Qian Daoliu did not watch Mo Lin turn and leave. Instead, his gaze went unfocused as he concentrated on something deep in thought.
Mo Lin's words had not shaken Qian Daoliu's convictions, but they had indeed brought back many memories from the past, including matters he had overlooked.
When Qian Daoliu had first become Pope, Spirit Hall had been at a low point. In terms of top-tier combat power, he and Golden Crocodile had been Spirit Hall's only two pillars. Compared with the Upper Three Sects, their advantage had not been nearly as obvious as it was now, nor had they been as strong as they were in even earlier times.
However, Spirit Hall still held an absolute advantage in the number of low- and mid-level Soul Masters. Moreover, the number of young Soul Masters choosing to join Spirit Hall had not noticeably declined. It was precisely because of this that Spirit Hall had gradually emerged from its slump under his leadership. Most of Spirit Hall's current worshippers and elders had joined during that era, when they had still been youths in their teens and twenties.
But at that time, watching Spirit Hall revive under his command, Qian Daoliu had been immensely proud. He had believed that Spirit Hall had overcome its crisis entirely because of his own ability. Only after he had a son, Qian Xunji, did his mindset change, and he gradually stopped dwelling on his past achievements. By then, he was already eighty years old. (For a Titled Douluo, having a son at eighty was perfectly normal.)
When people grew old, they began to look back on the past. During that process, he realized for the first time the true reason Spirit Hall had been able to recover—its recruitment policy of valuing talent over background and fully