Douluo Dalu II: The Peerless Tang Sect

Chapter 417, Side Story 2: "The President's Decree for Soul Masters Across the Land"!

In the tenth year of the Imperial Calendar, Her Majesty the Empress issued the "President's Edict for All Soul Masters," officially ushering in a new era of reform for the Soul Master world.

The "President's Decree on All Soul Masters" is mainly divided into two parts. First, it centralizes the power of awakening martial souls across the continent into the Empire; second, it investigates and registers the total number of soul masters on the continent.

First, the empire should take control of the power to awaken martial spirits across the continent. Although the empire has already taken control of the power to awaken martial spirits in most parts of the continent, there are still a few regions and some special regions where the power to awaken martial spirits has not been taken control of by the empire. Among them, the most intolerable to the empire are the martial spirit sects and martial spirit families.

In the past, because various countries stood side by side on the continent, the existence of Soul Master sects and Soul Master families was often an important force of Soul Masters in a country. Therefore, the monarchs of various countries were full of tolerance and inclusiveness towards these sects and families that held a transcendent status and were independent of the imperial administration.

However, times have changed. The continent has reached an agreement, and the Ming Empire has become the only country. Therefore, the existence of these sects and families has become very conspicuous, especially since they have the right to awaken their own martial spirits. This is intolerable for a unified empire. The right to awaken martial spirits is the foundation and must not be controlled by forces outside the empire.

Therefore, the main goal of taking back the right to awaken martial spirits on the continent to the empire is to reclaim the autonomy of these major sects and families that have the right to awaken their martial spirits, and force them to undergo martial spirit awakening at the institutions designated by the empire, thereby initially bringing these forces that could stand aside in the old era under the empire's framework.

To complement this initiative, Her Majesty the Empress specially reactivated the Martial Soul Division, a department that had been abandoned five years prior.

The Spirit Division, formerly the most common department in the Sun Moon Empire, was responsible for the awakening of spirits throughout the entire empire. However, it was abolished due to the entry of Shrek Academy and now has a new mission.

The authority to awaken martial spirits in the Empire has now been delegated to the primary soul master academies. All town-level administrative districts in the Empire have now established primary soul master academies, so the lower-level martial spirit divisions can be directly established within the primary soul master academies. This will perfectly improve the martial spirit awakening mechanism of the primary soul master academies.

At the same time, intermediate-level Martial Soul Divisions were established in all city-level administrative regions of the empire, advanced-level Martial Soul Divisions were established in the main cities of each province, and a Martial Soul General Division was established in the capital of the empire. These intermediate and advanced-level Martial Soul Divisions were prepared for the major sects and families whose Martial Soul Awakening rights had been revoked. The Martial Soul General Division was responsible for leading and supervising the Martial Soul Divisions at all levels. The Martial Soul General Division was subordinate to the Douluo Hall, and the head of the General Division was directly appointed by the emperor. In this way, the right to awaken Martial Souls was indirectly controlled by the emperor.

The reconstruction of the Martial Soul Division also serves another function, which is the second point of the "President's Decree on All Soul Masters": to investigate and register the total number of Soul Masters on the continent.

This is essentially a population census of the Soul Master world, only more complicated. Because the Martial Soul Division also holds the right to awaken Martial Souls, it can control all Soul Master information from the very beginning. Soul Masters from the old era are all ordered to go to the Martial Soul Divisions in various places within a year to register.

To protect the privacy of Soul Masters, the registration process at the Spirit Division only requires three things: the Soul Master's name, Soul Master's Martial Soul, and Soul Master's realm. After registration, the Soul Master will receive a certificate that records these three items and the Soul Master's number. This is essentially the Soul Master's version of an ID card, but here it is called a Soul Master Certificate.

The emergence of Soul Master Certificates ensures that the Empire has access to information on all Soul Masters under its rule. This not only strengthens the Empire's control over the Soul Master world but also effectively curbs the development of major sects and families, while preventing the re-emergence of evil Soul Master groups like the Holy Spirit Cult.

In addition, the "President's Edict for Soul Masters" also stipulates the Imperial Soul Master Welfare System. This welfare system can be divided into two parts: the low-level Soul Masters below the Soul King realm, and the high-level Soul Masters at or above the Soul King realm.

First, there is the welfare system for low-level Soul Masters. According to the decree, novice Soul Masters, from the first-ring Soul Master to the fourth-ring Soul Grandmaster, can receive a subsidy of Gold Soul Coins every year. Among them, the first-ring Soul Master can receive 1,000 Gold Soul Coins per year, the second-ring Great Soul Master can receive 100 Gold Soul Coins per year, the third-ring Soul Venerable can receive 10 Gold Soul Coins per year, and the fourth-ring Soul Grandmaster can receive 1 Gold Soul Coin per year.

Without a doubt, this welfare system for low-level Soul Masters is modeled after the subsidies for students in Shrek Academy's outer court. The Empire's welfare system aims to allow low-level Soul Masters to cultivate more effectively, preventing them from having their talents buried due to limited cultivation resources or being forced to sell themselves to powerful factions. Of course, to prevent opportunistic behavior, the distribution of Soul Master welfare is handled by the Spirit Division, and all Soul Masters must present their Soul Master Certificate to the Spirit Division to collect their benefits.

This benefit is time-limited. If a one-ring Soul Master fails to break through to the two-ring level within ten years, their Soul Master benefits will be suspended until they reach the Great Soul Master realm, at which point they can resume receiving the benefits. Similarly, the time limit for Great Soul Masters is twenty years, for Soul Venerables it is thirty years, and for Soul Masters there is no time limit. After all, the leap from Soul Master to Soul King involves not only a change in the benefit system but also a change in the level of life.

Next is the welfare system for advanced Soul Masters. The advanced Soul Master welfare system stipulates that starting from Soul King, Soul Emperor, Soul Saint, Soul Douluo, and Title Douluo will receive imperial titles. Among them, Soul King is a Viscount, Soul Emperor is an Earl, Soul Saint is a Marquis, Soul Douluo is a Duke, and Title Douluo is a hereditary Duke.

For advanced Soul Masters, titles are secondary. Although the titles of the Ming Dynasty are much more valuable than those of the old era, and all titles from the Sun Moon Empire have been abolished, the new empire has only had a dozen or so titles since its founding, the real benefit lies in the fact that they can have the opportunity to undergo a trial by the gods once a year.

Yes, a trial by the gods.

Regardless of the circumstances, Zhu Ziyang is considered the ancestor of the future Ming Empire, and he sincerely hopes that this empire can continue to exist. Therefore, he joined forces with Ma Xiaotao, Jiang Nannan, Qian Lingyi, and Huo Yuhao, who has already ascended to the God Realm, to construct the Trial of Gods, which is actually a test for godhood.

With Zhang Lexuan's full cooperation, a palace comparable to the imperial palace was built in the capital of the empire, named the Temple of the Gods, which was responsible for all matters related to the trials of the gods, and the emperor served as the master of the temple.

When Zhang Lexuan was designing the Empire's Soul Master Welfare System, Zhu Ziyang specifically told her about this idea, and Zhang Lexuan agreed without hesitation. After all, for advanced Soul Masters, nothing is more tempting than becoming a god.

Therefore, after the Temple of Gods was completed, Zhang Lexuan immediately issued the "President's Decree for Soul Masters of the World". In an era where gods have appeared in the world, nothing has more appeal than the gods.

Zhu Ziyang and others left behind trials of the God of Death, the God of Rakshasa, the God of Angels, the God of Fire, and the God of the Moon within the living beings. The rules of these trials are exactly the same as those of the gods' assessments. If someone can obtain the Red-level Nine Trials in the future, then that person may have the possibility of becoming a god.

In the advanced Soul Master welfare system, Soul Masters can receive one opportunity to undergo a trial by the gods each year, depending on their own cultivation level. The reason it is called an opportunity is that not everyone is guaranteed to receive a trial from the gods.

For example, if a Soul Saint chooses the Trial of Death this year but is not favored by Death, then next year he can choose the trials of several other gods. If this Soul Saint fails to gain the favor of a god for five consecutive years, then in the sixth year, he will definitely be able to obtain the Yellow-level trial of any god.

This mechanism can greatly enhance the centripetal force and cohesion of high-level Soul Masters towards the Empire.

To prevent this system of trials for the gods from being disrupted, Zhu Ziyang issued a divine decree that anyone who disobeys the rules will incur the wrath of the gods. In this way, as long as the divine realm exists, this system can continue to operate.

It's worth mentioning that the Divine Trials in the Temple of Gods currently only have five gods, but in the near future, two more new gods will inevitably be added. This is because Crown Prince Zhu Yuhuang and Princess Zhu Yuyue have been favored by the God of Ice and the God of Light, respectively. Although the divine qualification assessment has not yet begun, as the children of the God of Death Zhu Ziyang, their ascension to godhood is a foregone conclusion.

From the first day of the tenth year of the Imperial Calendar, when the "President's Decree on Soul Masters of the World" was issued, to October of the twelfth year of the Imperial Calendar, when the reform of the Soul Master world was declared complete, all sects and families on the continent, whether in name or in fact, chose to submit. The Great Ming Empire truly achieved unification, from territory to Soul Masters.

In the thirtieth year of the Imperial Calendar, Her Majesty the Empress abdicated, and the thirty-five-year-old Crown Prince Zhu Yuhuang succeeded to the throne, becoming the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the first emperor of the Zhu family dynasty. This also marked the end of the Xu family dynasty of the Sun and Moon Empire.

After Zhu Yuhuang ascended the throne, with the support of his father Zhu Ziyang, he began to integrate the Imperial Soul Master Organization. The three major halls, Douluo Hall, Offering Hall and Divine Spirit Hall, were merged into one organization, still named Douluo Hall, but with a very different meaning.

The new Douluo Palace has three major institutions under its jurisdiction. The Divine Spirit Hall remains unchanged, but is renamed the Divine Pavilion. The original Douluo Palace and the Offering Hall are merged to form a brand new institution called the Title Pavilion, which is responsible for all matters related to Title Douluos within the Empire. In addition, the Martial Soul Division, which was originally under the Douluo Palace, is upgraded to the Soul Master Pavilion, which is responsible for managing matters such as Martial Soul Awakening and the distribution of Soul Master benefits.

The new Douluo Hall Master is the Emperor of the Empire. The Divine Pavilion does not have a Pavilion Master. The Pavilion Masters of the Title Pavilion and the Soul Master Pavilion are appointed by the Emperor. In this way, the Emperor's power is more concentrated.

(End of this chapter)