Kiana Kaslana looked at the serpent demon, now transformed into human form exactly as she had envisioned, and nodded with satisfaction.
Through Honkai energy, she could predefine the appearance a monster would take after transformation—ensuring it wouldn't turn into some unsightly creature.
The transformed white serpent resembled a flawlessly crafted 3D model—utterly exquisite, without a single flaw.
"Thank you, exalted one! Your grace in granting me this new form is something this humble serpent will never forget!" The white snake knelt and kowtowed three times to Kiana Kaslana.
She could feel it—she had completely shed her bestial nature, becoming something akin to an immortal.
Yet... it didn't quite feel the same as being a true immortal.
"No need to call me 'exalted one.' Just call me Kiana. You may rise now."
"Yes, Miss Kiana."
The white snake stood up and gazed at the elegant, noble white-haired girl before her with awe and gratitude. Years of cautious cultivation were nothing compared to a single encounter with such a benefactor.
Absorbing that purple crystal flower of condensed Honkai energy had done more for her than a thousand years of training—she had only cultivated for a few hundred herself.
This Miss Kiana was truly formidable!
Her reverence deepened. Could this Miss Kiana be a celestial maiden from the heavens?
Thank goodness she wasn't here to exterminate demons.
Recalling Kiana's earlier words, the white serpent's heart leapt with joy.
Had she... been accepted as the celestial maiden's mount?
At that moment, a gentle female voice interrupted her thoughts. "Miss Kiana, is this our new little sister?"
"Who's there?" The white serpent turned toward the voice, her eyes gleaming with caution.
A beautiful woman had appeared without a sound.
Nie Xiaoqian smiled warmly at her. "Don't be nervous, little sister. I'm Miss Kiana's handmaiden."
Since the death of the tree demon matron, she had followed Kiana Kaslana from Lanruo Temple to the present day.
Along the way, this immensely powerful Kiana had been collecting lesser female spirits one after another.
Besides this white serpent, she had already taken in a fox spirit, a peony flower spirit, and a peach blossom tree spirit.
"Your true form is a white serpent, so I'll call you Shirohebi from now on," Kiana Kaslana said.
"Yes, Miss Kiana," the white serpent replied respectfully.
"Let's go back."
With that, Kiana Kaslana led the white serpent and Nie Xiaoqian back to the Honkai base.
In this world, nearly all human nations were already under the control of the Chosen Ones. Bases were being established everywhere in preparation for an assault on the realms where gods and buddhas resided.
Even the most powerful extraordinary humans—those gifted with mystical or martial might, capable of fighting a hundred men—were nothing before the Chosen Ones.
Not to mention the Chosen Ones themselves—even the civil servants who had been summoned could massacre entire armies with nothing more than automatic rifles.
The only true threats were the gods and buddhas sealed away within their dimensional realms.
Upon returning to the Honkai base, Kiana Kaslana saw the ghost bride, her body now radiating with Honkai energy, float out of a nearby room.
Upon seeing the three women, the ghost bride quickly lowered her head and drifted away.
"Lady Thelema, someone's—someone's here!" came Songque's hurried voice from within a room whose automatic metal door had not yet closed.
Moments later, Songque and Thelema emerged.
Thelema paused when she saw Kiana Kaslana.
"Lady Kiana, what brings you here?"
"Why? Am I not allowed to come? Did I interrupt something?"
Kiana Kaslana looked at Thelema and Songque with a half-smile.
Songque chuckled awkwardly. "Of course not, of course not. Someone like you can go wherever you please."
They both knew who she was—Kiana Kaslana, the mother of Bronya and Sirin, a supreme being at the level of the Final Herrscher.
Even their own goddesses had to behave properly in her presence.
Kiana Kaslana crossed her arms. "You two should be more mindful of where you are. This isn't Mars."
"Understood, we'll be careful next time," Songque replied quickly, nodding repeatedly.
"Good. Now, do you have anything going on lately?" Kiana asked.
"Us? No, nothing at all!" Songque answered.
"Then good—you're going to the underworld."
The underworld was the only dimensional realm still connected to the physical world after the Heavenly Court and other realms had been severed.
"Why the underworld?" Thelema asked in confusion.
"To take it over," Kiana Kaslana replied calmly. "Ideally, we'll cleanse the entire Netherworld."
She had already observed that the underworld's order had collapsed—demons and spirits had divided the land among themselves.
"Just the two of us?" Songque and Thelema exchanged wide-eyed glances.
"Two might be too many. Songque, why don't you go alone? That should be enough."
Kiana Kaslana smiled at her.
"N-no, no, I'll go with Lady Thelema!" Songque waved her hands frantically. She had no desire to venture into the underworld by herself.
At that moment, Sirin's body was reconstructed within the Honkai base, nanomaterials rapidly forming her physical vessel.
Sirin floated to Kiana Kaslana's side, her eyes opening as she scanned the gathered women.
Then she turned toward Kiana.
"Mom, are you interested in this world?"
"Somewhat," Kiana Kaslana replied, raising her gaze toward the sky. "This world is conscious."
The world had once sought to sever its gods and erase mysticism. But after their arrival, that suppression had begun to fade, and mysticism was returning.
Heavenly Dao, planetary consciousness—Gaia, whatever one might call it—in a world where even grass and trees could gain sentience, it was hardly strange for the entire planet to possess awareness.
This living world reacted to its own internal changes, adapting accordingly.
And clearly, the planet regarded them as enemies.
"Something like a living planet?" Sirin asked.
"Similar—but not exactly," Kiana replied.
"It's time for you two to go to the underworld."
"Forget it, I'll send you myself."
Kiana Kaslana looked at Songque and Thelema, waving her hand to open a black vortex leading to the Netherworld.
"Wait, I'm not ready yet—!" Songque shouted as she felt the pull of the vortex behind her. Her expression shifted in panic just before she was sucked in. Thelema, on the other hand, remained calm as she was drawn in as well.
The vortex vanished once they disappeared.
"Mom, what are you planning to do?" Sirin asked curiously.
"Have you ever heard the saying, 'I will not become a Buddha until hell is empty'?"
"And if someone truly could empty hell—could she become a Buddha then?"
This world's laws operated on both punishment and reward. Kiana Kaslana intended to help Songque earn this world's reward.
As long as souls continued to flow into hell, it would never be empty.
But Kiana had a way—to sever the link between the mortal world and the underworld, preventing new souls from entering.
Then, the result would be simple: hell would stand empty, and evil spirits would roam the living world.
...
The underworld.
A vast gray expanse—gloomy, desolate, utterly devoid of life.
There was no sun or moon here, no day or night.
Songque was the first to land, with Thelema following close behind, landing squarely atop Songque's waist.