The wind and rain over Ji, the capital of Yan, did not let up all night. Deep into the night, the patter of rain echoed in everyone's minds.
By morning, dark clouds had blanketed the dome of the sky, and the dawn rose faint and blurred.
Yu Mei-ren slowly opened her eyes. The inn room was silent. The little girl called Xu Fu was kneeling by the wall, eyes lightly closed, long since asleep as well.
"Where is that guy?" Not seeing the person she wanted to see, Yu Mei-ren abruptly sat upright. The black robe she wore slipped slightly, revealing a fair, delicate shoulder and the curve of her chest.
Strands of smooth black hair clung to her face. Her red lips parted slightly, and her crimson eyes sharpened at once.
That guy... don't tell me he took off on his own?
Yu Mei-ren hugged the Rovi doll tightly in her arms and instinctively got to her feet...
"You're awake? Then eat." Rovi's voice came from the doorway at just the right moment. He raised a brow at how nimbly Yu Mei-ren had sprung up and could not help laughing. "What are you doing, school morning calisthenics?"
Yu Mei-ren naturally had no idea what school morning calisthenics were, but she could hear the teasing in Rovi's words. Yet the instant she saw him appear, her heart somehow settled.
Though her mouth was still as "tough" as ever. "What's it to you?"
Yu Mei-ren straightened, not caring what was exposed. She turned her head aside, her dress swaying as she stepped forward on long legs and arrived before Rovi.
Rovi set the things in his hands on the room's table.
Three bowls of plain congee, two eggs, and a small plate of "pickled vegetables."
He had sat quietly for an entire night, using the Authority of the Water Official Great Emperor to gather wind and rain. But weather always worked in chains. After the initial push, once the vast water qi had connected north, south, east, and west into one vast expanse, it would naturally draw in even more water qi, and Rovi no longer needed to control anything.
So he had simply stopped and gone out to buy breakfast.
Huaxia's food culture had taken shape extremely early. This sort of pairing, common as could be in later generations, could be found everywhere even in this era.
Yu Mei-ren had long since grown used to Rovi maintaining the daily habits of a "mortal."
Although human food had no effect on her—she could only take in its flavor and could not replenish any energy from it—after traveling through the six states with Rovi for this long, she had grown used to it.
And so, with practiced ease, she sat down before the table.
The conversation and movement woke Xu Fu. "Emperor-Lord. I'm sorry. I said I would keep you company, but I fell asleep!"
That was the girl's first reaction. Then she saw the chopsticks—or rather, the things that should be called zhu—being handed to her.
"Eat first. Once you're done, we'll set out," Rovi said. "The rain has already fallen for a whole night. It should be enough."
It was indeed enough.
After a quiet breakfast, Xu Fu followed Rovi and Yu Mei-ren out the door. What entered her eyes was a world soaked in water. Rain was still falling without end, and the water qi permeating the air shrouded the entire world in mist. The distant palace towers and pavilions seemed like faint outlines spreading across an ink-wash painting.
And before the door, a "carriage" was waiting.
"This is..." Xu Fu's red lips parted. Looking at the "horse" pulling the carriage, her eyes faintly shone.
Yu Mei-ren looked smug and disdainful. "Ignorant little girl. Do you know what this is?"
A "Divine Spirit-class" steed stood tall and proud outside the inn. Its twelve unfolded wings stirred the vast water qi and storm in the air, while its eight hooves shifted from time to time. A steel mask covered the heavenly horse's face, and layers of steel armor likewise covered its body. Fragments of thunder constantly sprayed from its nostrils, leaving a thin hum reverberating through the air.
It was the eight-legged, twelve-winged heavenly horse born of the Norse God of Trickery.
Though it had naturally vanished into the depths of the Primordial Highest Heaven after matters in the Norse lands had come to an end, if Rovi needed it, a single thought was enough for the heavenly horse to descend from Highest Heaven.
And during this period, as Rovi and Yu Mei-ren traveled through the states, it was precisely this horse they had ridden.
Of course, until now, its wings and divine strangeness had been restrained.
But now they had bloomed on their own once more.
In the fine drizzle of Ji, the capital of Yan, passersby automatically avoided it, yet all of them turned a blind eye.
They looked and saw nothing. They heard and noticed nothing.
A small signal—an art—of "sensory concealment."
"So cool... as expected of the Emperor-Lord!" Xu Fu looked at Rovi with an excited face, irrepressible admiration in her eyes.
Rovi flicked his sleeve and smiled. "Let's go. We'll take this carriage."
"To the state of Qin!"
"Neigh!"
The horse cried out. Its hooves fell. Rovi took Yu Mei-ren and Xu Fu with him, drifting up and landing atop the carriage. The carriage was open on all four sides, with only a great canopy above them, grand as a mass of clouds, swaying in the wind and giving off a clear, bell-like sound.
Rovi sat upright in the rear seat. Xu Fu and Yu Mei-ren sat ahead of him, one to the left and one to the right.
At that moment, thunder surged from the dome of the sky.
The divine steed of the Storm Divine Race raised a violent gale and began to gallop, following the surging water as it headed south toward the Great River in the lands of Qi.
Silver-white swallowed the world in an instant.
The people within the city lifted their heads in confusion, vaguely seeing a celestial carriage vanish into the distance.
...
On the stone bridge, Master Huangshi, who had watched the wind and rain for an entire night, stroked his beard and smiled. "Respectfully sending off the Emperor-Lord!"
"Into Qin, into Qin. The state of Qin is indeed the land of the Mandate of Heaven!" The inheritor of Confucianism sighed. "What a pity. Qin reveres only Legalism and holds no respect for Confucian learning."
"Sir, what do you intend to do?" someone asked from behind him. It was his disciple.
The inheritor of Confucianism pondered for a moment, then spoke as well. "In that case, I should also enter Qin."
"In a contest of orthodox lineages, one cannot refuse to contend!"
"Then, under my true name—Shusun Tong—I shall enter Qin and see for myself!"
RUMBLE—!
...
Thunder and rain roared, falling from the heavens. Amid the vast blur, in the estate of Prince Dan of Yan, the prince of Yan abruptly woke with a start. After a whole night of deep thought, he finally came back to himself and realized that he had missed it once again.
He sighed, but could only bow low.
...
The Mohist Juzi, the inheritor of the Legalists, and the countless living beings... all felt something in their hearts at this moment, and all bowed respectfully.
Bidding the Immortal Lord farewell as he entered Qin.
...
Wind and clouds descended with the water qi. The eight-legged, twelve-winged heavenly horse was still galloping across the ground at first, but once it crashed into the boundless water qi, its twelve spread wings carried it higher and higher.
The wind howled. The storm surged.
On the carriage, Xu Fu looked at the vastness below with excitement all over her face. She knew she had already entered a sky mortals could not touch. Though Yu Mei-ren tried her best to put on a disdainful expression, joy was in her eyes as well.
Not because of the scenery around them, but because she was still traveling with him.
Rovi leaned back against the carriage and looked into the distance.
The vast water qi flowed past. In an instant, they crossed that immense distance, leaving Yan and entering Qi.
"Why does the Emperor-Lord enter Qin?!"
Before they entered the Great River in the lands of Qi, someone had already been waiting for a long time.
It was a reclusive master native to Qi who had already entered the immortal realm. Immortals formed a connection with the planet itself. Though he had not been in Yan, by observing the changes in the planet's own air currents, he had long since learned that Donghua Dijun would head west into Qin Pass.
He was waiting here now in order to ask, "The tyrannical Qin has no Dao. It seeks to sweep away the six states and fulfill its ambition. Donghua Dijun is a god of orthodox legitimacy, for the state and the people. In the lands of Chu, you are worshiped by countless people of Chu and revered as a new Heavenly God worshiped in Chu."
"Why are you going there? In going, do you intend to aid Qin?"
His voice drifted, passing through endless wind and waves into the storm formed from boundless water qi.
Rovi chuckled. "Is all under heaven becoming one not a good thing?"
"All under heaven unified under Qin is not good. The destruction of states will bring endless slaughter, and that is worse still." The man answered gravely, standing at the edge of the wind, rain, and water qi.
"I once heard that Zhou rose through benevolence and righteousness, while Shang fell because of King Zhou's cruelty. The tyrannical Qin has no Dao and is no less than that."
"That has nothing to do with me."
"I go to Qin only because, in all under heaven, only Qin can unify it. The Mandate of Heaven lies with Qin, and I shall follow it—"
"What Mandate of Heaven?" the recluse of Qi asked, bewildered.
Rovi only laughed aloud. "My will is Great Qin. I am the Mandate of Heaven."
Thunder crashed down with a roar, awakening all living beings in the ten directions of Qi. The man abruptly came back to himself. The water qi before his eyes was still dense, but that celestial carriage had already passed.
He stood at a loss, then sighed.
He had never truly possessed the right to converse with Donghua Dijun. The fact that the Emperor-Lord had slowed even a little because of him was already a tremendous kindness.
He... though unwilling, could only be wholeheartedly convinced by Donghua Dijun's "benevolence and righteousness."
He bowed.
And once again sent the Immortal Lord off into Qin.
But in truth, he was not the only one. Along the way, anyone who had something to ask, anyone whose heart held confusion or a request, received an answer from the Emperor-Lord without stint.
This was to spread thought and stabilize the existence of the "Foundation."
Even more than that, it was what a god of all living beings ought to do.
Rovi struck the chaos within his mind, at the same time gathering all manner of chaotic malice from the boundless, vast lands along both banks of the Great River and beside the Wei River.
And so countless living beings heard the Chaos Bell echoing across the wilds. They saw that mass of water qi spread like a canopy finally merge into the Great River in Qi. The surging water qi at last gathered into that mother river stretching across the Divine Land.
Rovi drove the heavenly horse down. Beneath them, the vast river surface churned with rushing currents.
The water was surging. The eight-legged heavenly horse was moving forward. Wherever it passed, it gathered endless wind and rain, gathered infinite water qi.
Xu Fu closed her eyes, feeling the Mystery of heaven and earth converging at this moment. Her delicate body, hidden beneath her loose robes, could not stop trembling. The flush on her pretty face deepened, her legs pressing together... fascinated, intoxicated by the immensity displayed by "Donghua Dijun."
Yu Mei-ren merely yawned lazily and reached out to stir the boundless mist.
The steed sprayed fragments of thunder. Its hooves and the sound of the wind remained, but within them, another sound gradually emerged, one that had not been there before.
That was...
A dragon's roar.
...
Across the Divine Land, its mountains, rivers, and waterways were all dragon veins.
The foreign eight-legged heavenly horse circled along the Great River, and the water qi it gathered along the way was like absorbing "dragon blood."
From steed into dragon.
Though it came from a foreign land, the heavenly horse's master was a proper god of Huaxia. It was itself the descendant of a god as well, carrying the bloodline of Loki, the God of Trickery. Since the dragons of Huaxia were gods, it did indeed possess the qualification—to transform into a dragon.
"To think it's a divine beast qualified to transform into a dragon... haha, then let me give you a push!" At the bottom of the Wei River, Wuzhiqi's true body shook countless chains, fully revealing the Wei River's "dragon vein."
Thunder nurtured life, and a touch of lush azure appeared upon the horse's back.
It was the Azure Dragon.
Also called "Jumang."
Its position was the east, and it could be the god of spring.
...
"Jumang is its subordinate god, and the Azure Dragon its beast."
—The Donghua Scripture
...
"ROAR!"
The heavenly horse transformed into a dragon this very day.
Roar after roar pierced through the Nine Provinces of Huaxia and drove straight into Hangu Pass—
...
Beyond the pass, the state of Qin.
In Xianyang, located beside the Wei River, the sky was blanketed in dark clouds. A gale swept up tile after tile from the roofs. Figures moved to and fro in the city, only to see lights floating up in the dim world, connecting the roads of Xianyang all the way to Hangu Pass.
Qin was welcoming an important existence.
This was something most Qin people knew. They knew that during this period, security throughout Qin had been strict, and that the King of Qin had ordered fangshi to gather the essence of the sun through arts, lighting it as lamps that burned through the night without rest, illuminating every inch of Qin land.
And the one they were welcoming seemed set to arrive on this very day—
"Are you certain it is today?" In the towering Qin palace, with all officials gathered like clouds, King Zheng of Qin sat upon the throne, his lowered eyes sweeping over those below.
Prefect of the Palace Carriage Office Zhao Gao stepped out from the ranks. "Reporting to my king, it is indeed today!"
"Your Majesty need not be anxious. Since that one is coming, he will absolutely not hesitate or refuse." Another person, clearly a high official of Great Qin, stepped forward. "And in all under heaven, there is absolutely no one who can stop him."
King Zheng of Qin lowered his brows and was about to say something else... when, abruptly, he heard the sound of water outside the hall crashing down as if to cover heaven and earth. He raised his eyes and looked out, only to see the clouds covering the sky release a torrential rain. It spread through the world, shrouding all of Great Qin in mist.
The already dim sky sank completely, while countless lamps that had gathered the essence of the sun scattered through the gloom like sparks.
What tremendous rain.
What tremendous wind.
The wind and rain had arrived...
"All officials, follow me out to receive him!" King Zheng of Qin rose abruptly, his low voice reverberating.
Out to receive him. Out to receive him.
Those words, one after another, echoed through the Qin palace. Within Xianyang, armored soldiers stood ranked in the rain, solemn and upright. The long halberds and blades in their hands shone with cold light.
Outside Xianyang, a million Qin soldiers had already gathered. Every rugged stretch of road from Xianyang to Hangu was occupied by the fluttering banners of Great Qin. Even when thunder roared again and again, they could not be struck down.
Whether army or people, ruler or subject, at this moment, all displayed a solemn grandeur.
At this moment, the King of Qin gripped a Qin sword.
At this moment, towering Great Qin was the towering Qin sword held in the King of Qin's hand.
With Hangu as its point, Shu as its hilt, the fertile lands within the passes as its two edges, and countless soldiers and people as its blade, this sword was one within and without, its upper and lower ranks united in heart.
This sword was the heavy sword of a great nation. Its point was aimed east, and its intent was to sweep all under heaven.
And now, by the king's command, this sword opened its edge all the more to welcome the foremost immortal sage under heaven.
—Donghua!
In the Wei River, the water surged. The river water that originally flowed from west to east now flowed backward, layer upon layer, from east to west, as though returning home.
The officials came out to receive him, and the King of Qin stood before everyone.
Dark clouds churned, yet at the same time, a strand of radiance appeared at the edge of the sky, like the dawn of sunrise. It pierced through the vast water qi and arrived, scattering strands of light that raised a brilliant rainbow bridge.
Divine strangeness manifested in the sky. On the ground, the water qi likewise condensed into flower after flower of water. Inside and outside Xianyang, in that instant, it was as though a hundred flowers had bloomed.
The true god entered the world. The wind stopped, and the rain ceased.
Fully displaying the "majesty" he should possess as "Donghua Dijun."
All the officials bent in reverent salute, but King Zheng of Qin remained standing, solemn and upright, gazing at the "carriage and horse" manifesting at the end of the rainbow bridge.
The heavenly horse pulling the carriage had already transformed completely into an eight-legged, twelve-winged Azure Dragon.
On the carriage, the canopy swayed, clear bells ringing.
Though the sound was crisp, it was even more like a great bell reverberating.
It rippled through heaven and earth and fell into the ears of King Zheng of Qin. He placed his hand on the Qin sword at his waist and was about to speak in a ringing voice to welcome Donghua, only to hear faint traces of whispering mixed within the sound of the bell.
"Are you the King of Qin?"
That seemed to be the meaning, and yet it also seemed not to be.
The distant, lofty voice drifted over. King Zheng of Qin froze. He tilted his ear to listen, and at last, he heard it clearly...
"So you're the bastard called Ying Zheng!?"
"???"
---
T/N: I HAVE NO EXCUSE! EXCEPT THAT UHHH SPYTL! AND ASPENTL! HAS KEPT ME DISTRACTED! THOSE FIENDS! I will try to post more now...
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