Chapter 179: Ereshkigal Seems to Have Mistaken Something
No matter the past or the future, at least on this vast land, where Rowe had become Heaven, the Mandate within the human order he ruled for five hundred years would always lean toward only one side.
The common people.
Not wealth. Not status. Not rank. Not power.
The grand current of the past had been the will of gods.
From now on, the grand current would become the will of the people.
This was the proof of the divine era yielding to the human era.
It was also the Heavenly Emperor's edict Rowe had engraved into the deepest layer of human order.
Rowe lifted his gaze to the Wei River surging east. He smiled, turned, and walked on while softly singing under his breath.
The poet from a fallen kingdom in the boat felt his chest tighten for no clear reason. The sallow and thin poor people on the bank felt as though something had been placed inside their hearts, something weighty and warm.
Something called the Mandate of Heaven.
Later, words would spread.
In the style people loved most, half reverent, half exaggerated.
"In ancient Qin, a Celestial being manifested by the Wei River and asked a man. If the Mandate overturns, Shang and Zhou can perish, and Qin can also change."
"This is Heaven and Man responding to one another. With the Mandate, one may endure ten thousand generations."
"Where is the Mandate?"
"Heaven says. The Mandate is within me, and my will is within the people."
And so a new theory gained a name.
Heaven and Man Induction.
…
Within Great Qin, at the East Flower Palace, the rising sun painted the domes with pale dawn light.
A girl in a black robe stood upon the highest curve of the roof, looking down at the land below.
Her figure was slender and graceful. The fabric covered only what it needed to, leaving fair skin visible beneath the cloak as it shifted with the wind. In this desolate and unpeopled place, no one watched.
In Consort Yu's eyes, this primal form born from the planet's spirit was meant to be seen by only one person.
"If you are here, you are here. Why hide?" she said without turning her head.
"I am not hiding," a voice answered calmly, "I am simply walking slowly."
Rowe appeared beside her, having returned from beyond the passes by following the Wei River's course.
"And along the way, there are always things to do."
"Such as?" Consort Yu glanced toward him, expression unchanged.
"Such as checking how well a certain someone who seized the White Emperor's seat and became the Western Emperor has grown."
"Do you even need to look? I am an ancient immortal."
Consort Yu lifted her chin. The pride in her tone was obvious, as was the subtle way she pushed her chest forward beneath the black cloth.
Rowe continued smoothly.
"One of the ancient immortals."
"And also the one who sleeps the most among them."
Consort Yu almost bared her teeth, instinctively gathering a small storm of indignation.
Then she heard him speak again.
"But no matter what, I must congratulate you."
Her expression stilled.
By devouring the White Emperor's power and taking that position among the Five Emperors, Consort Yu had gained a path.
Not a guarantee. Not a promise.
A possibility.
A possibility of approaching the Origin.
From then on, she would no longer be shackled by the limitations of being a star spirit.
The dawn light fell upon their shoulders.
On the roof of East Flower Palace, they looked at one another. A soft breeze tugged at their robes, and Consort Yu pressed her lips together.
Her crimson eyes reflected the world.
In that reflection, there was only him.
She was slowly gaining the right to stand beside him.
Rowe sat down.
"It is about to begin."
"Begin? What does that have to do with me?" Consort Yu scoffed, but still lowered herself beside him. Her hand, as if by accident, pressed against his.
Rowe paused, then said nothing.
Consort Yu calmly interlaced her fingers with his, as though this had always been the natural order.
The distance between their hearts shortened by a single breath.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The earth trembled faintly. Drumbeats rolled across the fertile plains of Guanzhong. Rowe looked up and saw it clearly.
A black tide surged from the direction of Xianyang.
The beginning he meant was now.
Qin had unified.
And next, King Zheng of Qin would ascend as co lord of the world, establishing a new order.
The tide was the Qin army. Majestic Qin swords of human order bloomed between heaven and earth, yet they did not stop at Xianyang. They moved past it, directly toward East Flower Palace behind the capital.
East Flower was Heaven. Taiyi was Heaven.
To ascend to the heavenly throne required sacrifice and acknowledgement.
Within the front hall of East Flower Palace, officials in black robes stood in formation. Nine incense sticks burned at the front, releasing faint starlike motes.
On the left, the civil officials were led by Prime Minister Li Si.
On the right stood the military. Wang Jian, Wang Ben, Meng Tian, and the generals who had earned merit through the destruction of the Six States.
They surrounded a central space of solemn stone.
At its center rose a massive altar with nine sides.
The Qin army arrived as well, encircling mountain and palace so tightly that not even a drop of water could slip through.
Above the altar, wind howled.
King Zheng of Qin stood atop it, wearing a crown with twelve jade strings and a black robe embroidered with the soaring Xuanbird. He looked down.
"Your Majesty, the time has come," the Chief of the Chariot Office said respectfully. He was always at the king's side, responsible for conveyance and command.
King Zheng's hand moved to the Qin sword at his waist.
"Then let it begin," he declared.
Let it begin.
The Heaven Worship ceremony.
The ascension.
A clear voice echoed, crisp and solemn.
A figure in plain white stood upon the altar. A veil obscured its gender. Sacred presence clung to it like incense smoke.
It stood level with Ying Zheng at the highest point.
The Imperial Tutor of Great Qin.
The envoy of East Flower.
A puppet body created by Xu Fu.
Siming.
It recited the sacrificial text.
"Glorious is the Divine Land, again with Yan and Huang. Xia fell and Shang began. Shang declined and Zhou rose. Such is the cycle of Heaven's Mandate, coming and going, each with an end."
"Since the founding of Great Qin, five hundred years have passed. Now, having swept away the Six States and pacified all under Heaven, we shall receive Heaven's Mandate and unify the people."
It turned slightly, completing the final lines.
"Today, all of Great Qin, all living beings, hereby pray to the firmament, to sun and moon, to mountains and rivers."
"Bow to Heaven."
"Bow to Heaven."
"Bow to Heaven."
Civil and military officials prostrated themselves in unison, foreheads to stone.
Only King Zheng remained standing.
Li Si bowed forward.
"Now that Heaven's Mandate is received, a new system shall be established."
Ying Zheng turned. He faced his officials, and through them, all living beings of this unified land.
"My decree."
"From this day forward, the feudal system is abolished. The imperial enterprise shall flourish. All power under Heaven shall be centralized."
"Kings shall no longer inherit a state as private territory. Dukes, marquises, counts, and viscounts shall not hold real power over land."
"The realm shall be divided into nine provinces and thirty six commanderies."
"Weights and measures of the former states are abolished and unified under Qin law."
"The various scripts are abolished and unified as Qin script."
"And the title Son of Heaven is abolished."
"It shall be replaced with Emperor."
What was an Emperor?
"Whose accomplishments surpass the Three Sovereigns, and whose virtue exceeds the Five Emperors."
"My Great Qin shall endure for a thousand, ten thousand generations."
"From this moment, I shall be known as the First Emperor."
Zhao Gao cried out.
"Hail."
The civil officials bowed.
"Long live the First Emperor."
The military officials were not entirely pleased.
Since Shang Yang's reforms, Qin had run on farming and war. Generals did not spare their lives. Soldiers did not fear death. A great part of it had always been for rewards, for fiefs, for tangible gain.
Selfishness existed in everyone.
Yet today, Ying Zheng's authority had become heavy and unshakable. The realm had been unified. The head of the military, Wang Jian, bowed without hesitation.
"Long live the First Emperor."
The rest of the military suppressed their dissatisfaction and bowed as well.
A thousand years.
Ten thousand years.
Abolishing the feudal system. Establishing commanderies. Adopting the imperial title. Unifying measures and script.
A thousand autumn enterprise began here.
Above the rear dome of East Flower Palace, Rowe smiled.
Consort Yu also stared in surprise as faint light and shadow gathered above the assembled officials.
"This is…" she murmured.
Rowe said, "The radiance of human order."
"Human order?" Consort Yu knew the concept, and after staying beside Rowe for so long she had learned even more. Yet seeing it manifest so clearly still stirred something in her.
Qin unified the realm.
Ying Zheng took the title Emperor.
At this moment, Qin's history reached its peak, and Qin's human order converged like a great river.
Siming's voice carried again.
"Glorious is Qin, restoring the Divine Land."
"The Heaven Worship ceremony begins."
King Zheng burned incense and questioned Heaven.
"It is my turn," Rowe said softly.
He stood.
Consort Yu rose with him, releasing the hand she had been holding too tightly without realizing it.
"Only for a moment," Rowe added.
He stepped forward, and his figure lifted into the air.
Consort Yu watched in silence.
The First Emperor questioned Heaven.
How would Heaven respond?
Wind roared through the altar, snapping sleeves and banners.
A gleam appeared in the sky.
That was Heaven manifesting.
Chaos. Nameless. An ineffable mist.
That was Taiyi.
But Taiyi could not be directly gazed upon by humans. The officials and generals could only feel an indescribable weight in their hearts, an instinctive certainty that made their throats tighten.
Yet that was not enough.
The approval of Azure Heaven needed more than a sensation. It needed something the world could see.
Then resistance to Qin's rule would lessen. Doubt would be forced to kneel.
This was what Ying Zheng and Rowe had agreed upon.
The First Emperor stood upon the altar, eyes raised, waiting for Heaven's response.
He believed the Great Monarch would answer.
And indeed, the next instant, from within the formless mist, an even more brilliant light erupted.
A colossal figure descended.
Steel for skin and bone.
Molten fire for blood.
Eyes bright as solar coronas.
Iron wings spread behind it, lifting a crimson storm like a sun dragged into human sight.
A machina god.
Or rather, it could be called Pangu.
Since the formless could not be looked upon, let the tangible bear witness.
The machina god that originated in Greece had long completed its localization. It established Pan as the foundation of Shenzhou's thought magecraft and opened the road toward a future mystical New Heaven.
That form had also gained a name in this land.
Pangu.
Officials trembled. Awe crushed breath from their lungs. Even Li Si, even Wang Jian, felt an irrepressible urge to kneel.
This was worship of the sacred.
And more than worship, yearning.
Yearning for the divinity that could sanctify existence itself.
The colossal steel figure looked down.
And in the voice of Heaven, it acknowledged.
"Heaven's Mandate belongs to Great Qin."
The officials prostrated themselves again.
When they rose, the sky had returned to normal. Clear. Bright. Sun overhead, burning.
Zhao Gao saw that Ying Zheng was still staring upward and leaned close.
"Your Majesty, the ceremony is complete."
But Ying Zheng's expression was not solemn.
It was excited.
"What a Great Monarch," the First Emperor said, voice almost vibrating. "To possess such a form and not tell me."
A super large machine god.
A man's dream.
Zhao Gao's eyelid twitched. Unease crawled up his spine.
"Pangu Zhenren," Ying Zheng repeated, savoring it. "Pangu Zhenren."
"It is decided. I will possess such power in the future as well."
He laughed loudly.
Zhao Gao covered his forehead.
Li Si covered his face.
Wang Jian and the other generals, however, looked as if they had been granted a holy revelation.
If this goal could be achieved, who needed fiefs?
They had no complaints.
Perhaps even Ying Zheng and Rowe did not expect that a crack within the military merit faction would vanish in this ridiculous way.
Later, history would add a line.
"In that year, the First Emperor ordered all weapons under Heaven collected to cast twelve golden figures. The First Emperor judged them inferior and ordered them sealed."
…
"The world is unified."
At the bottom of the Wei River, within a space sealed by countless iron chains, a slender hand pale as jade swept through water vapor, stirring up a vast and ghostly wave.
Wuzhiqi, the ancient demon god sealed by Yu the Great, looked up at the light filtering down through the heavy water above and chuckled.
With the realm unified, she too should find an opportunity.
But before that…
"Someone else is about to be born, right?" she muttered.
"What a hassle."
Wuzhiqi exhaled slowly.
"Eastern Sea. Penglai."
"And that stone…"
Her expression shifted.
"Wait. Who is this?"
Her pupils snapped tight.
Through the Wei River's connection to the vast waters of the Eastern Sea, she sensed something approaching.
A swirling mass of presence.
That presence was…
On an island peak, golden hair spilling down, a girl in a red cloak stood facing a boulder.
Ereshkigal.
She had waited too long in the highest primordial heaven and finally could not resist. She came down, wanting to see Rowe with her own eyes.
She looked at the stone beside her and tapped it lightly with a finger.
"It seems there is life inside?"
Ereshkigal tilted her head, thinking aloud.
"If so, I will just speed up your formation a bit."
The Underworld was the end of death.
But it was also the source of life.
By now, Ereshkigal had completely mastered her Authority. She no longer needed to remain in Mesopotamia.
Wherever she stood, that place could be treated as her Underworld.
"I am a god from another land. I cannot directly step onto that land," she murmured, gaze fixed on the stone. "So you will go search for him for me."
"Go find the one I love."
"The stone man created by God."
A shimmering light gathered in her palm, a power that urged life to accelerate its formation.
The stone began to crack.
From within, a figure with red hair emerged.
Ereshkigal froze.
"Eh… did I accidentally create a pseudo servant?"
Her voice came out small and troubled, perfectly timed.
Rustling echoed.
From the broken stone, a pair of eyes opened.
They shone with golden light.
They pierced the sky.
And the previously calm Eastern Sea became turbulent in a single instant.
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