Smuggling is something no country can completely prohibit.
Therefore, if you can't prohibit it, you must participate, at least to control the general data.
The most valuable exports from the Sun Moon Empire are rare metals. So, what resources from the three Douluo nations are worth the Sun Moon Empire's attention?
Correct, medicinal herbs!
The Sun Moon Empire has many secret medicines, which have consumed the herbal resources of the former Sun Moon Continent far more than the original Douluo Continent. Furthermore, with the Sun Moon Empire's abundant rare metal production and the development of the Spirit Engineer system, the land itself is actually unsuitable for herb growth. In contrast, the original Douluo Continent area is rich in herbs.
So, both sides actually have mutual needs.
One must smuggle in rare metals to develop their own Spirit Tools, while the other must smuggle in sufficient medicinal herbs to ensure domestic Spirit Engineer cultivation remains unaffected.
Smuggling carries risks, but it's fine if you have backing.
Having been promoted to a ninth-rank Spirit Engineer, Su Can planned to operate under the banner of Mingde Hall.
With Mingde Hall taking the blame, many subsequent matters could be conducted more conveniently.
It's just that the pressure on Su Ming was a little heavy.
Officially, the Su Family would smuggle Spirit Metals from the three Douluo nations, preparing to lay the groundwork for Spirit Metals in the Sun Moon Empire and establish the prototype of a Blacksmith Association branch. But in reality, the source of the Spirit Metals was him.
And officially, the Blacksmith Association was to cooperate with the Su Family to supply them with Spirit Metals, but in reality, it still had to obtain Spirit Metals from the Su Family in reverse to support the development of the Blacksmith Association in the three Douluo nations.
This darn thing basically meant Su Ming was supporting everything by himself.
"So, the Blacksmith Association can't develop too quickly in the early stages."
Su Ming was glad his current steps weren't too large, having given the Blacksmith Association the task of establishing three branches within three years.
"Basically, producing twenty pieces of Spirit Metal per year is enough, and they don't need to reach the Thousand Refined One Peak level of the few pieces I used." Su Can comforted Su Ming, saying, "The key now is to make you more composed when your identity is recognized during the Great Spirit Master Tournament."
Su Ming nodded.
"Grandpa, remember to let me know when the Su Family has roughly assembled the prototype of the association. I also need to establish a Body Sect branch."
"Your teacher has already discussed it with me. Don't worry, your position as Branch Sect Leader won't be missing." Su Can chuckled, never expecting his grandson to have a craving for being a sect leader.
Su Ming was speechless.
This was to complete a mission!
It wasn't that he wanted to be the sect leader!
"Grandpa, remember to recruit more people, otherwise the sect won't be able to function here."
Su Can nodded with a smile.
"Don't worry, didn't your teacher say that over the past ten-plus years, Shrek might have sent eight Martial Spirit Spirit Masters here one after another? Before we went to the Jingyang Mountain Range, I sent people to search for them. They should have all their identities locked down in about another month." Su Yun, who was aside, spoke up.
Su Ming was taken aback.
"So fast?"
The twin sisters Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo were recommended to Shrek Academy by the Sky Dou City Lord, and if they didn't go to Shrek, they would have to pay a penalty for breaching the recommendation letter. Du Busi personally sought them out and then received the information.
Based on the information he 'extracted' from the Sky Dou City Lord, Shrek had previously taken in eight Martial Spirit Spirit Masters, but the parts of their Martial Spirits weren't very important, and they only had slightly faster cultivation speeds, so they were abandoned by Xuan Zi.
The families of these abandoned individuals were probably sent to the Sun Moon Empire to act as spies.
Su Ming didn't expect the search to be so quick.
"Not that fast. After all, there aren't many Martial Spirits to begin with. We've already identified five targets. To avoid alerting the enemy, I haven't made a move yet."
Su Ming accepted this explanation.
The Su Family had been searching for Martial Spirits for many years and had probably already established an intelligence network. Most likely, they had already identified those older Martial Spirit Spirit Masters long ago.
The reason they weren't all sent to the Body Sect before probably involved additional considerations.
Su Ming glanced at Su Can and noticed his grandfather's kindly expression and a "go ahead and strive" look in his eyes. He understood his meaning; this was to pave the way for him, having kept back some of the found Martial Spirit Spirit Masters instead of giving them all to Du Busi to take to the Body Sect.
Su Ming felt helpless.
This...
He wasn't good at brainwashing.
He wasn't confident about successfully brainwashing these mature Martial Spirit Spirit Masters who had already been brainwashed once by Shrek.
The atmosphere within the main Body Sect was more suitable for brainwashing—no, for enlightening family members.
"It seems I need to ask Teacher for more personnel."
Only if the branch sect was large enough could these family members develop a sense of belonging faster, right?
Su Ming toured Su Can's research institute and then left, returning to the academy for normal cultivation.
He would have liked to cultivate directly here, directly test into Mingde Hall, ignore trivial matters, and prepare for the Great Spirit Master Tournament.
But reality didn't permit it.
The Su Ming from Soul Land I was still imprisoned, restricted in everything he did, urgently in need of a trustworthy Titled Douluo. The simplified version of the Two-Word Battle Armor he was currently working on was just to boost his own confidence, not something to be revealed openly.
"Evil Spirit Masters..."
Su Ming laughed wryly.
This was not a good task.
"Leaving aside the inherent danger of the Holy Spirit Cult itself, there are rumors that this organization is related to the Tang God King... Obtaining the faith of Evil Spirit Masters from the Holy Spirit Cult is too difficult for me..."
But it didn't matter.
Su Ming twisted his requirements somewhat, using a reasonable cause to引出 his need to collect faith related to Evil Spirit Masters. Then, within his Sea of Consciousness, he explained the 'cause and effect' to Elder Yi.
After hearing Su Ming's needs, Electrolux merely smiled indifferently.
"Evil Spirit Masters? It sounds like they should be within my scope of restraint. Go ahead and investigate; if anything happens, I will help you!"
"Thank you, Elder Yi."
Su Ming was overjoyed.
Electrolux, attached to the Blade of Life, was recovering truly quickly. He could already make such assurances so soon.
When he first entered Su Ming's Sea of Consciousness, he was truly a remnant soul, on the verge of falling into deep sleep. But because of the Blade of Life, he was able to repeatedly block Tang San's methods back then and remain conscious all along.
Su Ming estimated this was because he hadn't fully fused with the Blade of Life yet.
Once he completely fused with the Blade of Life, Electrolux's recovery speed by borrowing power from it would probably slow down significantly.
"It's better to delay the fusion node. After Elder Yi recovers to the point where his own power forms an internal cycle, it won't matter if I fuse with the Blade of Life then. Losing a bit of life force isn't a big deal."
Leaving Mingde Hall.
Su Ming headed towards the academy cafeteria.
As he walked, he tried to strike up conversations with fellow students around him, gradually steering the talk to learn about the several notable figures within the academy.
Sword Maniac Ji Juechen, the obsessive Jing Ziyan, and Nana, whose Martial Spirit was a Ghost...
"Ji Juechen cultivated his sword into a conceptual Martial Spirit. I can learn from that; it might help solve Teacher Mu Ye's problem in the Soul Land III era, where he's trapped by his Spirit Soul and Mecha and unable to break through."
Jing Ziyan is purely an extra, skip.
"Nana's Martial Spirit is a Ghost, similar to Ghost Douluo from the Soul Land I era, which can also be considered a type of Martial Spirit. Make contact with her, rescue her, and use this to make contact with the Holy Spirit Cult."
(Chapter End)