I looked forward and saw Vaisravana. To my right stood Dhrtarastra. To my left, Virupaksa. Behind me...
Virudhaka.
The Four Heavenly Kings had surrounded both me and the mountain, not as warriors preparing for battle, but as judges convening before a sentence. They stood in silent judgment, each commanding an army beyond mortal comprehension and presiding over their own corner of existence. Their authority stretched across the world itself, and their strength was so immeasurable that few beings could stand before them and utter a single word without trembling.
For the first time since I had felt this newfound power coursing through my veins...
I was silent.
Not because I lacked something to say.
But because I felt fear.
True fear.
The kind that seeped into the marrow of my bones and settled within my soul. Ever since this strange awakening, my mouth had spoken before my mind could restrain it. I had challenged gods with unwavering conviction, met monsters with laughter, and answered impossible odds with pride.
Yet now...
Silence was the only thing that answered me.
I lowered my head ever so slightly, speaking so quietly that not even the wind carried my words.
"Lu Bu..."
"Hear me."
"Hear yourself."
"This is something neither of us can escape. We have been judged by the Mandate itself. From this moment onward, our strength will be stripped from us. We will no longer be the great Lu Bu."
I slowly closed my eyes.
"He will take everything."
"Our power."
"Our name."
"Our greatness."
"But if there is one thing I know..."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of my lips.
"...it is that you will claw it all back."
I drew a slow breath, lifting my eyes toward the point where the sun burned brightest above the heavens.
"Fengxian..."
"If you truly wish to fight..."
"If you truly wish to shatter this endless cycle..."
"You will find yourself again."
"I know you will."
"For now..."
I straightened my back.
Against all reason.
Against every instinct screaming at me to kneel.
My posture became unwavering as I filled my lungs with the cold mountain air. Blood surged through my veins like war drums before battle, every pore upon my body tightening with anticipation. Even the divine sensation lingering within my soul had begun to fade.
It was leaving me.
I knew it.
We would fall here.
But a fall is meaningless if it leaves no mark upon the world.
I smiled.
"Erlang Shen..."
"The God of Justice."
"The greatest warrior Heaven has ever produced."
"I assume these four herald your arrival."
A quiet chuckle escaped me as a bead of sweat slid from beneath my arm and traced its way across my side.
"So..."
I grinned.
"How have I managed to anger Heaven this time?"
The heavens responded.
The clouds above ceased drifting, hardening into vast white platforms capable of bearing kingdoms upon their backs. Mountains in the distance rose ever higher until their peaks pierced through the sea of clouds, as though even the earth wished to witness what was about to unfold.
The Four Heavenly Kings moved as one.
Miles away, yet impossibly imposing due to their sheer scale, they formed a perfect line before me.
Like a jury.
Waiting only for the judge.
Then...
He descended.
Not with thunder.
Not with divine light.
But with absolute certainty.
The clouds parted willingly before him.
His long, obsidian hair flowed endlessly within the celestial winds, while robes and armour woven with heavenly craftsmanship moved as though the air itself served him. Golden irises pierced through the mist and settled upon me with a gaze that neither hated nor pitied.
It simply judged.
His features seemed carved rather than born. A jawline worthy of marble, high cheekbones framing sharp, feline eyes, and lips so perfectly composed they appeared incapable of speaking falsehood.
He looked less like a god...
And more like Heaven given human form.
When he finally spoke, the world listened.
His voice was deep, impossibly calm, and carried an authority that settled upon the soul itself. It was not loud.
It did not need to be.
It possessed the quiet certainty of a law that had never once been questioned.
"Lu Bu."
"We have come to understand what you are."
His golden eyes never left mine.
"You are an anomaly."
"A flaw within the Mandate."
"The manner in which you exist..."
"...cannot be permitted."
There was no anger in his tone.
No contempt.
Only judgment.
"As an act of mercy, Heaven grants you a choice."
His robes drifted softly behind him as the mountain itself seemed to lower beneath his presence.
"Return willingly to the abyss from which you crawled..."
His gaze sharpened.
"...or fall by my hand."
Silence reclaimed the mountain.
Even the wind waited for my answer.
I took a moment for myself.
I closed my eyes and drew a slow, controlled breath, feeling the mountain winds weave through my hair as my lungs filled with the cold, pristine air. Every muscle carved into my body tightened instinctively, not from fear alone, but from the primal sensation of standing before a predator so far beyond myself that even my flesh recognized it before my mind did.
Erlang Shen...
He was the very embodiment of justice.
Every movement he made was deliberate. Every breath measured. There was no hesitation within him, no uncertainty, only absolute conviction. His confidence was neither arrogant nor boastful—it was the quiet certainty of a man who had never once doubted his own judgment.
I hated him.
I despised him.
He was always there.
Every time someone reached beyond the boundaries Heaven had drawn, he stood waiting. Every dream that dared climb too high was met by his hand. Every impossible ambition found itself standing before the God of Justice.
He was Heaven's answer to rebellion.
I let out a long sigh, almost like a child confessing his mischief before an inevitable scolding. Slowly, I opened my eyes and met his gaze. My dark irises locked onto his radiant golden ones, neither of us looking away.
I was never going to surrender.
Never.
I already knew the outcome.
I would lose.
I would falter.
I would fail.
Before Erlang Shen...
I would not survive long enough to witness my own determination bear fruit.
Victory was impossible.
There was no strategy that could bridge the immeasurable gulf between us, no hidden strength waiting to reveal itself, no miracle descending from the heavens to stand at my side.
I knew that.
So did he.
Yet that was never the reason I fought.
I do not draw my weapon because victory is certain.
I do not march because fate favors me.
I fight because surrender is a fate far crueler than death.
Because I bow...
For none.
"Erlang Shen!"
My voice rolled across the mountain, firm despite the certainty of what awaited me.
"I choose to stand my ground!"
"If I were to surrender now—if I were to take back everything I have done, every step I have taken—I would become no different from those I despise. I would betray myself before anyone else had the chance."
I took another step forward.
Then another.
Each one heavier than the last.
I possessed nothing.
No Sky Piercer.
No armour.
No divine blessing.
Nothing but the body my mother had given me and the will she had raised within it.
Yet I continued walking toward a being who had been born for one purpose alone.
To battle.
To judge.
To win.
A god who had never known defeat.
My measured steps slowly became a brisk march.
The march became a jog.
The jog became a run.
Then I sprinted.
Not toward victory...
Toward certain death.
Far beneath the celestial platform upon which we stood, the world answered.
The earth trembled.
Not violently.
Not chaotically.
It was the slow, rhythmic shudder of something impossibly ancient stirring from an endless slumber. Mountains in the distance quivered, forests fell silent, and even the clouds beneath our feet rippled as though something deep below the world had drawn its first breath in countless ages.
I felt it.
And despite everything...
I smiled.
"There you are..."
My grin widened.
"Finally."
"You've awakened."