The sky above the Celestial Tribunal cracked like shattered glass, golden fragments of divine energy raining down upon the grand court. Thousands of celestial beings—gods, immortals, and sages—stood in silent judgment, their glowing eyes fixed upon the lone figure kneeling before the throne of the Heavenly Emperor.
Jiang Chen, once the revered Scholar of the Eternal Dao, was now a condemned man. His pristine white robes, once embroidered with celestial glyphs, were tattered, stained with divine lightning from the punishment he had already endured.
The Heavenly Emperor, adorned in robes of shifting galaxies, spoke with a voice that shook the heavens.
"Jiang Chen, you have defied the celestial order. You sought knowledge beyond the divine decree. The wisdom you sought threatens the balance of existence itself."
Jiang Chen's lips curled into a smirk despite his wounds. "Knowledge is not a crime, Your Majesty. Fear of the unknown is."
A murmur rippled through the assembled immortals. Some nodded in agreement, while others scowled in disapproval. The Elders of the Tribunal—ancient beings who dictated the flow of fate—tightened their grips on their celestial staffs.
One of them, an old sage with a beard like flowing mist, stepped forward. "You sought to unravel the Great Veil, to glimpse the truths hidden even from the gods. Such arrogance cannot go unpunished."
Jiang Chen chuckled, shaking his head. "The Veil hides not truth, but your own ignorance. You fear that if mortals and immortals alike knew what lay beyond, the very foundation of your rule would crumble."
The tribunal erupted into angered whispers. The Heavenly Emperor raised his hand, silencing them. His expression remained unreadable, but his next words carried a finality that sent a chill through the divine court.
"Jiang Chen, for your defiance, you shall be exiled to the mortal realm. Your divine core shall be sealed. Your memories shall be fragmented. You will walk among mortals as one of them, never to regain your place among the heavens."
A sudden force gripped Jiang Chen, the divine chains binding his wrists glowing with an unbearable light.
He did not resist.
As the Heavenly Emperor lifted his hand, the very laws of the celestial plane twisted. The sky cracked open into a swirling abyss of golden and black energy—a Celestial Banishment Rift.
Jiang Chen took one last look at the divine realm, at the scholars who once studied under him, at the immortals who feared what he had uncovered. His smirk remained.
"Let's see how long your truth holds," he whispered.
And with that, he was cast down from the heavens.