In a secluded, sparsely populated corner of Coconut Forest City—
"Heh heh heh... Beauty, you've served me well enough. Now do me one more favor and help this lord raise his cultivation a bit further!"
An eerie, malicious laugh echoed through the darkness.
The middle-aged man Su Yunlin had seen during the day now looked utterly terrifying.
His eyes glowed blood-red, blood seeped from between his teeth, and strange patches of coarse hair covered his body.
"Mm... mmm..."
Standing before the bizarre man was a woman of the streets with a deathly pale face. She had never imagined something like this would happen to her.
Crack... crack...
The sound of bones being chewed rang out.
Nearby, another middle-aged man casually gnawed on a "bone" held in his hand.
"Heh heh heh~"
The man opened his mouth wide. At that moment, his jaw stretched so unnaturally that it looked capable of swallowing an entire watermelon whole.
Boom—!
Suddenly, two figures smashed through the wall and charged inside.
The two middle-aged men were instantly shocked.
Their hideout had been discovered?
"Who's there?!"
Pfft—
In a single instant, the two evil Spirit Masters were sliced into countless pieces.
"Ahhh—!"
The woman had never witnessed such a horrifying scene before and immediately screamed in terror.
"Who is it?!"
A hoarse voice suddenly rang out.
A woman who looked to be in her thirties rushed out from inside as Spirit Rings rose around her body.
Two yellow, three purple, and one black.
She was rather beautiful, but the bloody aura surrounding her was even heavier than the previous two men. Fresh blood still dripped from the corner of her lips.
Boom—!
Before the woman could even speak, Tang Wutong made the first move.
The Clear Sky Hammer in her hand crashed directly toward the woman.
The tremendous impact blasted the woman backward. At the same time, her Martial Soul appeared—
A Vampire Bat.
A textbook evil Martial Soul that increased cultivation by feeding on blood.
Shing—
Su Yunlin released his grip and, wielding the Heavenly Evil Saint Demon Scythe, flashed forward in an instant, appearing behind the female evil Spirit Master.
Pfft—
The next moment, she too was sliced into countless pieces that scattered across the ground.
"Ugh... blegh—!"
Tang Wutong immediately threw up.
Su Yunlin turned his head and quickly walked over. Taking out a bottle of water from his storage soul tool, he handed it to her so she could rinse her mouth.
"Cough, cough... Next time, can you stop making it so bloody? My poor heart seriously can't take this kind of thing." Tang Wutong felt like she was about to cough up her gallbladder. She had finally understood what being chopped into mince really meant.
Su Yunlin scratched his cheek awkwardly.
That might be difficult.
Because whenever he saw disgusting scum like this, only one thought crossed his mind—
Chop them into mince.
Su Yunlin gently patted Tang Wutong's back, trying to help her feel better. Unfortunately, his hand only landed on her battle armor, so it did little to help.
"How dare you!"
Another voice suddenly rang out.
A figure rushed over—it was a man with a cold, sinister expression.
The moment he appeared, he immediately released his Martial Soul. It was actually a Blood Puppet Martial Soul, another textbook evil Martial Soul.
Spirit Rings rose around him.
Two yellow, three purple, and two black.
A seven-ringed Spirit Sage.
"I'll kill you all! Sixth Spirit Ability!"
Roar—!
Suddenly, an enormous maw lunged forward.
A gigantic black tiger opened its blood-soaked jaws and swallowed the evil Spirit Master Spirit Sage whole.
Crunch... crunch...
The black tiger chewed leisurely on the evil Spirit Master.
Naturally, this giant tiger was the Dark Devilgod Tiger.
It had strongly insisted that Su Yunlin let it out to "have a snack." Since these were evil Spirit Masters, they just happened to make suitable food for the big cat.
Whoosh—
A golden figure suddenly appeared beside Su Yunlin and Tang Wutong.
It was Yan Shaozhe.
Ever since Su Yunlin and Tang Wutong had left Shrek Academy, Yan Shaozhe had never openly appeared, but he had been staying nearby the entire time, secretly ensuring their safety.
The assessment itself wasn't important. The mission's difficulty wasn't particularly high either—it was mostly symbolic, meant to add another achievement to Su Yunlin's record.
After all, Su Yunlin was a man destined to become the Master of the Sea God's Pavilion.
How could he not have accomplishments worthy of earning everyone's respect?
Still, no one had expected there to be four evil Spirit Masters in Coconut Forest City. One of them hadn't even appeared in the intelligence report and had actually been a Spirit Sage.
Judging from that, they were likely part of an organized evil Spirit Master force.
"Senior Brother."
"S-Senior Brother..."
Yan Shaozhe nodded.
"It's good that you're both alright. I've already investigated it—this was indeed the evil Spirit Masters' hideout. They've been committing crimes in Coconut Forest City for quite some time, though not on a large scale."
"Recently, however, people have been disappearing one after another, which attracted the city lord's attention. He reported it to the Shrek Supervisory Group, and we were sent to investigate."
"I never expected evil Spirit Masters of this level to exist already."
"And together with the group of evil Spirit Masters that previously attacked the academy..." His expression turned grave. "It seems evil Spirit Masters truly have formed an organization."
Yan Shaozhe's face darkened.
An organized group of evil Spirit Masters was extremely dangerous.
Evil Spirit Masters were already overwhelmingly powerful in combat to begin with, and many of them possessed sinister secret arts capable of increasing Spirit Ring age and strengthening themselves through evil cultivation techniques.
The Blood Soul Spirit Sage who had just appeared and the Vampire Bat Spirit Emperor from before had both rapidly increased their cultivation by consuming blood.
As for the two Spirit Kings, they had directly eaten people to strengthen themselves.
Su Yunlin nodded.
"I really didn't expect a Spirit Sage to be hiding here either. If even Coconut Forest City is like this, then evil Spirit Masters are probably present in other cities too. They've already completely infiltrated every corner of the Douluo Continent."
Yan Shaozhe nodded solemnly.
"It seems the continent's turmoil is about to begin. Let's head back."
"Mhm."
Su Yunlin glanced at Tang Wutong, who was still feeling miserable. Without another word, he directly hoisted her onto his shoulder and flew away.
"Whew... I... I survived?"
Only then did the woman of the streets realize she was still alive.
Immediately afterward, she fled the place as fast as she could.
...
Shrek Academy, Sea God Island.
After listening to Yan Shaozhe's report, Elder Mu slowly nodded.
"So that's how it is... It seems evil Spirit Masters have not only formed an organization, but one of astonishing scale as well."
"But where exactly is their headquarters?"
"Could it be...?"
A bold thought suddenly emerged in Elder Mu's mind.
If it truly was an organized group of evil Spirit Masters, then they would naturally have a base similar to a sect.
But if they had an established base, even if they somehow avoided the Shrek Supervisory Group's investigations, there was no way they could remain hidden from the major sects and powers of the Douluo Continent.
Unless...
Their headquarters was in the Sun Moon Empire.
Back when Elder Mu had taken Su Jinming and Ma Xiaotao to the Sun Moon Empire, they had been occupied with many matters and had not paid attention to this issue.
When he had entered the Evil Forest with Ma Xiaotao back then, he had indeed sensed several powerful auras.
Could it be that they had not belonged to the Evil Eye Tyrant clan?
Or perhaps... the Evil Forest possessed more than just the Evil Eye Tyrant Lord as a supreme powerhouse?
Elder Mu could not be certain.
These were all merely his guesses.
But there was one thing he could confirm—
The evil Spirit Master organization's headquarters was most likely somewhere within the Sun Moon Empire.
Of course, there was also the possibility that it lay overseas.
At the very least, the major powers of the Douluo Continent weren't useless decorations. There was no way they would simply sit back and allow evil Spirit Masters to grow unchecked.
"Shaozhe, in the name of Shrek Academy, send notices to all major powers across the Douluo Continent. Inform the various empires, sects, and academies that an organized evil Spirit Master force has been discovered and instruct them to strengthen their vigilance."
"Yes!"
Yan Shaozhe acknowledged the order before turning to carry out Elder Mu's instructions.
Watching Yan Shaozhe leave, Elder Mu revealed a gratified smile.
"It seems the one who underwent a phoenix's rebirth wasn't just Xiaotao..."
"But you as well."
...
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