Chapter 21: Holy Spirit Library, Encyclopedia of Evil Spirit Masters
With the expression of someone who had just learned something new, Chen Ming followed Zhang Peng out of his Immortal Cave.
This time, Zhang Peng did not directly use Spirit Power to control a beast spirit and carry the 2 of them forward, nor did he rush ahead with Chen Ming at high speed. Instead, he led Chen Ming step by step, teaching him how to navigate the underground labyrinth of the Holy Spirit Cult.
For Chen Ming, who had grown up on the surface, the caves and grottoes all looked almost identical, making them difficult to distinguish.
But for those who had lived underground for a long time, every different path had its own characteristics and traces.
Under Zhang Peng's guidance, Chen Ming came to understand the 1st law of navigating the maze within the Holy Spirit Cult:
"A place with light is not necessarily safe, but a place without light is definitely unsafe. Unfamiliar paths often lead to death. Every path is abandoned for a reason. Never gamble on whether a tunnel was abandoned because of age or because of some other reason."
To prove this point, Zhang Peng deliberately took Chen Ming to see the state of an abandoned passage.
By the light in Zhang Peng's hand, Chen Ming saw strange figures writhing inside the grotto. They were a group of bizarre creatures that could not quite be called maggots, yet could not really be called worms either.
The patterns on those worms resembled human faces, and every twist of their bodies made those patterns reveal expressions full of pain and distortion. The longer one stared at them, the more vivid those expressions seemed to become, and faint wails of suffering and distortion began echoing in one's ears.
As creatures living in the lair of Evil Spirit Masters, no one could say with certainty whether this group of monsters were Spirit Beasts that had mutated under the influence of Evil Spirit Masters, or whether they had been obscene creations manufactured by some Evil Spirit Master from the very beginning.
But one thing was certain, these twisted creatures not only possessed a strong appetite for living flesh, but also instinctively pried into Spirits. If Chen Ming entered this environment alone, then within minutes both his body and Spirit would be devoured clean.
If not for the fact that Chen Ming had already seen even more disgusting things in Hate Douluo's place, which had greatly strengthened his willpower, he might have vomited on the spot the moment he saw these things.
After walking for a very long time, Zhang Peng finally led Chen Ming to the plaza he had seen before. After following the path across the plaza for a while longer, they arrived at this so called library.
The entire Holy Spirit Cult was built from underground rock and mountain hollows. Most places had no real architecture to speak of, being nothing more than large and small grottoes.
But this library, specially established by the Holy Spirit Cult for low and mid level Evil Spirit Masters, was a standalone building.
A huge cavity had been hollowed out from the mountain rock, and in the center stood a building constructed from a mixture of metal, stone, and wood. Its overall structure resembled a pyramid, with 5 floors rising one above another.
The whole thing was airtight. It was unclear whether this was to block something out, or because the builder had felt that adding windows in such a miserable underground environment was simply unnecessary. Only at the main entrance was there a large door through which light shone out.
The exterior showed no sign of decoration, nor did it possess any style typically associated with Evil Spirit Masters. Overall, it gave off a gloomy, oppressive, and solemn feeling.
When Zhang Peng had first joined the Holy Spirit Cult, he had already been a well-known expert. Naturally, he had never spent much time in places intended for low and mid level Evil Spirit Masters. But to Zhang Peng, a place like this was not remotely important enough to make him feel any tension.
Pushing open the main door, Zhang Peng led Chen Ming directly into the 1st floor.
Connected to the main entrance was a device resembling a security scanner. This Spirit Tool, designed who knew how many years ago, carried a thick, heavy metallic texture. Several bulbs at the top glowed dimly, and a device similar to a surveillance camera stared fixedly at the doorway, monitoring every movement there at all times.
The moment it sensed Zhang Peng's presence, the person in charge of guarding the area immediately activated a mechanism from inside. A door opened in the seamless metal wall, and an old man who looked rather kind hurried out.
"Greetings, 6th Consecrated Elder."
The old man, whose appearance looked more like that of a scholar than a Spirit Master, especially not an Evil Spirit Master, respectfully bowed to Zhang Peng, then looked over Chen Ming standing beside him.
"Are you... Old Zhao, the one whose Martial Soul is the Book of Curses?"
Seeing the old man's style, which stood out in the Holy Spirit Cult like a crane among chickens, Zhang Peng immediately recalled who he was.
Although Zhang Peng had not known that the man was currently in charge of the library, speaking strictly, he remembered that this person belonged to the faction of the Consecrated Elders. To some extent, that meant he was one of their own.
"Yes, 6th Consecrated Elder, I am Zhao Sanjin, the Zhao Sanjin whose Martial Soul is the Book of Curses. You even met me when I first joined the Holy Spirit Cult more than 10 years ago. I am currently the curator and librarian of this library. May I ask what business brings the 6th Consecrated Elder here?"
Because the internal structure of the Holy Spirit Cult was so chaotic, there were generally only 3 permanent levels of status.
The Cult Leader and Vice Cult Leader formed 1 level.
The Consecrated Elders and Elders formed another.
And below them came the Holy Spirit Disciples.
Grand Elder, Saint, and Holy Maiden were all considered special identities.
Within the Holy Spirit Cult, Consecrated Elders and Elders were positions that required Titled Douluo cultivation. Because of this, even a level 89 Spirit Douluo still held the status of a Holy Spirit Disciple within the cult.
In theory, a level 89 Spirit Douluo and a level 1 Spirit Scholar at Headquarters shared the same official rank, but obviously that was impossible in reality. People at that level would often take on part time duties in certain departments, and their titles would change according to the department. The prefix could not change, but the suffix could, and that was how their status was distinguished from that of ordinary Holy Spirit Disciples.
No matter what, however, the titles Elder and Consecrated Elder could only be used by Titled Douluos. A Spirit Douluo could be, at most, some kind of "person in charge."
"Since you're here, then I can relax."
Zhang Peng nodded and pushed Chen Ming slightly forward.
"This is my newly accepted named Disciple, Chen Ming. He is around 7 years old, has the Abomination Martial Soul, and is a level 15 Spirit Master. Since this child comes from a commoner background and only awakened his Martial Soul during a great disaster, he is extremely lacking in all kinds of basic knowledge. I brought him here to supplement that knowledge."
"Greetings, Senior Zhao."
Chen Ming greeted Zhao Sanjin seriously.
"Abomination... this..."
Zhao Sanjin's expression became a little strange. The fact that 6th Elder Hate Douluo possessed the Abomination Martial Soul was public knowledge within the Holy Spirit Cult. Seeing Zhang Peng bring over a child with the Abomination Martial Soul as a Disciple, Zhao Sanjin was naturally somewhat surprised.
"This child is similar to you. He was forcibly labeled as an Evil Spirit Master, but his nature is not bad. I went to look for Hate Douluo, but the child couldn't accept that..."
"Oh, oh, oh, 6th Consecrated Elder, I understand."
Zhao Sanjin nodded repeatedly, and a trace of pity appeared in the way he looked at Chen Ming.
"Child, you've lived a hard life too."
The Abomination Martial Soul was a type of undead Martial Soul. The conditions required for such a Martial Soul to awaken were either that the person had always been weak and sickly, causing the Martial Soul to mutate at the moment of awakening, or else that the person had died once under extremely special circumstances and then returned to life.
Clearly, Chen Ming belonged to the 2nd category. He had walked along the boundary between life and death, failed to die, and as a result awakened such a Martial Soul.
"This is Zhao Sanjin. You can just call him Old Zhao. He is different from 99 percent of the people in this cult. He is neither an Evil Spirit Master nor a semi Evil Spirit Master, because he has never cultivated through special methods."
"It is simply that his Martial Soul, the Book of Curses, is a special mutated Martial Soul that uses curses as its means of attack and control. Because curse attributes are too rare and their manifestations are too eerie, he was denounced by the outside world as an Evil Spirit Master and thus joined the Holy Spirit Cult."
At this point, Zhang Peng paused. He truly could not remember whether Zhao Sanjin had any additional titles or specialties beyond this.
Zhao Sanjin was an extremely low profile and reclusive person. Ever since joining the Holy Spirit Cult, he had remained in a semi invisible state. If not for the fact that his own strength was not weak, his Martial Soul attribute was highly unusual, and he was a pure Spirit Master, Zhang Peng might not even have remembered that this person existed within the cult.
Seeing Zhang Peng unable to continue, Zhao Sanjin hurriedly spoke up himself.
"I prefer researching the history of the Holy Spirit Cult and its various technologies. Although I do not understand any profound secret arts or ancient historical secrets, I have already memorized most of the knowledge in this library. If there is ever a need, the 6th Consecrated Elder may come to me at any time."
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