“You cannot pass,” the guard spoke. “You carry too many.”

  No one seemed to react to it as if it had spoken only to me. Everyone else kept walking through the gates as if they hadn’t heard the goliath speak.

  I bowed deeply before speaking.

  “I found this withering realm full of mortals on my travels. I merely wished to deliver them to the Court of Imperium before their realm dissipates and they all turn to dust.”

  I pulled out the small dust-sized realm within my hand.

  The giant just looked at me, seemingly inspecting the realm before nodding.

  Again, no one noticed, but I wasn’t alone. Others stood still in front of the gate, seemingly talking to no one and some even argued. Most of the people around me were of the god rank, ranging anywhere from the twelfth rank to the fourteenth rank.

  I wondered if the higher-ranking beings would go through some other entrance.

  After just a few minutes of inspection, the giant nodded and the grain of sand suddenly disappeared.

  “They have been added to the Court of Imperium, they shall have justice for eternity.”

  I nodded, then turned around and started making my way back.

  I was tired. The central realms were relatively connected. They were the center of existence and relatively close to each other, but pushing yourself through the void came at the cost of pure qi.

  And I hadn’t taken time to rest at the Cosmic Forest.

  I turned back to the Court’s gates.

  There were numerous beings waiting just outside of it, some had even set up shop as peddlers, one even had the emblem of the Celestial Stone and had a line of customers, some from within the court and some from outside of it.

  The Celestial Stone was the largest merchant group in existence. They owned many auction houses throughout existence, but they were not allowed within the Heavens and they kept themselves out of the Hells so as to not be associated with demonic path cultivators.

  But they served both the righteous and the demonic and walked a fine line of being tolerated by both. The Heavens had their own prominent merchant group and so did the Hells.

  I kept looking. There were other men, some camping, others waiting, a few even set up small realms right by the gates and meditated.

  Now that I was looking around, the gates were littered with people who lived beside them.

  I kept my head down and my senses lowered but now that I was looking around, there was clearly a large community of people waiting there. Some, I had thought were awaiting entry, but no they were living here.

  There was a realm just a good few steps away. It was built so close to the perimeters of Heaven that I thought it was a part of its walls.

  The Lesser Heaven Inn, a realm of rest for all below the fifteenth rank.

  A realm for an inn. My mouth opened, then closed. I didn’t need an inn. I could rest here. But a lot of the things I was seeing made sense.

  Some beings couldn’t enter the heavens but by placing themselves right outside of them they were able to remain under their protection without having to play by the rules of Heaven. And apparently the giant God-Kings didn’t seem to mind.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  I settled down for a moment and just focused on recuperating my qi reserves. I watched as beings walked through in and out of the gates.

  Even from the outside, even here at their doorstep, it was astounding. This was the place where all problems could receive fair judgment and people came from all over to receive it. Most of it wouldn’t be done by Nei Lo, but rather by her sect members. Only the most powerful got her attention.

  So why the hell was she standing in front of me?

  I knew who she was in the same way a man knew what the sun was. I looked up and suddenly there was a bright and burning thing so big it could burn me into nothing.

  My first instinct was to frown. I was growing tired of God-Imperiums, but my survival instincts kicked in and immediately I bowed.

  No one else noticed her, or if they did then they weren’t aware of who she was. I only knew because she had revealed herself to me.

  “Raise yourself,” she commented. “I only came because of that thing.”

  She said with a pointing finger. I did as she asked and looked towards where she was pointing.

  It was the Tome.

  It quickly leapt into Nei Lo’s hands and the God-Imperium disappeared.

  ********

  There was no need for an introduction.

  Nei Lo stared at the tiny piece of the Tome, contemplating just shattering it then and there. She didn’t hate the Tome, but she had no love for the thing either.

  She believed some knowledge should be forgotten, but this thing was remembered. It remembered everything.

  “You trespass,” she accused.

  “I do not,” it replied.

  “But you wish to.”

  “I wish to enter your domain and talk with the fulness of my being, should you allow it.”

  “And if I do not?”

  The Tome, or the silver of its existence that stood before her, conveyed indifference.

  “I’ll take it as a refusal then.”

  She didn’t like the thing, but their intentions tended to align with each other’s more often than not.

  She relented and finally nodded, allowing him a temporary place in her court.

  This was a risk on behalf of the Tome. It was willingly putting its main body within her domain, where she held more power than he. There was her nature of course. She was not capable of betrayal, but that was just a limitation.

  There were beings in the Heavens that had qualms with the Tome. She could call them down, aid them if need be. The Tome served many after all, numerous demons were around because of its services. Paceall, a young God-Imperium of the hells, had risen deep from the Hells with the aid of the Tome.

  It desired knowledge and gave it in turn. Knowledge was one of the few resources that you could give and keep.

  The Tome manifested in all of its being and she gave him a place under her. A temporary spot.

  And he was willing to insult any God-Imperium, even her. His power and name were more than enough.

  When two God-Imperiums met, it was something of notice. Many beings watched and many beings speculated on the outcome.

  But this was a bit too much. The Tome could have reached her through other methods. Why use this boy? This unaffiliated immortal.

  She looked at the godling, truly looked for the very first time, and frowned.

  She could see a bit of Wukong and the Tome clinging onto him. Marked but not affiliated, an unknown, possibly even to the highest members of the Lynorian Sects.

  Did they expect treachery within their own forces? How was that possible? A God-Imperium knew all they touched and betrayal among the forces under them was impossible.

  No, someone was watching their forces.

  But what about their forces within Heaven? She did not like the Tome but many of its scholars could be found within her realm and the realms of many of her peers. It could have contacted her through them if he had sought a private meeting.

  “You suspect something?” She asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Even in the Heavens.”

  “Yes,” the Tome replied.

  “I’ve talked with Wukong and he has informed me of the situation.”

  That was her not-so-subtle dismissal of his presence. She was saying she knew everything about the situation and that he could enlighten her no further.

  “Then do you know about those who plot with demons in Heaven?”

  That statement caught her unprepared.

  The Heavens were by no means united. They were not some consolidated force and in Nei Lo’s eyes, some of the Heavens were just as bad as the hells, but they were united in one thing and that was their hatred for the demonic.

  “Who?”

  “I do not know,” it replied.

  “Mere supposition then-”

  “But she is involved.”

  Her eyes widened and her calm face turned stiff. Her qi bubbled and in return, the skies within her realm shook. Justice turned cold and for a moment, all the judges of existence felt a fury like no other twisting deep within their heart.

  Nei Lo felt something she had not felt for eons untold.

  Hatred.

  “Do not test me,” she growled.

  “I speak only the truth.”

  A tight-knit smile danced upon her lips as she sat down and faced the book.

  “Well then, speak.”