Chapter 65: Discovering New Strength

The booming business had finally stabilized, becoming a veritable source of endless wealth. During this period, Luo Yu was busy setting up arrays for Heaven-Defying Palace and other properties, while Qin Yue was developing various new materials. After more than ten days had passed, another weekend arrived. Luo Yu and Qin Yue took his father for a vacation at Heaven-Defying Palace. Father Chu, a sweet smile tugging at his lips, had finally shaken off the gloom of the previous days. Luo Yu wept silently inside: Dad really had embraced his new self completely!

As soon as they entered the array, the vampire came rushing up, seized Father Chu in a tight embrace, and greeted him with a passionate kiss. Father Chu bashfully pounded the vampire’s back a few times before surrendering to whatever he wished to do.

Luo Yu sneaked a glance at Qin Yue, blushing furiously. The power of passion was truly terrifying—even his father, who cared so much about appearances, couldn’t resist… If Qin Yue one day became like Dad, uh… What would Qin Yue look like, blushing and shy? Hehe, surely quite captivating…

Lost in such thoughts, Luo Yu stared at Qin Yue with a silly grin. Qin Yue’s expression darkened, and she immediately pulled the idiot along, fleeing ahead.

They had only just flown halfway up the mountain to Heaven-Defying Palace when a furious, childish voice echoed from the square in front of the main hall: “You bunch of useless parasites! Scum! Not a single one of you passed the exam!”

A timid voice protested, “Miss, we all tried to memorize, but… the questions weren’t the same as what we studied…”

The childish voice shrilled, “During training you must address me as Officer! Where’s your organizational discipline? Raise your hand before speaking! Without the officer’s permission, who allowed you to talk?” A crack of a whip rang out, followed by a student’s pained yelp.

Luo Yu and Qin Yue exchanged glances, concealed their presence, and crept closer to observe. On the square, a group stood in neat formation, all dressed in military uniforms reminiscent of German WWII attire, with exaggerated collars and hemlines, exuding a strong anime vibe. Each stood stiffly at attention, faces sweating bullets, tension palpable.

Luoli sat imperiously on a pink Rococo throne, clad in a red military uniform adorned with two rows of shiny gold buttons, her trousers tucked into tall boots, a military cap on her head, and a fur-collared coat draped around her shoulders. In her hand was Su Heng’s “Separation.” Su Heng stood to her left, holding a tray of snacks; Qing Huo was on her right, arms full of test papers, posture upright like a senior secretary.

Luoli wiggled her fingers; Su Heng hurried forward to present a box of strawberry milk, which Luoli sipped before handing back with a languid air.

Clearing her throat, Luoli stood up and slowly surveyed the troops, tapping “Separation” idly against her palm as she admonished them, “Do you really think rote memorization is enough to pass? Hmph! I know your memories are sharp! But just memorizing the words isn’t enough—you have to understand the meaning! If you can’t grasp something as simple as military regulations, are you all single-celled organisms? The truth is, you simply refuse to use your brains! If you fail again next time, don’t blame me for using zombie methods—I'll carve the key points right into your brains! Is that clear?”

The assembly shuddered as one and shouted, “Yes, Officer!”

Luoli nodded with satisfaction and asked, “What’s next on the agenda?”

Qing Huo replied crisply, “Reporting to Officer! The next task is mana control training!”

Luoli nodded. “Has everyone heard the next instructions? Heat water using mana until your mana is completely depleted. Anyone who slacks off or lets the water temperature drop below 50 degrees will get fifty lashes!”

“Yes, Officer!” they responded in unison, then promptly squatted down, each condensing a soccer-ball-sized sphere of water and heating it with their mana. Luoli patrolled among them, thermometer in hand, checking the temperature of each water ball.

Luo Yu rubbed his eyes… Everything felt utterly surreal! How had his little cat turned into a female drill instructor? And she seemed to be doing remarkably well!

Qin Yue smiled, leading Luo Yu into view.

Luoli immediately noticed them and, tail wagging, leapt into Luo Yu’s arms, nuzzling him. “Nii-san, big brother!!!”

Qin Yue said, “Well done.”

Luoli’s eyes sparkled with pride. “These people’s spirits are rotten! But, under the guidance of the Goddess of Light, they’ll become positive and upright! Kitty will drive out the darkness in their hearts and train them into powerful warriors of justice!”

A few among the group, too excited by the arrival of their lord, accidentally overheated their water balls, causing the thermometers to shatter with a sharp crack.

The little girl in Luo Yu’s arms immediately turned stern, her face flushing red as she whipped those responsible over the head. “Are you deliberately embarrassing me in front of my brother? What’s Rule 26 of the regulations? Recite it!”

The chastened offenders stood tall, reciting loudly, “Carry out superiors’ orders unconditionally! Until the mission is complete, nothing may distract you!”

Luoli snapped, “Nothing at all! And look at what you’ve done, fools!”

They replied in unison, “We acknowledge our mistakes! Please punish us, Officer!”

In truth, these misfits had changed quite a lot in a short time, all thanks to the sadistic methods of the vampire and Luoli. Among the subordinates were not only monsters but also a small group recruited from those who had engaged in black-on-black dealings at Dominator’s Device. Qin Yue had brought back a few simple-minded, straightforward ones, while the rest were eliminated.

Luoli, small as she was and only just having established her foundation, was a force to be reckoned with. After training with the vampire for so long, her movements were lightning-fast, and she could go toe-to-toe with wolf demons who had cultivated for a hundred years. She also excelled in talismans, illusions, and had a powerful spiritual sense… No one dared underestimate her. If this was her at the foundation stage, her future was limitless!

The mother-daughter duo were natural disciplinarians, strict with mistakes, but also creative—sometimes dividing everyone into two teams for brawls, with the winners rewarded with wine and meat, and the losers left to stew in their shame. The vampire and Luoli threw themselves into the role, stoking everyone’s sense of collective honor and molding them into a thoroughly obedient force.

Still, to these monsters, their true master was Qin Yue—only if the vampire bested him in single combat would they accept a new leader. They had seen the vampire’s strength and knew it was formidable, but she practiced the yin arts and was an outsider. How could she compare to their own lord, whose prospects were boundless?

The human cultivators’ logic was simpler: Qin Yue had spared their lives, so they were rightfully his subordinates, no matter what happened. The two instructors, even if kin to their master, were just drill sergeants—not to be compared with the master himself.

Over time, it turned out that while these people’s morals were questionable, their loyalty was unexpectedly strong. As long as there was no infighting, Qin Yue left all training entirely to the mother and daughter and would appear only on weekends or when he had time, giving the group a good thrashing. Under systematic and scientific training, their overall strength steadily increased. Each time, they were confident: “This time, we’ll definitely leave a mark on the boss!” But Qin Yue kept improving, shattering their expectations every time.

In this way, Qin Yue’s status in their hearts grew ever loftier, almost to the point of divinity.

Everything at Heaven-Defying Palace was running smoothly. The subordinates were slowly changing; the vampire had submitted a resignation, intending to hand over all management duties to Luoli. After a Luo family meeting, a series of personnel changes was enacted: the vampire was reassigned to live with Father Chu, the few female monsters transferred to Dominator’s Device as shop assistants, and Gong Jingqian was sent to Heaven-Defying Palace to assist Luoli with management and handle logistics.

The vampire, upon receiving the notice, didn’t even wait for Gong Jingqian to complete the handover and dashed home without a second thought.

Gong Jingqian, delighted, packed his belongings, thinking: Now I can join the ginseng children again, and help my benefactors conquer the world! I must offer wise counsel to Miss, never betraying the hopes placed upon me, and work to make Heaven-Defying Palace flourish!

Luo Yu saw Gong Jingqian placing a golden booklet in his pack and asked curiously, “What’s that?”

Gong Jingqian looked at it, then presented it to Luo Yu with a flourish. “This is the golden register I was bestowed upon my appointment, bearing the former Celestial Emperor’s personal seal. Please, Master, take a look!”

Luo Yu examined it with spiritual sense. There was an array on it, the structure similar to a receiver and transmitter, very much like a spirit-gathering formation, but instead of gathering spiritual energy, it collected some kind of spiritual consciousness.

Intrigued, Luo Yu took the booklet and investigated further. It seemed to absorb some kind of spiritual consciousness on a large scale, then emit it in a smaller range.

Luo Yu recalled that Gong Jingqian had once mentioned “incense power”—a kind of faith energy that could boost magical strength. Now that elixirs were scarce, perhaps this “incense power” could be harnessed for cultivation.

So Luo Yu asked, “When you were the Earth Deity, how did incense power turn into magical strength? How does it work?”

Gong Jingqian replied helplessly, “I do not know, Master. I only know that after assuming the post, when incense was offered, magical power would arise spontaneously.”

Luo Yu thought, This isn’t scientific! How could paper money and candles contain cultivation energy? Maybe the spiritual consciousness accumulated by this golden register was the real ‘incense power.’ But if it gets stored in the register and then released, it’s useless unless Gong Jingqian absorbs it… Wait!

“Come here, let me check something,” Luo Yu said.

Gong Jingqian obediently approached. Luo Yu probed his soul with his spiritual sense and discovered a complex formation at his core, capable of receiving this spiritual consciousness, using it as fuel to generate magical power… Clearly, this was another form of energy, akin to yin or spiritual energy!

Heaven’s methods were truly cunning: unwilling to expend spiritual stones or elixirs, they devised this system, using undead minor ghosts as functionaries. Fearing the trouble of subordinates growing too powerful, they assigned them to places devoid of yin energy, taught them nothing about cultivating spiritual energy, and quietly planted a useful restriction inside, producing just enough magical power to manage mortals. If any tried to escape, the formation in the golden register would stop, their power would run dry, and the little ghost would perish.

But what exactly was this spiritual consciousness? Where did it come from?

Luo Yu asked, “You said incense offerings have been weak these past years, so your magical power dwindled… Does that mean this power is related to faith?”

Gong Jingqian admitted he didn’t know… and before he could answer, the vampire suddenly appeared out of nowhere. “Oh, darling! Any questions, you can ask Mommy! Are you discussing the relationship between faith and magical power?”

“You know?” Luo Yu asked.

With a look of disdain, the vampire replied, “Oh, my dear, your magnificent, erudite Mommy knows it all… Do you know why that old man in the West never likes his believers to think of anyone else?”

End of Chapter 65. New powers discovered!