Chapter 1- In Search For Answers
Chapter 1 - In Search For Answers
The air was different here. It didn’t carry the scent of sandalwood and incense from the Tang Qin Shang palace; instead, it tasted of salt, ozone, and a heavy, crushing pressure that felt like the heavens themselves were pushing down on his shoulders.
Emperor Qin Jie Huang was on his knees.
For the first time in his reign, the fiery energy that usually pulsed through his veins—the fierce, draconic heat of his elemental power—was cold. It felt as though an invisible hand had reached into his soul and snuffed out his flame, leaving him hollow.
Splitting his soul to create a second self had already pushed him to the brink. Now, crossing the portal into this “Hidden Continent” had seemingly finished the job.
Jiang... his mind called out, a desperate tether to the man he had crossed dimensions to save. I am coming...
His head throbbed with a rhythmic, stabbing pain. His vision blurred, turning the golden sands of this strange desert into a swirling kaleidoscope of amber and grey. Through the haze, he heard it: the crunch of footsteps on dry earth.
Step. Step. Step.
They were steady. Purposeful.
Despite the dizziness, the Emperor’s instinct for survival flared. He tried to summon his Qi, to manifest even a spark of fire to ward off the intruder, but his meridians remained silent, sealed by the mysterious laws of this land. He gripped the dirt, his knuckles white, forcing his heavy eyelids to stay open. He was the Emperor of Tang Qin Shang; he would not die kneeling in the dirt like a common dog.
He was ready to fight to his very last breath, even if he had to use his bare teeth to tear into his opponent. But as the figure stopped directly in front of him, his body finally betrayed his iron will.
The darkness rushed in, cold and absolute.
As his face slumped toward the earth, the last thing Qin Jie Huang saw through the narrow slit of his failing vision was a pair of strange-looking footwear. They were crafted from a material he had never seen in his empire—rugged, buckled, and etched with glowing runes that hummed with a low, vibrating frequency.
Then, the world went silent.
Author Note: Lyna Snowflakes
Hi Lovelies, I am sorry it took so long, life happened, but hopefully, I am back now.
Thanks for all your love and support to the story.
