Chapter 322. The Miracle of the Angel God (Part 2)
To achieve this, they used their media influence to fuel the conflict and bribed influential figures among the common people, inciting panic and anxiety to push the Spirit Hall to attack and force it into a desperate fight against the spirit beasts, swayed by public opinion. Hearing this, and recalling what Cai had said earlier, those who had participated in the activities knew perfectly well that these damned guys were using them as pawns.
"Oh, we bled and sacrificed, we paid the price, and what about you? You gained money, you reaped fame and status!"
A butcher, enraged, picked up a rock and smashed it into Cai's face, leaving it covered in blood. The butcher roared, "You bastard!"
The butcher's action ignited the anger of the people, who then took out their own rocks and hurled them at these damned activists.
The Spirit Hall did not intervene, and these people were quickly killed by the overwhelming public outcry.
This deception, this conspiracy, was revealed to the world, directly declaring the death of the Continental United Daily News. Angry citizens tore up the Continental United Daily Newspapers and media outlets, collectively boycotting the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's media, forcing the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's media influence to remain confined to the upper and middle classes.
This public opinion storm was a devastating blow to the anti-Spirit Hall alliance, destroying their credibility.
While the mainland's media wasn't as efficient as the Spirit Hall's, it still wielded considerable influence on such critical issues.
Now, that influence was gone. The Star Luo Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire, the participating forces, faced public protests.
Outside Seven Treasure Glazed Tile City, guards used their Zhuge Repeating Crossbows to shoot down angry civilians attempting to storm the city. In the shadow of death, the mob left dozens of corpses behind and fled.
Ning Fengzhi stood atop Seven Treasure Glazed Tile City, looking towards the distant Spirit Hall, and angrily said, "This miracle saved the Spirit Hall, and now they've evaded their responsibilities."
"Then, Sect Master, what about Fei Yang's spirit ring? And what about Rong Rong's spirit ring?" Gu Rong asked worriedly.
Ning Fengzhi frowned and said, "I don't have any good ideas either. Let's see what the Spirit Hall does next."
"The Spirit Hall has already signed a 25-year ceasefire with the spirit beasts. They can't possibly break their contract with the spirit beasts and start a new war, can they?" Chen Xin said.
A glint of wisdom flashed in Ning Fengzhi's eyes. He placed his hands behind his back and said calmly, "Even if it's a miracle, what good is saving the Spirit Hall? The fundamental problem is that under the blockade of spirit beasts, spirit masters can't obtain spirit rings. If this problem isn't resolved, the miracle's impact is only temporary. As time goes on, people will eventually be unable to obtain spirit rings, and this problem will ultimately point back to the Spirit Hall."
"If the Spirit Hall has the ability to solve this problem, then we can simply copy them. If the Spirit Hall can't solve this problem, then we'll launch another propaganda offensive, forcing the Spirit Hall to fight the spirit beasts to the death, using their blood to pave a path for us to hunt spirit rings."
In fact, many people shared Ning Fengzhi's thoughts. They patiently waited, observing the Spirit Hall's next move.
Soon, the Spirit Hall took its second step: they released a blacklist: the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, the Clear Sky School, the Heaven Dou Sect, the Star Luo Sect, Shrek Academy, and other anti-Spirit Hall forces and individuals were listed in detail on this blacklist.
Upon the release of the blacklist, the Spirit Hall proclaimed to the world: "The individuals and forces on the following list will not be protected by the Angel God."
When various factions received this news, they scoffed. "We don't believe in the Angel God, why would we need your protection?"
Ning Fengzhi even mocked, "What good is a blacklist to divert attention? The Spirit Hall still can't resolve the core issue of Soul Masters not obtaining Soul Rings."
However, the various factions soon realized the power of this blacklist.
Because the Spirit Hall's miracle plan was not over!
Shortly after the blacklist was released, another miracle occurred.
The Angel God bestowed a Soul Ring miracle, and the Spirit Hall established three secret realms granted by the Angel God in each regional branch hall: ten-year, one-hundred-year, and one-thousand-year secret realms.
These secret realms were for use by ordinary neutral Soul Masters and Soul Masters willing to pledge allegiance to the Spirit Hall. The more clearly a Soul Master pledged allegiance to the Spirit Hall, the closer the Soul Ring obtained in the secret realm would be to the optimal configuration age for a Soul Master's Soul Ring.
As for Soul Masters who need ten-thousand-year Soul Rings, they must travel to the Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast Secret Realm within the Martial Spirit Temple, the capital of the Star Luo and Heaven Dou Empires, to obtain them. The Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring
Secret Realm is controlled by Martial Spirit City. Initially, people questioned the miracle when the secret realms appeared, but when the first Soul Master to obtain a Soul Ring from the Martial Spirit Temple emerged, and his Soul Ring was usable and possessed skills comparable to those obtained by hunting Soul Beasts, these Soul Masters flocked to the Martial Spirit Temple to acquire Soul Rings. In order to obtain Soul Rings, they changed their allegiance.
From free-spirited Soul Masters yearning for freedom, they became staunch and loyal members of the Martial Spirit Temple faction.
Of course, some harbored opportunistic intentions, which were impossible to hide from the Martial Spirit Temple's scrutinizing Soul Masters. The large number of Soul Masters screened and driven away taught those opportunistic free-spirited Soul Masters a lesson: loyalty without absolute loyalty is absolute disloyalty.
To gain benefits from the Martial Spirit Temple, one must offer the utmost loyalty.
The benefits the miracle brought to the Spirit Hall were undeniable. A massive influx of Spirit Masters flocked to the Spirit Hall, including not only free Spirit Masters but also those from established families, all swearing allegiance.
Ultimately, the two great empires had to resort to strict military control to restrict the flow of talent from their own territories to the Spirit Hall.
With the appearance of the Spirit Ring Secret Realm, the Spirit Hall helped many commoner Spirit Masters and those willing to pledge allegiance to its factions resolve their Spirit Ring issues. However, one force was caught off guard:the anti-Spirit Hall faction.
They were explicitly blacklisted by the Spirit Hall, and Shrek Academy was prominently featured on this list.
The Spirit Hall's restrictions on Spirit Rings for blacklisted forces were extremely stringent. Anyone joining such a force would be considered blacklisted, and blacklisted individuals were ineligible for the Spirit Hall's divinely bestowed Spirit Rings.
Shrek Academy, while not winning the championship in the Soul Master Competition, at least achieved a top-three finish. Furthermore, Flander's admission principle prioritized talent over background, which, while seemingly reasonable, still attracted many students who felt they possessed exceptional talent, only to be ripped off by Shrek Academy's enrollment fees.
From this large pool of students, Shrek Academy selected many promising talents for training.
While their talent might not have matched that of Tang San's generation, they were still a formidable force, forming another Shrek Academy.
However, the Soul Beast uprising and the Soul Ring crisis abruptly halted this thriving academy.
Initially, after Zhao Wuji led his students on a Soul Hunting expedition only to be driven away by Soul Beasts, Shrek Academy remained on the sidelines, observing the Spirit Hall's actions. Flander hoped the Spirit Hall could resolve the Soul Beast crisis so he could nurture the new generation of Shrek Seven Devils, instilling in them a hatred for the Spirit Hall and preparing them for its future overthrow.
However, the Spirit Hall's miracle and blacklist directly shattered Flander's plan to develop stealthily in the shadows.
The Angel God opened the continent, bestowing spirit rings upon everyone close to the Spirit Hall, and those loyal to the Spirit Hall were granted spirit rings to overcome this crisis of spirit ring blockade.
However, before the appearance of these divinely bestowed spirit rings, the blacklist effectively excluded Shrek Academy from the miracle.
Students who joined Shrek Academy not only failed to obtain spirit rings from Shrek Academy but were also blacklisted by the Spirit Hall, forbidden from acquiring spirit rings from them.
This directly uprooted Shrek Academy, regardless of how Flander instilled anti-Spirit Hall sentiments in Zhejiang West Academy.
When their own interests were involved, the students immediately protested.
"Withdraw! I want to leave Shrek Academy!"
"Dean Flander, I want to withdraw from Shrek Academy!"
"Get out! What kind of bullshit Shrek Academy is this? What monsters? Long live the Spirit Hall!"
The students who had joined Shrek Academy shouted that they wanted to drop out.
However, what they didn't know was that Shrek Academy was capable of forcibly deducting students' registration fees and then kicking them out—such shameless behavior was unbelievable.
So it wasn't surprising what they were capable of doing.
Faced with the students shouting that they wanted to withdraw, Shrek Academy directly used Zhao Wuji's iron fist.
"What did you just say? You want to withdraw, right?"
"Old Zhao, let me tell you, no way! Shrek Academy only has rules for kicking students out, not for students leaving the academy. Once you're here at Shrek Academy, you'd better study diligently until graduation," Zhao Wuji said, picking his nose.
The first Shrek student asked, "Teacher Zhao, what do you mean? Are you trying to force us to drop out?"
The second Shrek student retorted, "Teacher Zhao, we usually respect you, but what are you doing? Why can't we drop out? Staying at Shrek Academy means we'll forever be on the Spirit Hall's blacklist. Our future is bright, but after 25 years, when the Spirit Hall's Angel God rewards us and banishes the spirit beasts, our talents will be completely ruined. Are you trying to destroy our talents?"
Zhao Wuji didn't explain.
This student was clever and guessed the gist of it.
The Spirit Hall's policy of cutting off their lifeline had almost uprooted Shrek Academy. Shrek had no way to resist the Spirit Hall; the students were even considering defecting. But Shrek Academy couldn't deal with the Spirit Hall, let alone these peasants. Was Shrek Academy a place you could come and go as you pleased?
Shrek Academy would never allow so many of its talented students to fall into the hands of the Spirit Hall. Therefore, they blocked the student expulsion process. As long as the Shrek Academy label remained on them, they would forever be on that blacklist. They couldn't go to the Spirit Hall, and Shrek Academy hadn't benefited the Spirit Hall.
As for whether these peasants would retaliate against Shrek Academy in the future, Shrek Academy didn't care anymore. In 25 years, even if you were a genius, with your spirit rings blocked, by then your talent would be completely wasted. Your life wouldn't be that great, and thinking of revenge against Shrek would be laughable!
(End of Chapter)