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**
Because at that time, the Spirit Empire would have unified the continent, meaning the goal Bibi Dong and the Angel Clan had previously agreed upon would be complete.
Consequently, their contradictions and disagreements would thoroughly explode.
Bibi Dong's series of actions after succeeding as the Pope were clearly meant to suppress those of the Angel lineage and foster commoner soul masters within Spirit Hall. Her purpose was to wrest Spirit Hall away from the Angel Clan's hands.
Perhaps this was her greatest revenge against Qian Xunji. Spirit Hall had been established because of the Angel Clan, so her vengeance was to strip the Angel Clan of their control over Spirit Hall.
After establishing a unified Spirit Empire and achieving her goals, she would retire, leave the empire to Hu Liena to inherit, and then ascend to the Divine Realm.
Of course, she could not achieve this kind of revenge in the early stages. Therefore, she used the plan of the Spirit Empire unifying the continent to reach an agreement with Qian Daoliu, buying herself time to slowly grow stronger.
Meanwhile, in Qian Daoliu's plan, he would assist Qian Renxue in becoming a God.
In his eyes, as long as she achieved the status of the Angel God, it would be enough to destroy Bibi Dong's plans. The two of them could be said to have each had their own calculations.
Because of this, the Spirit Empire would not simply enter an era of peace after unifying the continent. What followed would be an imperial civil war triggered by Bibi Dong's faction and the Angel Clan's faction.
The people of the continent, already devastated by the previous war of unification, would suffer through yet another war that would be by no means weaker than the last. Therefore, over the years, Ling Xiao's plan—or rather, his goal—had never changed.
On one hand, he had to stop Tang San from becoming the Sea God and destroying Spirit Hall. On the other hand, he also had to stop Spirit Hall's unification plan, allowing Spirit Hall to continue developing along its path of old.
In his view, as long as Spirit Hall did not expand into the Spirit Empire, the conflict between Pope Bibi Dong and the Angel Clan would not erupt prematurely.
Even if someone from either side eventually became a God and their conflict became unavoidable, leading to a civil war within Spirit Hall...
Even so, the damage caused would be far less than an imperial civil war, and it wouldn't result in the slaughter of countless innocent lives.
After considering for a moment, Ling Xiao said, "Nana, the relationship between Her Holiness the Pope and the Angel Clan is intricate and complex."
"It's not simple. They have conflicting interests, but they also share a unified goal and direction. It's just that these matters aren't something we can interfere with at our current level."
After listening to Ling Xiao's words, Hu Liena suddenly said, "Ling Xiao, do you know something?"
"I do know some things. However, Nana, it's not appropriate to tell you these things right now. Furthermore, I believe Her Holiness wouldn't want you to know them either."
"Alright. Since you don't want to say, I won't ask. I believe that one day in the future, I will find out."
Suddenly, Hu Liena seemed to recall something.
"Ah, we've been talking for so long that I forgot to ask you. Did you come looking for me for something? Come inside with me first."
After saying this, she was about to pull Ling Xiao into the Saintess Palace.
"No, Nana, I won't go in. I came to give you this."
Ling Xiao stopped Hu Liena's movements and took out a small brocade box from his storage soul ring. Opening the lid, he revealed a crimson exotic fruit radiating the aura of fire attribute energy.
"This is... a Blood Bodhi!"
Looking closely, Hu Liena gasped in surprise and asked, "Ling Xiao, what are you doing?"
She didn't understand.
This Blood Bodhi was a reward given to them by Her Holiness the Pope—one for each of them. Not only could it eliminate any hidden internal injuries, but it could also advance their cultivation.
Shaking his head, Ling Xiao said calmly, "Have you forgotten? Years ago, when I was altering my physical constitution, I consumed an Tier 8 medicinal pill called the Sovereign Heaven Bone-Refining Pill."
"This pill didn't just allow me to strengthen my newly born skeletal structure and lineage as quickly as possible; a significant amount of residual medicinal force remained within my body."
"Over the years, as I've enhanced my physical cultivation, this medicinal force has been integrating bit by bit. It even consumes itself to accelerate my recovery whenever I get hurt. Therefore, Nana, you don't need to worry about any hidden internal injuries in my body."
"As for advancing my cultivation... you know me. I've never liked things that artificially boost cultivation. I prefer my cultivation to be forged bit by bit through hard work. Leaving this item in my hands would just be a waste."
His words clearly reflected his deep aversion to objects that artificially boosted one's cultivation.
In truth, Ling Xiao also knew that consuming this Blood Bodhi would bring him nothing but benefits and no harm. Granted, for a soul master, the soul power forged through one's own grueling cultivation possessed the most solid foundation.
Consuming large quantities of cultivation-type medicinal pills to boost one's level and massively increasing soul power in a short period did more harm than good.
On the surface, the cultivation level would seem to rise significantly, but the user's control over their soul power and Martial Soul would obviously fail to keep pace. It was ultimately a lesser path.
However, that didn't mean cultivation-type pills were entirely worthless.
The key lay in consuming them sparingly rather than abstaining completely.
As long as one's own foundation was profound, taking a small amount of sufficiently pure cultivation-type medicine at the right moment wouldn't harm the foundation at all, and it could even accelerate one's cultivation speed.
Yet, he simply despised these types of shortcuts.
Because the moment he saw such things, he couldn't help but think of Tang San. Tang San and his companions had massively boosted their soul power cultivation by consuming those so-called Immortal Herbs.
Participating in the Continental Elite Young Soul Master Tournament at the mere age of fourteen or fifteen, they displayed the cultivation of a Soul Ancestor.
As a result, they were showered with praises from all sides about how excellent and extraordinary their natural talent was.
But it was nothing more than an illusion. Even with Tang San's innate full soul power, his natural talent was only about the same as any normal person born with innate full soul power.
In fact, because he spent a considerable amount of energy on those hidden weapons and Tang Sect secret techniques, he had wasted quite a bit of time.
Going by his original, normal cultivation speed, the timing of his breakthrough to Soul Ancestor should actually have been later than a normal person with innate full soul power.
Yet, relying on this cheat-like method, he flaunted his "excellent talent" everywhere.
Meanwhile, everyone else acted as if their IQs had dropped, completely forgetting that Tang San had relied on eating grass to increase a massive number of soul power ranks in an incredibly short period.
The same was true for his later achievements in becoming a Titled Douluo and ascending to Godhood. He clearly relied on various so-called one hundred thousand year soul rings and soul bones to undergo energy transference.
By leveraging the power of the Divine Trials, even his breakthroughs from Rank 95 all the way to Rank 99, and ultimately breaking through Rank 100 to become a God, were achieved through the sheer force of energy transference.
Yet, a massive crowd of people still praised how outstanding his talent was, marveling at how he managed to cultivate to the realm of a Titled Douluo and the realm of a God at such a young age.
In his past life, Ling Xiao had truly wanted to ask: Did everyone lose their minds? Can't you see that Tang San didn't achieve this cultivation through his own strength?
Therefore, ever since his Martial Soul awakened, he had never consumed anything that could artificially boost his soul power cultivation.
Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and the others were core targets nurtured by Spirit Hall, so they naturally understood the drawbacks of consuming these things to massively increase soul power.
Furthermore, their innate soul power was exceptionally high, meaning their normal cultivation speed was already far from slow.
Since the root of a soul master's cultivation lay in their Martial Soul, if their mastery over their Martial Soul couldn't keep up, a rapid growth in soul power would be completely useless.
Consequently, over many years of cultivation, the number of times they had consumed such medicinal pills did not exceed three.
Every single time, it was an item like the Blood Bodhi—a presence considered extremely precious even among items that boosted cultivation—in order to avoid an unstable foundation as much as possible.
**
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