stonecrandall Chapter 399 Ning Rongrong is utterly useless; Gu Yue wins by doing nothing.
Chapter 399 Ning Rongrong is utterly useless; Gu Yue wins by doing nothing.
"You don't need to be so reserved. There's no real point in me holding you accountable now."
Huo Yuhao looked calmly at Leng Yaozhu, who was kneeling on one knee, and continued speaking in a voice devoid of emotion:
Ultimately, it's not surprising that we humans, driven by our own self-interest and development, would make such a decision without any constraints. If anyone were in charge, the outcome probably wouldn't be much different.
After a pause, Huo Yuhao continued, "As the deputy tower master of the Spirit Pagoda, you should also know the inside story of the mass disappearance of soul beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest."
That was actually the result of discussions between me, Di Tian, and the other ferocious beasts. The Spirit Pagoda is now rotten to the core and desperately needs a top-down reform.
Even if the reforms succeed and those malignant tumors are eradicated, a new leader with sufficient wisdom and skill will still be needed to maintain the new relationship between humans and spirit beasts. So, you should understand what I mean, right?
Huo Yuhao did not directly reveal Gu Yue's true identity to Leng Yaozhu.
After all, if Leng Yaozhu knew that her beloved disciple, whom she had been carefully teaching, was actually the Lord of Soul Beasts, then their pure master-disciple relationship would probably come to an end soon due to their different stances.
To a large extent, it is precisely because Leng Yaozhu is Gu Yue's teacher that this special bond of identity allows both humans and soul beasts to be as satisfied as possible.
That's why Huo Yuhao chose her to become the new tower master after the transformation of the Spirit Pagoda.
Upon hearing this news, Leng Yaozhu felt her head spin completely, and she was overjoyed.
She couldn't believe that the goal her family had dreamed of for generations, and for which they had devoted countless efforts, was about to be achieved in such a simple way today.
Suppressing her excitement, she replied solemnly, "Yaozhu will certainly not fail the entrustment and trust of our ancestors."
"When I take charge of the Spirit Pagoda in the future, I will dedicate my entire life to doing my utmost to managing the relationship between humans and spirit beasts, so that peace can be achieved between the races."
Huo Yuhao nodded slightly, then calmly analyzed, "After all, the Qian Gu family has controlled the Spirit Pagoda for thousands of years, and its power is deeply entrenched."
They also leveraged the resources and influence of the Spirit Pagoda to maintain close ties with various levels of the Federation and even the military.
To avoid causing excessive turmoil in the federal government during the reform process, and to prevent the Qian Gu family from resorting to desperate measures that could lead to irreparable consequences, this matter needs to be planned and executed gradually.
You can freely utilize the connections and relationships that Qiankun Wenqing Valley has built up within the Federation.
With your intelligence and decisive methods, plus this assistance, I believe that within a year or two, I should be able to see some substantial results.
Ning Rongrong, who had been unable to get a word in edgewise, finally heard something that was related to her.
In order to demonstrate her value to Huo Yuhao, she waved her hand and said rather boldly, "Master is right."
"Yu Lai, over the years, Qiankun Wenqing Valley has cultivated numerous relationships and connections with the federal high command. You can now present them all to your sister for her to use without any reservations."
Upon hearing this, Leng Yulai's expression froze, and she looked somewhat embarrassed.
She steeled herself and jogged a few steps forward, leaned close to Ning Rongrong's ear, and whispered a few words that only the two of them could hear.
After listening to Leng Yulai's report, Ning Rongrong's face suddenly darkened under her mask, and she exclaimed in surprise, somewhat losing her composure: "So you mean that although our Qiankun Wenqing Valley has an extremely high and transcendent status in the Federation..."
But in reality, we have absolutely no connection with those high-ranking federal officials. In fact, those federal officials who were tormented by the Divine Exam, given the right opportunity, might even unite to eliminate us completely, to prevent future trouble.
Ning Rongrong, who had been in a deep slumber for over two thousand years to repair the damaged divine status of the Goddess of Love, was completely unprepared for this.
Without my personal involvement and oversight, Qiankun Wenqing Valley has been managed in such an absurd way.
As the daughter of the sect leader of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School, she was influenced by her surroundings from a young age and could not accept that the interpersonal relationships within her own organization were in such a terrible state.
Leng Yulai smiled bitterly with a helpless expression: "Lord Cupid, you are usually asleep, but you know how outrageous and torturous the content of our divine test is."
Those high-ranking federal officials got involved when they were young, and ended up being tormented to the point of near death. What good impression could they possibly have of our Qiankun Wenqing Valley after they left? We'd be lucky if they didn't hold a grudge against us.
Ning Rongrong was immediately speechless and unable to utter a single word in rebuttal.
After all, the core rules and specific content of this divine test were entirely formulated by her personally back then in order to quickly collect spiritual power.
Furthermore, since all of these assessments are highly related to personal love affairs, they are most likely to touch the most sensitive and vulnerable parts of people's hearts, making it difficult for the participating Soul Masters to develop a heartfelt faith in the God of Love.
Therefore, in order to extract enough spiritual power from these participants at once to repair their divine status, the standards for the assessment have become increasingly sinister.
To be fair, she, as a deity, bears 90% of the responsibility for this terrible situation.
As her most capable subordinate and the person who has always represented her in the world, shouldn't Leng Yulai also bear some responsibility for mismanagement?
Ning Rongrong coughed somewhat guiltily, then quickly blinked at Leng Yulai, signaling her to try and salvage the situation and see if she could come up with any way to save face.
Leng Yulai immediately understood the meaning in Ning Rongrong's eyes. After a moment's thought, she came up with an idea and quickly replied, "The High Priest and the amorous Douluo of the War God Temple have an extraordinary relationship."
I think that if we ask the other party to mediate this matter, or leverage his influence within the federal government, it would be entirely feasible.
Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao rubbed his temples, feeling rather helpless.
He never expected that the actual situation of Qiankun Wenqing Valley was that it was a place that everyone hated. If he really tried to use those so-called connections, he would probably be pushing Leng Yaozhu into a fire pit.
Before Ning Rongrong could add to Leng Yulai's words, he said directly, "Lord Tianfeng, just go directly to the Hall Master of the War God Hall and give him my name."
He knows you're working for me, so he'll naturally use the Federation's resources to help you integrate the Spirit Tower.
Upon hearing this, Ning Rongrong's face instantly froze, and her heart sank.
Huo Yuhao isn't interested in his own body, which is fine, but now I can't help him in any other way.
In his eyes, wouldn't I have become a useless burden?
When the time comes, won't he think he's useless, or that keeping him around is a problem, and then regret it and stab himself to death?
Just as Ning Rongrong's thoughts were racing like a tangled mess, secretly conjecturing about her tragic end, Huo Yuhao spoke to her again:
"For the next period of time, I will need to use the immortal spiritual energy gathered in Qiankun Wenqing Valley to go into seclusion."
As for my students, you should be able to handle the arrangement of the exam content and the distribution of rewards properly, right?
"Yes, rest assured, leave it to me. I will arrange everything properly and make sure you are satisfied, Master."
Hearing that she finally had a place to be of use, Ning Rongrong's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally relaxed a little. Her voice unconsciously rose a few decibels in response to show her positive attitude.
Meanwhile, Gu Yue, who had been silent all along, watched as Huo Yuhao strategized and arranged everything perfectly in just a few words.
Thinking about all the things that have happened around her recently, she suddenly felt that ever since she met Huo Yuhao, she had been winning without lifting a finger, without having to face those complicated schemes and life-or-death crises herself.
Since he has done so much to protect me, shouldn't I also find an opportunity in other ways to properly repay Huo Yuhao for his hard work and great contributions?
……
Time flies, and before we knew it, more than half a year had passed in a flash.
For the past six months or so, many soul masters across the Douluo Continent have felt an overwhelming sense of oppression, as if a storm was brewing.
It wasn't just because the federal government suddenly launched an unprecedented and forceful military operation to eradicate evil spirit masters across the entire continent.
This operation led to extremely frequent troop and personnel movements across various regions, and the entire society was in a state of high alert and tension.
There are even occasional shocking reports of high-ranking federal officials or long-established soul master factions being uprooted for secretly colluding with evil soul masters. Each time such news breaks, it causes a stir in the soul master world.
What shocked and humiliated the Douluo Soul Master world the most was the All-Federation Grand Competition, which was held every five years in Shrek City.
This competition originated from the All-Continent Youth Advanced Soul Master Elite Competition and has always been regarded as the highest stage of glory for the younger generation of Soul Masters in the Douluo Continent.
However, in this year's youth group competition, the geniuses that the Douluo Federation was so proud of suffered a crushing defeat against the seven kings of the Monster Academy who came with the Star Luo Empire's exchange group, and were beaten without any power to fight back.
After Monster Academy won the youth group championship with overwhelming force, they openly declared on the awards stage that they would challenge Shrek Academy, which had not participated in the All-Federation Grand Competition for thousands of years.
This was originally a highly anticipated battle, seen as Shrek Academy defending its title as the number one academy on the Douluo Continent.
However, facing Long Yue, who was not yet twenty years old, had reached the Soul Saint level with the help of the Divine Test, and even possessed a complete two-word battle armor, Shrek Academy still suffered a crushing defeat under such absolute power suppression, even though the inner court sent out a team battle configuration of two Soul Emperors and five Soul Kings.
With the honor that Shrek Academy had maintained for ten thousand years crumbling in front of everyone, the entire Douluo Federation, from high-ranking officials to ordinary citizens, fell into an unprecedented state of low morale.
Even among the common people, there are many conspiracy theories that claim that the frequent crackdowns on evil soul masters and other sensitive events that occurred on the mainland were actually harbingers of an impending all-out war between the Douluo Federation and the Star Luo Empire.
In an instant, the entire Douluo Federation was once again plunged into a tense atmosphere of fear and anxiety.
In order to quickly quell this panic and reverse the depressed state of federal citizens, the federal leadership made an exception and announced a major decision to the public ahead of schedule.
Shrek Academy will soon merge with the equally historic Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy to form a new and more comprehensive federal academy.
Furthermore, the newly established Federal Academy will establish a deep strategic partnership with Qiankun Wenqing Valley, which is also undergoing internal reforms recently, in order to promote a comprehensive upgrade of the Federation in the cultivation of high-end Soul Master talents.
According to Leng Yulai's initial statement, Qiankun Wenqing Valley had always maintained a good cooperative relationship with the federal government on the surface, and even gave the Federal War God Temple and even the Spirit Pagoda a lot of places to participate in the divine examination.
However, the conditions for participating in the Divine Trial of the Valley of Love and Destiny were extremely strict. Participants were required to be adults and to have a romantic relationship.
Otherwise, like the Shrek Academy quotas previously given out, allowing teenagers to directly participate in the God Examination would be a completely unprofitable deal for Ning Rongrong, who needed to repair her divine status.
After all, it's impossible to gather much pure spiritual energy related to love from a group of teenagers that would help her recover.
On the contrary, after the assessment, they will have to use the immortal energy they have painstakingly gathered as a substantial reward for passing the divine test.
How could Ning Rongrong not feel heartbroken?
As for the others who met the criteria, participated in the divine test, and endured numerous torments...
Having suffered immense physical and mental trauma, they would never develop any faith in the god of love who set up these perverse trials. Instead, they were left with a host of painful experiences they were unwilling to revisit.
This is why many high-ranking officials in the Federation actually hate Qiankun Wenqing Valley to the core.
Fortunately, a few years ago, under Leng Yulai's leadership, Qiankun Wenqing Valley vigorously built the Eros Town on the outside.
Through a special core array, this town can silently absorb the mixed thoughts of love and affection unintentionally emitted by the life forms gathered here.
In order to continue to capitalize on Qiankun Wenqing Valley's current reputation as a romantic destination on the continent and attract more Soul Master couples,
Leng Yulai had been planning to find an opportunity to discuss with Ning Rongrong in the near future and make changes to the unreasonable content of the divine examination.
Now that she has decided to cooperate deeply with the soon-to-be-established Federal Academy, this has become an excellent opportunity for her to go with the flow.