"This cloud is big enough, but not quite big enough. The snow over the Everpeace Empire is more like a warning."
In the west, on Sumeru Mountain, the Golden Summit Thunderclap Monastery sits atop towering peaks above the clouds. The Elder Buddha gazes out over the entire Everpeace Empire, seeing the blazing golden sun illuminate the sea of clouds with dazzling brightness.
"Once, in the long history of our Great Thunderclap Temple, we too witnessed such a heavenly-phenomena attack."
Beneath the Elder Buddha, bodhisattvas, venerables, and arhats stood in rows. The Elder Buddha spoke: "That heavenly-phenomena attack was even greater than this one—also snow, also dark clouds, leaving the people destitute, disasters year after year, countless dead. Venerable Suffering, fetch the Empty Chronicle of Emperor Ai from the scripture repository and turn to page 1,367."
A monk with a troubled brow rose and left. After a moment, Venerable Suffering returned, carrying the thick scripture, turned to the page the Elder Buddha mentioned, and read aloud: "Empty Chronicle, Year 6,420 of Emperor Ai: the heavens changed, snow fell for thirty days, clouds sealed eight hundred thousand miles, no sun in sight. Famine everywhere, bandits rose, Emperor Ai ordered gods and dragon kings to dispel it. Year 6,430: fire meteors fell, star-rain like tides, volcanoes erupted by the thousands, the land shook, earth split with ravines ten thousand deep, rivers dried up, the sea vanished. The next year, the sun disappeared, no light from sun or moon..."
Behind the Elder Buddha, Master Qiong and others were shaken to the core, blurting out, "World-Honored One, this is..."
"The Great Ruins."
The Elder Buddha turned to look at the vast wilderness behind Sumeru Mountain and said, "This scripture records the final history of the divine kingdom in the Great Ruins. The snow and clouds were only the first warning. But this warning came much earlier, many years ahead, and was much lighter. It seems the actions of the Everpeace Empire have alerted those above."
Master Qiong, True Lord Tian, and the others were thunderstruck, muttering, "The Great Ruins..."
"If the emperor wants to quell this disaster, he must immediately halt the reforms and issue a self-blaming edict, confessing to Heaven and to the common people."
The Elder Buddha's gaze was deep. He said, "Otherwise, this snow disaster is only the beginning. What comes next will be far more terrifying heavenly phenomena—not just snow and clouds, but star-rain, volcanoes, dried-up rivers and lakes, evaporating seas, and the sun and moon vanishing altogether. This is Heaven's punishment: Heaven's wrath falls, but it's the common folk who have to bear it. It's a bit much..."
"Reporting to the Elder Buddha, the Crown Prince of the Everpeace Empire has sent someone seeking an audience."
The Elder Buddha paused for a moment, then smiled, "So His Highness has come to see this old monk after all. Let him come up."
"As you command, venerable one."
The Elder Buddha smiled at the monks around him and said, "His Highness the Crown Prince is quite extraordinary—perhaps he will be the savior of the world. The emperor is determined to go his own way, but the Crown Prince is not so stubborn. His envoy is worth meeting."
Dao Gate, Jade-Void Mountain.
This place is called the Jade-Void Grotto-Heaven, like a world unto itself. The mountain is spring all year round, an immortal paradise no less wondrous than Sumeru Mountain.
"Cloud-sealing Everpeace is just a warning—neither too light nor too heavy. Compared to the warning before the Great Ruins' destruction, it's much milder."
The Dao Lord spoke steadily to the many Dao Gate cultivators: "The Imperial Preceptor of Everpeace is pushing reforms. Dao Gate opposes him, not out of self-interest, but for the Dao. These reforms have already broken many rules and principles—they're doomed to fail. It's a pity the Imperial Preceptor's vision is too shallow; he can't see what kind of horror is coming next."
His gaze was profound, but his presence utterly calm. He continued slowly, "Back when the Imperial Preceptor was young, he came to Dao Gate to see me. I saw his promise and had high hopes for him, so I let him read our sect's foundational scriptures, hoping he'd achieve greatness. I set aside sectarian bias for such talent, and gave him careful guidance. Later, when he became Imperial Preceptor, my hopes turned to disappointment. Why? Because Dao law follows nature."