Chapter 163 – [SLOTH] - Part 1
September 12th, 182 A.D.
The morning assembly meeting of Ye City was canceled today to allow the officials and workers to rest after the hectic night.
Zhang He worked all night yesterday, so he excused himself to rest. On the other hand, Jia Xu and Ju Shou had a proper rest, the two strategists brainstormed in private to draft the Ye City integration plan for the Yellow Turban and Tong Army.
As for Tong, he also worked all night like Zhang He, but he could not sleep.
His [Pride] curse was in the danger zone as it had a high probability to take control of his body and soul any moment. He had to find a way to keep this curse in check as soon as possible before Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun Army arrived.
Tong texted into the clan chat to ask Dong Bai, hoping to get an advice from the ex-demoness.
During the time when Tong was in Julu, he consulted with Dong Bai about his demon soul and its use before. But he forgot to ask about the details of the awakening and the possible danger as they were too focus on the usage.
Furthermore, Dong Bai and Hua Shi usually got sidetracked by their lewd talk and strayed from Tong's main topic, which always ended up with him being ravished by the two predators.
Zhang Tong: What is the opposite of [Pride]?
Hua Shi: Modesty?
Li Feihong: Humbleness?
Dong Bai: Are you trying to awake your soul again?
Zhang Tong: It's related to my [Demonic Curse] skill. The system warned me that it had high chances that it can take over my body.
Dong Bai: Has it invaded your soul yet?
Zhang Tong: No, but chances are 20% now.
Zhang Tong: Is there a way to suppress it other than trying to act opposite of the sins?
Zhang Tong: I don't want to be a bootlicker.
Hua Shi: Is it related to the demonic awakening that you did?
Hua Shi: The last time you awakened your stand.
Dong Bai: @Zhang Tong Modesty works.
Li Feihong: O_O
Li Feihong: My bro has a stand!?
Li Feihong: I want to see! >w< li="" feihong:="" what="" is="" it="" like?="" hua="" shi:="" it's="" a="" naked="" woman="" with="" big="" oo="" li="" feihong:="" oo?="" zhang="" tong:="" @dong="" bai="" i="" doubt="" i="" will="" have="" a="" chance="" to="" act="" modestly…="" zhang="" tong:="" any="" alternative="" way="" besides="" trying="" to="" be="" humble.="" zhang="" tong:="" i="" don't="" have="" many="" chances="" for="" that.="" hua="" shi:="" b00b!="" li="" feihong:="">_>
Li Feihong: Now I want to see x100
Hua Shi: He has given it to Baibai.
Hua Shi: So you have to ask her to show you.
Li Feihong: HE CAN GIVE STAND!?
Li Feihong: REEEEEEEEE
Li Feihong: @Zhang Tong GIVE ME ONEEEEEE
Hua Shi: @Zhang Tong GIVE ME TWOOOOO
Zhang Tong: NOISY! STOP SPAMMING!
Zhang Tong: This is serious!
Tong pressed his glabella to soothe his headache. He wanted to have a serious conversation with Dong Bai about this matter, but those bored reincarnators spammed with random chatting again.
Dong Bai was silent in the chat room for over 10 minutes, but the chat room was flashing the "Dong Bai is typing…" message under the message box. Tong patiently waited for her reply.
Then, long messages from Dong Bai showed up.
"The process of awakening normally takes years to complete one demon soul. For us, we don't have a system to give us the number of how many percentages or how close we are about to succeed, so I don't know if our method will work out for you or not."
"In Hell, when demons like us were born, we will be trapped in a special prison for demons that lost control of themselves. We usually lost our control when we hit puberty, so normally, we lock ourselves in there for a few million years, and we will regain our sense naturally. By the time I regain my senses, I already have four wings on my back. But in your case, you'll have to awake them manually."
"So here's the deal. There's a trick that all demons are using. When we have extra souls that we aren't using, we will use that available soul as a sacrificial seal. As long as we have one extra soul, we can disable all dangerous sins, with a cost that we won't be able to grow another wing again in our lifetime."
"I'll teach you the method once you get back. For now, concentrate on awakening the sins that you have confident on conquering. As for [Pride], try to act humble or be an ass-kisser for a while."
"Your issue now is about your personality and habit traits. Everybody has different traits and compatibility, so there will be a couple of sins that you can overcome quickly while the rest will be very difficult. For example, I managed to awake the [Despair], [Gluttony], [Envy], and [Wrath]. But I failed the rest, so my true form in the past only had 4 wings and 4 demon souls. The same goes for every devil in Hell. Average demons have two wings. Only captain class and above has 4 wings or higher. I think my mom has seven or eight. The last time I saw her wings was a millennia ago, so I think she has 8 right now?"
"You will easily overcome at least two sins in the early years of your demonhood, but you will always have a few incompatible ones. It's the weakness that everybody has. I'm assuming that [Pride] is your hidden personality, so that might be the reason it keeps increasing its strength. Your next awaken souls should be [Envy] or perhaps [Greed] judging from your habits."
"Concentrate on what you can conquer. Don't worry about [Pride] for now."
Tong carefully read the messages as if he was reading a textbook. Dong Bai blurted out a few information that he did not ask, such as the wings and the prison.
He subconsciously touched his back to feel if he had wings. He had just overcome his [Lust] and awakened his first demon soul. Tong thought that he would grow a pair of wings if he had a demon soul as well.
To his disappointment, his back was still as usual, a human back.
"How do I not have wings? I have one demon soul, right?" Tong texted back.
"You need at least 2 souls before your wings grew. For now, abandon all your thoughts and concentrate on getting your second and third soul. Like I said, awake them first, then I'll teach you how to use them later. If you worry too much, your [Despair] will probably get stronger again." Dong Bai replied.
…
Later that day, Tong rested in his new courtyard prepared by Ju Shou.
It used to be Han Fu's private residence, but Ju Shou evicted all of Han Fu's remaining relatives and servants for Tong. New staffs were hired to replace the sacked servants.
A few maids walked around in the courtyard, cleaning up the garden and moving their luggage.
Tong remembered a few of them. Three of the servants were the dancers who were almost ravished by Bao Xin and his men. It seemed they quit their job as it was too risky to be abused and became maids instead.
'Concentrate, concentrate.'
Tong abandoned his useless thought and continued his push-up, even though he could hardly lift his body up. He was doing it for the sake of getting rid of his [Sloth].
'Will this work?'
'How long do I have to push myself further?'
'If I slack, it increases. But I'm reaching my limit, yet the messages haven't appeared.'
Tong pushed his body up once more before he collapsed on the floor on his stomach. It was the 2,000th push-up marathon in one session. Even though he had many passive boosts, going gung-ho in one sitting was still hard for him.
'Regen! Again!'
<ding>>
<your [sloth]="" has="" been="" weakened="" by="" your="" recent="" action="">>
<probability that="" your="" [sloth]="" can="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="" has="" been="" decreased="">>
<your [sloth]="" has="" 0%="" chance="" to="" take="" control="" of="" your="" body="">>
<if you="" go="" against="" your="" [sloth]="" one="" more="" time,="" your="" [demonic="" seal]="" level="" will="" reduce="" by="" 1="">>
'Freaking finally! Alright, I wonder if I can weaken it one more time!'</if></your></probability></your></ding>