Douluo Continent: Starting with a Heavenly Fire Judgment

Chapter 209 Project Saint Mark

After everyone signed the contract, Ji Lin personally taught them the Tai Xu Sword Qi. Then, led by people arranged by Xu Jiujiu, they went to their respective residences. They couldn't wait to switch to cultivating the Tai Xu Sword Qi.

When Ji Lin was teaching them the Taixu Sword Qi, they had already felt its power and wished they could sit down and start cultivating on the spot.

Sensing their eagerness, Ji Lin instructed Xu Jiujiu to arrange for them to officially move into the Zizai Gate.

In the room for a long time.

Ji Lin sat on the sofa, leisurely sipping red tea. After a long while, he held a pile of documents in his hands and flipped through them, his expression quite interesting.

From curiosity to surprise to shock, and finally from delight to solemnity.

Ji Lin witnessed the changes in Xu Jiujiu's expression throughout the entire process and couldn't help but laugh.

Seeing Ji Lin sitting carefree on the sofa, slacking off, Xu Jiujiu rolled his eyes in exasperation and said, "Little Lin, where did you get this Saint Mark making technique? Does anyone else know about it besides you? This is amazing! If the technique recorded here is real, then the situation in Douluo Continent will change. With just the genetic information of a 100,000-year-old soul beast and enough resources, 100,000-year-old Saint Marks can be mass-produced. Moreover, children born in the future will have a chance to awaken innate Saint Marks. This means that humans will no longer need to hunt soul beasts to obtain soul rings. As long as enough genetic information is stored, even if soul beasts become extinct, humans can still obtain soul rings by making Saint Marks."

It's a given that the number of spirit beasts on the continent is dwindling, and sooner or later, they will be wiped out by humans. Humans need to hunt spirit beasts to become stronger, but spirit beasts need time to grow stronger. Most importantly, spirit beasts can only grow stronger by enduring time, and humans lack time above all else. Even a Title Douluo only has a lifespan of a few hundred years. In a few hundred years, a spirit beast can only increase its lifespan by a few hundred years, while humans can live for several generations. This creates a vicious cycle. It's foreseeable that in the future, humans will inevitably exterminate spirit beasts, and the profession of spirit master will disappear. It's unavoidable that all humans will become ordinary people.

Many far-sighted people in the Douluo Continent thought of this, but no one stood up to change it. It wasn't that no one wanted to, but that this was the rule of the Douluo Continent, and they were powerless to change it. Moreover, the future is the future, and they wouldn't live to see it. What was the point of worrying about what would happen after they died?

Therefore, many people in Douluo Continent knew about this problem that they would inevitably face in the future, but everyone chose to ignore it and left the problem to future generations.

Ji Lin's Sacred Mark technology represents a new future for the Soul Master profession, opened up by Sacred Marks.

Ji Lin didn't directly answer Xu Jiujiu's question, but instead asked, "Sister Jiujiu, how about it? Can we eat this cake by ourselves?"

After a long pause, Xu Jiu frowned, pondered for a moment, and then shook his head, saying, "The Star Luo Empire isn't monolithic. Although our Star Crown lineage is royalty, it's impossible for us to monopolize the Saint Mark. Not to mention the other three great empires, we'd have a hard time dealing with the Body Sect alone. Currently, the three recognized top powers on the Douluo Continent are the Sun Moon Empire's Mingde Hall, Shrek Academy, and the Body Sect. Moreover, based on my understanding of the Body Sect's modus operandi, once the existence of the Saint Mark is exposed, the Body Sect will definitely try to seize it by force, and even the Body Sect Master himself will take action."

Xu Jiujiu's expression also turned somewhat grim as he said, "It's not just the Body Sect that will try to seize it by force; the Mingde Hall of the Sun Moon Empire will also make a move, and even Shrek Academy might secretly intervene. Other forces will also take advantage of the situation. Once the Sacred Mark is exposed, all forces that desire a 100,000-year Soul Ring will make their move. As for fair trade, heh! Why should I buy something with money if I can steal it, unless I can't steal it?"

The allure of a 100,000-year spirit ring is immense for spirit masters. Remember how the Body Sect once triggered a beast tide just to hunt 100,000-year spirit beasts? This demonstrates the irresistible appeal of 100,000-year spirit rings. If they were to reveal their ability to artificially create 100,000-year spirit rings using Sacred Mark technology, unless they could subdue everyone with sheer power, someone would definitely try to snatch them.

As for only releasing the Thousand-Year and Ten-Thousand-Year Sacred Marks, claiming that they are unable to create the Hundred-Thousand-Year Sacred Mark, haha! Do you think the people from the major powers on the mainland are all fools?

Ji Lin rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on, and said, "Even with Teacher Chi Yuan here, it's still not enough? She's a quasi-god now; no one on the continent can rival her."

After a long sigh, he said, "Exposing the existence of His Majesty Chi Yuan can indeed temporarily suppress the other forces' desire to seize her, but we only have one His Majesty Chi Yuan. In that case, we will be in the eye of the storm, and all the forces will be watching us. It will be a losing proposition."

Ji Lin said helplessly, "I knew it would be like this. In other words, we still need allies. We need to win over some and suppress others so that we can gain the greatest benefits and avoid becoming the target of everyone's criticism."

Xu Jiujiu said helplessly, "That's all we can do. I'll discuss this with my brother. The decision on allies still needs to be made by my brother. He knows better than us who is worth winning over and who needs to be suppressed."

Ji Lin said, "Then let's do it this way. However, we can make some Holy Marks in advance for internal use. Let's keep the matter of the Holy Marks a secret for now. Maybe once our Free Sect has grown stronger, we won't need allies anymore."

Although Ji Lin said this, he knew that once the Holy Marks began to be used, they might be exposed. No secrets stay hidden forever. It would take a long time for their Zizai Sect to grow stronger, and finding allies was essential.

In his opinion, Shrek Academy was a good ally, since Shrek Academy would eventually be under the Ji family's control. As for the Body Sect, it was too domineering and arrogant, and cooperation would definitely be unpleasant. Mingde Hall was even less likely to cooperate. Xu Jiawei and Xu Jiujiu were the first to disagree. In other words, the most they would end up cooperating with were Shrek Academy and some other sects with good relations with the Star Crown lineage.

As for which sects, that's for Xu Jiawei to decide. Ji Lin knows nothing about the other sects.

However, with Shrek Academy, the number one academy on the continent, taking the lead and sharing the pressure, Ji Lin and his Free Gate could hide behind Shrek Academy and the Star Luo Empire and develop in a lowly manner.

Moreover, Ji Lin had no intention of handing over the most important technology for creating perfect Stigmata; he only intended to release the technology for creating artificial Stigmata.

Ji Lin finished his cup of black tea in one gulp and said to Xu Jiujiu, "I'll leave the rest to you, Sister Jiujiu. I still need to go back to Shrek Academy to take the Inner Academy assessment. As for the plan to win over allies and promote the Holy Mark together, let's call it the Holy Mark Project."

(End of this chapter)