Reverend Ecstasy

With things having reached this point, Xinzi knew that no matter what trick he put forth, he couldn't avoid Hengye Yuemi's suspicions. The harder he tried to, the more likely he was to bury himself under a pile of blunders. That being the case, our monk's only hope was to control and shift the narrative to a transgression that Yongye could forgive. If the Thousand-Faced God itself didn't mind, then Hengye Yuemi could only hold her tongue and move on to other matters.

Xinzi's Divine Soul leaped out of his mortal shell, hovering behind the body with its arms stretched and its hands bent like a puppeteer. The divine form piloted the mortal shell, forcing it to drain the True Devil's Evil Qi to siphon Heaven's Grace. By relying on his own abilities, Xinzi couldn't accomplish this, but since that Devil had been kind enough to provide him with massive energy supply, he would be rude not to profit.

The Immemorial Blood Gu stirred in Xinzi's Silkshifter Heart, stimulating his demonic powers to push the Swallowing Skill to the limit. The monk's mortal shell morphed into the two-meters tall, six-eyed chalky demon. A jagged, gaping mouth opened on his abdomen, intensifying the Swallowing Skill while his Klesha Heart appeared above his right shoulder—adding more pressure to the Grace.

From dispersed energy dots, Heaven's Grace condensed into a single rainbow-colored orb. About the size of an adult human head, the orb formed a captivating contrast with the ball of Evil Qi that Xinzi powered himself with. The Swallowing Skill pressed on, drawing the orb of Grace towards the jagged mouth at Xinzi's stomach. However, before the grace flew in, Xinzi's Divine Soul cut the swallowing and glanced between the mortal shell, heart and orbs.

"Tusha, I'm coming to the Dream Mountain," Xinzi said. As an unconscious Chun Xu didn't lie within reach, the monk couldn't use her to contact Tusha. But this didn't mean that Tusha couldn't use Chun Xu's body—conscious or not—to spread her senses and observe Xinzi. She did just that. After all, should anything go wrong, she had to be ready to intervene.

The nun didn't answer, but Xinzi knew that she heard the words and started preparing accordingly. The Divine Soul morphed into a vortex of swirling black cubes, covering Xinzi's mortal shell and goods before vanishing from the tower—moving past all spatial barriers to reappear in Tusha's Dream Mountain.

Warned and ready to welcome the monk, the nun bowed immediately. Xue Yuanshao appeared beside her, and for the first time, the two looked at one another—their eyes narrowed instantly.

"It's you?!" They said in sync.

Out of loyalty for her former master, Tusha shaped her Sanguine Reincarnation body into a replica of her previous mortal shell—hoping that should Qiu Meng stand in front of her again, he'd recognize her with no trouble. Thanks to this, Xue Yuanshao had no issue recognizing the nun, and she too wouldn't forget the deranged man that, for a time, served as her deceased lord's master-figure.

"Ah, you know each other. Wonderful. Saves me the trouble of introducing you and establishing roles. You will have to save the chatter for a later date, though. We have work to do." Xinzi snatched back the two's attention, reminding them of the trial at hand.

The mortal shell landed on the ground, the Klesha Heart and orbs still hovered by its side, and while Xue Yuanshao's soul form shook before this mass of Evil Qi, as she stared at the Grace, Tusha's brows creased. "Abbot, what…are you planning to do?" Since Xinzi summoned Xue Yuanshao of his own volition, Tusha wouldn't hide the exchange through mental messages. Till now, the nun couldn't understand why Xinzi didn't leave Heaven's Grace to its own fate.

Xinzi didn't mention it, but Tusha could sense the Inverse Dao Seal flickering on his wrist. An incomplete one was trouble enough, but now he wanted the complete package?

"I have my difficulties. Unlike what my Divine Light projects, I am not a God—not yet, at least. But my status in the Hengye clan is as high as it gets. Even if my Divine Soul gets marked by a bunch of Inverse Dao Seals, my clan can help me manage them. But the commotion triggered by that one lock is sure to alarm the clan. They will bring me home soon and investigate my body. If I don't find a way to bury the demonic cultivation and parts soon, well…let's just say that the consequences are slightly worse than death. As for the two of you, Xue Yuanshao, you die. Tusha, you die as well."

Xinzi answered the questions afflicting the two's minds. The thought didn't make sense due to the shackled spark, yet just like Xue Yuanshao, the infernal nun had started treating Xinzi as a God descended from the Celestial Paradise. To see him reject this status time and time again only added more questions to the puzzle of his identity. But distracted by the threat looming over them all, Tusha had to stop considering said puzzle.

"With the extermination of the Ancient Spirit race, across the Four Realms of Existence, not one race possesses a more inviolable soul than the Divines. The higher they rank in their respective race's hierarchy, the more difficult it is to pervert their souls. I rank fairly high. No one can search my soul, and even if they could, they wouldn't dare to. This makes my body the only issue we need to solve." Xinzi started. For the two to work efficiently, he had to put them on the same page—minus a few irrelevant details best left unsaid.

"The mortals of the Dongli state might not be able to see through my demonism, but if the Lord Regent and other ancient elders of the Eternal Night set their mind on finding the truth, they will. So not only do we need to hide the gu-infested heart, but we must also restructure my body to blind their search. The only way to accomplish that is…"

"To use Heaven's Grace as fuel to transform your constitution and give your mortal body…overwhelming divine attributes. Then you can pin the broken lock situation on a reckless attempt to enhance your mortal shell which…sounds a lot better than trying to pervert your soul or break the locks to get rid of your Divine Ancestor's control." Tusha's eyes widened in enlightenment, and she finished Xinzi's words.

The monk's Void Spiritual Root received a few dots of Heaven's Grace, but those were not enough to add a brand-new attribute to the root. Instead, the dots would bless the Frigid Flame Attribute, bringing its nature and might to higher levels. Xinzi could use the Grace to add some superior attributes to his root, but doing so wouldn't solve the problem he currently faced. But if instead, he combined the Grace with his Five Elements Transmutative Technique, using that mind-blowing source of power to refine his bones and organs, his body could generate enough Divine Power that the Hengye elders wouldn't sense the smell left by repeated use of Evil Qi.

"On top of that, we need scapegoats—a threat terrifying enough that I had no other choice but to steal the grace to contend with them: Demons. Tusha will assist me in draining the grace and reconstructing my body. I will also channel Xue Yuanshao, the remnant soul of a peak Supreme Clarity level expert, and use him to facilitate the task. Afterward, Tusha and I will channel the Evil Qi to transform one of our rank-three Mysterious Beasts into a demonic existence of the Divine Transformation level—then send it to rampage through Yanzhou. Xiao Hu's memories will need to receive some tweaking as well. Questions?"

As Xinzi's words reached this point, Tusha approved the plan with a firm nod. Xue Yuanshao, however, flinched and stepped back, floundering at a plan that could—overnight—turn Yanzhou into a wasteland.

"Are we not…going to far?"

"The demon will start its cycle of destruction in the Thousand Roads mountain, so it can leave its mark on Dongli. It will then aim for Burning Spear supercity. A Divine Transformation level demon isn't enough to topple a supercity.. And even if it could, the old man is still here," Xinzi said, reminding Xue Yuanshao that in the Clear Heart monastery lay a man who with one hand, could sweep aside all threats aimed at Dongli's common folks.