~1 month later~

"The seventh month has begun, marking the peak of the Undead Heavens War. The Japanese Profound Immortal emperor's servant has sided with the dynasty and destroyed half the clan! My brothers, let us show these hooligans of what happens when they mess with our Yue Clan!!" Echoing from a stone platform, a man with flowing black hair and sharp eyebrows rose his fist and spoke down to a small army below him.

His face was handsome and his body was filled with vitality. Each muscle of his body was beyond what humans could achieve. Even his blue robe was filled out by the sheer size of him. Without a weapon, he squinted his eyes at the army and felt hungry for a battle.

Some of the soldiers looked at each other nervously with sweat on their face. Their eyebrows burrowed as they sighed.

There was about fifty standing in uniform. Each one wore a red robe and carried a spear. They were in a grassland which stretched beyond the eye could see.

On the opposite side of this army was a horde of hundreds of zombies approaching. They were naked, with their purple rotting flesh exposed and a talisman covering their faces. Among this horde was a leader who wore a black robe. He stood several kilometers away from the red army and spoke to someone next to him.

...

"Where the hell is Livia? I brought my entire army for this." Looking closely at the hooded figures face, you would see scars and burns. His whole face was ugly and deformed for unknown reasons, and he didn't have any emotion on it at all.

The other man who was bald responded, "Don't ask me. That bitch is always somewhere wasting time. For now, take your jiangshi and take out the red troops. Aren't they... Qi-Refining or whatever."

Someone beside him with short black hair answered, "The Tang people call it Foundation Building, which is Third Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer. Quite impressive. Also, I'm sure Livia will arrive sometime soon. We do need her to get close to Yue Kai."

"Mhm. Ready. Yes." Behind the bald man, a new figure with mouth tattoos spoke in chopped words.

They began to nod to each other, but felt a wave of energy start to form. They stepped back and knew immediately who it was.

"Gateway input 20%. Sorry for being late, heh." A woman with blue braids appeared from a portal.

She stepped onto the ground and the portal dispersed instantly. She smiled at the four guys around her and scratched her head.

Everyone looked at her, and someone asked, "Why are you so happy, bitch? We were waiting two hours! Even the enemy side gave their war speech six times!! I am starting to feel sorry for the enemy! I even saw one of the soldiers get a heat stroke! Damn bitch, you're starting to make me pity them!"

Someone chuckled at this, making the bald man who spoke ferociously stare at him.

The man being stared at laughed, "Hahaha, don't be so hard on her, Aki. Livia just has a tendency to take things at her own pace."

The bald general Aki responded loudly, "Still! That doesn-..."

The girl stepped closer to him and said, "Awww~ come on. Little old Liv can't be on time always. How 'bout this! I create the Gateway and leave the rest to you. I'm sure that guy commanding that red army isn't even that strong."

"Are you fucking kidding me! He is so strong that all of us were send to kill him! Even Li Wei Jie needed help from us Empty Generals!"

"I didn't really need it... I was pretty close..." The hooded figure looked at the bald man with a sad look in his ugly eyes. The tattoo general spoke up, "Liar Jie Jie. Kai strong. Peak of Half-Immortal. Known as very strong Special Grade."

"Huh? Is that guy really that strong?" Livia asked the group for confirmation.

They all nodded which made her smile, "Good. This is the right place. I'll probably be rewarded well for this."

The jiangshi zombies took a stop as Li Wei Jie asked in surprise, "When have you ever wanted rewards?"

In response, Livia stuck her tongue out and replied, "Nunya business you stupid incompetent loser!"

With a few sniffles, the horde began to move again. They marched forward towards the red army, as the group of five began their own preparations with everyone gathered.

Livia also smirked as her arm glowed and green clouds marked on her arm began to swirl.

...

...

~1 day before~

Within a small room, I sat still meditating. In my head, I was defining and polishing the Chimera Shadow Garden which I created about one month ago.

Not only that, but in my head, I was reviewing the influx of Followers I received from the Nakatomi Clan. It was thanks to them that I managed to rapidly grow, and with my new level, I didn't need to worry about being discovered since the Faith Mark was far more powerful. It was a dream situation for growth.

In fact, I ordered Gorudo to not worry about getting caught, but instead focus on bringing as many people to the clan and let me touch them. My growth was so fast, that even I felt shocked with the Faith being consumed.

[Cult: Yama's Court, Level: 3, Marks: 0, Followers: 4200, Faith: 992520]

Speaking of consumption...

I reach down into my robe and pull out an arm with thick fat and spices coating the skin. It was still sizzling hot despite being in my robe for five minutes.

It had some meat missing from my earlier bites, but that didn't stop me from chomping down, feeling my teeth tear through the flesh. My tongue licked the spices covering the skin and I felt my head climax from the pleasure of such good food.

"Holy shit! This is so good! I'm so glad I have a processional chef now. Damn those times where I tortured myself with nothing but training. This is what living is all about!"

I look down and notice that I was chewing on the bone.

It was gone way too quickly. Rather than blaming myself for eating too fast, I blame the chef for making it too good.

"Um, Master? Now that you finished training and eating, can you untie me?" I turn around and see a girl with blue braids speaking.

She was bounded by rope and leaking from 'somewhere' I shouldn't mention. I threw the bone into my shadow inventory and stroked my chin thinking of what to do.

"Livia, I'm only doing this as punishment. Do you remember why?"

She wriggled in the rope, answering, "I'm so sorry! I really didn't expect you would find out so soon that I was hiding in the shadows watching you... I just enjoyed seeing you working that it felt like I was always with you. I even told you all the secrets of when I was captured and forced into the Cursed Concretization experiment and forced under binding vows."

"Ah, poor Livia. I know you can't hurt the old Fujiwara bastard with the vow, but you shouldn't be sorry for getting caught by me. Next time don't make me wait so long. I know you also wanted intel on the Fujiwaras and went undercover through sheer coincidence of the situation. Instead, you made me think of worse scenarios. I was worried I lost you."

"R-Really? Master... You were worried about me?"

No, you horny idiot! I was worried you would reveal my secrets! Then you go and remove the Faith Mark with the Fujiwara and spy on me? Of course I was scared... Scared of being backstabbed or cheated!

"Yes, I was worried. Just remember this is the only time I'll be nice. For now, I'll release you if you tell me about the war going on which you spoke about. Also, how did you avoid my sensing before my level up?"

"Level up? I don't understand that, but I was able to force myself to split my thoughts about Master away from me. This is how I spied on you... Now, I can't even try that anymore for some reason. As for the war, it is between the Heavenly Twins of Harmony and Li Wei Jie."

I interrupt, "That necromancer who also has a zombie army? And you mentioned that all the Five Empty Generals would join, right?"

"That's right. Master is so smart... I missed this... Can we hav-"

To steer her back to the original conversation, I interrupt her again and ask, "If the old Fujiwara leader summoned all of you, then does that mean the Heavenly Twins of Harmony are that strong?"

Her face becomes red with her head. She smirks and bites her lip while staring at me.

"Once again, Master is right... Ah, I'm getting so hor-"

"Livia! Can you stay on track? What is the strength of the Heavenly Twins of Harmony? Is it their leader or numbers?"

"I would say both. The leader is around the level of Fujiwara no Yoshifusa, and he has a large group of Third Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers in his Yue Clan. Ah, the Yue Clan's leader is Yue Kai and his twin sister Yue Fei. Kai is said to be a super genius special grade despite not possessing an innate technique. His sister is unknown in the Fujiwara data books." Livia tells me after calming down.

I stand up from my seat. "Yue Kai? Why does that name make me feel strange? Is it... Maybe..."

An old prophesy reverberated in my head:

MONTH OF CULTURE : SEVENTH, 865

Foretold man in Tang's distant land, Holds the key to fate's gentle hand,

To avert the storm, the villain must roam, Seek wisdom's solace, far from home.

...

"Yes, that must be it. Livia, I want you to join the opposing side with the Generals. Make sure to go along with them and report what they say directly to me. Also, I want you to directly go into the fight and kill everyone you can on the Yue Clan except for the twins."

She stared at me blankly and covers her face with her braids, "Um, that would be really difficult. I'm not sure I can handle around 50 Third Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers who are professionals."

"Are you an idiot? Obviously work with your zombie friend. Let the baldy and his boyfriend with tattoos fight Yue Kai alone. Also, keep that Luck General away from the fight no matter what."

With a face of understanding, she repeats back to me, "Okay, so me and zombie army boy will take on the opposing army, I convince Dadros to stay back, and baldy with Seijuro will go attack the big guy. Alright, I'm all set on the plan, but what's Master's job?"

"Don't worry about it, sweetie."

- 10 Faith

"Prepare the sacrifice to summon me. The contract requires suicide." I give an order in my head to the Followers all the way in China.

Over the course of a month, I've been forcing orders down their throat to artificially raise their loyalty so I can track them. It is inefficient for Faith since they will die, but it's useful to detect them over the width of two countries with level 8 loyalty.

I'm going to stick with this method instead of Livia's Gateway due to uncertainty and the fact that I want to look like a competent leader who doesn't require her ability. Consider it being careful with a side of pride.

...

"Alright, Master. Guess I'll get goin' before I'm late. Unless, you want to... You know..."

I shot her a look of disapproval.

She understood, but refused to give in so easily, "Pleasee~~! I'll do anything! I will fight a lot better afterwards. It's been so long, Master!"

"Ugh, you know what." I look at her body. It had a unique skin tone and strange hair. Even her aura very different from around 8-9 years ago. Although she was sexy, it lost a lot of the spark it had before.

I wonder what is that spark?

Closing my eyes, the memories of the past fly by, including our first connection and Contract.

"Humanity... I see now..."

You know what? Why not? It's good to try new things every once in a while.

I look at Livia and answer, "Fine, but don't forget we are not allowed to be late! No extra time can be spent. This will be a research experiment for my desires."

"YES! ...Uh, I mean, that's cool. Please feel free to 'research' every part of my body, Master."

Hahaha, I guess she is cute sometimes. Welp, time to enjoy my research project.