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// Pandaria: Negativity in the Mountains 
// Story: Sunset Shimmer: Path of the Damned 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Once Taylor had figured out who would be joining them on their venture to Kun-Lai Summit, exactly one fourth of the army that had been put together at the time the command had been given, Sunset began the death march towards the fourth zone she was interested in exploring. Part of their force would be flying around the edge of the mountain, the eastern side so they didn't tip their hand to the Mantid swarm that was in the Dread Wastes, while she and everyone else would pass through a hidden passage, one several pandaren knew about and she obtained that knowledge when she raised them into undeath. According to the information part of the path would take them through the Veiled Stair, a not so hidden place that was traveled by many, hence the stairs at the base of the mountain in the Valley of the Four Winds, traveled by many while no one really lived in this province, save for a tavern that she ransacked. Other than that she found a cave system infested with Saurok, where a portion of Taylor's forces surged through it and slaughtered their enemies with ease, allowing them to be risen as soldiers of the Scourge, which vastly improved their intelligence and fighting capabilities.

When she found the passage, connected to a river, Sunset discovered that there were more Saurok in the mountains and ordered the entire area to be cleansed, which her forces did without delay as her val'kyr raised the fallen once more, but as she did that she discovered something interesting, the pandaren village at the end of the passage was under attack.

"Would you look at that, someone is doing my job for me... I don't know if I should be flattered or mildly annoyed." Sunset remarked, where she decided to have her army stay back for a moment as she flew up into the air to get a better look at the situation she had discovered, only to find that bipedal yak people, most of them close to orcs in terms of muscles, who were in the middle of dealing with some archers, "Either way, these Yaungol are as good as dead."

In that moment her army emerged from the passage and invaded Kun-Lai Summit, where at first the pandaren cheered, as if they thought reinforcements had arrived to save them, but screams of terror erupted from everyone as her soldiers slaughtered them and the val'kyr raised them as soldiers of Death. Sunset started them off by landing in front of the force of Yaungol and swung her runeblade at a few of them, cutting them down in seconds as she realized that she was much stronger than her enemies, hence why her predecessor was able to beat the heroes of Azeroth and only lost to a trick, a trait she shared with him. She sighed after thinking about that, after realizing that there were no worthy foes that could give her a challenge, before drawing back as the val'kyr got to work and sent the raised Yaungol at their former allies, just like what happened in the past, allowing her to watch as her forces started to spread out over Kun-Lai Summit. Of course she had several targets that needed to be taken care of, namely the Jinyu village that was near the one she had invaded just now, not to mention the temple of another powerful beast that needed to be converted to Death, to join the others in tearing into the Mantid, before she worried about the Shado-Pan's base of operations.

Sunset knew that Taran Zhu wasn't dead, no he was too stubborn to be slain by sending him off the airship, and based on what she understood he must have retreated to the fortress he ruled over, to make sure they were ready for when she arrived to free the rest of the Sha. She knew that three were here, in this province, and since she found Doubt and Despair already, while having a glimpse as to where Fear rested, she felt that the other three were Anger, Hatred, and Violence, a fact that made her wonder about the seventh Prime Sha once more. Based on the other Sha, and what she had gathered from all of the pandaren she had slain and raised, giving her access to various stories even though part of her wanted to kill that one figure with the red serpent, she suspected that the last one was Pride. To Sunset it made sense, given that she could feel that the prison of the last Sha and knew that it was stronger than the others that came before it, meaning it had be to something as potent as Pride, though she suspected that once she claimed the remaining four she'd be able to find the last prison and end her assault on Pandaria.

By the time her forces cleared out the first portion of Kun-Lai Summit, crushing both the Yaungol and the Jinyu, Sunset set her sights on the Yaungol camps that were spread around the province and focused on taking them down, even though she also knew there was a few Hozen camps and an area full of Mogu statues. Her forces didn't need to be told what to do in this situation, they slaughtered the living, raised the fallen to serve their new master, and the Mogu were forced to join the other races as well, she wasn't about to left them off easy. While they did that, however, she stood in an area that was to the west of the passage her forces used to reach the summit and stared at a massive golden door that was sealed, the entrance to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms, a sacred place she would invade in due time. To open the door she needed all four August Celestials that called Pandaria home to pour a bit of their power into it, and while she had Yulon and Chi-ji she also needed Xuen, the White Tiger of this province, and Niuzao, the Black Ox of Townlong Steppes.

Of course she didn't have to do that, since she had wings and could easily fly over it, just like she could send the airship over it as well, but part of her figured that she'd take everything else before worrying about the sealed province, sort of like a prize she guessed.

As such Sunset turned her focus on the Temple of the White Tiger, on the eastern side of the province, where she found a sight that interested her, there was a large tiger, who almost looked like energy, who had to be Xuen, while standing near him were his followers, meaning he knew of her coming and was ready for her assault. With that in mind her forces came with just a thought, allowing her to pit them against the monks of the temple as she rushed at Xuen, knocking him off the side so they could fight in an area that was larger for someone like him, just to add a bit of fairness to the fight. She found that Xuen was fast, especially taking his size into consideration, and that he preferred to jump around to give himself a far better vantage point as he rushed back at her, a worthwhile strategy when she considered it, but such a thing left him open to attacks. It was for that reason that she studied Xuen's attack patterns before lashing out at him from below when he tried it again, unleashing a thrust attack from his blind spot that pierced his heart, something that allowed her to end his life and raise the third of the four August Celestials into undeath.

His death and rebirth, however, shattered the resolve of his monks and Sunset's forces tore them down with ease, though she discovered that one of the Prime Sha was actually imprisoned here, Anger to be exact, while Xuen confirmed that both Hatred and Violence were located in the Shado-Pan Monastery. As such her first action was to track down the prison of the first Prime Sha and found that it was located below the center of Xuen's temple, sort of like how Doubt was near Yulon's and Despair had been in Chi-Ji's, and she activated her power once she came to a stop. Sure enough she felt the prison break as another massive Sha emerged in the center of the chamber, corrupting the entirety of Xuen's temple as a number of lesser Sha emerged to spread their darkness across Kun-Lai Summit. The Sha of Anger stared at her for a moment, feeling her own power and the fragments of the other Prime Sha she had absorbed, before offering her his power, allowing the Sha to surge into her as he made a third crystal on her armor, causing Sunset to grin for a moment as she turned towards her next target, Taran Zhu's monastery.

As Sunset marched across the mountain range her forces resumed the slaughter of the living that were here, ending all sorts of Yaungol, slaughtering small creatures known as Grummles, which apparently were troggs changed by Pandaria's waters to be the more intelligent beings her forces discovered, and even trolls from the Zandalari Empire. With the fierce Yaungols and the warlike Mogu, combined with the other races she was forcing to serve her, the living of Pandaria didn't stand much of a chance against her terrible might, and even the few Shado-Pan she discovered fell before her might, including the small villages they were trying to protect. Even the massive yeti beasts of this province, fueled by rage after eating certain berries, stood no chance against her might as her army tore them down, adding to her forces as she marched up the path that she knew would lead to the monastery, confirmed by her own powers and the Grummle guides. It wasn't long before they found her target, the massive structure that was almost as impressive as Xuen's temple, where her army spread out to surround the place so no one could escape, even though she suspected that if a Sha tried to flee it would be able to do so, not unless one offered themselves to her.

This time she entered the monastery on her own, save for a val'kyr that was following her, and she found a force of Shado-Pan waiting at the entrance, likely having been prepared by Taran Zhu after he survived their previous encounter, but they were nothing compared to her might. It wasn't because she was the Lich Queen and her strength was far greater than most of the people of Azeroth, rather it was due to these guys being either trainees or powerful initiates who had never seen a real fight before, as she slaughtered them with ease as she exited the first of the buildings. Sunset discovered that there were four total buildings in this monastery before she reached the end of it, an area where she could see Taran Zhu being tormented by the power of one of the Prime Sha, Hatred to be exact, while the building before that area house Violence, a being who was tearing through his own barrier. In addition to that she could feel all of the lesser Sha spreading all over the monastery, using their powers to torment the pandaren who guarded their Prime versions while corrupting the ground that was all around them, though she paid little attention to the figure that challenged her, as he was cut down in an instant and his onyx serpent shared his fate, of being raised like the rest of the pandaren she had slain so far.

In the next building she found the lesser Sha tearing through the defenders and spreading their corruption to the rest of the area, though they bowed to her and allowed her to pass, causing the remainder of the Shado-Pan to see her as a true threat to the peace that their order seemed to strive for. There were archers waiting on some of the roofs, where Sunset just caught all of the arrows with her magic and sent them back to their owners, ending their lives in a matter of seconds, and as she entered another building her val'kyr continued her work. Inside the building she found a teacher pandaren and his trainees, where the former was displeased with her breaking the seals that kept the Sha contained in their prisons, a fact that was echoed by all of the other pandaren that were around her, and Sunset found that they assaulted her at the same time. Instead of wasting time with them she summoned the chill of winter, another death knight power, which was a barrier of chilly wind that cut into her enemies and slew the Shado-Pan that were around her, including the remaining two that were the best of the best.

As the val'kyr raised them Sunset walked up to where the teacher pandaren was standing and found that he tried to fight her, swinging his fists at her in an attempt to take her down, where she parried them with her claws, figuring she'd see the strength of a monk for herself, and once she was done he was cut down with Frostmourne.

After that it was a simple matter for her to walk outside, followed by the trainer and his risen students, now members of the Scourge, and found that the Sha that were in front of her bowed their heads as she passed, allowing them to spread their corruption without being interrupted by heroes. Sunset crossed over the bridge that was in front of her and walked into the last of the buildings, where she found the Sha of Violence had broken out of the prison it had been trapped in for a long time, and, just like the other Prime Sha, it seemed to sense her intent and offered her the power it commanded, as a fourth crystal appeared on her chest armor. With that done she headed through the last door and made her way over to the area that Taran Zhu was currently waiting in, who was either bathing in the energies of the Sha of Hatred or was being possessed by the creature, as punishment for keeping it and the others contained for so long. In the end she didn't care which answer was correct and which one was wrong, as she was here for the fifth Prime Sha and nothing else, all so she and her army could advance into Townlong Steppes and take out the last of the August Celestials, before worrying about the Mantid Empire.

"Sha of Hatred, while I will admit that Taran Zhu makes an amazing vessel, there are bigger fish to fry," Sunset said, which was the truth, the other Sha understood that she possessed the power of two Old Gods and suspected that she might be able to do something about Y'Shaarj, especially after seeing her raise everyone her forces had killed into undeath, with an iron will unlike anything anyone had seen so far, "Come, join the other Prime Sha as I seek out the Sha of Fear, eradicate the entirety of the Mantid Empire, slaughter the rest of the Mogu and their king, and break the prison of the Sha of Pride so I find the rest of Y'Shaarj's power and conquer the rest of this world."

The mention of the fallen Old God got the Sha of Hatred's attention, where it surged out of Taran Zhu and quickly merged with her, causing Sunset to stagger for a moment, as this one was stronger than she assumed at first, but when the fifth crystal appeared she smiled as she regained her posture, raised the Shado-Pan leader into undeath, and started to leave, as there were two more provinces to take control of before she worried about any of her other targets.