Scene I – The Celestial Court of Jade Harmony
A palace suspended on silken clouds. Columns carved from stardust. Incense curling like dragon smoke.
Here, in a room of mirrors and harmony, a gathering of elder gods sat beneath the Jade Empress's serene gaze.
"He has passed the Masks," one intoned, eyes closed. "The boy who was mortal just months ago."
"He bears the God of Yang's mark," another whispered, voice tinged with dread. "That power hasn't stirred in eons."
The Jade Empress stood slowly, her robes falling like waterfalls of jade and gold. Her eyes—ancient, unreadable—stared down into the reflecting basin where Chen Ming's soul blazed like a star.
"Desire… is disorder. But there is beauty in disorder… if contained."
Her hand hovered above the water.
"Send the Harmonizer Envoy. He must be… balanced. Before he tips the heavens."
Scene II – The Crimson Court of War
Flame. Smoke. Screams from a battlefield that never ended.
Here, gods did not whisper—they roared.
"He tamed the Lust System?" boomed General Xuanro, her crimson armor soaked in spirit-blood. "Then let him prove it on the battlefield!"
"Why wait?" snarled another, driving a spear into a training dummy. "Let's send a challenge. If he survives, perhaps he is worthy."
"Worthy of what?" asked a quiet voice near the back.
All turned. The figure stepped forward—an old war god, his body etched with scars, his eyes glowing.
"He is not rising by conquest. He is rising by connection."
The hall fell silent.
"…That," he said softly, "is more dangerous than any sword."
Scene III – The Court of Shadows Unseen
No one knew the shape of this court.
It was whispers in the dark. Footsteps that never echoed. Smiles you saw just before falling.
A lone shadow figure moved through a library of forbidden knowledge, fingers trailing over ancient bindings. Each tome pulsed with knowledge of mortals who'd dared to transcend.
Then they paused over a glowing sigil—Chen Ming's name scrawled in divine ink.
"Too fast," they murmured. "Far, far too fast."
They turned, vanishing into shadow.
"We'll offer him truth. The kind that cannot be refused… or endured."
Scene IV – Back to the Obsidian Court
As Chen knelt alone in the Trial, as the Matriarch's final Mask began to descend…
The divine skies shifted.
All across the heavens, gods were waking up.
Not to a threat.
To a new player.
And the game was no longer just war or lust or balance.
It was transformation.