Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 869: Star Antimony Can Be Divided Infinitely
The meeting place of the Rosicrucian Society has always been secret, and not everyone can be gathered for every meeting.

Their meeting mode is very special - when a senior leader decides to call other people together, he will first call four people, calling them "My Cross Guardians", to inform them of the time and place of the meeting, as well as the theme and importance of the meeting.

And each person who is summoned will summon up to four more people from the association list, and each person who is summoned will summon up to four more people... and so on.

Eventually, there will definitely be someone who is told the address by multiple people at the same time, and there will definitely be someone who is not told the address.

That’s someone who is deemed untrustworthy by those currently attending the rally—or at least someone no one is willing to vouch for.

——On the other hand, anyone who can appear here at least shows that they are trustworthy.

But Master Walter's words pointed out very clearly that there must be a traitor among them.

Walter looked around with sharp eyes.

There were only twelve people here, and the lowest among them was at level 4. All those who knew the secret of the Tail Ring Ceremony were here; all the remaining Level 5 transcendents in the Rosicrucian Order had gathered here.

There are four people in total.

—Ms. Marasia, Master Walter, Miss Sprengel, and Dr. Levitra.

In other places, four fifth-level extraordinary people are enough to form a country. Even in today's Xingtan, they already account for more than half of the fifth-level powerhouses!

With the deaths of Earl Dawn, the first Red Prime Minister Pomponazzi, Valentine VII and Lady Emma, ​​plus the two who were taken away after the split of the Narcissus Principality... and the two inside the Psychic Tower, they may leave the fifth energy level of Star Antimony at any time.

There are only nine fifth-level transcendents left in the entire Star Antimony.

You have to know that at this time a year ago, Xingti still had 17 fifth-level masters, the most among all human countries. But in just one year, this number has been halved.

If we remove General Carl who is no longer a Transcendent, the two from the Royal Alchemist Association, the one from the Red Castle, and the Master Amber who is nowhere to be found... even if we add General Carl and the newly promoted Minister Lalo, the Demonology Society can only mobilize six fifth-level powerhouses, which is already on the same level as the talent-starved Avalon next door!
The worst thing is that their black and red phases can no longer protect the kingdom...

We were clearly on the verge of rebuilding the brilliant and glorious Hellasr Empire...how did it turn out like this?

"We are the only ones who know about the ritual of the Ring of Tail."

Looking at the crowd in a gloomy atmosphere, Master Walter spoke again and emphasized: "There must be a reason why the Theocracy suddenly made such a big move.

"The Theocracy will never allow sixth-level extraordinary people to appear in other places. That will undoubtedly shake the balance of the world. Besides, the pope of this generation is a human. Power is intoxicating, not to mention that they are from Avalon. There is no doubt that they are coming for us. Their purpose is to stop the Tail Ring Ceremony."

"What should I do?"

Ms. Marasia, who was already an old lady with white curly hair curled like snow, said unhappily, "Are you going to stop? Anyway, the ceremony hasn't officially started yet, and we still have a chance to regret it."

“——It’s no use.”

Miss Sprengel just smiled and shook her head, denying it: "The Tail Ring Ceremony has been prepared for almost a year. Now the outer ring ceremony has begun, and the inner ring ceremony will start in four days, and the summoning will be completed in another month. Foreign transcendents have begun to gather here since the end of last month - obviously, they can't stop now."

"Miss Sprengel is right, ahem, ahem..."

Dr. Levitra coughed, "Now... cough, we can't stop. If we stop... we can't explain to others..."

He was a sickly man, sitting in a wheelchair, wearing glasses, and his thighs were even thinner than a normal person's arms. His skin was loose, but there was always a faint purple light in his eyes. A faint shadow was entangled around him, making his presence seem much lower than that of others.

In fact, Dr. Levitra was also the least sociable one among the Rosicrucians, and not many people were willing to get close to him.

Because the fly demon in his body is the evolved form of the rift demon, and it is the demon that people who commit the sin of gluttony will turn into after death.

The gap-mouthed demons have an endless hunger, but their gaping mouths allow food to leak out all the time, making them one of the few demons that continue to attack humans. If they "adapt" to this state, they may evolve into a higher-level demon with adaptive power - the fly demon.

Dr. Leviqun's body will continue to rot, and his pale and loose skin is full of fly eggs. These flies carrying deadly diseases are one of his avatars. Through the swarm of insects, he can also gather his consciousness. Wherever he appears, he can always take the lives of others silently... Even his colleagues are quite afraid of him. After all, no one knows whether he has planted the seeds of disease.

If he hadn't been invited to this party no matter what... I'm afraid he wouldn't have been at this party.

Compared to others, Dr. Levitra was more like a pure scholar. He was too weak to be a fifth-level person, and he seemed like he might die at any time.

"—don't cough on me, Doc."

Master Walter frowned, showing clear displeasure.

Normally, he would not be so rude to his friend.

He looked a little tired and his beard was unkempt - everyone else knew why.

Master Walter's only daughter, who was spoiled, rebellious, and has now fallen into the status of a Moon Child, failed and died in the promotion ceremony last night.

Generally speaking, the Moon Child has a stronger vitality. Even if the ritual fails or they are seriously injured or die, they may not die completely when they return to the real world.

In fact, he had some doubts whether the person who killed Andrea was Lalo and the Princess Royal who had completed the promotion. Given their distance, it was entirely possible that they would enter the same promotion ceremony. Master Walter had already sent someone to warn Andrea, but she was obviously unwilling to obey Master Walter's command.

The Red Castle now has only one fifth-level energy person, and that is the head of the "Secret Chamber", Ms. "Blood Diamond". This means that the next fifth-level energy person will definitely become the "Red Prime Minister" of this generation and will also become the person Louise trusts the most.

As the current ruler of Star Antimony, Louise will definitely not participate in the promotion ceremony. So she will most likely encourage other Moon Children who are stuck at the fourth energy level to try to upgrade...Now that the Snake Father has a strong influence on the transcendental consciousness of the world, the energy level upgrade and promotion ceremony will be much simpler than in the past, and will become simpler and simpler over time.

Although Andrea has become the Child of the Moon...she is dead in a sense.

But she is Master Walter's only daughter after all.

On the one hand, he knew that "it was just a monster that stole his daughter's body and memory", but on the other hand, he couldn't stop crying when he looked at that face and heard that voice. Every time at this time, he would understand why Valentine VII was bewitched by Queen Louise.

So Master Walter couldn't help but tell her the secret - future promotions will become easier and easier.

Unexpectedly, this news aroused his rebellious desire. Or maybe, because the promotion would be easier later, Andrea was eager to get promoted at this time...

And Dr. Leviqun certainly knew where Master Walter's anger came from.

"Sorry... cough..."

He did not argue with Master Walter, but nodded slowly while coughing, politely turned his head away and covered his mouth with his hand, and then continued coughing.

Seeing that Dr. Leviqun ignored him, Master Walter felt as if he had hit cotton with his punch.

He stared at Dr. Levitra for a long while, then finally looked away.

He changed the subject abruptly: "So what should we do, everyone? Vote.

"How many of you want to stop the ceremony? Raise your hands if you have any."

Out of the twelve people, only two raised their hands.

Both of them looked to be over 50 or 60 years old, and only one of them was at the fifth level, and that was Ms. Marasia.

"That means there are ten people who want to continue the ceremony."

Master Walter nodded: "Then the ceremony proceeds normally-

"But we can't afford to lose any more people. We have to trick someone from a foreign transcendent into serving as a sacrifice. This matter..."

"Let me go," Miss Sprengel said suddenly.

The words of this senior surprised Master Walter.

But he readily agreed: "Thank you, Miss Sprengel." Sprengel just smiled gently and did not respond.

“…Ahem, ahem…”

Dr. Leviqun coughed for a while and suddenly said, "I have actually been thinking of a possibility...

"Could it be that... the Tail Ring Ceremony was a scam from the very beginning?

"Just by sacrificing one person, a group of people can be promoted to the sixth level. This is not equal at all. Even in terms of a 'ritual', this is too lenient..."

“I’ve actually thought about this.”

Unexpectedly, Master Walter did not say anything blunt like "there is no turning back" or "it has to be done now", but he actually gave his opinion: "So we should be prepared for both situations.

"Let's see if the Tail Ring Ritual can be established first. If it can, then we can talk about it. If not...

"Then we can win over these foreign transcendents and give them concessions. We have the support of the Army Department and many officials on our side. If that doesn't work...

"——We can also go out on our own, separate from the Alchemy Association and the Red Castle, and directly carve out a piece of land to rebuild a country, creating a pure transcendent country... As a paradise for demonologists, this is also a way. There are already nine transcendents participating in the ceremony, including the four of us. Even if a few of us die in the middle, we are enough to protect a country together."

"But how do you convince them?"

Ms. Marasia frowned, pushed up her reading glasses and commented sharply: "Transcendents never yield to others - let alone Transcendents of the fifth energy level."

"So we just create a country without a king, just like the Iris people did."

Master Walter spoke.

This scared people.

Because the main protection scope of the church is "monarchs of various countries cannot be assassinated by other countries", people have never considered the possibility of abandoning the monarch. As long as there is a monarch, at least they can ask the church for help when the country is about to be destroyed.

Come to think of it... Now that the Church is no longer neutral, their principles of intervention must have changed.

In other words, "king" no longer has an irreplaceable meaning!

"Parliamentary?" asked Dr. Levitra.

“…It should work.”

Ms. Marasia thought for a moment, but then raised another question: "But what about Lalo and the Princess in our hands? This is also a card, right?"

"Then do both. We can have a king, but the king has no real power and is just a symbol. Such a country can be called the country of the transcendent. It is better than having no king, because we still have someone to transcend."

Master Walter said seriously, "There is also the secret book "Rose Secret Sutra" that has been passed down from generation to generation in our society; the "Blood Secret Sutra" that was previously lent to the Noble Red Society has also been retrieved by Miss Sprengel from Avalon. Whether it is the skills of sealing the demon incarnation in the body or bypassing the contract to directly kill the contracted demon, they must be valuable to them.

"If we establish a country, we must also find ways to make these two tantras technical and popular. They can become our core competitiveness."

"I think it's okay...but does the princess agree?" Ms. Marasia had no greed for the two tantric books, she just asked another question.

"She is very weak and will agree. Even the worst order is better than chaos, and even the smallest power is better than being a real mortal. If the country is truly destroyed, the status of an exiled princess is worse than that of a commoner... She will figure it out."

Master Walter said without hesitation: "Otherwise, why would I advocate saving her in the first place? Among the many children of the Seventh Generation, she is the easiest to control.

"Since everyone agrees, why don't we establish a country first? This way we can have a bargaining chip to negotiate with those people, and at worst we can take them back later.

"The city that we now completely control is only about a quarter of the size of Xingti's homeland. Although the area is small, I think it is enough.

"Extraordinary power is the only real thing in this world. As long as we are strong enough, we can get back the land we have lost now in the future. On the other hand, if we are weak enough, we will get nothing even if we have an infinitely vast territory."

"Then establish a country."

Ms. Marasia said decisively: "Go and tell the princess that we will establish the country on May 1st."

And now, on the other side.

Lalo was still sitting in front of the mirror, frowning, playing his instrument intermittently.

“Illusionary blood…”

He murmured, his face showing a rare lack of frivolity, but instead an unusually serious expression.

This ability...

Why does it feel like a trap?

On the one hand, it can satisfy his desire to "dedicate everything to the stars", so that he can better intervene in the political situation directly without having to think about "how to make the monarch listen to him".

After all, the end point of "persuading the monarch" is "forget it, I'll do it myself."

And the eldest princess is full of desire to escape...this ability can fully satisfy two people at the same time.

No one would attack a monarch, and that was why this transformation had no flaws - he could permanently transform himself into the eldest princess for 24 hours a day, and then he would become the eldest princess herself.

That's why... this ability can satisfy my wishes and solve my troubles...

It will also bring out the evil within oneself.

But if he keeps using the appearance of the eldest princess...what's the difference between that and holding on to power?
But as the eldest princess said, she is now seriously injured and unable to move... She must have Lalo's treatment to gradually heal her soul.

She couldn't let anyone know about this, otherwise there would be people who would want her to lie like this forever.

Therefore, all the "Princess" who go out now can only be played by Lalo.

On the other hand...

...As long as the eldest princess dies, no one will ever know that this "eldest princess" is Lalo.

He didn't even need to kill anyone - he just had to do nothing and the soul-damaged princess would die on her own.

"What an evil power..."

Lalo played the instrument a few times and murmured to the mirror: "Do you really want to see my ugliness? God who has no eyes and no self..."

I will never give in.

I will never give in to my inner desires—

"I bet you," Lalo murmured, "that my true heart is not twisted at this moment.

"No matter what happens, I will never be greedy for anything other than 'me'..."

That ordinary mirror naturally didn't answer.

But Lalo saw himself in the mirror raising his head and revealing a strange smile.

——Who knows?
Lalo in the mirror moved his lips and said so.

(End of this chapter)