Chapter [B4] 25 — Heaven’s Mandate

Chapter [B4] 25 — Heaven’s Mandate

I followed behind Elder Tian Feng, as we walked out of the chamber he’d been in. It took me a little while to realize where I was, since I had only really arrived here once before.

“We’re in the royal palace?” I asked, surprised that this was where I’d arrived out of all the other places.

“Indeed. Things have been changing over here. But more importantly, the thing you must do, the thing you must obtain, really, is here,” Elder Tian Feng said.

I followed behind him as we began to walk down stairs. The usual ornate displays quickly began to fade as the palace walls soon became unpolished stone that looked like it had been created nearly a thousand years ago. The further we went, the thicker the Qi in the air got, and the darker the world around me got. Which also let me know that I barely needed any light to see now, just another one of those things that had been caused by my rapid surge in power and recent brush with divinity that I still wasn’t so used to.

The stairs continued to descend further and further, the terrain becoming older and more rugged and the Qi becoming more and more dense. It was so much that I found it surprising that this place wasn’t teeming with Qi crystals, or that more of it hadn’t just leaked through.

After nearly fifteen minutes of walking, the stairs finally ended. This deep into the earth I could barely feel the bones of the world below me, deep dark things with massive pools of miasma lurking underneath. And yet, this place was anything but, filled with the most potent Qi I’d ever felt anywhere.

Belatedly, I noticed how much it was, and that this amount of Qi was not necessarily a good thing as it’d be bearing down on other people. I glanced towards Elder Tian Feng and noticed the elder starting to show signs that even he was finding it too much to be here.

My curiosity only grew, as we walked into an open segment with the roof far above our heads, and then, at the end of the chamber was a large gate.

If a gateway could impose itself and have an aura, then this one certainly did. The gate was massive, as if it was built for giants. Roughly ten times as tall as I was, the entire thing was built of stone and had carvings marked into it. A circular engraving was set within it, four divine beasts carved in symbols around the symbol of the Azure Jade empire.

Elder Tian Feng walked forward and pressed a metallic object he summoned in his hands to the gate, and I felt a truly ancient power pulse through the gates. The giant stone gates opened with a deep shudder, as if a giant beast was taking a breath after being awoken from its centuries long sleep. Dust rose from the movement, as a strong and cold gust of air poured out, carrying with it a powerful pulse of heavenly Qi from within.

Elder Tian Feng stood at the gates as I walked next to him.

“This is the birthplace of the empire,” he said, glancing at me. “Further in from here, you’ll have to go alone, and so, I’d like to tell you all I know of this place before you head in there.”

I nodded, as the Elder Turned towards the chamber in front of him.

“You are aware of the beginning of this empire, are you not?” Tian Feng asked.

“I have some ideas,” I replied.

“The heavens have picked their side and the empire was the one to receive their blessing. But it wasn’t the only one. The Azure-Jade empire is not the first of it’s kind. There have been others, those that came before it. The one before this one was known as the Eternal Phoenix empire, born from the flames of the Vermilion Bird. There were others still, most built around the five great families or their ancestors, and one of the four divine beasts and the blessings achieved from them. But not all of them. Some of them were created by others, those not of the five families. The Azure Jade empire, the latest one is really the successor to a far long history that has been running for thousands of years, since the very heavens and earth diverged from one another,” Elder Tian Feng said, glancing at me.

I listened with rapt attention. I knew of some details, and I knew that the divergence had taken in what was known as the ancient era when powerful spirits had just roamed the lands, but I hadn’t been aware of just how long this history had gone. Texts on the previous empires were sparse.

“There have also been demonic empires,” Elder Tian Feng said, surprising me.

“Really? How did... how did anybody survive?” I asked.

“We don’t know. The birth of this empire was turbulent, like the birth of any empire is, but many of these texts and history has simply been lost to time. There had been a war, a great one, like there is every time empires change, and that war had lost almost all that had existed from the previous empire,” the Elder said, looking in front of us.

And as I walked, I found myself taking in all of those murals, the pulse of heavenly Qi surging all around me and filling me in this place.

This place felt sacred in a way that I felt in my soul, and each step I took, I felt a reverence rising within me at this ancient place. I could feel it’s age, feel the depth of its power and the history it contained.

But that wasn’t why I was here, and so, I gave the place a bow, and then headed deeper still. The world seemed almost hazy around me, like I was stepping through a spirit world, reality being held tenuously in this space.

In front of me was a pedestal, and upon that pedestal sat a single scroll.

And yet the power oozing from it was no mistake. This entire place, all of it’s heavenly Qi and divine power came from that one object. The entire reality of this location was set by that scroll, and it was pushing back on me just from the sheer weight of its authority.

I walked forward, closer to the pedestal and then gently picked up the scroll.

It was sealed, the seal upon it marked with a single symbol.

Heaven.

I took a breath and then sent a pulse of Qi towards the scroll. The seal upon it cracked open with a flush of power as the scroll opened in front of me revealing its content.

There was nothing within, nothing that was written, no mandate, no guides, no rules, nothing. But there was one order, a single order set within the scroll itself as it lit up with light and the world began to shudder all around me.

Judgement.

The scroll was a mantle, the authority that I would wield granted by the heavens themselves, but to obtain it, I would need to pass its judgment.

A blast of heavenly Qi pulsed outwards and then shot towards the sky as the chamber around me began to twist, I felt a terrible power rising around the world as I felt the heavens themselves twisting all around me, reaching for me from above.

A pulse traveled across the empire, storm clouds brewing over the entire capital with rapid intensity as I gathered my resolve and prepared for what was to come.

The tribulation crackled, enough strength within it to tear this entire place down. I could tell that the world would take notice, there was no way it would not, but if the demons knew of this place, then they could not reach it, and that was for the best.

As the clouds gathered, I had a minute to prepare myself and I thought what I would do if I did die here. I’d accepted my role in things, but it did not mean I would make it, there was no guarantee here, despite everything, I was still mortal, even with the divinity of two divine beasts within me, I wasn’t above death. Even the emperor hadn’t been, and he had been caught off guard, pushed by the power of Yang Shen and then tricked, sometimes that was all it took.

If I truly did die here... I wanted some things to live. And so, I reached inside of myself, reached to the core of the Divine Tree and I created a seed, a single seed that would live on even if I died, and would carry on what I couldn’t.

I closed my eyes, finally fully prepared to face the heavens. The chamber around me changed as the storm clouds in the skies manifested in the huge chamber. The pillars shook with power as I sat on the ground, feet crossed, and began to cycle.

Then the heavens rumbled, as the first bolt of lightning struck down upon me.