Chapter 668: Go to the Mortal World
The Divine Realm. The Celestial Court.
The Celestial Court was situated high above the firmament, beyond the Gate of Heaven, and was divided into nine tiers.
The first tier was the most densely populated, home to one hundred thousand celestial soldiers. Though they bore the name of divine spirits, their standing was the lowest of all. Most had been common mortals or demon race beings elevated by a divine spirit of the sixth tier or above, granted a measure of divine nature sufficient to enter the Celestial Court.
These hundred thousand celestial soldiers were responsible for patrolling and guarding the first tier of the Celestial Court, and were subject to the commands of higher-ranking divine spirits.
The second tier of the Celestial Court was inhabited by celestial generals, who outranked the soldiers. Each general commanded a hundred soldiers, though they held no authority over the laws of heaven and earth. Most generals had risen from the ranks of the soldiers, and beyond the second tier, neither soldier nor general could ascend further.
The third tier was home to divine spirits known as minor gods, who likewise held no authority over the laws, though their names were recorded in the divine registry. The minor gods largely served as administrative officers for the gods of the fourth tier, handling matters large and small on their behalf.
The fourth tier was inhabited by local gods, each responsible for a specific region of the mortal world. These gods, however, cared little for the regions they oversaw. In their eyes, every living creature in their domain amounted to nothing more than an ant. And the greatest use of these ants, to their minds, was as a source of amusement.
From the fifth tier upward, the divine spirits began to hold authority over specific laws of heaven and earth, though the fifth tier's authority was narrow, and could be stripped by divine spirits of higher rank.
The sixth tier was home to divine spirits born of heaven and earth itself. Their mastery of the laws was a gift of the great Dao, and no other divine spirit could revoke their authority. Each of them commanded a far greater share of the world's laws than any fifth-tier god.
The seventh tier likewise consisted of divine spirits born of heaven and earth, but these held authority over even greater portions of the great Dao's laws, and their cultivation levels were correspondingly higher. Most of them were siblings of the eighth-tier gods. A seventh-tier god could move freely between the seventh and eighth tiers without needing the permission of any higher power. Beyond possessing their own share of authority over the laws, a seventh-tier god could also temporarily assume the authority of an eighth-tier sibling when that sibling had no leisure to exercise it themselves.
The eighth tier of the Celestial Court was home to only nine divine spirits.
These nine held cultivation levels of extraordinary height, and between them they governed the most fundamental laws of the entire world, some holding authority over more than one.
The seventh-tier gods, the nine gods of the eighth tier, and the God-Sovereign of the ninth tier had all emerged together from primordial chaos and were known collectively as the Primordial Gods. But the God-Sovereign had been the first to be born, the nine eighth-tier gods second, and the seventh-tier gods after them, and so the scope of their respective authority varied accordingly.
The ninth tier was home to one divine spirit alone.
This divine spirit was called the God-Sovereign.
In cultivation, the God-Sovereign stood above all others. Throughout the entire world, there was one and only one who had reached such a level. The God-Sovereign sat upon the divine throne, looking down upon all creation.
On this day, within the fourth tier of the Celestial Court, two local gods had gathered together over wine.
Before them sat a magical artifact called the Mirror of Flowers and Moon, which could show with perfect clarity everything occurring within the territory they each oversaw.
And at present, what the Mirror of Flowers and Moon displayed was a scene of wild beasts and monster-beasts chasing down a group of humans. The beasts tore at them without cease, blood spraying from their jaws as they chewed through flesh and bone. The humans cried out for help again and again, to no avail. Some parents, desperate to shield their children from the beasts' jaws, seized whatever tools they had, hoes and axes, and threw themselves between their children and the creatures, trying to carve out a path of survival for those they loved. But these were all futile struggles in the end.
Before the Mirror of Flowers and Moon, two local gods watched this scene with all the ease of connoisseurs, drinking their wine with evident appreciation.
"It looks as though you've lost," the divine spirit named Qiuwei said, smiling at his companion.
"I know when to accept a loss." The other, named Zhenyang, tipped back his cup, and tossed a jade-pendant artifact into his companion's waiting hand.
"I truly did not expect these humans to be so useless. Just as I thought, the lowest of all races. We gave them a clear road and they still managed to die."
"Ha ha ha, you win some, you lose some. Can't expect to win every bet! Come! Drink!"
Qiuwei laughed and raised his cup, clinking it against his friend's.
Decades ago, Qiuwei had engineered a flood, causing a network of rivers to overflow and submerge countless fields and villages. Then, in the manner of a savior descended from on high, he had appeared and halted the disaster. The survivors of the nearby villages had been overwhelmed with gratitude, and in their thanks they had built a shrine to Qiuwei of their own accord, making daily offerings to him, and honoring him with ritual sacrifice at every festival, year after year without interruption but in Qiuwei's heart, none of it amounted to anything at all. Everything he had done had been done simply because he found it amusing.
Including now. On a whim, he had struck a wager with his friend: he had sent the wild beasts and monster-beasts to attack those villages and set the villagers on the move, and if the villagers managed to reach the destination he had marked on the map, Zhenyang would win.
As for what became of those villagers' lives?
Ha. When has an elephant ever concerned itself with the ants beneath its feet?
As things stood, the villagers had been run down in the end, and it seemed unlikely many of them would survive.
"Well, they're mostly dead by now. Let's find some new entertainment."
Qiuwei waved a hand and put the Mirror of Flowers and Moon away.
"I hear that in the territory Shen oversees, some demon tribe factions have just gone to war. Shall we each place a wager?"
"I like it." Zhenyang's interest lit up immediately. "This time I am definitely winning back what I lost."
"Ha ha ha, excellent!" Qiuwei laughed. "Please!"
"Please!"
At the same time, at the foot of a nameless mountain peak below.
Screams, weeping, rage, despair.
Every sound imaginable rang without end, bouncing back and forth through the silent valley.
The white snow had been stained red across wide stretches of ground. Scattered across the snow lay torn flesh, severed limbs, and the dead.
Xiao Mo and the old Village Chief, one young and one old, ran without pause.
A massive tiger with two heads, standing a full half-zhang tall, fixed its gaze on Xiao Mo and the Village Chief and came charging toward them with terrifying speed.
The gap between the tiger and its prey closed rapidly. It was nearly upon them.
As they ran, the Village Chief stumbled, and pitched forward to the ground.
"Village Chief!"
Xiao Mo turned and ran back to his side at once, trying to help the old man up.
"There's no time, boy. You go. Don't worry about me."
The Village Chief shoved Xiao Mo away with all his remaining strength.
"Village Chief, there's time, let me help you up." Xiao Mo's face was desperate. Nothing in him would allow him to leave the old man behind.
"You stubborn little fool! If you don't run now, we'll both die here! Go!"
With that, the Village Chief pushed himself to his feet and shoved Xiao Mo away hard.
"Village Chief!"
Xiao Mo lurched forward, and in the next instant the world spun around him as he went tumbling down the slope, rolling faster and faster, further and further.
Standing at the top of the slope, the Village Chief watched Xiao Mo rolling away below like a stone, and let out a quiet sigh. "Little one... this world is all wrong... whether you can survive what comes next... is up to you now."
As the Village Chief's words fell, Xiao Mo, still rolling down the slope, looked back up, and in a blurred instant saw the two-headed tiger rear up on its hind legs and close its jaws around the Village Chief's throat.
A spray of vivid red bloomed through the air.
A crushing dizziness came over him. Xiao Mo's eyes slowly closed, and he lost consciousness.
The blizzard continued for who could say how long.
Until at last the snow drifted into stillness.
Until the white flakes settled, layer upon layer, and buried the small child beneath them.
…
Within the eighth tier of the Celestial Court.
True dragons, true phoenixes, azure luan birds, qilins, and all manner of divine creatures wove in and out among the colored clouds of the eighth tier. Towers and great halls rested upon the peaks of every cloud, some strung with wind chimes that rang softly as the breeze passed through them.
The glow of sunlight fell across the rooftops and colored clouds, gilding them with a faint golden rim and casting ring after ring of radiant halos. A silver river descended from the heavens and formed a long, arching bridge. Unknown species of auspicious birds spread wing to wing in great flocks, circling endlessly among the buildings and towers.
In this landscape of drifting celestial mist, before the palace whose gates bore the plaque reading "Hall of Reincarnation," wave after wave of divine power radiated outward in shimmering rings.
Two women stood outside the palace doors, their eyes fixed upon the great hall within, whose light shone with the brilliance of divine radiance. Both of them carried a trace of tension in their expressions.
As the final ring of divine power expanded and dispersed, it raised a burst of wind through the air. Both women raised their sleeves to shield their faces.
As the wind gradually calmed, a faint shadow of sorrow passed through their eyes then from within the great hall, a woman stepped out.
She was dressed in a plain white gown, standing between cloud and sunlight.
Her gown fell like flowing water, tracing the line of a waist slender and graceful beyond measure, barely enough to hold in one's hands, the curve of her form winding like the path of a quiet stream.
Step by measured step, she walked toward her two sisters. The jade-like fingers that held a long sword were defined and lean, the back of her hand smooth and soft, the lines clean and precise.
With each step she took, the hem of her gown swayed, hinting at the elegant rise and fall of the figure beneath, the long lines of her legs glimpsed faintly, yet nothing revealed.
Whether the tall and graceful line of her figure, or the features of her face, everything about her was perfect. It was as though the great Dao, in creating her, had gathered within her every form of beauty the world possessed.
Only, her beauty was cold.
Standing there without a word or a movement, the divine pressure she carried from her very nature made it difficult for others to meet her gaze directly. It was as though she simply being there made her the very standard by which this world measured itself.
"Elder Sister..."
The woman called Yuan stepped forward, looking at her elder sister with an expression of some complexity, uncertain what words of comfort to offer.
Their elder sister had been in closed cultivation for ten thousand years, attempting to break through to the Dao-of-Heaven realm. And this was her third attempt.
Yet once again, it had ended in failure.
Yuan did not find this strange. Only the God-Sovereign had reached the Dao-of-Heaven realm. How could reaching the God-Sovereign's level possibly be easy?
"The Dao-of-Heaven realm truly is not so easily entered." The woman called Ningxi spoke in a measured tone. "Though this time, my attempt was not entirely without gain. I came away with a different kind of insight."
"An insight?" Yuan and Shen both tilted their heads, looking at their elder sister with curiosity.
Ningxi put away her long sword, looked at her own palm, and shook her head. "It is difficult to describe. I feel as though I am missing something, and yet whatever it is, the Divine Realm does not seem to hold it. I cannot find it here."
"Something the Divine Realm doesn't have?" Yuan grew even more puzzled. "Elder Sister, if the Divine Realm doesn't have it, where else could it possibly be?"
Ningxi did not answer. Instead, she raised her head and looked toward the horizon.
After a long pause, Ningxi shook her head and spoke slowly. "I don't know. But I wish to go to the mortal world and look."
"Go to the mortal world?" The more composed Shen considered a moment, then nodded in agreement. "That may be for the best. Elder Sister could use the time to clear her mind as well."
"Then I'll come with you." Yuan stepped forward.
Ningxi shook her head. "This time I will go alone. There is no need for either of you to follow."
With that, Ningxi drew a jade pendant from within her robe and placed it in Shen's hands. "Yuan, Shen, while I am traveling in the mortal world, keep this pendant and preside over the Hall of Reincarnation in my place. All decisions, great and small, fall to you. If something arises that you cannot resolve, use this pendant to reach me. Understood?"
"Yes, Elder Sister."
Yuan and Shen bowed in unison.
"I am going."
Ningxi looked at her two sisters once more, then turned, transformed into a stream of light, and vanished into the sky.
"Second Sister, what do you think Elder Sister is missing? What is there in the mortal world that the Divine Realm doesn't have? The mortal world, of all places, what could it possibly have?"
After Ningxi departed, Yuan straightened, still entirely at a loss.
"Who knows?" Shen laughed and shook her head. "Elder Sister's cultivation is at the perfect culmination of the Celestial Feather realm, just one step from the God-Sovereign's Dao-of-Heaven realm. A level like that is beyond anything we can understand."
"Second Sister, do you think... the God-Sovereign might be intervening secretly, preventing Elder Sister from entering the Dao-of-Heaven realm?" Yuan pouted.
"What are you saying?" Shen reached out and gave her younger sister a light tap on the head. "For one thing, the God-Sovereign would never be so petty. For another, even the God-Sovereign may not have the power to do such a thing."
"And besides..." Shen lifted her head and looked toward the higher heavens. "I rather think the God-Sovereign hopes Elder Sister manages to enter the Dao-of-Heaven realm."
"Why?" Yuan's eyes were wide with the earnest blankness of someone who fully embraced not knowing and asked about everything freely.
"Foolish girl."
A shadow of quiet longing passed through Shen's eyes.
"We divine spirits... are very, very bored."