Chapter 27: The Underground World, the Society of Evil Spirit Masters
During the process of cultivation, Chen Ming could feel his meridians constantly widening and becoming tougher, while the speed at which he absorbed Spirit Power also continued to increase.
During the process of devouring, his own digestion speed was increasing, and the efficiency of digestion was improving as well.
Because he never saw daylight, Chen Ming gradually developed a special biological clock that could instinctively sense the current time and roughly how long it had been since his last activity.
Although it was not especially precise, it was an unconscious instinct that had already fused completely into his body. Even when Chen Ming fell asleep, he could still continue to perceive it.
Chen Ming could even actively set an internal "alarm clock" to stimulate himself after a certain number of hours had passed.
At present, Chen Ming could go several days and nights without resting and suffer almost no real impact on his condition. He could also actively enter a deep sleep state to quickly relieve fatigue and its effects in a short time.
And in order to concentrate on reading, Chen Ming could also enter a Flow state in a very short time, that so-called completely immersed state, allowing himself to sink into a condition where he was almost unaware of the outside world and the passing of time.
Compared to a few months ago, his thinking speed, efficiency, and memory had all increased significantly.
Now, Chen Ming only needed a very short amount of time to finish reading a book, and after a few repeated readings, he could completely record it in his mind and file it away.
The special indoor environment, alternating between brightness and darkness, had also allowed Chen Ming's eyes to adapt quickly in a short time, enabling him to see clearly in both strong light and darkness.
All these changes had not been completed overnight, but had slowly manifested in Chen Ming's body bit by bit.
Because Chen Ming had spent the past several months constantly supplementing his knowledge, these enhancements had been hidden and gradual.
All of them were focused on cultivation and reading, strengthening efficiency in exactly those 2 areas.
Only when Chen Ming carefully began to summarize the changes inside his own body did he realize just how many improvements he had obtained.
Chen Ming estimated that if he were placed under high intensity and highly efficient training, then the changes in his body would become much faster and much more obvious.
The accumulation of knowledge over the past several months had also allowed Chen Ming to thoroughly understand the basic knowledge of a Spirit Master and the path he should take in his future cultivation.
Although there were still a great many unread and incompletely understood books and bodies of knowledge in the library, Chen Ming also understood that he was, after all, still a Spirit Master. Besides knowledge, combat strength was also indispensable.
He needed to prove his conjectures and his path through actual battle. At the same time, while continuously strengthening his body, he also needed to arm his mind with knowledge.
Only by possessing both strength and wisdom could one become a true powerhouse.
With Zhao Sanjin's help, Chen Ming sent a message to his teacher, Zhang Peng, who had started by visiting him occasionally but later almost stopped coming altogether, stating that he had already finished supplementing his basic knowledge and now wished to begin learning combat and how to control his own power.
Another 7 or 8 days passed in one breath, and Zhang Peng, who was out in the wilderness, finally received Chen Ming's letter. He scratched his head awkwardly.
This was because Chen Ming was too worry-free. In every assessment Zhang Peng came back for, both Chen Ming's knowledge and Spirit Power had shown stable and rapid improvement. He was growing very quickly without requiring much effort at all.
Furthermore, Zhao Sanjin had been extremely enthusiastic about teaching Chen Ming, so Zhang Peng had grown a little too complacent about this Disciple of his.
It was not until he saw Chen Ming's letter, mentioning practical combat and cultivation, that Zhang Peng finally remembered that he was still supposed to continue guiding his Disciple.
"This is my Disciple. If this keeps up, he'll end up becoming Zhao Sanjin's Disciple instead! No, as his Master, I have to shoulder at least some responsibility."
"I may not be good at theory, but surely I'm good at actual combat, right?"
"A good Disciple like this is hard to find even with a lantern. If the other Consecrated Elders found out I had either let my Disciple grow useless or let him slip away, wouldn't they laugh me to death?"
Zhang Peng put away the letter and hurried back to the Holy Spirit Cult, going straight to the library to pick up Chen Ming, who had been living there for several months, and bringing him back to his Immortal Cave.
To be honest, although the small grotto belonging to Zhang Peng within his Immortal Cave was, in theory, Chen Ming's home inside the Holy Spirit Cult, after living in the quiet room of the library for several months, Chen Ming still showed a slight sense of discomfort when returning to the grotto.
Seeing Chen Ming like this, Zhang Peng said nothing on the surface, but secretly made a note of it in his heart.
If he continued being this irresponsible, then his Disciple really would become somebody else's.
After resting for 1 night, Zhang Peng took Chen Ming away from the Immortal Cave early the next morning and brought him to the plaza.
Over the past few months, besides basic Spirit Master cultivation materials, Chen Ming had also read some books circulated internally within the Holy Spirit Cult, and had come to understand that this plaza was one of the core areas of the Holy Spirit Cult.
Travel, resource exchange, promotion, and mission acceptance for low-level Spirit Masters all revolved around this plaza.
Facilities aimed at middle and low-level Spirit Masters extended outward along the roads surrounding the plaza.
High-level Evil Spirit Masters had their own methods and places of communication, but for the vast majority of middle and low-level personnel inside the Holy Spirit Cult, this plaza was equivalent to the city center.
The stalls here required registration and payment to operate. Although transactions were not taxed, the operating cost itself was not small.
As for permanent rooms, their rent was high, and they also required a certain amount of contribution and status before one was qualified to lease them.
The last time Zhang Peng had brought him here, Chen Ming had not been able to properly observe the plaza and had only given it a cursory glance.
This time, Chen Ming truly saw what kinds of facilities the plaza contained.
"Bathhouse, restaurant, hospital, clothing store, Spirit Tool shop, luxury goods store, brothel..."
Chen Ming read the signs on the buildings and observed the passersby, who all looked somewhat strange but wore relaxed expressions, gaining a deeper understanding of Evil Spirit Master society.
Although they lived underground and most of them possessed a certain level of distortion in their minds, Evil Spirit Masters were not completely devoid of the necessities of life, nor of emotions and desires. They did not simply enjoy living in caves and wearing large black robes like rats.
The rules within the Holy Spirit Cult were strict, serving as both a suppression and a release for Evil Spirit Masters.
At least within the territory of the Holy Spirit Cult, Spirit Masters would not randomly leap out screaming threats, nor did they need to hide their identities too much when interacting with others.
Although the killing intent and danger within the Holy Spirit Cult were still far greater than in the cities and gathering places of ordinary Spirit Masters, for Evil Spirit Masters, who were like rats crossing the street in the outside world, this was a rare place where they could relax.
These buildings, which resembled a commercial district, existed precisely to give Evil Spirit Masters a life that was as close as possible to that of ordinary people.
Evil Spirit Masters who were completely insane and had entirely deviated from humanity certainly existed, but the majority of Evil Spirit Masters could not fully avoid the human parts of their personalities, nor could they avoid their dependence on daily living environments.
They might wear cold expressions outside, but that did not mean everyone lacked human emotions in private.
Those who wanted a proper bath could take one. Those who wanted a good meal could eat cooked dishes. Those who were injured could seek treatment from healing-type Spirit Masters. Those who wanted to wear good clothes could go to the clothing store.
As long as prejudice toward Martial Souls continued to exist on the continent, Evil Spirit Masters would never completely disappear.
And as long as Evil Spirit Masters still needed to hide themselves, then this kind of environment, one that allowed them to live like ordinary people, or at least close to it, would become a sanctuary in the hearts of Evil Spirit Masters.
Those Evil Spirit Masters who could truly blend into ordinary life were, in the end, only a tiny minority, and they constantly had to guard against exposure and pursuit by the so-called righteous side.
Even if they managed to blend into ordinary life, they still might not obtain genuine peace of mind.
In every sense, the Holy Spirit Cult had already formed a social system specifically tailored for the community of Evil Spirit Masters.
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