The Plan Changes

Although winters in Nandu rarely saw snow, they could hardly be called warm.

But that made no difference to Card Masters.

Early in the morning, Lu Su was half-squatting by the roadside, watching the bustling street while eating duck blood vermicelli soup from his hands.

Beside him stood Altria, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster’s.

"Mm."

"Lu Su."

"This is tasty."

The Blonde Girl spoke indistinctly.

As she spoke, she waved the beef potstickers in her hand before Lu Su.

Behind them were Amina and Lu Su’s other cards.

Hearing Altria, Lu Su sighed helplessly. "Swallow it before you talk."

Ignoring Altria, who had resumed battling the food in her hands, he finished the remaining duck blood vermicelli soup in two or three bites, then stood up to pay.

But when the owner saw Lu Su summon so many cards at once, he immediately realized that the youth was likely a high-level Card Master and refused to accept payment no matter what.

In the end, though, Lu Su forcibly paid him, claiming that dining and dashing would get him punished by the association.

"Let’s go back."

After calling out, Lu Su recalled all the cards into his mind.

Before long, the Ghost Shadow Soldier brought him and Amina home.

After sending the little girl upstairs to do her homework, Lu Su sank into the sofa.

That was right. Only after arriving in Great Ming had Amina discovered that Lu Su did not need her care at all. Instead, she had endless classes every day.

Thinking about it, Kurumi deserved the credit, since she had hired all the tutors.

"Phew. Eating at a street stall once in a while wasn’t bad."

Some time had passed since Zhang Jingxing told Lu Su to leave the Shuběi Army.

Naturally, he was now in Nandu because he had accepted his Senior Disciple Brother’s suggestion.

It was not because he feared death, but because he had already completed the task Jin Ping assigned him.

After Zhang Jingxing finished persuading him that day, he immediately told him about the information pried out of Cliff.

This was exactly what Lu Su wanted. He had originally been troubled over how to investigate the Demonization Experiment.

But since his Senior Disciple Brother had brought it up himself, Lu Su no longer needed to worry.

And under Lu Su’s indirect probing, Zhang Jingxing revealed the complete process of the Demonization Experiment without thinking much of it.

The main reason was that Cliff had originally been captured by Lu Su, and Lu Su had even been the first to discover the Demonization Experiment.

Thus, Zhang Jingxing merely thought his Junior Disciple was curious and did not think too deeply about it.

Under normal circumstances, he would never have imagined that Lu Su was gathering information for Jin Ping.

Recalling the experimental information in his mind, Lu Su had already made a decision.

Handing it directly to Jin Ping was clearly inappropriate. It would be best to revise it before giving it to him.

"The blood of a demon with fusion abilities, a Wedge serving as a culture vessel, a Card Master’s Blood Relative."

"And a card capable of manifesting the abilities of other cards."

Lu Su muttered the necessary conditions of the experiment, considering how to alter them.

First was the blood of a demon with fusion abilities. He did not intend to alter that part.

After all, if he wanted to deceive Jin Ping, he could not make excessive changes to the experimental process. Otherwise, with that old man’s many years of experience in this field, he might notice something.

The second material was the Wedge used as a culture vessel—the victims from Donglai at the time.

Lu Su only intended to slightly change the required quantity for this item. The disturbance Li Shuo caused in Donglai had been too great. As long as Jin Ping wanted to know, he could easily deduce the relevant details from what had happened there.

As for the third item—

"Blood Relative."

According to Cliff, the original experimental process had not required this condition. The same had been true during Li Shuo’s case, when the Demon Army had simply found a random human to serve as the vessel.

However, because the experiment’s success rate had been absurdly low, the Demon Army discovered, after repeated investigation, that Li Shuo’s case had one differing variable.

Li Xie, who served as the vessel, was his son.

After that, the Demon Army changed the vessel to a Blood Relative of the experimental subject, and the success rate visibly improved.

But because of this harsh condition, very few Card Masters within the Demon Army had undergone Demonization.

"Since that was added later, then wouldn’t that mean…"

Lu Su’s eyes flickered, and he removed the section regarding Blood Relatives from the experimental information he intended to submit to Jin Ping.

"A card capable of manifesting the abilities of other cards."

To be honest, when he first heard the materials required for this experiment, Lu Su’s first thought had been his Flame Sword Rekka · Sacred Swordriver.

But he had no intention of conducting this experiment.

Being a Card Master was quite good now. Lu Su had no complaints.

Besides, he could not bring himself to harm innocent civilians, and as for so-called Blood Relatives, he had no idea where to find them.

"That should be about it." After finishing his revisions, Lu Su let out a long breath. "I can finally report back."

Jin Ping’s task had weighed on his heart like a mountain during this period.

Lu Su had even considered confessing directly, then leading Great Ming’s Master Card Masters to kill the old man.

But he ultimately calmed down.

First, because Bai Yueming, the most suitable person to confess to, was not currently in Great Ming.

Second, because—

Lu Su still did not know Jin Ping’s exact hiding place. Gu Wu had led him there last time.

The City within a City in Australia might indeed provide a chance to catch Jin Ping’s trail, but there was not just one Master Card Master in that city.

Chris of the Fallen Cult’s Inverted Cross, the Skin Peeler from India-America, and Marcus, whom Lu Su had never met.

All of them were Master Card Masters.

By that count, the City within a City had even more Master Card Masters than the association.

Those three Master Card Masters might not necessarily help Jin Ping, but Lu Su did not dare gamble on it.

"I’ll talk about it after this is over."

According to his estimate, the Spirit Summoning Society should not assign him another task anytime soon.

With that in mind, he put away the experimental materials and took out the Sub-machine.

Six: President, I’ve gathered most of the experimental intelligence you ordered me to investigate. I’ll bring it over.

Jin Ping: Well done, Xiao Liu. Meet at the usual place.

After reading Jin Ping’s response, Lu Su was unsurprised that he still had not revealed his location.

He then went into the bathroom and began drawing a Magic Array.

Since his disguise had basically been completely exposed on Kurumi’s side, Lu Su could no longer be bothered to find a secluded place to use the Blood Sacrifice Array.

After all, even if something went wrong, his Senior Disciple Sister would cover for him.

In all of Great Ming, fewer than five people could silently approach his residence right under the eyes of a Diamond Grade Card Master.

Considering that, doing this at home was instead the safest option.

"Come to think of it, doesn’t the Spirit Summoning Society still owe me a full set of Jade Grade materials?"

A blood-red flash swept past, and he instantly vanished.

Australia.

It was still the familiar City of Chaos.

Lu Su easily found Jin Ping’s little house.

He knocked lightly on the door, but before he could speak, it opened by itself.

Walking inside, Lu Su saw Jin Ping and lowered his head in greeting. "President."

Without waiting for instructions, he took out the prepared intelligence on the Demonization Experiment.

Seeing this, Jin Ping nodded in satisfaction and patted Lu Su’s shoulder with his gaunt hand. "Well done."

After speaking, he began examining the materials in his hand.

After a long while, Jin Ping started cackling. "Their line of thought is quite interesting. I’d never considered this angle before."

As he spoke, he looked at Lu Su beside him. "I’m very satisfied this time, Xiao Liu."

"Tell me. What reward do you want?"

The Hook-nosed Elder had originally thought Lu Su would take much longer. He had not expected him to succeed in such a short time.

Moreover, he had just reviewed the detailed information and could confirm that it was not fabricated.

"It seems Xiao Liu really did put his heart into this."

Jin Ping thought this, completely unaware that the Xiao Liu in his mind was preparing to make him cosplay Ouyang Feng.

Hearing that, Lu Su merely replied respectfully, "I’ll follow the President’s arrangements."

He said that because he did not know what reward he should ask for.

He still had 120,000 points on the association’s side that he had not spent, while the Spirit Summoning Society also owed him a complete set of Jade Grade materials.

Lu Su had never fought such a wealthy battle before.

Seeing him like this, Jin Ping said somewhat helplessly, "You…"

"Come find me once you reach Diamond Grade. By then, it will be about time for you to learn what I intend for you to do."

At those words, Lu Su’s heart immediately tightened.

Before he could think it through, he instinctively answered, "Yes."

After that, the room fell silent.

Just as Lu Su was growing bored, Jin Ping suddenly said, "Xiao Liu, you probably won’t be staying in the Shuběi Army after this, right? Have you decided where you’re going?"

Hearing the old man’s question, Lu Su’s heart sank.

Before coming here, he had considered that Jin Ping might bring this up.

Fortunately, he had prepared in advance.

Lu Su said without changing expression, "Not yet. The association’s job transfer hasn’t been finalized."

That was a lie. The association had actually offered him several positions days ago for him to choose from.

But he had temporarily pushed the matter back by claiming that he needed some time to rest, all to prevent Jin Ping from causing more trouble.

Hearing that, the old man waved his hand. "Fine. Go back first."

"Notify Xiao Wu once you have news."

Lu Su relaxed inwardly, knowing he had managed to bluff his way through.

He said nothing more, merely nodded slightly, then withdrew.

Standing on the street, he let out a quiet breath and took out the Sub-machine. Since he was already here, he planned to collect the set of Jade Grade materials from Gu Wu.

Six: Fifth Brother, where are you? I’m ready to collect the set of Jade Grade materials the President rewarded me with earlier.

Five: ‘Location.’

Looking at the coordinates Gu Wu sent, Lu Su frowned slightly, because the location was not far from Shanghai City.

More importantly—

Master Grade Secret Realm, Demon’s Nest, was right beside it.

"No wonder."

Lu Su now understood why the association had never been able to find the Spirit Summoning Society’s base.

Thinking of the materials in Jin Ping’s hands that had clearly come from the Demon’s Nest, he was not surprised at all that the Spirit Summoning Society had ties to it.

After putting away the Sub-machine and using the Blood Sacrifice Array to return to his previous anchor point, he immediately headed toward his destination.

After a long time, the seawater beneath his feet gradually disappeared, replaced by land formed from flesh and blood.

"So this is a Master Grade Secret Realm."

With a grave expression, Lu Su continued toward the location of the Spirit Summoning Society’s base.

A moment later, just as he stared at the barren expanse of flesh-covered ground in confusion and wondered whether Gu Wu had sent the wrong location, a massive crack suddenly appeared before him.

Sensing the dense aura of contracts coming from within the crack, Lu Su understood that this was the Spirit Summoning Society’s base.

Yet before the crack appeared, the youth had not sensed the slightest abnormality, clearly because it possessed concealment methods.

Gu Wu appeared before Lu Su and waved for him to follow. "Come with me."

After speaking, the man in black suit did not exchange further pleasantries and immediately led him deeper into the crack.

Along the way, Lu Su saw many Spirit Summoning Society members. When these low-ranking members saw the two of them, they stopped their work and respectfully watched them leave.

But Gu Wu ignored those low-ranking members, whom he regarded as expendable materials, and silently led Lu Su to a wall formed of flesh and blood.

"Come in."

As if sensing their arrival, the flesh wall instantly opened an entrance wide enough for one person to pass through.

Lu Su followed Gu Wu into a dimly lit place.

But when Gu Wu stomped his foot, the originally dark space instantly became bright.

What appeared before Lu Su was a bloody room hung with countless grotesque demon limbs.

"You know the situation in the society. The materials aren’t as complete as those in the association."

"So you’d better prepare yourself."

Hearing that, Lu Su nodded.

Gu Wu then tossed him a device. "Choose for yourself. Once you’re done, I’ll retrieve them for you."

After looking through the materials for a while, Lu Su understood why Gu Wu had said that.

The Spirit Summoning Society truly had very few materials, most of them only around Blue Quality. It could not compare to the association at all.

"Tsk."

"I was originally planning to gather all of Nylro’s materials at once."

Lu Su curled his lip. With the plan changed and Nylro’s materials impossible to complete, he could only settle for other suitable materials.

Before long, he handed the device back to Gu Wu.

Glancing at the materials Lu Su had selected, Gu Wu said flatly, "You certainly aren’t taking a loss."

As for why he said that—

Jade Grade Loyal Sword Frenzy (Red) ×2.

Jade Grade Blood of the Undead (Red).

Jade Grade Sheep Demon Knight (Red).

The four materials Lu Su chose were all among the few Red Quality items in the Spirit Summoning Society’s inventory.

Of the two Loyal Sword Frenzies, he planned to use one to advance Sister Lie, while saving the other to see whether Yoriichi or Zoro would need it.

The Blood of the Undead was naturally for Little Spider. Thanks to the Goddess System Trait, Little Spider now only needed a single material to advance to Jade Grade.

Goddess System: A planet-wide system created by Evil God D with the goddess Sariel as its core. D had originally built it purely for amusement. Spider-girl could gain experience by killing living creatures, reducing the cost of card advancement.

The last Sheep Demon Knight had been prepared for Nylro. Lu Su had originally intended to advance her in order to form a Bond with Ulquiorra.

But now, it seemed that would have to be postponed.

After putting away the materials, Lu Su did not linger and returned directly to his home in Nandu.

Meanwhile, at Kurumi’s home not far away, she could not help but breathe a sigh of relief after sensing that her junior disciple was safe and sound.

After messaging Kurumi on his phone to let her know he was safe, Lu Su entered meditation and began restoring his Spiritual Power.

Three materials lay before him.

Scarlet Dominator, Battle Maniac, Loyal Sword Frenzy.

He was going to advance Unohana Retsu. Though it was a pity that she could not form a Bond with Ulquiorra, Seireitei had at least advanced to Jade Grade before this.

Looking at it that way, it was not much of a loss.

After a long while, Lu Su opened his eyes.

"Let’s begin."