In a courtyard of Night Flower City, Xue Jingzhao sat crossed-legged, surrounded by a dozen of faceless white Divine Dao Souls. Xinzi sat in a nearby pavilion, flanked by two snakegirls whose colorful tails trailed on the ground. Seashell bras held their breasts, serving as the sole piece of clothing on their semi-monster bodies. While one poured him tea, and the other massaged his shoulders, Xinzi watched the faceless Divine Dao Souls dive into Xue Jingzhao's body, triggering her first Immortal Tribulation: the Human Tribulation.
Within Jingzhao's soul, the twelve Divine Dao Souls challenged her Clarity, putting the corrupt path that she'd followed till now to a final test. Up in the sky, white clouds gathered as well, cracking with pale tribulation lightning that aimed for Xue Jingzhao.
"Hi, Great Desolation World Heavenly Dao, I missed you." Xinzi waved at clouds. The lightning rays intensified, with loud grumbles that sent tremors throughout Night Flower City. Jingzhao's face twisted into a succession of grimaces, and as the Divine Dao Soul challenged her from the inside, the lightning bolts tumbled down. At first, one by one, then a complete deluge of thunder-rays rained from up above—battering her body and soul.
"Oh, how petty. Anyway, this is an opportunity to get enlightenment in the Grand Dao. None of you should miss it," Xinzi said and snapped his fingers, summoning a 10 meters-long recording mirror that re-transmitted Xue Jingzhao's Human Immortal breakthrough to all Night Flower City's ladies. He too got enlightenment. After all, his Zhen-body cultivated an Immortal Foundation, and thus would never have to go through any cultivation-related tribulation before a certain cultivation realm that far exceeded the Great Desolation World's limit.
The Heaven-Trampling Dao Bones stirred in Xinzi's body, not only familiarizing themselves with Heaven's ways but also learning how to trample upon them. At the same time, Xinzi clawed at the air, relying on his omnipotent control of Night Flower City's various arrays to open a spatial rift connected to the Gorge of Thousand Venoms. This was only possible because Xinzi knew the coordinates. And as Jingzhao rose to one-tribulation Human Immortal, our monk tapped his storage ring, summoning the Wisp of Heaven's Breath he'd gotten from Guang Fanghu. It flew right into the spatial rift.
'How can a God not have his own Spirit race?' Xinzi thought, then returned his attention to the Human Tribulation breakthrough.
…
Back in the Gorge of Thousand Venom, a spatial rift opened beside the Klesha Avatar, startling Tusha, Xue Yuanshao, and the Armored Lion King. All three wondered if some enemy force had located them and launched an attack. Armored Lion King and Xue Yuanshao reeled back. But just like in the Ice-Fire cave, Tusha rushed towards the Klesha Avatar, putting herself between the vortex and Xinzi. But as if he'd expected the rift all along, Xinzi moved his hand past Tusha's waist, reaching for the rift. A Wisp of Heaven's Breath flew out—landing in his hand.
"Don't worry. I'm just porting goods over."
"Oh. I'm not…"
"It's fine. This is the second time you put yourself between me and perceived danger. Nothing wrong with defending your Master-Abbot. Shows loyalty and care. Both qualities that I fancy," Xinzi said, and as he pulled his hand back, it slightly brushed the Infernal Nun's waist. Her cheeks flushed at his words, but again, she tried to convince herself that reuniting the four nuns and resurrecting Qiu Meng were the only reasons why she cared for Xinzi's well-being.
How would she feel then if she knew that Qiu Meng had very likely been resurrected already? Xinzi knew that he couldn't hide this from Tusha for too long—especially with the role he played in it all. If she learned it, it had to be from him. And while Xinzi controlled Tusha's soul and could alter it as he pleased, with certain people, such tactics displeased him.
If he couldn't stamp his face on their willing heart, he'd never be satisfied. Both Xinzi and Tusha's thoughts trailed off. And as the nun wondered if the loss of her Asura bloodline had caused her to shrink into such a timid, confused and indecisive individual, the Yan Spirit clan considered Xinzi's offer.
"Such profound Dao mysteries. Throughout the Great Desolation World—no—throughout all realms of existence, there can't be a more profound cultivation method!" From the weakest of Yan scion to the Dao Revelation elders, all came to the same conclusion. In fact, the higher the cultivation base, the more convinced they were that the mnemonics Xinzi had imparted upon had no rival throughout heaven and earth.
They weren't entirely incorrect. If the Reincarnation of Mahasura ranked among the most dominant blood cultivation methods of all realms, then the Devil Root Refining Sutra was without a shred of doubt the number one Qi cultivation method of the Infernal Paradise. Only the most prominent Devil of the Infernal Paradise had access to this supreme method, and that individual wouldn't even share it with their direct descendants—the black text that is.
The Devil Root Refining Sutra split into two sections of black and white text: the Master and Servant Sutra. The Servant Sutra enabled any cultivator of any race to get enlightenment in the mysteries of heaven and earth, emotions and desires, not only boosting their comprehension skills by an extreme margin but also increasing their raw cultivation speed exponentially. By relying on that method, they would never face any bottleneck. The need for external resources also shrank massively, enabling the Servant Sutra cultivators to solely focus on secluded cultivation. As soon as they comprehended the sutra's principles, they'd condense a White Demon Heart and go through one body transformation to become Demon Nobles.
Needless to say, all this came with a catch—several in fact. The Master Sutra cultivator could do with the Servants as he pleased. Any boost to their cultivation speed and comprehension abilities would add to the master's as well. And if he ever felt like it, he could drain their cultivation to supplement his. In this scenario, Xinzi was the Master, and the Yan Spirit clan the Servants.
The seductive mnemonics corrupted their Dao Hearts and souls, making them yearn for the immense strength and boundless potential that they'd instantly get from this cultivation method. As if that wasn't enough, the Evil Qi Tide formed from the Red-Tongued Devil and 100 Corpse Demons' remains still pervaded the air. Not only had it not gotten exhausted, but the more the Yan Spirit clansmen thirsted for foul powers, the larger the tide grew.
Evil Qi built on negative or malevolent actions, emotions and desires. Once the Yan Spirit clan embraced the Servant Sutra and became Xinzi's White-Winged Demons, every bit of Evil Qi they cultivated or generated would rush straight to Xinzi, fueling his nefarious growth.
The Yan scions entered a trance, and as the Poisonfeather Birds choked under the Self-Reinforcing Evil Qi Tide, Zhenniao came to one conclusion. "He must be a high-ranking master of the Infernal Paradise! Embrace his thigh…I must…embrace his thigh!"
Zhenniao too lost himself in the Evil Qi Tide, thirsting for the opportunities that this demon lord could provide. He was not the only one.. Xue Yuanshao's soul form was especially vulnerable to this foul atmosphere and—little by little, the old ghost reverted to the mad and eccentric alchemist that he used to be.