Descendants of the Dragon, Book One: The Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 24: The Jade Emperor

When a volcano erupts, the sheer explosive force can trigger tsunamis, flash floods, earthquakes, mud flows, and rockfalls. It is no wonder that a volcano's eruption has long been equated with apocalyptic events. It is one of nature's most powerful and terrific events—a truly formidable, seismic harbinger of doom.

And yet, no volcano, not even Krakatoa, which nearly obliterated the island upon which it stood, could measure up to the magnitude of power that was released when Heaven opened for the Heirs.

The sky rumbled roared and reverberated with the resonation of a thousand hurricanes. The clouds parted in a bolt of golden brilliance, so penetratingly radiant that it covered the entire horizon. The light of Heaven was not blinding, but it did obscure everything from sight, like a barrier between dimensions. It was just as well. The eyes of mortals were not meant for Heaven.

The light vanished and four beings, blistering with searing power and golden auras, stepped forth. All but one were armored for war.

The first appeared to be a normal man, except for the flames that poured out from his eyes, as if the inside of his skull was a furnace.

The second was horribly disfigured. His face was a mess of misplaced bones and scar tissue. Unlike the others, who radiated holiness and purity, his aura felt deathly and noxious.

The third being was possibly the most fearsome of them all, as its bizarre, haphazard physical features reminded Jia of a yāoguài. It was a birdlike creature that effortlessly floated above the ground a few inches, as if it were standing on an invisible platform. However, instead of avian wings, two spindly bat-like wings sprouted from its shoulder blades. A small drum decorated in indecipherable pictograms was tied around its neck. In one hand, the strange creature brandished an iron hammer, and in the other, a chisel. He made for an odd sight, but its predatory eagle eyes were by far its most unsettling feature.

Finally, there was the last and tallest of the beings, who wore no armor, save the robes of an emperor. However, instead of gold and red colors, which traditionally adorned the emperor's robes, his robes were lined with green dyed silk. His full beard and mustache did not divulge his age. His face was fairly young, but his eyes were filled with ancient wisdom that can only accompany many eons of life.

"Zhurong, protect the children!" the being in the off-colored imperial robes commanded.

The being with flaming eyes wordlessly swept his hand, and a wall of fire crashed down upon the beach, blockading the yāoguài from the Heirs.

Liang, who had been about to engage another demon, was forced to leap away, as the wall of flame suddenly appeared before him.

One of the yāoguài made an audacious leap through the inferno, but the hungry flames leapt forth and consumed the demon, reducing it to boiling fumes of black smoke.

Before the smoke could dissipate, it writhed in place, then began to flow in a small stream back to the disfigured being. The disfigured being unhinged his jaw like a snake, far wider than humanly possible, and swallowed the essence whole.

"Zhong Kui! Lei Gong! Deal with the demons!" the robed being commanded.

The birdlike creature extended its wings and took flight over the heads of the Heirs, until it was floating over the shui gui. The water ghosts craned their heads into the sky and watched the creature dispassionately. The creature gripped its mallet in a clawed hand and struck the drum around its neck. The single drum beat created a thunderclap so powerful, the water was blown backward from the force of the sound waves. The sound, while incredible, miraculously did not hurt the Heirs' eardrums. The same could not be said of the shui gui, whose skulls gruesomely exploded in a mess of fragmented bone and marrow.