The whole country was in turmoil. The sky turned stormy and the atmosphere crackled with waves of evil. In every village, with physical effort and rage, multiple statues in clay or stone shattered into a thousand and one pieces on the ground. Even women and children took part.
"Ding Tzu has betrayed us!" "The gods have spoken!" "The Thousand Bloodstones are his doing!"
In Heaven, the echoes of mortal voices echoed through the celestial gathering. The supreme deity, Lu Qiu, silenced the echoes with a wave of his hand, and the hall draped in long silk curtains plunged into silence. A few deities had been summoned and formed a circle, excluding the traitor. Shen Ai, divine of Wealth, crossed his arms over his silver-gold armor, his gaze as sharp as ten thousand blades.
To his right, the divine of Wrath, Tang Sai, with a much more nonchalant attitude in contrast to his own precept. Chi Sun-Tzai, the Rain, looked down on the traitor and whispered low rumors into Jih Shi's pointed ear, the Day. Chun T'i, the Dawn, intermittently closed her eyes, almost asleep. Kneeling on the ground, Ding Tzu let his heavy silver hair fall over his shoulders and before his eyes, the weight of his unfortunate destiny on his back. The Thousand Bloodstones incident had inflicted spiritual wounds on him, and his celestial instability bore witness to this.
Lu Qiu sighed.
"In light of the charges against you, Ding Tzu, your sentence is irrevocable. High treason and affiliation with the Seraphim Huang Min. Your celestial rank, your celestial name and all that binds you here will be taken from you forever. Your soul will wander aimlessly to eternal damnation."
Chi Sun-Tzai sketched the shadow of a smile. Shen Ai, Tang Sai and Jih Shi nodded solemnly. Chun T'i blinked silently. She didn't approve of this swift judgment, but who would dare go against a decision of the supreme deity? No one foolish enough. Ding Tzu shrugged. He couldn't dispute the facts. He couldn't lie: he was incapable of it.
Ling Zu heard the news of the judgment with measured apprehension. She tied up her brown hair and hurried out of her cinnabar palace. She crossed the main alley not without bumping into a few minor deities who didn't move out of her way. Ling Zu excused herself briefly and joined the divine crowd in front of the supreme deity's palace. Ding Tzu had already emerged, with a determined step, at the bottom of the grand staircase. He ignored his booed name, preferring to silence his ears. He didn't notice his friend's presence right away. Ling Zu could only watch helplessly as her friend was banished. The doors to the palace of the supreme deity flew open. Lu Qiu stood at the threshold, his hands tied behind his back, his gaze fixed on none other than Ding Tzu. Like his palace, with its symmetrical facades and red-painted walls, Lu Qiu embodied the Order down to its very roots.
The roof of the palace was covered with black and gold glazed tiles, the raised edges forming phoenix heads. Tall red columns carved with sacred animal motifs supported the eaves, revealing the immensity of the lacquered wooden main doors. No other Palace of Heaven could match the wealth, grandeur and luxury of Lu Qiu's architectural personification.
Chi Sun-Tzai, the god of the Rain, stood beside the supreme deity. Chi Sun-Tzai had worn the same evil smile for a thousand generations. He hid his hands under his thick, wide sleeves, and his black hair, which cascaded to his waist, dripped with rainy tears all the time. Light cloud patterns adorned his pale imperial garments. "The great Ding Tzu has revealed his vices. Or should I say the nameless god?"
The Nameless God pulled himself together and glared at the unpleasant god.
"His Majesty doesn't appreciate such eyes." Sun-Tzai said.
Lu Qiu had kept Chi Sun-Tzai as his right-hand man for 3,802 years and had no plans to change him. Ding Tzu made a forced curtsy, his right fist closed over his left, and bowed his head.
"I consent to His Supreme Majesty's chastisement of me, but all that has been said is but a thin slice of truth woven around a lie. May His Supreme Majesty be cl…" "Clement? Are you really that mad, you traitor!" exclaimed Chi Sun-Tzai. "You're not lacking in impudence!" "How can I prove my innocence to His Supreme Majesty?" Ding Tzu simply ignored the other god. He didn't give a damn about his opinion. "I'm just a god who can't lie."
"You're not a god anymore. Didn't you hear Him earlier? Do you believe in Heaven's clemency when you were plotting with the Seraphim Huang Min?" "I never plotted with him nor talked to him." "You'll stop at nothing, Nameless."
Ding Tzu curtsied a second time, more emphatically and with his back bent. He placed his right hand on his belt and drew his personal sword, a jade-sheathed jian, the silver blade blinding a few gods as it passed. The gods drew back sharply, hands forward, ready to immobilize the traitor. Chi Sun-Tzai twitched and took a step forward. Lu Qiu blocked his path with a simple shake of his head. The Rain divinity inwardly raged.
Ling Zu kept her hands from trembling, clasped tightly against her. Could Ding Tzu really be a traitor? Ling Zu had known him since childhood, shortly after her Celestial Ascension. Never had the god of the Eastern Sky wielded a sword against a comrade, not even his rivals, not even that idiot Chi Sun-Tzai. So why such a change at this moment? Ling Zu feared the worst. This would be no simple banishment or eternal damnation. Any act of violence was severely reprimanded in Heaven. In this particular situation, Ding Tzu would lose his soul, his ability to reincarnate centuries or even millennia later, and the end of his existence – no one would remember him. Worse than death is Oblivion.
Ding Tzu dropped to one knee and faced Lu Qiu's alcyonian gaze.
"May His Supreme Majesty give grace and I surrender my soul to darkness. Eternal damnation doesn't frighten me, but I don't want to cease to exist." The silver blade tinged with blood, the cutting edge cut through neck and flesh to the white of the bone, detaching tendons and ligaments, without an ounce of hesitation. As Ding Tzu's celestial envelope dissolved, Lu Qiu plunged the traitor's soul out of Heaven, into darkness.