Seeing the fortune of the Child of Destiny diminish, suddenly...
In Douluo Continent, the original work explicitly states that Huo Yuhao created the Spirit Pagoda and eliminated the Holy Ghost Church. His achievements were immense, yet they fell short of Tang San's.
Tang Wulin repelled the Abyss Plane, a feat of great magnitude, but his achievements likewise fell short of Tang San's.
From a reader's perspective, everyone knows what Tang San did. Regarding his contributions to Douluo Continent, they should pale far in comparison to Huo Yuhao, who created the Spirit Pagoda, or Tang Wulin, who repelled the Abyss Plane.
Yet if this matter translates into reality, for the high nobles of this world, stating that Tang San's achievements far surpassed those of Huo Yuhao and Tang Wulin contains no great error.
Huo Yuhao created the Spirit Pagoda, providing Soul Spirits to replace Soul Rings. But the Soul Spirits in the beginning were not as formidable as later ones. Using a thirty-thousand-year Soul Spirit as someone's seventh, eighth, or even ninth Soul Ring—sure, a Soul Spirit could assist in battle, but such a Soul Ring was somewhat too weak.
Moreover, purchasing Soul Spirits from the Spirit Pagoda was fundamentally a transaction, and the Spirit Pagoda sold them to anyone willing to buy, even selling high-quality Soul Spirits to Shrek, who had previously slapped the Spirit Pagoda Master across the face.
This state of affairs, having become second nature, left the high nobles unable to perceive any true necessity for the Spirit Pagoda's existence. Aside from the Life Sanctuary, which genuinely proved useful to high nobles, the Soul Spirit aspect in Douluo III was truly just mediocre. Consequently, in the eyes of those high nobles, Huo Yuhao's contribution in this regard was of limited effect.
As for annihilating the Holy Ghost Church, this too was an achievement, but for the rulers, its value was similarly limited.
After all, Evil Spirit Masters generally did not proactively seek out powerful Titled Douluos. Whether it was the Blood Infant Douluo—who cultivated by drinking the blood of infants—or the Evil Spirit Masters slaughtering villages seen in the youth of Dragon God Douluo Mu En, they only targeted ordinary folk at the bottom rungs, posing no threat to powerful Titled Douluo families.
The deaths of a few commoners meant nothing at all to the soul masters up above. In fact, once certain villages were wiped clean, those lands could simply be repossessed and handed over to people crushed to the point of starvation, thereby maintaining the rule of the high nobles above while sparing them any infamous reputation.
Thus, to the rulers of Douluo Continent, those Evil Spirit Masters were not the primary enemies that needed elimination. Soul Hall was different.
Soul Hall distributed funds to all grassroots soul masters across the entire continent. Even if someone possessed merely a cattle, sheep, or horse Martial Soul, and their First Soul Ring was nothing more than a white ten-year Soul Ring, as long as they were soul masters, Soul Hall would issue them money. The source of those funds was extracted from the two great empires by Soul Hall through sheer might and intimidation.
Perhaps Soul Hall acted to give commoners a chance to rise, or perhaps merely to weaken the two great empires, but the commoners of that era truly reaped the benefits, while the two great empires genuinely suffered heavy losses for it.
In Douluo I, the two great empires possessed virtually no Titled Douluos of their own. Yet by Douluo II, God King Tang's achievement was the destruction of Soul Hall, allowing Titled Douluos to return once more to the embrace of the two great empires.
Interpreted through the lens of reality, this meant the empires no longer had to drain their funds to pay the grassroots soul masters of the entire continent. Consequently, the high nobles, whose Martial Souls were inherently superior, not only retained their exceptional Martial Souls, but ten thousand years later, they no longer lacked cultivation resources either.
Free from the burden of providing funds to grassroots soul masters, that money could instead be used by the nobles to procure greater cultivation resources. Meanwhile, those soul masters who previously relied on Soul Hall's subsidies to survive simply vanished.
To acquire cultivation resources, or even merely to stay alive, serving as domestic bondservants to the high nobles of the two great empires became practically their only option.
Those bondservants could labor for them and serve as expendable cannon fodder when the descendants of high nobles hunted for Soul Rings. After all, with Soul Hall no longer dispensing funds, civilian soul masters desperate for resources and advancement were available in endless numbers at the doorsteps of the high nobles.
Tang San hailed from the Clear Sky Sect, the continent's preeminent assault-type tool Martial Soul sect, and his paternal uncle was even the sect master of the Clear Sky Sect, leaving behind no sons of his own.
Under such circumstances, Tang San stood as a representative high noble originating from the continent's apex family, leading the nobles and imperial royalties of the two great empires to utterly eradicate that evil Soul Hall.
Tang San possessed an impeccably orthodox background and an unassailable stance. Once Soul Hall was destroyed, the two great empires secured tangible, concrete benefits. In the eyes of those high nobles, Tang San's achievements naturally eclipsed anything Huo Yuhao could compare to.
Safeguarding their rule and clearing away a few dispensable Evil Spirit Masters—any high noble worth their salt knew full well who mattered more to them.
Precisely for this reason, Shrek City, which represented Tang San and other high nobles, remained the sole city on the continent capable of providing subsidies to ordinary soul masters.
Naturally, ordinary soul masters were generally not permitted to reside in this city either. Aside from innate talent, the admission requirements for Shrek Academy demanded a letter of recommendation from the lord of the main city—something a grassroots soul master could scarcely even dream of obtaining.
Because of this, Shrek—which perfectly aligned with the class interests of the high nobles—managed to preserve its paramount right to speak without crushing the two great empires through sheer force.
Tang Ya took Huo Yuhao away to collect the exclusive subsidies meant for Shrek City's soul masters. Meanwhile, in the Douluo Continent God Realm:
Within the God Realm Committee, the Goddess of Life maintained neutrality. After Tang San and the God of Destruction argued heatedly for a full two hours, Destruction's bid to expand the God Realm was ultimately rejected.
Destruction stormed out in a huff, slamming the door behind him. Yet Tang San's situation was far from easy.
Persuading the Goddess of Life to remain neutral had been no simple task. After all, she was the wife of the God of Destruction, and Tang San had wrung every ounce of his wits just to nudge her into neutrality, preventing her from siding with Destruction.
Fortunately, the final outcome was a success. Once again, the Goddess of Life did not stand with the God of Destruction. Yet facing Destruction's oppressive aura while simultaneously blocking the expansion of the God Realm—though the argument lasted merely two hours—left Tang San feeling as though the drain on his energy matched a grueling two-hour bout against Destruction himself.
Luckily, Tang San had already begun plotting regarding the Child of Destiny. In just over ten days, he would secure the assistance of a Child of Destiny, which would lighten his burden to some extent.
With this thought, Tang San returned home and immediately checked the status of the Child of Destiny, only to see the star representing the Child of Destiny's fortune dim considerably.
Tang San: "???"
"How could the Child of Destiny's fortune drop by nearly thirty percent? Exactly what went wrong?"
Tang San furrowed his brows, his thoughts instantly turning to the God of Destruction, who was always at odds with him.
"Damn it, did he wreck my plan?"
Tang San clenched his fists, but the next second his aura smoothed back into calm. He knew he was still no match for Destruction, yet...
"Ruining my plan." Destruction, you have already courted death.