Gazing upon his captive subject, this Sovereign’s lips quirked for the second time today as he parsed through the emotions elicited by this most impertinent question.

Incredulity to begin with, that Falling Rain would think himself deserving of the answer, followed by indecision as he considered if he should be angry or amused by the boy’s presumption. The latter fit better here, as this was merely a desperate ploy to avoid torment and subjugation, though this Sovereign had hoped the insolent worm would beg for mercy. There would be plenty of begging soon enough, an excess he would soon find tiresome to hear, but the first plea was always the sweetest as his subjects sought to bargain and cajole. This newfangled anticipation was an unexpected benefit of the forceful merger with his Natal Soul, for though he held control in the highest of esteem, he now realized that perhaps he’d erred in his pursuit of his Dao of apathy and indifference. Though this Dao served him well and saw him rise to a level unmatched, he was still human yet, and thus might well benefit from occasionally indulging in emotion every so often.

Not simply for the sake of satisfying his primal desires, but for the sake of Balance overall. Without light, there could be no shadow, without growth, there could be no decay, and without emotion, there would be no impetus to drive him forward along his Path. Just as the autumnal debris must rot to nourish a new crop of plants come spring, a descent into emotion might well bring him to new heights in turn. A lesson well-learned by his Natal Soul and imparted unto him as he rediscovered the emotions he’d long since sealed away, ones he re-lived whilst imparting them to the subject. Yes, this was his error, one made soon after the founding of his Azure Empire when the world was finally at peace, and he had time to finally rest and reflect on his lifetime spent in bloodshed and conquest. Through this long period of introspection, one which lasted the better part of a decade, he concluded that emotions were a hindrance to logical thought and progression, a power to harness without ever allowing it to affect him. By suppressing his emotions and achieving an even higher order of inner Balance, he was able to find the Path forward and Ascend to Nascent Immortality, and therein lay the error of his ways.

After his ascension, he strove to still his mind and spirit in order to suppress all emotion in an effort to progress, because he believed that his human emotions were keeping him from Ascending to True Divinity. Rather than indulge in emotion, he hoarded his emotions without ever partaking of them, a resource for later use like storing firewood for the winter, but while wood was finite, emotions were not, and thus there would never be an end to them so long as one still drew breath. Though a period of suppression could bring him forward to new heights, he erred in believing progress was defined as advancing without retreat, but the Path to True Divinity was not a series of ascending steps, but rather a cyclical pattern of highs and lows that would bring him forward, then back, only to spring even further forward again.

Two steps forward and one step back was still progress in the end, and a better alternative to standing still as he had for so many years. His Dao of Apathy was the Balance of an unmoved stone, a calm sea, or a still wind. Possible yes, but unnatural and wholly without value, for what power was there to be derived from fixed stasis? The answer to all his woes had been right there in front of him all along, the truth hidden in plain sight. Rise and fall, growth and decline, Life and Death, Creation and Destruction, all this and more alluded to the Path he must take. There was no Apex of the Dao to chase after, no pinnacle to achieve, so rather than seek to maintain perfect balance at all times, the end goal should be the ability to maintain Balance whilst experiencing the vicissitudes of life and emotion, for the Path to the Dao was a capricious and unpredictable journey at best, which required the strength of Will to pursue it.

This was the first of many benefits to be gleaned from the accumulations of this Sovereign’s Natal Soul, and he allowed himself a moment of gleeful anticipation at the prospect of unveiling more. There was still much to be discovered, so much to be learned, for the accumulations of his Natal Soul had only provided him with the proper direction. The Razor’s Edge ‘Zhen Shi’ had adhered to was even more flawed than this Sovereign’s Path, and there were a whole host of questions still yet to be asked and answered, but he felt it fitting to celebrate since it would align with his newfangled perspective. A brief indulgence and nothing more, for though he had found the flaws in his Path and now saw the proper way forward, it was always better to crawl rather than run when it came to the pursuit of the Dao.

Slow and certain was the correct methodology, for haste makes waste, and this Sovereign had patience and time enough to proceed with caution.

“You seek insight into this Sovereign’s Dao?” Already, this new direction was proving troublesome to control and maintain, for his tone was rife with mocking amusement, emotions he drank deeply of for the first time in living memory. “For what purpose? To better understand your own feeble flaws?” Casting a glance at the boy’s dire straits, held fast by bindings of this Sovereign’s Manifested Domain and helpless to do naught but speak and stare. “Too little too late, do you not think?”

In spite of all his attempts to rein in his good humour, this Sovereign was unable to keep himself from taunting the little worm so. No, not little worm, but the subject, one full of promise and potential. That was the greatest mistake the Natal Soul made, one of hubris in which he sorely underestimated Falling Rain even after seeing all of the miracles the young savage had wrought. This Sovereign would be a fool to make the same mistake, especially after having seen the quality and characteristics of the subject’s detailed Natal Palace, one superior to any other he’d come across in all his millennia of existence. Not even Fifth Brother Di Zi’s Natal Palace had been so complete, despite his understanding of the Laws being second to none, a most curious puzzle which this Sovereign intended to decipher forthwith.

“Couldn’t care less about your Dao,” the boy replied, still quietly struggling against the inevitable even as his unwavering, amber-eyed gaze met this Sovereign’s eyes in undeniable challenge. “And the truth? I already know why you pursue strength. I’m only asking because I want to know if you know the answer too.”

Curious as to what game the subject was playing, this Sovereign went over all the possibilities, but the only plausible answer to come to mind was the same as before, that this was all a desperate ploy to buy time. Delaying the inevitable as it were, a futile gesture if there ever were one, but between the subject’s provocations and this Sovereign’s yearning to explore the limits of his new Path, he saw no reason not to toy with his prey a moment longer. Manipulating his Manifested Domain to force the subject to kneel before him, this Sovereign drew upon his Authority to impose his Will, one which weighed heavily upon the defiant child in unspoken threat. Though it did nothing to diminish the subject’s undue arrogance, a pride baked into his bones as his unblinking eyes emanated unbridled disdain, it did much to allay this Sovereign’s burning rage over being held in contempt by an ignorant savage. “Such shameless effrontery,” he began, shaking his head as he loomed over the child with a condescending sneer. “Bound and helpless yet still so full of spite and hubris, but this Sovereign shall indulge you a moment more, if only so that you can wallow in regret over what could have been whilst suffering the agony of a thousand deaths.”

“Dying is easy,” the subject replied, his words uttered with such callous indifference that this Sovereign believed him, and more to the point, knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that the boy believed this too. “Living is the real challenge, with trials and tribulations unending.”

A sentiment many had shared before, yet one this child of two decades wholly embodied in speech, his words empowered by inadvertent Oration to convey the full breadth and depth of his emotions. The heady rush of reckless courage and bold determination struck a chord within this Sovereign’s very soul, and the deluge of melancholic misery which followed suit threatened to overwhelm him where he stood. What trials and tribulations could he have encountered in his paltry two decades of life to make him so callous and jaded? Memories of an earlier exchange surged to the forefront of his consciousness, one not personally experienced by this Sovereign himself, but of a blow suffered by his Natal Soul delivered by a soulful utterance of sombre lyrics to the tune of a poignant melody. Small wonder ‘Zhen Shi’ had become so unhinged to such an extent, for the encounter was enough to unsettle this Sovereign even in passing recollection. The subject’s Dharmic Chant had been inundated with the crushing sentiment of failure and inadequacy, as well as the alluring prospect of resignation to fate and inevitable death, a call to surrender and submit not to the boy or to the Spectres or to any living entity at all, but rather a surrender to the Heavens themselves, a proud and overbearing tyrannical presence which looked down on all humanity and judged them unworthy of ascent.

It was no mere act of luck or happenstance for Falling Rain to progress so far so fast. In his eyes, the mere notion of survival was an act of defiance against the very Heavens themselves, and what was cultivation but to defy the Heavens in pursuit of strength which humanity was not meant to wield?

It took a concentrated effort of Will on this Sovereign’s part to keep himself from killing the subject outright, for Falling Rain’s Dao of unfettered freedom was a direct challenge to the Heavens, and this Sovereign could allow no threat to his Authority go unpunished. Tempting as it might be to be rid of the subject here and now, this Sovereign could not afford to allow fear to dictate his actions, for he would then risk allowing a seed of doubt to take root in his previously unshakable foundation of self-assurance. This child was nothing in comparison to Ying Zheng, the Eternal Emperor of the Azure Sea, and he would not balk before this challenge. No longer was this a matter of his own amusement, for if this Sovereign lacked the courage to confront the subject bound and helpless as he was, then his cowardice would plague him for the rest of his eternal existence.

“You wish to know why this Sovereign seeks strength?” A mistake to repeat the question, an extraneous utterance that could give away how rattled he truly was, but the mistake had already been made and there was no cure for regret. “You have born witness to this Sovereign’s rise to power, so the answer should be evident. Nature is cruel and merciless, and humanity even more so, for only the strong can survive. The Warring States Era gave rise to a period of unending chaos and strife. Driven by emotion and fleeting gains, the dog kings of old rode to war with their neighbours to dispute arbitrary lines drawn upon a map, so this Sovereign put an end to their madness. With spear and sword in hand, this Sovereign united the scattered factions of the Azure Sea under one rule, and only then did the Empire possess strength enough to throw back the barbaric outlanders who sought to conquer us with their false Dao, a threat which only became aware of us due to the greed of this Sovereign’s unworthy spawn. If not for this Sovereign’s efforts and the efforts of our five sworn brothers, the people of the Azure Sea would have long since been conquered and subjugated by the outlanders, for the people of these lands were weak and unworthy.”

“So what?” Utterly unimpressed by this Sovereign’s exploits, the subject made an effort to shrug but was unable to move due to his bindings. “People are conquered all the time. You said it yourself, the Empire is nothing more than arbitrary lines on a map, so what difference does it make if these lands are inhabited by outlanders or not? What’s more, you claim that Nature is cruel and only the strong survive, yet you used your strength to protect the weak, meaning your words contradict your actions.”

A biting retort which cut straight to the heart of the truth, and this Sovereign could not quell his admiration for the boy’s clarity of thought, able to discard his own empathic tendencies to see the obvious flaw in this Sovereign’s arguments. Then again, the boy’s tribe was clearly of outlander origins, and the blood of his savage barbarian ancestors still held true even after so many millennia. “In this, you are correct, but this Sovereign’s mistakes are part and parcel of his Dao. Yes, this Sovereign strove to protect the weak, and in doing so, earned nothing but scorn and disdain as generations lived and died in the absence of war and ignorance of all the hard-learned lessons of conflict and bloodshed. For centuries thereafter, this Sovereign rode into battle whenever the outlanders invaded and restrained himself from wreaking vengeance upon their homelands, for he valued peace above all else. A mortal failing, compassion and benevolence, one this Sovereign divested himself of after his efforts to maintain peace between the Empire and the outlanders led to a war between Divinities, a war which left the outlands a ravaged, uninhabitable wasteland and might well have destroyed the world itself if not for the noble sacrifice of this Sovereign’s five sworn brothers.”

“And yet you survived.”

A statement delivered in the most neutral of tones the boy could muster, but the underlying accusation was still plain as day. This Sovereign’s days of shame and self-recrimination were long behind him however, though the implication still stung something fierce. “Yes, this Sovereign survived,” he hissed, and in his rage, he drove his scalpel into the meat of the boy’s shoulder, but the hateful child merely grit his teeth in a feral smile. “Due to strength and happenstance, and nothing more. Yet even in death, this Sovereign’s brothers were not lost, their eternal souls plucked from the cycle of reincarnation by these two hands and given new life within the blood of their kin.”

“Not all of them.” The boy had a way of interrupting this Sovereign’s line of thought with words so jarring and discordant. “The fatty outside didn’t accept your offer. Why not?”

“Mortal weakness,” this Sovereign retorted, and his eyes were drawn to where fifth brother stood, between the subject and Liang Wu Sheng’s Natal Throne. An unnecessary precaution, but a prudent one all the same, for Falling Rain’s soul controlling Liang Wu Sheng’s body would be difficult for this Sovereign to suppress if forced to use Falling Rain’s body. The boy possessed more potential than the sitting Emperor, but a fledging dragon was still weaker than a fully grown snake. “If not for his pleas, then this Sovereign would have long since rallied his armies to subjugate the outlander threat and a war between Divinities would never have broken out. You see now why this Sovereign pursues strength? Only with strength can one survive the trials and tribulations of Heaven. So long as you burden yourself with false ideals, then only death and defeat will await you.”

Exerting his Will to show the boy even more memories of old, this Sovereign shared all the hard-learned lessons life had taught him along the way. “This Sovereign united the lands and brought peace to the people, yet not even a single decade passed by before they rejected his rule. Fools one and all, able to forget the death and suffering of yesteryear so quickly.” Manifesting images from his first century of rule, memories he deigned not to share the first time around, he showed the boy all his efforts to usher in a new age of prosperity in the wake of the Warring States Era. All his painstaking efforts to feed and educate the populace were for naught as greed and apathy took root, for none cared to toil in the fields without the ever-present threat of starvation looming over them. By driving trade and commerce to new heights, he introduced new ways for the weak to prey on the stupid while using wealth to control the strong, but this only made humanity even weaker. And the worst part? Those he entrusted to maintain justice were corrupted by power and authority, with so many raising their own banners in an effort to secede from under his rule, which led to more conflict and bloodshed.

And all this within the first decade of his rule. If not for his Ascension to Nascent Immortality, then the Empire he had dedicated his lifetime to conquering would have shattered upon his death, rendering all his efforts for naught.

“Earlier, you asked why this Sovereign did not build a utopia in which suffering was merely a memory, and now you have your answer.” The statement came out in a low growl as emotions long buried resurfaced from within, and he allowed himself to indulge them in accordance with his new Path. “Because the nature of humanity would not allow it! You are all creatures of weakness and emotions, and if left to your own devices, you would only bring ruin and devastation down upon yourselves. This Sovereign’s continued presence is all that stands between humanity and extinction, for I am shepherd to a wayward flock of fools who run headlong towards danger and disaster.”

“Ha.” The boy’s ridicule was plain to hear as he all but spat in this Sovereign’s face. “Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining. I’ve heard these arguments from Zhen Shi before, but they were as false then as they are now. You can stand there and lie to yourself all you want, but I see right through them. Humanity was doing just fine before you came along, and will continue to thrive long after you’re dead, so spare me your hero complex.” Eyes darting about to take in the scenes around him, the boy’s sneer only grew larger. “You tried to make the world a better place and failed, so surely it must be impossible. ‘Even an Emperor cannot change the hearts of man, boo hoo, woe is me.’ That’s what you sound like, a whiny little bitch, and I for one have had enough.” Bound though he still was, the boy scoffed and exerted his Authority to do away with the scenes of this Sovereign’s memories before replacing them with scenes of his own crafting. “Utopia might well be impossible, but that’s no excuse to give up and accept the status quo.”

The towering building housing Falling Rain’s Natal Throne reappeared beside them, but it was not the same building he’d crafted in mind. No, this was a memory of the building in reality, a memory which should not have been possible. The towering building was still drab and desolate as before, yet the marvel of its presence was no longer so impressive as it was surrounding by similar buildings on all sides. Some were even uglier, while others were creations of breathtaking beauty that this Sovereign could hardly tear his eyes away from, gleaming marvels of liquid stone, steel, and clear glass moulded into a myriad of geometric miracles of construction. The scene panned down to reveal flat, expansive roads which measure between fifteen and twenty metres wide, nestled in between these towering buildings with crowds of oddly dressed pedestrians moving along the sides while horseless carriages moved through the centre in a chaotic and ramshackle manner.

Even as this Sovereign sought to reject what he saw before him, the boy responded to these unspoken denials. From on high, the scene panned down to the streets to present a view of the inner workings of the horseless carriages, ones which put this Sovereign in mind of the timepieces Fifth Brother Di Zi created, only a thousand times more complex. From what he saw and sensed, Falling Rain himself didn’t entirely understand how these carriages worked, but he knew enough to show this Sovereign that they were possible, and thus existed. There was no denying that this was not only possible, but also probable, and the boy was not yet done. The scene followed the road to reveal more of the same, yet it was the differences that stood out. Shops and restaurants appeared selling all manner of eye-catching delicacies and luxuries, while giant painted canvasses depicted lifestyles utterly foreign to this Sovereign’s eye, yet the boy conveyed the intent within each image quite clearly. These were advertisements for even more luxuries, like more powerful horse-less carriages, artisanal apparel, sparkling jewellery and more, meaning that such things were not so far out of reach from the common populace else there would be no reason to advertise them.

The journey continued and brought him into a building where he saw a vast expanse of different shops all gathered in one place, a single destination anyone could visit and purchase anything and everything they could ever need or want. One store was filled with shelves upon shelves of food and produce, all fresh and appealing as if just harvested from the field, the next lined from wall to wall with clothes of all sizes, and it only got stranger from there. He saw a room filled with various depictions of violence and competition, yet it only sold boxes and strange devices instead of the weapons themselves. Another store appeared to sell nothing but hats, while still another hosted all manner of stuffed toys and childish frivolities, and another area in which commoners subjected themselves to all manner of arduous trials and feats of strength, not for the sake of strength itself, but in pursuit of mere vanity.

This was a world filled with excess and extravagance, yet this Sovereign had only barely scratched the surface. The images blurred before his eyes as he struggled to make sense of it all, his mind unable to comprehend just how any of this could be possible, yet every time he tried to focus on unravelling one mystery, he would find another hidden within, and another, and another, with so many various layers of indecipherable mysteries presented in an all too logical manner. These were not the fanciful reveries of a child’s fever dream, but an authentic recreation of memories presented by one who’d seen it all first hand. There were too many details to believe otherwise, the minutiae of these images too specific and particular to have been crafted on a whim, with a vast array of marvels that should well be impossible, yet seemed all too achievable when presented in this manner.

Then the scene slowly faded to black and the massive mixed residential and market district were no more, only to be replaced by a slow and steady transition over to a beach littered with holes and footsteps aplenty. The steady cadence of marching boots trudged past as the scene panned back to reveal a line of foreign soldiers clad in coarse green clothing and armoured steel helmets. Each one carried a strange bladeless weapon in hand, and this Sovereign recognized the similarities to Falling Rain’s rifle, with no less than twenty soldiers armed in this same fashion. Elite Warriors no doubt, or so this Sovereign thought until the scene moved further back to reveal thousands upon thousands of similarly equipped soldiers all disembarking from steel ships to storm the beach. The crack of their rifle raised an ungodly din unlike anything this Sovereign had ever heard before, yet this was merely an accompanying melody to the booming roars which erupted all along the coastline. Sand and blood flew in all directions as death rained down from above, and this Sovereign sat transfixed as he watched this theatre of war play out. It wasn’t long before he realized these so-called elites were merely common mortals, unable to match even the weakest of Martial Warriors in unarmed combat, yet some of the weapons they wielded were enough to threaten even him.

How might he fare against the steel-shelled explosives? How many of them could he bear? Difficult to say for these were mere images lacking the full depth of the subject’s previous memories, as if this were a scene Falling Rain had only borne witness to rather than experienced, yet the truth was still there. Those horseless carriages were even more formidable upon the battlefield, hulking armoured behemoths that spat fire and death from afar while running roughshod over all in their path, with still other such carriages bearing even large rifles capable of bringing down towering buildings with a single shell. The scenes shifted and the soldiers changed, with even more powerful weapons depicted time after time, until he found himself standing in a city with blaring horns warning of impeding death as he watched a massive steel projectile fall from the skies and grow larger and larger in sight.

And when it struck him head on, the world imploded into fire and darkness, as well as the stifling, chilling Intent of death and destruction he knew all too well. The steel projectile had possessed power comparable to a Divinity, meaning the mortals of this world had long possessed the power to annihilate all life within, yet they continued to survive nonetheless.

In the darkness, white wispy clouds of smoke rose up all around him, the aftermath of the destructive attack which removed an entire city from the map. Then the darkness gave way to blinding light and booming bursts of air which buffeted him from all sides. When his eyes finally adjusted to the light, he saw man take to the skies in sleek vessels of steel and fire that moved faster than he could track. There in the midst of the fight, he was unable to make sense of the madness as the currents of air sent him flying this way and that until the scene drew back to show him a wider perspective. There were dozens of these flying vessels moving faster than the speed of sound, done so effortlessly he wondered if he’d wasted his life in pursuit of the wrong Dao, for these mortals fought with rifles firing thousands of projectiles a minute and larger projectiles which reminded him of smaller versions of the Divinity level threat he saw only moments ago. Some vessels caught fire and exploded, others plummeted down into the seas below, while still others continued to fly this way and that to seek out new targets to bring down with their oppressive might. A single one of these vessels could kill this Sovereign with ease, and these mortals deployed them like chaff, with still more joining the fray after being deployed from a floating island of steel down below.

From the sea, the scene drew back and away from the massive floating island to reveal yet another beach, but this one was much different from before. There were still soldiers with strange weapons to behold, but rather than disembarking from ships, they were being dropped onto the beach by flying vessels large enough to hold hundreds of them each. These soldiers were the true elites, the knights of this time, but their steel armour was sorely lacking in this Sovereign’s eyes. Rather than an enclosed suit covering their vitals, their bulky, oversized armour was affixed to their bodies at only a few key points, namely the shoulders, chest, abdomen, and limbs, with everything else exposed save for their heads which were covered by a simple, innocuous helmet. Hardly efficient or effective, or so this Sovereign thought, until he saw these elite soldiers in action. The armour was not there to defend them, but to empower them, giving them the strength and mobility needed to do battle against the host of inhuman beasts surging towards them. The soldiers still made use of rifles and the like, but their weapons were integrated into their armour, armour which enabled them to fight as well as any Martial Warrior so long as they had the proper training, armour which any mortal could use.

The weak made strong, but external strength was no true strength at all, a thought which Falling Rain heard and rebutted as the scene panned away from the beach and into the city where the fighting was desperate indeed. A different city from the one he saw earlier, but with many similarities none the less, and the details all made sense enough to leave no room for credible doubt. Here, the beastial inhumans had overrun the streets, and there was no army to receive them, only a handful of powerful Warriors who this Sovereign recognized from the artwork plastered on the ceiling of Falling Rain’s bedroom. A soldier in blue with red and white stripes defended civilians with his circular shield, while an archer loosed shaft after shaft from his perch atop a building while Sending information along to his allies. One man fought in a metal suit, similar to what he’d seen earlier but also entirely different, a red and gold affair that covered him from head to toe and enabled him to fly and unleash powerful blasts of energy from the palms of his hands. A suave blonde warrior fought in more recognizable armour with a short-handled hammer in hand, one that seemed unwieldy until he raised it on high to unleash a devastating blast of lighting overhead. A hulking green humanoid creature entered the fray next, leaping from building to building and crushing all who dared cross his path, his powerful physique giving him strength unmatched and a rage that could never be quenched.

So this era had its own Peak Experts as well, melding their technology with the Energy of the Heavens in turn, but without a Nascent Divinity to match this Sovereign, what use was there in comparing the two?

Again, Falling Rain sensed this disquiet and adjusted accordingly, moving away from the battle in the city to the heavens overhead, where those sleek flying vessels moved through the great emptiness beyond the skies. A massive moon came into sight, but as the scene drew closer, he realized that this was no moon at all, but a awe-inspiring, man-made construct possessed with power enough to wipe out every city in the world beneath it. Tiny vessels flew all around it, except they were only tiny in comparison, for it soon became clear that these were hulking behemoths capable of holding thousands upon thousands of soldiers at once. Even smaller vessels fought around those larger vessels, firing beams of light in red and green, but they were not the focus as the scene moved towards the not-moon and into the vast network of tunnels contained within. Steel floors, steel walls, steel ceilings, and more, with not a single window in sight, the stifling monotony was unnerving to the extreme as they proceeded forward in the dim darkness. The tunnel stretched on without end, and soon it grew too dark to see even a single centimetre in front of his face, only for the darkness to give way to two scintillating beams of light, one in green and the other blue.

Two bearded gentlemen held those beams of light, which illuminated their surroundings to reveal an enormous room filled with metallic humanoids of curious constructions, ones armed with rifles that also fired beams of light. With a flick of the wrist, the younger gentleman warded off those beams with his sword of blue light, while the older gentleman leaped into the fray and scattered whole swathes of his foes with a wave of his hand. The power wielded by these two gentlemen was foreign and unfamiliar, and though Falling Rain was merely showing a memory of a scene he himself had witnessed second hand, this Sovereign was able to glean from this the truth. These two were surely Divinities at the very least, but ones in full control of their strength, and while Falling Rain was uncertain of the limits of their prowess, there was no denying their existence. How else to explain the seemingly endless array of examples he had to draw upon and show? The scenes shifted from one to the next showing humanity at war with all manner of foes, with countless different Divinities put on display with an eclectic and all-encompassing range of Daos to behold, until they all blended together into a single, indecipherable mass of memories with no beginning or end.

“You are nothing more than a frog in a well, unable to see how vast the Heavens truly are.” Falling Rain’s denouncement shook this Sovereign from his shock, and to his surprise, he discovered the boy had broken free of his bindings and now stood with weapons in hand. “Everything I showed you is attainable and within reach for the people of this Empire, in less than a single millennia of progress, yet you have had your hand on the tiller of humanity’s progress for so long and done nothing except tread water. You see yourself as a shepherd, but you are merely a burden to progress, a disease which has kept humanity weak for far too long.”

Raising his sword to deliver a scintillating slash, the Sword Intent ate through this Sovereign’s robes and cut him to the quick, a minor injury that was negligible at best, for Falling Rain had not grown any stronger. No, the only reason this attack was able to affect this Sovereign was because his own Will had grown weaker, for the Truth found in Falling Rain’s memories could not be denied. “Might does not make right,” the boy declared, words which struck this Sovereign harder than Falling Rain’s sword ever could. “Might only oppresses the weak. You are strong, but you are not right, no more than the tiger is right to live upon a mountain or a shark in the sea.”

“No.” The denial slipped out even as this Sovereign struggled to regain control of his emotions, but his Natal Soul sensed this weakness and used it to strike once more. Even now after learning the Truth of his existence, the foolish ‘Zhen Shi’ had not given up his misguided dreams of supplanting this Sovereign, so poisoned by desire and emotion in their time apart. Despite the risk of them both succumbing to Falling Rain’s blows, Zhen Shi’s primal fury rose up from within and threatened to overwhelm this Sovereign in full, for his Natal Soul cared not for survival, only victory and legitimacy.

For just like him, his Natal Soul believed that might made right, and to the victors go the spoils.

Between Falling Rain and Zhen Shi, this Sovereign could do naught but stand in place and endure the barrage of attacks sent his way, but it was the truth he feared, a truth the boy saw fit to twist and use against him. “Humanity’s greatest advantage is not our strength of arm,” the boy declared while still conjuring images for this Sovereign to see, his every word resounding with the chime of faith and conviction as he let loose with a barrage of attacks and repudiations, “But the strength of our minds. You disdain tools and contraptions as external strength, yet without such strength we would still be prey to the wolves and tigers of the wilds. This is the truth, one you know and accept, but only when it fits your world view. Better steel for swords and spears is fine enough, but why is a bow or ballista unacceptable? Because you do not understand the value of progress, and in doing so have doomed humanity to millennia of stagnation, just so you would not see your own strength overshadowed.”

Much as he wanted to deny it, the boy’s words struck home as this Sovereign recalled the humiliating death he suffered at the hands of Sima Yi. The first Grand Marshal of the Empire to not hail from the Five Supreme Families, a brilliant genius who might well have brought them all to new heights, yet despite having long since secured this Emperor’s favour, the traitorous rat sought to supplant him and become Emperor himself. The fool wasn’t even aware of this Sovereign’s eternal status, believed he faced a powerful Warrior and nothing more, yet Sima Yi was a mere mortal with no personal strength to speak of. Even then, he possessed wealth and charisma aplenty, which he used to craft his weapons of war which took the life of this Sovereign’s host before he could react, and in doing so, almost put an end to the Eternal Emperor’s reign without having even uncovered his existence.

A most humiliating setback, one for which Sima Yi paid dearly for, but this Sovereign could not deny the fact that he went on to suppress such technological advancements for fear of them. What purpose was there in strength of arms if a mere mortal could build a contraption capable of reaping lives from afar? What progress could there be in his Path if humanity abandoned the Dao by the wayside? Such were his thoughts at the time, and while his concerns were valid, the truth of the matter was as Falling Rain said, for now this Sovereign had seen the power technology could bring.

The first wisp of Sword Intent found its way into the core of this Sovereign’s soul, but the pain was nothing compared to the shame of having his conviction stripped bare, yet much as he would like to retaliate against the boy, his Natal Soul was the greater threat by far. This might well change soon enough as Falling Rain continued to spew his hateful truths, using what he gleaned from this Sovereign’s shared memories against him. “Of course, you wouldn’t feel threatened by technology if you weren’t stuck in a rut yourself, but such is the curse of genius. You were a child when you first discovered the Dao, and your progress effortless until you Ascended to Divinity.” Nascent Immortality, but now was not the time to quibble over the details, especially since there was no denying this fact. “You continued to progress a little with help from your brothers, but after their deaths, you’ve stalled out, because you never learned how to study the Dao on your own. You didn’t have to, because the answers were all obvious until they weren't, but rather than grit your teeth and move forward with determination, you sit idle and wait for the answer to be handed to you.”

The boy’s sword plunged deep into this Sovereign’s robes as he stood helpless to defend himself, and now he had to contend with a font of Sword Intent wreaking havoc throughout every fibre of his existence. The shield followed suit, but even if the boy had a thousand such weapons to wield it would take him years to wear away at this Sovereign’s Will. No, it was still the Natal Soul within which threatened him so, growing stronger thanks to the boy’s open disdain and continued assault as each word and attack served only to fan the flames of this Sovereign’s rage. “For all your strength,” the boy continued, firing his rifle to no effect since he lacked the Intent to pair with it, “For all your lofty accomplishments and lifetimes of experience, I find it funny to learn that you are still mortal yet, still driven by those same emotions and desires you hold in such disdain. I told you before that I know why you seek strength, and now I know you’ve been lying to yourself all along.”

Emboldened by the lack of response, the boy had the gall to come face to face with this Sovereign as they stood upon the dock which his throne-room overlooked. “You pursue strength because you are afraid of that which you cannot control. You were blessed by the Heavens and given strength from a young age, and you used it to scare off those who would dare threaten your people. Then you were called away to war, only to return to discover your mother had died while you were away, but instead of mourning her death, you turned your rage upon the father who abandoned you. He could have protected her, but he didn’t, and that was a crime in your eyes, so you killed him and fled into the night. Then you found it easier just to fight and kill instead of try to build a life for yourself, because you were still afraid of losing what little happiness you might find to factors outside your control. So you fought and you killed, then fought and killed some more, until you had no more enemies left to fight. You claimed the crown to become Emperor, but you had no real interest in being a leader, not unless it was to lead men to fight. Much more difficult to lead a man to the plough, so difficult that you gave up within a decade and just let others manage the Empire for you, but history has shown us both how useless an Emperor is when he merely sits upon the throne.”

“You are wrong!” The denial emerged from this Sovereign’s throat, but it was not his intent to speak. It was the Natal Soul who uttered these words, no longer ‘Zhen Shi’ but an amalgamation of them both as they fought for dominance only to blend together until it was impossible to tell where one ended and the other began. Two sides of the coin, only now the coin was melted beyond recognition in the heat of Falling Rain’s scathing censure. “This Empire would be nothing without this Sovereign, humanity doomed without my protection. You say the people suffer now, but only because you have not seen true suffering, have not known a world torn apart by countless wars waged all across the lands.”

“And you think the Empire prospers only because you have never known true prosperity.” Without missing a beat, Falling Rain put an end to the Natal Soul’s denials and reclaimed control of the narrative, showing them both what life could be like if technology allowed to progress. No wonder this Sovereign could not make heads or tails of the boy’s Natal Throne, for this was a Dao of a different world, one of numbers and technology dependent on the study of the Laws of the World, yet no less powerful for it. Individually, the people were weaker than those of this world, yet in an outright war between them both, this Sovereign could not deny the threat this technology presented, with power enough to wipe out both worlds in the blink of an eye. “You’ve been controlling the Empire from the shadows, but why? I thought you held external strength in contempt? Is the Empire itself not external? The throne can be taken away, the power no longer yours to wield, so you should have long since abandoned the Empire to devote yourself to the Dao. Instead, you spend all your time scheming to keep what is yours, stealing a new body every fifty years just so you can keep the throne, but for what purpose? None that I can see, save to be Emperor for the sake of the title itself. This is the truth, one which will not change even if you choose to reject it. The root of your strength is your desire to control and protect, yet you have allowed yourself to become twisted by time and callousness both.”

Driving the butt of his weapon into the ground, Falling Rain drew himself up to full height to tower above this Sovereign, and the world within this Manifested Natal Palace grew with him. “When did you forget your true self, Ying Zheng?” The use of his name rocked this Sovereign back on his heels as he fought a war within himself, with one part of him wanting to deny that he’d forgotten while the other claiming he was Zhen Shi instead. “When you buried him to become the Eternal Emperor? What compelled you to forsake your humanity in pursuit of the Dao? In doing so, you cut off your own path to progress, for emotion is not humanity’s weakness, but a source of inner strength. That is why you have stalled in your Path, why you are still mortal yet, because rather than master your emotions, you sought to suppress them, to control them the same way you seek to control the Empire for no reason than to possess it, but like you said, not even an Emperor can change the hearts of man, and you are still mortal yet.”

Still vying for control against his Natal Soul and barely able to hold his ground, Ying Zheng gazed upon the face of this hateful brat and knew not what he saw. “Who are you?” he asked, and immediately he wished he’d held his tongue, for he feared what answer he would receive.

“I am Falling Rain,” the Warrior replied, raising his glaive in both hands. “The Warrior who will end your reign as the Eternal Emperor.”

The glaive erupted into a burst of dazzling Sword Intent, and Ying Zheng could do naught but watch it descend, his mind and soul thrown into turmoil by the truths he could no longer deny.

Chapter Meme 1

Chapter Meme 2

Chapter Meme 3