Chapter 708 – The Land United, the Beast Still Struggles - Part 1

In the late autumn air, yellowed leaves spun like withered butterflies through the sprawling palaces of the Jade Capital's imperial court.

One of them drifted gently into a still pool, sending ripples across the surface that startled a couple of koi swimming beneath.

The fish scattered, their tails flicking silver arcs through the water, adding a fleeting breath of life to an otherwise desolate courtyard.

A middle-aged man in richly embroidered robes stirred as if waking from a dream, his gaze fixed on the surface of the pool, now once again calm and lifeless.

This was Li Xuan, fourth-generation head of the Li Clan, now its former head.

He had been confined deep within the palace for nearly three months.

But this wasn’t imprisonment in the true sense. As someone with extraordinary abilities, if he truly wanted to leave, no wall could hold him.

Yet the tide had turned. Even if he left, where would he go? Flee to another country and become a mere thug for hire? What a joke.

So, while the palace didn't hold him captive, his own mind did.

And all of it was because of his son.

As he brooded, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed down the corridor. Alongside it, the increasingly audible chorus of greetings crept closer.

Li Xuan looked up, his eyes cold and sharp, fixed on the entryway.

Moments later, a young man clad in silver armor strode in, a long blade strapped across his back. Broad-shouldered and imposing, this was Li Tianshi, the fifth-generation head of the Li Clan.

He stopped at the threshold, bowed respectfully toward his father seated by the pool, and said, “The weather’s getting colder. Please take care of yourself. Some of the concubines from home wished to come and care for you. I didn’t know if that would suit your mood, so I’ve come to ask first.”

Li Xuan was silent for a long time before letting out a low, bitter chuckle. Then, a long sigh.

“You killed your brother,” he said at last. “He was your blood. How could you do it?”

Li Tianshi’s eyes reddened. He lowered his head and said nothing.

Li Xuan drew in a deep breath, then exhaled sharply, as though trying to release something lodged in his chest.

Did the question even need an answer?

In a family like this, at a time like this, it was no different from imperial sons vying for the throne. Was there ever room for talk of brotherhood?

Besides, it was Li Xuan and Li Chengxian who’d planned to strike first. True, they hadn’t intended to kill Li Tianshi. They just wanted to cripple him, lock him away, and let him live out his days as a carefree, powerless prince. But things didn’t go according to plan, and now the outcome had reversed.

And the second son, Li Tianshi, had shown more mercy than they had ever intended to. He spared Li Xuan's life and left him with his powers intact.

So Li Xuan didn’t press the matter further. Instead, he asked, “I hear you're planning to return the Great Zhou to him. Is it worth it?”

Only then did Li Tianshi raise his head and reply: “Heaven’s mandate rests with the Li Clan.”

“Oh?” Li Xuan said. “If you believe Heaven’s mandate belongs to the Li Clan, then why are you handing the empire to someone else?”

Li Tianshi replied, “Father, you still don’t see it, do you? The Ancestor

is

the mandate of Heaven. Where did our Li Clan come from? Trace us back, who started it all? The Ancestor. If not for him, don’t you think we’d all be surnamed Xie by now?”

“...” Li Xuan fell silent.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

In his mind, images flashed one by one.

The rise of the Li Clan, how the first family head, Li Hu, journeyed south to pacify the southern tribes, won great military honors, and was granted the title of one of the Eight Pillars.

Then the second-generation patriarch, Li Mingze, who served as regent and brought the family from a remote frontier clan all the way into the heart of the capital, establishing their dominance.

“Is he really the Ancestor?” Li Xuan asked, unable to stop himself.

“He is,” Li Tianshi replied.

And that was all he said. No further explanation.

Instead, he turned and sent the concubines into the rear palace.

With the company of the concubines, his father would no longer feel so alone.

Li Tianshi turned and left.

The unification of the realm was close at hand.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

“Divining tombs. Soldiers of Heaven and Earth.”

Li Yuan was humbly learning from Mister Mu and Tuoba Yin.

And the more he learned, the more he found himself impressed.

Lady Yu may have been born with extraordinary talent, but even she couldn’t quite measure up to these old monsters who’d returned from death, seasoned by an age long past.

These ancients had lived through an entire era. When they came together, their knowledge and experience naturally gave rise to countless strange and dazzling arts, far beyond just breathing methods. From their hands came martial arts, visualization methods, and more.

Had fate not intervened, Lady Yu, for all her dominance in the south, would eventually have been swallowed by the Phantoms of the Northern Wasteland. It was only because of Li Yuan’s arrival that the tides had shifted.

By now, several months had passed. Li Yuan had grown familiar with Mister Mu and Tuoba Yin, and they with him.

And after thoroughly observing Li Yuan, the two men finally relaxed.

Ruthless as he might be, once Li Yuan accepted someone into his circle, and if the person proved themselves loyal, he would not treat them unfairly.

As the three became more comfortable with one another, Li Yuan began casually asking questions about the Age of the Ancient Gods.

Zhou, Shang, Xia, and Yu...these were the four major dynasties known to history in this world.

The Zhou, Shang, and Xia Dynasties were each shaped by the struggle between the four starkin for dominion over the Archon Star.

But the Yu Dynasty was different. It was truly ancient, unimaginably old.

The Yu Dynasty was the age of the so-called Ancient Gods.

Now that Li Yuan had beings from that distant time standing right before him, he naturally wasn’t going to pass up the chance to learn more.

Mister Mu recounted everything in full detail, tales from tens of thousands, even over a hundred thousand years ago.

“They call it the Age of the Ancient Gods, but that’s just a name given by later generations. I only learned the truth after being reborn. That was an age where the heavenly seal was held sacred above all. Users of the heavenly seal wielded the script of the Heavens themselves.

“To possess a single character made you a Dao Initiate. To grasp a full phrase made you a true Daoist. Phrase after phrase, when refined into what we called a law, you would become an Enlightened One. Layer enough of those laws together, and eventually you’d form a symbol that no one had ever created before. That was how one became a God or a Buddha.”

Li Yuan asked for clarification, and soon began to understand.

Single characters and phrases were straightforward enough.

But a law..that was something else entirely. It was the fusion of multiple complex symbols into a single, intricate ideograph, like a labyrinth in the form of a word.

Etched onto a talisman, such a character became something utterly unique, impossible to replicate.

And to reach the final level, to become a God or Buddha, you had to take that complexity even further. You merged laws into deceptively simple symbols that contained within them divine power. With a single stroke of the brush, they could raise mountains, drain oceans, command the sky, and bend the earth.

This realm was strikingly similar to the progression Li Yuan had envisioned, Lesser Insight, Greater Insight, True Will, and the Unknown Realm.

But the difference was clear.

In that era, the heavenly seal was far more accessible and far more powerful. Not like now, where one still needed to make a vow to Heaven and Earth just to grasp a shred of insight.

Back in that era, if you wanted to become a Dao Initiate, an apprentice of the Dao, all you needed was a worthy master willing to guide you in the heavenly seal. And if you had the talent for it, you might grasp it in just a few days. In mere days, an ordinary person with no ability to even lift a chicken could transform into someone who could roam the world with ease, summoning soldiers from scattered beans, or tossing paper to pluck the moon from the sky.

In the end

, Li Yuan thought to himself,

it’s just that the world has grown weak.

He paused, then asked, “Do you know the names Polaris and Northern Dipper?”

Mister Mu blinked, then slowly shook his head. After a moment’s hesitation, he asked tentatively, “Are those...the names of stars?”

Li Yuan mulled it over.

It’s likely that Mister Mu comes from a time too far removed from the emergence of Polaris and the Northern Dipper. Or maybe they only appeared toward the end of the Age of the Ancient Gods, or even during the early Xia Dynasty.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he changed his question. “Then have you heard of the term

starkin

?”

This time, recognition flickered across Mister Mu’s face.

“Back in the day, my master spoke of such things. He taught that the Heavens contain six realms. The lower three are Human, Beast, and Wood, these make up almost all life on earth, the vast bulk of the living world. The upper three are the Celestial, Starkin, and Chaos. The lower three enter the cycle of reincarnation. But the upper three stand outside of it. They evolve freely with Heaven and Earth. If I’m not mistaken, the starkin you speak of belong to that middle upper tier.”

He paused, then added, “I also heard a few rumors about celestials, they're said to be born from the balance of Yin and Yang within a specific region, and from birth possess the power to govern that land. They can summon storms, control the elements...and they’re virtually omnipotent.”

“Hmm...” Li Yuan fell silent. If Mister Mu hadn’t mentioned it, he might’ve completely forgotten that he himself was supposedly a celestial. But the truth was that he felt like the most useless one ever.

Other than being exempt from reincarnation, he hadn’t seen a single benefit. None of the awe-inspiring powers Mister Mu described had manifested in him.

Thinking about it now

, he mused,

maybe it’s just because this land’s Yin and Yang are too diluted.

Mister Mu continued, “Starkin are said to be born from the union of the moon’s essence and the light of the stars. And chaos...is said to be the stars themselves.”

Li Yuan frowned. “So what you’re saying is that starkin are like an advanced form of ghosts? And this land we’re standing on...it’s

chaos

?”

Mister Mu looked down thoughtfully at the ground beneath their feet.

“If the mountains and rivers were truly lifeless, how could they respond to the heavenly seal? How could they understand the bestowal rites? Soulless beings shouldn’t be able to obey divine commands. So perhaps what we see as dead matter is actually a higher form of life. It’s just...their actions, their will, must be entirely alien to us. Perhaps they have no will at all, no desire, no intention. Maybe they simply

move

with the pulse of the cosmos.”