Chapter 525 – Bootlickers
The curse was completed. Miaomiao inwardly laughed and entered the banquet hall, aka the VIP box room.
Miaomiao found his wives at his dining table. They sat around Miaomiao's reserved table, enjoying the meal there.
It seemed that Liu Che and Karen had released them. Yet, they lingered in this room, stealing food from the banquet hall for an unknown reason.
As soon as Miaomiao entered the room, the KFC man, namely Fang Yanxu, came to congratulate him. He saluted, "Congratulations on your magnificent victory, Patriarch Mao. The Domain of Darkness was fantastic!"
Xu Huang and her immortal guardians also came to welcome him, "That was quite a feat for someone at your age. Now that I'm curious. Have you been hiding your true cultivation base all this time?"
Not only Fang Yanxu and Xu Huang were abnormally friendly, but a few immortals that Miaomiao didn't even know their names cupped their fists and showed him respect.
It was strange. When Miaomiao was alone with Lilim earlier, nobody bothered approaching him.
Why did they change their mind?
In Xu Huang's case, Miaomiao could understand since she was related to Xu Chu and Lilith. However, Fang Yanxu and the others were not supposed to be this friendly.
"What's wrong with you all today?"
Fang Yanxu laughed while the strangers smiled wryly. The former sent a telepathic voice.
'They were scared of you when you summoned the Karma Snakes from your shadow.'
'Karma Snakes?'
Miaomiao narrowed his eyes. Aside from Lilith, Miaomiao, and the residents of his dantian space, nobody should know about the snake's identity. Yet, Fang Yanxu knew something.
Fang Yanxu read Miaomiao's expression. He invited Miaomiao to his table while they continued the private conversation.
'The Meng Clan and the Fang Clan works hand-in-hand with the Netherworld Realm. The ancestor of the Meng Clan, Meng Po, overseers the river of reincarnation there. As for my ancestors, well, they had a similar career in Yama Court, but an unfortunate accident happened.'
Fang Yanxu was familiar with karma cultivators since he had met many immortals and deities who could use Karma Snakes. After all, he used to work as a clerk in Yama Court for a while, which was how he got to know about the Yama Election, Karma Power, and related techniques.
Unfortunately, Fang Yanxu couldn't tell Miaomiao that his ancestors and several members of his family had died. Recently, the life brands and the ancestor tokens in his spatial ring were destroyed, telling him that the owners of these brands had perished.
He didn't know - Devil had killed Samsara and slaughtered some of Fang Clan's members in the process.
Fang Yanxu's clan was suddenly on the verge of being destroyed. He was too embarrassed to confess how he knew the power, and why he needed Miaomiao's help.
After witnessing Miaomiao's talent and power from the fight, Fang Yanxu decided to suck up Miaomiao and tried to reconcile with him to survive.
'In short, I know a bit about karma cultivators. I can tell that you're one of them.'
'Oh?' Miaomiao was surprised. He had thought that Lilith and Meng Xin were the only ones who could use karma power.
Now that Fang Yanxu revealed the existence of karma cultivators, Miaomiao wondered how strong they were.
'Do you know how they cultivate karma?'
'I should be the one asking you, Patriarch Mao. I can only see the Karma River and strange strings, but I can't touch them like you.'
'Then, tell me more about Karma Snakes.'
'You don't know? I believe you should know more about this subject than me.'
'Just tell me what you understand about the karma snakes. I want to compare my knowledge with yours.'
'Alright.'
Fang Yanxu revealed what he had learned from his experience.
First off, he told Miaomiao about the existence that no one could understand, the ethereal beings, entities, and singularities. In this case, he only talked about ethereal beings, and Karmic Snakes were one of them.
Ethereal beings were neither spirits, mortals, immortals, nor deities. Instead, they were ghostly sentient beings, born to be guardians of various mystical places. Karmic Snakes were also ethereal beings, who protected the river of karma.
They usually fed on the leaking Yin Qi from the karma river, but they never harmed cultivators as long as they left the river alone.
Karma Cultivators usually tamed one or two of these snakes and used them as Dao Spirits to help them comprehend the Karma Dao. Moreover, these snakes could be used as combat pets - A grown snake could easily crush an Immortal General with ease while the alpha ones could even square against Immortal Emperors.
As for their origins, Fang Yanxu wasn't sure. A rumor among the karma cultivators said that the karma snakes gathered in the Netherworld Realm, where the Unholy Element Qi and Yin Providence were abundant. However, he didn't know how to utilize the snakes or tame them since the technique was their secret.
Miaomiao nodded in satisfaction. Indeed, he knew more about the snakes than Fang Yanxu.
The snakes were born from Miaomiao's Unholy Karma Element Continent, and they loved the Yin and Yang Essence from the brand new Luck Continent.
The creatures were sentient, but they were not smart. Miaomiao also knew a few tricks to tame the mysterious snakes.
The trick was easy. Miaomiao simply fed them, seduced them with the taste of his Life Essence, Luck, and Unholy Karma Element Qi. Then, they simply treated him as their master or a parent.
'Say, Patriarch Mao. I'm curious. How did you tame so many karma snakes? C-Could you teach me how you did it? I'll trade the technique with an heirloom of the Fang Clan.'
Miaomiao frowned, 'Aren't you a bit talkative today? You usually cursed me three times after the meals. What's into you today?'
Fang Yanxu dryly laughed, 'Come on, son. You have my daughter, so why can't I treat you as a family member. You see, I regretted it. I reflected upon what I did, and I want to reconcile. Please, can you forgive me? I'm really sorry for what I did.'
This KFC guy gave Miaomiao goosebumps.
Miaomiao disliked bootlickers, and Fang Yanxu was one of them.
However, for Fang Meirong's happiness, Miaomiao decided to forgive Fang Yanxu.
'Fine. We're family, so I don't want to see your underhanded tricks ever again. Understood?'
Hearing that Miaomiao forgave him, Fang Yanxu was delighted.
His clan might survive if they were to ride on Miaomiao's tailcoat and rely on his connections with various famous gods.
'Yes. Yes! Thank you, son. I'll do my best to help you. Say, back to the topic, can you teach me how to tame those snakes?'
'I'll tell you a few keywords. It depends on you if you can comprehend it or not.'
'Sure, sure. Tell me.'
'First, cultivate luck.'
'Okay. Understandable.'
'Secondly, evolve shadow element to darkness and darkness to unholy.'
'… W-What?! T-That's insane.'
'And lastly… have a resilient physique and soul dantian. You must be strong enough to survive karma tribulation.'
'… No way.'
'Yes way. Oh, I almost forgot. You have to go through that tribulation at least once.'
Fang Yanxu gulped and stared at Miaomiao in disbelief. Then, he inspected the latter's purple skin, evil-looking eyes, and new appearance.
Indeed, Miaomiao seemed to have gone through an ordeal or a serious tribulation. It also explained why a karma tribulation took place around here several days ago.
'So, that previous tribulation… it was you.'
'Yes. It was me! DIO-I mean, Mao Miaomiao!'
Miaomiao laughed while Fang Yanxu sulked. The father-in-law finally understood that he had no chance of taming the karma snake.
Still, Fang Yanxu noticed the flaws in Miaomiao's words. The karma cultivators that Fang Yanxu knew had normal physiques, dantians, and never went through the karma tribulation.
Everyone who had gone through the karma tribulations either died or cursed! No one could come out of it unharmed.
Fang Yanxu gazed at Miaomiao again. He believed that Miaomiao might have received guidance from almighty figures, such as Lilith or Devil.
...
Once Miaomiao finished demoralizing Fang Yanxu, Lilim approached Miaomiao.
"Brat."
"Yes?"
Miaomiao rarely talked to Lilim, and he was curious about what she wanted with him.
"Never use those karma snakes again. You might anger a powerful deity."
"Who?" He was curious.
"The mother of all karma snakes and karma centipedes, Leviathan."
"… Who?"
"Are you dumb?! How do you not know the name of your colleagues?! Aren't you the…"
Lilim almost blurt out "Aren't you the successor of Asmodeus?", but she managed to stop in mid-sentence.
She was wary of the observers and viewers from Miaomiao's live stream channel. She didn't want to disclose sensitive information to the public.
Fortunately, she didn't need to worry about it anymore.
In front of Miaomiao, red screens that only Miaomiao could see flashed before his eyes.
Ding
"!!!"
Miaomiao was shocked. The development was too sudden.
He tried to view his channel and chat. But as Dion had warned him, everything was removed.
Fortunately, the income dashboard remained intact. Also, the DaoPorn clips were still accessible.
Only the live stream channel was gone.
Instead of being angry, Miaomiao felt like he had lifted a mountain off his chest. He finally gained some privacy.
Ding
Miaomiao finally got the gist of the situation. It seemed like Macho Joshua, Devil, and Lilith had been scheming something, and they didn't want to leak the information about the time-and-space murals.
Ding
"…"
Miaomiao frowned. He stopped paying attention to the system screen and looked around his table.
A dozen immortals from various clans gathered in front of Miaomiao's table, waiting to talk to him after he finished talking to Lilim or Fang Yanxu.
Miaomiao had a wry smile on his face. Suddenly, he got busy.
"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. I need to return to my room. My… benefactor is calling for me."
Everyone grumbled in disappointment, but they respectfully made ways for Miaomiao.
"Take care of yourself."
"Please arrange a schedule to visit us sometime."
"The Ji Clan wishes to form a friendly relationship with you. Please visit us as well."
Liu Che, who was among the crowd, let out a long sigh. He gazed at Miaomiao, "Thanks for sparing my son. Once you're free, come see me, so we can discuss how we can hand over our properties and manpower to your clan."
Miaomiao was taken aback as he had never asked Liu Che about the tournament gambling rewards. He already stole Liu Hanzhen's heaven-grade armor and spatial ring, and he never planned to ask for more.
He took a mental note, recording the faces of the potential bootlickers and guests. Then, he rushed back to the hotel room as Lilith had instructed.
Kang Yan, Ma Xingjuan, and Dian Wei wanted to follow Miaomiao, but they suddenly changed their mind. They looked at Lilim for a moment.
Lilim clicked her tongue and pointed at Xu Huang, "You girls go to that woman. She will protect you."
After sending the girls off to Xu Huang, Lilim dragged Sun Bofu and followed Miaomiao.
…
While flying, Miaomiao sensed the presence of Sun Bofu and Lilim behind him. He turned around to look at Lilim, "Why are you following me?"
"I'm your fucking protector. I need to ensure your safety."
"For that, I understand. But what about him?" Miaomiao pointed at Sun Bofu.
"He's my disciple now. He goes wherever I go."
"Ah, cool."
Miaomiao glanced at Sun Bofu for a moment, but the latter suddenly winked at him.
Miaomiao had goosebumps. He quickly turned away from Son Bofu and accelerated his flight speed without looking back.
He accidentally caused a sonic boom, repelling Sun Bofu and Lilim backward.
…
Miaomiao returned to his room. Then, he discovered Fang Meirong, Lilith, and two of Lilith's followers. They were guiding Fang Meirong to the Netherworld Realm through a portal.
"Oh, you're here."
Miaomiao looked at Fang Meirong for a moment, then he turned to Lilith, "What are you doing to my wife?"
"I'm sending her to your new sanctuary."
"Sanctuary?"
"After we're done with this tournament, I'll migrate you and everyone in your family to the Netherworld Realm. You and your wives can cultivate there in peace until you become a deity."
Miaomiao didn't like this development. He wanted to live free, not being a caged bird for some gods.
He wondered what Lilith, Devil, and Macho Joshua had planned for him.
"Is there a protagonist in Hell or something?"
"Nothing of the sort."
Lilith suddenly fetched a large piece of grey stone out of her spatial ring. She placed it in the middle of the room.
It was the last piece of Time-and-Space Mural, which she had extorted from Meng Hong.
"Give me the other six murals. We'll complete this thing and comprehend the Chrono Element together. Once we can control time and space, we will rule the universe!"
"…"
Miaomiao's right eyebrow twitched repeatedly and uncontrollably.. His instinct cried that it was a terrible idea.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢