World-Crossing Sacred Lotus

"Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime!"

"Remember, you are the future rulers of the empire. You may be compassionate, but you must not be blindly compassionate."

"You may cherish the people, but you must not favor them."

"The world has its own balance. What we must do is make this unfair world as fair as possible."

Da Niu raised his question. "Boss, but if we do that, won't we lose the people's support?"

"Heh heh, the human heart has its own scales. If they think we have not done well enough, they can choose to leave. Our empire does not need such parasites."

"No one is stupid. They know very well who treats them well."

"From today onward, everyone must devote themselves wholeheartedly to building the empire. We must put our Republic Empire on the right track, down a proper path."

Everyone understood Bai Fan's meaning and left one after another, preparing to build the Republic Empire.

Just as Da Niu was about to leave, Bai Fan called out to him. "Da Niu, I'll take you to obtain a Soul Ring today."

When Bai Fan had taught Da Niu his self-created soul skill last time, Da Niu had already broken through to level ten soul power. They had merely delayed it these past few days.

The two headed together to the Star Dou Great Forest.

Bai Fan carried a thousand-year Great Strength Demon Ape in one hand.

"Da Niu, do you dare absorb a thousand-year soul beast? With your current physical condition, absorbing one will be more than manageable, though the process will certainly be painful."

Da Niu answered without the slightest hesitation. "Boss, I, Da Niu, am not afraid."

Just as Bai Fan had expected, Da Niu, whose body had been transformed by the Golden Lotus, faced no danger to his life during the absorption process. The sweat on his brow and his pained expression showed just how difficult it was to absorb this Soul Ring.

Second by second, time passed, and Da Niu successfully absorbed the Soul Ring.

A purple Soul Ring circled his body. He threw a punch at a nearby tree, blasting a fist-sized hole through its thick trunk.

The huge commotion immediately attracted a five-thousand-year white ape.

"Da Niu, use the self-created soul skill I taught you."

Da Niu instinctively did as Bai Fan said. His soul power surged, and a vivid Crimson Lotus gathered in his left hand, while a Golden Lotus appeared in his other.

It was Da Niu's first time dealing with soul power, and he did not understand its principles. He instinctively brought his hands together, and a lotus of mingled gold and crimson danced before him.

Under Da Niu's control, the lotus shot rapidly toward the white ape.

When it was still several dozen meters from the white ape, the lotus exploded with a roar. Bai Fan shielded Da Niu behind him, his eyes fixed firmly on the blast.

The enormous shockwave swept across a hundred-meter radius, shaking the trees violently and sending the surrounding soul beasts fleeing in every direction.

The white ape on the other side took the lotus's attack head-on. Its mouth hung wide open, its white fur had been scorched black, and it lay weakly on the ground, grievously wounded.

White ape: There was really no need to hit me with something that vicious.

Bai Fan turned around and smacked Da Niu hard on the head. "Do you know how dangerous that was? If you couldn't control it, why did you try? One moment of carelessness and you would have died!"

Bai Fan was furious. He was angry at Da Niu's recklessness, at how little Da Niu valued his own life.

Da Niu scratched his head and spoke sheepishly. "Boss, I didn't expect it to be so hard to control. I thought I could handle it."

"How did you think of combining the two lotuses?"

"I just felt that using them separately was a little too scattered. After all, both lotuses came from inside my body, so I thought they could merge well."

Bai Fan gave Da Niu another heavy slap on the head. "Reckless! Couldn't you have discussed it with me first? What if something had happened? Your life is no longer just your own. You live for countless common people."

"Got it, Boss." Da Niu was not angry that Bai Fan had hit him. Instead, he was quite happy.

Bai Fan dragged the fallen white ape over and examined it carefully. "Not bad. It's actually a Mind-Seizing Spirit Ape. It can serve perfectly as your second Soul Ring."

After absorbing his first Soul Ring, Da Niu's soul power had reached level twenty. It was not an effect of having just absorbed the Soul Ring; his soul power had originally exceeded level ten, but it could not be displayed because he had not yet obtained a Soul Ring.

Da Niu punched open the Mind-Seizing Spirit Ape's head, and a purple Soul Ring flew out.

He absorbed it successfully without any surprise. Two purple Soul Rings circled around him, while a red-and-gold lotus phantom uncontrollably appeared on his back.

Unexpectedly, another tall phantom identical to Da Niu appeared behind him.

The red-and-gold lotus phantom was held in the palm of Da Niu's phantom.

Bai Fan watched it all and nodded in satisfaction. "Fools truly do have fool's luck. I never expected a spirit ape to raise Da Niu's spiritual power by so much."

Da Niu slowly opened his eyes, then rose to his feet. The phantom behind him moved along with him.

"Boss, my mind feels so clear right now. If I did it again, I could definitely control that lotus properly."

This time, Bai Fan only lightly patted Da Niu on the head. "You little brat, you're actually getting hooked on this. You came up with this move, so shouldn't you give it a name?"

"Boss, I'm uneducated. You should name it!"

Bai Fan grabbed Da Niu by the ear and said sternly, "If I tell you to name it, then hurry up and name it. Even if you call it Da Niu's Fart, I won't object."

Da Niu begged for mercy as he thought it over, finally coming up with a name. "Boss, let's call it the World-Crossing Sacred Lotus!"

"Not bad. Looks like everyone needs a little pressure."

"Isn't that a pretty good name?"

The two walked shoulder to shoulder, preparing to leave the Star Dou Great Forest.

It was worth mentioning that after this trip, Da Niu's soul power had reached level twenty-eight, and his strength was now comparable to that of a High-Grade Soul Ancestor.

Over the following month.

Bai Fan resumed his research. Under Da Niu and the others' management, the Republic Empire grew better and better, and its warriors became increasingly numerous.

Meanwhile, the Sylvis Kingdom was about to descend into utter chaos.

Commerce flourished there, and wealthy merchants and nobles were plentiful.

On his very first day there, Yuwen Huai'an began carrying out sweeping reforms.

With the immunity medallion bestowed by Emperor Xue Ye, he began acting with utter impunity.

Yuwen Huai'an stood atop the city gate and delivered a speech.

"People of the Sylvis Kingdom, I have some very bad news to announce."

"A brutal band of rebels has emerged within the empire. They burn, kill, plunder, and act without restraint."

"The Skyfrost Duchy, not far from us, has already been captured by them. It has become a city of the dead."

"We suspect that their next target is this place. I hope everyone can unite, resist these foreign invaders together, and swear to defend our homeland to the death!"

Yuwen Huai'an's impassioned speech stirred the emotions of many people, little knowing that it was all part of his scheme.