High above the heavens, Gu Chen and the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles faced each other across the skies.
That single line — "Under my law, I am the heavens" — carried the weight of absolute dominance.
Among the ranks of the Taixuan elders, including Morax, awe and reverence shone in their eyes. When they turned their gaze toward the Sustainer, it was tinged with something stranger — wariness, even defiance.
There was no doubt about it.
The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles was the ruler of all Teyvat — the hidden hand behind the Archon War, the architect who had pitted gods against one another.
Now that the Seven Authorities had all fallen under the Taixuan Order, the surviving gods had either joined or perished.
The world was at peace.
So what did the Sustainer want by descending now?
"Comrades! Who among you will join me in battle against the Sustainer?!" Morax's deep voice boomed across the skies.
Laughter answered him — proud, unrestrained.
Vortex God the Sea King threw his head back and roared, "The Sustainer has burdened us with erosion, forcing us to slaughter each other for power! The Taixuan Order follows our Lord's will, seeking peace for all living beings. Yet this Sustainer would shatter that peace? Then she is the one in the wrong!"
"Vortex God speaks well!" The Scarlet King agreed firmly.
If Heaven itself had lost righteousness, then Heaven must fall.
"Those who hold to the Way shall be aided; those who lose it shall find themselves alone."
Gu Chen's voice carried calmly through the air. "Sustainer of Heavenly Principles — do you still not understand?"
The Sustainer's expression darkened. With a wave of her hand, rifts of crimson tore open the sky, from which poured serpentine chains of blood-red light, lashing toward Gu Chen.
He tilted his head slightly, robes fluttering in the gale, and sidestepped their assault.
"Then there's nothing more to discuss," he said softly.
The battle erupted.
The Taixuan gods were ready to charge forward, but Gu Chen raised a hand to stop them.
"Guard the earth," he ordered. "Let not this battle destroy it."
The crimson chains struck, piercing into the ground, binding heaven and earth in a net of blood. The world dimmed under their light.
And yet, upon the Sustainer's golden radiance, there lingered the majesty of the divine.
"So this is the power that governs all laws?" Gu Chen mused quietly.
He closed his eyes, the wind whipping his sleeves like storm-torn banners. Behind him, boundless divine light erupted, piercing through the heavens.
From within that light, a colossal figure began to take form — tall enough to brush against the firmament, its features identical to Gu Chen's own, its body woven entirely of sacred luminescence.
Across all of Teyvat, mortals and gods alike raised their heads — and saw that towering silhouette standing between heaven and earth.
"Great Divine Art — Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation!" Morax gasped.
Though he had long served as Taixuan's Chief Lawkeeper, he had never truly comprehended this supreme technique. Yet now, before his eyes, stood its living embodiment — a god among gods.
The Sustainer's expression hardened. She summoned forth two massive golden nails, hurling them toward the radiant giant.
That force — from beyond the seven elements — crushed everything before it.
But what it met was a power not of Teyvat.
Gu Chen's eyes snapped open, twin beams of golden light searing the sky. The towering manifestation behind him mirrored the motion — its eyes opened.
For a heartbeat, all of creation fell silent.
The giant's right hand rose. The two celestial nails halted midair, caught between its fingers — then shattered to dust.
"Impossible!" the Sustainer cried.
She summoned more chains, more sigils, the air itself twisting under her command.
"Demon-Slaying sword!"
The divine giant spoke, its voice echoing across worlds.
A sword of purest light appeared in its grasp, vast enough to span the horizon. With both hands, it brought the blade down.
A golden arc, sharper than existence itself, split heaven from earth. Space folded and screamed as the sword's radiance tore through the Sustainer's defenses, through her endless crimson chains — and struck her true form.
She looked down in disbelief.
No wounds marred her flawless body, but color drained from her face. Within her, everything — organs, essence, the very threads of her being — was being annihilated.
"Y-you…"
The Sustainer's voice trembled as the light faded from her golden eyes.
A shadow fell upon her — the giant's open hand, descending.
With a final shriek, she spat blood, her lips curving into a twisted smile.
"Kill me… and you shall be trapped here forever!"
CRACK.
The divine hand closed.
The crimson chains shattered.
The sky healed.
The world grew still.
When the light faded, Gu Chen stood alone, his giant manifestation dissolving behind him — only a few lingering sparks twisting in the wind.
The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles, ruler of Teyvat and destroyer of Khaenri'ah, was dead.
The gods of the Taixuan Order stood in silent awe, unable to comprehend what they had just witnessed.
And in the interworld chat, pandemonium erupted.
[Kaeya]: Holy—! The Lord's divine might! There aren't words for this! He just slew Heaven itself!
[Lynney]: It's unthinkable… A human did this? To grow so strong through cultivation… it's beyond belief!
[Alhaitham]: Even I cannot fully comprehend it… Each time the Master acts, he shatters our understanding of what's possible.
[Heizou]: Let's recount the record—
First: One strike, eight gods erased.
Second: A mere projection subdued the Dendro Dragon, Dragon of the Sands.
Third: Heaven-and-Earth Manifestation! He caught the Heavenly Nails barehanded, cleaved the Sustainer with a single sword, and crushed her between his fingers! Divine Might Eternal!!
[Dragon of the Sands]: …No need to emphasize it like that.
[Ayaka Kamisato]: I-I can't even process this… it's like watching the birth of a new heaven!
[Tighnari]: Every time I think I understand his power, he proves me wrong. This isn't just strength — it's like watching a new law being written!
All across Teyvat, mortals wept.
For the first time, a man had defeated the heavens.
But as the cheers faded, a shadow crossed their hearts.
[Paimon]: Wait, what did the Sustainer mean by that? "You'll be trapped here forever"?
[Heizou]: She said her death would bind the Master within this world… that without her, there's no mechanism to let him leave.
[Alhaitham]: If the "Sustainer" truly maintains the world's laws, then her death might mean the collapse of those laws.
[Albedo]: Like the keystone of a great machine — remove it, and the whole structure begins to crumble.
[Kaeya]: Then… the cost of victory might be the world itself?
Their fears proved true.
When Gu Chen returned to the mountains of the Taixuan Order, the ground beneath Teyvat was already fracturing — soil and stone dissolving into the void beyond the stars.
"The world collapses without its Sustainer…" he murmured. "So that was the price."
There was only one solution left — to replace her.
A long silence passed. Then Gu Chen smiled faintly.
"It seems the title of Taixuan Lord will have to pass on… to that girl."
He returned to the sect and gathered all its gods and disciples.
Raising the Taixuan Divine Registry, he began to inscribe names upon it.
Morax — Morax
Azhdaha — Taixuan Earth-Virtue Guardian Sovereign
Baal / Beelzebul — Taixuan Purple Lightning Sovereign of the Skies
Vortex God — Taixuan Sea-Tide Sovereign of the Vortex
God of Salt — Taixuan Star Lord of Alchemy and Salt
Rukkhadevata — Taixuan Merciful Sovereign of Verdant Wisdom
Barbatos — Taixuan Star Lord of the Thousand Winds
Dvalin — Taixuan Skyward Protector Sovereign
[Dvalin]: Heh, some of us slackers only made "Star Lord" rank, huh?
[Venti]: My past self! You slacker!
At last, Gu Chen wrote the final name:
Guizhong — Guizhong.
Guizhong blinked in disbelief.
"The Sect Lord is… a divine office? Then what about you?"
Gu Chen smiled faintly. "I have something more important to do."
"More important than Taixuan?"
"Yes."
"What could possibly be more important?"
"Saving the world."
He handed her the Divine Registry, his expression soft.
"That's my last gift to you."
Then light began to descend — endless, pure, suffusing all creation.
The mountains sang. The grass bowed. The air itself rejoiced.
Gu Chen's aura changed. He was the heavens, the earth, the smallest grain of dust, the tenderest blade of grass.
His expression smoothed, emotion ebbing away like a tide.
"From this moment forth, I am Heaven. Heaven is no longer me."
His body burst apart into motes of light — flowing into the sky, the soil, the seas.
They mended the rifts, restored the laws, and cleansed the lingering blight.
Teyvat became more stable than it had ever been.
And so ended the age of the Taixuan Sect's first master —
the man who slew Heaven,
only to become Heaven himself.
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