If the law of the jungle held sway in the Four Continents, then in the Endless Sea, it was a tyrannical overlord that no amount of moral ideals could overturn. Beyond the Outer Sea, a Nascent Soul loose cultivator's life expectancy was about 100 years. Ancestral clan wars ran amok, and the regulated islands, archipelagos and principalities aside, all was fair game. Even in those regulated areas, as long as the warring sides could obtain a war permit from the Evernight Palace, they had every right to butcher one another for resources, resentment, or both.
The White Foxes and Ice Spirits were only two of the secret clans that chose exile to avoid the tyrannical rule of the Hengye clan and rampant destruction in the Endless Sea. Alas, this choice made them the target of all other sea creatures, forcing them to seek asylum in the most dangerous area of the seas: the Western Damnation Sea.
There, weekly natural disasters were the norm. From calamitous tides to unique monstrosities, the Western Damnation Sea had no shortage of extreme threats, singlehandedly driving these clans towards extinction. At the same time, while in other seas, the greater the danger, the more resources you could expect from any given area, in the Western Damnation Sea, resources were in short supply—stifling the growth of these clans.
More precisely, the dangers were the resources: extreme and demonic resources that these clans had no use for. As if that wasn't enough, it was also home to the Black Lotus Temple—a den of fiendish monks driven by a heretical pursuit of Liberation.
The White Foxes had enough, and for centuries had been considering how to return to the Night's umbrella. However, their close ties to the Ice Sprits and the rising cruelty of the Hengye, made them give up on the return. At least in the western seas, they were free to live and die as they saw fit, but beyond, not only would they have to give up their freedom, send the majority of their resources to the Eternal Night Dynasty, but should the Night grant a stronger clan the permit to invade, they would still not avoid destruction.
It almost felt as if, generation upon generation, the Night Spirits learned the evil in humanity, but refused to incorporate the good—making them devolve into the demons that Heaven demanded they hunt down.
But with the new monarch's policies, there was hope for change. At the same time, a recent blessing had shaken the entire white fox clan. White Foxes were different from other mysterious beasts. The legendary ten-tailed fox aside, from birth, they could take a human form and cultivate the immortal path that humans and spirits followed. For this reason, most referred to them as Fox Spirits.
After getting struck by black lightning, the patriarch's youngest daughter had undergone an atavism, going from a six-tailed to a nine-tailed White Fox! That change alone ensured that she could cultivate to Supreme Clarity with no bottleneck! Add to that the possibility of receiving an Immortal Destiny from the Hengye clan, and the patriarch had not only decided to make that daughter his heir, but also to prepare her for the Night Flower selection—hoping that the combination between her matchless talent and beauty would bring the monarch on his knees.
Alas, that talent boost seemingly came with an extreme personality change. The previously tame and meek daughter blossomed into an avatar of mayhem. With a succession of statements each more outrageous than the previous one.
"Mhm…this body's eye-popping curves are doomed to get me in trouble. I must avoid the attention of the greedy young masters at all costs so I can stay devoted to my master. Let's wrap them tities," she said, and wrapped her breasts in tight bandages.
"Mhm…meeting master without gifts would be improper. But what can I offer him? I know…treasures!" She said and combined her innate invisibility skill with her old man's keys to sneak into and plunder the treasury.
"Mhm…master will probably need loyal subordinates. Let's get him some goons," she said, and used her clan's innate bewitching skill to create a band of loyal thugs.
Bai Zhi, the patriarch, was starting to think that the lightning bolt also fried his daughter's brain. All "natural" lightning in the Endless Sea was black by default, so at first, Bai Zhi didn't think much of it—treating the bolt as his daughter's good fortune. Little did he know that his daughter was gone—more specifically, her soul merged with a ten-tailed fox's, the fox that Xinzi saved from the Soaring Crane mountain.
That fox, the new Bai Daji, had his words at heart and would never forget that she owed this second chance to the Zhen of the Night Pantheon. Bai Daji and the ten-tailed fox became one, producing a new personality at odds with the girl's former self. Unwilling to become the consort of some unknown God-Monarch, Daji took her gang and sailed across the Endless Sea—her eyes locked on the Eastern Continent.
If only she knew that the Zhen she chased currently resided in the Evernight Palace, Daji would probably slap herself left and right and beg her father to take her back.
Meanwhile, alone in his massive chambers, Xinzi stretched his hands out. Red silk threads poured out of his pores, shredding his clothes to coil, mesh and morph into a new set of monastic robes. Inlaid with golden tree patterns, the scarlet robe shone with a rich red luster. The golden trees evoked luxuriant life, pairing with the scarlet robe to grab the attention of all bystanders. This would be the new uniform of the Liberation Temple.
Needless to say, some adjustments would follow to make these uniforms highlight the beauty of Xinzi's initiates, as well as the ranks of his Liberation Temple. By now, Xinzi had returned the Zhen-body to the Ancestral Hall, letting the formations nurture its flesh and increase its Immortal Qi. One week had passed since his decrees had toured the Endless Sea.
The various forces responded without delay, with some hidden clans coming out, of their own volition, to request the opportunity to return to the Eternal Night Dynasty. Hengye juniors and elders alike sneered at their display, but with Xinzi to control the situation, sneering was all they could do.
Our monk wasn't satisfied. The hidden clans of the Western Damnation Sea all faced the same problem. But while others were eager to give up on pride and embrace his thigh, the Ice Spirits refused to return. They'd rather face damning dangers than return to the Night. With such a strong stance, unless he made a personal appearance to address their grievances, Xinzi had to give on them.
But convincing the Hengye clan of the "necessity" of this mass gathering and conversion had been challenging enough. In what world would they accept their Greatest One humbling himself to bring a lesser spirit clan out of self-imposed exile. The Ice Spirits' numbers didn't warrant it, and even if it did, such a move would get them slaughtered—sooner than later.
'Suit yourselves. Can't blame a man for trying.' In a hurry to return to Dongli, Xinzi would rather not waste more time. Five second-class maids stepped into the room, carrying a white parchment with them.
"Greatest O…no, Abbot Xinzi, this is the list of prospects sent by the myriad sea clans." Across the week, the maids struggled to adapt to Xinzi's new rule: Greatest One before the Hengye clan, Abbot once alone. Although Xinzi guaranteed that the elders were fully on board with the changes, the fear of getting caught and mauled by an outraged Hengye elder never left their hearts.
Xinzi didn't address the lapse, believing that time would help them get more comfortable with the new rules. The maids unfolded the parchment, revealing a long list of bright runic characters. The characters flew out, spreading throughout the atmosphere and filling Xinzi's room with a list of names, ordered by clans, talents, age and cultivation levels.
"Huh!" Over 100,000 names stood before our monk, forcing him to summon the actor in him to not break into a cold sweat. The maids stifled nervous laughs, aware that the clans had really outdone themselves. Though aware that Xinzi only planned to select 100 girls, they still dispatched as many talent as they could—using the criteria giving by Xinzi himself to weed out those that couldn't make the cut.
But having spent so much time in Dongli, Xinzi had started to forget the depth of talent of the Endless Sea. With vast resources to groom these talents, each local power could easily select ten girls that met our monk's needs.
"Abbot, no need to stress over the numbers. We've already prepared a backup test to shorten the list. Most will not make it," said a maid who smiled at the slight nervousness that Xinzi's face revealed.
"Oh? No need. Have them line up at Night Flower City's gates.. I will handle this personally," Xinzi said, for as a monk of culture, there was no way that he would let go of this chance to witness the sight of 100,000 beauties standing straight like an ordered army for him to access.