On the twenty-seventh day of the ninth month of the Dao Calendar, year 3919, at Heavenly Punishment Cliff in the southeastern domain.
From this cliff, one could look north toward powerful Qi, west over Great Xia, south toward Calamity Water, and east to the Vast Sea.
Its sheer height was unmatched in the world, and few outsiders ever came here.
Three imposing palaces of law stood atop the cliff.
The day was as it always was: "Sea waves struck the cliff face; mountain winds battered the Ritual Stones."
The so-called "Ritual Stones" were a type of stone unique to Heavenly Punishment Cliff. They were scattered across the slopes and could be found everywhere. They came in all sorts of shapes and appearances, but their bases were always perfectly square. What set them apart from ordinary stones was that whenever the wind struck them, they rang out in unison, like someone shouting, "Wei!"
People believed these stones upheld the dignity of Heavenly Punishment Cliff, and so they named them Ritual Stones.
They were also called "Prestige Stones."
A white-haired old man wearing a one-eyed eyepatch descended from the sky and proceeded along the mountain path.
He gave up flying and climbed the broad, orderly path step by step.
Looking up, he saw a Dharma Stele towering into the sky, with not a cloud daring to circle it.
The characters on the stele were written with iron strokes and silver hooks, every line clear and distinct, deep and striking. The marks seemed to be left not on the stele, but across the very world.
They read—
"Heaven may punish, Earth must obey the law, and people must live within the rules!"
These thirteen characters stood in the world from top to bottom, like golden statutes and jade decrees, radiating an authority none