This is all Shrek's doing!

Because he knew the Holy Spirit Cult's headquarters were located in the core area of the Evil Demon Forest, Xu Tianming did not want to linger, despite the minimal commotion caused by their recent skirmish, to avoid any complications that might arise from delay.

Xu Tianming symbolically asked the eight-ringed evil soul master a few questions, such as the objective of their operation, the total number of people involved, and who had provided the intelligence for the mission.

Regarding these pieces of information, which were not considered top-secret, the eight-ringed leader answered readily; his instinct for survival left him too terrified to dare even the slightest deception.

However, when the questions delved deeper into the secrets of the Holy Spirit Cult, his demeanor changed completely. Despite the visible agony on his face, he bit his tongue and refused to utter a word.

Kong Deming, standing to the side with his wealth of experience, saw the issue at a glance:

"He must have been placed under a mental restriction by the higher-ups of the Holy Spirit Cult, preventing him from revealing the core secrets of the sect to outsiders."

Although he had long been aware of this possibility, Xu Tianming feigned surprise, as if hearing of it for the first time.

"If that is the case, then I have nothing left to ask. If you have no further questions, Uncle, then let us dispose of him."

As soon as these words were spoken, extreme terror instantly filled the heart of the eight-ringed evil soul master.

In this moment, he could finally empathize with the general state of mind of those he had once tortured to death as their own ends approached.

His heart was filled with remorse, but it was not repentance for the evil deeds he had committed; he only regretted why he had accepted this suicidal mission in the first place, and cursed his own weakness for being unable to even claim the right to resist when faced with a powerful enemy.

Knowing his death was imminent, the fear in his eyes lasted only a moment before it transformed into absolute madness.

However, before he could voice his final, crazed ravings, a dryness seized the depths of his throat. Then, he felt his vision go black, and his consciousness began to sink into the abyss...

After finishing off the last of the evil soul masters, Kong Deming immediately mobilized the soul power within his body, preparing to destroy the corpses and erase all traces, just as he had done before.

But just before he could act, Xu Tianming suddenly thought of a better way to handle the situation than simply destroying the evidence:

"Uncle, do you have a Shrek Inspectorate badge on you?"

Hearing this, Kong Deming was stunned for a moment, but within two seconds, he understood exactly what his nephew meant.

The Shrek Inspectorate was an organization where all Shrek students who entered the inner courtyard and senior inner courtyard teachers were granted the status of Shrek Inspector.

The purpose of this organization was to handle malicious incidents caused by soul masters that the four great empires could not or would not manage. Their primary targets for eradication were evil soul masters and corrupt officials who disregarded human life; generally, they did not interfere in the internal affairs of the various empires.

If an inner courtyard member of Shrek wished to graduate successfully, they were required to complete thirty inspection missions. As the empire with the highest activity of evil soul masters on the Douluo Continent, many Shrek Inspectorate members had naturally come to the Sun Moon Empire in years past to purge evil.

Some successfully completed their missions, while others naturally failed and met their ends in bitterness.

Therefore, Kong Deming actually possessed a few Shrek Inspectorate badges.

He had originally kept them as collectibles, never expecting they would come in handy today!

Seeing his uncle smile faintly as he retrieved two badges from his storage soul tool, Xu Tianming took them naturally. He examined them casually for a moment, confirming that there were no special markings recording the owner's identity, and then summoned his Radiant Sun Martial Soul.

Using flames to incinerate the corpses of the evil soul masters into ash, ensuring that no one could discern the nature of their wounds, Xu Tianming then took the two badges. He tossed one casually under some fallen leaves and the other into the pile of ash that the eight-ringed evil soul master had become.

Having completed the task in one fluid motion, Xu Tianming clapped his hands and turned his gaze back to Kong Deming:

"Uncle, surely no one will be able to find any trace of evidence to confirm that we were the ones who killed these evil soul masters now, right?"

Hearing this, Kong Deming could not help but laugh heartily:

"Have we done anything at all? These evil soul masters died—was it not the work of the Shrek Inspectorate?"

Hearing his uncle say this, Xu Tianming also laughed:

"Exactly! This was all the work of the Shrek Inspectorate; it has nothing to do with us!"

Evil Demon Forest.

In a relatively quiet spot, less than two hundred meters away from Xu Tianming.

After walking here with her physically weak husband and daughter, Mother Ye recounted everything that had just happened to her husband in full detail.

After listening, Father Ye was silent for a moment before laughing softly in relief, taking the initiative to ease the somewhat oppressive atmosphere among the three of them:

"It seems our luck is not so bad after all. I thought we were doomed today, but who would have thought our lives were not meant to end here? As the saying goes, those who survive a great disaster are destined for future blessings. Don't be sad anymore; since we have survived, let us forget today's unpleasantness as quickly as possible. Our family's good days are still ahead of us!"

As the pillar of the family, even though Father Ye could no longer mobilize his soul power, his words allowed his wife and daughter to find strength, as if they had found their backbone once more, and their hope was rekindled.

Seeing that the spirits of his wife and daughter had recovered, Father Ye smiled happily for a while, but then could not help but sigh.

They say a life-saving grace is greater than the heavens, let alone the fact that he had saved the lives of their entire family.

How were they to repay such an immense debt?

Just as Father Ye was frowning and pondering this, a sound of footsteps suddenly reached his ears.

In the silent Evil Demon Forest, this abrupt sound made the family of three, who had just suffered a catastrophe, instantly alert.

However, looking toward the source of the sound and seeing who it was, the family of three immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Despite his physical weakness, Father Ye asked his wife to help him up; he wanted to offer his most sincere gratitude to the benefactor who had saved their lives.

However, before he could speak, Xu Tianming, who had walked up to them, interrupted his thoughts:

"Spare me the formalities for now. We can discuss everything in detail once we return to the Ming Capital."

In truth, Xu Tianming had not thought much about it at the beginning; he had simply wanted to save someone, nothing more.

But when he saw the Angel Martial Soul on Father Ye, he immediately realized a few things. However, the situation had been urgent at the time, and he had no time to dwell on it.

The reason he did not want to say much now was simply that he wanted to take the time during their return to the Ming Capital to think through the doubts in his heart before making any detailed plans.

Although the family of three did not know what their benefactor was thinking, since he had spoken, they could not very well argue. After exchanging glances, they nodded in agreement.