Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 76: There Must Be an Evil Spirit King

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: There Must Be an Evil Spirit King

Jiuyue woke up to find it was already daylight. After a whole night of reflection, she decided to change her approach.

It no longer mattered whether to control or to taint, just like in the movies. She used to have no choice, but now all she wanted was to be a good person, especially after learning about the true nature of the terrifying organization Wangxu. She realized she just didn’t fit in with those people.

Her only enemies were the company and the celestials. The "survival of the fittest" and "all humans are inherently sinful" ideologies proposed by Wangxu didn’t interest her at all.

When she stepped out of the bedroom, Duan Mingyuan had already bought breakfast and was sitting on the couch, lost in thought.

"Mr. Mingyuan, what are you thinking about?"

"I’m thinking about your fight with Western Wind."

As an onlooker who witnessed the entire battle, to put it bluntly, Jiuyue and Liu had numerical advantage and had planned a surprise attack tactic but still ended up mercilessly thrashed by Western Wind.

The Barrier was broken, and neither of them had been able to inflict any substantial damage on Western Wind.

And based on the rating system he had devised, both Jiuyue and Liu Wuyi met the criteria of a senior professional title, which was the highest level of evaluation he could think of at the moment.

No wonder Bai Kou was so arrogant, equating the company to heaven itself.

The combat abilities of the two sides were not on the same level at all, and even if they gathered all the senior professionals to fight against the company, it would be no different from mortals rebelling against the heavens.

Jiuyue’s face immediately fell, "My ability was completely ineffective against him. I’ve never encountered anything like this before."

The ability to control disasters had always worked flawlessly, causing her to rely too heavily on her own powers. Once her ability was rendered ineffective, she was left without any offensive strategies.

Mr. Mingyuan then showed her that, without the ability to reconstruct that armor, he could still use spatial collapse to directly blast off half of Western Wind’s body.

So, above a senior professional title, besides the growth of Life Energy, is the most evident marker the creation of a variety of Skills based on one’s abilities?

Thinking about it, her development of her own abilities was indeed extremely limited.

"This is not a good sign. Tang Qianqian found out that in the headquarters, there are many members of ’Long Branch,’ and the number is increasing every year."

This was not just an issue of Three Generals or Four Heavenly Kings. Conservatively estimated, there could be an entire team of strong individuals at the same level as Western Wind.

Even within the company, there might exist action departments of a higher level than ’Long Branch.’

The only good news was that he was currently a notch above the members of ’Long Branch,’ which could buy them some time for stable development.

"With your current Strength, it’s tough to compete with the company, and the range of this Life Measurement Instrument is limited. It can’t even detect Life Energy fluctuations above the level of Lady Bai Gu."

Duan Mingyuan could only rely on his senses to deduce that Lady Bai Gu’s Life Energy was much lower than Jiuyue’s, approximately at the stage where one is about to step into a senior professional title.

"But... there are no related cultivation methods left within our race."

Holding a hot chicken and mushroom pie, Jiuyue sat down next to Duan Mingyuan.

The battle had shattered her blind confidence. If she wanted to break into the company’s flagship in the future and find her imprisoned parents, her current Strength was far from enough.

Fortunately, Mr. Mingyuan could become a decent mentor.

"Even if there were any, the company would have destroyed them. They do not want more of us to develop our Life Energy."

This was the mentality of animals kept in breeding.

A farmer would definitely not want the pigs in the sty to suddenly grow fangs and gore all his hired workers. "However, perhaps some cultivation secrets have been passed down in some way."

"Do you plan to find them?"

"Yes."

"What about the hunter?"

Jiuyue pulled out her phone, displaying a message from Tang Qianqian and Yang Ping that had arrived early this morning. After learning about the history of hunters, they felt it might be possible to rebuild the profession.

Embarking on a spontaneous journey, wandering from place to place and encountering different monsters seemed like a romantic life to them.

Da Jiang raised his hands in full support. In fact, it was his greatest dream to rebuild the Royal Hunting Court.

Not a Royal Hunting Court that was subservient to the company but one that orchestrated everything and saved the people from dire straits.

She asked curiously, "Mr. Mingyuan, what is your opinion on evil spirits? Are you planning to wipe them out entirely?"

Jiuyue thought Mr. Mingyuan seemed more neutral. He neither favored the evil spirits nor loathed them. His treatment of evil spirits depended on their actions. Take the Red-eyed Demon, for instance; it had escaped from the clutches of "devils" twice in a row, becoming a legendary figure among Yunlong City’s monsters.

She added, "I know where most of the monsters in Yunlong City are hiding. I could gather them all together and capture them in one fell swoop."

This was her chance to make amends for past mistakes. Given the choice between the monsters and Mr. Mingyuan, Jiuyue did not hesitate to choose the latter.

The title of Evil Spirit Queen could be left behind.

Duan Mingyuan shook his head, "No need. As it seems now, evil spirits are just another form of life energy activation."

"What if they continue to harm people?"

Jiuyue felt the need to forewarn Mr. Mingyuan, "Evil spirits grow stronger by devouring humans," a conclusion Mr. Mingyuan himself had reached after research.

If one of the evil spirits caused a major disturbance, she would be the one to bear the blame.

"As it appears, the act of evil spirits consuming humans is a result driven by Wangxu behind the scenes, but we must look beyond the surface to see the essence."

This was what Liu had described as "survival of the fittest." "The real trigger of the evil spirits’ life energy was not the act of consuming humans but indulgence in desires. It’s just that many newly transformed evil spirits are in a haze, leaving only their biological instincts."

"Indulgence?"

Jiuyue asked in surprise, "How did you know that?"

"I must thank Tang Qianqian for this. I’ve had one question I couldn’t figure out: why did her life energy increase during her first sparring with the Red-eyed Demon, but not during the subsequent, more critical moments?" Duan Mingyuan had naturally assumed that the increase in life energy was related to leveling up by fighting monsters until he had his epiphany after the incidents at Congyun Hotel and with the company executives.

"The reason Tang Qianqian’s life energy increased during her sparring with the Red-eyed Demon was that she eventually gave in to laziness, achieving a peaceful truce. This was her deepest desire."

In the latter two instances, due to the urgency of the situation, Tang Qianqian didn’t have the opportunity to be lazy, which was against her life principle of slacking off.

"Are you implying that being lazy is what makes Tang Qianqian stronger?"

"Actually, it’s the same for humans and evil spirits alike. As long as your inner desires are fulfilled, your life energy will grow stronger."

But most of the time, people can’t live out their desires and can only satisfy them within their fantasies.

"So, I’ve thought of a way to greatly reduce the number of evil spirits in Yunlong City."

"What’s the method?"

"Put them to work, and set up a strict professional evaluation system."

"Huh?"

"The reason they indulge in the world of dreams is that they can do as they please there. But if they can no longer indulge in their dreams, and even face tougher work than they do in real life, along with a higher standard of professional evaluation, they’d start thinking that it’s better to work in the real world. In doing so, we can also weed out the evil spirits that aren’t afraid of professional evaluations. Even faced with hardship in their dreamland, they can face it calmly, which is undoubtedly the mindset of the strong... To realize this plan, we need someone to gather them all together."

Duan Mingyuan paused, then said, "There has to be a King of Evil Spirits, and you are undoubtedly the most suitable candidate."