Chapter 43: Zero-Dollar Shopping and Chaotic Daily Life
On the surface, the Cult forbade lethal violence, so Chen Ming held back slightly.
Although he landed several punches on the man's face, caving in the plastic-surgery-looking features, letting toxins seep into the wounds, slamming the back of his head into the ground again and again, and even breaking several bones in his body, the overall damage was still far from fatal for a Spirit Master. At most, it counted as severe injury.
Whenever the shop owner lying on the ground showed any sign of trying to mobilize spirit power or resist by force, Chen Ming simply responded with one slap after another.
The crashing sounds and curses inside the shop quickly drew the attention of the Evil Spirit Masters outside. Many stuck their heads in to watch, and quite a few wore expressions of pure schadenfreude.
"Heh, this dog always loved bullying newcomers. Looks like he finally ran into a hard bone."
"Instead of cultivating, he just squats in the shop all day. Now he's getting pinned to the ground and beaten by some green brat. Serves him right."
"Hit his face, hit his face! Right, don't forget a kick to the crotch. That's exactly how this bastard should be beaten!"
The Evil Spirit Masters shouted one after another in shrill voices, instantly turning into bloodthirsty spectators.
No one knew who started it, but as if some strange bloodline had awakened, a dark-skinned Spirit Master who looked like a native of the Sun Moon Empire suddenly made the first move. Taking advantage of the chaos, he rushed into the shop, grabbed several items, and turned to run.
Once someone took the lead, the rest of the Evil Spirit Masters who had only been watching also moved. One after another, they copied him and began smashing and looting the shop.
Watching his spoils being stolen right in front of him, Chen Ming immediately felt annoyed.
Taking advantage of a moment when one looter wasn't paying attention, he tripped the man and threw him directly on top of the shop owner. Then, ignoring the completely maddened shop owner wrestling with the "zero-dollar shopper," Chen Ming stood up, rushed into the crowd, and started looting all kinds of sundries himself. After some pushing and shoving, he finally managed to carry his haul back to his own room.
Chen Ming's actions seemed to light a fuse. Those who hadn't managed to grab anything saw the ones who had, and their eyes instantly turned red. Taking advantage of the fact that those in front hadn't reacted yet, they threw sucker punches and directly started robbing the robbers.
As the chaos escalated, the small pavilion was completely transformed into a battlefield. Several Evil Spirit Masters began fighting for reasons no one could even tell, and even some of those who had only been standing nearby got dragged in.
At some point, someone must have truly lost their mind, because Spirit Abilities started appearing in the fight. Although no one died on the spot, the escalation immediately pushed the surrounding Evil Spirit Masters to summon their Spirits and release Spirit Abilities as well.
At that point, it was no longer about looting. The enraged Evil Spirit Masters began attacking with the intent to kill. Figures tangled together in battle, and the smell of blood rapidly filled the air. From time to time, some unlucky bastard would end up with broken limbs or lose their life outright.
Standing behind his own door, Chen Ming watched everything clearly through the crack.
Most of these people's strength hovered between Spirit Master and Spirit Grandmaster, and many of them even had white Spirit Rings.
But among them, only about 3 or 4 truly possessed Evil Martial Souls. The Spirits of the remaining 5 or 6 were at most dark or evil in attribute, or simply ugly and strange in appearance. Strictly speaking, they didn't count as true Evil Martial Souls at all.
But that was normal. Where would so many Evil Martial Souls come from?
Evil Martial Souls were powerful, sinister, and in a sense required fewer resources than ordinary Spirits. Even the lowest tier of Evil Martial Soul, something like the Evil Servant category, could still be cultivated to the Spirit Elder level as long as its owner was willing to train, even if their Innate spirit power was only Rank 1. As for those with a bit of talent and luck, it wasn't impossible for them to reach the Spirit Ancestor or Spirit King level.
Only after becoming a Spirit King did things begin requiring additional knowledge and genuine talent. Before that, an Evil Spirit Master could more or less cultivate by instinct alone.
Evil also required talent. Not everyone had the qualifications to become an Evil Spirit Master.
The inheritance of Evil Martial Souls was scarce, and a large number of Evil Spirit Masters came from mutations. In this Unrivaled Tang Sect era, where Spirit Awakening itself was no longer widespread, where in the World would so many genuine Evil Spirit Masters with true Evil Martial Souls come from?
Even if someone with an ordinary Spirit cultivated through evil means and became an Evil Spirit Master, their talent in that path would still fall short of someone born with an Evil Martial Soul.
Watching the brain-splattering chaos outside, Chen Ming quietly closed the door and gave up on the idea of going out for more water. He used his last bucket of water to clear out a relatively clean area for himself first.
When he finished, Chen Ming sat down on the floor, pulled out a piece of unfinished Spirit Beast meat from his spirit tool, and began eating in large mouthfuls.
"Sigh, life really is hard for low-level Spirit Masters in the Holy Spirit Cult," Chen Ming sighed as he felt the power in the flesh dissolve inside his stomach.
In truth, Chen Ming actually had more than 50 gold coins on him.
These gold coins had not been given by Zhang Peng. They came from Bao Ting, the two unlucky bastards who died together in the arena, and the Evil Spirit Master Chen Ming had mugged on the road.
Chen Ming wasn't short on money. After all, 50 gold coins was several months' worth of income for a low-level Spirit Master in the Holy Spirit Cult. It was already a huge sum.
But Chen Ming also was short on money.
If word got out that he had this much money, then with his current strength, he would instantly become prey. That meant he could only use a small amount of money on hand, just enough to match the level of strength he currently appeared to have, to maintain his daily life.
Feeling an indescribable irritation and discomfort, Chen Ming sat cross-legged on the floor and began to cultivate. However, the moment he started, he immediately felt that everything here was unsuitable.
Not to mention comparing this place to Zhang Peng's specially prepared cultivation room, even the cultivation rooms in the library were much better than this. The stone walls and door couldn't completely block out the noise and clamor from outside, and the Origin Qi in the air was both thin and turbid.
Cultivating here was truly a case of putting in twice the effort for half the result. Often, one needed to spend 3 or 4 times more time and energy here just to equal the effect of a short period of ordinary cultivation elsewhere.
After cultivating for a while, Chen Ming, still unaccustomed to such an environment, had no choice but to open his eyes. He then took out the books he had copied by hand in the library from his spirit tool and began reading them, continuing to absorb the knowledge within.
A few more hours passed like this before someone rudely pounded on Chen Ming's door from the outside. A coarse voice rang out immediately after.
"Time to work! Newbie, quit sleeping and get your ass up!"
The man outside seemed afraid Chen Ming hadn't heard him and kicked the door several more times. The violent banging only made Chen Ming more irritable.
Even so, Chen Ming still walked to the wall, adjusted his expression as if he were looking in a mirror, and only then opened the door.
But before he could say anything, the burly man outside had already turned away and gone to pound on the next door.
Chen Ming turned his head and looked around, only to find that the pavilion smashed up yesterday had already been completely cleaned away. Only a few potholes and bloodstains on the ground still proved that yesterday's chaos had really happened.
Everyone acted as though nothing had occurred. Those who needed water fetched water, those who needed to leave left. No one paid much attention to yesterday's deadly brawl.
After a while, Chen Ming finally gathered in the courtyard with the rest of his "coworkers."
Under the burly man's lead, Chen Ming and the others followed him down a passage. After an unknown amount of time, the group finally arrived at a massive underground mine.
.....
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