Chu He

Eastern Sovereign Heaven.

The Great Sun Golden Wheel towered in dazzling splendor, its surface filled with records of countless deeds.

Eastern Sovereign Taiyi still wore his magnificent, regal robes. He sat upon the throne at the end of the ninefold dark stairs. The last rays of sunset pooled beneath his feet, while a rising sun gilded them gold...

A strand of Lunar Yin light descended, revealing a graceful figure.

Where her Lunar Yin robes passed, jade cassia trees grew, golden toads leaped, the Jade Rabbit slept soundly, and wind and snow raged. It was the Moon God!

"The mortal world... has finally reached the time for successive attempts to attain the Golden Core."

The Moon God's cool voice startled a flock of Silver Crows into flight.

"As Your Majesty instructed... I have returned the Qilin Tome to the Chu Shamans."

At last, a trace of agitation entered her voice. "Your Majesty favors the Chu Shamans?!"

"Heaven's course is constant. It did not endure for Yao's sake, nor perish for Jie's... Northern Qi has the Dark Shaman Cauldron. What harm is there in the Chu Kingdom having the Qilin Tome?"

Eastern Sovereign Taiyi smiled. "Though bringing the Qilin Tome into the world now does carry a hint of destiny... I do favor those brothers of the Shi Household more. They are the Great Sun Tathagata and the Great Peng Wisdom King, after all... As for Northern Qi? The Qi Shamans have clung to their broken remnants for so long without producing a single Shaman God. I fear the tide has turned against them..."

The Moon God fell silent.

In the eyes of cultivators throughout the world, she and Eastern Sovereign Taiyi were Northern Qi's backers.

Otherwise, those Great Sages would have destroyed Northern Qi long ago.

But the Moon God knew