Among the team members, Ai Yan and Zhao Xiaohui were both commoner Soul Masters, with no guarantee of cultivation resources in the future. Once they received noble titles, they would receive at least a guaranteed annual income, whether or not they had fiefs, enough to support their continued cultivation.
Zhao Xiaohui smiled and shook her head. "I like being free and unfettered. Becoming a noble, putting on official airs, spouting bureaucratic jargon, and having to submit to higher-ranking nobles-that isn't the life I want."
Receiving a noble title did not mean immediately gaining the corresponding power.
Even among those holding the same title, the positions available differed in rank and prestige. Lei Meng, for example, had become a duke, but he held only an empty noble title, without any actual office or authority.
Other dukes who had spent decades navigating the imperial court often held important offices that gave them direct access to the emperor.
Take Lei Zhen in the past: although he had wielded considerable military power, his standing in the army had been a full tier below that of Marshal Ge Long, who was also a duke.
For newly appointed nobles, securing the best office available to their rank meant waiting for their predecessors to retire. Of course, most such waiting came to nothing.
Anyone who wanted an office with real authority quickly could only lower their standards.
The workings of officialdom were immensely complicated. Zhao Xiaohui was an exceptionally straightforward person and disliked all its twists and turns.
As for Ai Yan, he had decided to remain beside Qin Yuan and cultivate, rather than exhaust himself with other affairs.
Feng Xiaotian respected their choices. "That's fine, too. Becoming a noble comes with plenty of obligations. If you remain free of those entanglements, no one will interfere with