Chapter 9 — The Watcher of the Myriad Heavens
---
The sky above Qinghe City was no longer entirely blue. After the Devourer's defeat, faint golden cracks shimmered among the clouds—rifts too thin for mortal eyes, yet obvious to one who could read the fabric of existence. Gu Tian saw them every time he looked up, threads of unrepaired fate quivering against the dawn.
He walked the streets without disguise that morning. People passed him unaware, hurrying to work, gossiping about the storm that had "mysteriously" spared their city. Each laugh, each heartbeat, felt like a fragile miracle.
> [System Status: Stable]
[Evolution Phase Three — Complete]
[Residual Abyssal Energy: 0.003%]
"Even balance leaks," he murmured.
A vendor offered him a steamed bun, mist curling around the basket.
"Rough night, kid? Looks like you fought a thunder god."
Gu Tian smiled slightly and paid. "Something like that."
The vendor chuckled, unknowing that thunder gods feared him.
---
Back at the Bureau, Wen Yao met him in the observation hall overlooking the city. Her uniform was scorched from the last battle; dark circles shadowed her eyes. Yet when she saw him, relief softened her fatigue.
"You're alive."
"I promised balance, didn't I?"
She smirked. "Your idea of balance nearly vaporized half the lab."
He inclined his head. "Collateral adjustment. Acceptable margin."
"Spoken like a machine," she said, stepping closer. "But you're not one anymore, are you?"
He hesitated. Within his chest, the System pulsed—silent, listening.
> [Query Detected: Identity Loop]
[Answer Pending]
"I don't know what I am," he admitted. "Only that I exist to keep the worlds from collapsing."
Wen Yao studied him. "Then let's start with that."
She placed a small crystal on the console. It projected a hologram: maps of dimensional disturbances flaring across the planet. Some were faint, others pulsing like open wounds.
"These appeared after the Devourer's fall," she said. "Something—or someone—is watching through them."
Gu Tian's gaze sharpened. "A Watcher."
"You've seen this before?"
"Not in this timeline," he answered, voice low. "But in others I remember… fragments. When a balance rises, so do those who judge it."
---
That night he stood atop the Bureau tower again, wind tearing through his hair. The rifts glowed brighter now, tracing constellations of gold and violet.
> [External Signal Detected]
[Source — Unknown Dimension Ω-73]
[Translation Protocol Active]
The sky rippled. A figure stepped from the highest crack: tall, robed in light and starlit dust, its face hidden behind a mask of shifting runes. Every movement carried the weight of ancient law.
"Gu Tian," it said, voice echoing like wind through a thousand temples. "Balancer of the Netherworld."
"Watcher," he replied calmly. "You stand outside the Myriad Heavens. Why cross now?"
"Because you have altered equilibrium. You merged life and death, shadow and mercy. Such synthesis was forbidden."
Gu Tian's eyes glowed faintly. "Forbidden by whom?"
"By the origin code itself."
He smiled. "Then the code needs rewriting."
The Watcher tilted its head. "Arrogance… or destiny?"
"Both," Gu Tian said. "If balance means stillness, then no world will ever evolve."
For a moment the stars brightened, forming a ring behind the Watcher. Dozens of lesser silhouettes appeared—spectators made of light, each bearing a unique sigil: divine, alien, beastly, spectral. The assembled council of the Myriad Heavens.
"Your ascension has disturbed all planes," the Watcher intoned. "Even the alien galaxies feel your resonance. The abyss you sealed calls to them. You are the beacon of convergence."
He felt it then: countless consciousnesses brushing against his own—god-minds, demon kings, ancient beasts, civilizations beyond the stars—each whispering a question: Who are you to decide balance?
He answered softly, "The one who bears its weight."
> [System Response: Authority Overclock]
[New Function Unlocked: Equilibrium Pulse]
A golden wave burst from his body, spreading through every dimension like ripples through water. The spectators flinched; their forms flickered.
The Watcher steadied itself. "Impressive. Yet such power invites ruin. Can a heart so newly awakened endure infinity?"
Gu Tian's gaze was steady. "Let the heavens test me."
The Watcher raised its hand. The sky shattered into fragments of night.
---
Qinghe City disappeared. In its place stretched a realm without horizon: the Heavenly Crossroads, where gods debated the fates of worlds. Pillars of pure time rose into an endless void. Atop them, the council's thrones ignited—each one a star given will.
Wen Yao's voice echoed faintly through the bond. "Gu Tian—what's happening? I can't reach you!"
He answered in thought, Stay calm. I'll return when balance allows.
She felt his calm resolve and forced herself to breathe.
---
The Watcher extended a staff made of constellations. "Show us the worth of your evolution."
Gu Tian nodded once. "Very well."
Light gathered at his fingertips, forming a blade of golden dusk. With one motion he cut through the silence, and creation itself shivered.
> [Battle Mode — Heavenly Crossroads]
[Opponent: Watcher of the Myriad Heavens]
[Win Condition: Sustain Balance for 999 Heartbeats]
They clashed.
Each strike rewrote physics. Worlds bloomed and died in the wake of their blows. Planets became dust, dust became rivers of thought. His every swing birthed galaxies of light; the Watcher's counters folded them back into void.
For nine hundred heartbeats they fought, neither yielding, neither existing as more than motion and will.
On the final beat, Gu Tian stopped his blade.
The Watcher paused, staff raised.
"I will not destroy you," Gu Tian said. "You are part of balance too."
Silence.
Then the Watcher lowered its weapon. "Mercy again. You risk corruption."
"Mercy is not weakness," Gu Tian replied. "It is control."
The Watcher regarded him for a long moment. "Then the Myriad Heavens shall watch. But know this, Balancer: the abyss sleeps only because it dreams of you."
The council faded, leaving behind the whisper of a storm yet to come.
---
Gu Tian found himself once more beneath Qinghe's starlit sky. The city was peaceful; time had scarcely moved. Wen Yao stood beside him, eyes wide.
"You vanished—then the stars pulsed. Was that… another war?"
He looked up at the quiet heavens. "A test."
"And?"
"They decided to wait."
Wen Yao exhaled. "Then so will we."
He smiled faintly. "Until the next convergence."
> [System Log Update: Heavenly Council Engaged]
[Next Protocol — Preparation for Convergence Event]
Far above, the golden cracks sealed at last—yet in the deepest void beyond the stars, something vast turned its gaze toward Earth, awakened by the pulse of balance.
---