Chapter 157 – Night Flower Selection
Night Flower City, formerly known as Night Slave City, as the personal domain of the now defunct Night Slave Hall, Night Flower City occupied over 60,000 hectares of land, most of it used to grow spiritual plants, pools, and other cultivation-world necessities. Over 1,300,000 pale-skinned children with full blue eyes and sparkling silver hair fielded the city, handling the plantations, running the refineries, managing the pools, pill rooms, and even running errands for the city's ladies. Known as the Moon Children, these puppets had been crafted by the succeeding generations of God-Monarchs, but it wasn't until Hengye Wuxin's reign that their numbers ballooned to a staggering one million.
Night Flower City lay in an isolated dimension that only the contemporary God-Monarch—or Lord-Regent—could grant access to. In the past, the Night Slaves were all expected to cultivate at lightning speed, not only so they could donate that cultivation base to the reigning monarch, but also so that overall, the ratio between what they donated and what they kept would maintain their cultivation at an elite level. After all, whenever necessary, they had to turn into spies for their lord—spying activities in the leading clans of the Great Desolation World required appropriate cultivation levels.
For these reasons, the Moon Children's work was of paramount importance. Thankfully for the Hengye clan, as puppets devoid of emotions or desires, Moon Children couldn't demand a fair wage…or any wage for that matter.
'As colorful as usual.' Sitting crossed-legged on a black lotus throne, with eight maids forming a blockage around him, Xinzi stared at Night Flower City's sky, appraising it with mixed feelings.
Akin to a veil of darkness, Night Flower city maintained a perpetually obscure sky lit by a myriad of disproportionate stars. The closer one stood to Night Flower City's extremities, the smaller the stars were. Some didn't seem bigger than a human finger. Others reached the size of a boulder. And at the center of it all stood the most dazzling star, which alone covered one-third of Night Flower City. Needless to say, each star represented a God of the Night Pantheon, with the central star being Hengye Zhen's.
The stars weren't just there for show, each releasing waves of mystical energy that blessed Night Flower City's citizens with abundant qi and soul force—another strategy of the Hengye clan to ensure that none of these ladies would ever forget to whom they owed their blessings.
For the newcomers, this mind-numbing awe-inspiring sight was enough to make their legs quake at the splendor of the Evernight Palace. But Xinzi didn't doubt that after spending decades, centuries and millennia under this very same setting, the future Night Flowers would find it as mundane as he did now.
Drawing in a deep breath, our monk snapped his finger. Bright rays shot out of the black lotus throne, and with nigh instantaneous displacement, Xinzi and maids appeared above Evernight City's gate: a colossal vortex of spinning violet energies.
One-hundred-thousand female figures stood before that vortex. Some wore luxurious robes that emphasized the grace and elegance they'd cultivated from infancy. Others opted for provocative, skin-tight dresses, some so tight in fact that tits and ass bounced with each of the ladies' breath, demanding release. Others still settled for plain dresses, perhaps so confident in their riveting looks that they didn't see the need for unique attires.
With his current Heart-Shifter bloodline, Xinzi could read the emotions and desires running through these 100,000 chosen's hearts. However, not only did he not want to get overwhelmed by a flurry of 100,000 perspectives but he also wished to keep himself in the dark so he could savor the mystery of not knowing—and the fantasies that came with it.
All of the Endless Sea's eminent races found a representative here. From the Snow Wolves to the Sea Dragons, from the Colorful Clams to the Mermaids, White Foxes and Ice Phoenixes, all the way to Water Spirits and Ba Serpents, Xinzi recognized each race and their characteristics. All ladies on the scene had a human form. But most mixed their race's unique traits with that form as well.
The White Foxes had the furry ears and tails, the clams had mesmerizing pearls embedded at the middle of their foreheads. Phoenixes didn't hide the feathers sticking out of their hair. The dragons had either horns or antlers, depending on the specific species, while some of the other creatures showed thin layers of colorful scales or captivating eye colors.
The Myriad Sea clans' top representatives had gathered for our monk, eyes shining with determination, hopes and expectations. Next to each lady, radiant runes showcased the name, age, clan and cultivation level, making Xinzi's Spiritual Sense sweep useless. And as all lives under the heavens seem to care for height, Xinzi added an extra two centimeters to himself—now standing at 191 cm.
Satisfied by the myriad sea clan's juniors, Xinzi rubbed his beardless chin, nodding in approval.
"Welcome to the Night Flower Selection. I will not tire your ears with a long and pointless speech. You all know why you're here, and the expectations that your shoulders carry. 100,000 have gathered, but only 100 will be selected as the first members of my Night Flower Hall. Those will have Night Flower City all for themselves, and by my divine will, are destined to become immortal. In the future, you will also rule your respective clans—perhaps even elevating them to genuine immortal clans." Xinzi started, and the 100,000 ladies' eyes sparkled at his words.
According to what they'd been told, the herculean monk standing before them was but the decoy shell of the contemporary monarch, a tool he used to spread his own Lianist Creed. However, as they stared at the overwhelming Divine Power oozing from Xinzi, and the boundless seven-colored ocean rising towards the sky, these knowledgeable gals couldn't help but wonder if they'd not been deceived. The cultivation level was still low, but the Dao Foundation so strong that they failed to make sense of it. If this was the decoy shell, one could only imagine how terrifying the true body was.
"As the first generation of Night Flowers, you and the clans at your back, will assist My Divine Self in spreading Lianism and convert the Endless Seas's billion lives to my Creed of Liberation. At the same time, you'll be my dual cultivation partners. Having been selected based on these criteria, your cultivation talent and comprehension skills are naturally far ahead of the norm. I will not test you on that."
18 years old with a mid-stage Pulse Condensation cultivation base.
25 years old with an early-stage Golden Core cultivation base.
123 years old with a peak-stage Nascent Soul cultivation base.
600-years-old rank-six Jeweled Snake.
1,000 years-old rank-seven Snow She-Wolf.
From Divine Beast Descendants to high-level Mysterious Beasts, these ladies were all prodigies in their own right, and could shake any mortal faction that they set foot into. Add to that intact Primal Yin and alluring figures, and even Xinzi struggled to keep his Yang Qi in check. Still, as a monk of culture, Xinzi wouldn't allow the lecherous fiend in him to ruin his holy facade.
"Fortunately, my Creed of Liberation isn't all about talent. Mindset and affinity are of tremendous importance. This is what I will test you on," Xinzi said and if at first, hearing the God-Monarch of the Eternal Night Dynasty praise their cultivation talent filled the ladies' stomachs with fluttering butterflies, as soon as the words "mindset" and "affinity" left his lips, grimaces twisted their mesmerizing faces.
'That's…entirely arbitrary.' The same thought swirled through the ladies' minds. And indeed, they were correct. Mindset and affinity were arbitrary concepts, with their success or failure entirely based on what Xinzi liked or disliked. Having crossed the Endless Sea to compete for a life-changing opportunity, who could accept getting turned down for entirely arbitrary concepts?
"I know what you're thinking, and can guarantee that, following the examination, you'll feel little to no grievance. Here comes the first test," Xinzi said and snapped his fingers, making a rain of 100,000 dark-blue flowers drop from the sky. At the same time, a golden, boulder-sized pill furnace appeared underneath his lotus throne, with bright golden flames flaring within.
"Lunar Yin Flowers!"
"The Taiyang clan's Sun Smelting Divine Cauldron!" From maids to contestants, all recognized the cauldron, and as the ladies' hands wrapped around the flowers, their eyes narrowed at the 36 petals. Each rippled with terrifying quantities of Yin Qi, enhancing the ladies' Primal Yin just by their presence alone.
"The first test is simple. You will all go receive a baptism from this Sun Smelting Divine Cauldron, and use the yang flames to refine the Lunar Yin Flowers. Those who pass move on to the second test. The rest can treat this baptism and flower as the good fortune you've earned through all those years devoted solely to immortal cultivation."
Following Xinzi's words, silence dropped on the scene, and from maids to contestants, all stared at one another, speechless by the ostentatious display.
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