"I see!"
At night, Mo Bai, who was lying in his guest room resting with nothing to do, let out a soft sigh.
Previously, because this was also a feudal society, Mo Bai directly brought the feudal society of Blue Star here. However, after what happened during the day, Mo Bai realized that this idea was completely wrong. So after arriving at the guest room, Mo Bai kept thinking about where he went wrong and why, although both were feudal societies, almost every feudal official on Blue Star took it as their duty to exploit the people, while the feudal officials here did not even dare to accept bribes offered to them.
The extraordinary and mortal realms of Blue Star are strictly separated. Even though the extraordinary realm secretly influences and manipulates the mortal realm, they do not interfere with each other on the surface. Only a very few people of high status in the mortal realm know about the existence of extraordinary beings, and extraordinary beings strictly forbid them from revealing information about the existence of extraordinary beings.
Therefore, that small group of people could not affect the overall social structure of the mortal world, which led to the formation of a relatively strict and clear class society in the mortal world.
Even though there were factions, all the bureaucrats in the feudal society of Blue Star belonged to the same group. The difference in status between the prime minister and a seventh-rank county official was like heaven and earth, but they were still the same group.
For this very reason, the most important thing for feudal officials on Blue Star to get promoted was to gain the approval of other officials or even the emperor. This led to a situation where, although feudal officials on Blue Star fought for power and profit internally, they protected each other externally. The central government colluded with local officials, and local officials and powerful clans worked together. When necessary, high-ranking officials could even collude with low-ranking officials.
This further led to the rampant corruption among feudal officials on Earth, with almost every one of them preying on the common people.
But this world is different, because everyone can awaken a martial soul. The only difference is the amount of innate soul power. Therefore, this world has not formed a so-called extraordinary world or mortal world, but is a unified whole.
Therefore, officials in mainland China have formed two groups... no, not just officials, but the entire society has been divided into two groups, with officials being the most obvious and having more contact between the two groups.
One type is the powerful and privileged officials, who either possess formidable strength themselves or come from a powerful Soul Master faction.
They, or the forces they represent, are the true imperial elites, the owners of the empire.
The so-called emperors and royal families were merely the more powerful representatives within this group.
Mo Bai speculated that these kinds of people might be far more corrupt than the feudal officials on Blue Star.
Another type is the commoner-type official like Lord Xiao. This group has no background, no strength, and no talent. Even if they are outstanding in other aspects, they can never become true nobles.
In the eyes of the powerful and wealthy, these people were merely chosen from among the common people to help them manage the common people.
To use an imperfect analogy, if the powerful and wealthy are like ranchers, then the common people are like the sheep on the ranch, the property of the rancher. And the commoner-style officials are like the lead sheep chosen by the rancher to help manage the flock.
For the powerful and wealthy, the daily greetings and farewells of ordinary officials, or even their extortion and bribery, might be of little concern. But if an ordinary official dares to embezzle, then the nature of the matter changes.
This is similar to a rancher not caring if the lead sheep bullies the other sheep from time to time, but if the lead sheep goes crazy and kills the other sheep, the rancher will definitely take swift action to kill the crazy lead sheep in order to protect his property.
The same principle applies to commoner officials; if they dare to embezzle, they will be swiftly purged by imperial nobles or other powerful figures without official positions.
"No wonder Old Chief Jack of Holy Soul Village admires their Soul Saint so much, and is even so obsessed with the name of Holy Soul Village. If the Soul Saint's descendants had remained in Holy Soul Village, and with generations of intermarriage, every villager in Holy Soul Village might have had soul power. However, Soul Master cultivation seems to require a special environment. Holy Soul Village is ultimately just a poor and remote place, and its aura has not been modified. Even if the Soul Saint left behind descendants, they would most likely have faded into obscurity."
Several months have passed since Mo Bai awakened his martial soul, and he has naturally confirmed that after the aura of Hundred Flowers Village was modified, it not only strengthened the physique of the villagers, but also increased the possibility of the children in the village awakening their martial souls and possessing soul power.
Moreover, due to the awakening of his martial soul, Mo Bai himself has many new ideas about the Blood Fusion Technique.
After reflecting on the matter and understanding the reasons behind it, Mo Bai stopped worrying about it and rested after cultivating for a while.
Mo Bai was able to come to this conclusion because, both before and now, he has always been very interested in social sciences; otherwise, he wouldn't have insisted on becoming a part-time student.
Mo Bai always believed that if he hadn't come into contact with the extraordinary world, he would have become a positive and proactive social activist.
Of course, Mo Bai also understood that this idea was just wishful thinking on his part. He knew his own personality very well, and if he had not come into contact with the extraordinary world, he would most likely have become an antisocial person.
...
The city lord and his colleagues discussed for two whole days before finally coming up with a plan. During these two days, Mo Bai and the village chief stayed in the city lord's mansion guest room. The city lord also had the two of them participate in several discussions, and Mo Bai also put forward some brilliant ideas that impressed everyone.
…
"Village Chief Li?"
At this moment, the Dean of Notting Academy and the head of the Notting City Spirit Hall were sitting in the reception room of the City Lord's Mansion, holding the "Notting City Urban Construction" plan that had been discussed, and they had obviously been browsing and discussing it.
However, their attention was now drawn to Village Chief Li and Mo Bai who had just entered.
"My lords," the village chief and Mo Bai bowed respectfully to the two men.
Just as the two were about to ask something, a cheerful voice came from the reception room, "Gentlemen, what do you think of this plan?" Then the city lord also walked out of the conference room, followed by two people who looked like secretaries.
"This plan is indeed excellent. If it can be truly implemented, Notting City will likely make great progress in the future," the dean said first, then changed the subject and asked, "City Lord, you didn't invite us here to have us join the oversight committee, did you?"
"Dean, you're very direct. I was originally planning to keep it a bit mysterious. Well, the reason I invited you two here today is to have you participate in the Oversight Committee." Seeing that the dean had gotten straight to the point, the city lord didn't beat around the bush either and directly extended an invitation to the two of them.
He then said sincerely, "The Supervisory Committee needs the participation of highly respected individuals to gain the trust of the entire city. Apart from the two of you, we can't think of anyone in Notting City who is more respected. Therefore, we would like to ask you two to accept my invitation and join the committee." After saying this, the city lord bowed deeply to the dean and the chief official.
"Lord Xiao, you are too kind. As the Dean of Notting Academy, I naturally have an unshirkable responsibility to do things that benefit Notting City." The Dean quickly expressed his support and participation in the oversight committee. Notting Academy was established by the Empire. Although he and the Lord were not in the same system, they were colleagues. He was naturally willing to participate in things that benefited Notting City. Although there was no remuneration, the Lord's Mansion would regularly publish the fund's account details, so he did not need to do anything.
Compared to the dean, Steward Niu was quite conflicted and ultimately refused, saying, "Lord Xiao, my Spirit Hall naturally hopes that Notting City will get better and better, but I am sorry, I am the steward of the Spirit Hall. Spirit City has an agreement with the two great empires that it will never interfere in the internal affairs of the empires. The city construction fund proposed in the plan is operated by the City Lord's Mansion. Please forgive me for not being able to participate."
Seeing that Steward Niu refused, City Lord Xiao persuaded him: "Steward Niu, although this matter is led and operated by the City Lord's Mansion, I can guarantee that the fund and the committee will only involve Notting City and will not be involved too much, so as not to affect the agreement between Duwuhun City and the Empire."
The Spirit Hall wields considerable influence across the continent, and Notting City is no exception. For one thing, if Chief Niu refuses to join the committee, donations to the construction fund will likely be halved.
"I understand Lord Xiao's intentions, but as the head of the Spirit Hall in Notting City, I am involved in many things, so I am truly sorry." Although Lord Xiao assured him that he would not be too involved, Head Manager Niu still had concerns.
To be honest, Steward Niu also wanted to participate in the committee. If he could use the committee to win over another Soul Master faction, he might be able to get promoted again. Martial Soul City has many new regulations regarding donations after the reforms.
One of the more significant changes is the modification of the original reward mechanism of "three parts left and one part handed over" to "all donations must be handed over." In addition, if a Soul Master faction donates for more than three consecutive years, it will be considered a successful recruitment and become an affiliated faction of the Spirit Hall. The branch hall manager and supervisor of a successful recruitment of an affiliated faction will be credited to the deacons of that faction, and the size of the merit will be assessed based on the size of the Soul Master faction.
This is also why he and Su Yuntao were so excited about the donation from Baihua Village. They donate half of their profits every year, which is a way of voluntarily becoming an affiliated force of the Spirit Hall.
Although Baihua Village does not yet have a single first-ring Soul Master, judging from the fact that children with Soul Power have appeared in Baihua Village for three consecutive years, Baihua Village will inevitably become a Soul Master power in the future.
Thinking of this, Manager Niu couldn't help but glance at Village Chief Li again. "Could it be that the ancestor of Hundred Flowers Village underwent a martial soul mutation, which is only manifesting in this generation? No, I must go back and tell Yun Tao a few words that we must never treat Hundred Flowers Village as casually as before."
While Steward Niu was pondering the matter of Hundred Flowers Village, Lord Xiao was feeling distressed.
It was Mo Bai who suggested inviting Director Niu to join the committee. He understood what Director Niu's participation meant, but he hadn't held out much hope from the start.
However, despite this, he was still unwilling to accept the rejection. He could tell that Master Niu was somewhat tempted, otherwise he wouldn't have hesitated for so long in the first place. But even with his guarantee, Master Niu still brought up the Spirit Hall. In any case, he couldn't persuade him any further now.
Just as Lord Xiao was about to give up, Mo Bai, standing behind the village elder, spoke up: "The lord is blinded by his own involvement."
Upon hearing this, everyone present couldn't help but look at Mo Bai. The dean then asked, "Lord Xiao, why are the village chief of Hundred Flowers Village and our students from Hundred Flowers Village here?" He had wanted to ask this earlier, but Lord Xiao's appearance just happened to divert his attention.
Upon hearing this, City Lord Xiao said, "Dean, you may not know this, but the initiator of the construction fund is Baihua Village, and the idea for the fund was proposed by Mo Bai."
Upon hearing Lord Xiao's answer, both the Dean and Steward Niu were somewhat surprised. Steward Niu then asked, "What do you mean by saying I'm blinded by my own involvement?"
"The so-called Notting City Urban Construction Fund was initiated by the people of Notting City. Although it is operated by the City Lord's Mansion, the fund and the committee are only related to Notting City and have nothing to do with the Empire or the Spirit Hall. The plan has clearly stated that the fund can only be used for the construction of Notting City and will never be used for other purposes."
"Furthermore, strict regulations have been imposed on the source of funds. If the donation is made in an individual's name, only those who are from Notting City or have lived in Notting City for more than three years can make the donation. If the donation is made in the name of an organization, only organizations with actual industries in Notting City can make the donation, and the amount of the donation cannot exceed 10% of the profits of Notting City's industries. In addition, the Spirit Hall has special regulations that its members must make donations in their individual names."
"That's why I said that the person in charge is too close to the situation to see clearly. The Spirit Hall and the Empire have an agreement, but their agreement can't stop us from building our own home."
The three of them were stunned when they heard this. In order to prevent the grassroots from getting out of control, the Spirit Hall and the Empire basically appointed the people in charge of the grassroots as people from other places.
Even so, the city lord who has been in Notting City for the shortest time has been here for seven or eight years, and the dean has been in Notting City for more than twenty years. Naturally, they have a deep affection for Notting City. Mo Bai is right. No matter how rigid the Empire and the Spirit Hall are, they cannot deny their desire to make Notting City better.
Seeing that Steward Niu was moved, City Lord Xiao immediately followed up: "Steward Niu, I wonder if you would be willing to contribute to the construction of Notting City?"
Having said all that, Steward Niu naturally couldn't refuse. With the matter settled, City Lord Xiao immediately arranged dinner, and the two only left after the City Lord had eaten.
Before leaving, the dean asked Village Chief Li and Mo Bai to return to the academy the next day, saying that there was an event that required their participation.
"You did a good job today," Lord Xiao praised Mo Bai sincerely after seeing the dean and his companion off.
"Thank you for your kind words, City Lord. May I come to the City Lord's library to read books in the future?" Seeing that the City Lord was in a good mood, Mo Bai made the request.
The City Lord's library mainly contains literary books, with a small portion on the customs and culture of the Empire. There are not many books on Soul Master cultivation. It was originally open to the public, but it was closed because so few people came since it was right next to the City Lord's mansion. Mo Bai has helped him a lot these past two days, so the City Lord naturally wouldn't refuse.
...
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