Yoshika was beyond pleased with how well the ceremony had gone. She was married! Yue was her wife! She glowed with the giddy feeling of joy, and just kept reminding herself in her head. Yue, her wife, chuckled wryly and shook her head with urbane amusement as she gave Yoshika’s hand a gentle squeeze.
“Darling, if you don’t school your expression, people will think you’re unduly excited about receiving gifts.”
She mentally rolled her eyes at Yue’s telepathic scolding. Now that the ceremony was over, the two brides were hosting the reception feast and receiving wedding gifts from their guests.
“Let them! I’m happy, and I refuse to apologize for it.”
“Hah! Fair enough. I feel the same way, to be honest. It still feels like a dream—like I shouldn’t be allowed to be so happy.”
Their good mood was infectious, and even the stuffiest of elders were getting caught up in the uplifting aura that settled over the reception. Yan Ren and Yan Hao, despite being opposed to Yue as the head of their clan, to their marriage, and to Yoshika in general, were all smiles as the heralds announced them.
“Elder Yan Ren, and Yan Hao, of the Great Awakening Dragon Sect!”
The two stepped forward and bowed deeply, waiting to be greeted. Yoshika had conflicted feelings about them. Yan Hao had been a direct party to Zheng Long’s attempts to frame her for Yan Zhihao’s death, and only Qin Zhao’s direct intervention had stopped him from pinning her with the ‘crime’ of daring to defend herself against his disciple’s baseless accusation.
Yan Ren had never personally offended her, but he was complicit in Yan De’s plots, and just a generally unpleasant person.
The two of them represented the remnants of Yan De’s will in the aftermath of the patriarch’s downfall, but they were honored elders of the Yan clan and the Awakening Dragon sect, and couldn’t be easily removed from power.
“Yan Ren, I didn’t have the opportunity to say so in our previous meetings, but I’m glad to see you’ve recovered from your battle with the Demon Lord Longyan. I had a nasty run-in with the man myself during the campaign in Yamato.”
Ren raised his head and nodded, smiling wryly.
“Indeed, it is my understanding that we have you to thank for ridding our world of that menace.”
“I just happened to be present when Master Ienaga dealt the final blow. It’s long overdue, but I commend you for your diligence in defending the academy during the descent. Many of my friends and family owe their lives to your heroism on that day.”
“Your Majesty overpraises. This servant was merely performing his duty.”
With the requisite pleasantries observed, Yue gestured for Yan Ren to proceed. The elder stepped forward and presented them with a carefully wrapped scroll.
“This is an ink painting which predates the Heavenly Empire itself, said to contain elements of the profound mysteries originally grasped by our most ancient ancestors, leading to the discovery of the heavenly dao and producing the first cultivators. It is a prized possession that has served me well across the centuries, and I pray that these ancestral insights will serve you just as well.”
Yue accepted the scroll with grace, before depositing it in her dimensional ring.
“Thank you, Elder. You are most generous. Yan Hao?”
Dropping her former master’s title entirely was a snub with many layers, but the man knew better than to press Yue on her wedding day, at least. He stepped forward and offered an ornate pill box, containing a single glowing pellet resting on a tiny cushion within.
“Grandmistress, Empress, I would be honored if you accepted this gift as a token of my goodwill. This Seven Stars Heavenly Refinement Elixir has myriad uses. It profoundly accelerates the rotation of one’s dantian, which can be used to enhance qi refinement and rapidly purge corruption to open new meridians. As a medicine, it can halt a qi deviation dead in its tracks. However it’s greatest use is to aid in the formation of a golden core at the peak of the third stage, dramatically enhancing one’s foundation to prepare for ascension to xiantian and the accompanying tribulation.
“Even for xiantian cultivators like yourselves, it can quickly replenish divine essence, though I believe that would be a waste of its potential. May it one day uplift a favored disciple or junior, that they might follow in your lofty footsteps!”
Yoshika didn’t quite grimace as she accepted the gift, smiling stiffly as Yan Hao bowed and the elders retreated. She stashed the pill away with the other gifts and suppressed a sigh.
“Cultivation aids. Even on a day like this, they just have to send a message, don’t they?”
Yue covered her mouth with a fan and giggled.
“That’s just how they are. ‘Your path is wrong, here, let us help correct you!’ I wouldn’t worry too much about it, and the pill is genuinely quite useful. It’s no mere shortcut to power—that’s one of Hao’s actual masterworks. Love or hate him, Yan Hao’s alchemical mastery cannot be denied.”
“Hmph! Luo Mingyu is better. I don’t see Hao inventing spiritual awakening pills.”
“Yoshika, I love you, but no. Perhaps our resident alchemy specialist might one day surpass Hao, but the only reason Mingyu has accomplished things he hasn’t is because Yan Hao has little interest in uplifting others.”
Their mental exchange was interrupted by the announcement of another, much more welcome guest.
“His Highness Prince Qin Zhao of the most August Imperial Clan of the Heavenly Empire of Qin.”
Yoshika cast a sideways glance at the herald, but smiled brightly as her mentor approached and bowed.
“Empress Yoshika, Grandmistress Yan Yue. It is the bittersweet honor of any teacher to see one’s pupils surpass their master. Few have done so with quite the alacrity you’ve demonstrated, but such achievements simply speak to your talent. There is little left for this old man to offer, but I hope you will accept this as a suitable gift to represent both your historic union and your graduation from my tutelage.”
With a wave of his hand, he produced an enormous clay pot from within a storage artifact of his own, half as tall and twice as wide as the elder himself. In an instant, the air dropped to a pleasantly cool temperature, and a faint cloudy mist began to condense around the pot.
Within it grew a truly massive lotus flower, its vibrant green pads floating gently atop the faintly shimmering water as beautiful white and pink petals bloomed in a starburst pattern in the center. The sight of it drew gasps of appreciation from the other guests, but Yan Hao—along with anyone else familiar with alchemy and herbalism—looked like they were about to spit blood. Pan Jiaying, watching from afar via one of the scrying formations in the city, all but swooned into Meili’s arms.
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Yue leaned forward and lifted her eyebrows at the gift.
“Master Qin, is that a Five Elements Millennium Lotus?”
He tucked his hands into his sleeves and held them out in front of him as he bowed.
“It was. However, this is one I have cultivated in my personal garden for over five thousand years, and it is now a peak grade Five Elements Immortal Spirit Lotus.”
Within her domain, Yoshika sensed the petals of the flower shudder slightly under her gaze, the faint hints of a proto-domain forming within it. The plant’s awareness was dim, but present, and it had already begun the steady transformation into a xiantian spirit in its own right. In fact, its essence was so purely refined that she suspected the only reason it hadn’t already ascended was—
“You’ll need to use that herb quickly, before it tries to awaken. It would be a waste to lose such a valuable reagent to tribulation thunder...”
She shot Yan Hao an ugly grimace, but otherwise ignored his interjection, returning her attention to Qin Zhao, whose face was completely expressionless, though she didn’t have to guess what he thought about Hao’s suggestion.
“I will also provide a manual regarding proper care and handling, though at its current stage it is largely self-maintaining. It has the unique property of balancing the essence of its environment without negatively impacting density or purity. Indeed, as you can no doubt sense, it manifests Cloud and Purity essence in its immediate vicinity, and in fact raises local essence concentration equivalent to a peak houtian grade qi gathering formation.
“May it thrive under your care, as you will under each other’s. I pray that it will grow with you, and you with it, as befitting this happy occasion. It is the last thing I impart to you as a teacher.”
Her eyes grew watery as she bowed gratefully to Qin Zhao.
“Thank you, Master. While you may think you have nothing left to teach, you will always be our mentor. We will cherish this gift, as we do all of the lessons you’ve taught us.”
He bowed in acknowledgement, but said nothing. In truth, despite his strict and sometimes unkind manner, he had always looked out for them. If not for him, Yoshika might never have made amends with Yan Yue, and then where would they be?
With great care, she drew the lotus blossom into her soul realm, where Heian, Yue’s moon spirit, and Jianmo for some reason, all descended on it.
“Oh! It’s just a little baby, how cute! You’d think it’s bad form to give a couple a child on their wedding day.”
Yoshika mentally rolled her eyes at Jianmo’s comments. The moon spirit enveloped the flower in a welcoming ‘hug’ and Heian quickly began the process of relocating the flower to a suitably auspicious place in the representation of Qin Zhao’s gardens within her soul.
“I’ll handle our new sister, Mom. You can leave this to me.”
“Who says it’s a sister? Maybe the lotus spirit will be a brother.”
Heian didn’t even dignify that with a response, and Yoshika’s attention was quickly drawn back to the reception, where the next guest had already been presented while she wasn’t paying attention. She blinked at the figure kneeling before their dais for a moment before the recognition clicked.
She had entirely forgotten that Shun Song and his brothers had been invited, and she certainly hadn’t expected Gao Yuanjun—his senior brother and a veteran of the Great Austere Mountain sect—to suddenly prostrate himself before her.
“Um, hello Sir Gao. Please, raise your head—you are among friends here.”
He did, if only fractionally.
“Thank you, Your Majesty. Your generosity is as boundless as the heavens.”
“Of course...”
She looked sideways at Yue, who could only shrug in return. What was this about?
“Your Majesty, as a humble follower of the heavenly dao and servant of the great sects, there is little this insignificant figure can offer to one as august as yourself.”
“There’s no need, Sir Gao, please. Your presence and well being are enough. We are grateful that our people can reconcile so soon after hostilities.”
“Nevertheless, this servant would be remiss not to address the significant debt owed. I owe you my life, and that of my brothers—a debt that cannot be repaid.”
Feeling thoroughly awkward now, Yoshika consciously did not clear her throat, trying to maintain an aura of calm and grace in spite of the unplanned incident.
“This is a day of celebration, Sir Gao. Please consider your debts, such as they are, absolved. I do not ask anything of you, except that you and your brothers live prosperous lives.”
“I know, Your Majesty. That is why I offer you now the only gift that one as humble as myself can grant—myself.”
“Wait, you can’t—”
Her protest came too late. The words weren’t important—it was the intent behind them, the magic inherent in oaths sworn and broken, an inviolable law of the heavens, especially in such close proximity to Qin Zhao, whose domain embodied that very law.
“I swear myself to you, Empress Yoshika and Empress Yan. Your humble servant, now and forever.”
She suppressed a wince as an inner disciple of a great sect directly and very publicly foreswore his sect and nation for her. That had not been part of her plan, but the effect was almost immediate. Gao Yuanjun’s soul appeared like a point of light within her awareness, followed soon thereafter by his sworn brothers. Then, like a dam had collapsed, more flooded in.
Purewater Peak lit up within her domain like a swarm of fireflies, the points of light spreading across the entire city, then the province, and then further into the neighboring regions. The wedding between Yoshika and Yue had been a grand affair, and the experts of both empires had been enthusiastic about spreading the scrying formations to witness it far and wide.
To the north, what could only be the Awakening Dragon sect around Coiling Dragon peak began to light up as well, and off in a forgotten corner of the continent, Zheng Long’s village was like a shining beacon in the dark.
It was acknowledgement, acceptance—not quite worship, but belief. In her, in what she represented, in the idea that she embodied and the path she offered. Yoshika’s domain exploded as part of her being permeated the world, fueled on by her followers. She had reached a critical threshold, merging herself inexorably with reality and uplifting her beyond a mere demigod or nascent sovereign, even as she desperately tried to hold back from provoking the heavens by taking that final step into true divinity.
Then her awareness slammed jarringly into another presence of equal stature. The domain was too inscrutable and profound to condense into a simple concept. It was Law and Order. Structure and Hierarchy. It was a gardener tending his fields, a shepherd guiding his sheep, yet also a falcon preying on a mouse, a hunter stalking a boar. It was Yin and Yang in perfect harmony, every part of the world playing a crucial role in the turning of a great cosmic wheel.
It was enormous. Overwhelming. She had taken a single step on the shore of divinity and found herself staring into the depths of an ocean more deep and profound than she could have ever imagined. She knew that she sensed the God-Emperor of Qin, and in the same instant, she knew that he was a being that—somehow—went far, far beyond what she thought possible within a mortal realm.
Yoshika’s senses were yanked back violently into the physical moment before her. That innocuous moment of a humble soldier expressing his gratitude in the only way he knew how. She didn’t blame Sir Gao—was even honored by his gesture—but it had to be said that his timing was unbelievably poor.
He was still prostrated before her, but Yue’s hand clutched hers in a terrified death-grip as Qin Yongliang, flanked by his sisters—the twins Qin Ling and Qin Xiang—and half a dozen near-identical members of the imperial honor guard strode into the room, unannounced by the pale-faced and sweating heralds.
The prince’s face had a slightly pained expression as Qin’s so-called ‘Heavenly Host’ formed up around him and dropped to their knees. When he spoke, his voice was infused with the power of Authority—a domain she’d never sensed from him until that very moment.
“You are to be graced by His most holy and august presence. All are commanded to bow down and pay respects to His Majesty, God-Emperor of the Jade Heavenly Empire, Sovereign of the Sealed Bloody Star and all worlds touched by its light—Emperor Qin Yang.”
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