The emperor of the mortal realm sought the divine sword Dingque to glorify his nation. He dug nine feet into the earth, diverted a thousand rivers, and toppled ten thousand mountains.
The barrier around Peng Mountain was destroyed, unleashing a horde of demons. The mortal realm's fortunes neared their end.
To preserve the human race's destiny, Yizhang, the goddess of Peng Mountain, anchored herself to the mountain and sent down a fragment of her divine consciousness to capture demons in the mortal realm.
Shen Yizhang's fate was full of hardship. Born into nobility, she was cast into a brothel. After countless trials, she made her way back to the capital to reunite with her family, only for her father, a renowned Confucian scholar, to drown her.
When Yizhang crawled out of the river, she was no longer the same person.
But her mortal body could not absorb the essence of the Three Lights, nor could she see into the void. A single misstep could send her into the jaws of a snake or tiger, and all her many skills would come to nothing.
Amid the danger, she met a young man. He was strikingly handsome and as gentle as jade. Even blind, deaf, and covered in scars, he stood like a pine on a mountain or snow on a ridge.
He carried her across icy rivers and through fiery waters, a paragon of benevolence and righteousness. She burned away a sliver of her spiritual platform so that he could see the mountains and rivers and hear the five tones.
Yet this man, so much like a pine tree beneath the moon, plunged a dagger into her heart without hesitation, then spread his arms and sent her tumbling off a cliff a thousand fathoms deep.
He gazed at her through the clear, keen eyes she had given him and spoke in the clear, resonant voice she had bestowed upon him. "A goddess, you say? But the world has no need of gods."
Later, Yizhang received guidance from the last Earth Immortal in the world. Bearing half an immortal bone, she saved people and brought relief to the world. The people built temples in her honor and revered her as the Lady of Peng Mountain.
When the world loses virtue, the people fall into chaos. When the world has no Way, warhorses roam the countryside.
Heroes rose from every corner. The emperor's palace was destroyed, and his golden dragon carriage was smashed.
Inside a temple, the Human Emperor wore plain robes, with a weary little colt at his side.
His flawless, handsome face was marked by deep confusion as he prayed with utmost sincerity for the goddess to look upon him with favor.
But the goddess said, "It is true that a goddess saves the people of the world. But a goddess may also choose not to save one person."
The divine light in the Human Emperor's eyes went out. He turned and left the shrine, placing himself under the tutelage of an evil god. After rebuilding his power, he demolished the goddess's temple and chose a legitimate daughter of the Shen family as his consort.
As the people condemned him, the Human Emperor smiled nonchalantly. "Ascending to heaven in broad daylight makes one an immortal. Escaping the tomb by shedding one's corpse makes one an immortal. The Lady of Peng Mountain has neither ascended nor shed her corpse, so how can she claim to be a deity? All under heaven belongs to the king, and all who live on this land are his subjects. I wish to take the Shen girl to my bed. What could possibly be wrong with that?"
The Shen girl gazed at him calmly, raised her hand to pinch a cloud of purple-and-gold smoke, and asked, "Your Majesty, do you know what this is?"
(Blurb revised and supplemented on 2024/8/24. Screenshot saved as evidence.)
Theme: Good will always triumph over evil
