The tremors at Kings Park sent tourists screaming and scattering, the ground heaving as if the Earth itself wanted to split apart. Trees thrashed violently, leaves shredded by unseen force, while the sky over Perth shimmered with unnatural ripples of light.
Karma's body moved before thought. He pulled Kiki against him, shielding her until the quake eased. Sirens blared in the distance, helicopters roared overhead, and every phone around them buzzed with emergency alerts.
"Kiki… go back for now," he said quietly, steadying her by the shoulders. His gaze never left the horizon, where faint ripples of light shimmered like the aftermath of thunder.
She opened her mouth to argue, but the calm steel in his eyes silenced her. With a reluctant nod, she left with the crowd, casting one last glance at him before disappearing.
Karma stayed behind for a long moment, staring upward. This… this isn't natural. Not an earthquake.
This felt older. Deeper. His mind scrambled, dragging up fragments of myths he had devoured as a boy.
What if it's not a quake at all? What if it's something waking up? An ancient devil buried beneath the earth… or a god the old stories whispered of. Kailas… isn't that where myths say Shiva rests? What if the mountain wasn't just sacred—it was a seal?
He swallowed hard, the air thick with unease. Another thought struck him cold.Or… did the Su Clan's envoys do something? Did they break open what shouldn't have been touched?
"Mira," he whispered in his mind. "You're supposed to guide me. Do you know What is happening?"
Her voice was soft, almost hesitant.
"I… don't know, Karma. These fluctuations aren't of the type my core was built to analyze. They are neither Dao nor spiritual anomalies as I understand them. They're… older. Like rules written before cultivation itself. Be careful."
Karma's fists tightened. If even Mira had no answers, then whatever this was stood beyond the frameworks he knew.
By the time he returned to the Ritz, the city was unraveling. Guests huddled in the lobby whispering about doomsday, television screens blared nonstop coverage of glowing sites around the world.
Inside his suite, Karma muted the blaring anchors but kept his eyes fixed on the feed. Mt. Kailas towered on the screen, split by a crystalline column of light that tore into the sky. Around its base, armies moved like ants. Tanks, jets, entire divisions—nations scrambling for control of something they couldn't begin to comprehend.
"…what is happening?" he muttered again, though the words felt hollow.
Meanwhile, at the Williams estate, unease bled through marble halls. Guards whispered of "the end," servants trembled, and even the hardened private security traded nervous glances.
Inside the great chamber, Su Liana, Su Chen, and Grand Elder Yuan faced William. The tycoon's usual veneer of confidence cracked, his forehead damp with sweat.
"I have no answers," William admitted, his voice unsteady. "Not even my contacts in Delhi or Beijing can explain this. They only say the world is—changing. That mountain, Kailas, has always been called sacred. Now…" He trailed off, helpless.
Su Liana's expression sharpened, but her tone remained composed. "Then we turn to our own." She raised a jade communicator, threads of light flickering as she reached across the void.
One by one, reports from scattered envoys trickled in. Grim voices spoke of:
Tombs humming awake in deserts.
Forgotten altars glowing in jungles.
Rivers of energy bursting from faultless ground.
But when she sought Su Hanming and Su Yaoqin—elders of Nascent Soul rank—there was only silence.
Her brows furrowed. She tried again, harder, her essence burning into the link. Still nothing.
"Two elders… missing," she whispered, her voice tight. "And ten Void Realm guards with them."
Elder Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly, though his voice carried no panic. "Hanming and Yaoqin are not green disciples. They've walked the Nascent Soul path for centuries. For them to fall silent here…" He let the words hang, the weight heavier than any outburst could have been.
Su Liana tried once more, this time reaching Su Xinyi—a Sacred Realm elder. The reply came swift, the woman's tone steady, clipped, commanding.
"We traced Hanming and Yaoqin's path. They moved toward a mysterious mountain shortly before the light erupted. Whatever lies beneath that mountain stirred when they arrived. If they are trapped, it means this disturbance resists even Nascent Souls. We should Proceed with utmost caution."
Relaying the words, Su Liana's knuckles whitened around the jade.
The chamber fell into silence until Elder Yuan's voice, steady as a mountain, filled it.
"This world has worn a mask of mortality for countless ages. Yet beneath it lie veins of truth too vast for its people to glimpse. These tremors are not accidents—they are awakenings. And if two Nascent Souls cannot return, then what stirs is not merely a hidden realm… but something far older. Treat it with respect."
Su Liana straightened, determination hardening her face. "Then we search again. Expand the net. I will not abandon my people."
But before she could act, the communicator in her palm pulsed violently. A voice, ragged and chaotic, tore through.
"…Another world… help…"
Then silence.
The glow died.
Even William felt the blood drain from his face. "Another… world?" he whispered.
Elder Yuan's eyes narrowed, deep as the abyss. "So. Not a hidden realm after all. But a parallel world, tethered here since before memory. If its gate stirs now… Earth will not remain untouched."
Late that night, the world's militaries converged like vultures on Kailas.
India declared the region a restricted military zone, armored columns and mountain divisions already digging into the ridges.China mirrored the move, massing entire battalions and declaring that any foreign aircraft would be "eliminated without hesitation."Russia dispatched covert spetsnaz units under cover of night, satellites shifting to lock eyes on the mountain.The United States scrambled fleets in the Indian Ocean, black-ops strike teams ghosting toward Tibet, drones circling like hawks.
And yet, all their efforts were meaningless.
None of their radars could pierce the luminous veil.None of their weapons could measure the energy boiling out of the peak.
From orbit, the barrier shone like a second sun. On the ground, soldiers and civilians alike could only gape as Mt. Kailas glowed—no longer a mountain, but a beacon.
As if the Earth itself had opened a door to something it had hidden for far too long.