The light in the test model shifted from digital starlight to blazing bright royal gold.
Lin Ke found himself standing at the apex of the Nine Heavens, atop a terrace carved from a single mountain of pure sky jade.
Below him, stretched out across infinite cosmic planes, quadrillions of living beings knelt in respectful supplication. Emperors in dragon robes, ancient beasts, soaring sword immortals, and mortal millions bowed until their foreheads pressed against the earth, chanting his name in an ear-splitting, ringing hymn that shook the sky spheres:
“Hail the Supreme Celestial Sovereign! Hail Lin Ke, the Omnipotent Root of Heaven and Earth! Lord of All Branches, Master of Reality!”
Around his shoulders rested a robe woven from condensed ancient starlight.
In his right hand, a crystal-clear scepter hummed with total, unconstrained office power:
Every law of nature obeyed his slightest breath. If he willed a star to ignite, it burned. If he willed an entire lineage to wither, they ceased to exist.
He was beyond pain. Beyond cracked ribs. Beyond burnt forearms and the smell of sulfur melted rock waste.
