Chapter 74: Stance and Rules
"For those who lack ambition, being sent to a branch is no different from retirement. As long as they don't betray the Holy Spirit Cult's interests, don't leak the Holy Cult's intelligence, and honestly do their jobs, the cult will simply turn a blind eye."
"Over the years, the people in the branches have either been those preparing to advance back to the Headquarters, or Spirit Masters and slackers developed locally by the branch."
"Take those two old slackers, for example. The evil aura on them has almost completely dissipated. I don't know what they were like before, but I can at least say for certain that they haven't even used Spirit Beast flesh and blood to cultivate for the past few years. They probably don't even exercise daily."
"However, if these people cause less trouble, their chances of being discovered are also lower. In any case, as long as the mission can be completed, the cult is happy to let these fellows cause fewer problems."
"Sometimes, once the local situation stabilizes, those willing to advance will be transferred elsewhere to take charge. People like these, who have no presence and don't cause trouble, are instead left behind to oversee the general situation for the sake of stability."
"But..." Hearing Zhang Peng speak as if this were only natural, Chen Ming did not even know how to describe his own feelings.
"A long time ago, perhaps these people also cruelly took the lives of others. Perhaps a long time ago... but..."
With Chen Ming's current stance, those words sounded exceptionally foolish. Yet the traces left behind by his previous life still made him cling to this misplaced stubbornness.
"So what?" Zhang Peng voiced his thoughts coldly. "Many things in this world are difficult to describe, and difficult to judge simply as right or wrong. We are only human, not gods. Our power cannot change anything, so we can only adapt."
"What we face is a reality that has existed for a very long time. It is not something human effort can easily change."
"It is good not to abandon morality, but sometimes, it is best not to dig too deeply into certain matters. Otherwise, you might even shake your own stance."
"We are only Spirit Masters, only Evil Spirit Masters squeezed into corners and struggling to survive. We are not gods."
Chen Ming remained silent, not knowing what to think or how to respond.
Before leaving with the fake identity prepared by the branch members, Chen Ming took one last look at the "resources" accumulated within the branch.
Even though the two people in charge were slackers, dozens of human souls still remained in this branch, kept as daily consumables and as part of the tithe that would later be handed over to the Headquarters.
Although it had nothing to do with him, the thought that these people had once been ordinary people, someone's son or daughter, someone's husband or wife, or perhaps the pillar of a family, made Chen Ming's thoughts somewhat complicated.
In this life, Chen Ming had already grown used to killing and taking lives. But for the current him, he still followed the mindset that death should be the end. Most of the time, he would selectively let go of the souls after death.
After all, in his view, being unable to find peace even after death was simply too painful.
The frontier town did not have many entertainment facilities.
As a town near an unexplored region, its overall style was somewhat similar to the American West during the Gold Rush era that Chen Ming had known from his previous life. The entire city was filled with outlaws, criminals, and opportunists.
Most of the facilities in the city served this group of people.
Spirit Masters hunted Spirit Beasts and obtained valuable materials to sell in the city. People from various factions also had their own shops here to purchase the materials hunted by Spirit Masters, while also gathering information on Spirit Beasts in unexplored areas.
Trading companies of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, trading companies of Shrek, trading companies of various sects and factions, and joint trading companies of all sizes could be found here.
Almost every one of them bought raw materials and then sold processed goods.
Spirit tools, wound medicine, drugs for cultivation, weapons, armor. The technical content of many items seemed quite low to Chen Ming, but their prices were certainly not low.
Originally, Chen Ming had thought the technical barriers within the Holy Spirit Cult were already severe enough. But after seeing the items bought and sold outside, he realized that the opportunities the Holy Spirit Cult left for Spirit Masters were already quite generous.
At least within the Holy Spirit Cult, as long as one spent some money, they could read the most basic common knowledge and learn dozens of basic formulas and methods.
In the outside world, the monopoly major powers held over technology had even extended to the monopoly of Spirits.
Spirits could mutate, and geniuses occasionally appeared among commoners. But knowledge did not appear out of thin air. As long as profound knowledge about Spirits was monopolized, commoner geniuses had no choice but to join a major power if they wanted a chance to progress further.
Higher-quality Spirits and stable Bloodline legacies, deep backgrounds and resources, knowledge and connections accumulated over generations.
For ten thousand years, these Three Great Mountains had become an almost insurmountable natural chasm.
Watching ordinary Spirit Masters struggle to hunt Spirit Beasts, sell Spirit Beast materials, and spend a long time accumulating gold coins, only to eventually buy a tiny amount of insignificant medicinal pills, Chen Ming suddenly came to a realization.
The reason so many people were labeled as Evil Spirit Masters in this era was not because there were so many evil people.
In this era, Spirit Awakening had already become something with a high cost. Many ordinary people could not even awaken their Spirits in their entire lives. And even among those who did awaken their Spirits, not everyone had spirit power.
After these two screenings, only a very small number of commoners could become Spirit Masters, and only a very small number of commoner Spirit Masters could become powerful.
This era had long been controlled by those who had occupied their positions early on.
Charging fees for Spirit Awakening was not necessarily truly about money. Rather, it was a reasonable excuse to silence the massive base population.
This was the artificial creation of a new class, a conscious act of adding layer after layer of barriers onto the original Ranks to reject those "outsiders."
Commoners were at the bottom, and the geniuses who happened to appear among them would join certain factions because of various hardships. Everything had become "only natural" after ten thousand years of development.
The children of Spirit Masters became Spirit Masters, and the children of commoners remained commoners. Without exception, the powerful almost all had their own backgrounds and identities.
And Evil Spirit Masters...
No. To these people, anyone outside this "natural order" was "unreasonable" and "sinful."
A Spirit Master family might work hard for hundreds of years, accumulating resources and knowledge over generations and breeding for dozens of generations, only to eventually produce a Spirit Master at the Spirit Emperor or Spirit Saint Rank.
Yet some people, by chance, awakened a Spirit and possessed talent. Even without so much knowledge or so many resources, they could eventually become a Spirit Douluo, or even a Titled Douluo.
.....
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