Chapter 221: Xuan Ziwen: “i’ve Actually Been A Person Of Xilu City For A Long Time.”
“Come out, Nana.”
Otto put down the empty wine cup, and his mild yet flat voice reached the shadows in a corner of the room.
The shadows slowly flowed, appearing particularly ferocious under the illumination of the candlelight, and a woman’s figure emerged from the shadows.
“Bishop Otto!”
Nana’s dark red ponytail was dyed with a touch of gold by the dim light, her wheat-colored skin glowing with a healthy sheen, and her sharp eyes now filled with madness.
“You whose Martial Soul is Ghost should have keen perception of spirit; what do you think of Ju Zi?”
Nana’s body paused, and after thinking for a moment, she organized her words in her heart and said solemnly:
“In my perception, the other party’s soul is almost filled with rage, scorching and mad.”
“It’s just like… just like a puppet, a puppet dominated by revenge.”
After patiently listening to Nana’s opinion, Otto let out a light laugh, then turned to face her.
“Puppet?”
“Not at all.”
“Love is a force that can birth miracles, and the hate born from love is the same.”
“I’ve always believed this force can create miracles, so I want to give her a chance.”
“I want to see how far she can go with this hate.”
Nana lowered her head and said nothing, but Otto could tell at a glance that she still had reservations about it.
“Are you worried she’ll bite me back?”
Nana was startled, her body trembled, and she said with her head lowered, somewhat panicked:
“Your subordinate dares not question any of the bishop’s decisions.”
Otto’s face bore a confident smile as a gentle soul power lifted Nana’s body, making her stand up.
“Your concern is right.”
“She will one hundred percent bite me back.”
“But so what?”
“Just like a naughty child confidently thinking they can rebel against the adults using the toys the adults gave them.”
“Heh, to put it bluntly, she doesn’t have the brains or the strength.”
“By the way, didn’t I send you to Heaven Soul Empire a while ago? Why did you come back?”
Nana replied respectfully, word by word:
“Your subordinate wants to do something for you, sir.”
“A peaceful life is no longer suitable for Nana.”
Otto gently shook his head, choosing to respect Nana’s decision.
“In that case, I’ll give you a task.”
“Recently, a group of people will come to Mingdu; you are responsible for guiding them to join the Holy Spirit Cult.”
“The leader is called Emiya Kiritsugu; afterward, you will follow them to manage Mingdu’s outpost well.”
Nana immediately bowed respectfully to Otto and said:
“Understood!”
Otto waved his hand at her and said:
“Go.”
Nana’s figure silently vanished from the private room. Otto put on the white jacket from the nearby coat rack again and looked through the transparent glass at the resplendent Imperial Palace in the distance.
“Bishop?”
“What a familiar title.”
“I didn’t expect Dragon Emperor Douluo to leave the Holy Spirit Cult without even saying goodbye; he’s really quite willful.”
“Even though I’ve been paying for his meals for so long.”
“But that’s fine; borrowing Dragon Emperor Douluo’s residual influence, I can try to control the chaotic Hall of Offerings.”
A crimson feather had appeared in Otto’s hand at some point, its edges emitting a faint white glow, the whole thing somewhat transparent, like a phantom not belonging to this space.
This was a replica of Yu Du Chen, an item that could manipulate and modify consciousness, replicated by Otto through the void’s myriad treasures based on memory—it was once his old friend’s key of the gods.
It was also an item he used quite handily; modifying consciousness and manipulating spirit suited a villain like him perfectly.
During this time, with Long Xiaoyao gone, Otto had instead become the representative of the Hall of Offerings, responsible for negotiations with Ye Xishui and Zhong Li Wu.
That crazy woman Ye Xishui didn’t know what got into her, directly promoting Otto to bishop of the Holy Spirit Cult’s Mingdu region.
Borrowing Long Xiaoyao’s influence over the Hall of Offerings, Otto truly began fully infiltrating the Holy Spirit Cult.
Intelligence related to the Holy Spirit Cult was sent in large quantities by Otto to the Enthusiasm intelligence department.
Locations of numerous Holy Spirit Cult outposts, personnel situations, and tasks they were responsible for executing were all grasped by Enthusiasm.
Otto also frequently dispatched some promising Holy Spirit Cult seedlings to carry out some clever tasks, like deeply exploring the Star Dou Great Forest Core Area or investigating intelligence on Shrek Academy’s Inner Court.
He would occasionally add something extra to the Holy Spirit Cult’s soul ascension rituals, stuffing in the Yu Du Chen phantom.
At first, Otto was quite cautious, proceeding step by step without acting too outrageously.
Later, he found that the Holy Spirit Cult leadership, headed by Ye Xishui, lacked everything except brains, so Otto switched to a strategy based on their intelligence level.
Using the methods for dealing with Anti-Entropy and World Serpent on the Holy Spirit Cult was a bit overkill, and the effect wasn’t great.
In the end, he found that using methods on the same level as dealing with Theresa worked perfectly for the Holy Spirit Cult.
Recently, Otto contacted Huo Yuhao, preparing to start stuffing some of his own people into the Holy Spirit Cult.
The Root Third Squad, led by Emiya Kiritsugu, was dispatched by Huo Yuhao to assist Otto.
The Third Squad loved shady tactics, their actions having no moral bottom line at all, which suited Otto perfectly.
“There are a few more months until it seems New Year arrives in Xilu City.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t spend it with Kallen this year; sigh, I really want to retire.”
“Sadly, the black-hearted boss won’t let me off that easily.”
The crimson feather gradually faded in the air as Otto smoothed the wrinkles on his white jacket and confidently and calmly left the private room, heading straight for that resplendent Imperial Palace.
Prince Xu Tianran had just messaged him to go to the Prince’s Mansion to discuss some matters, most likely related to rectifying the Imperial Court; Xu Tianran planned to make some disobedient royal members shut up for good.
Ever since Otto helped Xu Tianran stand up again and no longer be a eunuch, he had completely trusted Otto.
Especially the various ideas Otto came up with to eliminate dissenters, which made him slap the table in admiration.
He now clearly regarded Otto as a confidant, wishing they could share a bed.
Xu Tianran began gradually handing over his trump cards in the army to Otto, letting him slowly take control of the army.
He also promised that once he ascended the throne, he would make Otto the Imperial Advisor of the Sun Moon Empire.
Of course, Otto just smiled at this; he too looked forward to the day Xu Tianran ascended the throne.
…………
Mingdu Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy.
“Bang~ Bang~”
“Coming?”
“Come in.”
A young man possibly no older than thirty came before Jing Hongchen.
“Hall Master, what do you need me for?”
Jing Hongchen took off his glasses, smiled, and said:
“You should have heard of this thing.”
Jing Hongchen pushed a photograph in front of Xuan Ziwen.
Xuan Ziwen looked puzzled, picked up the photograph, and with just one glance, his body suddenly trembled as he quickly said in a stammering voice:
“Ha… Hall Master, is this a Soul Tool Machine Tool?”
“The legendary one that can automatically engrave Core Formation Arrays as long as soul power is transmitted and blueprints are provided?!”
“The core equipment that lets Soul Tools produce Soul Tools!”
“We finally got our hands on this thing?”
Jing Hongchen pressed down with his palm, telling him to calm down, and said:
“This thing isn’t hard to obtain.”
“Others might not know, but you should know about the relationship between Mingde Hall and Enthusiasm.”
“Getting a Soul Tool Machine Tool from them is no problem.”
“Aren’t Xiao He and Meng about to return?”
“They brought back quite a bit of advanced knowledge from there; it won’t take long for our Mingde Hall to replicate our own machine tools.”
“I called you here today to ask if you want to make a trip to Xilu City.”
“I remember you really admire their Soul Tool concepts, right?”
Xuan Ziwen nodded without hesitation and said:
“Of course I’m willing to go, but the Empire side…”
Jing Hongchen waved his hand nonchalantly and said:
“If you’re willing, that’s fine; the Empire won’t know a thing.”
“Since you’re willing, tomorrow night a group of Mingde Hall Soul Engineers will go with you to Xilu City.”
“The route is all arranged, absolutely safe.”
Xuan Ziwen didn’t like politics, but he could see that Jing Hongchen’s current actions were no different from treason.
The old ginger is spicier; Jing Hongchen saw through what Xuan Ziwen was thinking at a glance.
“Don’t overthink it.”
“No need to hold back over there either.”
“Xilu City will provide you with suitable laboratories and funding.”
“They don’t lack money or equipment.”
“Go.”
“Go back and wait for the Magic Net message.”
Xuan Ziwen left; though he felt it was improper, just thinking of Xilu City’s Soul Tools that perfectly matched his concepts and that miraculous Soul Tool Machine Tool made him cast all reservations aside.
For him, Soul Tools were everything; his dream was to let ordinary people use Soul Tools too, and he considered the idea that powerful Soul Tools must be used by powerful Soul Masters to be pure nonsense.
Ever since he accidentally came into contact with Xilu City’s Soul Tools and Soul Tool concepts, he was utterly amazed, wishing he could swear brotherhood on the spot with the person who proposed them.
He spent a lot of money buying large quantities of Xilu City’s Soul Tools, from level one to six.
Every day in the laboratory, he disassembled these Soul Tools without rest.
Looking at those mechanical structures completely different from Sun Moon Empire Soul Tools, every exquisite component perfectly integrated with the Core Formation Array, full of unique beauty.
Xuan Ziwen had written countless notes and drawn countless blueprints trying to understand Xilu City’s Soul Tool design concepts; the more he studied, the more obsessed he became.
He believed this precise mechanical structure combined with Core Formation Arrays was the future of Soul Tools.
The Sun Moon Empire’s design of relying on rare metals and Core Formation Arrays for brute force was simply primitive; Sun Moon Empire Soul Tools had no structured design, just a pile of metal spliced together by Core Formation Arrays.
Every time he touched a Soul Tool from Xilu City specially made for civilians, Xuan Ziwen wanted to cry, because he realized that in a foreign land, there were many who shared his concepts.
He had essentially become a spiritual Xilu City person.
