by Minser
In 1421, nine crimson meteors crash into Ming China, unleashing the "Spiritual Tide"—a virus granting supernatural powers to survivors. These "Spirituals" are divided by ability: Light Spirits (healing, warmth) and Shadow Spirits (cold, stealth). Society distorts this into prejudice—"Light noble, Shadow base." The court establishes the Spirit Bureau to register Spirituals and selects nine powerful ones—the "Nine Heavens"—to maintain order. But power corrupts: the Nine collude with aristocrats, impose crushing "Spirit Taxes," and oppress commoners and Shadow Spirits alike. A peasant boy named Guang—possessing pure Light Spirit power—loses his parents to brutal tax collectors. Rescued by the idealistic official Sage Qingyuan, he grows up witnessing injustice. At the northern border, he fights alongside Shadow Spirit soldiers, befriending a Shadow Spirit named Darknight, forming bonds across the spiritual divide. He discovers the Nine Heavens and the court are rotten to the core. Returning to the capital, Guang uncovers a conspiracy to poison the Emperor. With Sage Qingyuan's foster daughter Wanzhou—a brilliant strategist—and his friend Darknight, he exposes the plot. But the new Emperor, controlled by the Nine Heavens, brands him a rebel. Forced north, Guang issues a manifesto denouncing the regime, and the northern army rallies. After years of war, he captures Peking, abolishes spiritual discrimination, and founds the Divine Dynasty with Wanzhou as his Empress and partner in governance. But a century later, The dynasty has declined: prejudice resurfaces, taxes soar, and the people suffer under a tyrannical ruler. An old loyal minister stands before the portraits of Guang and Wanzhou in the old capital, silently vowing to restore their ideals—setting the stage for the main story.
