The Era Without Spirit Hall

A week had passed.

Xiao Changge had been learning cooking at this restaurant while also working as a security guard. During this time, he had indeed encountered many people who dined and dashed, but most of them were Soul Masters from mercenary groups.

These Soul Masters were generally between levels ten and twenty, and Xiao Changge had no intention of indulging them.

Back when he was level ten without a Soul Ring, he had already dared to challenge a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast alone. Moreover, he had fought it to a standstill.

And it had been a Golden-Winged Fire Crane, a Soul Beast with both exceptional quality and an extremely high rank among Soul Beasts. Its strength was no joke. Being able to fight it evenly showed that Xiao Changge was already qualified to battle a Soul King.

So how could Soul Masters at level ten or twenty possibly stand against Xiao Changge when they came here to dine and dash? He easily beat them back.

He also demanded that those Soul Masters compensate the restaurant with plenty of resources, such as Gold Soul Coins and various materials. These were things that commoner Soul Master mercenaries had to work painstakingly to obtain.

Things that should have been heirlooms to them now had to be handed over to the restaurant as compensation. Naturally, the restaurant owner was delighted and often gave Xiao Changge a substantial share of the profits, because he had earned it.

Seeing how dearly these commoner Soul Masters and mercenaries treasured such heirlooms, Xiao Changge felt that it was probably because there was no Spirit Hall anymore.

During the era of Spirit Hall ten thousand years ago, Spirit Hall gave commoner Soul Masters many benefits. Many of them could receive subsidies, and those subsidies came in Gold Soul Coins.

Thus, commoner Soul Master mercenaries did not have particularly low status. Though they could not compare with noble Soul Masters, a level-forty Soul Ancestor could at least establish a small family in that era and let their family live well.

All of this was Spirit Hall's doing. Although those commoner Soul Masters did not have especially powerful Martial Souls and might not even have been stronger than noble Soul Masters, at most reaching around level forty or fifty and stopping at Soul Ancestor or Soul King, they could still live fairly well with Spirit Hall's subsidies.

But in the era when Spirit Hall had been destroyed—the era led by Tang San—everything changed. Without Spirit Hall's help, many commoner Soul Masters would never have been born, since no one was willing to awaken Martial Souls for commoners for free.

Moreover, it was because of Spirit Hall that the two great empires had been willing to provide subsidies and Gold Soul Coins to commoners. But once Spirit Hall was gone, no one was willing to subsidize commoner Soul Masters or give them Gold Soul Coins anymore.

Many commoner Soul Masters lived miserable lives. They simply had no way of reaching level forty as Soul Ancestors and then establishing small families, as they could ten thousand years ago.

Even whether these commoner Soul Masters could cultivate to Soul Elder was a question. Cultivation required resources and money. Without Spirit Hall providing subsidies, where would they get resources and money? How could they obtain them? Even if they banded together for warmth, the major powers would still seize everything from them.

It was precisely because Spirit Hall existed that those major powers did not dare act recklessly or exploit commoner Soul Masters and commoners. Most importantly, Spirit Hall had suppressed the Fallen Soul Masters of ten thousand years ago—the people now called Evil Soul Masters.

In the era ten thousand years ago, Spirit Hall had kept the Fallen Soul Masters suppressed.

Back then, Evil Soul Masters were not called Evil Soul Masters. They were called Fallen Soul Masters.

Fallen Soul Masters still existed then, and they had already begun slaughtering civilians. But because Spirit Hall existed, once those Fallen Soul Masters were discovered, they either fled or hid in the Capital of Slaughter, where they would be left to fend for themselves.

With Spirit Hall around at the time, no Fallen Soul Master could threaten the various powers.

Spirit Hall had even required the Seven Great Sects to suppress the Fallen Soul Masters together, and everyone obediently complied.

But after Spirit Hall disappeared, everything changed. Without Spirit Hall, those great families and sects no longer actively exterminated Fallen Soul Masters—that is, Evil Soul Masters.

Although Shrek Academy began exterminating Evil Soul Masters, Shrek never pulled them up by the roots. It treated the symptoms rather than the cause, and it could barely even treat the symptoms.

Some Shrek members, in particular, even had shady connections with Evil Soul Masters.

Spirit Hall had never had shady connections with Evil Soul Masters.

And precisely because Shrek failed to fulfill its responsibilities, the ranks of Evil Soul Masters grew ever larger, eventually even giving rise to an existence like the Holy Spirit Cult.

It could be said that Shrek bore great responsibility for the growth of Evil Soul Masters.

That night, the restaurant closed.

"Ah, this era is truly difficult. Without the help of major powers or great families, development is just too hard.

"But I will reach level twenty soon. Once I absorb another Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring, I should be able to quickly break through Soul Grandmaster and reach Soul Ancestor."

Xiao Changge had cultivated well during this period. The restaurant's opening hours and work were not strenuous, and he had plenty of time to rest. He used that rest time to increase his Soul Power, and he would soon break through to become a level-twenty Soul Grandmaster.

"Changge, this is for you. You were a great help again today."

The restaurant owner exchanged the compensation given by the Soul Masters who dined and dashed for Gold Soul Coins and handed them to Xiao Changge.

"This is what you deserve. Whenever those Soul Masters came to dine and dash before, I had no ability to resist them. We could only let them eat their fill, then send them away with smiles. Since you came, even if they want to dine and dash, they have to consider whether they have the strength to do it."

The restaurant owner was simply telling the truth. Before Xiao Changge arrived, the restaurant often suffered losses because of those Soul Masters who dined and dashed.

But after Xiao Changge came, someone could drive those freeloaders away and even make them compensate for the losses. The losses were no longer so severe, and they had even made quite a bit back.

So in the restaurant owner's view, he should at least give Xiao Changge some money. It was what he deserved. This restaurant owner was far better than the boss of the protagonist in a certain cartoon from a free and democratic country, who would not let employees get off work for twenty-four hours, made them bring him money at his door, and even fined them.

It could be said that having a boss like this was already quite good. In times like these, meeting such a boss was already a fortunate thing for Xiao Changge, at least in this world.

It was already rare for someone to be willing to remain kind and uphold fairness. Though the restaurant owner was no saint, he was still a kind person.

He did not kill, rob, or set fires. Whatever he owed others, he would certainly repay in full.