At three thousand paces above the underground deep pit, Lin Tao and Tie Shan climbed out of the upright throat of the Stygian Deep gap. Their boots stepped onto the wind-scoured granite rim of the Continental Rift.
Dawn was breaking over the Southern Sovereign Basin.
The sickly violet soft glow that had choked the sky for days was fully gone. In its place rose a brilliant, golden sunrise that painted the morning clouds in rich amber, rose, and gold. A warm, sweet breeze blew across the plateau from the south. It carried the scent of flowering clover, wet cedar pine, and fertile mountain soil revitalized by the clean rains of the liberated Yellow Springs.
Beside Lin Tao, Tie Shan took three heavy, deliberate strides forward. His broad chest rose and falling in deep, victorious breaths.
With a final, triumphant grunt, the giant lowered the twenty-one-ton star-iron clan totem from his shoulder, planting the massive six-sided base three feet deep into the solid mountain stone of the summit rim.
BOOM!
The mountain root rang out with a clean, deep chime that echoed across forty leagues of open mountain valleys.
Across the plateau, thousands of mortal militia soldiers, stonecutters from Mount Taiyi, Azure River farmers, and clan elders were standing in silent, awe-struck ranks.
