The night sky was easy to take for granted. It was a beautiful expanse of brilliant lights, colorful cloud-like shapes, and constellations, all presided over by the silvery illumination of the moon. It was always there, even when obscured by the sun’s rays or cloud cover. For a long time, Jia hadn’t even noticed how much more of it she’d been able to see as her strength grew. And yet, beyond that sky was an entirely separate set of constellations. Other worlds with their own night skies—and not all of them had such a beautiful view.

Jia was done taking such things for granted. That was why she lay on the roof of her home, hand in hand with Eui, their tails intertwined as they gazed up at the stars together. It was a regular event, for them—to stop and appreciate the beauty of the world they’d struggled so much to protect.

They were the originals. The first to join themselves together into something greater—the ones for whom Yoshika was named. It had been a joke—Rika’s way of teasing them for always being together. Now, it was a name that defined an entire world. Worlds.

Yoshika’s influence spread across multiple worlds now that she’d staked out her claim across the divine cosmos. The extant powers weren’t too pleased by that, but they couldn’t really do much about it. They’d been the ones to isolate her in the first place, and their thoroughness worked against them after she rose to power.

There wasn’t much else out there yet, however. Not nothing, mind you. Travel between worlds was possible even without ascending to godhood, and a tower of ascension—Kaede’s idea—was being built to test those who would seek their glory elsewhere. In the meantime, it was mostly up to Yoshika who could come or go.

Some had the means to do it on their own, either because they had ascended to godhood—like Qin Yang, Heian, or the Dragon Lord—or because they’d developed techniques that gave them the freedom to travel beyond the edge of reality—like Seong Misun or Jianmo.

Even then, Yoshika was the one in charge of heavenly tribulations now. That was an odd feeling. She had a newfound understanding and appreciation of them. While the divine seal had once twisted them into a form of punishment, that wasn’t their only purpose. There were actually two types that she knew of—divine tribulation, and ‘local’ tribulation.

Divine tribulation was unavoidable, and occurred when a newly ascended deity made connection with the divine realm. Once that connection was formed, there was always a surge of energy that came back across it. Yoshika had bypassed that during her own ascension because she drew power from her Wellspring of Fate, but the Dragon Lord, and even Heian had suffered tribulations that she couldn’t stop even if she wanted to after establishing their own connections to the Wellspring.

Local tribulations were different. They were a punishment, of sorts, albeit highly exaggerated by the effects of the divine seal. They were like the immune system of a mortal world. If every living thing inevitably rose to immortality, their collective domains would eventually overburden the world as surely as a deity trying to force themselves on a mortal realm. Death, reincarnation, and tribulations were all means through which a mortal realm maintained a balance.

With a proper Goddess like Yoshika in charge, though, there were other ways to maintain balance. The trials of ascension were one such step—sending powerful souls out to explore other worlds.

At least, that would be the idea, once there was something to explore.

“How do you think Qin’s new world is going to turn out?”

Jia gave Eui an arch look as she pondered the question.

“Badly? I’m not sure he learned any lessons from our encounter. He just expects that those who ascend will automatically accept his supremacy.”

“Yan De did, didn’t he?”

“Yan De would have agreed to just about anything to get out of his void prison.”

Eui shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess so. You think Heian’s afterlife will be better?”

“At the very least, I think reincarnating the lost shades of our world is a much better start to a new world.”

“Mm, yeah. Kills two birds with one stone too, easing pressure here while giving her world a fresh start.”

Jia giggled and squeezed Eui’s hand.

“Our daughter’s always been a clever one. Should we do anything about that cult worshipping her?”

“The one started by that Hattori jerk who betrayed us? Nah, they’re harmless, and I don’t think they realize that the shadow spirit they have isn’t part of her anymore.”

“Not to mention Yagi’s on to him, and I don’t think she’s ever let go of that grudge.”

No matter how much they rested, the world kept moving without them. They stared up at the stars in silence for a few more minutes before Jia turned to look at Eui.

“Do you think we did the right thing?”

Eui didn’t need clarification. In fact, they didn’t really need to talk at all, but they’d always preferred to voice their feelings out loud to each other.

“Maybe, maybe not? Who’s to say whether taking a more active role in shaping the world would have led to better outcomes than just giving people the freedom to choose for themselves.”

“Literally us. We can see the future.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Not that far. Not with any sort of certainty, anyway. If they fuck it up and make mistakes, then they’ll just have to suffer the consequences and learn from it like we did.”

“We didn’t exactly have much say in our suffering.”

“Speak for yourself. I know I did stupid things—and you were no tennin when we met.”

“I guess not...”

It wasn’t like Yoshika had completely abandoned all responsibility, either. Yue, Kaede, and Eunae all still kept their fingers on the scale, gently guiding the world away from strife and ruin while still mostly letting people make their own decisions. Even when she didn’t agree with them. Like the widespread worship of her as some sort of ultimate deity.

For fifteen years, they’d watched the world grow and flourish. Yue and Kaede were starting families while Eunae and Meili had their own lives, but Jia and Eui were always waiting. Waiting for the next crisis—for the sky to fall and everything to collapse. But it never did. The world wasn’t perfect, but it was peaceful, and seemed inclined to stay that way, at least for a while.

It’s not like they didn’t have anything to do. Jia and Eui were still part of their friends’ lives. They looked forward to raising their son with Yue, they were excited to see Iseul find love, they hoped that Dae would finally work up the courage to ask Kaede to marry him, and enjoyed listening to Meili’s stories about the daily dramas of the teahouse. Not to mention their own families—Jung, Yumi, Chunhei, Minjun, Narae—

“Can you believe that Narae wants to go chasing after Jianmo to explore the divine realm?”

Jia snorted.

“Yeah, maybe in a thousand years—or if she can beat Haeun twice in a series of three duels. Whichever comes first.”

Technically, nobody could enter or leave the divine seal without risking exposure to the Sovereign Lords, who even Yoshika couldn’t contest directly despite all her power. But they’d made a promise to Jianmo to help them return to the divine realm. Once Yoshika chose to retire, it didn’t feel fair to force Jianmo to remain with them. So they’d made an exception. Jianmo left them with a promise to return and visit. To quote them directly...

“Darling, I don’t hate the boring life of peace and quiet you’ve chosen, but it’s not for me. I’ll be back, and I promise that the trouble I bring to your doorstep will be an absolute delight!”

As parting words went, they skewed a bit ominous, but it was very Jianmo. Jia missed the crazy shapeshifting demon sword already.

Jianmo had seen what it took Jia fifteen years to accept. The sky was still there, and as much as she didn’t want to take it for granted, it always would be. It didn’t need her there to hold it up.

“Eui, do you want to go on a walk with me?”

Eui turned to meet her eyes, their faces only inches apart.

“Where?

“Everywhere. We’ve seen the world—become it. But I want to experience it. Every facet of it. I want to go on a journey and meet every kind of person, share their joys and sorrows. Even if it takes us a hundred or a thousand years, I want to know everybody as deeply as we know ourselves.”

She blinked, then snickered, then cackled in a way that Jia hadn’t heard from Eui in a long time.

“That’s one hell of a walk, Jia.”

“Mhm.”

“What about our family? Mom and dad, Narae, Jung and Yumi?”

Jia shrugged.

“We’re Yoshika. What’s the point of divine omnipotence if we can’t eat our cake and still have it?”

Eui giggled again, then leaned in to kiss her firmly on the lips.

“I love you so much, Jia.”

“I love you too.”

Without further discussion, the pair stood up and hopped off the roof, landing without so much as a sound. Then, they picked a direction at random and started walking.

 

---

 

Divine Bureaucrat was a job as boring as it sounded. Qi Yun had been doing it for ten thousand years, administering various starfields over her long and ‘illustrious’ career. She’d been quite good at it, she felt. Never made any glaring mistakes, stayed out of drama, and expertly smoothed over the complicated political messes that always happened when new deities rose to discover that the cosmos was bigger than they knew, and what they’d thought was an ocean was really just a tiny puddle.

So she had been quite honored to be placed in charge of a newly emerging starfield. It promised to be the most complicated mess yet—a disputed territory not officially controlled by any of the Sovereign Lords at the apex of creation. It was her duty to monitor the Sealed Bloody Starfield and ensure that Sovereign Shen Yu was the first to learn of any changes that occurred there.

That was nearly a thousand years ago. Not a single thing had happened in all that time. Not one ascension. Not so much as a peep. The seal didn’t grow or shrink. No essence entered or left. The stars were visible beyond the barrier, but only as stars—it was impossible to glean anything about the worlds beyond except that they existed.

So Qi Yun sat in her pagoda and meditated quietly. A thousand years of quiet was nothing, she told herself. Divine Bureaucrats were used to boredom.

Still, when something new happened, she couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement. Finally! Except that it didn’t come from within the starfield. Disappointed, Qi Yun descended from her meditation chamber to meet the new visitor.

A woman, beneath the level of a deity but close to the apex of True Immortal. She wore revealing clothing and stood over seven feet tall—definitely not from the Immortal faction like Qi Yun, then—with long purple hair, red eyes, and a black horn on her forehead. A demon, then.

“What can this humble servant do for you, minion of Longyan?”

The woman laughed sharply.

“I don’t hate that attitude, sweetheart, but I’m no minion of the Demon Lord. I’m here to meet someone.”

Qi Yun blinked and adjusted her glasses, pulling up a Divine Jade of Heaven and Earth. She quickly scrolled through the near-infinitely long list of names as she spoke.

“Who, exactly? And who are you? You should know that this starfield has been inactive for the last millennium, after a brief conflict between the Sovereign Lords.”

“Oh, I know—I was there. As for who—I don’t know. I’m excited to find out, though—aren’t you?”

She noted that the demon didn’t identify herself. However, if her claims were accurate, then it would narrow her down to a vanishingly small list of names registered to the Sealed Bloody Star and the ancient conflict surrounding it.

Obviously, she ruled out Longyan himself, and Sovereign Shen Yu while she was at it. Then she quickly scanned the remaining list of people.

Yu Meiren - Crimson Demons - Deceased

Dasheng - Crimson Demons - Deceased

Qin Yang - Divine Immortals - Status Unknown

Yoshika - Unaligned - Record Expunged

Jianmo - Bloody Sovereign - Sealed

“Oops, looks like your records are out of date!”

The demon’s words startled Qi Yun, as she now stood right behind her with a hand on her shoulder. How had a mere True Immortal snuck up on her, a High Goddess? For that matter, how could she be reading the Divine Jade?

“Let me fix it for you...”

The demon poked the Divine Jade before Qi Yun could stop her, a thread of essence sneaking its way within and altering two lines before her very eyes.

Yoshika - Sovereign Lady of the Sealed Bloody Starfield - Nascent Demiurge

Jianmo - Jiaguo Faction - Right Next to You

A cold sweat formed on Qi Yun’s brow as she looked up at the demon—Jianmo, one of the most dangerous beings in the cosmos. In the distance, the divine seal shimmered, and unfamiliar auras began to emerge one by one. Jianmo winked down at her with a grin.

“Come on, sweetie. You’ve got a job to do, and I’ve got a promise to keep. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to it!”