Captured by their Swallowing Skill, the Evil Qi and Blood Energy released by the claw rushed into the Mini Overlords, fueling their unique cultivation bases with a delicious boost. After three months of receiving premium divine nutrients from daddy dearests, the six all reached the mid-stage of their Mini-Overlord Foundation, and though theoretically at the peak of Void Tribulant, could bitch-slap anyone below the Immortal realm.
This made them the strongest non-puppet experts of Colorful Wing Supercity. Xinzi aside, few could handle their occasional tantrums.
"Ouuin!" Annoyed by Shentu Shun's ability to recover the Void-Shredding Claw, the Mini Overlords flew in circles, fighting over the diamond gem that hovered between them. Six pairs of baby hands scrambled for space, tugging on the gem while the Liberation Temple's experts watched on the sidelines, helpless before these baby bosses.
"Enough! If you keep acting up, I will stop cooking you the Nine Turns Celestial Fire Soup that you love so much!" Raising two long kitchen knives, Dong Ling flew at the baby bosses, slamming the blades together to draw their attention.Â
Across these last three months, Dong Ling's culinary talents revealed themselves. After comprehending her own technique—the Wrath of the Ancestors—from the Nine Paths of Yin and Yang, Dong Ling unlocked several abilities, including a Congenital Flame: the Unbridled Dragon Flame.
Alchemists and Spiritual Chefs all had this same problem. To achieve high levels of proficiency in their craft, they needed a Congenital Flame: fire birthed by their dantian and nurtured by their souls.
Congenital Flames often fell into pre-defined categories, with the Samadhi Fire being the strongest that alchemists and chefs typically aspired to. But in some cases, the flames would take a unique variation.
Xinzi, for example, possessed the unique Metamorphic Flame—alone encompassing all fires and elemental attributes. If he ever decided to branch full-time into alchemy or the culinary arts, that peerless Congenital Flame would enable him to surpass all previous generations.
Dong Ling's Unbridled Dragon Flame wasn't as overpowered but still enabled her to cook the hardest of legendary beast meats into tender snacks. The impurities or violent energies in various plants and fruits also couldn't resist, scattering before the Unbridled Dragon Flame's astonishing cleansing powers and star-like heat.
Because of the unpredictable destructive powers that could reduce seas into vapor once she lost control, Dong Ling didn't dare to use that flame during the Liberation Temple's contests. Otherwise, the current girl rankings would show an entirely different hierarchy.
A pity that such an overwhelming tool of destruction only served to feed the outrageous appetite of the Mini Overlords.
"Ouuin!" Faced with the threat of losing their favorite dish, the Mini Overlords lowered their heads and, full of grievances, sniffed as they flew towards Zi Feng, piling up in her arms and crying for all to hear. Occasionally, they'd cast furtive glances at Dong Ling, trying to see if their performance softened the tyrannical mommy chef.
It didn't, and with an uncompromising stance, Dong Ling grabbed the diamond gem, tossing it towards Tusha. Perplexed, the infernal nun caught the gem with an absentminded look.
'The ability to cook a good meal is so overpowered. Maybe it's time I become a Spiritual Chef?' Tusha pondered on existential questions.
...
Meanwhile, the Void-Shredding Claw blitzed through spatial rifts, returning to a coffin buried almost 1,000 feet into the ground. In that coffin, a short and shriveled old man lay with his arms crossed over his chest. The Void-Shredding Claw appeared above his navel, but still confused and incensed by the grand larceny executed by the Mini Overlords, he ignored the claw, grumbling in rage.
"How? How is it possible for a bunch of babies to possess such an overwhelming cultivation base? In what world...with what milk were they raised? It doesn't make any sense. Someone...explain this to me!" From the moment that the Shentu loyalists appeared in Colorful Wing Supercity, flabbergasting surprises had been succeeding one another. But without a shred of doubt, those six babies' might made all previous shock feel irrelevant.
With 80,000 years of experience, Shentu Shun still couldn't accept that a squad of milk-drinking babies individually possessed greater powers than he'd accumulated in his lifetime! If not for the Void-Shredding Claw's own powers, Shentu Shun would have never been able to recover his artifact from the Mini Overlords' hands!
"That Heart-Wrenching Demon Noble is a brain-dead fool. With a deficient understanding of the enemy's might, he dragged us into this suicidal plan! Now we've exposed our trump card, our demonic connections, and gotten a savage beatdown as result!! Damn him...damn him!!!"
If the babies alone were that tyrannical, then what kind of existence was the creature that sired them? Shentu Shun had lived long enough to know that the entity behind these babies could, with one move, end his thousands of years of planning. Alas, they'd offended him already.
'Tributes...prepare tributes! One million spirit slaves! The Spiritual Aristocracy's combined wealth and treasures! A blank note with more demands! It doesn't matter; send it all! If we can give it, we'll give it! Damn it, have His Majesty carry a trunk-sized rod on his back to ask for punishment and forgiveness on behalf of the entire Spiritual Aristocracy! The situation is catastrophic at best, and we must scramble for a way out!' Alarmed, Shentu Shun sent a flurry of mental messages to his subordinates—throwing the Shentu Loyalist faction into full-panic mode.
Meanwhile, another man—a demon to be more accurate—reconsidered the wisdom of his actions. Still tied in the underground of the Dark Moon Cult, the Heart-Wrenching Demon Noble witnessed the battle through the eyes of his 2,000 disciples. What he saw petrified him. And just like Shentu Shun, the shellshocked Heart-Wrenching Demon Noble now speculated on the enemy's true depths.
'In a one vs. one fight, throughout the Eastern Continent, I might be the only one able to resist that man.' The Heart-Wrenching Demon Noble told himself, convinced that just like him, the enemy's true strength lay in the upper tiers of the Immortal Realm.
'Wrong. The Great Desolation World doesn't have a single entity capable of resisting me in a one vs. one fight. Ren Moxie, you are overestimating yourself.' A calm voice resounded in the Heart-Wrenching Demon Noble's mind, its words and seamless intrusion shocking him to the core of his soul.
'Impossible! How...how can you—'
'Irrelevant. Ren Moxie, I only have one thing to tell you. On the day that you complete your cultivation method and become a Heavenly Immortal, if you dare to leave this crypt, you die. Do the both of us a favor, and don't add more blood to my hands. I'm a pacifist, you see, and do not wish to shorten the lifespan of Qiu Meng's last surviving disciple,' Zhen-Xinzi said.
His every word like a mountain that pressed on the Heart-Wrenching Demon Noble's psyche.
'With that said, I got a reputation to maintain, and can't allow you to get away scot-free after so rudely intruding upon my domain. You're not going to die, but for each disciple that you sent into my city, I will take the souls of ten of your people—including one of your direct disciples.'
'No...' Barely had Zhen-Xinzi's words echoed that Ren Moxie felt 20,000 of the Heart-Wrenching Cult disciples perish, their souls leaving their bodies to fly towards Colorful Wing Supercity. At the same, the head of Ren Moxi's fifth and most beloved disciple twisted on a horrible 360 angle. His heart stopped immediately, and as his body fell limp, his soul joined the others, heading towards Xinzi.
In Ren Moxie's eyes, even the lowest of Heart-Wrenching Cult disciples was a treasured kinsman whose safety he valued above his own. For that reason, he didn't hesitate to equip the 2,000 that he sent to Colorful Wing Supercity with luxurious talismans and artifacts. To lose those 2,000 brothers was damaging enough, but in a flash, 20,000 more joined the dead—including someone that Ren Moxie spoiled like the most beloved of sons.
Tears filled the Heart-Wrenching Demon Noble's eyes. But faced with an entity that, from tens of thousands of miles of distance, could decide his life and death, all his rage, pain and hatred had no use—except for improving his corrupt cultivation base.
'It's an announcement, not a negotiation. On top of that, I expect you to pay a steep monthly fee. You can pick the goods, but I demand no less than all you can provide. Let this be a lesson that, demon noble or not, you do not have the qualifications...to challenge a God." Following those words, Zhen-Xinzi vanished from Ren Moxie's mind.
Searing waves of pain spread through the Heart-Wrenching Demon Noble's chest, and he convulsed in his chains, puking warm blood and all the cultivation boost that he'd just received from the fall of those he cherished.
