Ambition

It had been three months since they attended the auction and witnessed that absurd tragedy.

Using that auction as an opportunity, Ming Lunyu developed the desire to learn more about the Heavenly Dou Empire, so the group of four set out once again.

As the saying went, "What one learns from books always feels shallow; true understanding comes only through personal experience." To truly understand something, one had to experience it firsthand.

Thus, they departed from Heaven Dou City, stopping and traveling along the way as they experienced the customs and living conditions of different regions.

With two Titled Douluo among them, three months had been enough for them to travel through more than half of the Heavenly Dou Empire.

In the end, Ming Lunyu reached two conclusions.

First, the noble class of the Heavenly Dou Empire was indeed rotten to the core.

Many of the outrageous things he had witnessed along the way had been done by those nobles. Selling offices and titles, bullying men and women, colluding with merchants to drive up prices... it had truly opened his eyes.

However, such practices were not especially widespread or brazenly exposed. They were generally carried out in secret, which meant public security in the Heavenly Dou Empire's cities remained fairly decent overall.

But Ming Lunyu realized that this was not the Heavenly Dou Empire's official government's achievement at all.

That led to his second discovery: the role of Spirit Hall.

Ming Lunyu had noticed something utterly absurd. The reason the Heavenly Dou Empire's cities could remain so peaceful was, to a great extent, because they relied on Spirit Hall—a religious, non-governmental force outside the Heavenly Dou Empire!

In cities where Spirit Hall was stationed, the various nobles restrained their petty schemes far more. The interests of commoners and commoner Spirit Masters also received greater protection.

For instance, with Spirit Hall's support, Spirit Hall Spirit Masters went to villages every year to awaken children's martial spirits for free. Not only that, Spirit Hall negotiated with the Empire and had it allocate funds to provide monthly cultivation subsidies for low-level Spirit Masters. There were also law enforcement teams formed by Spirit Hall to maintain public order, and so on.

Unlike official organizations, most of Spirit Hall's grassroots members came from commoner backgrounds. Thus, in their daily activities, they were more inclined to protect the rights of commoners.

It was precisely these factors that had made the Empire's nobles and Spirit Hall bitter enemies.

After all, the Empire's nobles would rather commoners never have the chance to awaken martial spirits. Only then could they rule them forever. If some commoner were lucky enough to awaken a martial spirit and become a powerful Spirit Master, they would be finished if that person came seeking revenge.

The matter of subsidies for low-level Spirit Masters faced even greater opposition from most nobles. Those subsidies had to come out of their pockets! How could noble lords, who had always stood above everyone else, tolerate having their money taken for free and handed out to those lowly commoner Spirit Masters?

Even if some nobles tried to slander and smear Spirit Hall, Spirit Hall was no pushover. The public was not stupid either; who was good and who was bad was obvious at a glance. Spirit Hall's reputation among the people far surpassed that of the Empire's officials—at the very least, it far surpassed that of the Empire's nobles.

Of course, nothing was absolute. It was not as though every noble was bad or Spirit Hall was flawless. But judging from the overall situation, Spirit Hall was indeed far better than the Heavenly Dou Empire's nobles. At least Spirit Hall still considered the interests of the common people, while most of the Heavenly Dou Empire's noble factions focused on exploiting the populace to fill their own pockets.

As one side waned and the other waxed, Ming Lunyu declared, "If this continues, the Heavenly Dou Empire will collapse sooner or later!"

Especially since Spirit Hall had already planted an undercover agent in the position of Crown Prince, yet the Heavenly Dou Empire knew nothing about it. If the two sides truly went to war one day, the Heavenly Dou Empire probably would not even know how it died.

Would commoners really willingly support those noble lords?

Having seen through all this, Ming Lunyu instead became more composed.

Faced with the Heavenly Dou Empire's current situation, he dared to conclude that in around another ten years, the Heavenly Dou Empire would experience tremendous upheaval. After all, that "Xue Qinghe" could not possibly remain undercover for life. He would definitely find a way to make a move when the time came. The consequences would surely be unprecedented, and whether the Heavenly Dou Empire could even continue to exist would be questionable.

This also showed Ming Lunyu the path ahead: if he wanted to protect himself amid the continent's future upheavals, he needed sufficiently powerful strength. And if he wanted to go further in those future changes and make a name for himself, he needed a powerful force.

One person's strength was limited—at least, that saying held true on Douluo Continent. Even someone as strong as Tang Fu'er risked falling when besieged. Therefore, if he wanted to accomplish something great, he needed a force of his own.

For this reason, Ming Lunyu placed even greater importance on the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Tournament two years from now. He regarded it entirely as both a talent market and a stage upon which to establish his name.

After a series of discussions between Ming Lunyu and the three women, they finally settled on their final plan of action.

Within one year at most, Ming Lunyu would begin secretly operating an Advanced Spirit Master Academy. Then he would personally join its academy team and win first place in the tournament, thereby making the academy famous and attracting more outstanding talents to join. Through the subtle influence of later education, he would expand his own influence, allowing him to smoothly turn the students into "lackeys" when he established his own force.

Incidentally, the term "lackeys" had come from Ma Hongjun. He had long looked forward to having a force of his own; after all, he had not dreamed of becoming a gang boss for just a day or two.

But before operating the academy, Ming Lunyu's most important task was to strengthen his side's top-tier combat power as much as possible.

Tang Fu'er pointed out that if a crisis truly arose that swept across the entire continent, even two Titled Douluo would be insufficient. Spirit Hall alone was conservatively estimated to have ten Titled Douluo, including a level ninety-nine limit Douluo.

Ming Lunyu was currently at Soul Power Level forty-five. He had contracted three Contractors and still had one contract slot remaining. He planned to use it to subdue another powerful combatant.

However, he found himself troubled over exactly who that candidate should be.

The most basic requirements were immense strength and absolute loyalty. Although Contractors would obey Ming Lunyu's commands completely and could not directly harm him, disregarding loyalty would still cause enormous trouble.

Fortunately, Ming Lunyu had Dugu Bo at his side. Although he did not particularly enjoy socializing, he was no stranger to the kinds of talent available in the world. After all, he had spent decades in the contemporary Spirit Master world. Dugu Bo had a fairly clear understanding of which experts existed and what characteristics they possessed.

Among the many candidates Dugu Bo mentioned, Ming Lunyu ultimately chose one person—the patriarch of the Breaking Clan, Yang Wudi!

According to Dugu Bo, the Breaking Clan Yang Wudi belonged to had once been one of the four single-attribute clans under the Clear Sky Sect. The Strength, Defense, and Agility Clans were equally famous alongside it. The reason they were called former subordinate clans was that after the Clear Sky Sect sealed off its mountain, the four great clans had broken away and established themselves independently.

These four clans were all renowned for their single extreme attributes. The Breaking Clan's inherited martial spirit was called the Soul Breaking Spear, and it followed the path of ultimate offense. Its attack power was among the best at the same rank. In terms of attack power alone, even Spirit Masters with one more Soul Ring than a Soul Breaking Spear Spirit Master might not be able to match them.

The prime example was Yang Wudi, the clan patriarch. Though he possessed only the cultivation of a Soul Douluo, with a Soul Breaking Spear in hand, even Titled Douluo below level ninety-five would suffer endless headaches against him.

Patriarch Yang Wudi was loyal and righteous, repaying every kindness he received. He was not narrow-minded, and he was also obsessed with cultivation. His greatest hobbies were becoming stronger and refining medicine.

However, he was far too straightforward and knew little about managing a clan, which had left the Breaking Clan living in considerable hardship.

Ming Lunyu believed this was the perfect thug. If he handled things properly when the time came, perhaps he would not only gain a superpowered thug, but also take in the entire Breaking Clan behind him.