Inside the second-floor cultivation room, Xie Litang began a new round of stacking Heartsteel.
Who cared about some Xiaolong Squad or whatever other garbage? Could their arrival speed even match her Heartsteel stacking speed?
Xie Litang's Health had now passed ten million, and every single Heartsteel proc gave her over three hundred thousand Vitality.
Her only frustration was that all the nearby anthills had been completely wiped out.
Xie Litang pondered something as she procced Heartsteel on the remaining ants, muttering under her breath, "Honestly, maybe I should just dig a pond and raise some mosquitoes instead. That'd save so much trouble.
"Their growth cycle is fast and short.
"They aren't picky about their environment either.
"They're practically the heavenly chosen creatures for stacking Heartsteel."
Raising a pond full of mosquitoes—her original intention had never changed.
Clang.
Clang, clang.
Clang, clang, clang, clang...
After clearing out another anthill, her Health directly broke past one hundred million.
This wasn't even a matter of using hacks anymore; once the base Health stacked up, everything after became easy. It was just like going to school—strict in high school, relaxed in college.
While the Xiaolong Squad was still broadcasting speeches about eradicating evil and maintaining zero tolerance toward criminals, Xie Litang paid no attention to any of it, focusing entirely on stacking Heartsteel.
Furthermore, after using her ability multiple times, she felt as though she had discovered a whole new world.
Taking a break from stacking, Xie Litang picked up her phone and said into the microphone, "Sister, tell those two dog things, Huang Dongsheng and Hu Jiali, to come see me immediately."
Chen Linling quickly replied, "Okay."
Before long, the two "demon traitors" arrived on the second floor, looking unnaturally submissive and deferential.
If Xie Litang told them to go east, neither demon would dare go west or even glance in that direction.
First, she held absolute power over their life and death. Second, defecting to the enemy meant living high on the hog.
Under normal circumstances, humans didn't eat demon beast meat. But these two demons did! To them, it was an endless supply of blood food, complete with a cut of the demon cores. Their growth rate was nothing short of astonishing. As for harming their beloved friends and family... well, that was merely a bit of wind and frost.
Huang Dongsheng stepped forward and asked meekly, "My lord, do you have any instructions for us?"
Hu Jiali was unwilling to fall behind, speaking in a coy tone, "My lord, my distant second cousin's aunt's grand-uncle is having a birthday soon. Should I invite all his fox descendants over too?"
Huang Dongsheng immediately flattered, "Yes, yes, yes! I can also invite my distant cousins beyond five degrees of kinship. When the time comes, it will only require a minor effort from you, my lord."
"Stinky rat, I said it first!"
"Seductress fox, this is all for Milady!"
Xie Litang couldn't help feeling a bit annoyed and interrupted, "Can't you invite some of your actual blood relatives?"
The two demons exchanged a glance, crying without tears. "Where would we have any blood relatives left?" Their unspoken meaning was simply that she had already wiped them all out long ago.
Ptui.
Two shameless little demons.
How dare they look at her as if placing the blame on her?
Xie Litang cleared her throat dryly and suddenly spoke with earnest concern, "Here's the deal. Recently, we need to shift our strategic plan for development."
The two demons immediately sat up straight and said, "Please instruct us, my lord."
"Lately, our primary focus won't be on killing demons."
"Does that mean we won't be killing them anymore, my lord?"
"No, no, no. I mean you trick... ptui, I mean invite your clan relatives over to 'develop together.' For every ten clan relatives you bring over, I'll reward you with one demon core."
Pausing briefly, Xie Litang sat up straight and continued, "Of course, you can also develop downlines... Ahem, that was an Old Era term. Anyway, you can let the clan relatives you bring over go invite other relatives, promising to reward them with blood food.
"I've even thought of an excuse for you: just say you have a connection on the human side—the risk is a bit high, but blood food is plentiful and guaranteed to satisfy."
Huang Dongsheng blanked for a moment and blurted out, "Isn't that just a scam?"
Xie Litang's face turned cold, and she barked, "Presumptuous!"
Hu Jiali stood up abruptly, kicked Huang Dongsheng, and shrieked with her fur bristling, "Utter nonsense! Milady is doing this for our own good, so that we won't bring further suffering to our clan.
"Milady is... being compassionate!"
Realizing his mistake, Huang Dongsheng repeatedly kowtowed and cried, "Yes, yes, yes! Milady is truly compassionate!"
Hu Jiali hesitated for a moment before asking, "Milady, if I may ask, what exactly is the reason for inviting them over?"
If she wasn't killing them, could she possibly be pampering them? Could this devil change her nature and become a good person? Hu Jiali immediately dismissed the thought—even calling this lord compassionate made her want to laugh.
Xie Litang opened her arms with a warm, gentle smile. "I already said 'develop together,' so naturally, it's to make them my teammates."
Hearing this, both demons shivered in unison. Becoming Xie Litang's friend... how was that any different from selling one's soul to the devil? At least the devil gave benefits before harvesting. With Xie Litang, you didn't get jack shit.
Of course, neither demon dared voice their inner thoughts aloud, quietly burying themselves in contacting their relatives. Within five degrees of kinship? Contact them. Beyond five degrees? Even more reason to contact them!
When the two demons brought the first batch of victims—ah, no... like-minded relatives who wanted to develop together—Xie Litang turned no one away. She stepped forward, grabbed a small demon's shoulder, and asked, "My dear sweet little demon beast, are you willing to become my teammate? Join my base, where our slogan is: grow bigger and stronger, forge greater glory!"
That small demon clearly had a hot temper, baring its teeth: "Human, you're sick! You're courting death!"
Clang.
"Damned demon beast..."
Amplified by Xie Litang's hundred-million-plus Health, the hot-tempered small demon didn't even have time to scream before being smashed into a mist of blood.
Then came the second one.
"Friend?"
"I'm willing! To become Milady's teammate is my honor!"
"A wise choice. Follow me from now on, and I guarantee you'll live high on the hog."
"I'd go through fire and water for you, Milady!"
What a joke! Taking a lesson from the previous one—the last one who refused was called "sweetie" by this devil one second, and exploded right in front of it the next. Even given ten extra lives, it wouldn't dare refuse.
Xie Litang was immensely satisfied, patting the small demon's shoulder. "Very good. Now go contact your clan relatives. I don't need to teach you what to say, right?"
The small demon immediately used a secret technique to contact distant relatives, saying, "Good brother, I have a connection on the human side—the risk is a bit high, but blood food is plentiful."
Using this method, Xie Litang quickly assembled a squad of demon beast teammates.
Quantitative change would eventually spark qualitative change. Then she could send these small demons out to hunt other demon beasts, farming gold coins for her.
Wasn't this much better than only bothering the Five Immortals demon beasts, who were becoming harder and harder to trick?
It was a bit unethical, sure, but damn did it work well!
And the foundation of all this stemmed from her own ability.
After deeply developing Teammate Sacrifice, Xie Litang had discovered an utterly heaven-defying usage.
Xie Litang's eyes shone brightly, an excited look on her face. "As long as they become my teammates, even if they're at the ends of the earth, I can sacrifice them at any time!
"Isn't this a hundred times better than using poison, blood contracts, or soul contracts to control people? Most importantly, there's no upper limit on the number of teammates!"
This meant that once they became teammates, those demon beasts couldn't possibly betray her. They had no choice but absolute loyalty!
There were no useless abilities, only useless people.
Xie Litang had a hunch that even if she lost the system, she could become invincible relying solely on her own ability.
Rate on N.U.
