"Zhang Wei."
Su Ming called out.
One of the three individuals started nervously.
"Sect Leader, what are your instructions?"
The young man named Zhang Wei was nineteen years old. His martial spirit was different from conventional Body Martial Spirits; according to his perception, it was an internal organ – the gallbladder.
Most of his spirit skills were related to willpower, able to enhance willpower, and even amplify himself using willpower.
Elder Lei Zhen, watching from the side, couldn't help but frown at Zhang Wei's demeanor.
Zhang Wei's martial spirit, the Gallbladder, one of the six hollow organs, its importance was self-evident. Yet, in Shrek's hands, it hadn't been utilized to its proper effect, even being cultivated into this state.
The essence of a Body Martial Soul lay in infinite positive feedback, relying on the continuous mutual amplification between the martial soul and the soul master to achieve exponential growth.
Yet, Zhang Wei's martial soul was the Gallbladder, but he could become flustered and tense just from Su Ming calling his name. This was practically working against the nature of his martial soul.
Shrek was truly useless.
Was Zhang Wei born like this?
Or did he become like this at Shrek?
Was there bullying among Shrek Academy students?
Even if Shrek didn't know how to cultivate him properly, logically, he shouldn't be this timid, right?
"Zhang Wei, you were previously helping Shrek collect intelligence in the black market, weren't you?"
"Ah?"
Hearing Su Ming bring up his spy activities, Zhang Wei instinctively shrank his neck.
Although he had spent some time with the Body Sect disciples and felt the sect's atmosphere, he was still in a state of hesitation, his heart not completely free from his former identity as a Shrek spy.
It was an inexplicable feeling.
He didn't dare.
That's right, it wasn't some stubborn ideology brainwashed into him by Shrek, but rather he didn't dare to simply betray Shrek and become independent.
Su Ming looked at Zhang Wei and sighed inwardly.
A genius destroyed by Shrek.
He could even vaguely guess who Zhang Wei's homeroom teacher had been back then.
"Alright, we all know about your past, and we don't care. As long as you don't do anything detrimental to the sect, the sect will always stand behind you," Su Ming said.
Hearing this, Zhang Wei was deeply moved.
"This purge is Mingde Hall's operation, but our Body Sect is currently cooperating with Mingde Hall, so we can also participate."
Zhang Wei mentally calculated what Su Ming's purpose was in saying this.
"Continue your normal work in the black market, no need to worry about anything. If you get information about Evil Spirit Masters, you can cooperate with us. When the time comes, I will accompany Mingde Hall's Spirit Engineers to the Xishui Alliance."
Zhang Wei's mouth twitched, revealing an ugly smile.
Among the major black markets, the Xishui Alliance was definitely the most complex one, a mixed bag of good and bad.
It was a recently established black market with fierce momentum, reportedly backed by someone. In just two years, it had gained a significant reputation in the underground black market and was said to have the potential to reach the scale of the two giants – the Pingfan Alliance and the Aodu Chamber of Commerce – within three years.
Shrek Academy's largest intelligence stronghold in the Sun Moon Imperial Capital was originally in the Pingfan Alliance, but was now in the process of transferring to the Xishui Alliance precisely for this reason.
But because it was in the middle of transferring, with personnel changes, it was actually the period with the biggest vulnerabilities.
At this time, with Mingde Hall thoroughly investigating the black markets, probably...
Zhang Wei looked dejected.
Su Ming stepped forward and patted Zhang Wei's shoulder, offering him a few words of encouragement.
He could sense a not-insignificant amount of faith emanating from Zhang Wei, faith belonging to the Body Sect. Clearly, he had integrated into this big family and highly approved of the Body Sect.
This was also why Su Ming was paying extra attention to Zhang Wei this time.
This level of faith was worth Su Ming helping him completely break free from Shrek's shadow.
The third day.
Xishui Alliance.
Mingde Hall's Spirit Engineers sealed off all entrances to the black market.
Su Ming carried three Level Seven Invincible Protection Barriers and had the Douluo 1 and Douluo 3 Su Ming maintain full alert, ready to provide Borrowed Power at any time.
He currently had one instance of Borrowed Power stored, allowing him to borrow power once without needing the Douluo 1 and Douluo 3 Su Ming to provide Spirit Power. However, the duration of the borrowed power was ultimately limited. Having the Douluo 1 and Douluo 3 Su Ming on standby was also to allow for a timely second instance of Borrowed Power.
The reason he only had three Level Seven Invincible Protection Barriers was naturally because all the Spirit Power from his two instances of Borrowed Power would, at most, allow him to fully utilize the performance of three Level Seven Invincible Protection Barriers.
Carrying more would be useless.
Of course, these were all Su Ming's personal preparations.
He had further confidence – Electrolux.
"Let's go. This Xishui Alliance can be said to be the largest den of Evil Spirit Masters in the entire Sun Moon Imperial Capital." Jing Hongchen said solemnly, then waved his hand, signaling the Spirit Engineers beside him to surge into the black market.
He turned back to look at Su Ming, Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, and Ma Rulong.
"You four, follow me. Don't get lost."
Entering the black market.
Su Ming was surprised by the terrain inside.
It was a complex network of passages.
However, Mingde Hall had probably already mapped this place out long ago, sealing all exits and entrances.
BOOM!
A loud explosion reverberated in their ears.
Su Ming looked in the direction the sound came from.
Flames shot into the sky, and sinister, cackling laughter arose from within the smoke.
"What a fine Mingde Hall!"
"Master." Su Ming's expression changed slightly.
From the place where the flames shot up, large amounts of green smoke were erupting.
Seeing this, Jing Hongchen remained very calm.
A large metal lump appeared in his hand. As he channeled Spirit Power into it, the lump began to emit light, rapidly gathering a massive amount of light elements. The metal... the ball of light began to rise into the air, stopping directly above the fiery location.
The ball of light continuously expanded, finally transforming into a pillar of light that descended from the sky.
"Spirit tools still have their merits."
In Su Ming's mind, Electrolux's voice sounded.
"That metal lump contains multiple stacked light explosion arrays. It can be said to have fully stimulated the power of the light element."
The entire black market was illuminated. The light pillar was tightly focused, enveloping only the area where the poisonous gas was.
"Elder Yi, can light elements also be used to purify poison?"
"Of course. Poison is actually a very low-level method. When encountering powerful flames, the toxicity within the poison can be directly destroyed. While the fully erupted power of light is less effective than fire elements in this aspect, it has a better restraining effect on the poison released by Evil Spirit Masters."
"Ah!"
A scream came from within the light pillar.
While the scream was still echoing, a black light abruptly shot out from the light pillar, flying straight towards Jing Hongchen.
"Hmph!"
Jing Hongchen snorted coldly, and a vermilion-gold colored barrier instantly unfolded around him.
The black light crashed into the barrier, causing ripples to appear on its surface.
The barrier shook violently but quickly stabilized, completely blocking the light, which turned out to be an Evil Spirit Master surrounded by eight spirit rings.
Multiple eighth-level spirit tool rays instantly locked onto this Evil Spirit Master and fired simultaneously.
These rays were all of the light attribute. Even before being fired, they made Nan Gongwan feel a life-or-death crisis.
He decisively gritted his teeth, wanting to escape. All the spirit rings on his body ignited, transforming into power that merged into his body. His Spirit Power fluctuations surged dramatically.
He forcefully withstood seven spirit tool rays and shot up into the air.
"Get down here!"
Seeing the eight spirit rings on Nan Gongwan, Jing Hongchen guessed he was probably the strongest Evil Spirit Master here. He no longer hesitated and decisively took action.
"Old Ma, watch over them."
An old man who bore a sixty percent resemblance to Ma Rulong released his martial spirit beside Su Ming and the other three.
His body became more robust, and eight spirit rings emerged at his feet in sequence.
"Don't just stand there dumbfounded. Look around, see if there's any junk worth picking up."
Prompted by Old Ma, Su Ming and the other three snapped back to reality. They looked around and chose a direction with relatively less intense firepower.
(Chapter End)