So many things were happening at once that it was difficult to keep track. First, Empress Yoshika’s appearance. At first, Gao thought it was an opportunistic attack, trying to take advantage of the army’s unrest, but she’d come alone and expressed a desire to help calm the riots. Of course, from Gao’s perspective that felt oddly...tone deaf. She was, after all, the reason they were happening in the first place.

Yet her confrontation with the elders had stopped the fighting, if only because the spectacle of so many xiantian experts battling in the skies above was a sight to behold. Gao was glad of it. He’d hoped to keep himself and Wen out of the fighting, but his passionate young brother in arms had been unable to hold back in the face of anyone implying that their friend Shun Song was a traitor.

Gao had, of course, thrown in with Wen, but he had dire concerns for their future. He somehow doubted that Yan De was the type to give clemency to mutineers.

That was when things got strange. The grandmasters made an appearance, and trapped the empress within some kind of grand sealing formation, only for her to draw them all into an illusion unlike anything Gao had ever seen.

He’d barely been able to pay attention to Yan De’s confrontation with his daughter—who was apparently partly responsible for the technique that had ensnared them. Gao’s attention was commanded by the mighty jade pillar in the distance, and what he saw on the dais atop it.

Gao Yuanjun did not see Qian Shi, his sect's grandmaster, nor did he see the God-Emperor. He did not, unlike Yan De and many others, see himself or some idealized version of his dao. What Gao saw atop that pillar was Shun Song, Wen You, and all of his brothers and sisters in arms. He saw his family—most long since dead—and his neighbors. He saw the people he fought alongside, and those he fought to protect.

Then, the image vanished, and before he knew what was happening, a blindingly bright azure dragon was chasing Empress Yoshika’s strange chimera form across the heavens and up past the sky.

It was all well beyond Gao’s comprehension, but when they vanished together and the weight of their domains disappeared, it was plain to see the result of their battle. Yan De was no more, and so was Empress Yoshika. As often happened among such powerful beings, neither had been able to withstand the unrestrained might of the other.

The elders moved quickly, not willing to let such an opportunity pass them by. Qian Shi took command—not Sun Quan, as his name was still sullied—and ordered the army forward.

Gao wasn’t sure it would work, at first. The army was still divided, but the empress was dead, Yan De was dead, and the most honorable of the grandmasters had assumed command. Qin’s armies formed up. They still had differences to resolve, but they knew opportunity when they saw it. This would be the moment when Jiaguo’s forces broke.

Except—the enemy elders, outnumbered as they were, didn’t budge. Jiaguo mobilized no soldiers in defense of Qin’s advance. Nothing in Gao’s many decades of life had ever terrified him as much as the certainty he saw reflected in the eyes of Jiaguo’s elders.

Hadn’t they lost their great leader? Yan De was no great loss—nobody liked him anyway, and if anything Qian Shi replacing him had improved morale. But for the enemy, it should have been like losing the God-Emperor himself. Unless...

An ungodly crack resounded through the world, halting Qin’s advance. Gao watched in awe as the fabric of the world itself shattered like glass. As if crashing through a window pane, the blazing form of the empress emerged, a deafening roar of anguish following in her wake as the dimensional rift closed behind her.

Her domain brought Gao to his knees like a physical weight pressing down on him from above. She was a tiny figure, yet to look upon that being of scintillating fire floating in the sky was to see a giant no less imposing than Yan De’s azure dragon.

With nothing but her presence and a single word, she held the entire army of over fifteen thousand cultivators to a dead halt.

“Stop.”

----------------------------------------

Yoshika stood in the air between the armies of Qin and Jiaguo, and in that moment it all felt so small and petty. What were they fighting over? Territory? Ideals? Pride? All this death and destruction in service to meaningless squabbles. Shun Song was right—no more blood would be spilled over a schoolyard scrap between children.

“Yan De is gone. This war serves no purpose, and I no longer have time to entertain it. Leave us in peace and I will return your prisoners unconditionally.”

Yan Ren and Bai Renshu flew forward to confront her, and it was the grandmaster of the Labyrinthine Forest who spoke up first.

“You cannot break us so easily, empress! You are still a threat to the empire, and we will see that threat ended!”

Yoshika regarded each of them and sighed.

“Bai Renshu, I know you have personal grievances because I killed your daughter. I don’t regret it. She was an objectionable person, and would have brought the entire expedition into the Bloody Sovereign’s Tomb to ruin for her prejudice. We can resolve our differences here and now, if you like.”

He balked slightly, turning pale and looking to Yan Ren for support. Yan De’s greatest disciple sighed.

“I should avenge my master, but I doubt I could stand against you now. Nevertheless, you must understand that the Heavenly Empire cannot back down so easily.”

There was a glint in his eye as he spoke. Like all of Qin’s cultivators, Yan Ren communicated more in what he didn’t say. Qin could surrender, but not yet. He wanted her to give him a better reason.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Qian Shi caught up to the other two, belatedly realizing that such a parley was his job, as the supreme commander.

“Empress, you may have defeated Grandmaster Yan De, but the issue of trust remains. How can we take your word that the prisoners you offer are not compromised? The city behind you is a testament to the designs your kingdom has on imperial territory.”

Yoshka smiled wryly.

“That’s very simple, Qian Shi.”

She gathered a ball of Foxfire in her hand and tossed it forward. The elders dodged out of the way, but it wasn’t directed at them. They all watched in abject horror, as the flames passed right through their barriers and landed among the army, spreading unnaturally fast and even skipping past the gaps in Qin’s camps to engulf the entire force, down to the last soldier.

The Austere Mountain’s grandmaster turned back to her slowly, with a look of unmasked horror.

“What have you done?”

“Taken away your army. Don’t worry, they won’t be harmed, and the fires should wear off on their own. I have enough control to manage that much, I think. But while their souls burn, they won’t be able to march against me or anyone else for that matter.”

“And this is supposed to engender trust?”

Yoshika rolled her eyes.

“No. You’ll never trust me, and at this point if I said I had no designs on your empire I’d be lying anyway.”

The elders stirred uncomfortably at that declaration, but Yoshika went on.

“If you’re to trust anything, let it be this—if I wanted to march on your empire you could not stop me. If you insist on attacking anyway, then come and die. Not your army, not your subordinates, you. You want vengeance? Come kill me. You think I’m too great a threat to ignore? I’ll meet your challenge. But do it yourself, and I’ll send each of you to meet Yan De in turn. No more innocent blood will be spilled.”

Qian Shi grit his teeth, but glanced down at Yoshika’s xiantian backup. They hadn’t even moved.

“The Heavenly Empire of Qin will remember this day, Empress Yoshika.”

She nodded.

“Good. So will I. Now leave my lands in peace, and I swear that if any harm comes to the prisoners I release into your care, I will hunt each of you down and personally hold you responsible.”

A few of the elders bowed, but most just glared as they turned to leave. It was almost over, but Yoshika pointed at Bai Renshu, Yan Ren, and Sun Quan.

“Not you three—we still have personal matters to resolve.”

The others hesitated as she singled them out, but Sun Quan surprised Yoshika by waving them off.

“Organize the retreat, Qian Shi. Empress Yoshika will not dishonor herself by attacking us.”

Though the Austere Mountain was now in charge of the army, there was still a clear hierarchy among the great sects, and in Yan De’s absence, Sun Quan’s word carried the most weight. Qian Shi bowed, and the remaining elders left Yoshika with only the three she’d asked for.

Sun Quan stood at the front, meeting her head on.

“If ever there was a way to prove that you are not the Kumiho, it would be the way you wield your newfound power like a bludgeon. The Deceiver, even at her most blunt, would not dream of browbeating three of the great sects.”

Yoshika pursed her lips, beckoning Lin Xiulan to join them—she’d need her in a moment.

“I apologize if my methods seem inelegant to you, Sun Quan, but I’ve just discovered that our world is on the brink of implosion and I’m in a little bit of a hurry.”

He blinked.

“You mean the threat you described at the recent summit? The princesses indicated that if your claims were true, Sovereign Shen Yu and the God-Emperor had ten years to resolve the issue.”

“We don’t have ten years. I don’t know if we even have one. I’ve seen it for myself, and it’s already critical. Our world is already gasping out its final breaths, and so I need to take extreme measures—starting with the three of you.”

Yan Ren and Bai Renshu backed off warily, but Sun Quan kept his gaze carefully trained on her.

“What sort of ‘extreme measures’? I must remind you that while you’ve forced our retreat, our people are still at war.”

“And who are ‘our’ people, exactly? The ones that Yan’s sect are holding hostage against my friend? Or the ones you personally threatened to execute because I had the gall to take them prisoner instead of indiscriminately murdering them like the monster you want me to be? Because both are under my protection.”

Yan Ren winced. Yoshika didn’t have any personal grievances with him, but he was still Yan De’s disciple, and she hadn’t forgotten Zheng Long’s family. She would not be leaving without guarantees for their safety.

But first, her attention shifted to Bai Renshu. She gestured at Lin Xiulan, who had arrived just in time.

“Or what about the Great Spiritual Flowing Purewater sect? Whose only crime has been to shelter the oppressed and cooperate with those who meet them in peace and good faith? Your own God-Emperor preaches against tyranny—I have heard his voice myself through one of your awakening stones. Yet the one sect in your entire empire to actually follow that principle is punished? I won’t have it—they too are under my protection.”

Sun Quan’s eyes narrowed.

“You are making dangerous claims, Empress. I admit to my faults—you are not the Kumiho revived, as I thought, but that will not matter if you present the same threat.”

“True, and as I’ve said repeatedly, I have no interest in war against Qin. So, in the interest of lasting peace between ‘our people’ let’s discuss the status of the Great Spiritual Flowing Purewater and Great Awakening Dragon sects as joint territories under the cooperative administration of our empires.”

All three men froze, and Yan Ren’s eyes widened as Yue stepped out of Yoshika’s soul realm with a hand on her hip and her head cocked in a condescending glare.

“The Grandmistress of the Great Awakening Dragon sect greets you all, fellow elders. As of this moment, my sect formally declares an alliance with both the Great Flowing Purewater and the Jiaguo Empire—pending their respective approval, of course.”

Yoshika grinned and Lin Xiulan bowed.

“Jiaguo accepts, of course.”

“As do I, on behalf of my husband.”

Sun Quan glanced between them all, uneasily.

“You cannot do this.”

Yue scoffed and shook her head.

“I am the rightful heir to the Great Awakening Dragon, and my father is gone. If you want to discuss what can and cannot be done, then I invite you to the negotiation table, Sun Quan, but this is where we start.”

He grit his teeth and glanced back at the retreating army.

“Then it seems we have much to discuss...”