Reverend Ecstasy

"Patriarch, 18,000 prospective disciples are waiting outside, more pouring in due to the ongoing Feral Horde Rampage. Alas, we don't have enough Blood Stone reserves to convert them all to the cult—at least not in one day. What should we do about them? Also...the horde. Will it affect the big picture?" Dressed in a black robe embroidered with a tall red spire, a pale-skinned man with elfin ears bowed at the Bloodstone Patriarch—Bloodstone-Xinzi—who sat on a ruby-colored throne.

Feral Horde Rampage—or Feral Horde for short—the people of Yanzhou Province were quick to find the rampaging Mysterious Beasts a moniker. In fact, throughout the east, most summed up this calamity to a rampaging horde, with the exact naming conventions shifting from one province to another.

The nascent Bloodstone Cult also suffered from this horde, albeit in a more acceptable manner. The Blood Beast didn't have a complete soul, and so while the Wrath of the Beast Emperor somewhat rattled its Monster Core, it couldn't take control of its soul. The Poisonfeather Birds, on the other end, surrendered immediately—forcing Bloodstone-Xinzi to overwhelm their souls with the Vetala Heart and guide a transformation into White-Winged Demons.

In the Ice-Fire Cave, however, the beasts that Tusha cultivated for Xinzi all turned coats, abandoning their former allegiance to rush towards their new lord. By the time that Bloodstone-Xinzi was ready to intervene, the rats had already left the ship.

"House the prospects in the outer caves, and delay them with the Essence of the Blood Rite. Most will not be able to practice that cultivation method without our Blood Stones, but the demonic principles they need to comprehend should keep them busy long enough for us to mine the extra stones we require.

Burning Spear Supercity is in an impregnable position, and the Demon Slayers have already returned to their headquarters, bringing news and 'proof' of their victory while cooperating with Xue Jingzhao at the top to spread our Enslavement Worms and facilitate the expansion of our demonic influence. Our Gorge of Thousand Stones is also too militarily advanced to fear the horde's rampage. They'd just be courting death.

The Great Blood Ascension plan is our priority. And this ongoing chaos can easily become an opportunity for us to fish in troubled waters. Have no fear and follow my instructions."

Xinzi didn't give up on his Blood Spirit plan. But as he failed to produce entities with souls on the first try, he opted for a softer approach: cultivation. Just like botanists would cultivate their plants, Xinzi would cultivate Blood Spirits out of the men and women that rejected their mortality to embrace the thigh of the Bloodstone Cult.

Each of the Blood Stones mined by the 3,000 Bloodstone Golems was of fatal appeal to mortal men and women. By consuming one stone, they could defeat Qi Refinement experts. With two, they could trample upon the Foundation Building stage. With four, they reached the first order of Blood Energy, able to bitch-slap Pulse Condensation experts.

A squad of Bloodstone Golems like the one currently discussing with Xinzi spread to the capital cities of all Dongli prefectures, displaying the effectiveness of the Blood Stones. Then they recruited men of high prestige, using them to spread the word. Other golems did the same in the other six states, including the enemy Anyue.

At the same time, the 1,600 Poisonfeather Birds spread across the seven states, and from thousands of meters of altitude, dropped letters throughout Yanzhou, not only confirming the White Immortal Sect's destruction at the Bloodstone Patriarch's hands but also announcing his Bloodstone Cult's disciple recruitment ceremony.

This all happened before Daji and Xiao Hu's duet shook the world. And to say nothing of mortals, faced with the irresistible appeal of these Blood Stones, cultivators of various sects and clans didn't hesitate to reject their ancestors to join the Bloodstone Cult.

Alas, the cult made its position clear: it only accepted mortals. The reason was simple: Bloodstone-Xinzi wanted bodies as malleable as possible—free from the impurities of the seven states' various cultivation methods. The boldest cultivators, those with grim futures and no support, outright destroyed their cultivation bases, hoping to receive the Bloodstone Patriarch's favor.

Bloodstone-Xinzi accepted them only on the condition that they went through a baptism, ridding their bodies of cultivation-accumulated impurities. Afterward, all prospects familiarized themselves with the Essence of the Blood Rite, a diabolic cultivation method of the Devil Tome altered by Xinzi to reduce the requirements and avoid complete demonization. But without consuming at least seven Blood Stones, no mortal could cultivate this altered version—adding to the new cult's consumption.

Bloodstone-Xinzi didn't start recruiting without preparations. The entire mountain range that the Gorge of Thousand Stones occupied had been altered so that Blood Veins spread all around, and 3,000 Bloodstone Golems, like the one currently discussing logistics with Xinzi, mined day and night, relying on their ruby golem forms to drain the veins continuously—never stopping one second.

Still, thousands upon thousands of prospects poured in every day, with the numbers and pace skyrocketing due to the ongoing rampage. The Blood Stone reserves shrank daily, with consumption about to outpace what the golems mined.

"A pity...but for now we will have to stop at 100,000," Xinzi sighed, resentful of his insufficient reserves. If anyone else heard our monk, the urge to stomp on his tongue would fill their chests.

Throughout the seven states, 10,000 disciples was more than enough to establish a large Yanzhou sect, but here he was, sighing at 100,000? Of course, goals and ambitions defined all requirements. To compete with the Liberation Temple, Bloodstone-Xinzi needed millions of disciples.

The Bloodstone Cult would operate in the darkness, the Liberation Temple in the light. To the world, both would always be enemies, White-Winged Divines vs. Blood Heretics, demonism vs. righteousness. Xinzi could already imagine the tales, and by the time the Bloodstone Cult conquered the dark side, and the Liberation Temple took charge of the orthodoxy, the Eastern Continent would become our monk's personal playground.

"The territory is large enough, but I need more golems to mine nonstop—no, I don't. Golems can only be created with Diabolic Shards, and although they're powerful war tools in their own right, I can't afford to waste more shards on prototypes that do not meet my goals.

Outer disciples...yes, outer disciples mine the stones for me, receiving a portion as salary in return. They might not be as efficient as the golems, but 100,000 can play a critical role, and as their cultivation of the Essence of the Blood Rites grows more solid, so will their efficiency. Then in three months, we recruit again.

Good, very good!" Bloodstone-Xinzi's eyes flashed with fiendish delight.

Tusha had noticed this before, but perhaps due to the lack of Divine Soul or more grounded human connections, Bloodstone-Xinzi was a lot more ruthless than the original. A fact that, for those who knew Xinzi, was terrifying to say the least.

'Xue Yuanshao, send me a Corpse Demon. I will head to the Yaozhou Province and transform its cultivation world into an undead kingdom and buffer state against the western part of the Eastern Spirit Empire. They will also provide manpower for our Blood Tunnels, so we can more easily build underground cities and connect...to all the eastern provinces.'

'As you command, patriarch!'