God-Tier Villain

Chapter 14: Chapter 14

[The method to claim it was simple, find a remnant item that shared Nythera’s frequency, and use it to suppress the Lotus’s violent aura.]

Soren frowned, sinking into thought.

A remnant item with the same frequency as Nythera? Her blood essence, or her ancestral bones, presumably.

She fell more than two hundred thousand years ago, most of her blood and bone became the lotus’s nourishment, and what little remained merged back into heaven and earth.

No wonder nobody ever found a way to take it.

Except...

Isn’t this a little too convenient?

Soren smiled.

With a flick of his finger, he drew the demonic weapon he had claimed not an hour ago out of his spatial storage.

The hilt of the Heavenly Resentment Demonic Sword was forged from a section of spine that Nythera had separated and regrown from her own body while she lived.

A supreme relic sharing the exact same frequency as the World-Destroying Demonic Lotus.

It truly took no effort at all.

Soren approached the lotus again, sword in hand.

As he extended the blade toward it, petals and hilt resonated, ringing out a halo of red light.

In the next second, the World-Destroying Demonic Lotus was persuaded.

As the Heavenly Resentment Demonic Sword withdrew to Soren’s side, the lotus drifted slowly after it, toward him.

The sight nearly scared the life out of Arnold, both his lips trembled, he thought the lotus was attacking, and if that thing detonated, Soren would die beyond all saving.

Soren, however, was perfectly calm, he sensed no danger at all, he even reached out his hand.

The petals brushed his fingers a second time.

And in an instant, the lotus dissolved into ribbons of interwoven purple and black energy.

There was no tearing suction this time, no hunger, it was the very opposite, the energy flowed willingly into Soren’s body.

The process took about half an incense stick of time, as the final wisp vanished from the cavern, Soren raised his hand and looked at his palm.

There, at its center, sat a strange totem, a miniature demonic lotus, rotating in silence, from that tiny mark, he could feel a surging aura and an unthinkably violent well of power.

"Done, the demonic lotus is mine."

A faint gleam of joy crossed Soren’s face, from this moment on, he could summon the World-Destroying Demonic Lotus anywhere, at any time.

One injection of demonic energy, and it would detonate, with force enough to erase the entire Endless Demonic Domain.

Arnold had watched the whole absorption slack-jawed, starting to speak, stopping, starting again, it was all simply too surreal.

A thing the great Demon Emperors had failed to claim for a hundred and twenty thousand years, and in half an incense stick, it belonged to his young master.

Arnold assumed they would now leave the Ten Thousand Demons Cliff without a backward glance, they didn’t.

Soren began searching the cavern for something, leaving Arnold’s old face blank with confusion, after a moment, he started searching too.

The World-Destroying Demonic Lotus had been the great objective of this trip, but in truth, there was one more thing here that Soren needed.

He had long since found the method to raise Arnold’s relationship level, the Strategy Encyclopedia recorded the following.

[Arnold is advanced in age, and his body is a shadow of what it once was. Though he consumes all manner of spiritual pills and wondrous fruits, the effect is minimal, deep in the night, he often cannot even hold himself upright.]

[Arnold’s sole regret in this life is that he cannot follow his Master forever, and that the day of parting must inevitably come.]

[Restore Arnold’s body and extend his lifespan, and his relationship tier will rise to Following to the Death.]

Soren hadn’t expected Arnold’s loyalty to run this deep, the only thing holding the tier back was that one lingering regret in the old man’s heart.

He had searched the Encyclopedia and found a wondrous substance that could restore Arnold’s body and lengthen his life, it was called the Earth Core Holy Nectar.

The Holy Nectar was extraordinarily precious, all but impossible to find in the wider world.

In the entire Endless Demonic Domain, the amount in open circulation likely didn’t fill a single small vial.

The conditions for its formation were brutally demanding, it could only form, possibly, as a companion substance in places where certain supreme spiritual treasures were born.

But following the Encyclopedia’s guidance, Soren was sure of one thing, the birthplace of the World-Destroying Demonic Lotus would have it.

The conditions here were perfect.

And sure enough, after some searching, beneath a patch of purple crystal, he found it, drops of purple Holy Nectar, gleaming wet.

One punch shattered the crystal, he drew several small vials from his spatial storage and collected every bit of the viscous liquid pooled in the hollow beneath.

In the end, he gathered about two and a half vials, half a vial was enough for Arnold.

The remaining two could strengthen himself, or be sold, or set aside against future emergencies.

"Arnold."

Soren called out and tossed a jade vial over.

Arnold was still standing in a daze, but the moment something left Soren’s hand, he snapped to and caught it carefully in both palms.

"Young master, what is this?"

He had heard of the Earth Core Holy Nectar, in all his long years, he had never once laid eyes on it, and he had no idea what it could do for him.

It was only after Soren explained that Arnold’s eyes rimmed red, gratitude flooded through him, deeper than he could express.

"This old servant never imagined the young master would hold this old servant’s troubles so close to heart."

"And as the young master’s servant, I should have noticed the smallest details of your needs, yet I noticed nothing of this, a dereliction of duty, through and through."

"The young master does not abandon this old servant, then this old servant..."

"This old servant swears to follow you unto death in this life!"

Arnold pledged himself with tears standing in his eyes, so he wept after all.

Soren had the Strategy Encyclopedia, and it could read whether a man’s words matched his heart, this was no flattery, Arnold’s relationship tier had genuinely risen to Following to the Death.

Outwardly, Soren stayed composed. Inwardly, he was delighted.