Reverend Ecstasy

To go from a war orphan that opted into male prostitution so he could pay for his studies, all the way to the undisputed Human King of the Eastern Continent, his innate talent aside, Zhenwu Shenquan went through no end of trials and tribulations. Due to those trials, Zhenwu Shenquan had no faith in selfless deeds.

Humans, spirits, demons, divines, it didn't matter. As far as he was concerned, all were selfish by nature. So, the notion of some unknown divine appearing out of nowhere to grant him a peerless treasure, all out of a consideration for a father he knew nothing about, was something he couldn't accept.

Stricken by suspicion, Zhenwu Shenquan unleashed his Spiritual Sense, probing into the depths of the Demon Sealing Pagoda. A spiraling tunnel of Divine Power, Immortal Qi, and Higher Principles opened to his eyes, leading him through the internal structure of the Demon-Sealing Pagoda. The deeper Zhenwu Shenquan went, the faster the tunnel sucked him in, and the more power he felt concealed inside the pagoda.

But no matter how far he went, he couldn't see the end.

'It can't possibly be infinite...right?' Zhenwu Shenquan couldn't accept such a possibility, and with relentless drive, kept pushing through the tunnel — all to no avail. The exploration of this ancient divine artifact took its toll, straining Shenquan's Spiritual Sense, and almost injuring his soul. 𝗳𝓇ℯe𝓌𝚎𝚋𝓃𝚘𝚟𝘦𝑙.𝑐𝚘𝙢

Realizing that he couldn't afford to probe deeper, Zhenwu Shenquan pulled out his Spiritual Sense, gasping for breath. Veins pulsed across his temple, and as his golden eyes went bloodshot, his skin turned blue.

"How terrifying. I'm only scratching the surface of the powers concealed in this artifact. But are things really as they seem? Perhaps that tunnel is just a decoy — a trick to prevent me from seeing through the pagoda's secrets." Zhenwu Shenquan's conspiracy theorist brain worked at full speed, coming up with conjectures upon conjectures. But as his thoughts trailed off...

'There is no catch.'

An austere, calm yet inviolable voice resounded in Zhenwu Shenquan's mind.

'I granted you this artifact for two reasons:

One, to help you suppress the demons of the Yellow Spring Undead Kingdom.

Two, so you could rapidly improve your cultivation base and be better prepared for the trials to come.

The notion that My Divine Self is concealing ulterior motives is both blasphemous and asinine. Without my help, you'd be dead already. If you don't want the Demon Sealing Pagoda, I can take it back. But should you dare to disrespect My Divine Self again, I will terminate your existence,' Zhen-Xinzi said.

The pressure of the Glorious Eye of Heaven crashed on Zhenwu Shenquan, curving the Human King's back and forcing him to grovel in a mix of shock and agony.

"Divine One, I was confused! Please accept...my sincere apologies!" As soon as the Glorious Eye of Heaven locked on Zhenwu Shenquan, the Human King felt exposed, as if all the facets of his existence had been revealed to that divine's supreme gaze.

Every fiber of his being screamed in terror, warning that this divine powerhouse only needed a thought to erase him from the Great Desolation World.

Never in his life had Zhenwu Shenquan confronted such overwhelming power. Even the August Divinity...didn't give him such an impression!

Indeed, why would an expert of that level attempt to play tricks on him? It didn't make sense. And if for this lapse of judgment, he lost the Demon Sealing Pagoda, then Zhenwu Shenquan would spend the rest of eternity consumed by regret.

'Let this be the first and last time. Though I wish to help you reunite with your father, I will not tolerate insults to my divine dignity,' Zhen-Xinzi said, and without giving Zhenwu Shenquan an opportunity to apologize further, cut contact.

Greed was a beautiful thing. No matter how suspicious Zhenwu Shenquan was, after taking 10,000 years to reach the early stage of Supreme Clarity, he'd be hard-pressed to let go of an artifact that enabled him to reach the middle stage in three months.

Zhen-Xinzi only had to relieve his doubts, and the Human King would find all the reasons to debunk his suspicions, then keep cultivating in peace.

...

Meanwhile, an announcement came from the Central Domain, causing the Eastern Continent to experience a seismic shift. By decree of the Divine Empress, the Solar Palace's Inner Court would subsidize the Divine Tailor's industry so he could start expanding beyond the Eastern Continent and give priority to the consorts of the Solar Palace.

The subsidy?

Six trillion spirit stones.

"I know, that's a lot of zeros. To put this into perspective, Supreme Clarity level experts make about 30 billion spirit stones in a good year but spend about 27 billion on their cultivation and faction-related matters. So, in a good year, they bring in about 3 billion in profit. That woman just dumped the equivalent of 2,000 years of a Supreme Clarity realm expert's profits on a tailor.

I know, this is an oversimplification. Be it in cultivation or battle-prowess-related benefits, the Divine Tailor's goods never fail the customer and know no rival throughout the four continents. But this is the Central Domain we're talking about. The Solar Palace has its own tailor, handpicked by the Agust Divinity among the most outstanding weavers and refiners of the Taiyang clan. Even if the Divine Tailor could compete with that person, and that's a big if, he should still not get the job. It's just not how it works." An Integration realm father educated his Nascent Soul son on the magnitude of the event.

"Wow! If I didn't know better, I'd say that the new Divine Empress was trying to prop up her lover."

"Hush! Son of a bitch, who raised you? Are you trying to get us all killed?" Alarmed by his son's words, the father knocked him out, then left to scold his wife for raising an unfilial baboon.

In a flash, the Divine Empress' decree became the talk of the Eastern Continent. Even the leaders of the Shentu imperial clan couldn't believe that the Divine Empress had just donated six years of the Eastern Spirit Empire's tax revenues to the Divine Tailor.

The Silkshifter God's Abode was already a peerless money-making machine. A machine that the Divine Tailor used to diversify in other industries and fuel the actions of his Enlightened Bank.

But with an extra six trillion to invest, what could the Divine Tailor not do?

To say nothing of the east's experts, when the news reached him, Tailor-Xinzi couldn't believe his ears.ƒ𝓇e𝙚𝔀𝐞𝚋𝓃𝐨𝘷e𝙡.𝒄𝗼m