Chapter 15: The Bottom Line of Humanity, Zhang Peng Intervenes
The atmosphere in the air was stiff.
After an unknown number of minutes, Hate Douluo returned to the cultivation room with brisk steps, carrying a huge jar in his hand.
Seeing Lu Genggeng eating by himself, Hate Douluo paused for a moment, then walked to Chen Ming's side and began examining him.
"Xiao Ming, why are you only watching and not eating?"
Hate Douluo's voice was gentle, yet it carried a malicious edge that felt like a needle pricking the skin. Within his slit-like eyes, a faint red light flickered.
He stared at Chen Ming for a full half minute, making Chen Ming feel as though his heart had stopped beating, before slowly withdrawing his gaze and turning to look at Lu Genggeng.
"You child, you do not even know how to let your junior brother have some. You really never let people rest easy."
"Come, Xiao Ming, this is the welcome gift I prepared for you."
Hate Douluo smiled and patted the jar, instantly shattering the lid. Then he reached inside with one large hand, pulled out a pink object from the slime-filled jar, and handed it toward Chen Ming.
It was a human infant that had not yet fully developed.
Although Chen Ming had no idea what method had been used, this embryo, whose gender had not even fully formed yet, was still eerily alive and even gave off a medicinal fragrance.
Chen Ming's heart stopped for an instant, and he immediately understood Hate Douluo's meaning.
"Teacher, I do not have an appetite for this."
"It is fine. You have only just awakened your Martial Soul, so you simply do not yet know what is good and what is bad."
Hate Douluo smiled, looking as though he were full of patience.
Men always liked 2 things. One was dragging virtuous women into the mud, and the other was persuading prostitutes to become virtuous.
The more conflicted and resistant Chen Ming appeared, the more Hate Douluo inwardly looked forward to seeing him completely intoxicated by the pleasure of his Martial Soul.
For an old pervert like him, whose cultivation had already reached the limit of his natural talent, this kind of psychological satisfaction was even more intoxicating than any tangible gain.
Chen Ming's rejection did not make Hate Douluo angry. On the contrary, it only made him look even more kind and patient, as though he were an old man coaxing a child into taking medicine.
"This was extracted from the belly of a female Spirit Douluo who possessed a top-tier Martial Soul. It was nurtured through one of the Holy Spirit Cult's secret techniques. Every infant contains powerful bloodline power and energy, which is extremely beneficial to us Evil Spirit Masters."
"The best medicinal pill on the market is the Xuan Shui Pill of the Xuanming Sect. Consuming it can wash away impurities from the body and strengthen the meridians, almost enough to raise one's Innate Spirit Power by 1 rank. But the treasure I carefully prepared is far superior to the Xuan Shui Pill."
"Even if you are a Spirit Master with Innate Full Spirit Power, consuming this can increase your cultivation speed by at least 10 percent, further broaden your meridians, and raise your Spirit Power by 2 or 3 levels."
"A supreme treasure like this is priceless in the outside world. Even if the other Elders begged me for it, I would never give it to them."
"Come, my good Disciple. Come and eat this treasure."
Hate Douluo stepped forward, but Chen Ming retreated several steps in terror. At that moment, Chen Ming truly understood for the first time why the people of this era were so disgusted by, and so terrified of, Evil Spirit Masters and everything connected to them.
Perhaps a large part of that fear came from ignorance, but the inherent malice of Evil Spirit Masters and the things they did beyond the bottom line of humanity were undoubtedly important reasons that such an environment had formed.
"Everything in this world is nothing more than eating and being eaten. Humans eat livestock, fierce beasts eat humans, Spirit Beasts eat fierce beasts, and humans eat Spirit Beasts while also being eaten by Spirit Beasts. Only an existence standing at the top of the food chain, one that eats everything, can be called truly strong."
"Spirit Masters feed on all things, and we feed on Spirit Masters. That is precisely our superiority."
"Come, feel the instinct of your Martial Soul. Come..."
Hate Douluo advanced step by step, almost pressing the embryonic infant in his hand against Chen Ming's face.
Chen Ming's Martial Soul was incomparably restless, but his heart was incomparably calm and cold at this moment.
He lowered his head and roared.
"No, absolutely not! I will absolutely not eat it!"
"Oh my."
Hearing Chen Ming's nearly hysterical roar, Hate Douluo's expression darkened for an instant before he reluctantly restored that benevolent mask.
"Child, you are still not hungry enough. How about this, I will starve you for a while, and then I will ask you again..."
Hate Douluo's words were filled with malice.
In his eyes, this was only Chen Ming's small struggle, a temporary resistance produced by the excitement of his consciousness while he was still well fed.
But what about hunger?
Under hunger, even ordinary people without a Martial Soul would be ruled by instinct. The desire to survive and bestial instinct would suppress human nature. As for those who already possessed an Evil Martial Soul, they would be completely swallowed by the instinct of that Martial Soul.
Hate Douluo stuffed the embryo in his hand into Lu Genggeng's mouth, then strode toward Chen Ming, intending to lock him in some corner and starve him for a few days until Chen Ming's instincts were stimulated.
Chen Ming retreated again and again, even summoning his Martial Soul in an attempt to escape.
But in front of Hate Douluo, a Titled Douluo, all of Chen Ming's actions only added a bit of special seasoning to the matter.
Just as Hate Douluo grinned and was about to place his hand on Chen Ming's shoulder, a black shadow flashed over. It directly wrapped around Chen Ming and pulled him out of Hate Douluo's range. Then that black shadow appeared directly between the 2 of them.
"6th Consecrated Elder, what is the meaning of this?"
Seeing Zhang Peng appear through the use of his beast spirit, the fake benevolence on Hate Douluo's face was completely torn apart, replaced by malice as though he might devour someone at any moment.
"The Disciple you personally recommended to me, and now you want to take him back?"
Zhang Peng was silent for a moment before slowly raising his head, his eyes glowing red as he looked at Hate Douluo.
"I handed my Disciple to you so that the Holy Spirit Cult could continue growing stronger, not so you could use him as a toy."
"Since he is my Disciple, then how I cultivate him is naturally my decision!"
Hate Douluo was completely unafraid.
"Naturally?" Zhang Peng narrowed his eyes and recalled everything he had experienced when he first joined the Holy Spirit Cult.
Although Zhang Peng devoured the blood of Spirit Beasts and enslaved their Spirits, he still considered himself a good person, even if he had already become somewhat evil, because he had never cultivated by consuming humans.
It was simply that the world had been too dark, forcing him onto the path of joining the Holy Spirit Cult.
Back when he first entered the Cult, countless people had told him the same things, finding grand and righteous reasons for human consumption. But Zhang Peng had stubbornly held onto his final bottom line, refusing to completely lose his humanity.
That persistence, that willpower, was also one of the reasons he had been able to break through to Rank 96 and become a Super Douluo.
From beginning to end, Zhang Peng firmly believed that a human Spirit Master controlled their Martial Soul, rather than being controlled by it.
Even an evil Martial Soul was only a special tool. In the end, it was the Spirit Master who must control the tool, not the tool controlling the person.
Sensing Chen Ming trembling behind him, Zhang Peng seemed to make some kind of decision.
He took a deep breath, stepped forward, and 9 standard Spirit Rings, yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black, appeared around him. Behind his body, the phantom of a fierce tiger with a scorpion tail appeared.
"Fine. Since you say it is natural, then let us settle it according to the rules of Spirit Masters. The victor is Heaven, and the victor's will is what is truly natural. 6th Elder, do you agree?"
A fierce light shone in Zhang Peng's eyes as the aura of a Rank 96 Super Douluo crashed down upon Hate Douluo.
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