Reincarnation Girl Becomes Immortal

Four months have passed since the siege, but there are still many bloodstains and marks on the city walls.

The ground looked as if it had drunk blood, the yellow soil stained bright red, almost black.

Outside the battlefield, most of the surrounding areas have sprouted new grass and tender shoots, and the forests that were originally burned to the ground are gradually showing signs of life again.

But in the center of this battlefield, not a single blade of grass could grow; it was as desolate as a desert.

Compared to the thriving soil around it, this place seems particularly eerie.

Under the dark clouds, Senior Sister Hongmiao saw the hideous bloodstains and traces of war on the ground, and subconsciously moved closer to Xi Heng.

"Was that great battle really that intense...?" she asked softly.

"It's alright." Xi Heng felt nothing.

No matter how horrific the scene, anyone would get used to it after watching it hundreds of times.

"..." Hong Miao regretted that she hadn't insisted on coming with Xi Heng. If he had been injured, she could have helped him out.

There were no guards at the city gate, and no force would care about a city that was about to be burned to ashes.

At most, only a few scavengers sneak in to search through the ruins.

Xi Heng looked at the arched gate of the city, which was covered with many burn marks and had not been cleaned, and then looked at the desolation in the city. He walked forward silently.

Although the city was covered in ashes, the roads were still the same as before, and they were still familiar with them.

"It's only been a few months... and everything has turned into this."

This was the first time the senior sister had seen the ruins of Jinshi City. After entering, she kept looking around, a hint of sadness in her eyes.

Those shops and buildings that she used to stroll around with her other junior sisters when she was a senior in the Sword Academy have now been burned to ruins by the raging fire, and their former prosperity is nowhere to be seen.

With gray-black ruins filling her vision, Hong Miao subconsciously asked:

"Could the person we're looking for have already moved away?"

When he arrived, Xi Heng only casually mentioned to his senior sister that he was here to lead some people to the eastern coast to deal with the Jingming Sect, without explaining the Dark Heaven Sect in detail.

Although he was indeed a cult leader, Xi Heng didn't want his senior sister to look at him differently.

"Don't worry, I will be here."

She had ordered the Dark Heavenly Sect to use Goldstone City as their base, and as the Holy Maiden and leader, her orders were to be respected by her followers.

Those who disobeyed orders have long been killed.

"Um……"

Senior Sister Hongmiao was unaware of the situation and simply followed along calmly.

The two walked through the city's roads and alleys, where there were few ruins blocking their way, as if the area had already been cleared.

Upon arriving at the former central city, Xi Heng saw many adults and children in tattered clothes carrying bundles or bamboo baskets and holding canes, scavenging in the ruins.

He would stuff any copper coins or silver scraps he found into his pockets, and if he found any unburnt cotton quilts or silk cloth, he would tear off the charred parts and stuff the intact parts into his bundle basket.

Kitchen utensils, farm tools, cleavers, hammers, iron blocks, yellow paper, or bottles, jars, bowls, and basins... anything that could be of some use would be collected.

As the horse's hooves slowed, Xi Heng saw a child carrying a basket in the ruins in the distance. The child had pulled apart a wooden plank and found a charred corpse. The child showed no fear, but calmly called out to the adults in the distance.

When the adults arrived, they dug the body out of the rubble together, wrapped it in white linen, and carried it to a distant place.

Thick black smoke was rising from that direction; it was unclear what was burning there.

Xi Heng estimated that the place where the black smoke was rising was the Dark Heavenly Altar she was going to.

"Are they burning corpses...?" She moved closer.

The black smoke isn't far away; if we speed up a bit, we'll get there in a few minutes.

Before the Dark Heavenly Altar, there were huge black iron basins and cauldrons supported on the ground, with many charcoal pieces of different shapes placed on top. One by one, twisted and hideous corpses whose faces were indistinguishable were thrown into them.

The three-pronged pitchfork used for plowing the fields was sharpened to an extreme point, and the corpses were lifted up as if they were trash and thrown high into the fire.

The flames engulfed the charred bodies once more, continuing to scorch their withered skin and fragile skeletons until their entire bodies were reduced to ashes.

Beside several enormous furnaces, a person dressed in a purple robe with snake patterns, wearing a twisted crown, and dressed in a solemn yet peculiar manner, held a wheel in his hand and kept muttering something.

"The world was originally dark and gloomy, heaven and earth were ultimately shrouded in darkness, life returned to darkness and then to darkness again, time flows like this into darkness... returning to the Great Dark Mother, one can still feel the warmth of a mother..."

The humming of the wheel mingled with the humming sound emanating from his mouth, subtly revealing a strange sense of holiness in his demeanor.

Xi Heng heard the words clearly from not far away, but for a moment he couldn't understand their meaning.

Over the past three months, the Dark Heavenly Sect seems to have managed to comprehend the incomprehensible scriptures found in other religions.

Furthermore, the believers no longer wore just various kinds of coarse linen clothes, but instead wore long robes with snake patterns on the surface, either covering their entire bodies or leaving only their heads exposed.

With the raging fires burning numerous corpses nearby and the strange chanting of incantations by people, it did indeed have a religious feel to it.

If Xi Heng hadn't known that these people were all his subordinates, he would have drawn his sword and slaughtered these cultists who seemed to be performing a bizarre ritual.

After she gifted the High Priest of the Dark Heaven Sect the Blood Spirit Stone, multiple blood-red stripes appeared on his exposed skin. His face was no longer ordinary, and his temperament became more serene and solemn, exuding an aura of authority without anger.

Having held a high position for a long time, this person has clearly changed in many ways and is no longer the assistant who could only serve as a foil to the High Priest of the Pure Fire Sect.

“Sacrifice.” Xi Heng interrupted the other person’s recitation of the scriptures.

Upon hearing the familiar voice, the High Priest of the Dark Heaven Sect turned his gaze and, seeing that it was the Demon Lord returning, immediately led his followers, Chao Xiheng, to bow in respect.

"Your Highness, may you be well."

"How is the sect developing?" Xi Heng asked directly.

“Your Highness, since March, the Dark Heavenly Sect has gathered many refugees who are able-bodied.”

This time, the high priest was no longer as agitated as before, and calmly replied:

"New followers only need to complete the tasks assigned by the followers to return with food and porridge to feed their families and children. The best among them can be promoted to deputy and manage fifteen people..."

"Four new branches have been established in the church, and the number of people in each branch has doubled, with eight deputy members... Now there are more than 3,800 people in the eight branches of Jinshi City."

"In addition to these, other organizational units, such as priests, cooks, tailors, artisans, and literati, bring the total number of members in the church to nearly five thousand."

"In addition, we have also sent people to set up branch altars in several surrounding cities such as Xiuzhou, Jianchang, and Junming. There are many believers in these places, and the number of people in the branch altars ranges from several hundred to several thousand."

“Not bad.” Xi Heng felt that the number of people was sufficient.

Rumors from a few months ago suggested that the rebels led by the Crimson Goddess in the eastern coastal region numbered only four thousand.

Her Dark Heavenly Sect has expanded its influence to over five thousand people by recruiting refugees in various places.

"Of these followers, how many are capable of following orders and engaging in small skirmishes?" Xi Heng continued to ask.

"Your Highness, a month ago, when our sect was expanding, we encountered the forces of the Jingming Sect and had a conflict with them. As a result, the sect leader has been training the sect members more. Now, more than a thousand people in the sect can barely form a battle formation or obey orders to march. However, the specific effect is still uncertain."

"A thousand? That's enough."

Xi Heng will mainly take action himself from now on, even if the rest of the group can only cheer and applaud from behind.

"I intend to lead my men to the eastern coastal region to attack the so-called Great Chen established by the Crimson Goddess and destroy the Pure Fire Ming Cult."

"..." The high priest, who had initially appeared quite composed, was clearly taken aback. After a moment, he softly offered his advice:

"Your Highness, the sect is currently expanding. It's best not to provoke a major enemy immediately. Let the Dark Heavenly Sect expand first, accumulate strength, prepare reserves of money and food, and conduct military training before marching east..."

But Xi Heng wouldn't listen:

"Summon these thousand men and have Master Nan lead them. They will set off tomorrow to join my eastern expedition."

The high priest opened his mouth, hesitated for a moment, and then said:

"The church is currently short of money and food. Although the autumn harvest season has just passed, the harvested grain can barely supply the daily needs of the believers. The march of a thousand people is very costly... It is better to maintain stability."

"Maintaining stability?" Xi Heng scoffed.

Do you think I even have those two words in my head?

The high priest suddenly realized that the person before him was not the merciful saintess they had spoken of... but the dark demon who had single-handedly killed hundreds of people.

If he does not obey the order now, he will probably become a corpse in no time, and his high position as high priest will be replaced by someone else immediately.

The high priest remained silent for a moment, then could only obey: "Yes, Your Highness."

"That's more like it." Xi Heng nodded.

“If you build an organization but can’t do it your way, it’s better not to build it at all.”

"The demon lord is right," the high priest sighed.

"Tomorrow morning, I want to see these thousand men standing in orderly rows in the courtyard, ready to obey orders at any time."

"As ordered..."

One sentence from above, and those below are running themselves ragged.

The high priest held his breath and left the cremation ground with several of his lieutenants.

After they left, the senior sister led the horse, covered her nose, and approached Xi Heng.

"The stench here is overwhelming," Hong Miao said in a muffled voice.

Xi Heng sniffed it. Although the black smoke was thick, she didn't find the strange smell particularly repulsive.

However, since her senior sister had spoken, she bypassed the area and entered the teaching platform.

The brown horse grunted and panted, seemingly also choked by the suffocating smell, and only breathed a sigh of relief after arriving here.

"Who was that person just now?" Hong Miao asked, getting to the point.

“A priest of the Dark Heavenly Sect, one of my subordinates,” Xi Heng said simply.

"Subordinates?"

“Hmm…the person I kidnapped and threatened when I came to Golden Stone City before, and who then worked for me.”

"The kidnapping has threatened...the entire cult?"

Hongmiao was somewhat incredulous.

"Just good luck."

Xi Heng was unwilling to say more about it, fearing that her senior sister would change her impression of her, turning her from a well-behaved, lovable, and reliable junior sister into some kind of evil demon who founded a cult.

She still considers herself a good person.

While she may not be quite like the 'Compassionate Saintess' claimed by the Dark Heavenly Sect, at least most of what she does are good deeds.

"Really..." Hong Miao felt something was off.

Her junior sister was becoming increasingly blurry in her eyes.

……

A day later, in the courtyard of the Dark Heaven Sect's altar, thousands of followers dressed in coarse black cloth robes embroidered with snake patterns gathered together, standing in neat rows.

Having dressed himself in a neat and powerful outfit again, Xi Heng came to the courtyard and inspected the soldiers and officers in front of him.

A casual glance revealed only a dozen or so Ming Jin martial artists among them.

Only the hall master was a Ming Jin master; the others were just lowly lackeys.

"So weak."

Xi Heng realized that he only needed to unleash a full-force horizontal slash with his sword to kill most of the miscellaneous soldiers in the courtyard.

"Please give your orders, Your Majesty."

When facing Xi Heng, Wu Lian, the leader of the Southern Branch of the Dark Heavenly Sect, remained as trembling as before.

Other ordinary people might find it difficult to sense, but he, a martial artist who had reached the Great Perfection of the Ming Jin realm, could clearly perceive the extremely strong killing intent emanating from the demon.

It was as if the opponent had fought their way out of a sea of ​​blood.

Every time he caught a glimpse of that person, he felt a chill creep down his spine and a numbness in his neck.

If this demon lord were to make a move, he would surely die without any chance of fighting back.

"I heard that you encountered enemies of the Jingming Sect a month ago?" Xi Heng asked first.

"Your Excellency is wise and discerning. This is indeed true. I sent people to the Junming region in the east to establish a branch altar. While they were preaching in the villages, they were attacked by Jingming religious followers from the surrounding cities, resulting in seven deaths and injuries."

"Have they been dealt with yet?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Lian, the head of the South Hall, trembled and quickly said:

"I am sorry for my inability to do so. I have been staying at Jinshi to train martial artists for almost a whole month and have not yet had the chance to go and take revenge on that Jingming Sect branch."