Furina led the group to begin touring the various departments of the Axis Cult.
First were the four core departments: the Finance Department, the Law Enforcement Department, the Executive Department, and the Logistics Department. However, it was just a cursory glance; there wasn't much to say, really. If one were to go into detail, only the Executive Department and the Law Enforcement Department were worth mentioning at length.
The responsibilities of the Executive Department surprised the four of them—it was responsible for recruiting talent, helping civilians with Martial Soul Awakening, and completing various tasks. Now, it even included chores like patrolling.
"Are there actually people going around helping civilians with Martial Soul Awakening nowadays?" Wang Dong couldn't help but exclaim.
Bei Bei nodded thoughtfully. One had to know that even the Three Great Empires and Shrek Academy had long since stopped doing this—the scope was too broad, it was too time-consuming and costly, and the returns were pitifully small; it simply wasn't worth it.
Yet the Axis Cult was not only doing it, but they also sent people out almost every year. Not only in the Star Luo Empire, but they even sent people to the other two Empires; only the Sun Moon Empire saw fewer visits.
It couldn't be helped; no matter how great the conflicts between the Three Great Empires were, they were at least considered "their own people." The people in the Sun Moon Empire despised the Three Great Empires; trying to go there to help with Martial Soul Awakening was too difficult.
As for the Law Enforcement Department, it was mainly responsible for internal supervision to reduce or even avoid corruption, and it also included some internal city security patrols. He heard that Neuvillette was even planning some kind of "Tribunal"; it seemed he was quite invested in this aspect. However, although this department was quite innovative, it didn't evoke much emotion from Wang Dong and the others.
Bei Bei pondered for a moment and spoke slowly: "After ten thousand years, to think there are still people going around helping with Martial Soul Awakening… this is truly rare. How should I put it? It feels like your Axis Cult is about to restore the Spirit Hall."
Tang Ya immediately chimed in, her tone firm: "But I think the Axis Cult will definitely do better than the Spirit Hall from ten thousand years ago! It absolutely won't turn into that kind of villainous force!"
She was a member of the Axis Cult, and the Tang Sect had also joined the Axis Cult; naturally, she had to stand up and speak at a time like this. Moreover, the Axis Cult hadn't done anything wrong that could be criticized so far.
Xiao Xiao also nodded repeatedly: "This is truly a great thing! This way, many civilians will definitely benefit. And it's not just Spirit Masters; even ordinary people can join the Axis Cult to work, and they can even Cultivate and become stronger in other aspects! The status of civilians will slowly rise as well."
Wang Dong said with rare seriousness: "Yeah, regardless of anything else, your Axis Cult's goals are good. I support you, Furina."
After saying this, he felt an inexplicable sense of relief—although those messy thoughts in his mind popped up again, this time he successfully suppressed them and spoke his true feelings.
He had never felt so relieved.
He paused, then added half-jokingly: "That said, you wouldn't happen to be planning to do that Spirit Hall thing and conquer the entire continent, would you?"
Furina almost blurted out, "How did you know?", but barely managed to hold it back.
If Bei Bei weren't present, she might have actually said it. But since Bei Bei hadn't fully committed yet, if those words were passed back to Shrek and then to the ears of the Three Great Empires, wouldn't that just be making things harder for herself?
If one could play on easy mode, why choose hard mode?
She replied with a look of righteous integrity: "Don't worry, why would we wage war? My Axis Cult has always convinced people with reason."
—Exactly, she was telling the truth.
Absolutely no "war"; if she wanted to do something, she would just take out the royal families directly and hold the emperor hostage to command the vassals, wouldn't that work? Why insist on learning from the Spirit Hall and fighting back and forth? Wasn't that just asking for trouble? As expected, the intelligence of the natives of Douluo Continent was concerning—they clearly knew to send Titled Douluo directly when dealing with the Upper Three Sects, so why didn't they know how to play that way when fighting the two Empires?
Once the Axis Cult's influence expanded and subtly influenced the thoughts of the entire continent's populace, making everyone's faith turn to the Axis Cult, then when the time was ripe, she would just launch a coup and see how they handled it.
Of course, if that didn't work, she could just send a few Titled Douluo over—anyway, she had plenty of potential stars on her side, and she had Neuvillette as a nuclear deterrent, which was enough to make all factions wary.
Bei Bei breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this.
If the Axis Cult really wanted to unify the continent, that would be terrible. Judging by the current momentum of development, if they really sent troops, they would likely be even more powerful than the Spirit Hall of ten thousand years ago.
Not to mention anything else, just from the perspective of faith, the Axis Cult was much purer than the Spirit Hall—even ordinary civilians could benefit from it. The Cultivation Techniques they distributed allowed ordinary people to become stronger. In the future, when these people became soldiers, without considering spirit tools, they would absolutely crush the ordinary soldiers of the Four Great Empires. How could they even fight that?
As for combat power, it went without saying. Although the four great protectors were only at the Soul Sage level, their Soul Power was deep, and they could probably hold their own against an average Spirit Douluo in a one-on-one fight; rumor had it they could even compete with a Titled Douluo using their Spirit Ability Fusion. Plus, with a Limit Douluo sitting in charge, it was enough to deter the Four Great Empires and Shrek Academy.
How strong was a Limit Douluo? They could easily destroy a city with their own strength, and even a level 98 Super Douluo combined with several Titled Douluo couldn't defeat them.
Even setting all that aside, Furina, the Pope, was immensely talented, and Huo Yuhao was even more monstrously gifted; within ten years, he would definitely become a Titled Douluo or even a Super Douluo, and becoming a Limit Douluo wouldn't be out of the question either. Under these circumstances, the Axis Cult would only grow stronger and stronger.
If there really came a day when they wanted to unify the continent...
It would truly be unstoppable.
Furina led everyone forward and arrived at the entrance of the Intelligence Department.
"This is the Intelligence Department, divided into three sections." She pushed open the door and introduced it as they walked.
The Intelligence Department was divided into three sections: the Spy Section, the News Section, and the Gossip Section.
The Spy Section was responsible for gathering important intelligence from all over and organizing it into archives. The News Section focused on propaganda, expanding the Axis Cult's influence and popularity, and increasing the public's faith in the Axis Cult. The Gossip Section was relatively more unrestrained—it specialized in content that attracted attention, sometimes slightly exaggerating facts, and there were even people serializing novels on it.
Everyone curiously crowded over and saw rows of bound "works":
"My Pope Cannot Be This Cute"
"Reincarnated as a God of Cooking, Conquering Gods with Culinary Arts"
"Waking Up, I Unexpectedly Became the Pope"
"I, Water God Special Envoy Neuvillette
"Help Me, Mr. Neuvillette
"The Unemployed Douluo"
Rebirth: I Unexpectedly Became the Dragon God Douluo
Bei Bei couldn't help but pick up "Rebirth: I Unexpectedly Became the Dragon God Douluo" and flipped through two pages. He wanted to see what kind of nonsense the people of the Axis Cult could write.
Xiao Xiao's eyes lit up, and she said thoughtfully: "I want to write a book too."
She had already thought of the title—"The Things That Happened Between Me and My Roommate".
The protagonists would be Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong. It was mainly because they were so intimate in daily life that they were natural story material.
She had also conceived the plot: their relationship would gradually heat up in their daily interactions, from disliking each other to being inseparable, and finally, they would accidentally discover—that "Huo Yuhao" was actually a girl!
Then it would be a happy ending where the two walked into the wedding hall.
After all... Huo Yuhao really looked like a girl.
The more Xiao Xiao thought about it, the more she felt this setup was wonderful, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up.
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