The Pope Palace square rang with deafening cries of battle.
Nearly ten thousand Soul Masters—whether they were Cardinals or guards, white-haired elders or young recruits—had red eyes and waved their arms, like a pack of bloodthirsty beasts that had found their prey.
"Blood debts must be repaid in blood! Trample the Clear Sky Sect!"
"Long live His Holiness the Pope!"
The fervent tide surged wave after wave, battering the heavy walls of the Pope Palace and the hearts of everyone on the platform.
Golden Crocodile Douluo stood behind Bibi Dong, looking at the figure with her back to him, arms raised high as if receiving the worship of the masses. His expression was grim.
He had thought Bibi Dong would at least put on an act, but he hadn't expected this woman to dare such outrageous defiance! Such audacity!
A new Pope whose foundations were still shaky should have been thinking of how to win people over by drawing on her status as the former Pope's personal disciple. Instead, she had so decisively cut ties with Qian Xunji!
But looking at the Soul Masters below, now thoroughly riled up, nearly crazed, Golden Crocodile Douluo had to admit: this woman was a born leader.
Her methods were crude, her words outrageous, and she had even publicly humiliated the former Pope, but the results were immediate.
She hadn't offered any phony reassurances or spouted grand, self-righteous principles. She had simply told everyone, plainly and bluntly:
We're strong!
We lost before because the one in charge was useless!
Now that I'm here, stronger than he was, I'll lead you to kill, seize territory, and win back the face we lost!
This was the Soul Master World's most naked law: the strong prey on the weak, and the victor was king.
To Soul Masters who lived by the blade and yearned for power and status, this kind of straightforward "call to war" was far more tempting than any talk of benevolence or morality.
But was this really Bibi Dong?
He had always thought of her as a sinister viper, but the one standing on the platform now was clearly a young, arrogant lion!
Nan Feng stood atop the platform, feeling countless eyes below, bloodshot with desire, hatred, and fervor. The crazed smile at the corner of his mouth grew more pronounced.
"Take a look, Little Dongdong."
Nan Feng spoke languidly in the Sea of Consciousness. "This is human nature."
"These people look respectable enough, but they're more greedy than anyone deep down. What does war mean to them? Merits. Territory. A chance to plunder, with a clear conscience, the wealth the Clear Sky Sect has amassed over thousands of years!"
"All we have to do is raise the banner of righteousness, and they'll fight for their own gain."
"Your so-called biding our time and appearing weak to the enemy? In the eyes of these Soul Masters, that's just cowardice and incompetence. They wield power that can take someone's life with ease, and their blood runs with the urge to plunder and commit violence."
"They don't need a politician who only knows how to reason with people. They need a bandit chief who can lead them to kill, burn, and seize money and territory!"
"Just tell them there's meat to eat if they follow me, and they'll charge ahead howling, even if the road leads through a mountain of blades and a sea of flames."
Bibi Dong's core consciousness fell silent. She looked at the faces twisted with excitement and listened to the deafening cries of "Blood debts must be repaid in blood!"
She had to admit that Nan Feng was right.
In the world of Soul Masters, there had never been any gentleness, deference, courtesy, or yielding.
Power bred desire, and war was the best way to unleash it.
"I admit you have a point, but what happens next, after you've made such a brazen display and insulted Qian Xunji?" Bibi Dong asked.
"Never mind that a new Pope this aggressive is bound to put all the Soul Master sects on guard. They'll be watching every move Spirit Hall makes from now on. The slightest stir will become known throughout the world. How am I supposed to move forward with my plan to gradually swallow up the Soul Master World?"
"Spirit Hall does control nearly half the Soul Masters in the Soul Master World, but I need to make this clear: more than half of those Soul Masters are useless showpieces. They might be fine for bullying ordinary armies, but if they actually went to war with Soul Master sects, fewer than one in ten would have real fighting strength!"
"The Soul Master sects may not have many Soul Masters, but theirs are all elites. In terms of Martial Soul quality and personal strength alike, most ordinary Soul Masters in Spirit Hall can't compare. All things considered, at the same rank, one of their Soul Masters is worth two or three of ours!"
"For top-tier sects like the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and the Clear Sky Sect, that ratio would double, if not more!"
"If we fought them head-on, both sides would suffer heavy losses. There'd be no one-sided crushing victory like you claim!"
"And if Spirit Hall's Soul Masters suffered too many casualties, they'd scatter like birds and beasts. They have no loyalty, no willingness to fight to the death. Neither their strength nor their stability can compare to the Soul Master sects!"
"Spirit Hall's true strength has always lain in the Pope Palace and the Elder Hall! We have Titled Douluo, and more of them than any other Soul Master sect. That's why we hold such a lofty position!"
"The Soul Masters below are eating up your promises, sure, but Spirit Hall's real upper ranks—the Platinum Cardinals and the Titled Douluo elders—are all watching Qian Daoliu and Golden Crocodile."
"As a new ruler with no stable foundation—in fact, no foundation at all—who cuts ties with the previous Pope as soon as she takes office, I've thrown away the political legacy of being the former Pope's personal disciple."
"The elders who obey Qian Daoliu and Golden Crocodile won't cooperate with me from now on. They might even target me to curry favor with Golden Crocodile."
"In other words, Spirit Hall's true strength, its very core, isn't on my side right now. Because of what you just said, they might even stand against me!"
"Are you planning to get things done with that bunch of useless fools below? Don't dream! When nothing's happening, they can shout a couple of times to bolster your image. But when it comes to action, when it comes to war, all those fence-sitters are good for is serving as cannon fodder!"
"Was it just for the thrill?"
"Throwing away the greater good for a small gain?"
Bibi Dong's voice grew increasingly dangerous.
"You'd better explain this clearly and tell me how you plan to fix it. Otherwise, you can look forward to joining me on a honeymoon in the Rakshasa Secret Realm!"
Nan Feng was speechless. "You keep threatening me with the Rakshasa Secret Realm every chance you get. What's wrong with you?"
"If that awful place drives me mad, won't you go down with me?"
Bibi Dong remained calm. "Don't worry, I know my limits. Our souls are fused, after all. When you're about to go mad, I'll pull you out. Once you've regained a little sanity, I'll stuff you back in."
"Want to experience dying over and over again?"
"..."
Nan Feng was utterly speechless.
"Fine, fine, I'll explain. Is that all you want?"
"You say I'm too aggressive? That I'm throwing away the greater good for a small gain?"
"What are you worried about? That the sects will be on guard?"
"Wake up!"
"What kind of place is Spirit Hall? You said it yourself: it's the strongest Soul Master organization on the continent, controlling half the Soul Masters under heaven! With a colossus like that, even if you stayed home embroidering all day, the Soul Master sects and the two great empires would still treat you like a thorn in their side!"
Their wariness was inevitable! Since they'd target us no matter what, why pretend to be harmless?
"Restraint? In a world where the strong prey on the weak, restraint only makes people think you're weak and easy to bully!"
"The people outside may let their guard down if you hold back, but Spirit Hall's own Soul Masters will feel stifled by your restraint!"
"To repel invaders, you must first secure your own house!"
"Spirit Hall's own ranks are unstable. Why worry about what's happening outside?"
"You said Spirit Hall went after Tang Hao's wife and got hammered for it. What do you call that? Morally, it was banditry, and they deserved to die for it! That's what everyone under heaven thinks!"
"But can Spirit Hall admit it? No!"
"If reason won't work, then we'll speak with our fists!"
Nan Feng gestured toward the Soul Masters in the square, shouting with fervor:
"The virtuous fear virtue, not force; the petty fear force, not virtue. Look at the world. Are there more gentlemen, or more petty men?"
"Especially this bunch of Soul Masters, blades in their hands and weeds growing in their hearts! The only truth they believe in is this: whoever has the bigger fist is their daddy!"
"If we show absolute dominance and overwhelming force, even if it means launching a war to wash away our humiliation, what will the small and medium-sized sects who are still watching and wavering think?"
"They'll think: if even a colossus like the Clear Sky Sect can be ground into the dirt by Spirit Hall, then what the hell are we?"
"At that point, they'll have only two choices: die with the Clear Sky Sect, or kneel at Spirit Hall's feet and be our dogs!"
"Which one do you think they'll choose?"
"As for the gap between Spirit Hall's Soul Masters and those of the other Soul Master sects, come on, did I say we'd go to war with every sect?"
"The jianghu isn't about fighting and killing. It's about human relationships and social ties!"
"Fighting and killing is what we have to do because this situation can only be settled that way! The Pope was beaten to death. Human relationships can wait!"
"The Soul Master sects won't jump in to bring trouble down on themselves right now, either. All you need to worry about is the Clear Sky Sect. Stop acting as if you're all alone in the world!"
"Spirit Hall may not be that powerful, but the other Soul Master sects won't unite so easily, either. And even if they show signs of coming together, do I really need to teach you how to win some over and suppress others?"
Bibi Dong fell silent for a moment, then retorted, "That's how you deal with outsiders. But what about internally? By insulting Qian Xunji like this, you've slapped Golden Crocodile and all those stubborn old men in the face! I haven't just lost the political legacy of being the former emperor's disciple. They'll see me as an outcast who defies convention!"
"Political legacy?" Nan Feng was baffled. "Bibi Dong, has something gone wrong with your brain?"
"What was Qian Xunji? A useless man beaten to death by a newly ascended Titled Douluo! A laughingstock who brought shame on Spirit Hall!"
"Inheriting his legacy? Do you want to inherit his incompetence or his disgrace?"
"I..." Bibi Dong was momentarily at a loss for words.
"You say that by giving up the political legacy of being Qian Xunji's personal disciple, the elders will target you?" Nan Feng said.
"Come on. As long as you keep wearing the title of Qian Xunji's disciple, no matter how well you do, those old men will see you as nothing more than the Qian Family's gatekeeper, Qian Daoliu's daughter-in-law, and a nanny working for Qian Renxue!"
"Will they respect you? No! They'll only treat you like an obedient junior and use their elders' authority to put you in your place whenever you displease them!"
"Do you want to live your whole life in the shadow of the Qian Family father and son?"
Bibi Dong fell silent.
This was the deepest, most painful thorn in her heart.
Nan Feng continued, "That's why I'm going to help you sever this connection! I'm going to help you rise to power by stepping on Qian Xunji's bones!"
"I'm going to tell everyone that you sit in this position not because you're someone's disciple, but because you're stronger than that useless man! A hundred times stronger! Ten thousand times stronger!"
"Only then will you be Bibi Dong, a pioneer, not an heir!"