It would have been so simple if Constantine just agreed, but he had to delay, struggling madly and stubbornly refusing to give up. It's really enough.
Actually, Su Ming had another card to play: threatening Zha Kang that they would go find Zatanna. Once this was said, Constantine would rather let God hate him than expose Zatanna to the risk of offending God.
Zatanna is Constantine's greatest weakness right now and never fails to work.
But once you play such a card, it's hard to use the same leverage next time. Yes, if there's another trouble that easily attracts thunder, Su Ming's first choice is still Constantine.
"Remove your spider web. We need to set up a magic array outside," said Constantine, looking inside his coat to ensure he had all his gear.
The black net formed by strangulation withdrew into Su Ming's body, and he once again turned into the guise of Zorro: "Let's go. If you try any tricks, I bet Diana would love to tell Zatanna about the crap you pulled today."
".....Doesn't your conscience hurt, telling lies like that?" Constantine looked at Su Ming with disappointment.
"No, as long as Zatanna believes it, I'll just be pleased. I love witnessing this kind of drama," Su Ming smiled, poking Constantine in the back with a Godslayer weapon to urge him to move faster.
Constantine's mouth opened and closed like a fish's, but in the end, it turned into a sigh as he trudged toward the door.
"You really are a devil, haven't you ever thought of taking some territory in the Hell Plane?"
"If one day I do become the Hell Demon King, I'll make you my flute-blowing boy under my command...."
Su Ming fired back immediately, knowing Zha Kang was always laying traps. If Su Ming became the Hell Demon King and bound a sub-plane, appearing in the main world would be the same as being summoned, unable to exert even one percent of his power.
Constantine didn't quite understand what Deathstroke meant by "flute-blowing boy," but he instinctively felt it wasn't something good, realizing his intentions had been seen through again.
However, he was thick-skinned. Despite his trap being revealed, he wasn't embarrassed and continued leading the group to the entrance of the Mysterious House.
Then, he began drawing various arrays on the ground outside, one after another, plowing the special gray surface of the Spirit Thin Prison into small grooves. Su Ming recognized that Zha Kang had somehow stacked all the demonic summoning arrays together.
"I'm preparing to summon the Seven Deadly Sins to lock on to the Magic Box's location through their special link with Pandora's Box. You're actually looking for the box, not Pandora, right?"
Zha Kang asked Su Ming while sketching on the ground in reverse.
"If Pandora 'accidentally' loses the Magic Box and I happen to find it, that would be even better."
"Your shameless demeanor is as charming as mine."
"Stop with the nonsense, speed it up. I'm telling you, if Batman dies this time, it's because you're as slow as a tortoise. Among the warlocks I've met, your magic array setup is the slowest."
"Ha? What does it matter to me if he lives or dies? Besides, this array is my unique creation; nobody else knows how to make it." Zha Kang said with spite, but his hands moved a bit faster: "I still need some casting materials not found in the Spirit Thin Prison, go get them."
"What do you need?"
"Seven black goats, one piece of high-purity ruby, 13 large white candles from the Vatican, and 300 liters of human blood. I have the other materials here."
Su Ming nodded; casting spells requires materials, no doubt: "Green Arrow, you're up. The goats need to be from Israel; it's daytime there now, so just buy them. You should have rubies at home, they don't need to be high-quality since they're consumables. Candles can also be bought, and for human blood, purchase from the national blood bank."
Oliver reached for his necklace and vanished from their sight.
Having money really lets you move at will; Green Arrow gathered all these materials in just a few minutes, despite once being someone who couldn't do anything smoothly. With the weight of sin upon him now, bad luck seemed far from him.
Constantine arranged these materials and added some of his own, such as toenails, human fat, and animal excrement, into the array outside the Mysterious House, creating a stench beyond mortal tolerance.
These materials, merging and reacting, caused a stench unfathomable to human senses.
Zha Kang straightened up, clapped his hands, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve: "Get ready, the Spirit Thin Prison isn't restrained by Earth's limits. You're facing a full-strength Demon King, and even though I'll summon them in seven phases, you must not underestimate them."
Su Ming drew his weapon while Diana raised her shield.
Seeing everyone ready, Constantine lit all the candles and began chanting a lengthy incantation.
As the chant quickened, a connection seemed to form in the array, and a red-skinned demon with a face that resembled the Three Palaces appeared before them.
Despite its resemblance, this demon was much smaller, standing over just three meters tall.
"This is Wrath, let me handle this."
Su Ming indicated that Diana should not interfere; this demon was the embodiment of Anger, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, which causes one to become hot-headed and unable to calmly fight. Diana, being too passionate about combat, was not suitable for such an opponent.
Constantine had already distanced himself, as he wouldn't partake in combat due to still healing from his injuries.
"It's you again, bastard! Constantine! I will rip your guts out!"
When Anger made an appearance, others hadn't yet noticed, but Constantine, who was furthest away, immediately became the target of its fury.
No doubt, Zha Kang must have provoked this one at some point, and Su Ming began to suspect that Zha Kang intended to use him to eliminate enemies.
But Demons couldn't be killed here either; as Primordial Demons born from the desires of living beings, the seven of them weren't just ordinary little demons.
Desire isn't exclusive to humans; these desires are inseparable from the Red of All Beings, unless one decides to eradicate even single-celled organisms in the Cosmos.
Enough said, even when Zorro was being ignored, his rapier was still a weapon not to be underestimated.
With a sprint, Su Ming directly blocked the red demon rushing towards Zha Kang. That foul-smelling giant mouth loomed overhead, while his head only reached the demon's chest.
He hadn't intended to look too closely, but his strong observational skills forced him to see things better left unseen, like the rage reflected by the demon's chest with its red lacquered appearance and a large patch of flame-shaped black heart hair.
What era is this? Even if his size makes wearing high-class suits like Lucifer impractical, at the very least he should throw on a cloth robe. Are we still in the primitive society with just a piece of beast hide around the waist?
Thus, as Zorro's silhouette danced elegantly, he inscribed a perfect Z on Rage's chest with the rapier.
For a demon of such size, this scratch was about as significant as a papercut on a human's finger and was negligible.
But perhaps ruining his carefully groomed chest hair, or maybe he had some issues with emotional management, Rage flared up once more.
"You damned black bug! I'm going to suck out your marrow!"
Well, Su Ming had never seen a target so easily provoked. He hadn't even had the chance for trash talk, which left a professional warrior feeling unsatisfied.
Yet it was just as well; when Rage's fist swung in, Su Ming calmly met it with his own punch.
The clash between a red fist larger than a basketball and an ordinary human's black fist echoed with bone-cracking noise and wind pressure.
A shockwave centered on the two collided parties rippled out, causing the surrounding people and buildings to jump as though an earthquake had occurred.
Such large demons were typically strength-oriented; there were many ways to probe their strength level, but Su Ming decided to present a tougher front to intimidate both the demon and Zha Kang, sparing future unnecessary complications.
Strangulation firmly anchored the Host, with tentacles emerging from the ground like tree roots. Su Ming's face bore a smile after the punch, while Rage let out a wail.
"Surprise."
Su Ming shook his fist. Except for some torn skin on his fist, his X Metal was sufficient to break the opponent's arm bone, whereas Rage only sustained a fracture, a surprise to both parties.
Perhaps the pain sobered the demon slightly; he stepped back two paces and looked seriously for the first time at the human he hadn't noticed before.
"Human warrior, your name?" Rage asked in halting Old English.
"I am Zorro, and I hold true to my name," Su Ming replied fluently in Chinese.
Everyone saw a look of confusion flash across the demon's large red face as if he didn't understand what Deathstroke had said and could only subconsciously shake his arm.
Diana had somewhat gotten used to Deathstroke identifying as Zorro, though she still didn't know why Deathstroke created another persona. But since he did, she decided to just watch and see.
The Seven Deadly Sins, as Primordial Demons, weren't lacking in intelligence, but their faults were glaringly obvious, too easily exploited.
For example, when Rage goes mad, all reason is gone; and Taotie, once there's food, can even ignore his murderers closing in.
Rage's chest heaved like a bellows, but it was clear he had developed a slight wariness of Su Ming; from their encounter, he sensed something terrifying within this human's body.
No deductions or judgments were needed; only beastly instinct was required.
"You are strong."
"Indeed, but your attitude isn't friendly. We simply needed your help and weren't intending a mass slaughter."
Rage pointed at Zha Kang, who was watching the excitement from behind: "Then you should ask him. He invoked me with magic, but with a black goat sacrifice? That's something only Satan would fancy!"
Su Ming shrugged: "I know, but it's the new era. Human sacrifices are out of fashion. Times have changed, Rage."
"Exactly, consider yourself lucky to at least have some human blood." Constantine chimed in from tiptoes: "What gives a third-rate demon like you the right to expect the same treatment as the King of Hell?"
As expected, these words enraged Rage yet again, and Su Ming decisively stepped aside, making room for the demon to chase after Constantine.
Zha Kang truly remained a scumbag, good only at inciting both ends until he tasted what spiraled out of control is like...