Xiaoshi, a straw hat pulled over his eyes to hide his identity, stared into his drink. For what could be the last time, he drank his wine in peace.

Xiaoshi had honestly expected things to take longer. A grand struggle with years of battles. Instead, all they had to do was march forward. Soldiers and cultivators had started defecting in droves as they beheld their army, and Xiaoshi let the strength of his Qi show.

And now… now they were nearly there. Nearly ready to confront the Emperor.

“Hey. Hey, Xiaoshi, look at that.” Tianlan prodded, and Xiaoshi glanced to the side, where a storyteller was setting up a painting for him to use as a background to his tale. It was a rather beautiful painting, and one Xiaoshi could appreciate until he looked more closely and realised what it was a painting of.

He nearly choked on his drink.

“My Friends, tonight This Humble Storyteller has a tale for you. A wondrous tale, to put to rest all your rumors! I speak, of course, of the Hero, and his loyal followers!”

That got the interest of the rest of the tavern, as they too turned to focus on the storyteller.

“In a peach grove, they gathered, one and all—” the man began, and Xiaoshi listened with half an ear to the tale.

The storyteller spoke of how the rebels had gathered to oppose the wicked and bring peace to the land. He called out names, as he pointed to familiar figures in the painting.

The War Council, according to the storyteller, was a serene affair. In the painting, Xiaoshi, or at least what was supposed to represent him, sat at the foreground on an elaborate throne. He certainly didn’t remember the throne, nor his clothes being so gaudy. Before him were the serried ranks of former imperials, gleaming in their armor and silken robes, defectors who had turned against the emperor. The soldiers had their weapons raised high while the officials stood solemnly in their full dress and with those hats that Xiaoshi thought were stupid-looking.

The tribesmen were a bit more off to the side, clad one and all in their bandannas. They were tall and fierce looking, clad in warpaint and painted with the familiar tattoos. And finally, the great and noble Spirit Beasts were arrayed. The massive form of Rumblin’ Yao. The sharp lines of the Bladewolf King, the Tempered Blade. A Dragon circled overhead, the Lake King. The Ten Antidote Serpents, their scales a rainbow of colours, and even a Verdant Bear, an Emissary from the Empress of the Forest, and a hundred other kinds of Spirit Beasts.

Together, they had all solemnly sworn to bring down the Emperor, who had Lost the Mandate of Heaven.

Tianlan snorted in the back of his mind. “He definitely wasn’t there.”

Reality… was not quite so pretty and simple as the painting. The only thing the artist got right was the fact that the grove was very nice and peaceful. Xiaoshi would have to take Linlin there after everything was settled. Honestly, it was a miracle that no blood feuds had been declared.

Xiaoshi recalled the disaster when Rumblin’ Yao had ended up accidentally stepping on the Tempered Blade’s Tail. The howl had startled everybody, most of all the Roadspinner, who then backed up into a table full of food, sending it crashing to the floor.

Atlan had loomed over an official that was running his mouth without knowing that the “barbarian tribal” was right behind him, while the soldiers of both sides glared at each other and fingered their weapons.

The cultivators had been greedily eyeing the treasures that the Antidote Serpents had brought. The furious serpents were putting everything on the line for this battle. Everybody had tried to ignore the fat fish sitting in his tub of water, the Lord of the Lake in attendance with his priests and handmaidens.

Half the “soldiers” of the Imperial side weren’t real soldiers at all. Petty practitioners and artisans who had turned the tools of their trade into weapons. Entire villages armed with hoes and sickles. Slave-Miners with bulging muscles, and tatoos that proclaimed them convicts.

The only reason a fight hadn’t started was an opera-singer who somehow managed to soothe ruffled feathers with only whispered conversations and the presence of Xiaoshi. He had spent the whole time trying to keep his nerve from breaking while he kept his face as still and straight as possible. Stoic, like a cultivator was supposed to be. Tianlan, of course, hadn’t been any help, simply gushing over how many people liked them, and wondering what festivals they would have later.

What he wouldn’t give for Tianlan’s optimism.

He’d had to pretend to know what he was doing, nodding stoically and accepting people into their ranks.

“I pay my respects to the Hero.” People would say, as they bowed their heads.

The real meeting had happened after all the ceremony and pomp. That was a smaller, quieter affair with only the leaders of respective groups, and it didn't go any better. Everybody had argued over who would be on the vanguard, and who would be the ones to attempt to breach the walls, even who would attempt to fight the Emperor.

Which was stupid. They wouldn’t be fighting him. The mad bastard would kill anybody but Xiaoshi in a single blow, he hoped, at least. He prayed that the Emperor hadn’t been holding back when he allowed the people to see the might of his Qi.

The only truly useful person had been a defector from the palace itself. A lowly official who went by the name Kongming. He was a rather nondescript fellow, with a thin mustache and beard that was popular in the capital. His clothes were some of the finest in the meeting, and his dumb hat the tallest.

“Great Hero Xiaoshi! This Kongming has within his possession maps of each and every building within the Imperial City, and the Imperial Palace itself! I would submit them to yourself and your war-council!” The man had declared.

That had gotten him a seat closer to Xiaoshi.

The maps themselves had proved invaluable. They detailed several weaknesses in the guard rotations, as well as how to gain access tot he Emperor’s pagoda. The possibility of simply sneaking in, and defeating the emperor, instead of having to commit to a long and costly siege certainly was attractive.

Xiaoshi had spoken to Kongming more after that. Kongming was the least flowery court official Xiaoshi had ever met, though admittedly, there hadn't been many. The man was focused, driven, and in general not a bad person to be around. It had impressed him. Enough that Xiaoshi as the leader of the rebellion had asked Kongming to take command of the rest of the army once they had decided on the plan to assault the Emperor.

The rest of the army would be performing a feinting maneuver, and try to draw out the Imperial army… while Xiaoshi would be invading the tiger’s den in order to catch it. Not that the talespinner knew any of that, Kongming had kept things quiet enough that nothing had leaked.

Xiaoshi sighed, as the tale came to a close.

“And in that sacred grove of peach blossoms, an oath was sworn!” The storyteller proclaimed to the tavern. “The oath that shall shake our world to its foundations!”

Xiaoshi took another swig of wine and closed his eyes.

It was time. In the end… it would all come down to him. Tianlan, lacking a body of her own, would never be able to do it. So he had to act. For both of them. For all of them.

==============================

It was surprisingly easy to enter the Imperial city. All Xiaoshi had to do was put on his rice hat, and walk in the front gate with the rest of the line of people fleeing the fighting. He had learned early on that most people couldn’t sense his Qi unless he was actively using it, and so the guards barely spared the “mortal” in their midst a second glance.

It helped that Tianlan was keeping a locus of her power near the army itself, so that to other cultivators it felt as if he was with the army.

He walked past the musterfields, just inside the walls, past the army that was preparing itself for war, the soldiers and cultivators grim faced as they prepared to sally forth… without their Emperor.

At least he knew that the Emperor would be exactly where he wanted him.

The man had been cooped up in his tower for over a year according to Kongming and cared little about what was going on outside, other than to demand the General of the Azure Sky to defeat the rebels.

He made it past the alleyways and suck into an alleyway, changing into the clothes that Kongming had given him. The clothes of a servant of the Imperial Palace, one of the low-ranking ones.

Nobody looked twice, as he entered the palace below the floating pagoda, and found an abandoned annex to wait.

He sat with Tianlan in the annex one last time as he heard the horns sounded. The army of cultivators marched out of the capital, the great gate shutting behind them.

They simply sat together, in her domain, staring at a sky full of stars. Xiaoshi’s heart was surprisingly calm, considering what he was about to do.

“Are you ready to cast down the heavens?” he asked Tianlan. The woman smirked.

“The heavens? Nah. But that old fart?” She slammed her fist into her palm. “Well beat the hell out of him. Don’t you worry.”

Xiaoshi laughed, his heart felt lighter. Whatever else the Emperor was, in the end, just a man.

===============================

He leapt, from the earth to the floating pagoda, alighting on a servant’s entrance. Normally, they would use the floating rocks to ascend and descend from the palace… but the Emperor had ordered them removed, such was his desire not to be disturbed.

Xiaoshi took a deep breath, and then opened the servan’t entrance door.

He walked into another world.

Instead of a pagoda with a hundred and eight floors as he had expected, he walked into the center of a storm.

It was the Emperor’s Domain; his world, imposed over the world, and it consumed the entire inner palace.

Xiaoshi had to pull on his Qi to prevent himself from being instantly shredded to the bone in the maelstrom. His eyes narrowed through battering winds, as he beheld a star, shining in the sky.

The Qi of the Emperor.

Xiaoshi floated off the ground, and into the raging storm, heading for the shining blue orb in the center.

Surrounding the Emperor, and being assimilated by his Qi, were thousands of reagents. Perhaps hundreds of thousands of them. Spirit Beast Cores, Medicines, and a hundred thousand rare and valuable Spirit Plants. The entire bounty of the Azure Hills was being concentrated into one man.

As Xiaoshi flew closer he even saw Templedog pup, the little creature spasming fitfully on occasion as he was assimilated into the Emperor’s body and soul.

The emperor was cultivating. His Qi pulsed, the churning storm growing stronger, and there were twenty seven constellations burning behind him.

He had never before seen the emperor’s face. None of the officials had, either. The man always addressed everybody from behind curtains. He had dark hair in a pristine topknot and a well trimmed goatee. His skin was pale, like fine jade.

The only imperfection was a band of freckles across his nose and cheeks that continued across the top of his chest.

The man paid Xiaoshi no mind as he continued to cycle his Qi.

Xiaoshi opened his mouth to call out to him, to challenge him—

“Do not interrupt me, boy.” The Emperor stated simply, his voice calm and commanding. “Begone from my sight, repent for your sin of wasting my time, and kill yourself. Do this, and I shall not hunt your bloodline to extinction later. I would slay you this instant, but I do not wish for your unworthy blood to stain my soul.”

Xiaoshi felt the surge power, as the man focused some of his intent on him. The weight was heavy, commanding. If Xiaoshi was anybody else, the sheer pressure of his words may have caused him to obey.

Instead, he grit his teeth, and pulled on his power.

A tiny patch of earth formed beneath his feet, as Tianlan, deep in his soul, began to chant.

‘And so the great Ancestor, Shennong, commanded his disciple in the ways of preparing the fields…’

The illusory realm, the Emperor's domain, an entire world imposed on reality, shuddered. And then it was invaded.

Amethyst eyes snapped open, as the emperor stared down at Xiaoshi. His calm countenance was shattered in an instant, as green and gold began to invade his realm, crawling up the world like vines strangling a tree.

[Till the Land]

The Emperor stared down at Xiaoshi, and clicked his tongue. A bead of sweat forming on his brow was the only thing that displayed that this had unnerved him.

The entire sky had broken, forming a solid bedrock foundation. The storm was no longer all encompassing. It was as it should be, as earth invaded, forming the counterpart to the realm of the sky.

A five element formation sprung to life behind Xiaoshi, as Tianlan’s voice continued to echo.

[Fell the Trees. Divert the waters, Break the Rocks, Sow the Seeds, Reap the Harvest.]

Each word was a pulse, ravaging the world as energy crawled up his arms and his legs, forming armor of solid Qi. His eyes sparked with a thousand colours.

The Emperor sat high in the air, in the heavens. Xiaoshi stared at him from where his feet were planted upon the ground.

“For your crimes against the people of the Azure Mountains. Come and face justice, old man.”

The Emperor’s eyes were focused completely on Xiaoshi. The look of concentration was shattered. The reagents, floating in the air, were sucked into a spatial ring.

“Crimes? Justice?” The man asked, and then laughed. It was a short, sharp, angry thing. “I have committed no crimes, and my will is the justice of the heavens.”

His eyes began to glow, burning purple stars, as a blade of starlight formed in his hand. His freckles began to connect with burning white light, forming a constellation on his skin.

“But I shall thank you. Your prattling is annoying, but you have delivered me a most welcome gift. Yourselves. You shall be of great use to my cultivation.”

Xiaoshi clenched his fist. Domain around him shuddered under the action, like a great fist had grabbed it.

The sky exploded. The ground detonated.

The heavens met the earth.

=======================================

For three days and three nights the Emperor and Xiaoshi battled.

The Emperor’s world shuddered and shook, as bands of light the size of a city defended him.Starlight hot enough to put the sun to shame erupted attempting to break Xiaoshi.

It was a crucible. In a single blow, the Emperor would have felled any other who challenged him.

Xiaoshi was less skilled. But the Emperor's domain, his very existence, was an offense to the world; Tianlan had commanded it. Cracks crawled through it, the world outside fighting this imposing force, eating away at him, and wicking away his Qi.

Eruptions of starfire were diverted like they were a backyard stream. Qi constructs were shattered like rocks. The Emperor’s mighty weapons and armor, hewn away like a man with an axe.

Each blow was assured, for the moment that led up to this had been planted long ago, and now the Emperor was reaping his harvest.

And finally, the Emperor was struck. Xiaoshi’s fist plowed into his ribs, tearing through every protection the Emperor could bring to bear.

Organs pulped. Bones shattered. The strike was so powerful the very earth reverberated with the hit.

And then… The Emperor fell.

His domain, which had fought against the world, dissipated.

In the end there was just a man, laying where the Emperor of the Azure Mountains once stood.

He coughed, wetly, as he lay, slumped against the wall of the giant pagoda.

“Why? Why would you do all this?” Xiaoshi asked the fallen man. He stared at the Emperor, not really expecting an answer.

The man laughed again, blood welling up from his lungs.

“Boy. You still know nothing. Why is this land covered in mist? Why does the world end, at the edge of the Mist Wall?”

Both Xiaoshi and Tianlan paused at the question. Neither knew the answer.

“Let me show you then, the Truth of this place.”

His Qi surged, and the man lunged.

Xiaoshi was slow to react, as the strike hit him.

But instead of doing damage, it captured his vision. His world filled with stars and constellations, tearing his sight free from his body, to speed across the land.

His gaze was forced into the Mist Wall, and then through it into the Great Beyond.

Demons. Legions upon legions of demons, marching towards a shining beacon of light in the distance. They slaughtered and rampaged, capered and danced as they destroyed and tortured everything they caught, consuming them whole.

A world of blood and fire, a world of unimaginable suffering.

The beasts in their legion sat outside a wall of mist, prowling around the edges, and searching for a way inside.

A Barrier, forged by one bloodline.

The barrier, slowly weakening, and monsters beginning to slip through the cracks.

“Xiaoshi! Xiaoshi! Are you okay?!” Tianlan shouted into his mind. He heaved breaths of air, and rose from his stupor, rage once more taking him. Just what had the Emperor done? What had he shown him?!

He meant to demand answers… but instead, he received only a smile from his defeated foe.

It was a grin half mocking, and half the smile of a man who looked like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

The Emperor of the Azure Hills was already dead.

“Xiaoshi? What happened?” Tianlan demanded again.as Xiaoshi began to pant harshly.

“I’m… I’m fine, Tianlan.” What the hells had that been? Was it real? Was it one final act of petty revenge to leave him with this horror?

Xiaoshi didn’t know.

=============================

Xiaoshi staggered down the flights of stairs of the pagoda, the Temple dog pup cradled in his arms. He had released it from the ring, the storage ring somehow managing to survive the battle.

He was exhausted, utterly exhausted, and Tianlan wasn’t much better. She was barely awake, as they finally reached the bottom floor, and stepped out into the pre-dawn world.

He expected a long drop to the ground, but he was instead surprised to find that the great, floating pagoda was already on the large pedestal that had been beneath it. The foundation was full of cracks, but it was still standing, even after falling from the sky.

A great roar sounded out, from the bottom of the pagoda’s stairs. The majority of it was one of joy, but beneath the roar of joy there was an undercurrent of fear and sorrow.

Xiaoshi looked down at the crowd looking for his friends. Rumbin’ Yao was the easiest to spot, covered in warpaint. On one side of the plaza, were the rebels. On the other, imperial soldiers, throwing down their weapons and falling to their knees. All of them were beaten up and bloody, from the battles they had fought, and apparently won outside the city.

“The Hero has defeated the Emperor of the Azure!” Kongming roared, his voice carrying above them all. The sound carried all over the city.

Xiaoshi closed his eyes, as the sun broke the horizon.

It was finally over. He could finally go back home.

He smiled, feeling Tianlan’s own joy and once more opened his eyes. He started down the steps.. And paused, as Kongming, at the head of the steps, fell to his knees.

“This Kongming Pays his respects to the Emperor!” The man shouted.

Xiaoshi paused, utterly befuddled.

What the hells was he doing? Nobody would actually—

“I pay my respects to the Emperor!” another man shouted, following suit.

And then another. And another.

“Cai Ruolan pays her respects to the Emperor.”

“The Tie Clan pays their respects to the Emperor!”

A hundred thousand people. A hundred thousand voices. The Spirit Beast Kings nodded in respect. Only Atlan and the tribes kept their heads up, but he was smiling.

Tianlan, roused from her doze, was even more confused than he.

Emperor, him? He was about to deny it. He would have to say no, wouldn’t he?

But even as he opened his mouth to say no, there was a flash of starlight, and a cold feeling, as he remembered the demons from the vision.

He swallowed thickly.

Thus, Did the Emperor of the Azure Mountains die. Thus, did the Emperor of the Azure Mountains ascend.