The Canglan Calamity: The Four Realms Meet
I. Divine Realm, Lingxiao Domain: Shattered Jade
The glazed tiles of Yuxu Palace gleamed coldly in the radiance of divine energy. Lu Chenyuan hid behind the hem of his mother, the Divine Goddess Zhaoming’s, skirt, his fingertips clutching half of a warm fragment of the Canglan Pearl. The orderly footsteps outside the hall drew nearer. Every step felt like it landed on his heart. He knew the divine guards in silver-white armor, bearing the Thunder God’s crest, had come to arrest his mother.
“Ah Yuan, remember: no matter what you hear or see, don’t come out.” The Divine Goddess Zhaoming crouched and tucked him into a hidden compartment beneath the offering table. A pale blue barrier of divine energy coalesced at her fingertips. “This fragment will keep you safe. Go to the mortal realm, live as an ordinary person, and never return to the Divine Realm.”
The voices outside the compartment suddenly sharpened. Peering through a crack, Lu Chenyuan saw the Thunder God, Xiao Jin, standing in the hall, his silver-white armor stained with divine blood. “Junior Sister, you secretly kept a fragment of the Canglan Pearl and defied the gods’ decree. Do you know your crime?”
The Divine Goddess Zhaoming raised the fragment of the Canglan Pearl in her hand, a shield of divine energy forming around her. “The gods manipulate disasters in the lower realm to fight over the right to inherit the throne, treating all living beings across the realms as pawns. That is the true crime!”
The divine guards outside the hall surged forward. The light of clashing divine energy was so bright that Lu Chenyuan could not open his eyes. He heard his mother cry out in pain, then the sharp crack of the fragment hitting the ground. A powerful force swept the hidden compartment open. The Divine Goddess Zhaoming was covered in blood, yet held him tightly in her arms. Her last trace of divine energy became a golden ribbon, wrapping around him and the fragment embedded in his brow as they fell toward the lower realm.
“Stay alive, Ah Yuan...” As his mother’s voice faded beside him,
