Sun Moon Empire, Ten Great Families

Afterward, Xu Mochen handled a variety of other political matters with the ministers. It had to be said that while the Sun Moon Empire possessed a vast territory and population—spanning over 8.6 million square kilometers with roughly 150 million citizens—it still lagged behind the later Dragon Nation of Blue Star. Nevertheless, it remained a formidable empire.

Based on his memories and the ministers' memorials, the Sun Moon Empire's current level of soul tool technology was roughly equivalent to the late European Renaissance. The manufacturing of core components for high-level soul tools was monopolized by soul masters, and production methods remained strictly manual.

According to the original novel in his smart brain, although the Sun Moon Empire's technology was significantly more advanced than that of the Douluo Continent, it was still severely lacking in innate areas such as territory, population, resources, the number of soul masters, and the quality of their martial souls. For instance, on the Douluo Continent, only martial souls like the Dragon, Phoenix, Clear Sky Hammer, or Seven Kill Sword could be considered top-tier, while common martial souls like tigers, lions, blades, or swords were at best high-tier.

Yet in the Sun Moon Empire, even owners of tiger-type martial souls were absolute rarities. Those top-tier martial souls from the Douluo Continent were even more scarce, and god-level martial souls like the Angel or Sea God existed only in the legends of the Sun Moon Empire.

Although the original work suggested that during the timeline of the first Douluo Continent, the Sun Moon Empire had not yet connected with the mainland, novels were just novels. No one could be certain if variables might arise. It was better to be safe than sorry; if the Douluo Continent were to discover the Sun Moon Empire and launch a war, could his nation truly withstand it? One had to remember that according to the lore, seven thousand years later, the Sun Moon Empire—despite having far more advanced technology than it did now—still fell to the three nations of the Douluo Continent.

Considering the turtle-paced technological development of the Douluo world, Xu Mochen, as a scientific genius from Blue Star, felt that if possible, he should first understand the working principles of the Sun Moon Empire's soul tools. Then, he could find ways to modify and perfect them according to Earth's technological tree, establishing a path of development that aligned with the world of martial souls. This would help the Sun Moon Empire complete a technological revolution more rapidly, allowing him to respond calmly even if he truly faced a threat from the Douluo Continent.

Of course, it was too early to worry about the Douluo Continent. For now, besides using certain tactics to strengthen his power and prestige to stabilize the national situation, he also needed to cultivate his own base of connections. Only then would he face minimal resistance when pushing through a series of reforms in the future.

This was neither difficult nor simple. If he were back on Blue Star, it would have been fraught with obstacles for Xu Mochen, who had devoted most of his life to scientific research. After all, the intelligence of Blue Star's people was far beyond that of the Douluo world; if it came to playing mind games, any random village chief from Blue Star could easily manipulate the civil and military officials of the Douluo world.

At the very least, judging from both the original novel and the ministers' memorials, while these people were not as dim-witted as the characters in the book, they were certainly not qualified to compare themselves to the people of Blue Star.

At this moment, the ministers below the dais were clearly unaware of Xu Mochen's internal disparagement; instead, they were shocked by the intelligence of this young Crown Prince. Many problems that seemed insurmountable to them were solved with ease once they reached him. For example, the Minister of Construction had raised the issue of the Sun Moon River, where long-term silt accumulation had caused the riverbed to rise, leading to frequent flooding during the rainy season.

After understanding the details, Xu Mochen rejected the ministers' conventional methods of "diverting floodwaters" and "building dikes to block breaches." Instead, he constructively proposed narrowing the river channels in certain coastal cities to utilize the immense kinetic energy of the water to flush out the silt at the bottom. He also suggested building stable dikes and sluice gates along the banks to guide the flow into the sea, a technique known on Blue Star as the "Water-Binding Sand-Flushing Method."

Naturally, regarding other matters, this six-year-old Crown Prince also had his own insights. In his view, while the Sun Moon Empire's industry and commerce were developing rapidly, various problems persisted. For instance, the state allowed major commercial groups to freely collude and monopolize industries, destroying market rules and healthy competition while driving up prices. Furthermore, many merchants were guilty of serious tax evasion and used various means to avoid or resist the Ministry of Finance's asset audits.

To this, Xu Mochen proposed many of his own solutions. These opinions, which seemed commonplace to a person from Blue Star, left the ministers astonished. Even the "Three Pillars of the Empire"—Xu Yuanding, Kong Dehan, and Ye Xingyun—could not help but be shocked by the young Crown Prince's wisdom, and they began to hold this future Emperor in high regard.

After the morning court session ended, Xu Mochen began arranging for a secret funeral for the father he had never met in this life. On the other hand, he began preparing for the martial soul awakening ceremony in the afternoon. Unlike the Douluo Continent, where awakening was handled by the Martial Soul Hall, the Sun Moon Empire's awakening ceremonies had always been directly managed by the imperial court. While other great families participated, they were merely auxiliary; the leading authority remained with the Imperial Family.

Due to the secrecy of the funeral and the fact that his late father had been obsessed with cultivation and power, he had only taken three women as wives, including his mother, the Empress of the Sun Moon Empire, all of whom had passed away before his father. Since he had no other siblings, the funeral was sparsely attended, limited to high-ranking royals, government officials, and nobility. This included the Three Pillars of the Empire, cabinet ministers, the heads of the other eight great families, and key military generals holding significant power.

Although he tried to keep things low-key and simple, the necessary rituals had to be performed. Yet, compared to the funeral itself, Xu Mochen was more concerned with these imperial power-brokers. The most powerful and influential families in the Sun Moon Empire were the Ten Great Families. These included the Imperial Xu Family, whose current head was the Crown Prince himself—Xu Mochen, the "Hidden Emperor." Of course, many family matters likely required the management of Prince Yanyang, his great-uncle Xu Yuanding.

Then there was the Kong Family, which shared the same lineage as the Imperial Family; its current head was Prince Yinyue, his grand-uncle Kong Dehan. The current Prime Minister of the Cabinet, Grand Duke Star Ye Xingyun, was the head of the Ye Family, whose roots in the military and political spheres were deep, having produced many prime ministers. The other seven families were the Hongchen, Shangguan, Xia, Wang, Su, Ma, and Lan families.

While he hadn't heard of all these surnames, several were worth noting. According to the information on Douluo Continent II provided by his smart brain, these families would produce many talents in the future of the Sun Moon Empire.

After exchanging pleasantries and condolences with the dignitaries, the funeral drew to a close as the funeral music ceased. Next was Xu Mochen's martial soul awakening ceremony, which the dignitaries watched with great interest. Although they had heard that the Crown Prince was exceptionally wise and calculating, this was a world where soul masters reigned supreme. The Xu family's status as the Imperial Family was built on the wisdom and sweat of their ancestors, but equally important was the fact that they inherited the most top-tier martial souls in the Sun Moon Empire.

The Imperial Family of the Sun Moon Empire did not inherit just one, but three distinct martial souls: the Blazing Sun, the Silver Moon, and the Purple Imperial Heaven-Extinguishing Dragon. Each was incredibly formidable; if Xu Mochen could awaken any one of these three, his position would undoubtedly become unshakable.

The ceremony was held in the open space before the Palace's Council Hall, where a high platform had been erected. On both sides, drummers pounded the Kui Ox Drums with a thunderous roar, while musicians in ornate attire blew their horns at full strength, the deafening sound echoing through the clouds.

Standing below were the most powerful figures in the Sun Moon Empire. The person presiding over the ceremony for Xu Mochen was none other than the head of the Kong Family, Prince Yinyue, Kong Dehan. Below, Xu Mochen, dressed in his crown prince robes, walked onto the awakening platform with steady and firm steps, his small frame dwarfed by the majestic atmosphere.

"Please, Your Highness, step into the center of the Awakening Stone Array." Following Kong Dehan's resonant voice, Xu Mochen stood in the center like a sturdy pine. With a wave of Kong Dehan's hand, a bright, silvery crescent moon slowly appeared behind him. Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red! Along with the appearance of nine glowing soul rings, a majestic aura of soul power radiated outward!

Although Kong Dehan deliberately controlled the aura so it wouldn't crush those around him, the unintentional pressure and the terrifying soul ring configuration were enough to make everyone present gasp in secret. Even Xu Mochen's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise.

Red! Is this the hundred thousand year soul ring mentioned in Douluo Continent? Xu Mochen knew from the original body's memories that this grand-uncle was not only the eldest member of the Imperial Family but also the strongest in the Sun Moon Empire, possessing the strength of a Level 9 Soul Master!

But he hadn't expected that this white-haired, weathered-looking old man would actually possess a hundred thousand year soul ring, one of the legendary treasures of the soul master world! By logical deduction, this meant his grand-uncle was likely not only a Super Douluo above level 95, but might also possess a hundred thousand year soul bone!

Under Kong Dehan's manipulation, streams of soul power landed precisely on every awakening stone in the array. As beams of energy shot out from the stones and into his body, Xu Mochen felt every pore on his skin open instantly. The massive energy awakened a soul that had been sleeping within him, and a dazzling light erupted from his body.

At this moment, everyone around widened their eyes, staring fixedly at the figure wrapped in light on the platform, as if they wished they could rush forward to get a better look.

As the dazzling light gradually faded, the faint figure within began to emerge. When the light vanished completely, everyone noticed the significant changes in the figure. "What... what kind of martial soul has the Crown Prince awakened? It doesn't seem to be one of the three ancestral martial souls of the Sun Moon Imperial Family?" Everyone below stared blankly at Xu Mochen on the platform, their faces filled with astonishment and confusion.