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*****
Previously, while still on the Vast Continent, Su Wen had contacted the Douluo Continent from afar. From Ning Rongrong's mouth, he learned about the establishment of the Spirit Empire and the outbreak of the war.
At that time, the task he gave to Ning Rongrong was for the Academy to help neither side and maintain absolute neutrality.
But now, in the name of the Sage of Literature, Su Wen directly announced his stance.
He supported the unification of the Spirit Empire.
However, the nature of this support weighed heavily on the hearts of the upper echelon of the Spirit Empire, who originally belonged to the Spirit Hall.
The absolute upper echelon, the Titled Douluo who held the core power, felt the most uncomfortable. The Priests of the Priest Hall would inevitably lose too much because of Su Wen's support, losing the immense power they would have held after the future unification of the empire.
According to the most primitive distribution of military merits, even if it were to be divided among many Super Douluo, and even if the largest share was taken by the Angel Clan and Bibi Dong, the power left for them would not be small.
However, the moment Su Wen spoke, Bibi Dong was deposed. The Spirit Hall no longer had a Pope and now only had a Grand Priest to lead them. Without the power struggles, authority would indeed be more concentrated, which favored unification. Yet, Su Wen also said that after unification, there would be no absolute power. All power to manage the Federation would belong to the Parliament, the Spirit Masters, and even ordinary people.
The parliamentary system was a political concept that Su Wen had previously ordered Ning Rongrong and others to spread within the academic community.
In today's continent, it was considered a great rebellion. After all, this was a feudal society.
However, the era of war among the three great empires provided the best soil for the spread of such ideas.
Moreover, there was no inciting of public opinion. Su Wen merely asked Ning Rongrong and the others to find people to spread the philosophy, allowing people to understand the form of a parliamentary system.
The Parliament would hold all power, but the existence of all members would be determined through democratic elections.
The existence of the academic community ensured that the voting would be incomparably fair.
Therefore, if one wanted to grasp the power of the Federation, they needed enough people's support and had to win over the hearts of the public as much as possible.
The hearts of the public.
This did not just refer to the Spirit Master class.
Of course, because this was ultimately a fantasy world where strength reigned supreme, the weight of the votes cast by Spirit Masters of different strengths would vary, and the proportion of ordinary people's votes would be correspondingly smaller.
All of these concepts had already been disseminated early on through the academic community.
Thus, when Su Wen spoke of the parliamentary system, the Spirit Masters of the Spirit Empire were not bewildered, because most of them had heard of the speculations surrounding this system.
Now, they knew the source of these speculations.
It turned out to be a system proposed by this Lord Sage of Literature.
The events unfolding here quickly spread across the continent through the academic community, and even the Sun Moon Continent joined the ranks of the spectators.
First was the Sage of Literature reprimanding the Pope.
Although the ordinary Spirit Masters present from the Spirit Empire were powerless to intervene, some truly bold individuals used the academic community to provide a live textual broadcast.
Of course, there had been a buildup prior to this. When Su Wen and Bibi Dong were communicating normally and discussing intelligence regarding the savage beasts, people had already used the academic community to chat with relatives and friends they knew, curiously wondering what the two were discussing.
As a result, Su Wen suddenly spoke up to reprimand Bibi Dong.
The Sage of Literature reprimanding the Pope--just this piece of news quickly spread across the academic community, drawing a massive crowd of onlookers.
Then came the Sage of Literature killing the Chrysanthemum Douluo and the Ghost Douluo.
After that, with a single word, the Sage of Literature abolished the position of Pope and even exiled Bibi Dong, reportedly to some wicked place.
Above the academic community, Su Wen also utilized his control over the network to convey his supportive stance.
The Federal System--this was what he was promoting.
If one wished to hold power in the future Federation, they would have to find ways to develop the Spirit Master world, make contributions, gain the recognition of more Spirit Masters, and at the same time, seek welfare for the commoners.
Of course, if a faction was established, and all the Spirit Masters within that faction supported their own Sect Master to run for a seat in Parliament, that was completely fine as well.
For the sake of more parliamentary seats, the various sect forces would naturally engage in fierce internal competition, which was also a form of progress for the Spirit Master world.
In short, if you want power, then find a way for me to develop the Spirit Master world.
Su Wen no longer wanted to develop various methods himself to harvest the power of faith. He had now begun to act as a capitalist, using the system as a framework to urge the growth of the Spirit Master world.
Faith had already been generated; creating more methods wouldn't actually increase the harvest by much.
Now, it was time to start raising the quality.
The stronger a Spirit Master was, the more power of faith they would naturally provide for the same degree of belief.
I have already done my best, and I won't completely give up on developing new methods to advance the Spirit Master world in the future, but you all should also start competing fiercely among yourselves.
Su Wen's statement this time was nothing less than a form of incentive.
Strength reigned supreme.
Even though she was the Pope, she was still stripped of her position by a single sentence from Su Wen. Even the Spirit Hall had to abolish the position of Pope and execute orders according to Su Wen's will.
Furthermore, this matter fermented for a full two and a half hours, yet the Priest Hall of the Spirit Empire--the original Priest Hall of the Spirit Hall--did not issue any statement, seemingly tacitly accepting what Su Wen had said.
Inside the Priest Hall.
Qian Daoliu gazed in the direction of the Star Dou Great Forest, his expression incredibly solemn.
Just now, he had felt it.
A God!
No, it wasn't a deity, but it possessed the exact same aura as a god.
It lacked a divine aura and that rich scent of faith, yet in the essence of its power, it had reached the level of a god!
However, according to the Spirit Masters at the scene, Su Wen's soul power was just soul power, with no discernible difference from ordinary soul power. If there was any difference, it was simply that it was too strong, and its oppressiveness was overwhelming.
Without divine power, he could still unleash such a god-level aura of power.
"Has his mental strength reached the level of a god? Or is it some other power?" Qian Daoliu pondered deeply.
In addition to this, Qian Daoliu was also extremely curious about how Su Wen had broken through.
"He shouldn't have inherited a divine throne, yet he actually possesses god-level power."
After exiling Bibi Dong and making his voice heard in the academic community, Su Wen did not continue to waste time on the spot. A pair of massive wings emerged from his back, and with a single flap, he flew toward the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest.
"Flight!"
"As expected of the Sage of Literature, this wing soul skill is actually so realistic."
"Indeed. It's said that the Sage of Literature excels at developing self-created soul skills. I didn't expect him to have developed a flight-type self-created soul skill to such a lifelike degree."
"But why do I feel like those are actual, physical wings..."
"Huh, now that you mention it, I feel it looks very much like that too."
"What's going on here?"
"Could it be a soul tool? Hey, you're a Spirit Master from the Sun Moon Continent, right? Does the Sun Moon Continent have this kind of soul tool?"
"The Sun Moon Continent has flight-type soul tools, but none are this flashy."
"..."
A pair of wings sparked a small wave of discussion.
It also left a seed in the hearts of some Spirit Masters.
The Star Dou Great Forest.
The Core Area.
The Great Peril!
This core area was the gathering place of the heaven and earth primordial energy for the entire Star Dou Great Forest. Even if soul beasts merely stayed here and grew naturally, their cultivation speed would far exceed that of the outer regions.
At the same time, the aura of life was incomparably dense. Living here year-round could extend a human's lifespan by at least ten years, and it was estimated that the growth of a soul beast's bloodline would also proceed much more smoothly.