In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang Ying Zheng conquered the Six Kingdoms, only to discover that one of the Nine Tripod Cauldrons was missing. The Human Way was on the verge of collapse, and the Heavenly Way sought to devour the mortal realm, reducing all living things to mere fodder.
To turn the tide, he gathered weapons from across the land and collected the dragon energy of the Six Kingdoms, defying Heaven to forge one final cauldron and continue the lineage of the Human Emperor. But when the new cauldron was complete, the Nine Cauldrons shattered, and the Human Way’s last line of defense was about to crumble.
With no other choice, the First Emperor burned away his own fortune and the dragon energy of the Great Qin, paying the price of eternal damnation to protect the last spark of the dragon veins of the Nine Provinces. For a distant, uncertain future, he left behind a faint glimmer of hope.
From then on, Heaven’s laws devoured Earth’s order, and the Human Way was plunged into a long night.
History became a chessboard controlled by an unseen hand. The plague at the end of the Han Dynasty was the prelude to the Three Calamities; the Uprising of the Five Barbarians was the tide of evil striking back; the An Lushan Rebellion, the lament at Yashan... Every upheaval of a dynasty was a deadly move by the Heavenly Way, seeking to erase every trace of the Human Way once and for all.
But the Human Way never submitted. And so, sparks kindled in the deepest darkness. Huo Qubing’s campaign to Langjuxu opened a window in fate for the Human Way; Zhuge Wuhou used the wisdom of a mortal to challenge Heaven’s decree with a prayer for a longer life; Yue Wumu’s spirit lingered around Fengbo Pavilion, his unwavering loyalty becoming a shield to protect the land...
Two thousand years of struggle, two thousand years lying in wait. When the land was shattered, a scholar rode in on the waves and proclaimed the birth of a new nation through sheer will. He had no dragon energy to protect him and no blessings from gods or Buddhas. His strength came from the resolve to “make the sun and moon shine in a new sky,” from the furious roar of four hundred million people who refused to live as slaves.
At last, the Heavenly Way realized that the Human Way was the human race itself: its faith, its struggle, its sacrifice, and the ceaseless echo of civilization.
