High above the mortal world, ten thousand leagues beyond the spark-charged cloud layers, sat the Celestial Capital—the Sovereign Seat of the Central Heavens.
Here, in the Golden Throne Room of the Imperial Jade Palace, the Emperor of Heaven sat upon his nine-dragon dais. He was surrounded by three thousand kneeling archons, sky judges, and grand teachers. Incense of roasted spirit herbs drifted through the vast marble hall, and beneath the golden floor flowed rivers of melted sky tribute harvested from the toil of nine continents.
The Emperor leaned back against his stitched cushions, his golden robes stitched with cosmic star-patterns.
He had issued the Netherworld Purge Decree fourteen hours ago. In his divine estimation, the mortal rebellion in the southern basin had already ceased to exist. At this very moment, millions of insolent quarrymen, farmers, and soldiers should be collapsing into lifeless husks, their souls wiped from the cosmic ledger, demonstrating to all creation the unchanging majesty of the Imperial House.
Suddenly, a sound shattered the sacred peace of the palace.
CLANG!
It wasn’t a court chime or a ritual gong.
It was the terrifying, ear-splitting blast of the Great Imperial Ancestral Bell—a huge bell of pure sky gold, nine stories tall, suspended in the central courtyard of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. The bell was physically linked to the underworld’s Volume 0x0F, engineered to toll only upon the total, total death of a royal ancestor.
