The plaza was packed when we arrived. Hundreds of faces looked up at me with a mixture of hope and uncertainty. These weren't the arrogant, self-assured expressions I'd seen when I first arrived. These were people who had just discovered they weren't the center of the universe, and they weren't sure what to do with that knowledge.

I climbed the steps to the platform that had been hastily erected for the occasion. Little Bloom rode on my shoulder, while the Stone Emperor positioned himself where he could serve as a backrest if needed. The ancient oak's massive form provided a living canopy overhead.

"Citizens of Hope City," I began, my voice carrying clearly across the plaza. "Three days ago, you believed you were chosen by destiny. Today, you've learned something far more important: you get to choose your own destiny."

A murmur ran through the crowd. I could see the uncertainty in their faces, but also something that hadn't been there before. Curiosity.

"The corruption that has infected your realm wants you to believe that you're powerless without delusion," I continued. "That you need to think you're special to have value. But I've spent these past days with you, and I've seen the truth. You don't need heavenly favor to be farmers who feed your neighbors. You don't need divine blessing to be parents who love your children. You don't need prophetic mandate to be teachers who share knowledge or healers who tend the sick."

I paused, looking out over the sea of faces. "The corruption wants you isolated, each believing you're the only one who matters. But you've learned something it fears: that you're stronger together than you ever were apart."

"But what if we fail?" called out a voice from the crowd. "What if the Tribunal comes and we can't stop them?"

"Then you get back up and try again," I said firmly. "Failure isn't the opposite of success; it's part of learning. The corruption wants you to believe that any setback proves you were wrong to doubt your delusions. But real strength comes from failing, learning, and choosing to keep going anyway."

This was really for Du Yanze more than it was for the crowd. He would fail. Many times. Maybe hundreds of times. But that didn't mean he should give up.

"You've tasted freedom now," I continued. "The freedom to think, to choose, to grow beyond what you were told you had to be. Don't let anyone, not the Tribunal, not the clans, not the voice in your own head that whispers you should go back to comfortable lies, take that freedom away."

I felt a resonance through the realm's spiritual energy, and looked up to see a familiar rift opening in the sky above us.

My time was up.

"The work you've started here doesn't end with my departure," I said, my voice growing more urgent. "Every mind you free, every person you help see clearly, every act of genuine cooperation—it all matters. You're not chosen by destiny, but you can choose to make your world better."

The rift was widening, and I could feel the pull of the tournament arena calling my spiritual manifestation home.

"Divine Mister?" Little Bloom's tiny voice was barely audible over the crowd. "Will you come back to visit?"

I lifted her from my shoulder and held her carefully in both hands. She was so small, so young, but I could see the intelligence blazing in her eyes: the same curiosity that had driven her to ask for reading lessons.

"I promise I'll come back," I told her, meaning it completely. "Maybe not soon, but someday. And when I do, I want you to show me all the new words you've learned."

Little Bloom's branches drooped, and I could swear I saw what looked like tears gathering in her eyes. "I'll practice every day," she whispered. "I'll be the best reader in the whole city!"

"I know you will," I said, gently patting her leafy crown one last time. The gesture was so natural, so human, that for a moment I almost forgot she was a plant spirit and not just a very small child. It made me wonder if this was how it was like to have a younger sister.

As much as I wished I could take some of them with me, Little Bloom with her boundless curiosity, the ancient oak with his old man wisdom, even the Stone Emperor with his ridiculous devotion, it just wasn't possible.

Beyond the practical impossibilities of transporting living beings between realms, I wasn't even sure they'd want to leave their world. This was their home, their reality. They belonged here, fighting to make it better.

"Remember what I taught you," I continued, my voice catching slightly. "Every word you learn is a thought you can think that no one else can take away."

I set her down carefully and turned to address the crowd one final time.

"Take care of each other," I called out. "Question everything. Think for yourselves. And never let anyone convince you that you need to stop being human to be worth something."

The pull from the rift was becoming irresistible. I felt my spiritual manifestation beginning to separate from Du Yanze's body, like stepping out of clothes that belonged to someone else.

"Du Yanze," I said internally, "remember everything we talked about. The knowledge, the techniques, the warnings. But most importantly, remember that you're not alone. Every person in this plaza, every tree in that forest, every rock that's learned to think—they're all counting on you. Not because you're chosen, but because you choose to help them."

"I won't let them down," Du Yanze replied, and I could feel his resolve strengthening. "I promise."

"I know you won't," I said. Then, louder, speaking to both Du Yanze and the crowd: "The best thing about hope is that you can't kill it. You can bury it, corrupt it, try to convince people it's pointless. But as long as there's one person willing to keep trying, hope survives."

My spiritual form was fully separated now, hovering a few feet above Du Yanze's body. I could see him stand straighter, taking full control of his cultivation again. Even without my presence, he radiated the quiet confidence of someone who had chosen his path.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Until we meet again," I called down, then spread my spiritual awareness like wings and launched myself toward the rift.

As I rose through the air, I took one last look at the plaza below. The people were watching my ascent with expressions I'd never seen in this realm before, not awe at witnessing something divinely chosen, but simple human gratitude for help when it was needed.

Just before I reached the portal, I did the same thing I'd done in the Realm of Living Lyrics. I gathered a sample of the local spiritual energy, in this case, a small amount of purified Xuan Yi that had been cleansed of its corrupt certainty. Azure would want to study it, and who knew? Maybe understanding how the corruption worked would help us find ways to protect ourselves from the otherworldly being.

The rift closed behind me as I entered the space between realms, carrying me back toward the tournament arena and whatever challenges awaited there.

***

Sergeant Qian Wei pressed himself lower against the rocky outcrop, trying to make his already small frame even more inconspicuous. Through the formation-empowered spyglass his captain had given him, he watched the impossible sight in Hope City's sky.

The golden rift had appeared just as his orders specified - when the higher being departed. For the past day, he and his squad had maintained their observation post on this hill overlooking the city, waiting for exactly this moment.

Now, as the rift sealed itself and the figure disappeared, Qian Wei felt his hands shaking slightly. Not from cold or fatigue, but from the sheer weight of what he'd witnessed.

He'd seen the battles, the mysterious conversions, the way reality itself seemed to bend around the divine being's presence. He'd watched an entire city abandon the fundamental truths of their realm in favor of... what? Doubt? Denial? The very corruption they'd all been trained to fear?

"Sergeant!" The sharp voice of his corporal broke through his thoughts. "The captain wants to see you immediately."

Qian Wei collapsed the spyglass and made his way down the hillside to where Captain Hong Zhenxiang waited with the rest of their advance reconnaissance unit. The captain stood with his back to the city, studying a map spread across a flat boulder that served as their field table.

"Report," Hong Zhenxiang commanded without looking up.

"The rift has closed, sir," Qian Wei said, trying to keep his voice steady. "The higher being has departed. The city appears to be returning to normal activity patterns."

"Normal?" The captain's laugh was harsh. "Sergeant, nothing about that place is normal anymore. Eighty five percent Disbeliever infection rate, according to our intelligence. Ancient spirits walking the streets. Citizens abandoning their sacred destinies for... whatever madness has taken hold."

Qian Wei nodded, though something about the captain's tone made him uncomfortable. During their watch, he'd seen enough of the "infected" city to notice that it looked more peaceful than most places he'd served. Less fighting, more cooperation. But pointing that out probably wouldn't help his career prospects.

"Sir, should I signal the main force?" he asked instead.

Captain Hong finally looked up from his map, and Qian Wei suppressed a shiver at the cold certainty in his superior's eyes. The captain was a true believer in the most dangerous sense; someone who had never questioned his own chosenness and viewed any deviation from the higher order as a personal insult.

"Signal them," Hong ordered. "Tell Commander Liu that the divine interference has ended and the city is ready for cleansing. Full purification protocols. No survivors above the age of reason."

"No survivors, sir?" Qian Wei couldn't help the question that slipped out.

The captain's eyes narrowed. "Disbelief is a spiritual plague, Sergeant. It spreads through contact, through conversation, through the mere existence of those who carry it. The only way to truly cleanse an infected area is to ensure that no one remains who might spread the corruption further."

"But sir, the children—"

"Children can be re-educated if they're young enough. But anyone old enough to have consciously chosen doubt over destiny?" Captain Hong's hand moved to rest on the hilt of his sword. "They're already lost. Better to end their suffering and protect the realm from further infection."

Qian Wei felt a sick twist in his stomach, but he kept his expression neutral. "Understood, sir."

"See that you do understand," the captain said softly. "Doubt is contagious, Sergeant. I'd hate to think that watching these proceedings has given you any... inappropriate ideas about the nature of truth."

"Of course not, sir," Qian Wei replied quickly. "My faith in the Tribunal's mission remains absolute."

"Good." Captain Hong turned back to his map. "Now go send that signal. And remember, tomorrow we reclaim Hope City for the realm. Every person we save from delusion is a victory for the higher order itself."

Qian Wei saluted and moved to carry out his orders, but as he prepared the communication array that would summon the main Tribunal force, the one made up of World-Writ Sovereigns and Crowned Heart Realm cultivators trained to deal with corruption, he couldn't shake the image of what he'd seen through his spyglass.

The city hadn't looked like a place consumed by spiritual plague. It had looked like a place where people were learning to be human again.

But orders were orders, and questioning the Tribunal's wisdom was a fast path to being labeled a Disbeliever himself. So, Qian Wei activated the array and sent the signal that would bring down the full weight of heavenly judgment on Hope City.

In the distance, campfires began to spring up as hundreds of warriors prepared for what their commanders promised would be the most righteous battle of their lives.