Bonus Chapter at 50 PS
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The atmosphere over the heart of Shenzhou had grown heavy, burdened by an unnatural, suffocating pressure. It was not the weight of the air, but the weight of a foreign, hostile presence carving itself into the earth.
Kali's command had been absolute. Across the globe, her "children" acted with singular purpose.
In the remote wilderness of Shenzhou, the ground erupted. Towers of pulsating, calcified bone and raw, exposed flesh thrust upward from the soil like jagged teeth breaking through gums. They were not merely structures; they were gargantuan bio-hives, growing with sickening speed, absorbing the nutrients of the land and the very essence of the local ecosystem.
These were the Divine Mountains.
Perched atop a nearby ridge, Fu Hua watched the horizon. Her eyes, usually calm and reflective, were now narrowed, glowing with a faint, volatile golden light. The mantle of the "Celestial" was no longer a title she wore with resignation—it was a weapon she was preparing to unsheathe.
"So, this is the 'salvation' she speaks of."
Her voice was low, devoid of its usual warmth. She could feel the sickening rhythm emanating from the spires—a heartbeat that was not of this world. It was a rhythmic, gluttonous pulse that demanded the vitality of the world to sustain its growth.
The air around her began to shimmer as she channeled her internal energy. The ancient technique of the Edge of Taixuan pulsed within her. She was no longer just an observer; she was the land's final line of defense against the encroaching rot.
She took a single step, and the ridge beneath her feet shattered under the sheer intensity of her focus.
"If the heavens will not strike you down for this blasphemy," Fu Hua whispered, her resolve sharpening into a cold, lethal point, "then I shall do it myself."
She leaped. She became a golden streak of light, a blazing comet descending upon the first of the Divine Mountains. As she moved, the very atmosphere seemed to part for her, the force of her momentum creating a thunderous wake that echoed across the plains.
At that moment, the Divine Mountain responded. From its porous, meaty surface, thousands of "living blood threads"—Kali's progeny—swarmed outward. They formed massive, writhing tendrils that lashed out like whips, seeking to shred the intruder.
Fu Hua did not slow down. She did not falter.
Clang!
The sound was not that of metal striking bone, but of a bell tolling for the end of an era. With a single, fluid motion, she manifested her true power—the power that had sustained her through centuries of protecting this land.
Gold light exploded, vaporizing the tendrils into fine red mist. She punched through the outer shell of the Divine Mountain, her fist driving into the core of the hive.
She felt the structure scream. It was a primal, alien sound that resonated in her very marrow.
"I am the Celestial," she declared, her voice amplifying until it sounded like the rumble of the earth itself. "And this land... is not your pasture."
With a roar of released energy, she unleashed the full weight of her technique. The Divine Mountain did not just break; it detonated from the inside out, scattering fragments of bone and flesh across the landscape like a grotesque, lethal rain.
The war had truly begun.