Aftermath

The Flesh King had never expected Tu Ming to flee so decisively, completely disregarding their agreement.

But things had come to this point. Complaining about him now would be nothing more than impotent rage. It was time for him to withdraw as well.

After all, after some probing, he had already obtained the answer he wanted.

Besides.

Sss—!

As blazing white light erupted, the Shanghai City coast, which had been shrouded in a thin mist, instantly returned to clear, sunny skies.

It was Ye Zhou. This Hall of Fame Card Master of Great Ming had finally made his move.

Seeing this, Bai Yueming turned and glanced at the distant sky, unable to stop himself from silently sighing. "Little Ye."

Of course, the old man knew why Ye Zhou had chosen to act at this moment.

After briefly composing himself, he turned to his disciple. "Lu Su."

"…Forget it. It’s nothing."

Bai Yueming had originally wanted to offer Lu Su a few words of encouragement, but he ultimately swallowed them.

Lu Su no longer needed his encouragement.

After all, repelling a Master Grade Demon with Diamond Grade strength was an achievement the old man had never even heard of.

At that thought, Bai Yueming felt somewhat dispirited. He patted Lu Su on the shoulder, then turned and left.

At some point, his young disciple seemed to have stopped needing his protection.

Bai Yueming now felt like a parent watching his child grow up and start a family. No matter how reluctant he was, he could only choose to let go.

All he could do was give his disciple one final boost.

Unaware of the complicated emotions in his teacher’s heart, Lu Su merely stood in silence, staring at the still-turbulent sea.

After a long while, the young man silently thought, Still not giving up, are you, Jin Ping?

Combined with the information his teacher had revealed, he had roughly figured out that Jin Ping had definitely played a part in what had just happened.

After losing the Spirit Summoning Society’s support, that old bastard must have found a way to bring the Demon Army and that Demon Fox over to his side.

And the reason he was acting so urgently was nothing more than the worsening situation in Antarctica.

Could it be that I put pressure on him?

Lu Su sneered inwardly, but then fell silent.

It actually seemed possible.

Perhaps part of the reason was that Jin Ping feared he would become a second Ye Zhou. And once he, with his healthy body, advanced to Hall of Fame Grade, he would only be more terrifying than Ye Zhou.

More importantly, after today’s battle, Jin Ping would definitely become even more wary.

Unlike the master and disciple, whose minds were full of complicated thoughts, Yan Wenlai felt only relief and excitement.

He was relieved that this Demon’s Nest riot had not caused much damage to Shanghai City.

After all, the vast majority of low-level demons had fainted under the oppressive aura of the Straw Hat Boy card beside the young man.

And he was excited because—

"Little Luo, we really have you to thank this time."

Yan Wenlai spoke excitedly, patting Lu Su’s shoulder as he spoke.

As Bai Yueming’s old friend, Yan Wenlai naturally knew that the other man’s body likely would not hold on much longer.

Fortunately, there was someone to carry on his legacy.

Judging by Lu Su’s performance just now, Yan Wenlai felt that he could practically be used as half a Master Card Master.

At that thought, Yan Wenlai felt a lingering fear. If such a genius had truly been controlled by Jin Ping, it would have been a disaster for Great Ming.

Thankfully, the young man had his own secrets and had not allowed Jin Ping to succeed.

While Yan Wenlai was lost in thought, Lu Su suddenly said, "Uncle Yan, tomorrow, I plan to investigate that newly appeared secret realm."

Yan Wenlai was stunned for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. I’ll keep watch for you then."

Cleaning up and investigating a secret realm that had already been cleared was something that should have been done anyway. Even if Lu Su had not mentioned it, Yan Wenlai would have sent people to investigate later.

And a Diamond Grade Card Master would definitely lead the team. In the end, it would have fallen either to Che Yu or the young man anyway.

Since Lu Su had taken the initiative to bring it up, Yan Wenlai naturally did not mind doing him a favor.

The reason Lu Su was being so proactive was entirely because one of Las Noches’s advancement materials had once been obtained from a Seven Seas-type secret realm. This time, he wanted to try his luck as well.

Of course, another reason was that he wanted to investigate whether any Diamond Grade demons remained in the secret realm.

Though according to the information they had obtained earlier, there probably were none.

Letting out a soft breath, Lu Su shifted his gaze to Bullet’s corpse before him.

"Lord of Heaven, huh?"

He bent down and picked up the material that had condensed on the corpse, unable to stop himself from sneering.

Though that title was extremely similar to Aizen’s, their performances were worlds apart.

After all, when the Lord of Hueco Mundo had faced Kurosaki Ichigo, he had merely lost his composure somewhat. He would never have done something as disgraceful as fleeing.

But no matter what, the material Bullet dropped was highly compatible with Aizen.

Together with the materials Lu Su had obtained earlier, he was now only one material and the Perfect Hogyoku card away from advancing Aizen to Diamond Grade.

At that thought, he could not help sighing. "Too bad the Storehouse doesn’t have the material I need."

"I’ll look through it again when I get back today."

The materials stored by the association naturally could not remain unchanged forever. As new Diamond Grade beings appeared throughout Great Ming, the Storehouse’s collection would undoubtedly grow as well.

Just because Lu Su had not found a suitable material before did not mean he would get the same result this time.

Australia, City within a City.

Jin Ping sat grim-faced at the long table representing the Spirit Summoning Society. However, the nameplates symbolizing identity beside him now belonged only to He Yi and Qiao San.

Without question, the Spirit Summoning Society, reduced to just a handful of people, could already be considered an organization in name only.

Besides the Spirit Summoning Society’s three remaining members, the other three Master Card Masters of the City within a City were also present.

That was right. Chris of the Inverted Cross, who had helped Jin Ping earlier, had come as well.

Ignoring the black barbarian beside her, who was chewing on the limb of some unknown creature, the Skin Peeler spoke. "What’s the situation in Great Ming now?"

The reason she was so concerned was because she had been the one to tell Jin Ping that Ye Zhou might have been forcing himself to hold on.

As for where she had gotten that information—

Adley had told her. However, this Hall of Fame Card Master from the Indo-American Federation had not stated it with certainty. He had merely said that Ye Zhou seemed to be forcing himself to hold on.

At the Skin Peeler’s question, Jin Ping’s face darkened even further. He said almost word by word, "It failed."

"Tu Ming fled immediately."

The Skin Peeler froze, then instinctively asked, "Ye Zhou was unharmed?"

"He acted himself?"

In her view, there was only one possibility that could make the Nation-Destroying Fox Demon retreat so decisively: Great Ming’s Hall of Fame Card Master had acted and forced him back.

Yet Jin Ping’s next words left the Skin Peeler bewildered.

"It was that little brat, Xiao Liu, Lu Su."

"He injured Tu Ming, and that fox immediately ran."

As he spoke, the old man’s chest rose and fell sharply several times. Clearly, he was enraged at the thought of the traitor who had caused the Spirit Summoning Society such severe losses.

Even now, he could not understand how Lu Su had escaped his contract.

After returning to Australia, Jin Ping had checked it. What he could not understand even if he died was that he still possessed Lu Su’s contract, yet could not exert even the slightest influence over him.

It was as if his contract were nothing more than a worthless sheet of paper.

The Skin Peeler had lost control of her expression. She repeated doubtfully, "Lu Su injured Tu Ming?"

"President Jin, are you talking about that Diamond Grade traitor?"

She was uncertain whether a new Master Card Master named Lu Su had appeared in Great Ming.

After all, it was simply too unbelievable for a Diamond Grade being to injure a Master Grade one.

Being able to injure a Master Grade Demon meant he could likewise injure Master Card Masters like them.

Jin Ping could not be bothered explaining anymore. If he said another few words, he feared he truly would lose control of his emotions.

With a flick of his hand, a light screen appeared in the center of the room.

The screen displayed the scene of Kurosaki Ichigo and Luffy battling Tu Ming.

As the battle on the screen gradually neared its end, the expressions of the three Master Card Masters besides Jin Ping became increasingly solemn. Even Marcus stopped chewing.

Only after the light screen vanished did Chris say with some gloating amusement, "Old Dog Jin, I never thought you’d run into something like this too."

"I told you long ago that your methods wouldn’t last. Now you’ve set yourself on fire, haven’t you?"

The little boy believed in the saying that fortunes changed over thirty years. After all, that was how he had killed the Priest in revenge back then.

Thus, he greatly despised Jin Ping’s behavior of treating those beneath him like dogs.

At Chris’s mockery, Jin Ping’s gaze turned sinister. He said harshly, "Chris, you refused our alliance last time. Why did you come knocking on our door this time?"

"Or have you already been bought by Great Ming? Did you come to gather information for them?"

Naturally, the old man would not indulge him. Marcus and the Skin Peeler were his people now. If Chris could not give him a reasonable explanation, then—

Hearing this, Chris curled his lip, completely unafraid of Jin Ping’s threat. He merely said coldly, "Old Dog, stop slinging mud at me. I only came this time because I have a personal grudge against that traitor under you."

"Antipa died at that brat’s hands. I need to avenge him."

"And you knew about this, didn’t you? If I had known that brat used to be your subordinate, I would never have let him return to Great Ming so easily."

Jin Ping was first stunned, but quickly remembered that Lu Su indeed seemed to have reported this matter to him.

Thinking of Chris’s attitude toward his subordinates, the old man accepted this explanation.

Seeing that the two had reached an understanding, the Skin Peeler solemnly asked Jin Ping, "President Jin, how much do you know about Lu Su’s cards?"

She was genuinely shocked.

Based on what she had seen on the light screen, she could not imagine how terrifying that blond youth and the Straw Hat Boy would become if they advanced to Master Grade.

They could already injure Master Grade beings at Diamond Grade. If they advanced to Master Grade, would they not be able to beat the few of them senseless?

As for a Master Grade being injuring a Hall of Fame Grade one, that was still somewhat unrealistic—my ass!

Before today, no Diamond Grade being had been able to injure a Master Grade one either.

Yet at the Skin Peeler’s question, Jin Ping merely shook his head.

He had previously believed he could control Lu Su, this young tiger, so he had never thought to investigate the young man’s card information. Thus, the old man knew no more about Lu Su than the Skin Peeler and the other two did.

The Skin Peeler fell silent.

After a long while, she rubbed her brow in frustration. "Let’s set that aside for now."

"Ye Zhou’s condition really does seem rather poor."

To her, Lu Su’s matter was not particularly important.

In the end, Jin Ping was the one who had offended him. She could only be considered an accomplice. If things truly became impossible, she could simply offer some materials as compensation. At worst, she could hide in the Indo-American Federation. There was no need to stand against Lu Su for Jin Ping’s sake.

At the mention of Ye Zhou, Jin Ping and the others temporarily pushed their shock to the backs of their minds.

After all, the purpose of this operation had originally been to probe the condition of that Hall of Fame Card Master. Lu Su had merely appeared midway as an unexpected intruder.

After what had happened with Lu Su, Jin Ping instead became even more cautious.

The old man was silent for a while before speaking. "Even a dead tiger retains its might. Who knows whether he’s pretending?"

"Our future actions need to be more covert. Fortunately, contact with that side has resumed recently."

At this, Marcus and the Skin Peeler nodded in agreement. Chris alone remained silent.

A moment later, the little boy stood up expressionlessly and said flatly, "I’ll only help you deal with Lu Su. I won’t get involved in anything else."

"It disgusts me."

With that, he led the members of the Fallen Cult out of the meeting room.

Jin Ping was somewhat disdainful of Chris’s behavior.

In the old man’s eyes, what Chris had done over the years was not much cleaner than his own. He was merely the pot calling the kettle black.

But as long as Chris did not interfere with the plan, Jin Ping could not be bothered with him.

Elsewhere.

Lu Su had never expected the association Storehouse to truly have a material he needed. Unfortunately, there was only one suitable for Aizen.

Diamond Grade Evolution Jade (Red).

"Why are Laolan’s materials always one short of a full set?"

The young man was momentarily speechless.

The materials he currently had prepared for Aizen were Limit Breaker (Red), Lord of Heaven (Red), Evolution Jade (Red), and God’s Remains (Red).

He was still two key materials short of advancing Laolan to Diamond Grade.

But there was no rushing such a matter. After all, the further one progressed, the fewer suitable materials there would be.

"Forget it. There’ll be a way when we get there."

"And this time, it wasn’t as though I gained nothing else."

That was right. Though he could not advance Aizen, Lu Su had found two other materials capable of creating another extremely crucial card.

Diamond Grade Merciful and Ruthless Executioner (Red).

Diamond Grade Unrighteous Strongman (Red).

Together with the Blade of Annihilation (Red) he had obtained earlier—

That was right. He intended to create the Soul Reaper who had dominated the Soul Society for a thousand years, carrying out slaughter in the name of protection.

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni.