Chapter 5: The General’s Alarm and a Goddess’s Unexpected Flight

Zhang Junzhong, a retired old general, was visiting Ruohua Mountain today with his family and descendants for sightseeing.

However, it seemed he had forgotten to consult the almanac before leaving home today.

The sudden, cataclysmic changes that had occurred earlier almost sent him into a ‘life flashing before his eyes’ state. He had believed it was his last day, but unexpectedly, the anomaly abruptly ceased.

In a single instant, everything returned to tranquility, as if nothing had ever happened.

However,

Just as he was secretly breathing a sigh of relief, a dazzling white light suddenly erupted from the peak of Ruohua Mountain.

This sudden turn of events instantly put the seasoned old general on high alert once more. He gazed at the mountain peak, lost in thought, instinctively sensing a connection between the previous world-altering anomaly and the light now emanating from the summit.

Simultaneously, he felt a surge of worry, even suspicion, regarding the young person he had encountered earlier. If his memory served him right, that young person was currently on the mountain peak.

With this thought, Zhang Junzhong turned to look at the group of his trembling, somewhat disgraceful descendants behind him.

“Little Zhao! Go notify the Cangyang Military Region and tell them to seal off Ruohua Mountain immediately. The younger generation should leave at once. The rest of you, come with me to investigate!”

“Elder Zhang! Please be careful! It might be better to wait for the military personnel to arrive before ascending. There could be danger!”

“The person on the peak might also be in danger. Moreover, if we don’t go now, we might not find them later.” Having spoken, Zhang Junzhong unhesitatingly sprinted towards the nearby mountain peak.

“Grandpa, wait!” Zhang Wu called out, a hint of awkwardness in their voice.

‘This is far too impulsive….’

Watching Zhang Junzhong’s receding figure, Zhang Wu exchanged troubled glances with the others.

With a helpless sigh, they steeled themselves and gave chase.

****

At this moment,

On the peak of Ruohua Mountain,

‘Wuwuwu…’

‘My month’s salary is gone again!!!’

Staring at her shattered phone, Lin Ling felt a profound sense of despair, almost to the point of tears.

At the same time, she was astonished by her new body. Unconsciously, she had generated such immense grip strength, suggesting that the Light Cluster had indeed bestowed some formidable power upon her.

‘It really feels like a dream…’

‘No!’

‘This isn’t the time to dwell on that!’

‘Someone’s coming!’

At this moment, aided by her superhuman hearing, Lin Ling easily discerned the approaching footsteps of several groups drawing closer to the mountain peak.

‘This is a bit troublesome…’

‘After all, in my current state, I clearly don’t look like a normal human, do I? What ordinary person on Blue Star has silver hair and golden eyes!?’

‘It’s not like I’m in the world of a Japanese anime.’

‘And that blinding white light from when my body was being reformed—there’s a good chance people will mistake me for an alien.’ Realizing this, Lin Ling decided to make a swift escape.

However, the thought that she was currently at the summit, with people approaching on the path up, left her momentarily at a loss.

“Damn it, what do I do!?”

Lin Ling was rapidly brainstorming viable solutions. Although her current thought process was far quicker than an ordinary person’s, she was unfortunately constrained by her human way of thinking, preventing her from devising a suitable escape method immediately.

She began to frantically look around, seemingly without a clear direction.

Meanwhile, the Light Cluster beside her watched its ‘little daughter’ as if she were an idiot.

‘Alright,’

‘This is just… incredible.’

‘Sigh, I suppose I’ll help you.’

Thus, under Lin Ling’s astonished and slightly terrified gaze, the Light Cluster suddenly flared with brilliant white light, instantly darted towards Lin Ling’s chest, and merged into her body.

‘Huh? What?’

‘This… what in the world is happening now!?’

Evidently, Lin Ling, who possessed no basic knowledge of spiritual energy manipulation, was once again startled by the Light Cluster’s audacious move. She hastily fumbled at her chest.

Instead, she inexplicably found herself blushing intensely.

This left the Light Cluster within Lin Ling feeling somewhat speechless.

Subsequently,

The Light Cluster’s voice suddenly resonated within Lin Ling’s mind:

“What’s the rush, you silly girl! Control your spiritual energy to lift your body, and you can fly. Then, envelop your body with spiritual energy, and they won’t be able to see you clearly. Or, you could try striking their souls with spiritual energy; that would make them briefly unconscious.”

‘????’

‘Big Sister? What Martian language are you speaking?’

Upon hearing this, Lin Ling’s expression was utterly bewildered, as if she were recalling the terror of being dominated by advanced mathematics in the past.

“Can you speak like a normal person?! What is spiritual energy? How do I control it? I don’t understand anything!”

“When you were in the cycle of reincarnation, weren’t you using it every day? How could you forget now?”

“Didn’t you seal my reincarnation memories? Are you messing with me!?”

‘……..’

It seemed the great Creator had momentarily forgotten this detail, and also that humanity itself was not a civilization that developed through spiritual energy.

Thus, Lin Ling did not possess the fundamental common sense that it believed she should have.

Instantly, the atmosphere grew incredibly eerie.

‘Uh,’

Seeing that the Light Cluster had suddenly fallen silent, Lin Ling couldn’t help but speak:

“???? Hey, speak up… Hello? Are you still there? Konnichiwa!…”

However, only a deathly silence answered Lin Ling.

‘This…’

Yet, after a brief, unsettling silence, the voice spoke again. It remained gentle, still divine, but its words were utterly provoking.

“Jump off the cliff. You won’t die.”

“I’ll be damned—”

‘What kind of godforsaken suggestion is that?!’

Lin Ling was cursing vehemently in her mind.

But,

Seeing that people were about to reach the summit, Lin Ling, left with no other choice, picked up her bag and shattered phone, then ran towards the cliff.

Though she didn’t know why, Lin Ling felt that the Light Cluster wouldn’t deceive her.

However, the moment she took a single step,

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The instant her foot met the earth, the ground abruptly cracked, forming a massive crater several tens of meters wide. The entire Ruohua Mountain began to tremble violently, and countless animals scattered in panic.

Meanwhile, Zhang Junzhong and the others, who had just reached the summit, felt the intense tremor and an indescribable, unknown oppressive force. They involuntarily collapsed to their knees, some with weaker constitutions even fainting outright.

In that moment, Zhang Junzhong once again experienced the terror of brushing shoulders with death, his heart unable to settle for a long time.

On Lin Ling’s side, however, this uncontrollable power had already sent her soaring rapidly towards the horizon.

“Ahhh! So high, so high! I’m going to die, I’m going to die! Ahh!”

As she watched the mountains and various buildings rapidly shrinking below, heart-wrenching screams involuntarily escaped Lin Ling’s lips. Her exquisite face, contorted by extreme fear, took on a somewhat comical appearance.

“Ahhh, I have acrophobia!”

Light Cluster: “…………I feel like something isn’t quite right.”