Although Zhongli Wu did not say it outright, the others more or less knew that the relationship between Nightmare Douluo and Lin Xiao was not as simple as it appeared on the surface, and they vaguely understood why Lin Xiao had become the Eighth Elder.
Only Abomination Douluo truly believed from beginning to end that Nightmare Douluo had died at the hands of Shrek Academy, and that Lin Xiao had become the new Eighth Elder only because he was Nightmare Douluo's disciple.
If he didn't possess the cultivation of a Titled Douluo, with Abomination Douluo's personality, he would probably have long been devoured in the Holy Spirit Cult without even bones remaining.
"I remember the current Old Eighth is at Illustrious Virtue Hall, right?" While Lin Xiao was deep in thought, Nangong Wan, who had been talking nearby, suddenly looked at him. "Are you interested in participating in the Mingdu Soul Engineer Tournament?"
"But according to the rules you just mentioned, participants cannot be older than twenty…" The Third Elder also glanced at Lin Xiao and spoke up for him before he could answer.
"That's easy to fix. I haven't finalized the last details with the Common Alliance yet. As long as I propose relaxing the age restriction, to get us to agree, they probably won't refuse."
Nangong Wan kept looking at Lin Xiao. "It just depends on whether Old Eighth wants to do this with us. If it succeeds, when the time comes, you naturally won't miss out on the rewards from the Soul Engineer Tournament."
Lin Xiao was indeed a little tempted. The prizes of the Soul Engineer Tournament were quite good, and in the end, there were even ninth-grade soul tools. At his level as a soul engineer, there weren't many people who could surpass him.
While thinking, he glanced at the reactions of the others. Several Elders didn't show much reaction; it seemed this kind of thing was quite common among Elders.
Zhongli Wu also nodded toward him. "I won't ask much about this matter. As long as it can stabilize the underground market share, you can handle the rest yourselves."
Only then did Lin Xiao nod.
Seeing Lin Xiao agree, Nangong Wan instead hesitated. He stared at Lin Xiao for a moment before slowly speaking. "Since Old Eighth has agreed, then I'm going to take a big bite out of the Common Alliance."
"How about this: Old Eighth, don't participate for now. I'll first negotiate properly with the Common Alliance. After the Soul Engineer Tournament has been held for a few sessions, Old Eighth can enter the competition…"
Nangong Wan and the Third Elder exchanged a smile. "At that time, we'll raise the stakes. Even if we can't completely swallow the Common Alliance, we'll at least make Shangguan Wei'er completely lose the qualifications to contend with us."
"Then this matter is settled." Zhongli Wu lightly tapped the table. "You can discuss the remaining details later."
"When the great war begins, I will enter the army as the State Preceptor of the Sun Moon Empire. At that time, I will find a way to let the disciples of the cult enter the army. As long as it's not too excessive, I won't interfere with anything else."
"Finally, Old Eighth, come with me. Some disciples of the cult are scattered across various branch altars. You pick your people first; afterward, I'll arrange the matters of the other branch altars."
As Zhongli Wu spoke, he stood up. Seeing this, Lin Xiao followed. The Masquerade Douluo's eyes spun, and for some unknown reason, he also followed behind Lin Xiao and walked out of the conference hall together.
When passing by Nangong Wan, he looked up at Lin Xiao. "We'll talk in detail after returning to Mingdu."
Lin Xiao nodded and stepped out.
"Previously, when we were at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, time was limited, so I didn't tell you many details." Zhongli Wu walked ahead and suddenly handed over a list. "Aside from the few Worshippers and disciples with extremely special statuses, the rest can be inquired about by any Elder…"
Lin Xiao received the list with both hands and listened to what Zhongli Wu said next, roughly things that the Elders of the cult should know.
The Holy Spirit Cult was a gathering place for evil soul masters. Naturally, it was impossible to expect these evil soul masters to obey rules like ordinary soul masters, so the management of the Elders was very loose.
Except for managing the affairs of the Holy Spirit Cult, at other times the cult would not interfere, and they did not even force Elders to hand over the resources in their hands.
Lin Xiao could roughly understand why, when Nightmare Douluo had just entered Mingdu, he had wanted to divide Mingdu's underground market with the Common Alliance single-handedly.
If he had really succeeded, probably half of Mingdu's underground businesses would have been controlled by him alone. Unfortunately, the Common Alliance was not easy to deal with, so Nightmare Douluo had no choice but to invite other Elders to participate together.
"How is it?"
Lin Xiao followed Zhongli Wu all the way to the underground hall. After seeing Zhongli Wu sit in the Cult Leader's seat, he flipped open the list in his hand. On the first page, the three names Zhongli Tian, Zhongli Di, and Zhongli Ren immediately jumped into view.
The cultivation of these three was quite good even among those below Titled Douluo, and just from their names, one could tell they were closely related to Zhongli Wu.
Following that were the approximate cultivations of the various disciples in the cult, most of whom were around level 70 or so.
For evil soul masters who could use all sorts of methods to raise their cultivation, piling it up to level 70 was not difficult, but only those disciples who could go further after that were worth Zhongli Wu taking an extra look at.
There were also some names Lin Xiao was not unfamiliar with. When he heard Zhongli Wu's words, he was about to respond, but suddenly stopped and looked toward the passage leading outside the headquarters.
At the instant Lin Xiao raised his head, a red dress appeared at the end of the passage.
Ma Xiaotao frowned. Her dark red long hair gently floated up. She turned her head to look at Zhongli Wu, and there was not the slightest respect for him as the Cult Leader in her eyes.
However, Zhongli Wu was not angry. Instead, he nodded at her very amicably.
Only then did Ma Xiaotao withdraw her gaze. She suddenly looked behind Zhongli Wu. The Masquerade Douluo, who was hiding outside the hall, trembled and hurriedly trotted a few steps to stand behind Zhongli Wu, avoiding Ma Xiaotao's line of sight.
Lin Xiao glanced at Masquerade Douluo, then turned to look at Ma Xiaotao. It seemed that in the year he was away, other things had happened in the cult.
Zhongli Wu and Lin Xiao naturally sensed the Masquerade Douluo who had followed them, but since Zhongli Wu still maintained his Elder status, the two of them did not avoid him.
On the contrary, Ma Xiaotao's gaze toward Masquerade Douluo was extremely unfriendly, and Masquerade Douluo also seemed to have some fear of Ma Xiaotao.
"Hmph."
Ma Xiaotao gave a cold snort, flicked her long skirt, and walked toward the interior of the headquarters. Behind her followed a figure hidden under a cloak.
Lin Xiao's eyes narrowed slightly; he recognized the person under the cloak. Although the face was also concealed, just from those purple eyes, he recognized that it was Tang Ya, whom he had brought back to the Holy Spirit Cult more than a year ago.
In just over a year, her cultivation had already surpassed five rings. When it came to helping disciples like her raise their cultivation, the Holy Spirit Cult couldn't be more familiar with it.
After watching the backs of Ma Xiaotao and Tang Ya disappear, Lin Xiao glanced again at Masquerade Douluo, guessing what had happened between them.
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