Chapter 24

At dawn, a massive crowd answers Kitay’s call for shaman recruits despite age limits. Rin culls by endurance and a pain test, reducing the group to four: Dulin, Pipaji, Merchi, and Lianhua. She warns of insanity and death, then begins instruction on the Pantheon, struggling to translate theory into practice as early drug-fueled attempts fail.

Kitay reveals a salvaged Hesperian dirigible and its coal constraints. His insight about reproducing “original working circumstances” inspires Rin to trigger divine contact through trauma. Forcing the recruits to confront their worst memories, she has them try again. Pipaji succeeds first, channeling a poison goddess; in a loss of control she infects Merchi, who dies despite Rin’s attempt to save him. Pipaji flees to a cliff, but Rin stops her, hardens her resolve with brutal candor, and reframes her power as vengeance and protection.

Breakthroughs follow. Lianhua calls a healing goddess, erasing her scars, mending animals, and curing Rin’s ribs (but not restoring her missing hand). Dulin summons the Great Tortoise as devouring earth, opening sinkholes and, later, triggering a violent shockwave. Rin moves training far onto the plateau to prevent collateral damage and drills timing, dosage, and limits.

Field tests reveal Pipaji’s poison can spread through soil and water; when a pond turns black and its creatures die, Rin conceives a strategy to poison Arlong’s river, the Dragon’s anchor sustaining Nezha. After sending the recruits back, Rin builds a rough cairn to honor Jiang, condemning his cowardice even as she acknowledges he saved her.

Returning energized, Rin declares they will march immediately. With three functional shamans, Merchi dead, and Kitay close to flight-testing the dirigible, she aims to seize initiative in the east, betting that speed and targeted shamanic strikes—especially poisoning Arlong—can unseat Nezha.