"Good job. If before, I didn't have full assurance, now I do not doubt that I should exceed the peak of the Grand Devil Realm, and take half-a-step into the Prime Devil Realm. After refining my Heaven Swallowing Pills, reaching the Prime Devil Realm will not take any trouble."
Konrad praised with a satisfactory nod before taking the ring from Krann's hands.
"Serving Master is my honor and duty!"
Krann exclaimed while straightening his back. His eyes then shifted to the left, falling on Heide and Cacillia who stood nearby. Seeing him, Heide waved with glee.
"How have you been uncle Krann? Please tell me you regularly give Elia a few swats."
Heide greeted with a jovial smile while Cacillia's eyes narrowed at the newcomer.
"Uncle? Is he Master's brother? Or is that just a form of familiarity? A disciple or a servant? Otherwise, why would he call him 'Master?' Hum…they do share similar traits…"
Cacillia wondered while comparing the icy-blue eyes, snow-white skin and hair shared by both Konrad and Krann. But as her eyes locked on Krann's his too met her gaze.
"I've been well, your highness. And even if I don't, her majesty is always ready to give the second prince a few swats."
Krann replied while examining the new recruit. Feeling the devil energies surging from her chest, he could feel she'd just completed her Devil Conversion and become a Devil. But that aside, her dao foundation was nonexistent, like a complete newbie to the cultivation road. In Heaven and Hell where those no longer existed, this was indeed hard to comprehend.
Konrad then sent him a mental message, and Krann's eyes widened in a stupor. Without hesitation, he bowed toward Cacillia.
"Greetings, young mistress. Being handpicked to inherit Master's teachings is the good fortune accumulated by ten-thousand lives! Do cherish it!"
Krann exclaimed, dispelling the flickering confusion within Cacillia's eyes while triggering new questions. But knowing that losing herself in thoughts would just fry her brain, Cacillia didn't probe further and bowed back.
"Thank you. I will take those words to heart."
Meanwhile, Konrad closed his eyes for a brief calculation.
"Krann, you can return to the Infernal Realm. Leave the State Protectors with Yvonne, Else, and Gulistan to personally spy on Talroth. Also, send them these pills."
Konrad ordered as his eyes opened wide. With a wave of his hand, eighty Grand Devil pills flew toward Krann. 30 mid-grade Grade, 15 high-grade and 5 top-grade. Seizing them, Krann bowed in compliance. Konrad then cleft open a Realm Gash, allowing Krann to covertly rush back to the Infernal Realm.
It was now time to kick things up a notch.
Carrying the pills and girls alongside him, Konrad vanished to reappear in another building of the new sect: The Blood Lake Hall. But while from the outside, the onlooker could only see an ordinary mansion, inside, a vast oceanic realm awaited, with warm water stretching across 145,000 square miles. This was clearly a result of Truth and Space manipulations. With a wave of his hand, Konrad summoned the bodies of the six Divine Lords fallen in the Essence Nurturing Forest and tossed them into the sea.
His hands flashed in incantation gestures, the six corpses burst into a blood fog that stretched throughout the lake and colored it in blood. At the same time, Konrad summoned 1 billion God-Jade from the treasury, organizing them at the bottom of the sea in an intricate Devil Formation while nine black Devil Seals appeared in the sky.
The Spiritual Energy within the air and Blood Lake morphed into Devil Essence, making this place a perfect environment for Devil cultivation. Without further ado, Konrad summoned his legions, and Cacillia was startled to see the 96,000 Devils appear out of thin air.
Led by the twelve Chthonian Dukes, the legions knelt before their lord.
"Greetings, your majesty!"
96,000 voices boomed in perfect synch.
"You may rise. Although your cultivation speed doesn't bring shame to my banner, it must rise to another level. I've altered the time flow in this area to make one day in the outside equal three thousand here.
You have 115 years to reach the highest cultivation level you can. The lake is a miraculous cultivation trove that will not only benefit you, but enhance your Devil Puppets. Meanwhile, pills have been prepared as rewards the eight thousand most outstanding performances.
Cultivate, breakthrough, fight, and repeat.
The State Warding and Blood Shadow Dukes will be in charge of the resource distributions. The Silent Blade and True Martial Duchesses of the war-drilling. Should you require more resources, the Hidden Moon Duchess can reach out to me."
Whoever hasn't reached the Boundless Sea Devil Realm by the end of this cultivation session will be executed. Meanwhile, Chthonian Knights must reach the mid-stage, Chthonian Generals the late-stage, and Chthonian Lords the peak. As for you Dragon Dukes, if you've not at least broken through to the early-stage of the Grand Devil Realm, you can kill yourselves.
Once you complete the session, you and your puppets shall masquerade as the fallen disciples of the Moon Refining Palace and fill the sect."
Konrad declared, but though his words wrought immense pressure on them all, none dared complain, and all agreed with thundering determination.
"As you command, your majesty!"
As for the various Dukes and Duchesses, they represented the leadership of the twelve pavilions. Wolfgang was the State Warding Duke. Berken the Blood Shadow Duke, Chimera the Silent Blade Duchess, Vylsea the True Martial Duchess, and Calysto the Hidden Moon Duchess. All were pillars of the dynasty.
Without any additional directives to give, Konrad vanished to reappear within the new Valley Lord's palace. There, he had both Heide and Cacillia sit crossed legged.
"From now on, and until the Recruitment Ceremony officially begins, I will direct the two of you's cultivation. Naturally, since your foundations aren't the same, the curriculum will be different. After the ceremony, you will follow me into seclusion for rapid progress."
Konrad declared, making Cacillia, who didn't understand the meaning behind the words, respond with a vigorous nod of approval. Heide, however, leaped from elation!
"YEEEEES!"
Startled by the sudden squeal, Cacillia recoiled and blinked in disbelief while Konrad rolled his eyes.
In the following two weeks, he spent his time between concocting Super Devil Pills, erecting Devil Trees, ponds, lakes and instructing his daughter and disciple on the Devil Road.
Heide who due to the Boundless Sea Devil Pill she refined was already on the verge of the next level, broke through to the peak of the Heart Devil Realm. Meanwhile, Verena and the Fate Devil carried on with the Destiny Gathering Veins' constructions and by the time they completed it, the Second Celestial Mountain had already turned into a cultivation paradise…or rather, a devil paradise.
And following a week of refining hundreds of thousands of pills, through an exhausting combination of Infiniteness Insight and Primal Laws, even before the seclusion, the shackles of Profound Infiniteness Insight lessened, announcing a breakthrough.
Now, only one week remained. But within the Sea Dream Temple, a commotion arose:
To the "shocked elders," and new protectors, Rati announced…Daksha's death! Elated by the news, Kama used his ring to contact Surya in his seclusion. To Rati's disappointment, the two settled on a plan to overturn the Sea Dream Temple during Konrad's sect inauguration.
Another week flew by. And as the Sect Inauguration was about to start, Konrad broke through to Profound Infiniteness Insight!
At the same time, his legionaries emerged from seclusion, all rippling with heaven-shaking devil energies!
