The night before her coronation, Qin Zheng summons Zetian to his throne room, the repurposed banquet hall where she once met Gao Qiu. She finds him slumped over a desk strewn with maps and casualty reports detailing intensifying Hundun attacks along the Han coast and the Zhou frontier, evidence he's been redeploying Chrysalises and refusing sleep. When she reaches toward him, he reflexively pins her with a spirit metal blade, then releases her on recognizing her.

Zetian notices Qin Zheng is feverish and dismissive of his own limits. He fixes his crooked crown antler with her help, then carries her to her wheelchair and pushes her down the hall to the chrysanthemum room where she once met Gao Qiu and Shimin. He locks her armor immobile and ushers her inside.

Inside waits Sima Yi, now installed as the new Chairman of the Sages. Zetian erupts in fury, accusing him of orchestrating Shimin's death; Sima Yi counters that the former Sages had cause, citing her torture-killing of Strategist An Lushan. Qin Zheng warns Sima Yi to moderate his tone and reveals that, as the gods' envoy, Sima Yi is entitled to the highest government post.

Sima Yi recounts being contacted via his tablet with an unfakeable video of Huaxia from orbit, convincing him the Heavenly Court is real. The video then vanished. Zetian deduces that the gods communicate only through technology, which is why Qin Zheng's avoidance of digital devices forced them to recruit a third party—implying their reach is limited, not supernatural. Qin Zheng confirms killing Sima Yi would only prompt replacement and punishment.

Sima Yi delivers his first divine message: he plays a recording of Zetian's private conversation with Qieluo questioning Hundun consciousness, proving the gods' surveillance is pervasive. He warns her to stop such discussions. Zetian, armor crushing her breath, is left terrified by the gods' reach, Sima Yi's authority, and Qin Zheng's likely anger over what was overheard.