Chapter 70
First, his cultivation was Upper-Tier Demon Emperor now, early on his demonic energy had been tyrannical enough to convert the Heavenly Dao Lord and Hell Dao Lord fast, but the higher those Conversion Degrees climbed, the harder the Dao Lords pushed back, staying on that path meant a much slower pace.
Second, he needed the Beast Demonic Form to raise the strength and grade of Bruce’s bloodline, maybe force a beneficial mutation and steer him somewhere more useful.
If he intended to take the Exalted Continent, and eventually the whole Azure Spirit World, dealing with the Beast race was unavoidable, Bruce was going to matter.
A thought flipped the Heavenly Book into Form Diagram mode.
Inside a confined space in the diagram, his gaze settled on the Dao Lord of the Beast Dao.
Lively face, adorable, a petite frame, two pointed beast horns on her head.
Soren fed demonic energy along the intricate runes beneath the diagram and let it seep into her.
Demonic flame ignited across her body, it didn’t hurt her. Absorbing the flame-state energy caused a faint demonic garment to materialize over her.
The garment restored her and dulled the pain, her expression eased compared to before.
Halfway through, the corner of Soren’s mouth twitched, every time he thought about how this setup worked, his chest ached a little.
A demon who wanted to roam the Azure Spirit World doing whatever pleased him, and here he was rescuing divine maidens from heretical paths, accumulating boundless karmic merit.
Two and a half days later, Ethel’s absorption reached its final stages, Soren closed out his cultivation.
These two days had been a from-scratch run on this path.
The first half-day was explosive, 1 to 39.
The whole following day was bad, 39 to 46.
The last day was worse, 46 to 50.
For what he needed, 50 on the Beast Demonic Form was plenty.
It meant he now had the authority to induce bloodline evolution or degradation in any Beast race member below Upper-Tier Beast Emperor.
He turned back to Ethel.
Soul power surged off her, and a heavy blanket of Spirit might came right behind it.
Frost-colored Spirit energy wrapped her frame, her realm started climbing.
She breached Upper-Tier Spirit King in a blink.
That was the appetizer, fused with the soul power of an Upper-Tier Spirit Emperor, even if she couldn’t push into the Spirit Emperor realm, there was no chance she stalled at Upper-Tier Spirit King.
Half an hour later, the climb resumed.
Into Lower-Tier Spirit Venerable, straight past Middle-Tier, then it settled hard at the height of Upper-Tier Spirit Venerable.
Ethel was shaking, her voice shook with her.
"I... I broke through to Spirit Venerable?"
"And it’s Upper-Tier Spirit Venerable?"
"I’m dreaming, aren’t I?"
She had never dared imagine advancement at that speed, even in her wildest dreams she’d only timidly hoped for Lower-Tier Spirit Venerable someday in the distant future.
No backing, minimal resources, lower-Tier Spirit Venerable had been her realistic ceiling, and it would have cost centuries.
Now, Soren had pulled the Black Crow Alchemy Emperor’s consciousness out and left the pure Upper-Tier Emperor soul power behind, and she’d learned firsthand what godlike speed felt like.
Upper-Tier Spirit Venerable, she had caught up to their previous Clan Chief.
Her own level frightened her a little, her brother was still only an Upper-Tier Spirit King, and she couldn’t picture the face he’d make when they met again.
Then, in the middle of all that joy, her mood dropped and the smile went.
What replaced it was conflict, and shame under the conflict.
Soren treated her far too well, she had no idea how to repay any of it.
For Ethel, pure-hearted as she was, this was the first warmth she’d ever had from anyone but her brother.
It made it obvious that taking without giving back was not acceptable, she had to do something for him or she wouldn’t settle.
The waterfall thundered beside them, spraying fine mist, clear water bubbled through the pool.
She took a deep breath and got her heart under control, then she made a bold decision.
She swallowed. "Demon Emperor, can Ethel... wash up here?"
"During the breakthrough just now, I broke out in a sweat."
Soren nodded and walked off to the side.
Some time later, Ethel finished cleaning herself and stepped slowly out of the pool.
Soren was standing where he’d moved to, head bowed, thinking, she drew a deep breath of cold air and walked over on her own.
The last of her hesitation gave way, and Ethel put her arms around him from behind.
All Soren felt was warmth and softness pressed gently against his back.
"The Demon Emperor has treated Ethel and my brother so well."
"Yet Ethel has nothing to repay the Demon Emperor with."
"I only have... only have this body."
"If the Demon Emperor does not disdain it..."
Soren snapped his fingers, a wisp of demonic energy left his hand and became a loose black dress that wrapped itself around her.
Ethel startled at the dress now sitting on her shoulders, she understood what he meant by it.
"Demon Emperor, do you think Ethel is ugly?"
Ethel was not ugly, she had a pure, innocent beauty set off by the bewitching charm her race was born carrying, every feature placed exactly right on a flawless face.
"No."
She pursed her crimson lips and drooped. "Then... does the Demon Emperor think Ethel’s figure isn’t good enough?"
Tall and slender, skin like jade and ice, soft enough that a pinch looked like it might squeeze water out, whatever she wore traced her curves, full where it should be full, slim where it should be slim, it was not the figure either.
Soren admitted he wasn’t a good person, he still kept his own principles about certain things.
So why did he look unmoved while Ethel threw herself at him? He wasn’t unmoved, he liked her a great deal.
Who wouldn’t like a well-behaved, gentle, understanding girl who had lit up Following to the Death faster than anyone alive?
In Soren’s eyes Ethel was a fire in a frozen world, close to the humanity and the bottom line he used to carry around when he was an ordinary man.
Standing near that flame was warm, put it out and the world went back to nothing but bone-deep frost.