After Bai Qi revealed his identity as the Holy Lord, Tie Tou immediately became subdued, his eyes fixed forward, as well as his nose, like a well-behaved child.
No matter how arrogant Tie Tou was as a former gang boss, all his temper vanished in the face of Bai Qi.
Before absolute power, Tie Tou's past exploits were mere child's play. The demon before him could crush him like an insignificant bug.
Bai Qi asked, "Do you want revenge on Fisk?"
Bai Qi's words instantly ignited the rage within Tie Tou.
"Revenge? Of course, I want revenge. As long as Tie Tou is alive, Fisk will never sleep soundly."
Bai Qi was very pleased with Tie Tou's reaction and said, "Very well, you want revenge, but with your current strength, seeking revenge on Fisk is suicidal. Pledge your allegiance to me, and you will not only get revenge on Fisk, but you will also become the next underground emperor of this city."
"Underground Emperor."
Looking at the undisguised greed and longing on Tie Tou's face, it was clear how much the words "underground emperor" attracted him.
This was indeed the case. As an outsider, Tie Tou had managed to establish himself in this city by sheer ruthlessness, daring to fight and risk his life. However, even at his peak, he was still slightly inferior to Fisk.
If anyone else had told Tie Tou that they would support him to become the next underground emperor, Tie Tou would never have believed them, and might even have put a hole in their head. But the one saying this was the Holy Lord, the demon who had once turned America upside down, a powerful demon that Congress and S.H.I.E.L.D. could not deal with. Supporting him would be effortless.
"I am willing, my lord, I am willing to follow you, even if I have to give you my soul."
Seeing that Tie Tou had set the mood perfectly, Bai Qi could not bear to dampen his enthusiasm.
"Alright, since you've said so, then I shall take your soul."
With that, before Tie Tou could react, Bai Qi revealed his true form, made a grasping motion in the air before Tie Tou, and pulled out a semi-transparent figure that looked exactly like Tie Tou from his body. He then put it into his mouth like eating cotton candy, chewed a few times, and swallowed it.
Everything happened so fast that Tie Tou had no time to react. When he gradually came to his senses and recalled Bai Qi's words, he felt terrible.
He had just said it casually, to show his resolve, and Bai Qi had actually taken his soul and eaten it. What was he going to do, digest it and then excrete it?
There was no use in saying anything now. He had to swallow all his grievances and keep them down. Otherwise, if he truly displeased the other party, he might even lose his physical body, ending up with nothing.
Tie Tou followed Bai Qi's lead and said, "My lord, you have taken my soul, and you have seen my loyalty, haven't you?"
Seeing Tie Tou's docility, Bai Qi became even happier.
"Don't worry, I have seen your loyalty. However, I must remind you, your soul is still yours no matter where it is. Even though it is inside me now, it is still your soul. That means if I die, your soul will vanish, and you will die along with it. Of course, if I harm myself, like this."
With that, Bai Qi broke his left arm with a hand chop. The next moment, Tie Tou's left arm also broke.
"Ugh..."
Intense pain spread throughout Tie Tou's body, but he maintained his tough demeanor, gritting his teeth and not letting out a single cry.
Bai Qi continued, "Because of this, if I get hurt, you will suffer the same injury."
He then used the Horse Talisman to heal his wound and simultaneously healed Tie Tou's arm.
"Therefore, you have no other path but to be loyal to me."
Bai Qi's words and actions made Tie Tou sweat profusely. He clutched his repaired arm and quickly nodded.
"Very good, you may leave now."
After Tie Tou left, Bai Qi chuckled inwardly.
A soul, as a form of energy, could be consumed, but if a person lost their soul, they would die on the spot. The fact that Tie Tou was still alive indicated that Bai Qi had not actually eaten his soul.
What Tie Tou saw was merely a trick Bai Qi had employed. It was Tie Tou's own fault for being a simpleton, a muggle with no knowledge of magic in this day and age, deserving to be fooled.
Bai Qi had lied to Tie Tou precisely to make him abandon any thought of betrayal and work for him honestly.
After all, Tie Tou was a gang boss. Despite his rough exterior, he was a shrewd individual. Without this grand performance, Bai Qi could not have confidently put Tie Tou in the position of underground emperor.
People were selfish; promises and oaths were just empty words. Someone who became an underground emperor would inevitably harbor thoughts of rebellion. Therefore, it was best to take precautions beforehand.
After dealing with Tie Tou, Bai Qi began preparing to confront Fisk.
As for Tara, since she was the leader of the Shadow Clan, dealing with her required too much preparation and could not be accomplished quickly. He would first deal with Fisk and then slowly approach Tara.
On a side note, after days of research, Bai Qi had finally deciphered the engravings on the magic disc and understood its purpose.
When infused with magic, this disc allowed one to see any scene within a hundred-mile radius, similar to a heavenly eye. However, this was not its primary function; the heavenly eye was merely an auxiliary effect. Its true purpose was that of a map.
When the engravings were viewed together, they formed a map pointing to a certain place in the world. This place was called the Continent of the Gods' Abandonment, inhabited by many powerful monsters. At the heart of the continent was a portal through which a large number of monsters entered this world at regular intervals. The mages of that era, unable to destroy the portal, joined forces with several archmages to seal the portal along with the entire continent.
This disc was merely a map. To enter this mysterious continent, one needed to find a key in addition to the disc.
Finally, and most troublingly for Bai Qi, to prevent those with ill intentions from finding the continent and releasing monsters to harm humanity, the creator of the disc had also placed a magical enchantment on it. Only those with righteous, pure, and kind hearts could use the disc to find the continent.
For Bai Qi, a complete demon, this item was only good enough to be used as a plate.
However, just as Bai Qi was about to give up on finding the so-called lost continent, the system surprisingly issued a mission, and the objective was to find this lost continent.