Under the current Yin-Shang system, they were destined to be incapable of achieving any of this. Only the souls of the dead possessed incomparably mighty power; the power of the living depended on the dead.
The dead were powerful and invincible.
The priests of this age served as the medium between the dead and the other living people.
Part of their supreme power came from the dead.
So how could they surpass the dead?
How could abilities born of the dead possibly rise above them?
If the current rules offered no way forward, they could only seek another path.
The vanished Xia Civilization.
The entire civilization of the Xia Dynasty had been obliterated by Yin-Shang. But these people were not just anyone. They were Yin-Shang nobility, its ruling elite.
Some of their ancestors had been party to the covenant back then, so they all knew that the Xia Civilization, and that Mad King in particular, had done many incomprehensible things toward the end of his life.
And he had left his curse upon the world on a gate.
"It was an incredible gate, one perhaps only ghosts and gods could have forged. I don't know who made it, but I know that even in the final instant of his life, the Mad King still wanted to open it.
Once that gate opened, the mad king could gain power akin to rebirth, power that could change everything."
This legend was widely accepted among Yin-Shang's upper ranks, and the more time passed, the more credible such rumors became.
Whether others believed it or not, everyone here did. Moreover, others who believed it would also come looking for this object.
The person who believed the legend most was Di Xin.
Di Xin believed this bronze vessel of the Xia Dynasty possessed supreme power,