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Specific administrative affairs of the Spirit Branch Halls were left to the discretion of their respective Hall Masters. There was a distinct advantage to this approach.
It meant that the policies promoted by Spirit Hall were actually implemented by specific, low-ranking Soul Masters within the branch halls.
However, the success or failure of a policy ultimately depended on the concrete execution by these low-ranking Soul Masters. If these subordinates feigned compliance while acting in opposition, the policies rolled out by Spirit Hall would remain mere theories on paper rather than concrete measures.
Therefore, to ensure the effectiveness of Spirit Hall's policies, it was necessary to guarantee that these scattered Soul Masters were all executing the same directive.
Yet, the hierarchy of Soul Masters was a pyramid structure, and the power structure followed the same shape.
Expecting a tiny minority of high-ranking Soul Masters to supervise tens of thousands of low-ranking ones was completely unrealistic. To ensure these scattered personnel carried out the will of Spirit Hall, power inevitably had to be delegated to the masters of the various branch halls.
By having the Branch Hall Masters manage the Soul Masters and affairs within their respective regions, efficiency was greatly improved.
But with this came the inevitable inflation of the Branch Hall Masters' power.
To ensure that the authority of these masters did not spiral out of control, the existence of the "Sanctuary" became significant. It was equivalent to placing a restrictive shackle on the Branch Hall Masters.
As long as the Sanctuary existed and its supervision was in place, these Hall Masters would be compelled to assist Spirit Hall in thoroughly implementing its policies.
As for those Hall Masters who did not take Spirit Hall's policies seriously, once their negligence was exposed, it would naturally be time for the Sanctuary to deal with them.
In the past, the Branch Hall Masters held immense power. Adding the "Sanctuary" as a layer of constraint would inevitably make them extremely unwilling.
To ensure these Hall Masters worked diligently rather than slacking off or resisting, Ye Lan decided to introduce incentives for each branch.
In the Douluo Continent, strength was king.
Therefore, to motivate the Spirit Branch Halls that performed well, one only needed to provide them with quotas for "Customized Artificial Soul Rings."
Only with better Artificial Soul Rings could these Hall Masters ensure the long-term inheritance and prosperity of their families.
Surely, those Hall Masters wouldn't want to lose access to Artificial Soul Rings and see their families decline just because they were restricted for exploiting commoners, embezzlement, or engaging in corruption?
As for how to prevent corruption within the Sanctuary itself, the matter was simple: The Sanctuary had to offer things that no one else could.
On this point, Ye Lan already had a plan.
Moving forward, Ye Lan intended to develop several types of martial soul resources for Spirit Hall.
For example, the immortal herbs from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Whale Glue from the ocean, "Artificial Soul Rings," and "Tool Soul Awakening Weapons," among others.
These resources would be mass-produced step-by-step under Ye Lan's planning. Naturally, Ye Lan would allocate a portion of these treasures—which could drastically improve a Soul Master's comprehensive strength—to the Sanctuary.
The Sanctuary would receive these rare, first-hand martial soul resources.
According to Ye Lan's plan, the Sanctuary would only accept elites, and all cultivation resources would rival the best in the entire Douluo Continent.
By making it a point of pride for Spirit Hall Soul Masters to join the Sanctuary, the members of the Sanctuary would naturally be unwilling to conspire with the various Spirit Branch Halls.
After all, the Sanctuary possessed resources that the other Spirit Branch Halls did not. Conversely, any resources the Branch Halls could offer, the Sanctuary already possessed.
In this way, the power structure of Spirit Hall would be completely perfected.
Within Spirit Hall's pyramid structure, executive efficiency was already highly effective. However, the issue of excessive power held by the masters of Branch Halls and Platinum Bishoprics was unavoidable.
To ensure these leaders didn't lose control, the role of the Sanctuary would be brought into play.
And Ye Lan only needed to ensure the Sanctuary didn't lose control to completely dominate the entire Spirit Hall through it.
After organizing his thoughts on how to utilize the supervisory functions of the Sanctuary, Ye Lan began to ponder the future direction of Spirit Hall.
Although Ye Lan could rely on his own abilities and "Soul Skill Selection" to cultivate without needing the resources of a faction, he still required a powerful organization to help him accomplish a series of tasks that an individual could not complete alone.
For instance, the path of "Apotheosis through Faith."
Ye Lan currently had no clear ideas on how to become a god in the future.
While passing divine trials was the simplest method, it had significant limitations.
At the very least, ascending to the Divine Realm allowed for only two family quota spots. For Ye Lan, this was unacceptable.
Based on the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings' descriptions of the Divine Realm, he understood from fragments of information that the positions in the Divine Realm were fixed. To increase the number of divine seats, one would have to launch a Divine War to expand the realm.
The time consumed in such an endeavor would be immense. After all, one day in the Divine Realm was equivalent to one year in the mortal world.
If he chose the path of expanding the Divine Realm to increase the number of seats, it was very likely that while he was still planning, his relatives on the Douluo Continent would have already aged and died of natural causes.
This was something Ye Lan could not accept.
Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, he would not choose the path of inheriting an existing divine seat.
As for "Apotheosis through Faith," although it had its own limitations—specifically, whether the Divine Realm could sustain a self-created deity position—it involved a complete process of becoming a god, unlike the sudden bestowal of divine power found in divine trials.
What he valued was not just the result of "Apotheosis through Faith," but the process itself.
During this process, perhaps he could research the principles behind "Divine Power," "Divine Seats," and "Divine Souls."
Thus, regardless of the outcome, Ye Lan had to guarantee that he had the conditions to implement the path of "Apotheosis through Faith."
Even if he ultimately didn't use faith to become a god himself, he could leave "Apotheosis through Faith" as a backup route for his relatives.
Since he was preparing for this, a powerful faction would play a massive role.
Ye Lan wasn't foolish enough to silently spread faith alone; that level of efficiency was simply too low.
The Sea God, who had done so previously, took a full one thousand years.
Ye Lan didn't have that much time or leisure to become a god so slowly.
According to his arrangements, the time it would take for Tang San—that "leek" to be harvested—to become a god wouldn't be long, perhaps around ten years. Ye Lan had no time to slowly scatter faith.
Therefore, by leveraging Spirit Hall, he could easily complete all measures for spreading faith across the Douluo Continent, such as setting up statues, building churches, organizing prayers, and managing clergy.
Aside from accelerating his ascension, Ye Lan, who came from a commoner background and originally from the Blue Planet (Earth), naturally held goodwill toward commoners and low-ranking Soul Masters.
He naturally despised the oppression of commoners and low-ranking Soul Masters by the nobles of the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires.
Even now, the Great Auction House in Heaven Dou City auctioned human slaves daily.
Those cute beast-eared girls and human maidens, once bought by nobles, would face a future of unimaginable oppression.
Before, when Ye Lan was alone, he naturally couldn't care about so many things beyond improving his own strength.
But the moment he became the Young Lord of Spirit Hall and the Master of the Sanctuary, it became his duty to lead Spirit Hall to the peak of the Douluo Continent.
As the saying goes: When poor, one should improve oneself; when wealthy, one should benefit the world.
As his status in Spirit Hall continued to rise, he naturally wanted to grow Spirit Hall, overthrow the two great empires, erase the oppression between nobles and commoners, unify the Douluo Continent, and ultimately realize the liberation of the entire continent.
Before awakening his martial soul, Ye Lan had pondered what he would do after coming to the Douluo Continent.
He had considered establishing an academy, a sect, or some kind of faction to eventually complete the transformation of the continent.
Now, Ye Lan had become more mature. Although an organization with religious overtones like Spirit Hall had its limitations, and corrupt Soul Masters certainly existed within it, Ye Lan would not completely negate the entire organization because of that.
Spirit Hall had its shining points. It awakened martial souls for all commoners for free. Any talented Soul Master could be recommended to study at Spirit Hall Academy.
His teacher, Hu Liena, Yan, Ghost Douluo, Chrysanthemum Douluo, and others were all civilian geniuses excavated by Spirit Hall.
If there were no Spirit Hall in this world, they likely never would have awakened their martial souls.
To awaken a martial soul otherwise, one would have to pay exorbitant awakening fees to noble Soul Masters. And even if they successfully awakened, they would be further exploited by the nobles.
Want to obtain a Soul Ring? Want to get a meditation technique?
Then sell your life to the nobles and be a dog for them forever.
Thinking of that kind of world, Ye Lan shook his head. Such a deformed world was too nauseating for him.
Based on all these considerations, Ye Lan finally decided to deeply cultivate his influence within Spirit Hall.
Spirit Hall belonged to Little Xue and his teacher. He wanted to help them unify the Douluo Continent with the minimal amount of sacrifice possible.
When that time came, there would be no more large-scale wars on the Douluo Continent.
Military expenditures could be diverted to martial soul research, scientific and technological research, and so on.
Of course, there might be a war with the Sun Moon Continent in the future.
However, Ye Lan was confident that under the leadership of himself and Spirit Hall, the strength of Douluo Continent's Soul Masters would absolutely crush the Sun Moon Continent, achieving a generational dominance in development.
By relying on the absolute superiority of Soul Master power, they could complete a bloodless war.
He wanted to ensure that the moment the Sun Moon Continent collided with the Douluo Continent, the people of the Sun Moon Continent wouldn't even dare to harbor a single thought of resistance.
Thinking about the future, Ye Lan held Hu Liena and fell into a deep sleep.
The Next Day, Pope's Palace.
Ye Lan, carrying a bento box, waited early at the foot of the Douluo Mountain range for Little Xue. When Qian Renxue saw Ye Lan and the lunchbox in his hand, her eyes curved into crescents. She immediately ran toward him and then ate the bento prepared by Ye Lan with a face full of happiness.
Responding to greetings from various clergy members along the way, the two walked toward the Pope's Palace.
"Junior Brother, Junior Sister, good morning!!" Hu Liena waved her hand, pretending to appear casually.
Qian Renxue acted like she was guarding her food, using her body to block the bento.
Then, she scooped a large spoonful of egg custard into her mouth and showed it off to Hu Liena.
"Junior Sister, won't you give your Senior Sister a taste?" Hu Liena feigned envy, though internally she was laughing blooming flowers: I already ate the bento Ye Lan made earlier this morning~
"Who is your Junior Sister!! No! Ye Lan made this for me!!" Qian Renxue boasted.
Watching Hu Liena's Oscar-worthy performance, Ye Lan silently gave her a thumbs up.
Afterward, the three playfully bickered as they walked into the Pope's Palace.
It was only then that the trio realized the number of Soul Masters near the Pope's Palace was frighteningly high. Almost all the Soul Masters in Wuhun City had arrived. In the distant sky, streams of colored light like meteors were constantly enlarging—clearly the Titled Douluo Elders rushing in from afar.
"Ye Lan, what day is it today? Why are there so many people outside the Pope's Palace?" Hu Liena exclaimed.
"Hehe, you'll know in a moment. Ye Lan has done something ground-breaking!" Qian Renxue said happily.
"Is it a major event similar to announcing the 'Soul Core Condensation Method'?" Hu Liena guessed.
"It's many, many, many times bigger than that!" Qian Renxue continued proudly.
"Let's go, let's enter the Pope's Palace first. Everyone has almost arrived!" Ye Lan said.
The three walked into the Pope's Palace. Aside from some Platinum Bishops, Red-Clothed Bishops, and Titled Douluo Elders, the various Priests of the Douluo Palace (Hall of Spirits) had also arrived one by one.
Seeing Grandpa Qian Daoliu and Grandpa Golden Crocodile in the distance, Ye Lan decisively waved a greeting.
Seeing Ye Lan, Qian Daoliu and Golden Crocodile smiled broadly with extreme satisfaction.
Last night, Little Xue had told them two pieces of good news.
One was that the age of the fifth Soul Ring Ye Lan absorbed was 120,000 years. The other good news was that under Ye Lan's guidance, Bibi Dong had condensed a 200,000-year Artificial Soul Ring for Little Xue.
At the time, the two old men thought they had misheard; these two events sounded too surreal.
Upon Little Xue's repeated assurances that they would see the 200,000-year Artificial Soul Ring today, the two decided to lead all the Priests to the Pope's Palace to witness the greatest historical moment in the Douluo Continent, and incidentally, to act as guardians for Little Xue while she absorbed the ring.
Qian Daoliu had originally intended for Qian Renxue to absorb a Soul Ring conservatively. However, after being informed by Little Xue about the "Limit Soul Ring Absorption Method" developed by Ye Lan, Qian Daoliu decisively decided to support Little Xue in absorbing this "200,000-year Artificial Soul Ring."
Although divine trials could increase the age of Soul Rings and spirit power, these came with a price. The more gifts one received from divine trials, the more unstable one's foundation would be after becoming a god.
Everything had a price; there was no such thing as a free lunch.
Aside from the Priests of the Douluo Palace appearing at the Pope's Palace, students from Spirit Hall Academy had also arrived.
Among them were representative figures like Yan and Xie Yue, who had been training in the Canyon of Death. In the interval while waiting for other Soul Masters, Ye Lan didn't put on airs but instead engaged in friendly exchanges with these peers.
Faced with the living "Number one theoretical grandmaster of the Douluo Continent," they were unwilling to let go of this hard-won opportunity for communication, constantly throwing out questions about meditation and martial souls.
For the current Ye Lan, these questions were simply too easy!
Ever since he created the method for condensing "Artificial Soul Rings," he had gained a deeper understanding of the essence of martial souls, Soul Rings, and soul skills.
The questions they asked were, to the current Ye Lan, like elementary school arithmetic—he absolutely demolished them.
After listening to Ye Lan's explanations, these peers worshiped and admired him even more.
They had been recalled by the Pope this time, and it was said to be related to Ye Lan.
Although it wasn't yet clear what big thing Ye Lan had done, it must be an extremely important event, perhaps something that would affect the entire Spirit Hall.
After all, so many Spirit Hall Soul Masters appearing simultaneously was a first for them in all these years.
According to rumors from some Spirit Hall veterans, the number of Soul Masters attending this ceremony was several times greater than even the Pope's inauguration ceremony.
The exchanges continued until noon, by which time all Spirit Hall Soul Masters capable of coming had arrived at the Pope's Palace.
Due to the sheer number of people, the ceremony was not held inside the hall, but outside on the plaza of the Pope's Palace.
The closer a Soul Master stood to the main gate of the Pope's Palace, the higher their spirit power or rank.
The Seven Great Priests of the Douluo Palace were all present: Angel Douluo, Golden Crocodile Douluo, Azure Bird (Qingluan) Douluo, Lion Douluo, Light Feather (Guangling) Douluo, Heavy Staff (Qianjun) Douluo, and Dragon Tamer (Xiangmo) Douluo.
All seven Priests were Super Douluo or Limit Douluo of rank ninety-six or above.
On the other side were the Spirit Hall Elders. aside from Ghost Douluo and Chrysanthemum Douluo who were on a mission, Snake Lance, Porcupine (Citun), Demon Bear, Ghost Leopard, Saint Dragon, Spirit Kite (Lingyuan), Gale (Liefeng), Star (Xingchen), and the two newly promoted Scarlet Crow and Silver Butterfly Douluos who practiced the "Soul Power Core" method, were all present.
The Douluo Warrior Corps, the Sacred Warrior Corps, Red-Clothed Bishops, Platinum Bishops, the Golden Generation, and others occupied the rear positions.
Ye Lan, Qian Renxue, and Hu Liena stood at the very front of these groups.
At this moment, Pope Bibi Dong, dressed in extremely dignified and magnificent papal robes, made her slow entrance.
Following Bibi Dong's appearance, four white-clothed clergy members trailed behind, carrying a luxurious tray.
On the tray sat a three-dimensional object covered by a black cloth.
The attention of every Soul Master was focused on the Pope and the mysterious covered object behind her.
Ye Lan looked at his teacher, Bibi Dong, who was dressed in full regalia, and was slightly dazed. Bibi Dong was simply too beautiful at this moment.
She seemed like the model for all women in the world, her entire body radiating the aura of an Empress.
Others dared not look at Pope Bibi Dong as offensively as Ye Lan did. After a moment of distraction, Ye Lan's attention shifted to himself.
He hadn't expected Teacher Bibi Dong to hold such a grand ceremony for him, yet here he was, still wearing casual black clothes...
Seeing Ye Lan's awkward expression, Qian Renxue snickered secretly.
Guided by the clergy, Bibi Dong slowly took her seat, then swept her gaze across all the Spirit Hall Soul Masters.
The faces of these Soul Masters brimmed with celebratory smiles, yet their eyes betrayed a hint of worry. Presumably, the chaos in Heaven Dou was causing these Spirit Hall members restless nights.
After all, in the past, they were seen by commoners as noble, self-sacrificing Soul Masters.
But now, the reputation of Spirit Hall Soul Masters had plummeted, as if they had become evil Soul Masters who slaughtered indiscriminately.
Just as the master of ceremonies was about to speak, Bibi Dong waved her hand, stopping the Soul Masters from bowing. She didn't want to steal Little Lan's thunder this time.
Bibi Dong cleared her throat and spoke loudly:
"Some time ago, in the Sunset Forest of the Heaven Dou Empire, an extremely tragic battle erupted."
"In that battle, the heroic Douluo Warrior Corps was completely wiped out. We lost five hundred of our bravest warriors."
"Let us observe a moment of silence for these warriors for half a quarter of an hour."
Under Bibi Dong's lead, the air instantly fell silent as everyone began to mourn these warriors.
After the silence ended, Bibi Dong changed the subject:
"To some extent, the sacrifice of these warriors was caused by me. It was because of the policy I enacted to control the Soul Beast Forests that the incident of protesting Soul Masters storming the Spirit Hall occurred."
"Does everyone think I was wrong?"
"Was Spirit Hall wrong?"
"Should Spirit Hall not control the Soul Beast Forests?"
Hearing the Pope's self-blame and questioning, the Spirit Hall Soul Masters below instantly erupted into an uproar.
Before long, scattered voices of agreement rang out.
Countless Soul Masters gradually broke into loud shouts of approval:
"Your Holiness is not wrong!"
"Spirit Hall is not wrong!"
Controlling the Soul Beast Forests was the collective will of Spirit Hall from the beginning. All Spirit Hall Soul Masters recognized this policy, for failing to control the forests would only accelerate Spirit Hall's demise.
Hearing the shouts resounding through the clouds, Ye Lan nodded secretly.
This kind of cohesion was not something the feudal imperial factions could compare with.
Bibi Dong pressed her hands down, and the Soul Masters below immediately ceased their noise.
Bibi Dong spoke:
"Your affirmation of Spirit Hall comforts me greatly. You are right; what wrong has Spirit Hall committed?"
"The ones at fault are those ignorant Soul Masters, and the conspirators fueling the flames behind them!"
"Surely everyone knows the situation for Spirit Hall in the Heaven Dou Empire is now critical. Our branch halls can no longer conduct affairs there, and our compatriots are even facing life-threatening danger."
Bibi Dong paused.
Hearing Bibi Dong's speech, countless Soul Masters had different thoughts.
Many Titled Elders and Bishops thought this grand ceremony was convened to announce the founding of a Spirit Empire and a subsequent counterattack against Heaven Dou.
The warriors and clergy below became even more fanatical.
"Overthrow the Heaven Dou Empire!!"
"Overthrow the Heaven Dou Empire!!"
"Overthrow the Heaven Dou Empire!!"
Hearing the response from the Soul Masters below, Bibi Dong confirmed that Spirit Hall's foundation remained solid and the people's hearts were available to use.
The chaos in Heaven Dou was merely a small interlude for Spirit Hall. If not for the "Artificial Soul Ring" developed by Little Lan, she could have used this momentum to establish a nation and attack Heaven Dou right now.
However, the Heaven Dou Empire was already in the bag for Spirit Hall; there was no need to get angry and launch a war prematurely.
That would only result in obtaining a battered and broken Spirit Empire.
Bibi Dong gathered her thoughts, suppressed the waves of sound from below, and said:
"You are all Spirit Hall's most loyal warriors, but war is not the only way to solve problems!!"
"Our Spirit Hall's Holy Son, the continent's number one theoretical grandmaster—The Scholar—has already solved the Soul Ring problem for our Spirit Hall, and indeed, for all mankind!!"
"Everyone, please look!!"
Before the crowd could recover from the Pope's words, the four white-clothed clergy members lifted the black cloth from the tray.
In an instant, a blood-red soul light shone with blinding brilliance, causing everyone's pupils to dilate instantly.
This... this was actually a legendary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring!!
Countless Soul Masters gasped internally. Only now did they realize what was meant by the Holy Son solving the Soul Ring problem.
"Your Holiness, could it be that this Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring is a ring created by the Holy Son?" Demon Bear Douluo asked in disbelief.
At this moment, countless Soul Masters turned their gazes toward the Holy Son, Ye Lan, and Pope Bibi Dong.
They began to anticipate the answer.
"Correct. This Soul Ring was condensed jointly by myself and Ye Lan, based on the 'Artificial Soul Ring' theory researched by Holy Son Ye Lan. It is a '200,000-Year Seraphim Artificial Soul Ring'!!" Bibi Dong affirmed with absolute certainty.
"Wh... What? It's actually a 200,000-year Soul Ring!!" Demon Bear Douluo turned pale with shock.
(End of Chapter)