Poison God's Heritage

Chapter 916: Task

"I am not the Heavens, I am but an Enforcer."

The correction was calm, but it landed with quiet authority. There was no anger in it, which somehow made it feel more absolute.

"Oh, I apologize. My head was a bit... scrambled."

There were worse descriptions for poisoning my own brain into rebellion, but understatement had become a survival habit.

"You almost met us..."

"I fail to understand, aren’t we... in a meeting now?"

The creature snorted, "We are indeed, but you were about to meet us dead, not alive. Without further ado, let us get to the point."

That sent a colder reaction through me than it should have. Meeting the heavens as a corpse was not a phrase I particularly wanted explained.

"Please."

The enforcer stood up, and his size began shrinking until he was as tall as me. The act looked effortless, as if dimensions themselves were obedient suggestions. One moment, he was vast beyond reason. The next, he stood beside me at mortal scale, somehow no less immense. He approached without sound and pointed to the red carpet.

"See for yourself what you have changed."

Immediately, the ground changed, and the view of the world of Solarous appeared in front of us. It was not merely a vision. It felt like standing above reality itself. Yet there were things I hadn’t seen before, or had not been allowed to see.

Cracks and fractures spread through the space around Solarous. Not through land or sky, but through existence surrounding it, as though the world had been suspended inside broken glass. Jagged seams crossed invisible laws. But even as I watched, they fused. Slowly. Deliberately. Healing.

"Do you understand what that is?" the entity said.

"If I can take a wild guess... I can say that’s the heavenly law, correcting itself."

"Indeed, you are smart."

"Thanks."

The word slipped out before thought. Probably not how one should respond to cosmic revelations, but apparently sarcasm survives near-death.

"The death of the Broodmother, which stole the heavenly Dao, had caused it to be released. Now it is fusing back with the world, and never shall such entities appear again. We have given freedom to those who challenge the heavens and rise, but they took it for granted..."

"I guess stealing the heavenly Dao is a pretty big taboo."

"It is not..." the enforcer shook his head. "It is for those who cultivate to do what they see fit; stealing it and using it is fine. Corrupting it and changing it is forbidden. What the royal had done was the latter. He stole, controlled, abused it, and changed it, fused it with a being that never should have been born. And allowed it freedom from the heavens to call tribulations upon it."

There was something ancient and weary in that explanation, like hearing a judge explain a crime repeated too many times through history.

"I guess now that order has returned..."

"The heavenly tribulation that will befall your masters and friends are powerful enough to obliterate Solarous... they need to feel that world."

That tightened something inside my chest. Even here, hearing those words, the danger felt immediate.

"I suppose the heavenly Dao in the beyond is incomplete, for them to break through here instead of there..."

"The Beyond, as you call it, is but a mere fraction of such a great world that we oversee. Not even these lands, and this universe is all there is..."

That line alone nearly derailed thought. Not even this universe. Casually spoken. As though infinity had layers.

"As you are now, you’re far too weak to see the truth of this world. Though you’ve stolen glimpses, you haven’t perceived the reality of such worlds..."

"I don’t think I can follow."

It seemed safer to admit ignorance than pretend comprehension.

"I have a task for you, if you can achieve it. You shall be rewarded handsomely by the heavens themselves."

That sounded exactly like the sort of offer people die accepting.

"That... sounds very dangerous."

"It is indeed one who sees danger before reward is wise. But, we cannot move our hands, the same here, as we could not move our hands in this world."

"Someone else stole the heavenly Dao, I suppose?"

"Worse..." the heavenly enforcer said. "They’re attempting to make a new one. Yet, you cannot cumber your mind with such tasks for now. They are far stronger than you can believe."

The words settled with dreadful gravity. Make a new Dao.

Somewhere, somehow, lunatics were trying to manufacture cosmic law.

Wonderful.

"Stronger than... This Yang stage? The confederation believes it’s the highest stage of cultivation."

"What about you? Do you believe so?"

"You got a point. I saw you after all... what’s your stage? Compared to mortals."

"The heavens will not allow me to speak of it... do know that, to the Yang stage, it is the same as comparing you to those people you spared in Solarous..."

The implication hit hard enough to hollow out thought.

Mortals to me.

Yang stage to him.

’Fuck’

Absurd didn’t begin to cover it.’

"Remember, I see through your mind, Shen Bao."

Right.

"Yeah, it’s like I’m thinking loud, so I guess I can’t help you with this task right now..."

"No, but you have some enemies here that you need to handle. You heard news of planets dying. Investigate. You will find more interesting matters than meet the eye."

Planets dying.

He said it almost conversationally.

As if discussing local rumors.

Suddenly, the world collapsed, and I woke up.

A white space.

A while room, and inside the Lord of Lords pagoda.

I turned, instinctively searching for who was tending to me, expecting Master Rain or Liang Yu or anyone.

No one.

Just white emptiness and breath.

Just as I turned to check who was taking care of me, I noticed that I was basically alone. The quiet felt unnatural, too complete, the kind that exists before disasters.

Then, suddenly, the world ripped apart and crashed down.