Reverend Ecstasy

"My eminent master's terms are simple, any peace talk will have to involve separate discussions with Princess Tieshan and the Bull Demon Prince. Should you challenge these terms, His Eminence will make a personal appearance, and wipe you all out." Meanwhile, above the Celestial Farm, Xin Zhong's voice boomed across the Celestial Farm, warning demons and demonesses of Xinzi's terms.

'I don't believe it. If he had the means to break the barrier, why bother wasting time harassing us? He is either bluffing to enhance his momentum or preparing the weapon he will use to eradicate our forces. If it's the latter, our position doesn't look promising.

Also, why does he want to meet Niu Yan as well? By searching the Eternal Dragon clans' memories, he should have known that I'm the real master of these lands. The Bull Demon Prince can only command the 20,000 Gled Bull Demons. I on the other end, command both the 100,000 Cow Demonesses and Bull Demons. Could it be...that he wants to divide us?' Tieshan pondered on Xinzi's motives, more worried about his need to meet Niu Yan, the Bull Demon Prince, than the other terms.

The enemy's move filled her with confusion, preventing her from forming an accurate mental picture of the so-called 'Eminence.'

"As a show of good faith, we will give you one day to think, arrange and prepare yourselves. Then the bombardment resumes, with 10 times the might!" Xin Zhong interrupted Tieshan's thoughts.

With no need to maintain the sound barrier, Tieshan went from a 1.65 meters-tall paradox of slender yet voluptuous curves, back to the 1.85 tall and toned Cow Demoness, with such voluminous assets that they instantly captivated all attention.

With one step, she crossed space to appear in a small cottage, hiding spot of the defensive formation's eye. The Bull Demon Prince held a golden tiger token, and with a grave look, watched the spirit stones pouring into the formation's eye.

"What's the situation?"

"At this rate...I estimate expenditures of about 100 million spirit stones, or the equivalent in various energy resources, per day," the Bull Demon Prince said, his teeth grinding on his large tongue in frustration.

"That much?!" Though prepared for the worst, Tieshan still reeled back in shock, unable to accept such astronomical costs.

"Yes. The Celestial Farm's biggest weakness is its lack of a Spiritual Vein. The vein only extends through the village, meaning that only the Green-Leaf Villagers can mine Spirit Stones. Of course, they have little use for Spirit Stones, so they rarely mine their vein. We, on the other end, have to rely on the spirit stones left by the Immortal Founders to maintain this eleventh-layer formation.

Initially, they left 12 billion. The previous Bull Demon King wasted half in the war against the ancient Green-Hat Farmers. You took one billion to invest in some Yanzhou faction. We have five left, meaning that at best...we can hold on for 50 days. Afterward, we will be like lamb ripe for the slaughter." The Bull Demon Prince despaired—so much so that he didn't have the heart to consider Xinzi's interest in him.

As a true spiritual land, the 20,000,000 acres of farmland that made up the Celestial Farm required no formation to operate. The defensive formation, however, was a money-grubbing machine, draining spirit stones and other energy resources like a corrupt tax collector.

"What about our other energy sources? Never mind, unless you first drain out the energy, you can't feed a formation with plants. It has to be stones or metallic energy sources. And if to survive for a couple extra weeks, we bankrupt 10,000 years of accumulation, we'd truly deserve to be damned." Tieshan clenched her fists, pulling in a deep breath to suppress her boiling emotions. The Bull Demon Prince dared not meet her gaze, both ashamed of his role in the current debacle, and unsure of his position in his beloved's heart.

"Fine. First reduce the might of the defensive formation so you only need to spend the equivalent of an eighth-layer Array."

"I don't think that's wise. The leader of these masked enemies might have just broken through to the Void Tribulant realm, but their bloodline showcases too many divine attributes. I wouldn't be surprised if they were Divine Dao Spirits. Otherwise, how could they summon tribulation lightning? And if they truly are Divine Dao Spirits, Integration-level defensive means are not stopping them. Worse, if their master comes with a..."

"Then reduce it to the ninth or tenth! Regardless, we must reduce our expenses and be able to buy time if need be!" Tieshan snapped at her betrothed. The Bull Demon Prince's chest tightened at her authoritative tone, still, he complied, giving her a weak nod.

"I don't know what will come of it, but we will have to create clones to go discuss a peace treaty. Don't let the enemy mislead you. The reason why he wants to meet us both is so he can divide to conquer. Stay loyal to me, and I will stay loyal to you. Only through mutual loyalty can we spread our wings together. Do you understand?" At first, Tieshan maintained the same authoritative stance. But as she reached this point, her voice softened.

"Yes...Tieshan." The Bull Demon Prince couldn't see the softening tone, feeling that Tieshan only took him for a fool that'd surrender to unknown forces at the first temptation. The thought rattled him, but for the first time in centuries, he didn't let his emotions betray him.

"Good." Satisfied, Tieshan teleported out of the cottage, returning to the frontline.

"We agree! But don't expect us to come with our true bodies," Tieshan gave Xin Zhong her answer.

"You don't have to. Now all you need to do is to wait for my master to receive you. Until then..."

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

"You son of a..."

The lightning bombardment resumed, forcing Tieshan to raise another sound barrier to protect her troops' mental faculties.

...

As all this went on, Xinzi entertained Tusha, who convinced that she'd soon have to return to the gorge, didn't want to waste any opportunity to be by her master's side.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Here's a cultivation method from the Devil Tome that I selected for you. It can only be cultivated by someone with Void Tribulant level Blood Energy and Soul Force so, I guess you didn't qualify till now," Xinzi said, and tapped Tusha's forehead, filling her mind with mysterious mnemonics.

"This is...the Sacrament of the Blood Star? Master you..." An ancient demonic cultivation method, the Sacrament of the Blood Star enabled entities that cultivated Blood Energy and Soul Force to a high level to fuse the two into a brand-new cultivation system: the Bloodsoul Path.

First, they condensed a Blood Star, not only increasing speed and battle prowess but also enabling them to condense Bloodsoul Avatars with equal might to the true body.

Understanding Xinzi's intentions, Tusha's heart drummed, and her eyes grew moist.

"I can't believe you really thought that I'd let you out of my sight for unknown periods of time. Of course, I want to keep you with me. I didn't make you Yan Le's master to send you two out of reach," Xinzi said and pulled Tusha into his arms.

The last vestiges of loyalty to Qiu Meng died here.