Reverend Ecstasy

Following Qiu Meng's threat, the Nameless Sword Mountain's sect master, Bai Renyi, revealed a peak-stage Divine Transformation cultivation base, shocking the Dongli state, and single-handedly driving the immediate threat out of Xihai's borders. In that instant, Dongli men and women—especially the Shui royal clan, realized that they traded one overlord for another. That very soon, the Nameless Sword Mountain would rise to replace the defunct White Immortal Sect.

However, no matter how powerful, Bai Renyi didn't possess omnipresence. While the majority of the beasts left to chase Daji's call, some lingered on Dongli soil. The rampage continued in other prefectures, with superior and ancient mysterious beasts rising to lead the various hordes. Despair filled all Dongli household. Drug abuse reached a new high, with men and women going as far as to feed their children the drug Paradise so that they'd die in a world of bliss.

At that time, one man appeared above the Dongli state, shaking the land and rampaging beasts with one simple statement.

"The Golden Lotus be praised. The cultivation world's matters do not concern me, but the Dongli state's mortal lives are under my protection. Should any power of the cultivation world attempt to endanger them, this will be their end:

Return to Dust." Following these words, one flash of golden light spread across the Dongli state, reducing all rampaging beasts into dust. The monk's warning spread far and wide, reaching all provinces and the imperial city on its way to Daji's ears.

"Three words to end the plague." It wasn't long before this event rose to the rank of Dongli legend. And though none had seen the mysterious savior's face, all guesses aimed at the Clear Heart Monastery's spiritual leader: Abbot Qingxin.

He didn't claim the deed, causing a variety of audacious fake monks and posers of all sorts to try and get the credit for this fantastical feat.

Meanwhile, in the strongest of the seven states, Anyue, the Dark Moon Cult held a celebration to welcome an unexpected guest elder: the former Yin Matriarch: Zi Yao. Zi Yao kneeled at a tall beauty's statue, pledging her allegiance to the fictitious Dark Moon Goddess and the cult that devoted themselves to her.

Interestingly, the Dark Moon Goddess bore a striking resemblance to Hengye Yuemi, a fact that, concealed in Zi Yao, Yuemi didn't miss.

'There's a card to play here. Bad Zhen'er, soon—much sooner than you expected, I will be back.'

The Dark Moon Cult wasn't spared from the beasts' rampage. But faster than anyone else, Zi Yao noticed a pattern and made a simple statement.

"These beasts are all heading towards the same direction and must be following the summon of some overlord-type existence. This means that even those creatures that take their sweet time to rampage through our lands cannot linger here for long. Just raise the defensive barriers, and it won't be long before they're out of Anyue," Zi Yao said.

For thousands of years, the Anyue state had been centralized around the Dark Moon Cult, but it wasn't until the previous Hierarch took power and invested tremendous quantities of Spirit Stones to build formations around each Anyue prefecture and key city, that the Dark Moon Cult managed to cement its power as the undisputed overlord of the Anyue state.

So great was the previous Hierarch's prestige that, even after her 'death,' none dared to replace her as leader of the Dark Moon Cult's matriarchal dominion—leaving the grand priestesses to co-lead the cult. Of course, as we know by now, the previous leader, Lady Tieshan, wasn't dead—making replacing her a tad bit difficult.

Tieshan and the grand priestesses were rarely on good terms. Both sides believed in an absolute matriarchy. But in Tieshan's eyes, the grand priestesses behaved like the men of the patriarchies they despised, indulging in corrupt revelries, gender oppression and the wanton torture of their slave servants.

Most of the grand priestesses saw nothing wrong with their behavior. After all, these were the principles that the Dark Moon Cult had been built on. But as no faction could act as a monolithic block, while most grand priestesses preached corrupt decadence, others believed that notwithstanding the heretical methods that the Dark Moon Cult used to grow, they should maintain the austere and aloof poise fit for a theocratic power—especially as they aspired to become the most progressive power of the East.

In the past, these priestesses gathered around Tieshan, who thanks to her vast resources and demon noble patron, brought the cult to unprecedented levels of splendor. Today, these same princesses opened the cult's door to Zi Yao, hoping to train her into a new grand priestess and perhaps...even a buffer to weaken Tieshan's absolute hold over the cult.

It wasn't long before Zi Yao proved her worth, bringing key advancements to the Alchemy department, improving the Anyue state's administrative structure, and solving the beast problem with minimal spending.

"Zi Yao, you've not disappointed our expectations. After mastering our techniques and receiving the baptism of the Dark Moon Goddess, you will become the 33rd Grand Priestess of the Dark Moon Cult. Believe me. Here, you will achieve more than you could ever hope to in the White Immortal Sect." Zi Yao's new backers relished her accomplishments.

'Oh, but I have no doubt about that,' Zi Yao and Yuemi thought in tandem.

As this went on, Bloodstone-Xinzi rode his Blood Beast, waving the Thousand Immolation Flag above a burning supercity. Of humongous proportions that made the large Burning Spear Supercity look like an unassuming village, this supercity stretched over 30,000 square miles, with a population of 30 million cultivators, most of which devoted their lives to the practice of alchemy.

Once the third-largest city of the Eastern Continent and the gathering place of its best alchemists, Medicine King Supercity boasted an illustrious history, and for 60,000 years, firmly remained in the hands of the Yao Spirit clan.

But on this day, this illustrious supercity lay in ruin, with blood-fire torching spiritual farmlands, while a chalky bipedal reptile drained the blood of countless lives to grow in size and strength. Xinzi's Thousand Soul Immolation Flag feasted as well, consuming millions of souls to produce armies of Blood Spirits bound to the demon's banner.

"Hahahaha! One shriveled hand...one shriveled hand is all it took to destroy my Yaozhou Province's 60,000 years of inheritance. The heavens are unkind...the heavens...ugh!" The Yaozhou Hegemon, an early-stage Integration realm old fogey, laughed with bitter tears before the last spark of life vanished from his collapsing body.

Yaozhou was one of the strongest eastern provinces, world-renowned for its unparalleled alchemy clans. And although their strongest experts were only at the early Integration realm, the Yao Spirit clan was the number one alchemy faction of the Eastern Spirit Empire. Hegemons and imperial princes alike required their services, so none dared to offend them.

No one expected the Yaozhou Province to suffer this calamity. Their capital, Medicine King Supercity, fell in one strike. One strike from a shriveled corpse, and 60,000 years of glory collapsed instantly!

Of course, although Bloodstone-Xinzi brought one of his weakest Corpse Demons, that corpse still boasted a late-stage Demon Creed cultivation, enough to challenge a peak-stage Supreme Clarity realm expert. Outside of the Taiyang and Hengye clans, such cultivation was enough to rampage throughout the Great Desolation World. How could Yaozhou stop it?

Millions of experts died instantly, and as their souls became Blood Spirits, their bodies morphed into Headless Corpse Knights, all pledging allegiance to the Bloodstone Cult.

"This is what I call a bountiful harvest. Time to return to the headquarters." Colossal waves of Evil Qi soared towards our demonic patriarch. The Yaozhou Hegemon too couldn't escape the undead fate, and to make sure that Yaozhou will not be retaken once the news spread, Bloodstone-Xinzi left the Corpse Demon to guard Medicine King Supercity—soon to become...the Yellow Spring Undead Kingdom.