After the Coronation Ceremony ended, Bibi Dong ignored Golden Crocodile's murderous glare and led Nan Feng straight back to the Pope Hall Meeting Hall.
From now on—no, from here on out—she would be working here.
A week ago, after the Elder Council had passed the resolution making her the next in line to inherit the papacy, renovations had begun in Pope Hall. Each Pope was allowed to make certain changes to the furnishings in her office.
At Bibi Dong's request, all the ornate golden decorations in the Pope's hall had been thrown out and replaced with purple and gold.
The hall's overall style had also changed considerably. It no longer had the flashy look it had under Qian Xunji. Now the dark purple decor made the place feel somewhat oppressive, but Bibi Dong liked it that way.
"Are you sure this unconventional approach will work?" Bibi Dong asked with some concern.
She suspected Nan Feng was doing all this just for fun!
He'd claimed that the way she'd held up the kitten at the time had coincidentally matched the pose of the Angel God Statue, and that the more casual she seemed in such a solemn setting, the less certain those watching her from the shadows would feel.
In short, it was all for show!
Whether she could keep them in line was another matter. First, she had to overpower them with her presence.
If she followed the Elder Hall's wishes in everything, the others would see her as a weak Pope who could be pushed around. That would make reclaiming power all the more difficult.
Patience was necessary, but she had no reason to keep holding back now.
Since Qian Daoliu had dared to put her in this position, that proved he wouldn't interfere too much. As long as Spirit Hall was developing in the right direction, Qian Daoliu wouldn't meddle.
As for the Elder Hall, those people had joined Spirit Hall out of fear of Qian Daoliu's strength. So as long as she was stronger than them, no one would dare stand in her way.
And if some hardheaded fool did dare to stand up to her, she'd just kill him.
"At your current level, the only people who can hold you back are the High Priests above level ninety-six. But they don't handle affairs, and they all listen to Qian Daoliu. As long as that old man doesn't say anything, the High Priests won't interfere with what you do," Nan Feng said.
"What if Qian Daoliu steps in?" Bibi Dong asked worriedly.
Her only concern was Qian Daoliu tripping her up!
That was why she'd planned to lie low for a while and build up her strength.
"If he does, just go head-to-head with him," Nan Feng said.
"If the Pope and Grand Priest clash and Spirit Hall becomes unstable, you're not the one who'll suffer. Anyway, Spirit Hall belongs to their family. We might as well have fun with it."
"Besides, this is my first time playing a real-time strategy game in person."
Bibi Dong's eyelid twitched.
I knew you had an ulterior motive!
"What are you doing?" Bibi Dong glared at Nan Feng, who was misbehaving in her arms.
"What bad intentions could a little kitty possibly have?" Nan Feng looked up at her innocently.
"Keep it up and I'll throw you out." Bibi Dong pinched Nan Feng by the scruff of his neck and lifted him up.
"Fine, fine..." Nan Feng obediently landed on the desk and began looking over Spirit Hall's plans for the war against the Clear Sky Sect.
Every Spirit Master faction had a vast network of industries that touched every aspect of human society, from food and clothing to housing and transportation. The Spirit Master Class controlled all of it.
The war between Spirit Hall and the Clear Sky Sect wasn't simply a matter of charging in with their Martial Souls. The Clear Sky Sect's Affiliated Sects in the Two Great Empires, along with the businesses under their control, all had to be dealt with.
As soon as war was declared, Spirit Hall immediately attacked those interests. Though it was officially a war between Spirit Hall and the Clear Sky Sect, the conflict had actually spread across nearly half the continent. No sect could stay out of it.
Sects and nations with ties to the Clear Sky Sect had all been affected to some degree. The hardest hit were the families serving as the Clear Sky Sect's Affiliated Sects, including the Four Single-Attribute Sects. There were nearly twenty of them, large and small.
To put it simply, the conflict had triggered a small-scale financial crisis. The collapse of the Clear Sky Sect's businesses hurt not only Spirit Master factions, but also countless workers.
Those unemployed workers would soon become refugees within the Two Great Empires, or even end up as slaves.
They'd had the bad luck of working for businesses connected to the Clear Sky Sect. What else could they expect?
As for what became of those unfortunate people, Spirit Hall wouldn't care. After all, Spirit Hall was an organization of Spirit Masters. The lives of ordinary people had nothing to do with them. Spirit Hall only looked after Spirit Masters and represented the interests of the Spirit Master Class.
"Hm?"
Bibi Dong, who had been reviewing reports, suddenly looked up at the doors of Pope Hall.
"Come in."
At her words, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo, who had been fidgeting outside for a long while, entered one after the other.
"Oh?" Bibi Dong was a little surprised.
"What can I do for you, Elders?"
At today's Coronation Ceremony, only Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluo had shown up to support her. To be honest, she was a little surprised. With the situation still unclear, the Elders wouldn't usually pick sides so quickly.
But their actions today could already be taken as a sign that they'd sided with her.
Still, she didn't understand why the two of them were in such a hurry.
Before the Coronation Ceremony, no one except Qian Daoliu and Golden Crocodile had known that she'd advanced to Titled Douluo. Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluo had been in the dark as well.
Besides, they'd served under Qian Xunji. Qian Xunji had only just died, so switching sides now didn't seem appropriate.
After all, although Qian Daoliu had put her in the position of Pope, anyone with eyes could see the tension between them during the Elder Hall meeting.
Choosing sides at a time like this was too risky, wasn't it?
"Greetings, Your Holiness the Pope!"
With Yue Guan leading the way, Gui Mei followed close behind and knelt on one knee.
Bibi Dong was taken aback. "What do you two mean by this?"
The Pope was Spirit Hall's highest authority, but the Elders held a high position as well. Even Platinum Bishops, whose rank was below that of the Elders, didn't have to kneel before the Pope. The Elders certainly didn't need to.
"Your Holiness the Pope, please take us in," Yue Guan said gravely.
"Take you in?" Bibi Dong looked puzzled.
"What do you mean?"
Yue Guan found it hard to explain. "Your Holiness may not know this, but there's no place for the two of us in the Elder Hall anymore."
At that, Bibi Dong's mind raced.
Yue Guan and Gui Mei had only just suffered severe injuries during Spirit Hall's recent operation. Why were they saying they had nowhere to go?
Could it be because...
Bibi Dong quickly worked out the reason and couldn't help but find it amusing. "I thought the Grand Priest was more magnanimous. Turns out he isn't all that generous."
Qian Xunji had taken Yue Guan and Gui Mei with him to hunt down Tang Hao and the 100,000-Year Transformed Spirit Beast. In the end, they hadn't caught the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Countless Soul Saints had died or been injured, while three veteran Titled Douluo had suffered one death and two serious injuries.
Most importantly, Qian Xunji had died!
Yet Yue Guan and Gui Mei, who had also fought Tang Hao, had both made it back alive and well.
If the two of them hadn't returned barely clinging to life, that old bastard Qian Daoliu might have slapped them both to death the moment he saw Qian Xunji's wretched state!
She still remembered the terrifying surge of Soul Power and the icy killing intent that had erupted from the Elder Hall that day.
The killing intent of the Adjudicator Elder in days gone by...
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