He saw a teardrop.
In the blazing sea of stars, after men had departed and gods had vanished, a crystalline teardrop hung suspended, like a dream where illusion and reality coexisted.
At first, Longevity Lord thought it was a tear Jiang Mengxiong had left behind when he turned away.
Though he was the Great Qi God of War, who had fought countless campaigns and slain over a million, even he could not help but leave a sigh of regret for that domineering Son of Heaven who had stood supreme in his age.
Later, he felt that this teardrop might be his own.
All that he could not obtain, his unappeased hatred, his lofty ambitions, his lone wager on heaven and earth... had frozen during the Eternal One's tea break, and come to a halt after it.
Of course, these powerful figures suspended motionlessly beneath the starry vault likewise bore countless expectations and took pride in vast, sweeping lives—they too had nearly become ashes buried alongside the Immortal One.
He should have had nothing more to say. He should have accepted it all.
But what, in the end, had this life of treading on thin ice, this whole twisting and turning journey, amounted to?
"I am... the Lord of the Southern Dipper, Exalted One of the Six Halls, the South Pole Longevity Emperor!"
Wearing the Stellar Emperor's crown, Longevity Lord laughed wildly above the stars. He laughed until the folds of his imperial robes wrinkled, until all twelve tassels swayed, until it was impossible to tell whether what shattered and flew away were tassel pearls or teardrops.
His crown was already askew, his hair already disordered. Throwing his arms wide, he embraced all that lay within reach, yet remained forever beyond reach. "Above, I inherit the stellar lineage; below, I raise