Within the palace of Great Qin, a mercury-like sheen surged and flowed. Clusters of mercury split apart and took shape, turning into sharp swords suspended above the palace, dangerous yet filled with a striking sense of technology.
The hairs on Tamamo-no-Mae's body stood on end. She shrank her neck back slightly, then gave a small bow and replied solemnly.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, this object was indeed presented by this humble one. What it speaks of is a calamity concerning Great Qin."
Qin Shi Huang rubbed the fluorite with his fingertips, and a strange, unseen sensation welled up within him. That uncontrolled resonance made the ruler seated high upon the throne knit his brows, his tone gradually growing heavier.
"My Great Qin swept across the six states and united the realm. From south to north, from east to west, all beneath Heaven is the king's land, and all within its borders are the king's subjects! Now we prosper by the day. What calamity could there be? Do you know that witchcraft and prophetic omens are a ruler's greatest taboo?"
"The Book of Changes says, 'The soaring dragon has cause for regret.' Fullness cannot last forever. The Way of Heaven follows the order of Yin and Yang. When Yang reaches its peak, Yin is born; when prosperity reaches its height, decline follows. Such is the natural order.
"The same is true of the Nine Provinces. What has long been united must divide; what has long been divided must unite. Great prosperity is bound to bring calamity. In the past, King Wu of Zhou ruled for eight hundred years, the longest of all, yet where are the Nine Tripods now? The Shang enjoyed five hundred years upon the world, but today, Chaogong has long since become a handful of yellow earth."
Tamamo-no-Mae spoke solemnly. Even before the ruler of Great Qin, she remained calm and composed, speaking with ease. Her sincere lament carried helplessness, and her words showed considerable foresight.
Qin Shi Huang's expression eased slightly. He studied Tamamo-no-Mae below the court for a moment, wearing a smile that was not quite a smile.
"A fox with nine tails is an auspicious sign for the world. Fox, when did you stop bringing good news and start bringing tidings of death instead? Very well. Great Qin has no powerful enemies outside and no unrest within. Explain, then. What do these words mean?"
Clearly, His Majesty the Emperor of Great Qin had already seen through Tamamo-no-Mae's true form.
"Hu refers to people beyond civilization, and to stars beyond Heaven! Great Qin's mortal enemy, the foe of all under Heaven, does not lie within the world, but beyond the stars. It is the Star Demon God, also the Demons from Beyond the Realm. The Disaster of Kunlun is only the beginning!"
Tamamo-no-Mae's bright eyes flickered faintly as she spoke slowly, her voice grave and solemn.
The Disaster of Kunlun was only the beginning?
Qin Shi Huang's pupils contracted slightly, his gaze freezing.
One day ago, a tide of aberrant beings had poured down from Kunlun, surging toward the frontier Great Wall. Countless elite soldiers of Great Qin had died or been wounded. When the battle report reached the Afang Palace, even the First Emperor found it hard to believe.
Those were three hundred thousand elite troops led by Meng Tian! Yet they had nearly failed to hold back those monsters!
"Does Your Majesty know that calamities like this are a great tribulation for all living beings, and they have happened in ancient times before?"
Just as Qin Shi Huang frowned in thought, Tamamo-no-Mae dropped another heavy blow, slowly unfurling a yellowed ancient scroll before him.
Upon it was drawn a goddess with a human head and a serpent's body, mending a crack in the sky with one hand. Beneath it was a line of oracle bone script.
"In ancient times, Pangu opened the heavens and split the earth. The sun, moon, and stars each fulfilled their duties, the four seas were united, and all was harmonious. Unexpectedly, the sun lost its light, meteors fell from the heavens, and the world was shaken until the heavenly pillar broke, the earth's bonds split, the four poles collapsed, and the Nine Provinces cracked. The sky could no longer cover all, and the earth could no longer bear all. Fire raged without end, floodwaters surged without rest, fierce beasts devoured the people, and birds of prey snatched away the old and weak. Thus, Nuwa refined five-colored stones to mend the blue sky, severed the legs of the great turtle to establish the four poles, slew the Black Dragon to save Jizhou, and piled reed ash to halt the flooding waters. The sky was mended, and the four poles were set right. The floodwaters dried, and Jizhou was pacified. The vicious creatures died, and the people survived. They bore the square earth upon their backs and embraced the round sky."
Meteors fell from the heavens, and Nuwa mended the sky!
Thunder exploded in Qin Shi Huang's mind. His pupils shrank sharply as sudden realization dawned.
So the earth-shattering disaster of Huaxia's Age of Gods had hidden such a secret. It was simply unbelievable.
"This is one of the original charts of the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Ever since Zhuanxu of the Five Emperors severed the connection between Heaven and earth, cutting off contact between humans and gods, it has been secretly preserved through the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties..."
Tamamo-no-Mae's tone was low and steady, her expression solemn. Her eyes were clear, all trace of coquettish charm washed away.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas had originally consisted of both illustrations and text. Moreover, the item in her hands really was an original she had brought out from the royal houses of Xia, Shang, and Zhou. Everything she said was true.
As for the contents shown on it, sorry, that was not her responsibility. She was not the one who wrote it.
In truth, this was naturally Samael's handiwork. The Classic of Mountains and Seas was vague in its account of Nuwa Mending the Sky. This passage came mainly from "Lanming Xun" of the Huainanzi, mixed with records from other sources.
In addition, as far as Samael knew, the early version of Nuwa Mending the Sky had no connection to Gonggong striking the mountain. Even in "Lanming Xun" of the Huainanzi, not only were key words such as Gonggong, Zhurong, and Mount Buzhou absent, it also did not clearly record the reason why the sky collapsed, the earth sank, and disaster struck the world.
The Classic of Mountains and Seas also never mentioned Nuwa refining stones to mend the sky because of Gonggong or Mount Buzhou. From this, it could be seen that in the ancient pre-Qin era, "Nuwa refining stones to mend the blue sky" and "Gonggong angrily striking Mount Buzhou" were two entirely independent stories. It seemed that Eastern Han scholar Wang Chong had stitched Gonggong striking the mountain together with Nuwa Mending the Sky, relying entirely on conjecture.
And according to future geographical studies and chronological tracing, around the time the myth of Nuwa Mending the Sky arose, there seemed to have been a suspected meteor shower disaster.
Putting all these clues together, the far-sighted Samael strongly suspected that the Harvest Star, Velber, really had tested the waters in Huaxia before by sending Velber vanguards to land there.
Unfortunately for Velber, the waters of Huaxia were too deep, and it sprained its foot.
Of course, that divine war had surely left the gods of Huaxia badly weakened as well. That was why Zhuanxu later severed the connection between Heaven and earth, actively cutting off the gods' control over humanity.
At the same time, Velber had no choice but to settle for alternatives, making new attempts in Greece, India, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, the largest civilization belts.
Thus, in order to persuade Huaxia to join the war, Samael simply dumped the blame for that world-shaking upheaval onto Velber.
And the result before her was exactly as he had expected. His Majesty Qin Shi Huang of Great Qin fell into thought, his expression grave.
"Moreover, this is no prophecy. It is the reality before us!"
At that moment, the fox spirit, skilled in reading faces, sharpened her gaze and lowered her voice, adding more fuel to the fire. She slowly recounted to Qin Shi Huang the rise of the two great wars of the colossi in Greece and the destruction of Egypt's Age of Gods.
Tamamo-no-Mae had originally intended to embellish the terror of the colossus, but remembering a certain person's warning, she immediately straightened her expression and narrated everything fairly and objectively.
"Boom!"
Just then, thunder exploded in strings across the sky. The black fissure was gradually forced wider, and the phantom of the Gates of Heaven grew increasingly solid. One luminous humanoid after another descended gracefully.
That appalling answer, along with one proof after another, left Qin Shi Huang with no more desire to jest. His previously heavy expression suddenly broke into a smile, as if he found this crisis deeply pleasing. When he rose from the throne and looked up again, his gaze turned piercingly sharp.
"Demons from Beyond the Realm? Hmph! Perfect timing. The Nine Provinces have long had no worthy opponent. I have long wished to lead the tiger warriors of Great Qin to campaign across the cosmos!"
At the same time, mercury like great rivers flowed along the runic arrays and surged out of the Afang Palace's main hall.
Boom!
As the mechanical essence of the mercury was infused into them, the twelve metal giants standing on both sides, each a hundred meters tall, seemed to have blood flowing through their bodies. Their light patterns flickered, their joints rang with a series of tremors, and their thick five-fingered hands grasped the bronze greatswords embedded in the blue bricks, slowly turning them.
"The hegemon who surpasses the Three Sovereigns and stands above the Five Emperors, that is I! The ten thousand nations come to court, and even the stars beyond Heaven shall kneel here before me!"
Qin Shi Huang stepped out of the hall, raised his arm, and spoke proudly.
What did it matter if the gods had passed away? If the great edifice of the Nine Provinces were to collapse, then I alone could mend the rift in the sky with one hand!
Immediately afterward, countless tadpole-shaped divine runes were activated. Tens of thousands of metal modules gathered in the sky above Xianyang, forming a new "Great Wall"!