The heavens changed, as I reached out with my power and reached out to the empire as a whole. What I’d done before paled in comparison to what I was doing now. There were no chains to break from the heavens, as I fundamentally altered their nature.I felt the divine tree manifest, a massive tree reaching up into the sky, as if its branches were holding the sky up, and its roots went deep into the earth, spreading out into the world. I felt my connection to the people, to those I knew, but many who I didn’t know either. I felt their will, felt their faith in me, felt the ties that tied us together in a way that tied all people together. I felt that bond, felt it feeding power into me, changing me, morphing me into something greater, something more than just who I was, and so I rose, a vessel of true divine power and will, as the four spirit ring in my soul blossomed and I reached the edge of transcendence.I moved my hand, and the world obeyed my command. The ground moved shooting towa

Like everything before that had happened, and perhaps all that would come ahead still, I found myself in all too familiar darkness.It took me a moment to realize this was not a dream, as my mind began to piece together the events that had gone down. From the moment I had touched upon that Divinity, it was as if I’d lost some part of myself, like something had taken over me. It was similar to the feeling I’d felt when Xuanwu had wrestled control of my body from me to try and fix the broken cycle forcefully, but while that had been submission, this had been… assimilation. I had still retained myself… but my definition of I had changed. And it was only now, that all the events were starting to come back to me.I waited in the dark and let the fragments settle. I did not try to force them. Forcing thoughts in here only made them slip away. So I breathed slow, even breaths that anchored my spirit sea and I watched scenes arrange themselves in order.The emperor’s fall. The tearing of heav

When I could stand straight again, I wiped my face with the heel of my hand. My palm passed through faintly, reminding me I didn’t even have tears to wipe. “How… are you here?” I asked again. “I felt you become the tree. The cycle. I thought—”“We are not… not truly. This… is the last remnant of what remains of us. We are here, because of the seed we’d left inside of your little spirit, Twilight. Her form was suitable to ours, and thus she’d retained a part of what had us the Qilin. Or, as you call us, Ki.”I remembered the seed Ki had mentioned all that time ago, the same one that had allowed Twilight to command spirit beasts at one point as her powers had grown. The little spirit’s soul had always felt gentle and stubborn in equal measure.“You expected this?” I asked, fearing that I’d never truly been trusted in the first place. But also, perhaps, relieved. If the world wouldn’t crumble on my shoulders, then it meant there would be some other way.“Not expected this. No one could’v

Silence settled over the courtyard, and stillness. Even the nectar-drops on the fruit seemed to pause on their skins.The other two seemed to finally see that this was more than a casual discussion of theory, judging by their expressions. Yao Chuanli’s knuckles tapped once against the table, his eyes distant. Cai Xiaotong looked down into his cup, a crease appearing on his forehead as he pondered.Shi Qing was the one to break the silence. “You believe we are being ‘forced’ to become one with the world? You cannot be serious. Am I truly comprehending what you are trying to say, brother? That ascension is some kind of restrictive obligation?”“I do not think Brother Yun’s position is all that incomprehensible, if you think about it.” Yao Chuanli leaned forward. “Why shouldn’t we break apart the heaven-and-earth cycle? As it is, Brother Yun is right. If this cycle means we inevitably succumb and become one with this world when there is no necessity to do so, wouldn’t it be better for us

The scene wavered, resonance shifting as the courtyard dissolved. I stood in a grand and luxurious bedroom so filled with splendour that even I was stunned. Everything from the bedsheets to the chandelier to the floor tiles was saturated with qi, every one an artefact refined for years, if not decades. Beside me stood a circular window that framed a private lake, its surface mirror-flat. A sword stand held a blade in a sealed sheath, its spiritual weight contained under six talismans. A rack of brushes lay on a desk, each made with hairs from spirit beasts I could not name, beside a box of jade slips inscribed with the words “Do not waver.” Within this bedroom sat the three emperors, each in a different spot: one on the bed, one on the floor, and one leaning against the wall. All of them wore clouded expressions, their posture incongruously reminiscent of a college dorm midway through finals. “To think even the divine beasts disagree with us.” Yao Chuanli tilted his head back agai