chapter 1
After more than five hundred years of cultivation, my Dao heart stood firm. I severed every tie to my former life and finally ascended as an immortal.
Then I entered the Celestial Realm, and my Dao heart nearly shattered.
Immortals here were allowed to marry. The children of the divine clans grew jealous and lashed out at one another over romance, just like mortals.
The Moon God had taken in a young disciple who resembled the late Wind God and begun a sordid master-disciple affair with her as his substitute.
The ninth prince of the Dragon Clan had flooded nine counties along the Eastern Sea in a rage when his fiancée fled their wedding.
A Nine-Tailed Fox elder, jealous of the Grain God while courting his wife, had arranged for snow to fall in midsummer. Every crop in the mortal realm froze to death.
In five years in the Celestial Realm, I had witnessed more spectacle than in all my five hundred years below.
During my ascension, the Heavenly Dao struck me with eighty-one bolts of tribulation lightning. I comprehended a trace of its intent from those bolts and used it to create the Lingyun Sword Art.
The small courtyard assigned to me stood in a secluded corner of the Celestial Palace. No one disturbed me there, which made it ideal for cultivation.
The celestial qi was rich and pure. In a little over five years, I had already mastered my sword art.
One day, while I was meditating, a streak of fiery-red sword intent tore the roof from above my head. The young Phoenix princess kicked open my gate and stormed inside.
“Bitch! Get out here!”
I frowned, opened the door, and stepped outside.
Her hair was swept into a high cloudlike knot, and she wore robes of crimson fire-feathers. With her upturned phoenix eyes, she was regal and beautiful.
“You’re Lingyun?”
“I am,” I replied evenly.
Contempt shone nakedly in her eyes.
“A lowborn mortal like you thinks she can compete with me for the Crown Prince?”
I rarely left my courtyard. I had never imagined something this absurd would find me anyway.
“I do not know which crown prince Your Highness means.”
There were far too many crown princes among the divine clans.
“Don’t play dumb. I’m talking about Xixuan, Crown Prince of the Celestial Clan! A lowborn wretch dares covet the future ruler of Heaven? Today, I will teach you the rules of the Celestial Palace.”
The instant she finished speaking, the fiery sword in her hand split into countless feathered blades and hurtled toward me.
My fingers formed a lotus seal. Golden light burst forth, freezing the blades in midair. A moment later, they clattered to the ground.
The young princess stared, unable to believe her eyes.
“How can your divine power be so pure?”
I remained calm. “I have accumulated merit by saving lives, and I cultivate diligently. Such power is only natural.”
“Enough excuses. You must have stolen Xixuan’s divine clan techniques!”
She raised one hand. The fallen blades dissolved into streams of red fire, gathered in her palm, and became a single flaming sword.
Seeing that she still meant to fight, I shook my head. “I have never met this Crown Prince of yours. Stop pestering me.”
She slashed at me.
“Liar! If you’ve never met him, why did he tell me he admired you?”
I sidestepped her with ease. The golden qi within my lotus seal thickened.
“Your Highness, you knew from your first attack that you were no match for me. Why continue?”
She was a descendant of an ancient divine clan, born with divine power, yet instead of cultivating diligently, she wasted all her energy on adornments and men. What a fool.
“I may not be able to defeat you, but so what? From this day forward, I’ll make you understand the price of offending me!”
To vent her anger, she cleaved my cottage in two. Then she flounced off in a huff.
I sighed and restored my courtyard with a spell.
I had been born into desperate poverty. When I was young, drought drove my family from our home, and plague followed in its wake. My parents and every other relative I had died before my eyes.
After Master Jingling took me in, my master said I had not yet exhausted my mortal ties and sent me back into the world for several more years of tempering.
I tasted every hardship under Heaven and witnessed every facet of mortal life. At last, I saw through worldly attachments and comprehended my Dao.
Yet after ascending, I found immortals mired in the very passions I had transcended. I could not understand it.
So I sought out Immortal Youling, my grandmaster, and asked for guidance.
In the mortal realm, Grandmaster Youling had been a man of unwavering righteousness who devoted himself to protecting the people. Now he lay in a rocking chair and spent every day drinking.
When he saw me, he went still. Clarity slowly returned to his eyes.
“Lingyun. So it is you.”
“To ascend at your age… Jingling has an exceptional disciple.”
He drank, then tipped his head back to gaze at the sky.
“I know why you’ve come. Once, I was just like you.”
I bowed.
“Please enlighten me, Grandmaster.”
“Lingyun, what is the Immortal Dao?”
It was a strange question.
“To cultivate until one becomes immortal, to transcend worldly concerns, and to use one’s power to deliver the people from suffering.”
He asked, “Now that you are immortal, have you saved the world?”
I shook my head. The Celestial Realm was dominated by ancient divine clans, and lineage mattered above all. Someone like me could only be an idle, unaffiliated immortal.
“Five hundred years ago, a rare drought struck the mortal realm. Not a drop of rain fell for three years. People ate one another, and kingdoms descended into revolt. Do you know why?”
I considered it. “Some immortal must have neglected their duty.”
A chuckle escaped his throat. It grew louder and louder until his face twisted with bitter absurdity.
“The Rain Goddess had quarreled with the Sun Goddess. While traveling through the mortal realm, she discovered that the Sun Goddess’s temples received better offerings than hers. In a fit of anger, she withheld rain for three years.”
“Mortals say gods cherish humanity and rescue those in misery. The truth is, gods see themselves as sovereigns. The living beings below are nothing but weak insects to them.”
“The Way of Immortality is no true Way. Everything we learned was a lie.”
“Do you understand now, Lingyun? Accept it.”
He took another savage drink and laughed at the heavens like a man possessed.
I did not answer. I merely bowed.
“Thank you for your guidance, Grandmaster. This disciple will take her leave.”
The Immortal Dao was no true Dao?
If that were so, how could mortals ever ascend? One had to sever earthly attachments and hold all living beings in one’s heart before the Heavenly Dao would permit ascension. Surely that was how it chose those worthy of godhood.
The divine clans were ruled by selfish desire. They were unfit to govern the world.
They were wrong.
Not me.
The Heavenly Dao had tempered my body to utmost purity. My ambition reached the clouds: to vanquish demons and protect all living beings.
How could I ever accept defeat?