Part I: After the Tribulation
After the heavenly tribulation in the capital subsided, the civil war among the rebel factions continued—each contending for the right to establish a new dynasty to succeed the Great Tang. At the same time, the first step of the Six Paths Apotheosis Plan was quietly set into motion.
Li Qing descended beneath the imperial palace and encountered a mysterious divine relic—the Wishing Peak—an artifact that had aided generations of Great Tang emperors in formulating their master plans. In truth, it was a conduit linked directly to the rank-nine abomination from before. However, since that creature had already been slain, the Wishing Peak had lost its former might.
Here, Li Qing intended to lay a deliberate, visible trap—while also testing one of his own deductions. To understand the reasoning behind this action, one must first summarize what Li Qing currently knew about the implementation of the Six Paths Apotheosis Plan.
