Chapter 5: "The Eyes That Watched Creation"
The void was no longer empty.
It stared back.
In the stillness after Tian Shen's defeat, Jian and Frostveil stood amidst what remained of the battleground: floating rocks, dead silence, and an eerie wind that moved despite the absence of atmosphere. But the calm did not last.
Above, in the black canvas of space between worlds, hundreds—no, thousands—of radiant golden eyes opened. They were not attached to bodies. They simply hung there, blinking in perfect synchronization. They emitted no light, but the moment they appeared, colors lost their meaning, time slowed, and the will of all things was subjugated.
Jian instinctively raised his blade, but even his Sword Dao trembled.
Frostveil clutched her father's spirit core, now glowing dimly against her chest. Her voice broke into a whisper. "The Watchers... The gods who never left..."
Jian gritted his teeth. "You knew?"
"I suspected... after Malek'tor. After Tian Shen. But not this many. Not this soon."
The golden eyes stared without emotion, but pressure weighed down upon the cosmos. Stars bent. The moon cracked. Even gravity itself forgot how to behave. The remnants of reality spiraled into chaos.
Suddenly, from between the largest pair of golden eyes, a shape emerged. A humanoid form of pure conceptual energy—its body was composed of runes, shifting constellations, and untranslatable languages. Where its heart should have been was a singularity that pulsed with unknown power.
"Mortal Jian. Spirit-born Frostveil. You have slain one of our own."
Its voice echoed through time and soul. It spoke in the language of all creation.
Jian stood taller. "He declared war. We answered."
"You declared rebellion the moment you defied worship."
Frostveil stepped forward, voice steely. "And you declared tyranny when you sacrificed mortals to empower yourselves."
The entity's hand moved. Reality beneath them folded into a spiral. But it did not attack. Not yet.
"Then let the second judgment begin."
---
A new battlefield formed. Not of land or sea, but a cradle between universes. The place was known in the lost scriptures as The Vestibule of Genesis—the original convergence point of divine creation. Here, only true power could manifest. Mortal tricks and illusions were banished.
Jian and Frostveil found themselves standing on an invisible surface beneath a sky of living ink. In the distance, five Watcher-gods emerged, each more terrifying than the last.
1. Sarion, The Divine Edict: A god whose body was composed of floating scriptures and judgment wheels. His power lay in rewriting the Laws of Dao.
2. Urrath, The Hunger Between Stars: An ancient beast-god that devoured galaxies to gain power. Its stomach was a collapsing supermassive black hole.
3. Nyashra, The First Flame: The original source of Fire Dao. Her flames burned concepts, emotions, and memory.
4. Vexil, The Sculptor of Time: He held clocks within his spine, each ticking for a universe. His staff could unbirth timelines.
5. Solthros, The Forgotten Name: The most silent of all, wrapped in entropy. Even remembering him was said to cause the collapse of logic.
The moment they arrived, Frostveil fell to one knee, blood pouring from her nose. Her mind rejected the presence of Solthros. Jian caught her, barely staying upright himself.
He whispered, "We're not strong enough..."
Frostveil shook her head, eyes glowing. "Not yet. But we can learn."
---
Suddenly, from behind them, three cultivators arrived through fractured portals—Shi Ruan, Lan Kuang, and Xue Bian. Their bodies burned with new Daos.
Shi Ruan had embraced the Mirror Dao—able to reflect any attack, physical or conceptual, at twice the strength.
Lan Kuang had ascended to the Storm Dao, wielding the wrath of heavenly weather and fate-twisting thunder.
Xue Bian had entered the path of the Oblivion Dao—the final state of non-being, where attacks passed through him as if he never existed.
Together, they formed a pentagon, the five warriors of the Rebirth Rebellion.
Jian whispered to Frostveil, "We hold them here. We survive. Then... we learn how to kill gods."
---
The clash began.
Sarion rewrote their cultivation laws, forcing their power levels to zero—but Shi Ruan reflected the law back, causing Sarion's own strength to collapse.
Urrath inhaled the battlefield, trying to consume them, but Lan Kuang summoned a storm so vast it created a vacuum void.
Nyashra ignited their memories—burning their love, grief, past—but Jian used his Sword Dao to sever the fire from reality.
Vexil turned back time itself, causing Jian to become a child, then an old man—yet Frostveil screamed, releasing her Soul Domain, protecting Jian's core identity.
Solthros moved.
Everything died.
The stars blinked out. Languages unraveled. Even the laws of resistance crumbled.
But Xue Bian smiled. Oblivion met entropy.
They both ceased.
For a single breath, Solthros and Xue Bian canceled each other out.
It was enough.
Jian whispered, "Now."
He and Frostveil combined their Daos—Sword and Soul—and formed a concept:
Final Invocation: Severance of the Divine Root
Their strike was not at the body. Not even at the soul. But at the core right to exist of the gods.
One slash.
Five gods screamed.
The Vestibule collapsed.
---
They awoke in the ruins of a mountain range, alive. Burned. Scarred. But breathing.
Shi Ruan had lost an eye.
Lan Kuang was now partially lightning.
Xue Bian... was gone.
Jian clutched Frostveil's hand.
"We're not finished."
"No," she said. "But we've begun."
In the sky, only one eye remained. Watching.
And smiling.
---
To be continued