Awakening and Reversing All Soul Master Subsidies
Meanwhile.
That night, in the Pope's Palace of Spirit Hall.
A long table lay horizontally, piled with documents half a man's height atop it.
Qian Chenming sat in the main seat, his fingertips picking up page after page of dossiers, his gaze falling upon them and not moving for a long time as he read intently.
Ever since returning from Holy Soul Village these past two days, he had been reading all of Spirit Hall's decision-making documents and detailed archives, and the more he read, the deeper his brows furrowed.
Below the table, the seven enshrined sat upright like mud sculptures.
Further down.
Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan lowered his head, and Ghost Douluo Gui Mei stood at his side, half his face hidden in shadow while a pair of eyes glanced toward the table top from time to time, then quickly retracted.
There were also Elder Demon Bear and the rest of Spirit Hall's elders, all gathered in the cavernous Pope's Palace at this moment.
Obviously.
Qian Chenming felt extremely dissatisfied with the contents of these document archives, or else these people would not have abruptly gathered in the hall in the middle of the night.
Therefore, the atmosphere inside the hall had been relatively dull from the start, and no one spoke.
Especially Qian Daoliu, whose breathing grew three parts lighter.
He certainly dared not say anything; after all, just yesterday, Qian Chenming had punished him to kneel in the Worship Hall for a full day and night straight because the document organization was not clean.
As for what the real reason was, he actually knew it in his heart.
Because of the matter of Tang Hao being slain, the moment Qian Chenming returned to the Worship Hall and saw him.
He remembered that this unfilial, lying-flat eldest son of his had actually failed to finish off Haozi after more than ten years.
How could anyone be as useless as this, to the point that it was simply too ghastly to behold.
So, without another word, Qian Chenming drew the Seven Wolves, launched a critical strike against him, and conveniently sent him off to the Worship Hall to kneel and reflect.
Having finally escaped, Qian Daoliu could only vigorously massage his thighs without daring to utter a single word of complaint.
At this time.
Upon the main seat, Qian Chenming turned page after page of paper, the sheets making a faint rustling sound.
When he turned to a certain place, he suddenly stopped, his fingertips tapping among them.
Where his fingertips fell was an annual expenditure ledger concerning the "Commoner Awakening Subsidy".
Qian Chenming looked at it for a long time, picked up that page of paper, and shook it toward the bottom:
"The awakening ceremony expenses allocated to the Spirit Hall branches of each city-state every year are too high, and they already occupy the majority of Spirit Hall's expenditures. They must be reduced."
Below, as soon as Qian Daoliu heard this, he could no longer sit still.
He cleared his throat, wanting to cry out father, but constrained by so many people, he could only bite the bullet and speak: "Lord Pope, though that is so, after all, this measure is a good deed, and the common people are already struggling. If Spirit Hall can bestow grace, it will win the hearts of the people under heaven, this..."
Before he finished speaking, Qian Chenming's gaze had already swept over.
Qian Daoliu's voice instinctively shrank by half, but he still stubbornly forced himself to finish speaking: "...this in the long run, for the foundation of my Spirit Hall, is beneficial."
Qian Chenming did not speak.
He stood up, his hand slowly reaching toward his waist.
Qian Daoliu's pupils contracted, reflexively shrinking backward as his knees ached faintly.
"Good deeds?" Qian Chenming leisurely repeated these two words, "Do you think Spirit Hall is a place for doing good deeds?"
Qian Daoliu's lips moved, not daring to make a sound.
"Did Spirit Hall's money blow in on the wind? We help commoners awaken in order to do good deeds?"
"That is to recruit talent, you idiot. What long-term benefits? In this world, there are not that many grateful people."
Curse-spewing, Qian Chenming lowered his gaze, looking straight into Qian Daoliu's eyes with utter disgust: "Since that is the case, then you calculate for me, we help commoners across the entire continent awaken their martial souls, yet over all these years, how many have entered Spirit Hall? How many can fight? And how many have become enemies?"
Qian Daoliu lost his voice completely.
The hall grew even quieter.
The crowd lowered their heads, watching their noses and hearts, wishing they could shrink themselves into a sheet of paper.
The usually lofty Great Enshrined was actually scolded like this.
Aside from the Six Great Enshrined, the others had never witnessed such a formation.
Aside from being dumbfounded, they were simply dumbfounded.
Having glared at his unfilial eldest son several more times, Qian Chenming straightened up and tapped his fingertips against that dossier.
Immediately afterward, he swept his gaze across the people in the hall before speaking:
"The purpose of Spirit Hall helping commoners awaken is to recruit more talent, but in fact, in recent years we have not accomplished this. Still many geniuses flow to Heaven Dou and Star Luo, and even more rebels against Spirit Hall have been born, therefore..."
His gaze falling upon the dossier, Qian Chenming's tone grew calm: "Starting today, the budget for awakening subsidies must be slashed. In the future, there will be no unconditional awakenings; it must be ensured that the commoners are willing to pledge allegiance to Spirit Hall before awakening can be carried out."
Qian Daoliu raised his head abruptly.
"This... if this gets out, I'm afraid on the side of the common folk..."
Qian Chenming raised his eyes and looked at him.
"What, do you think the common people would dare to rebel just because Spirit Hall won't awaken them for free?"
Qian Daoliu choked up.
Qian Chenming turned that page over, his tone speechless: "How many people accept the soul master subsidy from Spirit Hall while cursing us behind our backs? They won't feel gratitude; they only think of us when they're collecting money."
He paused, then added a line:
"Besides, it's not that we won't help commoners awaken, just that we won't help them for nothing."
Qian Daoliu was taken aback.
"What do you mean?"
Qian Chenming tossed the dossier onto the table, leaned back into the chair, and spoke in a slow, methodical tone: "Awakenings will still be held, but every Spirit Hall Branch must make it clear to me-whose child has talent, sign a contract and enter Spirit Hall. Those who refuse to enter, who refuse to pledge loyalty to Spirit Hall, pay their own awakening fees."
He raised his chin slightly.
"There is no such thing as a free lunch under heaven, and the money of Spirit Hall didn't blow in on the wind. If they want to borrow our strength, they must pay a corresponding price."
Qian Daoliu opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but this time he finally swallowed it back.
He suddenly realized that although he looked young, this father of his had methods and a mindset for doing things that were three points harsher than that Bibi Dong of his who was in prison...
Qian Chenming paid no attention to his thoughts, turned another page of the dossier, and then continued:
"And as for the matter of soul master subsidies, handle it the exact same way. Cancel the subsidies for anyone unrighteous or disloyal to Spirit Hall. We can't raise a nest of ingrates and still feel smug about it."
Anyway, in recent years, under the governance of Bibi Dong's despicable methods,
Spirit Hall had long been molded by the common people of Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires into a colossal villain.
Therefore,
so-called reputation simply did not matter anymore.
Since this was an era of division, one must not think about the matter of greater righteousness far in advance.
And seeing that even the Great Enshrined had been retorted to speechlessness, to the point of nearly progressing to the rhythm of being slapped across the face,
everyone else at this moment unanimously agreed with Qian Chenming's view.
Demon Bear Douluo was the first to raise his hand: "His Holiness the Pope is wise."
"Yes, indeed, this idea is too brilliant. I raise both hands and both feet in support."
"Me too."
Inside the Pope's Palace,
there was suddenly a chorus of agreement.
Qian Chenming had no desire to listen to any of this and went right on flipping through the contents below.
Just at that moment,
Chrysanthemum Douluo, having received certain intelligence, came stumbling up from below, rushed before Qian Chenming, and bowed:
"Your Holiness the Pope..."
Before you continue