Chapter 40: The Lower Tier Society of Evil Spirit Masters
The underground tunnels excavated by the Holy Spirit Cult could truly be described as extending in all directions. Chen Ming sometimes wondered whether these people had used some special technique to keep this riddled place from collapsing.
Would a single earthquake be enough to bury 90 percent of the Evil Spirit Masters inside the Holy Spirit Cult?
The path Chen Ming was taking was marked as a main road, yet along the way, he had not encountered a second Spirit Master besides the one who had tried to rob him. It was only after passing through the tunnel and arriving at a massive cavern that he finally saw signs of Spirit Masters living there.
A large section of the cavern had been hollowed out, forming a cube-like void. The surrounding rock walls had been carved into 3 levels, all connected by stone stairways. The caves where the Evil Spirit Masters lived were dug directly into the walls of each level.
The railings on the 2nd and 3rd floors looked short and crude. Even a child leaning against them might fall off. However, considering the physical capabilities of Spirit Masters, this might actually have been a shortcut deliberately left for the Evil Spirit Masters living on the upper levels, allowing them to move between floors more quickly.
A large artificial soul tool lamp hung from the high ceiling. Relying on that artificial source of light, this deep underground space barely managed to have some illumination.
Several small houses stood in what could be considered the center of the courtyard. The largest house had a crooked character for "Water" written on it. Quite a few people dressed in black robes were lined up outside with containers in hand, seemingly waiting to buy water.
Overall, the place looked somewhat like the sunken courtyards in the northwestern regions that Chen Ming had once seen in textbooks and documentaries in his previous life, except this one was even more extreme, a space dug completely underground.
Although the ceiling of the cavern had been excavated very high, it still could not change the overall dark, damp, and poorly ventilated environment.
After glancing at the Evil Spirit Masters fetching water with containers, Chen Ming took out his key and found his assigned room. It was located on the 1st floor, with its door facing the main courtyard.
When the Evil Spirit Masters waiting in line for water saw Chen Ming open the cave door with a key and go inside, they immediately became excited. One by one, they abandoned their places in line and quickly gathered in front of another room on the 1st floor.
"Cough, cough, there's way too much dust in this room."
Relying on his eyesight, Chen Ming found the switch for the soul tool lamp on the wall in the darkness. However, no matter how he flipped it or injected Spirit Power into it, the soul tool lamp embedded in the wall showed no response at all.
Chen Ming had no candles or portable light sources on him, so he could only barely inspect the room in the dark.
The room was not large and was generally square in shape. Although it was not perfectly symmetrical because of the rough carving, the total area was probably around 20 square meters.
The room was divided into 3 sections. A section in the right corner near the entrance had been partitioned off, half concealed by a curtain, clearly serving as the toilet area. Including the thickness of the walls, it took up roughly a quarter of the room.
On the left side of the entrance was a wooden bed that had already yellowed and blackened. Although Chen Ming could not see it very clearly in the dark, he could vaguely tell that the entire frame of the bed had begun to warp and become damp. It was obviously quite old.
As for the upper right corner of the room, there was a pool, apparently a dedicated area for Evil Spirit Masters to cultivate. Chen Ming leaned over for a closer look and found traces of dark brown residue that had already hardened at the bottom of the pool. It seemed that the marks left behind by the previous Evil Spirit Master who had lived here while cultivating had not been properly cleaned.
After circling the room in the dark, Chen Ming discovered that the best maintained part of the entire place was actually the toilet near the entrance. It contained a relatively newer toilet seat and a sink. However, for some reason, even though Chen Ming could clearly see the water supply pipes, not a single drop of water was available in the entire room.
No water, no electricity, not even a trace of light in the room, and there was also a strange smell. Faced with such living conditions, Chen Ming was speechless. In the end, he could only push open the door, planning to go out and buy some things to clean up his room first.
But the moment he stepped outside, Chen Ming saw a burly freak standing in front of him with a group of underlings.
Why call him a freak? Why did Chen Ming immediately feel that this person was some gang leader bringing his followers to pick a fight, rather than anything else?
Because this person was simply too bizarre.
He was over 2 meters tall and wore a tight fitting outfit that left his arms exposed. His body was as sturdy as an iron tower, and his bronze skin was covered in scars. His arms, each as thick as a normal person's thighs, were folded across his chest, making him look fierce and oppressive.
But that face, no, to be more precise, that entire head...
Sitting atop this iron-tower-like body was a head no larger than a child's. The hair around it had been shaved completely clean, while only the hair in the middle had been gathered into a topknot. Yet the face itself belonged to an old man, and specifically to an old man whose face looked as if it had been caved in by a punch.
The bridge of the nose, the cheeks, and the mouth had all sunk inward. Because of this collapse, the already small head looked even smaller. His eyes were also at different heights because of the deformation in his face, making his appearance even stranger.
Sensing Chen Ming's stunned gaze, the freak with the sunken face neither showed surprise nor anger. Instead, he puffed out his chest even more.
Outside, this kind of appearance would be considered both ugly and bizarre. But in the Holy Spirit Cult, there were so many abnormal people that an odd aesthetic had gradually formed. Those who were not strange enough would even deliberately dress themselves up to look more grotesque, either to cater to the crowd or to increase their intimidation.
In the freak's own eyes, although his appearance was strange, it carried a special deterrent force and recognizability, serving as proof of his strength and status.
"Kid, you're new here? Room Number 2 belongs to you now?"
The freak narrowed his eyes and looked Chen Ming over from head to toe. Seeing that Chen Ming looked like someone who had not suffered much hardship or taken many beatings, the freak immediately became more serious, his mind clearly turning quickly.
"Who are you?" Chen Ming asked coldly as he sized up the freak in return.
"Me?" The freak released his Martial Soul.
1 white, 2 yellow, and 1 purple Spirit Ring lit up around him. At the same time, 4 goat-like horns suddenly sprouted from his head.
Black fur spread across his body, his knees lengthened, and his feet expanded. Standing on the balls of his feet, he leaned slightly forward, and the joints of his limbs transformed into those of a goat.
"I am the boss of Building C 3, known as the Blood Soaked Demon Goat. You don't need to know my real name. Just call me Brother Demon Goat."
The freak who called himself Brother Demon Goat stuck out his tongue and licked his lips.
.....
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