A drama was playing out in the god domain as Sunfire’s voice swept through the withered world like turbulent waves.

A tempest formed, reaching every corner of the god domain, purging the lingering spiderwebs and driving away the dust that had built up over the years. Then, in one particular location, in the spot of a ruined planet, an ancient stone stele appeared. It was mostly intact, although the words carved on the surface weren’t completely legible. In fact, there were only four words that could be read using divine will.

North Immortal Emperor World.

That was the name of this world, which had long since been lost in the sands of time. It had its glory days. And given that it existed in a universe that also contained gods, it was no surprise that it had stories related to gods. Naturally, there were names associated with its rise to prominence.

Now, though, all that remained were desolate ruins, the lonely tomb of the emperor, the depressing devastation, and the mindless godly entities. This world fundamentally didn’t have anything to do with the Revered Ancient mainland. In fact, taking in the starry sky as a whole, this world was actually immeasurably far away from Revered Ancient.

It was only after the immortal emperor died that the spider god invaded the place and infected its aura. At that point, this immortal world of the north turned into a god domain. And then, because the broken face came… the North Immortal Emperor World appeared in the rifts of Revered Ancient. It came to be a game board that various players conspired over. You could also say it was an embodiment of god karma.

As the stone stele floated in the dust and rubble, a hand of moonlight reached down from the starry sky to fish it up and pull it to the very center of the god domain, to the black hole, where the three gods were.

The three gods looked at it silently.

What happened next was possibly because of how Xu Qing and the Captain had entered the emperor’s corpse, or perhaps it was because of the power of thēir godly might. Either way, thēir gazes contained a special energy that cleansed the stele.

As that happened, the illegible words were restored to their ancient form.

“When the emperor knew his longevity neared its end, and the Arbiter of Destiny was about to perish, he realized that catastrophe was imminent. In order to leave a way out, on the day of his death, he violated the commands of the ancestors. He consumed the god karma and refined sun, moon, and star into three souls. He took the initiative to deal with his own soul.

“Using his body as the joss flame, he sent the three souls into reincarnation, severed providence, and concealed karma. Afterwards… people were people, immortals were immortals, gods were gods. The emperor perished… and his soul departed.” 1

The ancient text recounted a secret history. Before Sir Firedark and the other Firemoon chosen could read the text with their divine will, it vanished again.

The stone stele was the same stone stele from before. The history it represented was now truly buried in time. However, the beauty of the moment, and the karma buried within, had returned silently into the fates of the three gods.

And thus, in that moment, authority over the god domain was split into five parts. One went to Sunfire. One went to Moonfire. One went to Starfire.

As for the other two, one part went into the Mountain and Sea Region, while the other went… into the emperor’s corpse.

“The portion that went into the emperor’s corpse is locked,” Sunfire said coolly. “But the lock is opening.”

“Do they have enough time?” Starfire asked.

“The opportunity has arrived,” Moonfire replied calmly, “so it’s not important. We can start.”

Starfire smiled faintly. “Our big sister is still wrapped up in hatred. But I have the feeling… they have enough time.”

The three gods had been waiting for an opportunity.

Beneath the surface of the Mountain and Sea Region, the grand steward, who had stabbed Ninedawns in the back and taken complete control of the Darkheaven Archmages, had been waiting for that promise from within time.

Now, the moment had come that thēy had all been waiting for. A curtain that had remained in place for countless years was now being opened. The stage was being revealed. The play was about to begin.

In a corner that the curtain still obscured were others who were ready to play the game. Or perhaps it was better to say that they had no choice but to play. They were Xu Qing and the Captain, and they were making their move. That said, the true game was being played between the three gods and the grand steward. As such, they wouldn’t disturb the opportunity, but neither would they sit around and just wait for it to pass.

Therefore….

The stage was there. The strategy was in place. Whether the other players had time to make their move and take the stage… would depend on their own fate.

***

“Fate is complete nonsense!”

It was a dark, red world in which the sky was crumbling.

Atop a blood sea, the Captain threw his head back and laughed maniacally. He was currently glowing with bright blue light. Protruding from his chest were several vicious-looking blue arms, stretching out to hold up the sky. The arms became huge pillars of ice that rose up constantly from within the Captain. The pillars of ice climbed higher and higher in their attempt to prop up the sky. In fact, they were proliferating so rapidly it seemed they wanted to freeze the dome of heaven. There were also innumerable blue worms that spilled off the Captain, spreading into the sea of blood, which they devoured ravenously.

However, the world was crumbling, and it didn’t seem possible to stop it from happening. As the sky fell, the sea howled. The pillars shattered, and the worms collapsed.

But then another ice pillar appeared, and more worms came out. One who could prop up the sky could be called an ancestor. One who overturned the sea could be called a lord. By propping up flesh and overturning blood, one could enter the corpse of an immortal emperor.

However, there were two particularly difficult elements.

The first was that he wanted to subjugate this world. The second was that he wanted to subjugate even more worlds.

The crumbling world was an abstract representation of the fleshly body of the emperor’s corpse. As for the sea of blood, it was only one drop of the blood that existed in the emperor’s corpse. And the falling sky was only a tiny portion of the total flesh.

Li Zihua’s finger reduced the difficulty of the second task, as it could transform the sea of blood in this world from being one drop of the corpse’s blood into all of it. And it could transform the falling sky from one portion of flesh into all of it. By subjugating one world, it was possible to subjugate all of them.

That reduced the level of difficulty. But even still, and even if the Captain succeeded, there were other things to consider. Because… the emperor’s corpse had been infected by a god. Or perhaps it was even correct to say that the god had fused the immortal emperor’s discarnate soul. A full success would involve both the fleshly body and the soul. The dantian and the forehead.

And thus, while the Captain had to go crazy, Xu Qing also had to put everything on the line. There were also two difficult aspects to suppressing the discarnate soul.

The first was that he needed to take the emperor-god’s terrifying soul and absorb it into his Emperor’s trove. The second was that, once in the Emperor’s trove, he needed to figure out how to actually subjugate it.

Li Zihua’s finger proved to be a huge asset, as it crushed the discarnate soul and wiped out much of its terrifying nature. That would make it a lot easier to bring it into the Emperor’s trove.

It was, after all, the soul of an emperor-god. Despite being crushed, it also had plenty of deadly aspects.

It wasn’t an exaggeration at all to say that Xu Qing was putting everything on the line. In the middle of an immortal palace was a Dragon Throne, atop which was the discarnate soul, which was staring fixedly at him. Using his Gruegloom hand, he forced open the Emperor’s Sword trove gate, revealing it openly and sending it directly toward the discarnate soul with one goal: melt the discarnate soul, send it into the Emperor’s trove.

The discarnate soul hadn’t been resisting because, in contrast to the fleshly body that the Captain was dealing with, the soul was intelligent. It knew that the true victory or defeat in this matter wouldn’t be settled by the fleshly body. It would be settled here. If it could flip things around in the trove gate, then it could possess its attacker. And then… the situation could be turned into a victory.

Upon entering the trove gate, the discarnate soul immediately launched its counterattack. The Emperor’s trove trembled, and cracks spread out on the gate. That was the sign that it might not be able to last much longer.

Xu Qing had a decision to make. He closed his physical eyes, while his soul eyes opened. Rising from his sea of consciousness, he rushed aggressively into his Emperor’s trove in soul form.

Inside that trove were a sprawling heaven and earth. Thunder crashed in the sky as silver lightning danced. The lands quaked violently. A sword rose from the earth and into the sky. The light of the sword glittered brightly, illuminating everything. It was bronze, and pulsed with the destiny aura of humankind. Normally speaking, the sword would be 4.7 feet long. But in the Emperor’s trove, it was 47,000 feet long. 2

The edge of the blade was oppressive. The sword energy was unstoppable. It could slash heaven, slash earth, and slash man. It could execute anyone who wasn’t an Ancient Emperor. It was… The Emperor’s Sword.

Next to the sword was a soul clad in an imperial robe and wearing an imperial crown. Its face was completely expressionless. At first glance it looked like an emperor, but at the same time, it resembled a god. It would look like an emperor, then suddenly seem to be a spider. It was currently looking at The Emperor’s Sword, eyes full of praise.

“A wonderful sword for an emperor!” It turned to look murderously at Xu Qing. “You want me to serve as the spirit automaton? As the heavenly dao? To be able to control this sword?”

The soul lifted its hand and reached out toward The Emperor’s Sword.

“No one can use that sword without my permission,” Xu Qing said quietly. The Emperor’s Sword trembled, emitting a thrum that caused heaven to dim. Sword light shone out in all directions.

The hand of the emperor’s soul stopped moving, then retracted.

“You can’t use it either,” the soul said, then blurred into motion toward Xu Qing.

A battle of souls was about to take place! The Emperor’s trove filled with rumbling sounds that spread out to fill Xu Qing’s body. Of course, his body couldn’t move, which made the situation very dangerous.

Meanwhile, the Captain was really going crazy. Whether in the fleshly body or the discarnate soul, whether in the dantian region or the forehead, intense violence had broken out.

Xu Qing’s childhood experiences taught him to be decisive. His life in Seven Blood Eyes taught him to be deceptive. In Sea-Sealing County, he mastered how to be strategic.

But it was his Eldest Brother that taught him how to fight! Fight heaven. Fight earth. Fight people. Fight gods! And also to fight fate.

And thus, as the emperor’s corpse fell through the abyss, a voice echoed in its dantian region.

“Open my seals. Awaken the Nine Serenities. Summer Immortal leaves the world. Everything frosts over!”

A blue ice flower emerged from the dantian region, rapidly spreading to cover the emperor’s corpse, from its torso to its limbs.

At the same time, Xu Qing’s voice echoed out in the fallen emperor’s forehead. “In my swordsage days, I cultivated a certain magic. It’s an art that all swordsages learn, which can be cultivated by anyone. But it was in my Emperor’s trove that I came to understand its true nature.

“So listen up. The truth is… I can use that sword!

“I have a sword….

“Its name is The Emperor’s Sword!”

The sword rose up in the trove, disdainfully slashed through the void, piercing into the abyss, unstoppable on its way to the forehead of the emperor’s corpse. The forehead caved in, astonishing space-time and slashing the fictional! The emperor’s corpse shivered and lurched to a halt. It hovered in the middle of nothing. And as the sword light grew dazzling, the corpse’s eyes opened! They did not belong to the immortal emperor, nor to the spider god.

They were the Captain’s eyes and Xu Qing’s gaze. The void rumbled as a return was declared. The abyss shattered as a new lord was proclaimed. The fifth aspect of the authority over the North Immortal Emperor World, which had turned into a god domain, fell into the fates of Xu Qing and the Captain.

In the Mountain and Sea Region, the person who had been walking forward looked up.

In the god domain, the three gods looked down at the black hole.

“Looks like I was right,” Starfire said with a slight smile.

1. What I’m rendering as ‘providence’ is essentially a fancy word for fate or destiny. Its function in the story doesn’t necessarily correspond to its real-life usage. I’m assigning it ‘providence’ so that it sticks out among other usages of words like destiny or fate. ☜

2. This is one instance in which I’m not worrying about converting the ancient Chinese measurements into modern-day measurements. The whole point of this passage is to contrast the 4 and the 7 and to make it sound impressive. ☜