Time flew by, and another two and a half years passed in silence.
Present-day Douluo Star was no longer the world of bloody opposition between Spirit Masters and Soul Beasts, with its rigid, ironclad class hierarchy.
Under the new rules, society as a whole brimmed with unprecedented vitality and vigor.
The technology tree flourished with the introduction of soul tool technology.
Peace and development became the main theme, and a new generation of Spirit Masters grew up under an entirely new system.
Many of them possessed unusual Martial Souls that their ancestors could scarcely have imagined, gaining power through sincere cooperation with soul spirits rather than bloody hunting.
Personal effort, temperament and insight, and one's bond with soul spirits became the new standards for judging a Spirit Master's potential.
This torrent of reform sweeping through society inevitably shook the old system of privilege.
With Bibi Dong and Xu Wen's tacit approval, and even their secret encouragement, some progressive major cities began experimenting with new models of governance.
Citizen councils, elected mayors, the abolition of hereditary city lord and noble privileges...
The seeds of democratic self-rule quietly took root in this ancient land.
Although resistance remained immense and the old noble factions occasionally struck back, the wheels of history had already begun rolling forward, unstoppable and irreversible.
Meanwhile, the divine palace floating above the boundless ocean presented a wholly different scene of festive bustle.
Nourished by the divine palace's Soul Power and divine aura, so dense they seemed impossible to disperse, the women and companions who had followed Jiang Zhen earliest or shared close ties with him advanced in cultivation by leaps and bounds.
Dugu Yan, Lan Xi, Jiang Lingxi, Ye Lingling, and Shui Bing'er had devoted themselves to cultivation within the divine palace. With Jiang Zhen's occasional guidance and preferential