Mythical Scroll Artist: Starting with the God of Wealth, Zhao Gongming

Chapter 64 Monster Modification Gang?
Old Niu was known for his great strength; he could spear one enemy after another with his steel fork without making a sound.

Master Ma's methods were relatively milder, but not by much. Sometimes he would use his divine eye to exorcise monsters, and other times he would simply stab them with a spear, depending entirely on his mood.

More than a dozen monsters in the vicinity were quickly dealt with by Ox-Head and Horse-Face, successfully sending Master Ma to the second star level.

Let's look at Du Yifan and his two companions.

Du Yifan easily dealt with three monsters using the Soul-Devouring Ghost King, while the fat and thin men had only managed to defeat two.

It can only be said that there is no harm without comparison.

"It's a pity I wasn't selected for the Ghost King Club."

The two, one fat and one thin, laughed at themselves with regret, their eyes filled with envy.

"It's alright, it's just the first batch," Du Yifan comforted them. "As the club develops, we'll definitely need to expand our recruitment."

Upon hearing this, the two men, one fat and one thin, regained their fighting spirit.

Then, under Wu Xian's leadership, they swept through the enemy lines.

Wherever they went, the strange and monstrous had nowhere to hide.

While the painting spirits were eliminating the monsters, Wu Xian vaguely sensed that something was amiss.

These seemingly ordinary second- or third-tier monsters all seem to possess a rare spirituality.

It's important to know that rare spirituality only appears in certain special individuals or elite monsters.

The monsters in the Ratway Street area at this moment are just ordinary little monsters commonly found in the bizarre dimension.

This reminded Wu Xian of the three insect monsters he had casually dealt with in the Rat Road area before, which seemed to possess rare spirituality.

At the time, I thought it was because the mother insect that conceived them was special.

Now it seems that it's not that simple.

Or rather, these recent so-called "dimensional leaks" are not so simple.

Most importantly, Du Yifan and his two companions were also investigating the lingering spirits of the monsters after their deaths, each with a furrowed brow and deep in thought.

“These strange creatures seem a bit abnormal. Do you know something about them?” Wu Xian asked in a deep voice.

"Uh," Du Yifan and the other two were stunned and looked at each other awkwardly, "You noticed it too?"

"What's going on?" Wu Xian asked seriously.

“We don’t know the specifics either,” Du Yifan said thoughtfully. “The research institute just requires us to hand over any monsters with unusual spirituality that we find to them for research.”

"graduate School?"

“Hmm,” Du Yifan nodded, “We’re not qualified to know the specifics of what they’re researching, but from our observations, the dimensional monsters that have recently leaked out are definitely not right. They’re noticeably stronger than normal monsters.”

Wu Xian seemed to be deep in thought, realizing that asking further would probably yield no results.

Continue clearing out the monsters in the Ratway district.

Before I knew it, I had arrived near the tattoo guy's small clinic.

From afar, Zhang Mazi and several of his henchmen were seen guarding the clinic entrance. The tattooed guy cautiously peeked out from the door, revealing a shiny bald head, looking terrified.

Upon sensing the approaching monster, Zhang Mazi and his companions immediately activated their spiritual power, transforming into humanoid fighter jets.

Zhang Mazi has now advanced to the fourth level of spiritual power, and the tattoos on his arms have become clearly visible. He can grab a ghostly creature with his bare hands and slam it to the ground like a chicken.

This scene left Wu Xian, Du Yifan, and the other two completely stunned.

"Wow, isn't that the tough guy we met last time?" the short, chubby team member exclaimed in surprise.

"Have you met Zhang Mazi?" Wu Xian asked in surprise.

Du Yifan nodded and explained, "I met that guy in the Dimensional Mirage before. He fought the Mirage monsters on equal terms with just his spiritual power. He protected the neighbors very well, but he was not very willing to talk to us."

"Wow, they just killed the monster like that?" the tall, thin young man exclaimed in astonishment. "Even those fierce fighters in the military camp aren't that good, are they?"

"How did this guy train like that?"

As the three marveled, Zhang Mazi and his group also noticed them.

Wu Xian controlled Ox-Head and Horse-Face to enter the scene and forcefully dealt with the surrounding monsters.

"Yo~ Brother Gongming?" The tattooed guy leaned out with great interest, his eyes drawn to the Ox-Head and Horse-Face statues. "Are these two spirit paintings your new works?"

"Hmm," Wu Xian nodded and smiled, "How's Tattoo Guy doing lately?"

"I feel like I'm still missing something," Lin Yang, the tattoo artist, said awkwardly, scratching his head. "I keep unconsciously going astray in my drawings, but I've inexplicably made quite a bit of progress in tattooing."

"..."

Wu Xian was both amused and exasperated.

Maybe this guy was born to create "human body scroll art".

Moreover, drawing style and habits are like a person's handwriting; once a personal style is formed, it is very difficult to change.

"Brother Wu, how did you end up with the defense team?" Zhang Mazi asked with a strange expression.

Ever since learning about Wu Xian's identity as a scroll painter from the tattooed guy, Zhang Mazi's attitude towards Wu Xian has become noticeably more respectful.

"I just happened to be passing by, so I thought I'd lend a hand," Wu Xian said with a smile.

"Help?" Zhang Mazi's expression was strange, seemingly very resistant and wary of the defense team. "Just don't let them trick you."

“We don’t like hearing that, brother,” the short, stout young man said, somewhat annoyed. “Do you have some misunderstanding about our defense team?”

"Misunderstanding?" Zhang Mazi sneered. "Does your defense team need misunderstandings?"

The henchman beside him snorted in agreement: "If you ask me, this dimensional leak was caused by you guys!"

"Aren't you just making baseless accusations and wronging an innocent person?" the tall, thin young man said, his voice trembling with emotion.

"Okay, just say a few words."

Du Yifan quickly tried to smooth things over. Although he was reluctant to admit it, their defense team did indeed have a bad reputation in the Rat Path area.

They also disapproved of the old team members' arrogant and domineering behavior in the Ratway neighborhood, which involved bullying men and women.

For example, this dimensional leak was accidentally discovered by a few veteran team members while they were browsing brothels in the Rat Path. One of them died a terrible death.

"At least these three young military officers are still very sincere."

Wu Xian knew that the defense team had a bad reputation, but Du Yifan and the other two young men were quite nice.

When Wu Xian spoke, the two sides finally quieted down.

"Protect the tattooed guy, we're going to get busy now."

After saying goodbye to the tattooed guy and his group, he continued to lead Du Yifan and his two companions to clear out the monsters.

The Ratway neighborhood isn't particularly large or small, but its dense population and buildings make it difficult to clean up.

Before anyone knew it, Master Ma had already reached two and a half stars, and the range of his Yin-Yang Eyes had also expanded considerably.

Along the way, they encountered some scattered members of the protection team, who were dazzled by the fierce performance of the Ox-Head and Horse-Face and joined the team.

"Is the cleaning almost done?"

As they were about to wipe out the entire Ratway district, the entire protection team felt like they were dreaming.

"Thank you so much, young comrade!"

An older team member excitedly shook hands with Wu Xian to express his gratitude.

"You're welcome. I was just doing a good deed."

As they were talking, both Wu Xian's and Du Yifan's phones rang with message notifications.

I took out my phone and saw a message in the club's group chat:
The beautiful and intelligent president: "@Everyone, I just received a message from the association that a strange dimensional leak has occurred in the Sanzaigang Rat Road district. Our Ghost King Club is a perfect fit for this, so everyone hurry up and go help out."

This is undoubtedly a great opportunity to enhance the club's reputation and image, and also to showcase the power of the Demon King's Scroll to the public.

Oh, and by the way, keep an eye out for the media present, and try to get on camera.

Zhou Qi (Special Scroll Illustrator): "Rat Street? Okay, I'll be on my way."

Xue Qingyang: "Don't worry, Auntie, I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"

Seeing that the other members were responding, Wu Xian and Du Yifan quickly spoke up.

Wu Xian (Vice President): "Uh, it's no longer needed. Du Yifan and I just happen to be here."

Du Yifan: "The vice president is too awesome. We've almost completely resolved the situation here."

Li Xiangyang: "Huh? Really?"

Du Yifan: "Why would I lie to you? The main thing is that our vice president's new work is pretty powerful. With one use of his innate skill, the monsters nearby have nowhere to hide."

As he spoke, he turned on his camera, took a group photo with Ox-Head and Horse-Face, and posted it in the group chat.

This sparked a flurry of excited discussion among the club members.

The beautiful and intelligent guild leader said: "My good disciple did a good job. Are there any media here? Don't forget to promote our club. If there are media interviews, remember to have the Soul Devouring Ghost King stand next to you, and it would be best if the media could give you a few close-ups."

"..." Wu Xian was both amused and exasperated, and silently sent a message: "Okay."

After putting away his phone, he turned to Du Yifan and said, "I'll leave the follow-up media interviews to you."

"Uh, doesn't the Vice President want to be on TV?"

"I am not good with words and have no interest in appearing on television."

"That's fine."

Amidst the laughter and pleasantries, a middle-aged man in his fifties, dressed in a high-ranking uniform of the protection team, approached. "Weren't we supposed to be clearing out the monsters? What are you doing here?"

Upon learning that the monster had been eliminated, the middle-aged man remained stunned for a long time.

Du Yifan and the other two took turns praising Wu Xian to the skies.

"Captain Wang, this is Wu Xian, the vice president of our Ghost King Club, and also our president's disciple," Du Yifan enthusiastically introduced to Captain Wang.

"As expected of the scroll artist, so young and promising!"

Team Leader Wang expressed his gratitude to Wu Xian in a very formal manner and showed great interest in Ox-Head and Horse-Face.

"Sir, you flatter me," Wu Xian said with a modest smile, then took the opportunity to inquire, "How's the situation at the leak site?"

"The research institute has already taken over, and we can't get involved anymore."

“From what I’ve observed, these strange leaks all seem rather unusual,” Wu Xian pressed. “But what’s wrong with the leak points?”

Upon hearing this, a strange light flashed in Captain Wang's eyes.

But on second thought, it's quite normal that the scroll painter would notice this anomaly.

“The Scroll Master has keen insight. The monsters that have appeared in the city recently are indeed problematic,” Captain Wang said thoughtfully. “They have likely been modified by humans, and there are indeed traces of human intervention at this leak site today.”

"Modification?" Wu Xian exclaimed in surprise, "Monsters can be modified?"

"I'm not sure about that; the research institute has been conducting in-depth research on it."

Wu Xian clicked his tongue in amazement. "Have they caught anyone?"

“They’ve long since disappeared,” Captain Wang sighed helplessly. “But based on my judgment, the other party is definitely not just one or two people; it’s most likely an organization or gang.”

Du Yifan and the others couldn't help but ask, "What's the point of modifying the monster? What's the purpose?"

“Who knows?” Captain Wang shook his head: “Yesterday, the No. 7 mine mysteriously dried up, like a ghost. I even suspect that the same group of people are behind these two things.”

Upon hearing this, Wu Xian felt secretly embarrassed.

(End of this chapter)