The throne room pulsed with bright light, bleaching everything with an overwhelming luminous brightness, everything except the source of the light. Zhang Haoran, the emperor of the Western Sun Dominion, sat at the center of the radiance.
The light seemed to emanate from him, rendering him a divine figure amidst the blinding brilliance.
His robes, woven with threads of gold and silver, shimmered as if alive, catching and reflecting the light in mesmerizing patterns. The Mianguan atop his head, adorned with gems that sparkled with the colors of the dawn, crowned him with an air of unrivaled majesty.
The upper half of his face was veiled by this blinding light, casting an ethereal glow that made it impossible to discern his features. Only the lower part of his visage remained visible— youthful but yet it bore an ancient quality to it that all who gazed upon him could feel.
Before him, the courtiers and ministers bowed low, their faces obscured by the blinding light. They dared not raise their heads for fear of being overwhelmed by the emperor's divine presence.
He appeared to be waiting for something as he drummed his fingers rhythmically on the ornate armrest of his golden throne. The throne was carved with intricate patterns of crows, their forms appearing to radiate outwards in a sunburst as if coming from the emperor himself
Suddenly, the heavy doors to the throne room creaked open, revealing a female figure. She stepped into the throne room, her presence cutting through the blinding light like a beacon.
Her long red hair flowed like a cascade of flames, shimmering with a fiery brilliance that seemed to challenge the emperor's own radiance. A phoenix crown perched atop her head, its jewels glimmering with intense fiery light.
She was dressed in a flowing gown of crimson red, its fabric adorned with subtle silver threads that shone like the stars. A trail of vermilion butterflies danced around her like twinkling gems, accentuating her otherworldliness.
At the sight of her, his lips quirked into a slight smirk. Her eyes however held a sharp malevolent glint as she glared at him.
Despite the overwhelming brilliance that bathed the throne room, she seemed unaffected, her form perfectly poised and confident as she advanced toward the emperor.
“My empress what brings you before the radiant throne?” he asked her, his voice carrying a mocking edge.
The empress halted her stride just before the emperor, her gaze unyielding.
“Zhang Haoran,” she began, her voice a melody of silk and steel, “A maid?”
The emperor's eyes, though obscured by the light, narrowed at the empress's question. He leaned slightly forward, his regal posture unshaken. The mocking edge in his voice deepened, "A maid? And what of it?"
“You dare?” she started the air around her cracking with power.
Zhang Haoran’s smile remained enigmatic as he continued drumming his fingers on his throne's armrest.
The radiance around him seemed to pulse with his amusement. “Do I dare?” he echoed, his voice rich with irony. “I am the sovereign of the Western Sun Dominion. To dare is my prerogative.”
The empress’s expression hardened, her form brimming with latent power.“I could tolerate Jinghua for her talent but elevating a maid to a lady of the harem?”
“Lady Yurong is a charming woman of graceful bearing,”
She scoffed, “Please I know your tastes the woman is plain as they come, you did this to spite me and now she lies heavy with your child. Yue is supposed to be your successor, you promised me that when I chose to support your claim.”
His fingers ceased their rhythmic drumming, and he leaned back on his throne, regarding the empress with an inscrutable gaze.
She continued, “My son was supposed to be the first born but you saw to it that the noble consort was the first to have a son of imperial blood and now you whelp another grasping bastard upon a maid? Have I wronged you? You do this with deliberate malice."
Zhang Haoran's lips curled into a wry smile. "Malice? Or perhaps just a recalibration of the scales of power. You think too highly of yourself Huiyan"
The empress’s eyes blazed with anger. “And what of loyalty and respect? You have shown neither by your actions. Lady Yurong’s presence in the harem directly insults my status as the Empress.”
The emperor’s smile faded, replaced by a cold seriousness. “You overstep your bounds… Empress. My decisions are final, and your complaints fall on deaf ears. My progeny will be chosen by their merits, not by petty whims and childhood promises?”
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The courtiers, their heads still bowed, exchanged uneasy glances. The emperor’s divine aura seemed to ripple with authority and disdain, while the empress’s aura crackled with unrestrained fury.
“I see,” the empress said, her voice trembling but resolute. “And if I make sure your peasant-born prince does not come into this world?”
“Threats? You would dare level a threat against my blood??” Zhang Haoran's voice grew icy.
The Empress’s gaze remained unwavering. “You forget you are not the only Empyrean in this dominion,”
The air stilled as Zhang Haoran rose from his throne the light around him flaring as if responding to his rising fury. His robes fluttered like wings of golden fire and his aura pressed down on everyone present.
The Empress stood her ground, her expression a mask of defiance, though a glimmer of unease flickered in her eyes.
“You think your attainment compares to mine Chu Huiyan?” Zhang Haoran’s voice was a chilling whisper that cut through the air. “Shall I crush your foolish notions?"
"You touch a hair on Lady Yurong or my yet-to-be-born son and I shall destroy your soul, scatter it to wind, and relegate the Chu clan a mere footnote,"
The Empress gritted her teeth as a heavy pressure bore down on her, but she stood trying to remain uncowed and defiant. Eventually, the weight of the emperor’s aura overwhelmed her, and her knees buckled, falling to the smooth marble floor in prostration.
Chu Huiyan's breath came in ragged gasps as she remained prostrate her crimson gown pooled around her, its vibrant color stark against the cold, marble floor. The moment seemed to stretch on for an eternity.
Zhang Haoran's gaze remained fixed on the prostrated empress. His expression was scornful but satisfied, a cruel smile playing at the corners of his lips.
After what felt like an age, he spoke, his voice now carrying a note of levity.
“It appears you have finally understood the nature of power, Empress Chu. I suggest you take this lesson to heart. We are not equals,”
“Rise, Empress Chu.”
With that, he signaled with a dismissive gesture. The radiant light around him seemed to waver and then recede as if retreating from the moment's intensity.
Chu Huiyan rose to her feet, her face a storm of emotions. She offered a final, respectful nod before vanishing in a flicker of flames and smoke.
The courtiers, who had been silent witnesses to the confrontation, slowly raised their heads, their faces fearful.
As she left, Zhang Haoran resumed his earlier posture, his gaze drifting over the assembled courtiers. The light around him dimmed to a more manageable brilliance.
“See to it the reinstatement of the celestial illumination sect goes without a hitch,” he decreed to the gathered officials.
The courtiers bowed deeply in unison. "As your sacred brilliance commands!"
Then he was gone in a flash of brilliance that left the throne room eerily silent.
The courtiers and ministers exchanged anxious glances, their relief palpable now that the emperor's overwhelming presence had dissipated. The air was still tinged with the residual heat of the divine light.
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It had been fourteen years since Jiang Tao started his new life, and his spirit had yet to settle, unwilling to accept his new circumstances.
He had not been religious in his first life, merely a bog-standard agnostic who'd never cared much about such topics beyond cultural ties and occasional Wikipedia dives.
So the fact that he had reincarnated came as a major shock once he gained sufficient awareness to figure out what had happened to him.
Coming to grips with the fact that he died, had no awareness of it, and was reborn to a family of peasant pig farmers in some rural backwater village was too much for him.
He was despondent for months as a toddler, worrying his new parents as he failed to meet expected developmental milestones.
This led his poor mother to try many various folk medicines to try and rouse the boy's spirits. Only after noticing the distress that his new parents were going through did he break out of his listlessness.
His earlier years were marked with a gloominess that he couldn't shake off.
Was he a bad person? Why was he reincarnated into such a bleak existence? Did he accrue so much negative karma that he had to reincarnate as the son of peasant pig farmers in what looked to be an agrarian society?
At least he was still human, he could've been a worm, but this was definitely a step down the karmic ladder.
His new parents tried their best to inject some liveliness into the boy but moved on as he grew a little older and his mother got pregnant with his siblings.
By the age of five, no longer the baby of the house, his responsibilities in the household had grown, and he could no longer afford to be depressed and lie around lest he get cuffed by his father.
Peasants could not afford a useless child, he was put to work as his parent's helper in the fields and with the family pigsty. He grew to learn the meaning of backbreaking labor.
As he aged, he grew accustomed to the peasant life and quickly got over his previously held fears, and modern idiosyncrasies. Still, a small part of him railed against the unfairness of it all.
The world he learned was not the same as the one he'd lived in before his death. Jiang Tao assumed he'd reincarnated into the rural areas of one of the Asian countries of the world he had grown up in, but the presence of qi quickly dashed such notions.
The vital energy inherent in all beings of this world from the lowliest of insects to the greatest of beasts, Everything had qi.
Jiang Tao's first encounter with the energy occurred after he severely shattered his leg after losing his footing while picking dewberries in a tree. The incident broke his already raw spirit and he was resigned to his fate as a cripple.
His parents, however, took him to the village square, where a charitable wandering cultivator had appeared and was offering her expertise on healing and alchemy to the village people.
Paying most of their meager savings for the service, she did the miraculous and laid her hands upon his shattered limb, channeled her qi coaxing shattered bone to mend from its shattered state to one that only required a simple splint and rest to heal.
Jiang Tao was mesmerized by the cultivator herself and the power she wielded, his world had been turned upside down and he was an absolute chatterbox as he quizzed the cultivator on how to obtain this power for himself.
“Elder Sister? How does one become a cultivator?” He’d had asked in wide-eyed wonder as she healed his leg.
She laughed, a twinkling sound that reminded him of wind chimes “There are multiple ways you can become a cultivator little one.” She answered with a smile.
“A master might take you if your talents are deep enough or you can travel to a nearby sect they are always recruiting,”
“Can you be my master?” he asked even as his mother attempted to quiet him. Another peal of laughter rang out from the wonderful lady.
“No, child I cannot be your master,” she said pleasantly as if she had not destroyed his building hope.
Jiang Tao couldn't help but frown, noticing this as she finished her healing, She offered him a tiny spark of hope “I've heard the Imperial sect might be reinstated in the next ten years, The palace will send assessors across the entire continent even to little villages like this.”
She smiled at him and ruffled his hair. “Practice meditation and pray to the heavens that your talents are enough,” She said before dismissing his family, directing her attention elsewhere.
His parents bowed reverently in thanks before taking him back home. Her words had lit a fire in his soul, giving him a new purpose beyond toiling in the fields and raising hogs in a small village, He was a reincarnated soul that had to count for something right?