Reverend Ecstasy

Chapter 202: Slaughtering Shadow

“Sister Jing, nothing would please me more than accepting your pledge of sisterhood. however, you’re my senior. How can I let you refer to me as ‘big sister?’ It is so improper. Please continue.” Inwardly, Daji praised her charisma, gloating at her ability to take a 10,000 years old, rank-ten Holy Beast Sovereign as a little sister.

“Of course. You, Daji, are the leader of this faction—the big boss. How can I just swagger in and adopt a senior position? That would be improper. Though I have yet to see your face, based on your figure alone, I dare say that your beauty eclipses a field of blooming flowers—outshining the sun and moon. Wherever you go, all lower their heads—women, for they accept their inferiority—and men, because they know that, in this life or another, they will never be worthy of kissing the sole of your feet. Becoming your little sister is the result of good fortune accumulated throughout all my previous lifetimes!”

“Ahh, more flattery! More flattery!” Daji held her cheeks, almost swooning at Zhiji Jing’s flowery praise. Unlike other peacocks that typically saw themselves as the noblest of creatures, resenting the phoenix clan for owning that status, Zhiji Jing never cared for face, and mastered the art of flattery at a tender age, using it to better her living conditions in the nine-headed Colorful Peacock clan, where her parents had both died early.

In fact, even her Lianist Enlightenment revolved around the words “Happiness” and “Flattery.” But while she often used Lianism to make others better predisposed towards her, and pacify conflicts, Zhiji Jing never attempted to get benefits from stronger male experts—abiding by her clan’s core mating principle:

“One man, with potential, abilities or strength that give you the belief he can build a safe world for you and your eggs. One man, for one lifetime.”

She had yet to find that man. So, despite myriad suitors, still retained her Primal Yin.

“…” Xiao Hu, Chun Xu, Dong Ling and the initiates, all marveled at the shameless back and forth between Zhiji Jing and Daji. The Zhi-Zhu twins and Yan Le, however, pulled out paper and started taking notes—considering ways to apply these techniques on their abbot.

‘But more seriously, how do you plan to bring these goals to fruition. At the very least, this would require taking over or outright toppling the Shentu Spirit clan—including their Supreme Clarity level elders. At the same time we need to consider the Zhenwu who, from what I’ve heard, have launched a string of inter-marriages, with Shentu daughters being married to Zhenwu princes. The two clans show signs of blending into one—meaning that we would also have to consider Zhenwu Shenquan’s response. Worse, there are also rumors that the current Crown Prince of the Eastern Spirit Empire is in fact…’

‘Zhenwu Shenquan’s son.’ Daji finished Zhiji Jing’s thoughts—fully aware of both the rumors and validity of her new sister’s fears.

‘Yes. The mere fact that Zhenwu Shenquan accepted him as a disciple, and allowed him to learn his Perfected Warrior Scripture and True Martial Divine Fist was damning enough. But the Crown Prince actually mastered them both, a feat that is suspected to be impossible without Zhenwu blood. Their facial features also bear…too many similarities.’

‘It gets worst than that. The current Eastern Spirit Emperor is on the verge of becoming a puppet monarch, if he’s not one already,’ Daji said, making Zhiji Jing furrow her eyebrows.

‘The Shentu Spirit clan has always been diseased with stupidity. All other imperial clans, including the previous Feng Spirit clan, understood the principle of ‘rule by might.’ This is the cultivation world, not a mortal state. To say nothing that the strongest expert of each continent receives the title of Slaughtering Shadow, even without that Central Domain law, who in their right mind would set up strict primogeniture succession laws for a cultivation world empire? Did they never consider that, the eldest son might not always end up being the strongest?’ Zhiji Jing sighed at the situation.

By decree of the Central Domain, the strongest expert of each continent received the title of Slaughtering Shadow, enabling them to become the absolute ruler of their continent in times of demonic infestation, and cooperate with the Demon Slaying Hall to purge the threat.

For this reason, all Spirit Empires selected the most outstanding cultivator of their junior generation as the crown prince, investing large portions of their resources to train that junior into the strongest expert of their respective continent and keep a firm grasp over their empires. However, following the Shentu Spirit clan’s takeover of the East, they became the first imperial family to establish a firm primogeniture succession system, with the crown always going to the eldest son.

Over time, this led to two problems:

First, the eldest son wasn’t always the most outstanding. He might have more time than his younger brothers to cultivate—as the gap between imperial brothers’ ages could often be as large as centuries—but with time and opportunities, the most gifted of the princes would always catch up to and surpass their elder brothers, becoming a threat to the eldest prince’s position, and leading to bloody carnages between the rival princes’ factions.

Younger brothers trying to murder their elder brothers to become the next-in-line, and elder brothers murdering their outstanding little brothers to remove potential threats, had long become the norm.

In other empires, however, talent solved the debate. The most outstanding imperial scion received the training and protection of his elders, making it so that jealous brothers or cousins could do nothing but accept their inferiority.

The second problem was just as destructive. The succession law being as strict as it was, the eldest prince had little insensitive to focus on his cultivation as, regardless of his actual strength, the throne would be his. Not every crown prince became a feckless nuisance. But over time, these two issues led to the decline of the Shentu Spirit clan, with each succeeding generation being inferior to the previous one.

And while they still had ancient Supreme Clarity level experts to hold the fort, the current Shentu clan was so weak that Zhenwu Shenquan alone could level it if he so desired.

Now the Slaughtering Shadow, and with rumors of demonic infestation, it wouldn’t be long before that man took over as the absolute power of the East, alone becoming a blockade that Zhiji Jing couldn’t imagine Daji breaking through.

‘I understand your concerns, but you don’t have to worry about anything. This isn’t a prediction, it’s a spoiler. It’s not a threat, it’s a guarantee. I’m not just sure, I’m Daji-positive, that the Shentu Spirit clan will regain control of the imperial city…then lose it to me,’ Daji said, then turned heels, returning to Xiao Hu’s side. Zhiji Jing didn’t know where the fox girl’s confidence was coming from, but believed that, since Daji dared to utter such words, she had the means to back them up. 

Following on Daji’s heels, Zhiji Jing stood at her new sister’s left, Xiao Hu stood at the right, and in tandem, the three stared at the Liberation Temple’s gals.

“It was nice meeting you all. Hope we get another occasion to get along, learn about each other, and have some fun. I don’t want to offend the entity watching over you, so I will take my leave now.

Stay blessed.” From behind her mystical shroud, Daji blew the girls a kiss, then alongside Xiao Hu and Zhiji Jing, vanished from the scene.

‘What…is she talking about?’ Neither one of them could make sense of Daji’s final words. Xinzi’s face crossed their mind, but how could Daji possibly know their connection to him. And if he was on the scene, why not show himself. Their eyes darted left and right, seeking the mysterious entity that Daji referred to.

Unbeknown to them, up in the sky, the Armored Lion King watched all these events, shrouded by a veil of darkness.

“Oh? She noticed my presence? How?” The Lion King scratched his head. His shadow veil was a unique ability gained after his transformation into a rank-seven Infernal Shadow Beast. It might not give him any offensive ability but enabled him to avoid even the detection of Supreme Clarity level experts.

By the time the Blood Yang Gorilla made its final move, the Armored Lion King had arrived on the scene ready to tear the rebellious gorilla into shreds. Daji and Xiao Hu’s duet made him reconsider the move. The Lion King recorded and transmitted all that he saw to Xinzi, who for reasons known only to him, told his subordinate to hold still and watch the changes. 

Daji noticed him then. The presence of an Infernal Shadow Beast watching over the girls made her reconsider their background.

Devils gave the least Ordinances, and whenever they did, they chased precise goals—making Infernal Beasts the rarest breed among upper-tier mysterious beasts.

Daji wasn’t afraid of the Armored Lion King. But the Devil at his back? Now that…was a fight she wasn’t ready to pick.

‘Oh well, boss will figure it out.’ The Armored Lion King said, then waved his metallic paw, altering the girls’ spatial perceptions so they’d unknowingly head towards the place where Xinzi awaited them.