Spirit Hall Consolidates Its Power: The Stick and the Carrot

Spirit City, Papal Palace.

In just a few days, a brand-new Papal Palace had risen from the ground.

The entire palace was built with a timber-and-stone structure, stone walls forming its bones and massive wooden beams its frame. It had little ornate decoration, yet looked all the more solemn and imposing.

In the fantasy world of Douluo Continent, a soul master's power might not be able to change everything. But for ordinary craftsmen, awakening a martial soul—and even cultivating Soul Power—gave them stronger bodies and made them more efficient at their work.

Projects that would once have taken months or even years could advance at astonishing speed with the help of soul masters and martial souls. The new Papal Palace beneath his feet was the best proof.

Qian Juechen stood at a towering floor-to-ceiling window at the highest point of the Papal Palace, looking down over Spirit City as order gradually returned to its streets.

Only after becoming Pope did he understand how exhausting the position was. Taking charge of a power structure vast enough to influence the entire continent was sheer torture for someone as new to governance as he was.

After several days, with support from a few staunch factions, he had finally gained a reasonably clear picture of Spirit Hall's current state.

The first thing he did upon taking office was deal with the diehard loyalists Bibi Dong had left behind.

Of course, as he had said before, he would not launch a sweeping purge. It might look decisive and satisfying, but it would be deeply unwise and only plunge Spirit Hall back into turmoil.

The ones who truly faced his blade were those whose crimes were proven: people who had used the new Pope's power to eliminate rivals and wantonly suppress their colleagues during Bibi Dong's rule.

He had personally ordered the arrest of the Red Cardinals with the worst crimes. Even their families were punished by association. The law called for confiscation of their property or exile, but under him, every one of them was beheaded.

He could not afford to go soft on people like that. He could not leave them any chance to make a comeback.

Making an example of them was the first signal he sent after taking over Spirit Hall.

He could tolerate differing allegiances, but he would never allow anyone to use Spirit Hall's institutions and the Pope's trust to enrich themselves or crush their colleagues.

For those who had once sided with Bibi Dong but had committed no serious offenses, Qian Juechen took a different approach.

He did not hold their past against them or suppress them—not for now. He even summoned some of them for a few conversations.

Put plainly, they went whichever way the wind blew, pledging loyalty to whoever held power. He could let their past allegiances go, but from now on, they would have only one object of loyalty: the Pope who held the Pope's Position. Him, Qian Juechen.

Alongside the punishments came rewards, and the largest share of Qian Juechen's rewards went to the old guard Qian Xunji had left behind.

There were no truly top-tier fighters among them, but they had loyalty on their side.

They had followed Qian Xunji in their youth. After Bibi Dong took power, their unwillingness to openly choose a side had brought them varying degrees of suppression.

Now that Qian Juechen had taken charge of the Papal Palace, they swiftly rallied behind the new Pope. He was generous with them, promoting those who deserved promotion and rewarding those who deserved rewards. Within days, they saw hope again.

Many praised the new Pope's benevolence throughout the city while privately condemning Bibi Dong's corruption. At last, they cried, the dawn had come.

Qian Juechen did not much care what they thought or how their attitudes had changed.

He knew perfectly well that he could use them, but they were nowhere near qualified to become his true inner circle.

His true inner circle had to be people who would stand or fall with him, people who would entrust their lives to him.

And those were precisely the people Qian Juechen lacked most. He needed a team of his own, a force that belonged to him and him alone.

After bringing the people in the city into line with a stick and a carrot, the bishops in the provinces remained. In truth, those bishops were largely bound into a chain of allegiance, each rank following the one above it.

He only needed to secure the two most senior figures in the Two Great Empires to control the entire network outside Spirit City.

Those two were the Platinum Bishops stationed in the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire.

As for those two Platinum Bishops, there was little need to worry. Both had long been stationed at the Spirit Temples in the Two Great Empires' capitals. As soon as they learned what had happened in Spirit City, they sent letters pledging their loyalty.

They had even stated in advance that they would accompany their nations' delegations back to Spirit Hall on the day of his enthronement and pay their respects to the Pope in person.

Anyone who dealt daily with imperial officials in the capitals of the Two Great Empires was bound to have sharp political instincts. They would never have risen to their positions if they could not read the situation.

Once those two were firmly in hand, the Red Cardinals and Black Cardinals beneath them would be unable to stir up much trouble.

With the lower and middle ranks settled, Qian Juechen turned to Spirit Hall's true upper echelon.

He did not need to worry about Worship Hall. Its senior priests had watched him grow up and fully supported his rise to power.

What required his attention was Elder Hall, beneath Worship Hall.

Elder Hall was one of Spirit Hall's true centers of power. Every one of its members was a Titled Douluo, with enough strength to affect the balance of power across the continent and within Spirit Hall itself.

First and foremost were those two: Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan and Ghost Douluo Gui Mei.

They could be called the strongest tier beneath Spirit Hall's seven senior priests. Both had reached level ninety-five.

How much of that rank translated into actual combat strength was another matter. For now, what mattered was that the two held a rather unusual place in Spirit Hall.

They were the right and left hands of successive Popes, the two unwavering enforcers at each Pope's side.

Why? Because neither of them ever seemed troubled by who sat in the Pope's seat.

When Qian Xunji was Pope, they were loyal to Qian Xunji.

When Bibi Dong was Pope, they became Bibi Dong's trusted aides.

Now that it was his turn, they would presumably be loyal to him as well. In a sense, the two of them were Spirit Hall's most faithful supporters of the Pope.

No one could match their loyalty to the office. Whoever became Pope, they obeyed.

What Pope would not welcome people like that?

Unfortunately, they had recently led Spirit Hall's newest group of promising soul masters to Death Valley for training.

Qian Juechen had already ordered them back. By his reckoning, they should be returning soon.

Aside from Chrysanthemum and Ghost, the other Titled Douluo in Elder Hall each had their own circumstances.

Snake Lance Douluo and Pufferfish were still in the Heaven Dou Empire, protecting Qian Renxue and carrying out that so-called plan to steal the throne.

According to the schedule, they would return to Spirit City with the Heaven Dou Empire's delegation for his enthronement ceremony, pay their respects, and report on their duties.