The trip to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect left Chen Ming very satisfied. But this journey to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan truly left him unsure what to say.
However, on the very day Chen Ming departed from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, Yu Luomian personally made his way to the Spirit Hall branch temple in Heaven Dou City. There, in his capacity as the Vice Sect Master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, he publicly revealed the truth regarding Chen Ming's situation and formally issued an apology on his behalf.
It would not take long for this incident to spread throughout the entire Heaven Dou Empire—and eventually across the whole Douluo Continent.
In fact, with Yu Xiaogang's current reputation… no, Yu Xiaogang basically had no reputation at all now.
Even if the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had only apologized on a small scale, most people would merely wonder where exactly a person like Yu Xiaogang had appeared from in the first place.
The fact that they were willing to publicly throw this person aside within Spirit Hall's sacred temple already showed considerable sincerity.
Of course, sincerity was sincerity, reputation was reputation, and business was business.
Even after the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan apologized, Chen Ming could still use this opportunity to gain some additional advantages in future dealings.
...
After returning to Heaven Dou City, Chen Ming took some time to investigate the Spirit Masters who had gathered after the destruction of the Strength Clan.
He intended to recruit part of them and bring them back to his territory to help with construction and development.
It had to be said that any Spirit Master capable of surviving the persecution of the Strength Clan either possessed genuine ability or was exceptionally good at running away.
Altogether, these Spirit Masters numbered only around a hundred people.
Most of them possessed mediocre strength and ordinary Martial Souls.
However, two small clans in particular caught Chen Ming's interest.
The Martial Souls of these two clans were rather special.
One of them possessed the Vigorous Bull Martial Soul, which was considered exceptionally good among bull-type Martial Souls.
This Martial Soul's strength, defense, and endurance were all comparable to top-tier Martial Souls. It simply lacked ranged capabilities and elemental attributes, which was why it could only be considered an extremely outstanding high-grade Martial Soul.
Compared to Chen Ming's Heavy Armored Earth Dragon Martial Soul from when he had first awakened, the Vigorous Bull was slightly inferior in strength and defense, but far surpassed it in agility.
For an assault-type Spirit Master, it was considered an extremely good Martial Soul.
In terms of overall quality, it was even slightly superior to the Vigorous Ape Martial Soul.
Precisely because of this, conflict had broken out between this clan and the Strength Clan, whose Martial Soul was the Vigorous Ape. In the end, due to lacking enough powerful experts, they had nearly been exterminated, leaving behind only a handful of survivors.
The strongest among them was merely a Level 67 power-type Battle Spirit Emperor.
Ordinarily, a Martial Soul like this would not have attracted much of Chen Ming's attention.
However, among this clan's Vigorous Bull Martial Souls, a special mutated Martial Soul had unexpectedly appeared.
The Vigorous Bull lacked elemental power. But according to historical records, this Martial Soul occasionally produced a mutated variant known as the Vigorous Demon Bull, which possessed dark-attributed power.
Not only did this Martial Soul wield darkness, it also possessed unique berserk-type Spirit Abilities, making it a genuinely excellent top-tier Martial Soul.
Yet the younger generation Spirit Master of this clan was even more unusual.
His Martial Soul was not the Vigorous Demon Bull—
It was the Vigorous Minotaur.
A Martial Soul with a bull's head and a human body, akin to a minotaur.
It was an extremely rare mutated beast-type Martial Soul.
Although its physical strength might not have increased much, it had gained a trace of spiritual attributes, while its dark power had become even stronger.
It was an exceptionally rare case indeed.
As for the other clan, their Martial Soul was far less powerful—only mid-grade. However, it made up for this shortcoming with sheer numbers.
The Fifteen Ton Ant was a well-known insect-type Spirit Beast, renowned for its raw physical power, though it was classified as a low-tier social species.
At lower levels, Fifteen Ton Ants were not particularly impressive in terms of strength or attributes. However, their quality would improve dramatically as their cultivation increased.
At the ten-year and hundred-year levels, they remained merely low-tier Spirit Beasts. However, once they reached the thousand-year level, they would ascend to mid-tier status.
Upon reaching the ten-thousand-year level, they would further transform into extremely formidable high-tier spirit beasts.
As for mutated individuals—such as the Fifteen Ton Ant Emperors from the original story—each one was a true top-tier, strength-attributed spirit beast.
This Fifteen Ton Ant clan consisted of just over fifty members, yet every single one of them was a Spirit Master.
Their average innate Spirit Power ranged between Level 3 and 5.
However, due to suppression from the Strength Clan, the clan heads himself was only a Level 51 Spirit King.
Because of their Martial Souls, these Spirit Masters were all extremely skilled in physically demanding labor such as mining, excavation, and construction.
Although their combat strength was not particularly impressive, this clan was actually a capable artisan family.
They were precisely the kind of technical talents Chen Ming needed.
The Vigorous Bull clan had fewer people, but stronger individual combat power.
Meanwhile, although the Fifteen Ton Ant clan was far inferior in terms of top-tier strength, it compensated with greater numbers and specialized skills.
In Chen Ming's eyes, both clans were worth recruiting.
After all, every single one of them possessed the perfect physique for construction work. Having them act as human-shaped cranes at building sites would simply be too convenient.
...
After borrowing a residence from Crown Prince Xue Qinghe (Qian Renxue), Chen Ming sent messengers from the Crown Prince's estate to deliver letters to the Clan Heads of both clans.
Upon hearing that they had the chance to meet Chen Ming personally, the two small clan heads became extremely excited.
Faced with Chen Ming's recruitment, these two clans—which already lacked power and status—immediately chose to pledge themselves to him.
Emotionally speaking, the destruction of the Strength Clan was connected to Chen Ming.
Even if Chen Ming had not done it intentionally, he had still effectively become their benefactor.
There was no way they could fail to repay such a debt of gratitude.
If they had relied solely on their own abilities, they likely would never have achieved revenge in this lifetime.
From a practical standpoint, Chen Ming was currently one of the hottest rising figures on the entire continent.
The value, talent, background, and potential he displayed were obvious for all to see.
Even without any personal connection, for Chen Ming to recruit small clans like theirs was already an enormous blessing. No matter how they looked at it, they had absolutely no reason to refuse him.
Using these two clans as a foundation, Chen Ming further gathered those wandering Spirit Masters who also held grudges against the Strength Clan.
Those with value and without criminal records were accepted under his command.
Those without value were politely dismissed with a few courteous words.
As for those who had committed crimes, Chen Ming directly reported them to Spirit Hall for arrest.
Several days later, the professional personnel Chen Ming had requested from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the Crown Prince's estate finally arrived as well.
Thus, after making a series of arrangements, Chen Ming returned to his former hometown—
The former Holy Soul Village, now known as Holy Soul Ridge, or perhaps more accurately, Holy Soul City.
Although Chen Ming had not returned for quite some time, legends about him still spread throughout the entirety of Holy Soul Ridge.
...
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