Chapter 192: Heaven's Decree, Earth's Empress
"You did not become the Lord of Mount Tai," Consort Yu said. Her black robes stirred in the mountain wind as she studied the golden haired figure standing across from her on Mount Li. "You became the Empress of Earth?"
"Yes. And what of it?" Ereshkigal met her gaze without blinking. "You already took a step ahead."
"Of course." Consort Yu lifted her chin, smugness arriving faster than dawn. "No matter what, you lost."
"I will not give up," Ereshkigal said, teeth showing for a moment as her lips curled. "Even if it is only on this land."
"Hmph. Do as you like." Consort Yu waved a hand and turned away. "I am leaving first."
This was the seventh day after Rowe entered the Void Sea.
Even after becoming Heavenly Empress, Consort Yu did not return to the Heavenly Realm. The one she wanted to see was not in the Heavenly Court, so she chose to wait on this land for his return.
She believed Rowe would return.
So she walked this land.
And she watched the world, having lost its emperor, begin to fall apart once more.
In this year, the First Emperor died.
The world collapsed.
Records of the Grand Historian.
Without the First Emperor, Great Qin lost its strongest sword wielder. Worse, it lacked the power to suppress the surviving forces of the former Six States who still dreamed of restoration.
Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled in Daze Village.
Xiang Yan, a descendant of the famous Chu general Xiang Liang, broke into the First Emperor's treasury and stole the golden figures, then took the name Xiang Yu.
The Red Emperor's son, Liu Bang, slew the white snake and raised the banner of rebellion.
Qin had not yet fallen. Generals like Meng Tian still guarded the borders.
But the world was already in chaos.
Through that chaos, Consort Yu crossed countless mountains, witnessed countless wars, and waited in the mortal world.
"Hee haw!"
"General Xiang Yu, it seems there is someone ahead!"
Morning mist shrouded the road as a soldier reported to the mounted general. The man on horseback did not answer. He simply urged his mount forward.
Through the veil of fog, Consort Yu watched the approaching men and horses.
In the past, she would have left at once. Contact with mortals was trouble, and trouble had sharp teeth.
But now, seeing the figure at the head of the column, she stopped.
Not for strategy.
Not for curiosity.
Only because that approaching person was not a person at all.
It was tall, plated in armor, no, it was a mechanical man made of steel.
A Golden Man.
Xiang Yu.
No.
Consort Yu's eyes narrowed.
"Is this a mystic construct made from Rowe's shadow?"
The Twelve Golden Men had been created by the First Emperor in imitation of Rowe's existence. They were, in practice, a Noble Phantasm shaped from a projection.
Without Rowe's permission, the First Emperor could not have created them. Their creation was also meant to uphold Rowe's will and restore unity to the world.
Consort Yu smiled.
"In that case, let me help you, Rowe."
She reached out and touched the machine.
The machina god responded as if it recognized her. Plates dispersed, flowed, and then wrapped around her body, fitting like fate deciding it had always been this way.
Consort Yu and Rowe were always entangled. Not as shackles. As alignment.
And within that armor, she felt Rowe's presence. Not a voice, not a command, but a distant attention.
Rowe was watching.
"Then I will complete the unification of the world," Consort Yu said softly. Excitement sharpened her expression beneath the helm. "With the power of this mystic weapon, I will give that man a very unpleasant surprise."
After that, the rumored Xiang Yu, who originally had no self, gradually gained consciousness.
His temperament became volatile. He was dangerously prone to impulse.
Yet with overwhelming strength, he established the State of Chu under the names Hegemon King of Western Chu and White Emperor. He contended against Liu Bang, the Red Emperor, who gathered the former forces of Qin, gained the support of the Qin people, and established the Qin Han dynasty.
The contention between Chu and Han, the clash between the White Emperor and the Red Emperor, ended in the victory of Han. The Hegemon King of Chu ultimately disappeared at Wujiang, departing with Consort Yu.
But there were also unofficial records that suggested there was no such person as Consort Yu in history.
Or perhaps Consort Yu was Xiang Yu himself.
Unofficial Historical Studies of the Hegemon King of Western Chu.
At the same time.
Heavenly Realm.
"Do not let that demon monkey break in."
"Stop her, stop her."
"Where are the Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals?"
The Stone Monkey swung her staff and smashed her way toward Lingxiao Palace with fury that did not bother to ask permission.
Sun Wukong.
That was her name.
And now she bore a new title.
Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
A demon who sought to defy the heavens. A great demon sage who demanded equality with the Heavenly Emperor.
She gathered seven great demon sages in the East Sea and rose against the heavens. Alone, she fought a hundred thousand Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals. Even Nezha, the Great God of the Three Altars, was defeated by her.
She defied the Heavenly Realm with open hostility.
And now she had broken into the Heavenly Court itself.
No gods dared block her path. The powerful ancient ancestral gods would not act, out of respect for the Heavenly Emperor. The remaining immortals, even Nezha, had already fallen to her staff.
Sun Wukong advanced without hesitation.
One of the Seven Great Sages, the Great Sage Who Pacifies Heaven, once asked her why she was so stubborn about opposing the heavens.
Sun Wukong's answer to the Bull Demon King, who manifested as a tall female figure with silver hair and golden eyes, was simple.
She only wanted to be equal to Heaven.
If she went and never returned, then she went and never returned.
Today, she finally forced her way here.
Ahead stood Lingxiao Palace, the dwelling of the Heavenly Emperor.
She arrived at the threshold, peering inside. Immortals gathered within the hall. Their forms were indistinct, vast and ethereal.
Immortals were present.
But the Heavenly Emperor's seat was empty.
Heaven was not here.
How could the Great Sage Equal to Heaven be equal to Heaven?
"Then I will smash this place," the young girl said, raising the Golden Hooped Staff. Her orange red short hair fluttered in the wind. "I will force Heaven, force Master out."
A brilliant golden light appeared, and a voice followed, calm and almost amused.
"Why be so agitated?"
The dome of the Heavenly Realm radiated. A massive Wheel of Dharma unfolded in the sky. It had seven great wheels, each containing seven smaller wheels, nested in layers. As it turned, it seemed to stir the motion of the great chiliocosm itself.
The Chakravartin.
The one who arrived was the Buddha from the West.
The Awakened One.
Shakyamuni.
On the other side, Rowe, who had delved deep into Imaginary Number Space in pursuit of the Lostbelt First Emperor, paused.
A moment of hum.
A moment of roar.
The chaos core, the machina god, the Primordial Human, and the massive Epang Palace manifested together within that boundary layer between existence and nonexistence.
"Hahahahaha. This power, this body."
"Interesting. Truly too interesting."
"Oh, Heavenly Emperor of this world."
Within the vast Imaginary Sea, the Lostbelt First Emperor's laughter echoed.
His palace like main body hung in the void. Two wing like bands of light unfolded from it, combining and extending. At first glance, they resembled ribbons above a crown. Look closer, and they were floating walls.
The Great Wall.
Built to protect the Han territory. Under the hands of this Lostbelt Emperor and over two thousand years, it had become orbital structures encircling the planet, a system that could circle the world once and see it all.
He displayed it only to fold it around himself, transforming it into a canopy that shielded the Emperor and blunted all impacts.
He gazed at Rowe.
"This one does not wish to be your enemy, Heavenly Emperor."
He truly did not.
Not only because Rowe's power was something he could not reliably overcome, but because Rowe's existence excited him.
Without his help, Rowe could produce Singularities and Lostbelts through his own presence. Yet Rowe could also, with power capable of overturning a world, integrate the parts that should have been repaired or pruned into Human Order and make them continue.
That level of understanding was something the Lostbelt Emperor lacked.
He did not know why Rowe could see what he could not.
He did not care.
He only wanted cooperation.
Not a life and death struggle.
So he allowed Rowe to drag him into Imaginary Number Space, and even now, he made no counterattack.
Imaginary Number Space was boundless.
Nameless chaos converged around the enemy machine body. Rowe's immense frame held the Sword of Rupture in one hand and a golden long spear in the other.
Rhongomyniad.
A projection whose power was indistinguishable from the main body.
Around Rowe, a mist like outer cloak layered itself, and countless writhing tendrils moved like many hands, each wielding an immortal treasure or divine grade Noble Phantasm. A chaotic crimson storm swirled.
The Primordial Human sat at the heart of the machine body, at its furnace like core.
Upright.
Still.
Not serene in the manner of a cultivated sage, but steady in the manner of an operating principle that had decided it would not yield.
This was the Primordial Human achieved by the Sage of Uruk.
The machina god of the Divine King achieved by the Greek hero mentor.
The Wild Hunt of Norse myth.
And the fusion of Chinese mythic facets such as Great Monarch, Taiyi, and Heaven.
Each identity approached the primal stage.
Layered, but not fully primal.
Even so, among global scale existences, it was already a dangerous class. Stronger than something like Tiamat, who had existed since the beginning of the planet and lived for billions of years.
Yet Rowe knew he could not truly eliminate the First Emperor before him.
To defeat him cleanly was difficult.
To erase him was impossible.
Reaching the primal stage was already the maximum magnitude this planet could sustain. There were differences between primals, but those differences were rarely absolute.
Unless Rowe could take another step and reach the limit of the primal, the level that could be called a creator of heaven and earth, a star creating god.
He could not.
So Rowe stopped.
He spoke.
"Even if I cannot kill you, I can trap you.
"What is the necessity?" the Lostbelt Emperor asked, frowning.
Rowe answered without hesitation.
"It is necessary."
"An existence like you is always a threat, regardless of era."
"Hahahahaha. I will accept that as a compliment." The Lostbelt Emperor's human terminal grinned. "But what I say is never empty."
"In combat and creation, I am inferior to you. In tracing back to origins, I do not believe I am inferior to any existence."
"If you are willing to cooperate with me and seek a future for the continuation of Human Order, then I can bestow on you the immense database of Human Order accumulated over two thousand years."
"And I will never again set foot in your world."
"Unless you permit it."
His words came freely.
"You need not be surprised. As another me said, my current body is no longer a pure Emperor."
Guardian. Arbiter. Saint. Master of all things.
The Lostbelt First Emperor had ceased to be a pure Emperor long ago.
Compared to Ying Zheng, he sounded less magnificent, less tyrannical, more rational.
"Even so, I still carry the name and reality of an Emperor," he continued. "Therefore my words are not false."
Rowe's gaze did not shift.
"Is that so."
He was moved. He admitted it internally.
That database would significantly expand the computation of his main body.
And if he was honest, his earlier words had been a threat. Rowe had no desire to suppress the Lostbelt Emperor in Imaginary Number Space for billions of years. No patience, and no need.
Then Rowe added, softly.
"But you are forgetting something."
"The First Emperor of the Lostbelt."
"I cannot kill you, and I cannot destroy you."
"But if I do not do either, is this you still you?"
From the core of the machina god, Rowe smiled.
The Lostbelt Emperor froze.
His human terminal opened his mouth, and a sound came out that was not speech.
It was noise. A cacophony of scrambled outputs.
Personality invaded. Corrupted. Corrupted. Defined as virus. Detected same source code. Corrupted. Defined as update. Corrupted. Corrupted.
A sound like a machine short circuiting rang out.
The Lostbelt Emperor's eyes widened.
He snapped his head up.
He looked behind him at Epang Palace.
Lights within the sacred body flickered on and off as the chaotic sound continued.
Then another voice emerged.
"Success. Still far from your machina god main body, but barely enough."
"To have it is enough, Your Majesty Ying Zheng."
"Indeed."
"Speaking of which, are you not concerned about the existence of Qin?" According to their plan, Qin's end was inevitable.
The First Emperor's reply was indifferent.
"How can there be an eternal dynasty? As long as what I leave behind endures, it is enough."
The exchange was calm.
And it was nothing like what came before.
"To think there was such a move." The Lostbelt Emperor's terminal stared, stunned. Having lived over two millennia and priding himself on vast knowledge, he had never witnessed a scene like this.
His sacred main body had been stolen.
His source, as the First Emperor, had been overwritten.
The one who committed it was Ying Zheng, who had just merged with the Divine Land and become an immortal dragon soul.
The one who enabled it was Rowe.
It was Rowe's nameless mist.
Ying Zheng was dead in the present, but his soul was immortal. Formless, intangible. If he departed the present world, he could manifest again.
"This was my true purpose," Rowe said. "To use the nameless mist of Chaos to carry the immortal dragon soul of the First Emperor of our world into Imaginary Number Space."
"Then, with that flowing mist, to infiltrate your sacred main body and seize your source."
"Now I do not need to kill you."
"I do not need to imprison you."
"Because that is unnecessary."
It was the cleanest solution.
The optimal one.
"Hahahahaha," Ying Zheng laughed, now controlling the sacred body. "This is what you taught me, other me."
The Lostbelt Emperor had taught him dragonification. He had told Ying Zheng to seize Rowe's main body.
Not his own.
"From now on, I will stand here and guard the Divine Land."
The prophecy closed into place.
The Lostbelt Emperor's terminal considered the situation for a moment, then exhaled as if shrugging off an old robe.
"Never mind. Since it is all me, this is fine."
In some sense, it was even a blessing.
He had split into countless avatars across countless worldlines. The sacred main body had been the anchor point.
Those who were no longer Emperors did, in fact, need a pure Emperor self to coordinate them.
Since they were all him, rejection would be minimal.
"Then, as compensation, I will give you that immense information," Ying Zheng said.
A faint shimmer condensed into a chip and fell into Rowe's palm.
Rowe caught it and allowed himself a small smile.
"Then I should leave."
"Go," Ying Zheng replied, and there was something almost amused in his tone. "My friend. My comrade."
"Comrade?" Rowe's voice carried a dry edge. "That word is cheap."
"Shared a drink once. Fought once. Is that not comrade enough?"
"Indeed."
"Hahahahaha."
The laughter echoed through Imaginary Number Space, and then it was gone.
Rowe departed.
He returned to the present world.
He returned to the surface.
The human world stretched vast. A brief moment in Imaginary Number Space had become many years here.
It was the interregnum between the two Han dynasties, when Wang Mang usurped the throne.
Liu Xiu, a collateral descendant of the Han imperial clan, raised troops to suppress Wang Mang and was besieged by an army of four hundred thousand at Kunyang.
At night, a meteor fell into the camp.
By day, clouds like a collapsing mountain descended upon the camp, falling within a foot of the ground and igniting, disheartening officers and soldiers.
Liu Xiu decisively defeated the enemy, and in that same year, ascended a mountain to worship Taiyi.
.....
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