Nine Venoms Sect Founder

Chapter 148: Plague Worshipping Cult (1)

Reason spoke for itself. No matter how hard Jiyan wished to argue the opposite, the situation didn't enable her to refute Mehran's words. When even the 1,500 packs, the 1.5 million mutants roaming the Dark Stone City's streets, gathered and kneeled toward the castle, toward Harun, what else could they do? By spreading her senses to the outside, Jiyan spotted the million-man-strong cult, its zeal like an unstoppable hurricane that swept aside all moral principles in its wake. Meanwhile, though Harun remained in a comatose state, hovering in an orb of unbreakable Sovereign Essence, the incense serpent coiling around him only grew larger, now reaching 30 meters. An ominous feeling welled up in Jiyan's chest, as if that serpent's increasing height represented a deepening gap between Harun and her. More than once, she considered having Mukri summon Heavenly Tribulation, but each time, dismissed the thought. 

From beginning to now, Birandar remained quiet. Some assumed that the youth found it hard to fit in, only Mehran could see that unlike the rest of them, he seemed familiar with the phenomenon. Perhaps he could even retrace it to the root, and that bothered him. What did he know that they didn't? For a second, Mehran considered a sneak attack on the new disciple, but reasoned that these times called for unity. Handled well, this disaster could turn into the sword, armor and shield that cemented the Birusk clan's position in the Mountain Edge World. On the mutant topic, Gulseni held similar thoughts, and contacted her brides to prepare them for Mehran's decrees while also monitoring the First and Second Ranges' conditions. 

By now, the barrier covered 30% of the state and expanded faster with every new faith gain. As he pledged, Mehran proclaimed a succession of shocking decrees. First, claiming to follow Lord Revelation's will, he abandoned his Hisyar clan to adopt the Birusk name, removed the royal privileges of all Hisyar clansmen and downgraded them to commoner. Putting his children on a waiting list, Mehran had them join the Salvation Hall and pray Lord Revelation daily to receive his blessings and regain their privileges. Subsequently, he abolished his royal title, downgraded himself to anointed state governor, and proclaimed Lord Revelation, Lord Birusk, as the only sovereign of the Dark Stone Country: the Spiritual Monarch. 

Putting his subordinates and the Desolate Corpses to maximum use, Mehran kick-started an unprecedented propaganda campaign, building lecturing halls, grand statues, and even commissioning songs and paintings to illustrate Lord Birusk's almightiness and the intricate bond uniting him to the Ascended. For indeed, in Mehran's narrative, the mutants became the blessed ones, Ascended Knights handpicked for their loyalty to Harun's lightexisting to purge the unworthy in a storm of blight.

At first, some skepticism endured. But as the days flew by, the mutants' unending prayers and steadfast devotion convinced the most suspicious that those creatures did serve Harun's will. With the Vermilion Brides assisting the artistic side, the propaganda campaign became a stunning success. 

Now, citizens flocked to theaters depicting the chosen ones' rise to Ascended Knights. Promptly after leaving those theaters, they rushed to the Salvation Hall, to Lord Birusk's statues, and other growing places of worship to sing the hymns taught in the lecture hall. With the Vermilion Brides using their celestial powers to perform miracles such as healing the maimed and terminally ill, none felt that they were getting driven into zealotry. Better, they reveled in the new world order where immediate, earthly delight rewarded ardent devotion. Men and women had never been more willing to serve and entrust themselves to the state. Thus, while the neighboring governments collapsed at a terrifying pace, with the Dark Stone City as its center, Mehran's realm stepped into a golden age. 

Meanwhile, the foreign governments experienced a drastic overhauled. Following the mutants' cleanup, all cultivators across the First Range unrelated to Harunperished. Not a single one escaped. Naturally, from the generals to the top civil officials, from the nobles to the royals, all hailed from mortal cultivator houses. The mutants' uprising decimated entire governments overnight, leaving those countries without leadership. As soon as Gulseni gave him the news, Mehran seized the opportunity. Using his organized armies and the Desolate Corpses as dissuasive powers, the former monarch started a large-scale occupation of the First Range, handpicking talented civilians to fill the vacant posts. 

And while the Dark Stone Country took advantage of its momentum to conquer the First Range la Deus Vult, the mutants' hordes dropped on the Second Range, where celestial lords, divine rulers and sects kept mortals in a quasi-slave status.

In recent times, three prominent factions clashed against internal and external threats as they attempted to replace their fallen leaders: the Uncorrupted Crane Sect, the Armored Bull Army and the Flame Spirit Kingdom. Previously, all three used their masters' hegemonic positions in the Second Range to run amok. But after the fall of the Crane Mistress, Bull Commander and Flame Spirit King, not only did their subordinates attempt to seize power, but enemy factions now carried covert attacks on their influence. 

All that stopped with the mutants' appearance. A pack of 1,000 humanoid mutants strode toward the Flame Spirit Kingdom's border walls. Each carrying massive boulders in one hand, they circled an emerald direwolf, with four antennae protruding from his forehead. Dazzling rays flashed in the direwolf's ink-like eyessetting him aside from his peers. At the border, 6,000 Celestial Kin commanded by two dozen Celestial Guards and a handful of Celestial Knights, guarded the 80-meters-tall walls. In usual times, the Flame Spirit Kingdom wouldn't dispatch such experts for a mere border wall. But as their three remaining Gods had thrown the celestial state into civil war, they had to watch out for invaders. 

Leaving watch-duty to their subordinates, the Knights cultivated in seclusion. Consequently, by the time the inept guards spotted the enemy, it was too late.

"Strike," the direwolf ordered in a mental message, and without the tiniest delay, the 1,000 mutants hurled their boulders at the border walls. Thrown by quasi-divine strength, the 1,000 boulders became flaming meteors that blasted through the border walls before any of the guards could react. 

"Holy mo" sensing the chaos and impending tragedy, one the three Celestial Knights cursed, but was squashed into broken organs and flying limbs before he could ever finish his words. With sheer luck, one of the three survived the first salvo with minimal wounds. But luck alone never carries a man too far. Thus, as he turned heels and ran for his life, the direwolf sent his second order: "Excavate and strike." The mutants needn't hear it twice, and with their hands, claws or whatever served that purpose, extracted new projectiles from the ground to batter what remained of the border army into pieces. 

"Hunt," the last of three dreadful orders resounded in the mutants' minds. Breaking into a feral dance, they launched themselves at the Flame Spirit Kingdom's cultivation world, traversing all cities to tear every single celestial into pieces. At the end of the carnage, the mutants captured all three deities, forced their way into the Flame Spirit Kingdom's treasury, and collected all the sect tokens stashed within. Leaping on top of the royal palace, the direwolf planted a dark-green banner on the roof. It read three simple words:

"Plague Worshipping Cult."