Shiji: I Am the Green Mountain

I am Shiji, a stubborn stone formed from the primordial earth veins and destined to be a sacrificial offering on the Investiture of the Gods.

They say this is my fate, a rule laid down by Heaven.

But I refuse to accept it.

I’m just a stone, and I still want to ask Heaven: why?

When the decree of the Primordial Celestial Venerable descended, when the Nine-Dragon Divine Fire Shield of Taiyi Zhenren rose, and when all the primordial world waited for me to turn to ash...

I took the earth veins for my bones, baleful energy for my blood, and this battered body, tempered by heavenly tribulations, and smashed the stars of the firmament, devoured the source of divine fire, and snapped a Golden Immortal’s horsetail whisk.

They say I have become a demon.

Then a demon I shall be.

The demonic path is free and unfettered, the demonic heart knows no bounds, and I make the rules for demons.

Skeleton Mountain is my domain, the earth veins are my meridians, and the baleful energy of the ancient battlefield is my fuel.

The Golden Spirit Holy Mother of the Jie Sect has sent an envoy to form an alliance, and Yang Jian, Nezha, and Deng Chanyu are willing to defy fate with me.

From now on, these ten thousand li of southeastern territory will live by my rules, Shiji’s.

But that is not enough.

I have seen the cracks in Heaven’s Way and sensed, deep within its laws, a cold, foul presence that does not belong to the primordial world.

So this world is unjust because Heaven itself... is sick.

Then I shall be its physician.

I will become the blade that cuts open this rotten Heaven’s Way, and the fire of my will that burns away the foreign corruption.

In this life, I do not seek sainthood or immortality.

I only wish for the green mountains to remain whole, and my path to endure forever.

The rules?

I’ll make them.