-Heavenly court, Yudi’s residence-

The abode of the emperor was a peaceful one, yet the owner of this house certainly did not share this sentiment.

Usually, the Jade Emperor was a calm and mild-mannered man.

Yet, today, worried piled upon his mind.

“Attendant after attendant, it’s starting to get tiring…” Yudi lamented as he tried to calmly sip on his tea.

However, his hands shook very strongly, and drops of tea fell down on his signature yellow robes.

Nezha’s earlier words still shook him to his very core.

_______

-Earlier that day-

In the mornings, the Jade Emperor had a cold, vegetarian breakfast to soothe the mind.

Usually, this was effective, but while he was eating his fill today…

“Lord Yudi!” An attendant frantically knocked on the sliding door that led to his living room.

“Yes?” The emperor frowned since he didn’t like when others bothered his meal.

“This is a catastrophe!”

“What is?”

“A chain of natural disasters have hit the lands, starting from Manchuria, and going as far south as Nam Viet!”

The Jade Emperor put down his chopsticks and fell silent.

“Why is this an urgent matter? Deal with this as we usually do.”

“Send a few Silver Immortals to evacuate the masses and prevent casualties.”

“Lord, I’m afraid this matter isn’t as simple as that.”

Suddenly, another attendant knocked.

The Jade Emperor frowned heavily and harrumphed, “Enter!”

“Lord, the entire population of the massive mortal city, Xi’an, has passed away of unknown causes!”

“What?” Now, the emperor was truly puzzled.

During his years of reign, he never encountered two disasters of this magnitude in a single day.

“A-and, this disease is moving north, and smaller cities have met the same fate!”

The Jade Emperor rubbed his chin, and replied, “Call over Nezha!”

The two attendants obeyed and immediately left the abode.

From a sliding door on the opposite side of the exit, a woman entered the living room.

This was Xiwangmo, the Queen Mother of The West.

She had just woken up, but even sleepiness did not hide her divine grace.

“A troublesome day, isn’t it?” Xiwangmu asked her husband.

“It seems too coincidental for two matters that require or attention to happen in a single day…”

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence,” A young boy’s voice echoed in the empty living room.

A teenage-looking boy wearing black robes stood at the door.

He had a handsome appearance, and a large mole next to his left eye stood out from the rest of his features.

“Nezha?”

“I’ve heard everything from the attendants.”

Nezha halted for a second and looked at the two monarchs.

Then, he resumed, “I think a new immortal has ascended to Jade Immortality.”

*BAM* *BAM*

Vibrations in the air rung out from the spot where the Jade Emperor sat.

Jade Immortality was an elusive stage of cultivation.

Only three people living in Qin had ever achieved it, and one of those people disappeared off of the land decades ago.

Every time one of them ascended to that stage, nature itself reacted strongly.

Earthquakes, floods, cyclones and typhoons, and tsunamis accompanied this ascension.

“If this Jade Immortal doesn’t exactly share the moderate ideologies of the heavenly court, I think problems are bound to arise,” Nezha clicked his tongue and shrugged.

Then, he turned around and left the building.

“Wife.”

“Yes, husband?”

“How do you think Lao Zi would react to there being a new Jade Immortal?”

“He’d immediately go and search all of Qin for answers,” Xiwangmu didn’t hesitate to reply.

“As an emperor, do you think I should do that?”

Xiwangmu shook her head, “Yudi, you’re not Lao Zi, the heavenly court needs you.”

Then, she turned around, and with her back facing her husband, she proclaimed, “I’ll go down to the mortal realm, even if I don’t find any answers, the people need their mother to assist them.”

_________

-Northeastern Siberia-

In the center of the tribe Hermes settled in, a stone statue now stood over their sight.

It was a rough depiction of Hermes’ appearance, and they built it to celebrate his feat of hunting the mammoth.

The mammoth’s meat was so ample it would be able to feed a thousand people for an entire month.

Their tribe was much less numerous than that, so they now had extra reassurance to go through the harsh winters of Siberia.

The winter preparations were in full swing, and the tribespeople were extremely busy.

As they engaged in this work, an unfamiliar crowd suddenly entered the tribe.

They all held a very large net, and the net was full of fish.

“Amaruq!” A woman from this crowd called out to the tribe leader.

“Akna? You’re back earlier than we expected,” Amaruq came out and greeted the woman and her group.

“The seas have been extremely rough these past few days, and we may have died if we stayed close to the coast.”

“Though, with the fish escaping from the south into the north, we got a great harvest!”

The tribespeople welcomed the fisherpeople and celebrated this new food source.

Hermes was inside of a hut and eavesdropped on this conversation.

“Rough seas? I also feel some seismic activity near this place, I hope we’re far enough from the volcano mount…”

“Lord Wolf-mask!” Amaruq knocked on the door to the hut.

“Enter!”

Amaruq held something in his hands.

“The currents these days have brought all sorts of sea garbage and fish from the south, and this was one of them.”

He passed the object to Hermes.

Hermes examined it.

It was a lozenge-shaped clay tablet with complex and mysterious writing on it.

‘The second testament?’ Hermes’ eyes widened.

As he read through, he found out that this was exactly what Alex was looking for.

‘Annals of a long life – the second testament – resentment.

The king of the 9th of the Underworld, Guiwang, is a deceitful man.

Escaping his duties and residence, he causes chaos in the mortal realm, and has dared to pursue the immortal cultivation that I have created, but for evil purposes.

With his esoteric techniques, he split my soul up, and the man even changed karmic law.

I’d imagine this required great sacrifice.

He must have resented me a lot.’