Chapter 385: Two Slashes Aimed at Spirit Hall
During the one hundred and eight days Qian Renxue spent calming her mind, Yu Tianlin was also diligently cultivating his spirit power and achieved another breakthrough.
He had now reached Level 78.
That was right, Level 78. Compared to one hundred and eight days ago, he had risen by a full two levels.
The main reason he was able to increase two levels in just over three months was the evolution of his Martial Soul.
During the battle between Yu Tianlin and Qian Renxue, his Martial Soul had suddenly evolved into the Thunder Saint Dragon. Because of this, his spirit power immediately broke through by one level on the spot.
Afterward, due to the evolution of his Martial Soul, his cultivation speed also increased slightly, allowing him to gain another level after nearly four months of diligent cultivation.
In comparison, Qian Renxue was currently at most a little above Level 70, while Yu Tianlin had already reached Level 78, not far from the Spirit Douluo realm. For now, he was still significantly ahead of Qian Renxue.
After reaching Level 78, he would not be making another breakthrough anytime soon, so Yu Tianlin decided not to continue shutting himself away. He prepared to go out and look around, considering it a balance between work and rest.
During the time he had been in seclusion, the outside world could be described as turbulent.
The Heaven Dou Royal Family first announced that the former Crown Prince Xue Qinghe had suddenly contracted a serious illness and died. Then, they swiftly established Xue Beng as the new Crown Prince.
Xue Beng had become the biggest winner.
Speaking of which, his luck was truly extraordinary. His eldest brother had died early and was replaced by Qian Renxue. Later, Qian Renxue eliminated his second and third brothers. Then Yu Tianlin dealt with Qian Renxue.
In the end, he, the Fourth Prince, was established as Crown Prince and would likely rule a great Empire in the future.
After resolving the issues left behind by Qian Renxue, the fake Crown Prince, the Heaven Dou Empire began taking action against Spirit Hall.
It was nothing more complicated than cutting the funding allocated to Spirit Hall.
Low-level Spirit Masters could receive subsidies from Spirit Hall. Spirit Masters with one ring received one gold coin per month. Those with two rings received ten gold coins per month, while those with three rings received one hundred gold coins per month. As for Spirit Masters above three rings, they no longer received subsidies.
Although this benefit only targeted low-level Spirit Masters, how many low-level Spirit Masters existed across the vast Douluo Continent?
When calculated together, it was an enormous expenditure. Since it had to be distributed every month, Spirit Hall alone simply could not sustain such a massive financial burden.
Therefore, most of the money for these subsidies had always been allocated by the Two Great Empires, along with the numerous kingdoms and duchies, to Spirit Hall, which then distributed it on their behalf.
This was obviously unfavorable to the nations, but Spirit Hall was powerful, and these countries could not contend with it at the high-end level. Therefore, they could only endure it.
But now, with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clab backing the Heaven Dou Empire, the Empire no longer feared Spirit Hall. Because of this, Emperor Xue Ye set his sights on this funding allocation.
During this period, Emperor Xue Ye acted repeatedly, cutting the funds allocated to Spirit Hall again and again. It was practically one cut every month.
Starting from the third month, not a single gold coin was provided anymore.
The Heaven Dou Empire stopped allocating funds to Spirit Hall. Instead, it distributed the money directly to the various cities within its territory, where local officials would issue subsidies to Spirit Masters.
Judging from this situation, the Heaven Dou Empire was preparing to bypass Spirit Hall and establish an official organization for distributing Spirit Master subsidies, thereby attracting those low-level independent Spirit Masters.
Having lost funding from the Heaven Dou Empire, the financial situation of all Spirit Hall branches within the Empire suddenly became strained.
Fortunately, these Spirit Hall branches still had some foundation. For the time being, they could barely afford to pay subsidies to the Spirit Masters who came to collect them.
Just like that, the Heaven Dou Empire began competing with Spirit Hall for low-level Spirit Master resources.
Although the current situation seemed evenly matched, both sides clearly understood one thing. If Spirit Hall could not secure new sources of funding, its branches within the Heaven Dou Empire would soon be unable to endure and would eventually go bankrupt.
Spirit Hall Headquarters had no good solution for this either.
After all, if the Heaven Dou Empire refused to give money, they could not exactly storm in and seize it by force.
Left with no choice, Spirit Hall could only intensify its exploitation of the various kingdoms and duchies. Many of these kingdoms and duchies were already under Spirit Hall's control, and if Spirit Hall demanded more money from them, they would not dare refuse.
In this way, Spirit Hall managed to turn the situation around by drawing resources from the various kingdoms and duchies, using them to maintain the distribution of subsidies within the Heaven Dou Empire.
This meant that the low-level Spirit Masters within the Heaven Dou Empire were delighted, as they could receive two sets of subsidies for quite some time.
After striking Spirit Hall hard through the subsidy issue, Emperor Xue Ye quickly turned his attention to the Spirit Hunting Forests.
Spirit Hunting Forests were forests specifically used to raise Spirit Beasts. Even the lowest-level Spirit Hunting Forest contained many hundred-year Spirit Beasts, while the highest-level Spirit Hunting Forests even contained ten-thousand-year Spirit Beasts.
Compared to the subsidy allocation, the situation with the Spirit Hunting Forests was far more complicated.
After all, regarding the subsidy allocation, the Heaven Dou Empire's word was final. If they said no funds would be given, then no funds would be given, and Spirit Hall had no recourse.
But the Spirit Hunting Forests were different.
Strictly speaking, many Spirit Hunting Forests had been established through cooperation between the nations and Spirit Hall, and the specific division of ownership was very vague.
Now, Emperor Xue Ye clearly wanted to bring all Spirit Hunting Forests within the Heaven Dou Empire's territory under the Empire's control, expelling Spirit Hall's influence from them.
The subsidy allocation concerned low-level Spirit Master resources, while the Spirit Hunting Forests concerned Spirit Beast resources.
As long as these two slashes landed on Spirit Hall, they would effectively weaken Spirit Hall's power.
The effect might not be obvious in the short term, but as time passed, the impact on Spirit Hall would grow greater and greater. After all, these two points touched Spirit Hall's foundation.
Of course, Spirit Hall understood this as well, so they would not allow Emperor Xue Ye to succeed so easily.
The subsidy allocation was one thing, but they would certainly not easily give up the Spirit Hunting Forests within the Heaven Dou Empire.
Emperor Xue Ye also knew that relying solely on the Heaven Dou Empire's power would make it difficult to reclaim these Spirit Hunting Forests. Therefore, he sent people to invite Yu Yuanzhen and Ning Fengzhi, preparing to discuss the matter with the two Clan Masters.
Only by obtaining the support of these two Clan Masters could his plan succeed.
Against this backdrop, Yu Tianlin followed Yu Yuanzhen to the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
Their pace was clearly faster than Ning Fengzhi's, so they arrived first.
At this moment, inside Emperor Xue Ye's sleeping chambers, aside from the Emperor himself, there were two other people present: Prince Xue Xing and the newly appointed Crown Prince, Xue Beng.
"Clan Master Yu."
As soon as Yu Yuanzhen and Yu Tianlin entered, Emperor Xue Ye stood up with a smile, showing no imperial airs.
"Nephew Tianlin is here as well? I heard from Clan Master Yu some time ago that you had recently entered seclusion for diligent cultivation. Since you have appeared now, I presume you must have achieved another breakthrough."
"Thank you for Your Majesty's concern," Yu Tianlin said with a nod. "I was fortunate enough to break through by one level."
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