”There’s a difference between doting on your partner and being subservient to her! I love Tieshan, but I’m a man, a bull, a king!”
”You are not a king.”
”I AM! I didn’t slay the previous ruler to become his daughter’s chew-toy! I am the Bull Demon King! The one and only ruler of the Celestial Farm! Tieshan should be serving me—me! Not the other way around!
Hateful! For 100 years, that hateful whore has made me follow some rubbish pledge of abstinence, not only refusing to sleep with me until the marriage ceremony, but also forbidding me from touching other women! I have followed the previous king for thousands of years, suppressed countless rebellions for his sake, and was rewarded with glory, splendor, wealth and rank!
Does she really think that I would have tossed all that to the trash just to become her subordinate? No, I wanted it all! I wanted to take the final step. To have all that the previous king did and more. To have Tieshan, the consorts, the Longevity Cowgirls, to sate my lust and assert my power as the absolute lord of these lands!
But I…love her. So for her, I was willing to wait—to compromise, thinking that over time, she’d come around! I suppressed any thought of backstabbing her, suppressed my carnal needs. But what does she do in return? She keeps crushing my prestige, undermines me before my troops, carves up my kingdom and dares to order me around like her pet! Damn her!
And why does she wear such bold and revealing clothes? I can’t stand it! I can’t stand her! I want to take her down her high horse and make her taste my might!” The Bull Demon Prince threw his hulking arms into the air, and with throaty bellows, released all that he kept suppressed.
”Why…am I saying this out loud?” In full panic, the Bull Demon Prince held his mouth, breaking into a cold sweat. But it was too late. Tieshan saw and heard it all. Her eyes widened at the transmission mirror, her heart thumping in her chest.
”Before me, you cannot hide your true thoughts. All that your heart keeps suppressed will roll out of your tongue whether you want it to or not, so, just be honest with yourself. In any case, it’s not like anyone that shouldn’t be hearing this, will,” Xinzi said and waved his hand, releasing formless forces that relaxed Niu Yan’s nerves.
Bloodshifters carried amplified versions of the Heartshifters’ abilities. Not only could Xinzi read his interlocutor’s thoughts, but if he wanted to, he could make them speak their mind as well. This terrifying ability made all masks useless, enabling our monk to expose all that he wanted to.
”What…do you want from me?” This was the crucial point, and Niu Yan dared not forget that the man he faced commanded forces and powers that his ignorant mind couldn’t fathom.
With a smile, Xinzi snapped his fingers, summoning three Law Protectors. The energy fluctuations crippled Niu Yan’s willpower, and he fell on his rump, unable to accept that immortal-level forces had joined the chat.
”I will be blunt. To me, destroying the Celestial Farm’s defensive formation is child’s play. If I can’t have these 20,000,000 acres of spiritual farmland, no one can—especially not men and women that dared to offend me.” Here, Xinzi’s aura took a baleful scent, reminding Niu Yan of the Stampede he’d sent Xinzi’s way—the Bull Demon Prince’s sweat dripped faster.
”But if I can avoid it, I do not want to destroy the Celestial Farm. Tieshan’s stubbornness will get the 120,000 lives that occupy this farmland killed. You, Niu Yan, can save them all and position yourself as the true monarch of the Celestial Farm. Surrender to me, form a Heart Demon Pledge with me, and in exchange, I will give you the tools to overthrow Tieshan,” Xinzi said and went silent, giving the Bull Demon Prince time to process his words.
’This man is too powerful. We are all tools, pawns before his might. Right now, we absolutely do not have the means to resist him. Even Tieshan’s demonic patron might not have a chance. Might as well, try to get something positive out of this. And if…if I can finally make Tieshan into my obedient woman, why not?’
”What…are the terms?” Following brief considerations, the Bull Demon Prince opened up to Xinzi’s offer. The Celestial Farm was all he had. Tieshan could bear to take the resources away and destroy the farm so it wouldn’t fall into enemy hands, but even assuming that Xinzi didn’t have the means to prevent that outcome, the Bull Demon Prince couldn’t accept it.
”Tieshan grew to the point of being able to boss you around because of her demonic patron. With a superior patron, defeating her isn’t difficult. But the price isn’t cheap. Unconditional loyalty aside, I want 99% of the Celestial Farm’s yearly yield, plus the 10,000 years of accumulation. You will also have to use your High Command Seal to leave a gap in the defensive formation so my troops and I can sneak in. If you don’t do that this instant, you’re all dying now.”
”Ninety-nine?!”
”My terms are non-negotiable. In exchange, I will give you many boons, starting with these.” Xinzi didn’t give the Bull Demon Prince an opportunity to protest, and snapped his fingers. One slender fox girl with flawless curves and a riveting smile appeared before the Bull Demon Prince, carrying a dark-purple box which she lay into his hands.
The bull’s jaw sank, his tongue hung loose, and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
”The box is an artifact personally refined by me. Open it before Tieshan, and it will harvest her cultivation base—leaving her completely defenseless before you. As for this fox girl, she’s your gift—a concubine tailored to your tastes,” Xinzi said, and though the box promised to give him all that he ever wanted, the Bull Demon Prince’s eyes couldn’t leave the fox girl. Her scent overwhelmed his senses, making him tremble in excitement.
Tieshan too saw the fox beauty, but perhaps due to the transmission mirror, she felt something amiss.
”The box is real, but the girl is an illusion. A lifelike illusion produced by my demonic haze, but an illusion all the same.”
”Are you…a Klesha Noble?” Following Xinzi’s explanation, Tieshan guessed one of his bloodlines. After all, only a Klesha Noble could create such lifelike illusions that even a peak Divine Transformation level demoness failed to see through them.
”Try again.” Xinzi neither confirmed nor denied Tieshan’s guess.
”A Devil Child. Yes…to possess these many outrageous abilities, you have to be a Devil Child. But what is a Devil Child doing in a mortal world? Never mind, I don’t want to know.”
In the Infernal Paradise, Devil Child was the title granted to those that mighty Devils selected to descend into the Pit of Doom and receive a Devil Crown. At the very least, a Devil Child was expected to become a True Devil, so from the day they were born, they all went through harrowing training, facing such murderous trials that many couldn’t survive to enter the pit.
But while Tieshan suspected that she’d been cornered by such a terrifying existence, her eyes stayed glued to the mirror—stretched wide as she waited for Niu Yan’s choice.