“Evil Wolf! Shadow Claw!”
In the courtyard, Wu Ming, dressed in white, had just finished dealing with a crowd of people and was now testing the Evil Wolf.
Swoosh!
The Evil Wolf roared, a layer of black aura emerging from its body, and a slightly ethereal wolf claw appeared.
Bang!
On the training ground, three claw marks suddenly appeared and kept spreading on the back of a large humanoid target.
Clatter! Clatter!
A large amount of stones and dirt splattered from the humanoid target, which then collapsed with a loud boom.
“Good… it caught the opponent off guard and also has a corrosive effect…”
Wu Ming nodded in satisfaction. “This dirt puppet was created using the ability of rock sprites, and its defense is comparable to an ordinary soldier-grade illusion beast…”
He then turned his gaze to the Soul-Devouring Flame.
Undoubtedly, this was an ability related to souls and was the Evil Wolf’s ultimate trump card!
“It should be able to ignore a certain amount of defense and directly burn the soul. Unfortunately, there isn’t a suitable target to practice on!”
Wu Ming patted the Evil Wolf’s head.
After racial evolution and promotion to the soldier grade, its appearance had changed greatly compared to the gray wolf.
Its slender and elegant physique exuded an indescribable charm.
“It’s said that the Evil Wolf can even use this charm for hunting. Now it seems quite possible…”
He mused that after reaching the soldier grade, he had broken free from most of the previous restrictions, and the future held infinite possibilities!
Precisely because of this, careful planning and choices were even more necessary.
“First… the path of an Illusion Beast Tamer… I will definitely specialize in one field, so upon reaching the soldier grade, I can only add one more summoning slot. There’s no need to rush into choosing an illusion beast. After all, the elite Evil Wolf is basically sufficient. If the first choice is a failure, I can’t afford to make the same mistake again…”
Cultivating illusion beasts and enhancing their race was extremely time and energy-consuming.
Others only saw how lucky he was to elevate a gray wolf to an Evil Wolf, but who could understand the effort and sacrifices involved?
If he had had a choice from the beginning, Wu Ming certainly wouldn’t have taken a wrong path.
He couldn’t expect to obtain rare monarch-level or king-level seeds now, but at least he should aim for outstanding ones.
“Outstanding illusion beasts… that would be another huge expense. If I choose to be a mass Illusion Beast Tamer and add two summoning slots, the burden would be even greater… Not to mention general and marshal grades…”
Specializing as an Illusion Beast Tamer, one could add a summoning slot at the general grade and another at the marshal grade. Even legendary kings only had six summoned beasts.
However, mass Illusion Beast Tamers were different! At the general grade, they could add four summoning slots, and eight at the marshal grade… The more advanced the grade, the more terrifying. They might even combine with techniques like “Hundred Beasts Paying Homage to the Emperor,” allowing their illusion beasts to indirectly control a wild illusion beast tribe, unleashing a massive swarm of hundreds or even thousands of illusion beasts, which was extremely impressive.
This path not only required high standards for the Illusion Beast Tamer but also consumed a vast amount of resources, which ordinary tamers simply couldn’t afford.
As Wu Ming knew, within the entire Eastern family, there were only a few mass Illusion Beast Tamers who commanded an elite war wolf unit, which was the family’s biggest trump card besides the Hellish Wolves.
“Ordinary war wolves are common illusion beasts, renowned for their bloodthirsty nature and combat capabilities, which far exceed those of gray wolves… By controlling elite Berserker Wolves, an Illusion Beast Tamer can effortlessly dominate a war wolf pack, creating a formidable fighting force… The handful of mass Illusion Beast Tamers within the family maintained a low profile, yet in reality, nearly half of the family’s resources were devoted to them…”
Unfortunately, the limitations of being versatile but not specialized, as well as the future emergence of divine illusion beasts, meant that Wu Ming could never take the mass tamer path.
“Once the path is chosen… the next step is to utilize the family’s resources for continuous improvement… and then go out to claim the inheritance treasure from Jia Kongming…”
Wu Ming’s eyes gleamed. “There will definitely be trouble with the Grand Elder!”
The timing of Da Hei Lang’s evolution was completely unexpected for him.
To be honest, whether it happened earlier or later, although equally shocking, the effect wouldn’t have been this good.
Now that he had made a big splash and even overshadowed Eastern Ba, it added a bit of trouble for Wu Ming.
“There’s also the matter with the Jie Ao brothers… but as long as I pretend to have never met them before, who can pin that on me? In the Xing Ying Mountains, there are also soldier-grade illusion beasts, so it’s entirely possible that they were just unlucky and were killed by a passing powerful illusion beast… Besides, if anyone wants to confront me, they’d better bring up that matter of accusing someone of murder first…”
Of course, things wouldn’t be as simple as he imagined.
Suspicion from those in power didn’t require evidence! With the authority Eastern Ying possessed, a little manipulation would be enough to give Wu Ming endless headaches.
“Especially… novice illusion beast tamers can focus solely on cultivation, supported by the family, but once promoted to soldier-grade, they must contribute to the family…”
Novice illusion beast tamers were still considered newcomers, but upon reaching the soldier-grade, it was like becoming an adult in the ordinary world, requiring one to shoulder certain responsibilities.
In the Eastern family, this meant completing a certain number of tasks each year and participating in the family’s operations.
Wu Ming had no doubt that if he naively followed this path, he would immediately fall into the Grand Elder’s faction’s trap!
“To break this situation, I must rely on external forces!”
Originally, joining the Punishment Hall directly would have been a very wise move, under the protection of Dongfang Tie, Dongfang Ying might not dare to do anything to him.
But the Punishment Hall had strict rules; once he joined, he would be under their control, which Wu Ming was unwilling to accept.
Moreover, executing tasks every day was also inconsistent with his future plans, so the only remaining path was clear.
…
“What? You want to take on a commercial task?”
Dongfang Ri looked at the young genius before him, the one responsible for Dongfang Jin’s bloody defeat, his eyes filled with confusion.
“That’s right!”
Wu Ming’s gaze was firm. “All newly promoted soldier-grade illusion beast tamers in the family can choose their tasks independently at first. If there’s no result after a month, the Elder Council will decide, right?”
“But… but…”
Dongfang Ri was speechless, unable to say anything for a long time.
In his usual thinking, Dongfang Shuoming would naturally join the Punishment Hall directly, after all, it was no secret that he had a good relationship with Dongfang Dieyu. There were even rumors in the clan that Elder Dongfang Tie had recognized his talent early on and invested in him when Dongfang Shuoming was down on his luck.
But now it seemed completely different.
“Dongfang Tie has been very kind to me… but I think my talent lies in commerce!”
Wu Ming said this lie without batting an eyelid.
“Ha!”
Sure enough, Dongfang Ri couldn’t help but snort when he heard this. “Commercial talent?”
He looked at Wu Ming with deep suspicion. Dongfang Shuoming’s talent as an illusion beast tamer was now beyond doubt, but commercial talent? He probably wouldn’t even realize he was being sold until he was already counting the money for his seller.
Even the four commercial stewards of their “Ri, Jin, Dou, Jin” group had paid a lot of tuition fees in the commercial circles of Jushi City back then.
“That’s right, just bring out the task records quickly!”
Wu Ming’s voice was calm, his gaze direct, exuding great confidence.
Dongfang Ri suddenly realized that Dongfang Shuoming was no longer the laughingstock of the clan he used to be. Even without mentioning his talent, the fact that he was now a soldier-grade illusion beast tamer put him on equal footing with himself, giving him the right to engage in equal dialogue.
“This Dongfang Shuoming has reached the soldier-grade at the age of fifteen, with an extremely promising future… If I let this go, the Second Elder certainly won’t forgive me. Besides, he hasn’t violated any clan rules at all… This is really a tough situation…”
He certainly didn’t like Wu Ming.
Just for defeating Dongfang Shuwen and causing Dongfang Jin to be so enraged that he spat blood, Dongfang Ri had already formed a very bad impression of him.
“But… why would he voluntarily join the commercial division? What kind of plot does he have in mind?”
Dongfang Ri was puzzled and suspicious. He fetched the task documents. “These are all the commercial tasks that need to be resolved urgently by the clan… Take a look!”
“Escort missions, surveillance, and shop bodyguards?”
Wu Ming flipped through the pages one by one, and when he saw the last one, his eyes suddenly lit up. “This one!”
“Huh?”
When Dongfang Ri saw which one, his face changed. “This task? Are you sure!”
“Absolutely sure!”
Wu Ming nodded. This task seemed tailor-made for him.
“Fine!”
Dongfang Ri originally wanted to say something else, but his eyes flashed with a thought and he held back. “Alright then, I’ll assign this shopkeeper task to you!”
Inwardly, he sneered. “Hmph… After all, he’s still young. Everyone knows how fiercely competitive the shopkeeper positions are in the clan. But no one dares to take on this ‘Yu Feng Zhai’ shop. Even the four stewards previously failed miserably. He’s so arrogant and unaware of his own limitations. He’ll soon have a bitter taste of reality!”
He smiled sweetly. “Shuoming, since you’ve chosen the task, after completing the formalities in the inner hall, you’ll officially become the master of Yu Feng Zhai. But you’ve seen the rules, right? Yu Feng Zhai has been performing poorly, and now it’s handed over to a clan member to manage. You must pay 50,000 spirit coins every month. If you fail, there will be penalties…”
Since the young man had made this choice, he was more than happy to see Dongfang Shuoming lose money so badly that he would bleed, and then publicly punish him to avenge Dongfang Jin.
“That’s only fair, but any profit beyond the quota will belong to me, right?”
Wu Ming confirmed at the end.
“Of course!”
Dongfang Ri nodded repeatedly, his heart sneering even more. “Fool! If it were really that simple, who would leave it for you to do?”
“Excellent!”
Wu Ming immediately completed the procedures and left briskly, his decisiveness surprising even Dongfang Ri.
…
“What? Dongfang Shuoming actually chose a commercial task?”
Dongfang Rouxin listened to the report, finding it quite unbelievable.
The Grand Elder had already decided to suppress this young man, and she was just preparing to use her connections to assign a few dangerous tasks to the Punishment Hall, specifically designating Dongfang Shuoming to carry them out.
But she hadn’t expected Dongfang Shuoming to abandon the broad and straight path and instead throw himself into the camp of the Second Elder, Dongfang Xiong!
Before she could sort out the relationships involved, she dared not act rashly.
“Besides… commerce is not the battlefield, and suppressing him will be much more troublesome. It might even provoke the anger of two elders at the same time…”
Dongfang Rouxin was now troubled.
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