Wuliang: "But to activate the Spirit Lock Array, at least four High-tier Sorcerers need to cooperate, and there are only three here, including myself."

Shi Zhizhai: "The person dispatched by Kucha failed, but he is rushing over to join you, so you'll have enough people. Four High-tier Sorcerers with the assistance of the Array will be enough to keep the Hidden Moth from escaping.

Do not scare the Hidden Moth; try to be polite and enthusiastic. There's no need for violence, and do not harm him. Even if the Hidden Moth does not come back with you this time, as long as his identity is confirmed, just let him leave. There's plenty of time in the future!

I've already instructed Kucha on how to arrange things..."

At this point, a list can be drawn up to see who He Kao's opponents are tonight—

Shi Zhizhai, the so-called Patriarch of the Shi Family, Tier Five Heart Measurer of the Micro Realm Sect.

Shi Haowu, codenamed Wuliang, son of Shi Zhizhai, Tier Four Artisan of the Micro Realm Sect.

Shi Haosheng, codenamed Two Mace, party brother of Shi Haowu, Tier Four Artisan of the Micro Realm Sect.

Hu Shulue, codenamed Three Pots, cousin-in-law of Shi Haowu, Tier Four Artisan of the Micro Realm Sect.

Li Weiping, codenamed Half Bottle, relative of the Shi family, Guest of Fate, has not yet entered the refinement of Micro-Entry Skill.

Gu Jiang, codenamed Kucha Zi, orphan sponsored and raised by Shi Zhizhai, Tier Four Artisan of the Micro Realm Sect, secret head of the Shi Family Cleaning Department.

The so-called Cleaning Department is merely a convenient term to avoid suspicion, but in reality, it's a secret faction handling dirty jobs that the Shi Family cannot openly manage.

The "Cat Dislikes Dog Detests" whom He Kao dealt with in Chen Yuhua's home was referred to as a cleaner, while the Shi Family called it a cleaner. The thought process surprisingly aligned!

The head of the Cleaning Department, Gu Jiang, also known as Shi Haohang, who sent messages to "Cat Dislikes Dog Detests," is an orphan raised under Shi Zhizhai's sponsorship.

Shi Zhizhai initially valued his qualifications and talents, not only providing sponsorship but also taking him as a disciple and teaching him techniques.

After Gu Jiang successfully cultivated, he was mainly responsible for one task: to secretly continue training a batch of sorcerers. These people were called cleaners, controlled by Gu Jiang, executing tasks according to his instructions.

Although these cleaners also practiced techniques, they were not aware of Gu Jiang's true identity nor their relationship with the Shi Family, and due to the special nature of their work, they couldn't reveal their identities.

During this large-scale survey of Magic Sect disciples, many sorcerers were dismissed due to disconnection. However, Gu Jiang's secretly trained batch of cleaners at the Shi Family were sorcerers too, but were never reported to the Ancestral Hall.

The Shi Family's covert and overt influence within the Magic Sect is evident in its magnitude and strength.

Actually, the term "Shi Family" is somewhat odd, because modern Eastern Country is no longer a feudal clan society like hundreds of years ago. Why play into this set again?

It feels like the sediment of history is resurfacing.

Even the overseas families that evolved due to inheritance have slowly developed into consortiums in the era of capital.

Especially for sorcerers, it's more difficult to form so-called families or clans because the Magic Sect is bound by technique transmission rather than blood relations.

Some traits like intelligence are normally distributed within the same racial group and do not pass on to the next generation.

There's no clear evidence of genetic inheritance for cultivation talent, meaning the children of sorcerers theoretically aren't necessarily more suited for practicing techniques than others.

But in practice, sorcerers' children almost inevitably receive technique transmissions, enjoying better cultivation conditions and resource support compared to ordinary people.

Some people, despite having excellent talent, might never have access to techniques in their lifetime.

This situation is understandable because sorcerers first approach their own children, then the children of relatives and friends, only extending their search if these children aren't capable.

If someone's particularly lucky with a large selection pool, by probability, a family might continuously produce talented individuals over generations, thereby forming a family transmission within a certain cycle.

However, since talent doesn't inherit, this type of transmission bound solely by family ties cannot maintain long-term.

Therefore, occasionally century-old clans appear in Magic Sect history, but the transmission almost never exceeds five generations, and families passing on techniques for hundreds or even thousands of years have never existed.

It's important to emphasize that certain techniques, like Lingxi Skill, require extremely high personal talent and comprehension, offering little help from family influence; almost no instances of family transmission are heard.

Other techniques like Micro-Entry Skill prioritize the cultivation of practical ability during training, requiring substantial resource support, making it easier to form multi-generational family traditions... reminiscent of artisans.

The Shi Family is a sorcerer family extending over a hundred years since modern times, with their clan settlement near Nanhua City in Huiming City, thus known as Huiming Shi Family, and has inherited through four generations.

According to the Huiming Shi Family's genealogy, the order of generations is Tian, Gao, Zhi, and Hao.

The first generation, Shi Tianjing, was not yet a Patriarch at the time, but he was a Tier Six Artifact Master of the Micro Realm Sect, once serving as a Sect Law Hall Elder.

The second generation, Shi Gaoyu, was a distant cousin of Shi Tianjing, gaining the title of Patriarch in his later years.

Shi Gaoyu's own cultivation pales compared to Shi Tianjing, only achieving Tier Four Artisan, yet he trained two exceptional disciples. One was his nephew Shi Zhizhai, now a Tier Five Heart Measurer.

The other was even more outstanding, named Kang Rulin, currently a Tier Six Artifact Master and Sect Law Hall Elder! Shi Gaoyu not only took Kang Rulin as a disciple but later married off his daughter to him.

This means Shi Tianjing's disciple-grandson, the third-generation noble son-in-law of the Shi Family, became a Sect Law Hall Elder.

The third generation, Shi Zhizhai, the current Patriarch of the Shi Family. Under his leadership, the Huiming Shi Family has gradually developed into a significant faction within the Magic Sect.

Sect Law Hall's Elder Kang is Shi Zhizhai's legitimate brother and cousin-in-law, himself a Tier Five Sorcerer.

Inspired by the previous generation Patriarch Shi Gaoyu and catching up with the return of clan customs in the southern region of Eastern Country, Shi Zhizhai began wide-scale selection and cultivation of Micro Realm Sect sorcerers within his clan.

On another front, he also focused on picking good seedlings outside the clan, adopting marriage or even surrogacy to incorporate them into the Huiming Shi Family faction. Hu Shulue, codenamed Three Pots, is now a high-ranked cultivator within the Micro Realm Sect.

In this massive survey of Magic Sect disciples, excluding those cleaners, the Shi Family branch had thirty-seven sorcerers.

Simultaneously, Shi Zhizhai also employed marriage alliances, resource exchanges, business collaborations, expanding relationships with other Magic Sect disciples, extending the Shi Family's influence beyond the Micro Realm Sect.

After all, Micro Realm Sect sorcerers excel in artifact refining, many hope to maintain good relations with them, not to mention a powerhouse like the Huiming Shi Family.

Shi Zhizhai also accomplished something the previous generation Patriarch never did, by taking the disciple Gu Jiang and secretly forming a Cleaning Department specialized in tasks that Shi Family sorcerers cannot publicly handle.

Why a cleaning department is needed, what was their initial role? A simple example, it's difficult to collect various spiritual materials needed for refining Micro-Entry Skill and artifact refining, many are private collections or stored in major museums.

Take the golden paperweight He Kao possesses, if one doesn't want to pay a high price or the other party refuses to sell, how could it be obtained? Shi Family members can't handle this directly... even if they act, it can't be known.

The fourth generation, Shi Haowu, is yet to be the Patriarch. But Shi Zhizhai is evidently grooming him to be the next Patriarch, as he's his son! The Shi Family members are also well aware of this.

Thus, Shi Zhizhai said that as long as the Hidden Moth is willing to cooperate, he can provide the necessary protection and help. Besides the Huiming Shi Family, who else has such confidence?

**

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