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With the issue of parasites resolved by Ye Wen, it was time to move on to the main task.
The advancement of a superhuman civilization was never something that could be completed in just a day or two—it required meticulous planning from the ground up.
Despite being a race where everyone possessed a martial soul, only a small fraction of individuals were born with innate soul power, allowing them to cultivate.
So, where was the crux of the problem?
Innate soul power was tied to the concept of "innateness." After years of research, Ye Wen discovered that every person carried an innate life force before birth. However, this innate energy was not stable and would gradually dissipate due to various factors.
There were similar ideas in his past life—for instance, children aged three or four who could see ghosts. This was attributed to their residual innate energy, granting them the ability to perceive the supernatural.
Of course, this might also have been hearsay. There were stories about cats with mismatched eyes or ordinary dogs seeing ominous things—did that mean these animals were spirits? Clearly not.
The more one reasoned, the clearer the truth became.
Ye Wen had once successfully nurtured a child from an ordinary family into a soul master.
A child's innate potential was closely tied to both parents. If one parent suffered from kidney deficiency or severe depletion of their essence, it would affect the inheritance of the martial soul.
After all, while there was a saying that children inherited the stronger martial soul of their parents, could auxiliary-type martial souls really compare to combat-type ones? Clearly not. So, what was the core factor determining strength?
Beyond cultivation level, it came down to fundamental aspects like vitality and blood essence.
Based on Ye Wen's investigations, he analyzed data from over a thousand noble families.
While more than 80% of noble children inherited powerful martial souls from their parents, the remaining 20% displayed a wide variety of results.
As for why most children inherited their father's martial soul, it was because Douluo Continent was far from gender-equal—it was a firmly patriarchal society.
Women with strong martial souls typically came from families with higher noble titles, making it unlikely for them to marry into families of lower status.
Thus, unions between strong men and weaker women were common among nobles.
The other 20% of cases stemmed from marriage arrangements.
Not all noble children married into other noble families. Some families that had fallen from grace were no longer considered suitable for noble marriages, forcing them to seek spouses among civilian soul masters—or worse, ordinary civilians.
Civilian soul masters who rose to prominence were generally strong and disciplined, with orderly private lives.
The scandals of the nobility were no secret.
Take Dai Mubai, for example—he had been frequenting brothels at the tender age of twelve or thirteen, which spoke volumes.
From Ye Wen's summary, these nobles who grew up indulging in luxury often had weak constitutions, and their children's martial souls didn't necessarily follow their fathers'.
However, there were exceptions—if the father's cultivation far surpassed the mother's, the child's martial soul inheritance would lean toward the father.
The conclusion was clear:
The inheritance of martial souls depended on a combination of one's cultivation level and vitality. Higher cultivation could compensate for deficiencies, and vice versa.
Determining innate soul power was relatively straightforward.
Through years of observation and analysis, Ye Wen concluded that the key factors were living environment and diet.
Even children born to couples with Blue Silver Grass martial souls possessed a faint trace of innate soul power. However, if they lived in an environment surrounded by filth and foul odors, it became exceedingly rare for rural civilians to awaken innate soul power.
Add to that poor nutrition, stunted physical development, and the inability to resist harmful elements in the air, and their innate soul power dissipated even faster.
By the time they reached six years old for their awakening, children who might have had a slim chance of becoming soul masters inevitably ended up as villagers with useless martial souls.
To promote the emergence of more civilian soul masters, Ye Wen decided to start reforms at the grassroots level in the early stages of the Holy Spirit Empire.
First, housing.
Sanitation had to be strictly controlled.
Additionally, Ye Wen was deeply dissatisfied with the widespread illiteracy among the common people of this era.
On the Douluo Continent, literate individuals were mostly either soul masters or those from wealthy families.
Though Ye Wen could forcibly order these people to teach the illiterate masses, the results would likely be poor, with many simply slacking off or going through the motions.
Instead, Ye Wen planned to incentivize these idle individuals through systemic reforms.
Under the new policies of the Holy Spirit Empire, Level Ten soul masters could only receive five silver spirit coins per month as a subsidy. While meager, this amount was sufficient for an individual's needs—after all, blacksmiths like Tang San earned only two or three silver spirit coins per month yet supported families of three.
But these low-level soul masters, accustomed to extravagant lifestyles, often harbored resentment.
Humans were fickle creatures—grateful for a single measure of rice but resentful for a bushel.
But what made these barely-adult brats so proud? Living off handouts and still feeling superior?
With disdain, Ye Wen drafted a new decree and issued it.
**Holy Spirit Empire Literacy Campaign**
- **Recruitment of Literacy Teachers:** No restrictions on numbers or strength.
- **Salary:** Five silver spirit coins per month.
- **Job Description:** Teach in designated rural areas of the Holy Spirit Empire, focusing on the universal script of the Douluo Continent.
- **Special Benefits:** The top three performers in each district will receive exclusive guidance from Spirit Hall instructors and an additional reward of ten gold spirit coins.
- *Note:* Rewards can be exchanged for hunting first or second spirit rings or converted into 100 gold spirit coins.
Though the pay wasn't high, the safety of the job was enough to attract a large number of civilian soul masters to apply.
Most civilian soul masters hailed from rural areas anyway, so returning to teach in their hometowns wouldn't provoke much resistance.
As for the special benefits, they were actually a trap set by Ye Wen.
In his past life, bosses often used such performance-based rewards to boost company productivity. In reality, only a few individuals ever received the rewards, but it significantly increased overall efficiency.
Why not give it a try?
Ye Wen chuckled smugly to himself. He was truly beginning to embody the mindset of a qualified capitalist—wicked indeed.
However, the literacy campaign was secondary. The real priority was reforming residential environments.
Flashes of architectural styles from his past life crossed Ye Wen's mind. Ultimately, he settled on the traditional architecture of the Hakka people in Guangdong Province.
Weilong Houses—
These mysterious structures were once mistaken by Western satellites for missile silos.
Suitable for communal living, they were excellent ancient fortifications against bandits.
Gathering an entire village into one location would also make future management easier, Ye Wen mused.
Weilong houses came in square and circular designs. To align with the aesthetics of the Douluo Continent, Ye Wen opted for circular Weilong houses.
Next came the Sanitation Regulations, which would be disseminated alongside the literacy campaign.
Using the prospect of becoming a soul master as bait, Ye Wen was confident that the common folk would eagerly comply. Those who resisted would likely face harsh punishment from their elders.
Ye Wen smirked mischievously.
Changing someone's lifestyle habits was undoubtedly painful.
Finally, there were details to arrange regarding infrastructure.
Here, Ye Wen applied his relatively basic understanding of economics.
Such reforms couldn't happen overnight—they would take at least three to four years. This timeline would stimulate domestic demand and alleviate the financial crisis caused by the isolation of the two empires.
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