Chapter 43 — When Dao Lords Speak
The Dao Realm was never still.
Within the floating citadel of obsidian and light, the air itself seemed to hum—resonant, attentive, as if the hall were a living instrument awaiting the touch of a master. Renji's return had left a thin wake of golden qi threading the corridors, a lingering afterimage of pride and youth that had not yet faded.
In the Grand Hall of Starlight, Dao Lord Tianxu reclined upon a throne forged from living luminescence. Obsidian pillars framed a window onto distance itself, where the image of Kailas shimmered across the veil—a mirror of snow and sky, the rift's blade suspended there like a wound that refused to close.
Veythar of the Crimson Abyss spoke first, voice a low grind of stone upon stone."Your grandson fought fiercely, Dao Lord. He crushed one and held his ground against another. A fine showing for his age."
Seraphine Aeyra's golden feathers rustled, her gaze cold and clean as high air."Held his ground," she corrected. "He did not win. The woman—Su Liana—cut him. A mere disciple of some Pavilion matched a golden bloodline."
Veythar's grin thinned, showing a saw-blade of teeth. "That should be impossible."
Tianxu opened his eyes. Molten gold rolled within them like captive suns."She wielded a sword fused with celestial marrow. Not of their plane."
Mistress Nyora's veil rippled. Even Varok, the Moon-Howler, stilled.
Varok rumbled, "Then they are not natives of that world."
"No." Tianxu lifted a hand, and the duel replayed in the air above his palm—silver crescents, moonlit footwork, a sky split by one perfect stroke. "Her movement bears the stamp of sect discipline. Her qi is layered—refined through doctrine and law. And look—" His gaze touched the halo of talismans orbiting Su Liana. "—Azure Edge Pavilion inscription."
Silence tightened. The name was unknown to them, but everything about it said higher art.
"Are they from a higher plane?" Seraphine asked softly.
"Yes." His voice deepened, steady as a falling bell. "When the rift first pressed against our realm, I believed it a mortal anomaly. But their envoys crossed—cultivators, faint yet structured. I grew curious. So I touched their sky with my will."
He let the last word settle like dust on glass.
"And one resisted."
Even the star-fed lanterns seemed to dim. Varok lifted his head. "Another like you?"
Tianxu nodded once. "A will equal to mine—restrained by intention, not by lack. The elder who centers their line at Kailas. He bears the weight of a Dao Domain Lord."
Seraphine whispered, "From beyond?"
"From above." Tianxu's expression hardened. "They are of the Upper Realm."
The citadel held its breath. Power recognized power—and reconsidered conquest.
If they are from above, Tianxu thought, watching Su Liana's cut carve a white seam across his memory, then rash conquest births calamity. Youth is a whetstone, yes—but it must not become a pyre. His gaze softened, just slightly. Still, the boy's impulsive heart served a greater purpose…
Hours later, the rift blazed, and Renji returned.
This time he wore no battle armor—only a simple robe lacquered by his own qi. Elders flanked him at a respectful distance, and the Sky Envoy—an angular warship of restrained, sleeping power—hovered behind the ranks like a closed fist.
On Earth's side, the Su Clan's warship subtly brightened its runes. Formation sigils whispered to life underfoot. The Void Realm guards compacted their stance, blades low and ready.
Su Liana's fingers slid to her hilt.
"Hold," Elder Yuan said, and the mountain obeyed him.
Renji drifted to the aperture's edge and stopped, hands loose at his sides, chin lifted but not defiant. His words crossed both skies and found every ear in its own tongue."I did not come for war. Senior, may I know where you hail from?"
Yuan's gaze was still water. Before he spoke, Su Liana stepped half a pace forward and bowed. "My master is Grand Elder Yuan of the Azure Edge Pavilion, from the Astral Vein World."
A brief shift moved through the prodigies—surprise, calculation.
Renji smiled faintly. "Then I will be direct. I came for peace. Our world does not seek endless conflict. I ask to open discourse between the Dao Realm and your—Upper Realm."
Yuan's aura pulsed once, effortlessly stilling the air."You have no authority to speak for the Dao Realm. You carry your ancestor's shadow, boy, not his crown. Return to the one who forged your name. I will speak only with Tianxu himself."
The rift's light seemed to tighten. Renji's jaw set—irritation flickered, then discipline won. He bowed.
A voice answered the mountain.
"As you wish, Grand Elder."
It was not loud. It did not need to be.
Color thinned from the scene as if the world were momentarily drawn in charcoal and fog. The wind froze mid-gust, snow lifted from the ground and hung glittering in air. Sound folded into a single note and went still.
Light walked through the rift.
Not searing. Not wild. Controlled. A presence like gravity stepped onto the snow, and the mountain recognized a second center.
Dao Lord Tianxu arrived.
The mortals on distant screens felt it as vertigo and sudden quiet. The guards felt it as their hearts remembered how to beat in time. Su Liana felt it as a horizon standing up and looking back. Karma felt it as a hand closing gently over the world's pulse.
Elder Yuan's eyes narrowed, and his own aura unfurled—an ocean given shape. The plateau steadied. The rift held. The snow resumed its fall.
For a heartbeat, two realms had faces.
Tianxu inclined his head first, precise and unhurried. "Dao Lord Yuan," he said. "This confirms what I suspected. You are from Upper Realm, aren't you?."
Yuan's lip curved, the barest arc. "At last, discernment."
A quiet laugh stirred the falling snow. "When I first touched this sky, I thought it mortal. Then your envoys came, and I became curious. When my will met yours, I became… attentive."
His hand rose, not in threat, but greeting. "Let us end this farce of war. We are not enemies, Elder Yuan, but peers divided by a seam in the heavens."
He could crush this elder—perhaps. The thought flickered and died. Power recognizes power. War against an equal was waste; accord with one was empire.
Yuan regarded him for the span of three breaths, then extended his hand. Their palms met—no spectacle, no clash of thunder, simply two gravities finding a balance point."Then let us speak as such."
"First," Tianxu said, "a gesture."
He swept his sleeve. Golden chains unraveled into smoke. Two figures appeared upon the snow, unconscious but whole—Su Yao and Su Han. The bindings dissolved into light and vanished.
A tremor of relief broke the Su ranks. Su Liana exhaled; the guards lowered blades by a finger's width. Karma's shoulders eased—just enough to notice it.
Renji, standing a pace behind Tianxu, kept his face schooled, but purpose lit in his eyes. He had not come to posture this time. He had come to build.
Tianxu turned to Yuan. "Shall we?"
Yuan inclined his head. "We shall."
Together, the two Dao Lords rose from the snow—no flash, no thunder, merely altitude happening—and stepped into the aperture. The rift brightened, recognizing its two heaviest names, and drew them inward. The Sky Envoy dimmed its runes to a watchful ember. The Su warship settled into a steady hold, anchoring the mountain like a silent star.
For the first time since the portal's birth, the pressure eased—not into peace, but into something more dangerous: understanding.