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With the emergence of the first soul guide cannon, Wang Li officially established the Soul Guide Department at the academy, showcasing the soul guide cannon as an exhibit and allowing students to visit and observe it.
Additionally, any student from other departments, if they wished, was allowed to transfer to the Soul Guide Department to study and research soul-guiding devices.
The support for the Soul Guide Department was clear and even involved openly recruiting students from other departments, though everything remained voluntary.
At this stage, the Soul Guide Department was still in its infancy, and the initial results were not impressive. However, it was believed that once soul-guiding devices began to shine, talented individuals would undoubtedly flock to it.
Since this initiative had been personally endorsed by Wang Li, it stirred significant discussion across the continent. People were curious why Wang Li, who had reached the peak of soul power cultivation, suddenly began to support the research into soul-guiding devices.
While others were still debating this, Qian Renxue of the Spirit Empire personally visited Blue Silver Academy for an inspection. After discussing with Wang Li, she invested fifty million gold soul coins, to be paid in three installments, initiating a cooperative agreement concerning soul-guiding devices.
Two years later!
With sufficient funding and advanced technology, Blue Silver Academy's Soul Guide Department saw a boom in the production of various soul-guiding devices, placing it almost an entire era ahead of the rest of the continent.
The Spirit Empire, which had been the first to collaborate, was now the only empire actively using these devices. As a result, the Spirit Empire was now ahead of both the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire in every aspect.
Sensing that the time was right, Qian Renxue dispatched six high-ranking officials to the two empires, inviting the emperors of Heaven Dou and Star Luo to discuss how to peacefully unify the continent.
To put it plainly, it was an invitation to surrender — "I intend to unify Douluo Continent, and you two should come and submit now."
Heaven Dou Court!
Xue Beng looked at the three Super Douluos—Xiong Shi, Guang Ling, and Jiang Mo—with a grim expression. His body tensed up, feeling the terrifying sensation that life and death hung on a single thought from the opponent.
Xiong Shi, the Lion Douluo, spoke in a deep voice:
"Your Majesty, on the Douluo Continent, the three great empires exist in a tense balance, constantly wary of each other. This will inevitably lead to irreconcilable conflicts. Therefore, our Empress of the Spirit Empire has sent us to invite you to Spirit City, where we can sit down and discuss how to peacefully unify the continent!"
"As long as Your Majesty is willing to make concessions, not only will the Heaven Dou royal family be preserved, but you will enjoy eternal wealth and glory. This is all for the people of the continent, and we hope you will carefully consider it."
Xue Beng cursed inwardly. When they asked him to make concessions, they were essentially asking him to surrender. A ruler of the Heaven Dou Empire would never surrender.
He looked to his civil and military officials, hoping someone would speak up in his defense, but as soon as his gaze fell on anyone, they lowered their heads.
Over the past few years, Xue Beng had made no progress. Even Ning Fengzhi had taken the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and distanced himself from the Heaven Dou royal family. As for the other officials, though they were noble families of Heaven Dou, they had no intention of sacrificing themselves for Xue Beng or the empire.
Xue Beng grew increasingly desperate as he observed the silence of the civil and military officials. After a long moment, he stood up and angrily declared:
"I am a king of a fallen nation, and you are all officials of a fallen nation. I will go with you, but the Heaven Dou royal family must be treated with dignity!"
Xiong Shi, the Lion Douluo, didn't think much of Xue Beng, but since Qian Renxue sought peaceful unification, Xue Beng still had some use. He nodded and said:
"Your Majesty has made the right choice, and you won't regret it."
One month later!
In Spirit City, after a series of discussions (which were essentially one-sided notifications), the Spirit Empire's Qian Renxue, the Heaven Dou Empire's Xue Beng, and the Star Luo Empire's Dai Sendi concluded an agreement. The Heaven Dou Empire and Star Luo Empire were officially absorbed into the Spirit Empire.
Both the Heaven Dou and Star Luo royal families were allowed to continue residing in Heaven Dou City and Star Luo City in exchange for their empires' unconditional surrender.
In a very short time, the Spirit Empire completely took control of the Douluo Continent, becoming the only empire on the continent.
At this point, Qian Renxue initiated a major reform, transforming the Spirit Empire into the Douluo Federation, with herself as the first Chief Executive of the Federation.
This reform was partly influenced by Wang Li, though Qian Renxue herself had little attachment to maintaining an imperial system.
Firstly, the Spirit Hall was never truly an imperial institution; it was jointly controlled by the Pope and the Elders. The Pope could dismiss the Elders, and the Elders could likewise depose the Pope.
Secondly, Qian Renxue, to be blunt, was the last of the Angel lineage. Who would inherit such a vast empire when she was gone?
Even if she wanted to bear an heir, it would require someone willing to cooperate. The body of a god is not something anyone can simply enter.
Qian Renxue's reforms were not merely a change of name. She fully implemented a deep reform, from top to bottom, using the power of the Angel lineage. She divided power, created checks and balances, attacked the old aristocracy, and supported the rise of new nobility, touching upon all aspects of society.
The old aristocracy was mostly a remnant of the two empires, possessing titles, territories, subjects, and the power of soul masters, with immense military strength.
The new nobility mostly consisted of soul masters from commoner backgrounds. The Spirit Hall had long worked tirelessly to awaken the martial souls of every child from commoner families.
The majority of these children would awaken useless martial souls with zero soul power. But with such a large population base, a few talented children would eventually emerge.
As these children became soul masters and gradually gained power, they began to select talented children from commoner backgrounds as their disciples. This created a positive cycle, allowing more commoners to break through the traditional social classes. On the Douluo Continent, commoners without power had no chance of rising, but if they wanted to gain power, someone had to be willing to help them awaken their martial souls.
The reforms that Qian Renxue implemented would undoubtedly have a profound impact. For the next thousand or even ten thousand years, the structure of the continent would follow the framework she had laid out.
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Meanwhile, Wang Li, who had been traveling across the continent and contemplating the natural world, was keenly aware of the changes taking place.
Wang Li was very satisfied with the developments:
"Qian Renxue's execution is truly terrifying. Any suggestion I make, she manages to carry it out."
"A partner this reliable gives me the freedom to travel and contemplate the way of the world. Everything—nature, the heavens, and all living beings—has its own life. The path of life is everywhere. If I seek to become a god, I must take the creation of life and the evolution of all beings as my way."
This was Wang Li's realization. With his own life attribute, he would give birth to the sun, moon, stars, birds, beasts, fish, insects, mountains, rivers… Just as the Divine Realm had the Goddess of Life, he would create a new path using the attribute of life. This was the process of natural evolution and the existence of all beings, not an illusion.
This path should be called Creation. If he succeeded, he would gain infinite power.
(End of Chapter)