"What is that thing?"
Alhaitham didn't rush forward. Everything inside the Sutra Pavilion was steeped in mysteries of cultivation.
This wasn't a place to act recklessly—disaster could strike at the slightest misstep.
The blessings and seals placed upon this pavilion by generations of Mount Shu ancestors were notoriously strict.
Just moments ago, he himself had nearly been smacked silly by a storm of jade slips.
"I don't know."
Beside him, Tartaglia's eyes burned with excitement.
"But what I do know is—it must be strong! Stronger than anything else here!"
Alhaitham gave him a sidelong glance and asked quietly:
"You want to try it?"
Tartaglia pressed his lips together. For a heartbeat he wanted to nod—but then he felt a sudden resistance from the Blood-Reversing Demon Blade pulsing at his chest.
After a long silence, he let out a bitter laugh.
"Forget it. If I hadn't already found my art, maybe I would've tried. But…"
"My instincts say I mustn't touch it. If I do, I'll lose everything. Besides, it doesn't give me that soul-deep resonance a destined art should."
Hearing this, the others looked at him in a new light.
They had always thought Tartaglia was nothing more than a battle-madman, desperate for power at any cost.
But perhaps he wasn't entirely so—at least he possessed some measure of restraint.
"So then… this thing called all of us here, just to watch?"
Beidou tilted her head, eyeing the golden jade slip floating high above.
"But it doesn't seem meant for us. Why summon us?"
Yelan, silent for a long while, suddenly noticed something—Furina's dazed gaze, the way her aura subtly resonated with that golden slip.
A bold guess flashed across her mind.
"To bear witness."
"What?"
Hu Tao and the others stared at her in surprise.
Yelan took a deep breath and stepped aside.
At once, Furina's figure was drawn forward, until she stood directly before the jade slip.
A soft, sacred radiance bloomed upon her body.
Everyone was quick to understand—the golden slip was calling to Furina. They were gathered only to witness.
"To bear witness, hm?"
Beidou smirked, glancing between the slip and Furina.
"Quite the ceremonious art. To choose a successor, it even demands an audience?"
"I'm more and more curious what it truly is."
Clorinde gently nudged Furina.
"Lady Furina…"
Furina snapped back to her senses, her eyes instantly sharpening with resolve.
"Clorinde! It's calling me!"
"I can feel it—it's summoning me! It's chosen me!"
"This is my destined path!"
Clorinde fell silent for a moment, then whispered:
"In that case… please go, Lady Furina."
Furina nodded, casting a glance around at her peers before stepping toward the alabaster dais.
The instant her foot touched the first step, golden light cascaded down like rain, evenly spilling over everyone present.
The jade slips floating in the air parted into two rows, lining her path as if watching a sovereign ascend her throne.
The sight left the disciples stunned.
"What in the—"
Tartaglia pinched his cheek, half-disbelieving.
"Why does it look like… a monarch walking to their coronation?"
"I feel it too," Tighnari murmured, his gaze heavy.
But for Furina, the world now contained nothing but that golden jade slip.
Step by step she ascended, sanctified light spilling across the earth.
A crushing, regal pressure erupted from the slip itself, making Clorinde and the others tense.
"From one jade slip?" Hu Tao gawked.
"I know cultivation is absurd, but seriously—how can a slip be this absurd?"
Yelan hushed her quickly.
Silence fell across the hall—one could hear a pin drop.
"Lady Furina…"
Clorinde's worry deepened.
Since the moment she entered the sect, Furina had stood apart—through the Heart-Testing Array, through being singled out by the Sect Master himself.
And now, even in choosing a cultivation art.
Was this a blessing… or a curse?
But Furina cared nothing for the others' thoughts.
Before her stood the golden slip, like a throne awaiting its sovereign.
Finally, she reached it.
She lifted her hand—but before she could touch it, the slip dissolved into a streak of light and shot straight into her mind.
The unprecedented sight made everyone gasp.
A jade slip—normally something reusable—had vanished inside her?
Since when did that happen?
Their senior brothers and sisters had never mentioned such a thing.
Before anyone could react, Furina's closed eyes shifted.
Her expression turned majestic, and a titanic wave of kingly might surged skyward.
To Hu Tao and the others it was only faint oppression—but to Clorinde it was irresistible.
Her face went pale, and she dropped to one knee.
At that moment, Furina understood at last what she had received.
"Rankless Art: Heavenly Mandate: God-Sealing Art!"
"If I will it to be, Heaven must not deny. If I will it not, Heaven must not permit.
The decree of the King overrides the decree of Heaven.
With the will to rule the cosmos, I seal the gods of the world.
Wherever my feet fall, there lies my dominion."
Note: The origin of this art is mysterious. Its grade cannot be determined. At its weakest, it may not surpass Yellow rank. At its strongest, it transcends the Immortal Path itself.
This art acknowledges only one master. While that master lives, it shall never appear to another. Upon their death, it will return to the void.
Without the mandate of a King, it cannot be cultivated.
Furina's eyes snapped open—golden radiance flared, so fierce the others flinched from her gaze.
In that instant, she was a sovereign.
Overbearing, majestic—an immovable peak none could surmount.
Clorinde stared, her earlier confusion and worry swept away.
In their place rose an overwhelming sense of safety, of pride, of honor.
A voice whispered in her heart: As long as Furina reigns, Fontaine will never fall.
Clorinde's chest burned with fervor. Furina was no longer merely Fontaine's Hydro Archon.
She was Fontaine's King!
A god of water? Even a god must first be sanctioned by the King.
An unrecognized god was a false one.
Such a blasphemous thought should have horrified her—yet it felt inevitable, even necessary.
In Fontaine, none could stand above the King.
Mountains, rivers, even the people's lives—all must be sealed and decreed by her will.
"…The King's Mandate…"
Furina let out a bitter laugh.
"Heavenly Mandate, God-Sealing Art… Can someone like me truly be King?"
The golden jade within her mind vibrated violently, flooding her with certainty.
Furina straightened, her small frame blazing with a grandeur towering above heaven and earth.
"Without question—I am the King of Fontaine!"
"Only I am worthy to be Fontaine's King!"
"My will is Fontaine's will! My heart is Fontaine's heart!"
Her declaration was so domineering that Clorinde should have chastised her for arrogance.
Instead, she found herself in utter agreement.
From this day forward, Fontaine would follow Furina's will alone.
Her words would be the law of heaven and earth.
Not just for her people—for the rivers, mountains, and seas themselves.
"A true King…"
Clorinde's eyes blazed with zeal.
From today, Fontaine would march proudly beneath Furina's sovereign will.
The golden jade quivered with approval, and new words appeared in her mind.
"Heavenly Mandate, First Law: The King's Word is Irrefutable."
"The decree of the King—none under heaven may resist.
When the King commands, Heaven and Earth answer."
Furina's breath caught as she read.
In plain terms—her words shaped reality.
By her kingly will, she could order the world itself: wind, rain, thunder, lightning, even heaven and earth would obey.
A domineering art beyond imagination—far too powerful for the first floor of the Pavilion.
In short, what Furina declared, became so.
If she decreed the sun of Fontaine should rise in the west, then so it would.
Of course, the scale depended on her strength and her fortune as a ruler.
At her current level, she couldn't shift such cosmic forces—but calling storms, summoning thunder? Easily within reach.
A technique both terrifyingly strong and immeasurable in potential.
And this… was only the first chapter.
Furina couldn't even imagine what mastery of the Heavenly Mandate might bring.
But how to cultivate it? That remained unknown.
The jade slip made clear: as a King, she must discover the path herself. The art would never guide her—it was far too proud for that.
Furina drew a deep breath, determination blazing.
"So I must figure it out myself? Hah! I've already been chosen by the Heavenly Mandate—I am the indisputable King!"
"Of course I can carve my own way!"
Her spirit aflame, she leapt lightly down from the dais.
The crushing aura of kingship still lingered so heavily that the others instinctively retreated.
Startled, Furina quickly reined it in.
The Heavenly Mandate was indeed powerful, its kingly will immense.
But everything depended on context.
In Teyvat—or even across the cultivation world—"King's Way" was formidable, undeniable.
But here in Mount Shu, land of endless masters, steeped in the heritage of immortals and even Taiyi-level beings—
The King's Way was only one more path.
Not invincible.
Just as in the higher realms, the Jade Emperor was the pinnacle of kingship, perhaps even of the imperial Dao.
Yet even he dared not provoke those who walked other great Daos—Sanqing, the Three Buddhas, Nuwa, Fuxi, Houtu…
At best, the Jade Emperor stood equal among them, never above.
Still, for now, Furina stood among the very few inner disciples who had truly set foot on their own Dao.
A fundamental difference from those yet to find theirs.
Put simply—
Furina's future was boundless.
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