembered eliminated their remaining opponents on the planet one by one, just like most other conquerors on their planets. After that, the invasion of an alien civilization took place. (According to the historical sources we have studied, these aliens were born with wings and called “wingweavers” by the ancient people of the Xianzhou.) In the battle against the aliens, the emperor discovered that the aliens hardly aged and could live on for as long as they liked.

Blinded by greed, the dying sovereign yearned for eternal life. He (or she, as the gender of the sovereign has never been confirmed) summoned craftsmen from all over the world and ordered them to build the first version of the Xianzhou ship. Then, the sovereign sent wise officials and valiant generals to space to search for the immortality elixir.

For modern scholars like us, we know that the blessing of immortality is related to the Aeon of Abundance. Did the ancient people know what they were looking for when they departed? I am not sure about that. Based on my experience, I think they were just pursuing an unrealistic goal based on the astral chart they seized from the aliens.

The departure of the nine massive ships signaled the beginning of the Xianzhou civilization.

The Intelligentsia Guild once had copies of ancient ship logbooks in their collection. Judging from the stamps, the ancient books could be traced back to seven millennia ago if converted from Amber Era calculations. At that time, the ship looked nothing like its current appearance, and it was populated by a short-life species (the ancestors of the Xianzhou people). According to research, the crew took turns to rest using a Watchful Sleep System to extend the service time of a generation by as much as possible. During the voyage, the Xianzhou people observed many cosmic wonders, such as the void song whales (the favorite of Astral Ecology School), the starwall built by the Amber Lord, etc…

The voyage was not all smooth sailing, as the Xianzhou people had suffered greatly when facing two types of long-life species. One of them is called the “viscorpus,” a peculiar creature with a gelatinous texture that is almost extinct today. It is said to be able to change its body shape freely to develop organs that can be used as weapons. Being able to traverse in space with its bare body, it is fit to be called a cosmic epidemic.

After eliminating the viscorpi, the crew encountered the “heliobi.” There are few entries about the heliobi in the Intelligentsia Guild's records. According to the Xianzhou people, the heliobi are flames that can speak. Heliobi can suck the soul and desires out of humans and control them like puppets. I suppose they belong to the Shapeless Order and the Spirit Essence Family.

Toward the end of the voyage, the Xianzhou people met alien civilizations that could communicate with them peacefully for the first time — the IPC and Intelligentsia Guild. Isn't it interesting? We showed the Xianzhou people a new code for civility, shared with them technologies they had never seen before, and welcomed them to the big galactic family and to become one of the allies protected by the Amber Lord. Exchanging knowledge for mutual benefit is the spirit of the Intelligentsia Guild.

The manifestation of the Aeon of Abundance is undoubtedly the epochal event in the history of Xianzhou. Legend has it that following Yaoshi's appearance during the voyage, the Ambrosial Arbor arrived to convert the Xianzhou natives into a long-life species.

The four centuries that followed were the so-called “Golden Age” of Xianzhou. During this period, the Xianzhou people created countless unparalleled miracles based on the Ambrosial Arbor. They achieved rapid development in biology, especially the field of bionics, and invented Ligneous Freeroamer, Fallow Earth, miracle pills, and the altered flesh that could modify one's body… The invention of the jade abacus, a crystal computer, boosted the calculation ability of the Xianzhou people tremendously.

Of course, many of these techniques are no longer recoverable now, as the Xianzhou natives later went through a long era of turmoil and lost their celestial traces. If I have the chance to further examine the historical sources and antiques, I believe I can work with my Intelligentsia Guild colleagues to recreate some of their inventions, such as the elixir of immortality brought by the Ambrosial Arbor… Still, the concept of immortality is taboo to the Xianzhou people and they have created many containment mechanisms to guard against it. It is wise to let it remain an idea.