Chapter 324. The Soul Ring Blockade: (Part 2)
The Spirit Hall, possessing both divinely bestowed soul rings and awakening rings, will gain the loyalty of this emerging class of soul masters, further impacting the traditional noble soul masters.
Upon learning this, the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, various noble sects, families, and other forces felt a chill run down their spines. The Spirit Hall was about to overthrow their dominant position.
"What is the Spirit Hall doing? They're opening a Pandora's box!"
"Heavens! Commoners should be working in the fields, cleaning up garbage and dealing with excrement. They are untouchables! How can they be allowed to possess spirit power?"
"A gift from the gods! How can it be given to these ill-mannered, uncultured commoners? Who knows what these lowly people will do when they awaken their spirits?"
The nobles went mad. They condemned the Spirit Hall's actions. In the past, while the nobles complained about the Spirit Hall's awakening of commoners, the higher-level Spirit Halls were in the hands of the nobles, and the number of spirit masters awakened by the Spirit Hall each year was small, not affecting the nobles' status.
But now the situation is different. With the Awakening Ring in place, the Spirit Hall will awaken tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of spirit masters each year, multiplying the continent's spirit master population several times over.
However, no matter how much the nobles protested, the Spirit Hall resolutely implemented this policy.
Each deacon of the Spirit Hall was given an Awakening Ring, which they used to conduct the annual Spirit Awakening Ceremony.
During this year, the Spirit Hall registered 250,000 commoner Spirit Masters who gained Spirit Power, including over 1,000 with mutated Spirits. One commoner Spirit Master was particularly lucky, directly mutating a top-tier Spirit with innate full Spirit Power, propelling him to new heights and potentially making him a Title Douluo.
The large influx of Spirit Masters also created a problem: insufficient infrastructure for academies across the continent.
However, the Spirit Hall quickly devised a solution. They expanded Spirit Halls in every location, combining the functions of the Spirit Hall with those of Spirit Master academies. Awakened commoner Spirit Masters could then join local Spirit Halls for systematic Spirit Master training, progressing from a Sub-Hall to the Spirit Hall Holy Hall, and finally to Spirit City.
A direct path to the Spirit Hall was built for commoner Spirit Masters.
This was an era of spring for commoner Spirit Masters, but also an era of lamentation for noble Spirit Masters.
They were blacklisted by the Spirit Hall and couldn't obtain spirit rings. In contrast, commoner spirit masters could gain innate spirit power and spirit mutation opportunities through the Spirit Hall's awakening, and simultaneously receive divine spirit rings from the Spirit Hall.
Among them, Dai Tianfeng of the Star Luo Empire was in the worst situation. To consolidate his throne, Dai Tianfeng had implemented a benevolent rule for several years, killing anyone who dared to utter any words against the Star Luo royal family. The more he killed and suppressed, the higher the tide of resistance rose.
Currently, Dai Tianfeng could still rely on a loyal army to consolidate his rule and suppress the rebels. However, in a few years, when these commoner spirit masters had grown stronger, the cost of suppressing the rebellion would increase significantly.
Dai Tianfeng was furious. He had been having nightmares almost every day for the past few days. When he woke up from a nightmare, he scratched his head, pulling out several clumps of hair.
"Still having nightmares?" Zhu Tiancai asked with concern.
Dai Tianfeng said, "Yeah, I had a nightmare yesterday. These damned lowly people stormed into Xingluo City and hung me from a streetlamp."
Zhu Tiancai said, "I think Your Majesty should try to ease tensions with them. This constant suppression isn't going to end. Most of the country's finances are being spent on suppressing these uprisings." Dai Tianfeng rolled his eyes at Zhu Tiancai and said, "You don't understand. Some bottom lines can't be crossed. If you give in, these lowly people will become even more demanding. When you've given in to everything, they'll come after you."
"The way to deal with these peasants is to suppress them severely every time they dare to challenge us. Let them know with blood that there's only one way to resist: death!" Dai Tianfeng said.
Zhu Tiancai said worriedly, "Now the Spirit Hall has won over the hearts of the people of our Star Luo Empire through miracles. A large number of commoners will become Spirit Masters in the future, which will only make the cost of our Star Luo Empire's suppression greater and greater."
Dai Tianfeng took a deep breath and said, "You're right, but we're not without a chance. Tang San is undergoing the Divine Trial. As long as Tang San finishes the Divine Trial and advances to the Asura God, he will lead us to destroy the Spirit Hall. At that time—"
A fierce glint flashed in Dai Tianfeng's eyes, "Once the Spirit Hall is destroyed, these lowly commoners who dare to show their faces will be reduced to their original forms. Not to mention the current system of bestowing spirit rings and awakening rings to awaken their spirits and obtain spirit rings, even the previous system of the Spirit Hall awakening spirits for free for spirit masters will no longer exist."
"We are the rulers, they are the ruled. When they are well-fed, they crave lust. The better we treat them, the more we concede, the more they will pursue their own rights. When they are well-fed, they will want to dress well; when they are well-dressed, they will want to live well; when they live well, they will want money; when they have money, they will seek to improve their social status, thus undermining our rule." "The key to maintaining long-term stability is to perpetually keep these peasants living a life of hardship, struggling to survive, and toiling for food every day." Dai Tianfeng stated firmly.
Zhu Tiancai nodded.
Right now, Dai Tianfeng had only one choice: Tang San would return, everything would return to its original order, and after the Spirit Hall was destroyed, he would slaughter anyone in the country who dared to participate in the revolution, letting those peasants see the price of resisting the Star Luo royal family!
He would use their blood to fertilize this land!
While the nobles were in a frenzy, they also coveted the Spirit Hall's Awakening Ring. One of the Clear Sky Sect elders couldn't resist killing a Spirit Hall deacon who was on his way to a village to awaken the Spirit Hall's ring, seizing it to use for awakening the Spirit Souls of his sect's disciples.
This time, the Clear Sky Sect used the Spirit Hall's Awakening Ring to awaken the younger generation. The result—
Tang XX: Spirit Soul, Iron Hammer, Innate Spirit Power Level 4;
Tang XX: Spirit Soul, Iron Hammer, Innate Spirit Power Level 3, etc.—
After awakening several core disciples, the Clear Sky Sect immediately realized something was wrong. The Awakening Ring was working in the opposite direction, lowering their innate spirit power and causing their Spirit Souls to mutate in a negative way.
Fortunately, Tang Xiao reacted in time and stopped the Spirit Soul awakening ceremony.
However, the children from the Spirit Hall who had already awakened their spirits were devastated. They could have possessed the Clear Sky Hammer, a top-tier spirit on the continent, but because of the Awakening Ring, their spirits had degenerated into iron hammers.
Their bright futures were completely ruined!
After the Spirit Hall stormed the Clear Sky Sect and took away another group of people, the elders of the Spirit Hall told the Clear Sky Sect why this had happened.
The Awakening Ring could only have a positive effect when awakened by someone with the right to use it; otherwise, others would only awaken in the opposite direction.
This also eliminated the idea of these forces wanting to seize the Awakening Ring.
The appearance of spirit beasts led to the sealing of spirit power. The Spirit Hall made peace with the spirit beasts and introduced the God-given spirit rings and Awakening Rings, which directly caused a great shock to these traditional noble forces on the continent.
At this moment, they had no other means of dealing with the situation except to endure and wait for Tang San's return. After the Spirit Hall's Miracle Project concluded, Bibi Dong remarked with emotion, "I never imagined that you would resolve the hierarchy among people formed by spirit levels over tens of thousands of years?"
Bibi Dong wasn't born into nobility; she was a commoner. Her parents were mutated evil spirit masters, causing her to inherit their evil spirits. Therefore, she was even more dedicated to promoting the Miracle Project, enabling commoners to obtain spirit rings and higher-quality spirits.
Qian Xunji shook his head and said, "This isn't a solution, just a change. We've simply created more noble spirit masters. Take the Clear Sky Sect as an example. As long as they still inherit the Clear Sky Hammer spirit, even if we kill Tang Hao, Tang San, and Tang Chen—three of the Clear Sky Sect's most outstanding geniuses—so what? Decades later, they can still produce geniuses like Tang Hao, Tang Chen, and Tang San."
Spirit levels were a class separation between powerful clans. The Spirit Hall hadn't dismantled the system of noble spirit masters; in fact, Qian Xunji himself represented the number one noble spirit master family in the spirit master world.
"So, how do you plan to resolve this?" Bibi Dong asked.
"The order of this world is established by the gods. The gods decreed that humans can only enhance their abilities by hunting soul beasts and obtaining soul rings. This creates an irreconcilable conflict between humans and soul beasts, so only the gods can rewrite the rules."
Bibi Dong asked, "So, you already have the ability to rewrite the rules?"
"Yes!" Qian Xunji said, "But it's not the right time yet. We still need to accumulate strength."
Qian Xunji himself already possessed the ability to rewrite the rules. With the dual God-King positions of the Dragon God and the Chaos God, plus Qian Renxue's impending ascension to God-King status, and the two lackeys, the Sea God and the Asura God, Qian Xunji was fully capable of going to the God Realm Committee now to change the rules. However, he didn't intend to change them now; after all, he still needed to harvest Tang San one last time.
Next, Qian Xunji summoned Meng Lingxuan, Bibi Dong, the Spirit Hall's elders, Hua Qiang, and even Qian Daoliu, who was currently guiding Qian Renxue through her divine trial.
(End of Chapter)