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Raksha instantly became indignant. Disregarding the fact that the other person was an unmatched existence, she angrily retorted, "Shut your mouth! Xiaogang is not some useless man. I just received news recently that he broke through the innate shackles of his martial soul using his own intelligence and reached level 30! How dare you look down on him!"
Bibi Dong burst out laughing in exasperation, rolling her eyes as she replied:
"Where did you hear such fake news? When exactly did he break through to level 30 by his own ability?"
Seeing Bibi Dong's confident demeanor, Raksha suddenly lost confidence in herself. After all, the reports about Yu Xiaogang idling away in Nuoding City for years, living off others while accomplishing nothing, had once made her doubt whether she had misjudged him.
Thus, her fiery attitude weakened, and she timidly asked, "W-what do you mean? Are you implying my subordinates would give me false information?"
Bibi Dong was utterly speechless. In the past, she had merely been an observer, only coming to plunder resources without paying much attention to other versions of herself across parallel timelines. She hadn't realized how unintelligent versions of herself from other worlds could be.
At this moment, Bibi Dong came to a realization: why bother arguing with someone so foolish? She settled back into her throne, speaking coldly:
"Let's leave aside whether Yu Xiaogang's information is true or false for now. You, you fool, how can you possibly believe that your subordinates wouldn't deceive you?"
Although Bibi Dong hadn't interfered much with other parallel worlds' versions of herself, she knew well enough what kinds of rotten individuals existed beneath the Spirit Empire during its time.
At the top were figures like the Platinum Archbishop Salas and Archbishop Miles of Gengxin City—both lecherous devils. But the latter was even more outrageous, resorting to blatant extortion under the guise of authority.
Below them were soul masters like Bu Le, who were no better than common thugs.
With such people being recruited, it was no wonder that by the end, both nobles and commoners alike despised the Spirit Empire.
After all, while the noble lords had always oppressed others from their lofty positions, now even ordinary soul masters dared to act recklessly. How could the common people remain silent? This laid the groundwork for the eventual downfall of the Spirit Hall.
But Raksha still hadn't grasped the gravity of the situation. Instead, she proudly lifted her chin and sneered:
"I am the Pope of the Spirit Hall, and a Title Douluo at that! How dare those beneath me deceive me? Do they have a death wish?"
Bibi Dong sneered in response—a typical display of arrogance stemming from ignorance. No wonder she had been duped so easily by scum like Yu Xiaogang. Bibi Dong coldly replied:
"Yes, you're a Title Douluo and the Pope—how imposing. But how can you be so certain that those beneath you wouldn't take a gamble and deceive you? Or worse, feed you ambiguous information without thorough investigation?
You may indeed be a lofty Title Douluo, but that also means you can't personally verify the authenticity of every piece of intelligence.
After being Pope for so many years, don't tell me you lack even this basic understanding of power dynamics."
Upon hearing this, Raksha fell silent. What Bibi Dong said was far too specific—so specific that it was impossible to ignore the possibility once she thought about it.
At this point, Bibi Dong continued: "Well, it's not entirely your fault. Human energy is finite after all. The fact that you've reached level 98 as a Title Douluo at such a young age speaks volumes about your hard work. It's understandable that you might lack insight in other areas. If I were to harp on this point, it would make me seem unreasonable."
As she spoke, Bibi Dong recalled the Douluo Star of her own timeline.
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Though the soul master civilization was undoubtedly extraordinary, Ye Wen had never believed that higher cultivation levels should automatically grant greater authority.
On the contrary, placing the wrong person in the wrong position would only lead to a series of problems, even causing the functioning of governing institutions to become sluggish.
Thus, hundreds of thousands of years ago, Ye Wen established the position of councilor, allowing talented individuals—regardless of their cultivation strength—to run for election. This enabled brilliant minds, even those lacking in cultivation talent, to maintain efficient governance over Douluo Star.
And to ensure these capable individuals remained loyal to Ye Wen, he possessed countless treasures capable of enhancing their cultivation aptitude.
In this way, these competent individuals not only contributed to the healthy development of Douluo Star but also benefited personally—a win-win situation.
Moreover, Ye Wen wasn't concerned about corruption among these administrators. After all, the resources they could access in their administrative roles were ultimately limited. In the era of interstellar conquest, the ultimate goal of cultivators was to ascend to godhood and seize colonies. Once they reached a certain level of power, these officials would naturally step down to pursue greater resources and higher realms.
Over time, the members of the highest authority—the council—were inevitably individuals of both exceptional intellect and strength, further solidifying the healthy development of the soul master civilization.
In contrast, the feudal era of Douluo, where only those with greater strength could hold higher positions, represented a rather crude power structure.
Bad examples included Raksha and Marshal Ge Long, the so-called Nine-Lives Divine Dragon, whose performance during the final battle stage was utterly disappointing.
At this moment, Raksha also realized her own shortcomings, her face flushing with embarrassment. Relieved that Bibi Dong didn't continue to attack her, Raksha inwardly sighed.
Though they shared the same appearance, Raksha was keenly aware that the aura of superiority radiating from the other woman far surpassed her own.
However, Raksha slightly furrowed her delicate brows, her expression darkening as she asked:
"If what you say is true, then my subordinates must have deceived me. But how do you know how Xiaogang managed to break through to level 30? Are you just making things up because you dislike me?"
Her words ended with a mocking sneer.
But Bibi Dong's expression remained calm, almost amused. Compared to herself, this version of Bibi Dong from another world was far too naive. Did she really think such a crude provocation tactic would go unnoticed?
Still, Bibi Dong genuinely didn't know how Yu Xiaogang had broken through in this world.
After all, he was just an insignificant character, and Bibi Dong hadn't been in this world long enough to waste time investigating him.
However, having traversed countless worlds, Bibi Dong was intimately familiar with the history of her own world and had heard snippets about others. The general trends rarely differed.
Bibi Dong already had a rough guess in mind. Moreover, she was well aware of the major events experienced by Tang San, the original protagonist of this world.
After pondering briefly, if this world hadn't deviated too much from the norm, things should still follow the same pattern.
Thus, Bibi Dong smiled confidently and said calmly: "Hmph, I do happen to know. Unfortunately for you, your daughter just brought back a set of immortal herb records. Any one of these herbs has the potential to completely transform a person. If I'm not mistaken, Yu Xiaogang must have coincidentally consumed one of them, compensating for the flaws in his martial soul, which allowed him to break through the level 30 bottleneck."
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