Chapter 664: Qian Renxue Takes an Oath

Qian Daoliu clenched his fists, his gaze fixed tightly on Nan Feihuang, silent and wordless.

The development of the situation had completely exceeded his expectations; whether in terms of strength or strategy, this was the first time he had been defeated so miserably.

He had been crushed by Nan Feihuang in direct combat, and on the front lines, he had been outmaneuvered to the extreme.

Qian Daoliu thought of a possibility: Nan Feihuang's fierce launch of war against the Star Luo Empire and his desire to pacify Star Luo were real, but at the same time, there was another intention—to give Bibi Dong an opportunity to attack Heaven Dou, thereby luring her to Jialing Pass for a decisive battle.

By combining the military strength of the Heaven Dou Empire with the Spirit Master forces of the Gu Lei Empire, he could annihilate them there in one fell swoop.

Only in this way could he arrive at Wuhun City with the momentum of a great victory, first using absolute power to strike him physically, then using the intelligence of successive defeats to cause his mental collapse, and finally forcing him into total surrender.

That's right, this was the plan of Xun Yu; Feihuang's army setting out was both a genuine campaign to destroy nations and a lure to divide and annihilate the forces of the Spirit Empire.

Clearly, the plan was very successful; at this point, even if Qian Daoliu saw it, it was already too late.

Qian Renxue also looked steadily at Nan Feihuang, not playing any emotional cards; she was a romantic, but not a fool. At a time like this, she also knew that Feihuang's plan could no longer be stopped.

Even the fact that he was willing to give them this chance to surrender was likely out of consideration for her.

If she were in his shoes, she would actually have had similar thoughts. Originally, she had intended that once she became a god, she would use absolute power to force the Gu Lei Empire to surrender, which was the same in principle as Feihuang's current plan; it was just that Feihuang had executed it ahead of time.

"Feihuang, Xue Jie will ask you one last question: if we are willing to surrender, how do you intend to treat my Angel Clan?" Qian Renxue asked.

In fact, Feihuang knew what she was worried about. The Qian Family had always wanted to unify the continent; was it really for the happiness of all the people in the world? Perhaps there was a bit of that, but it was definitely not everything, nor was it the main reason.

Their most critical goal was to unify belief, ideally having everyone on the continent believe only in the Angel God. In this way, this God Position could ascend in rank with the help of endless Faith Power, and in the future, there might be a possibility of becoming a God King level entity.

The entire Qian Family would also benefit from this.

Now Qian Renxue only worried that after Feihuang unified everything, he would not allow the Qian Family to continue spreading the belief in the Angel God.

"Xue Jie, let me tell you about the governance policy I have prepared," Feihuang said solemnly.

He slowly recounted the entire governance strategy compiled by Xun Yu; in fact, it was the same as the governance policy of the Han Dynasty. It was a case of following the precedents of Xiao He; although Xun Yu considered himself very capable in internal affairs, he did not believe he could surpass Xiao He, one of the three heroes of the early Han, so the governance strategy was generally based on what he had compiled.

The new unified regime would govern with virtue and use law as a restraint; to describe it in one phrase, it was "Confucian on the outside, Legalist on the inside." That is, while promoting Confucian thought on the surface, the actual operation relied on Legalist thought, often combining Confucianism and Legalism, with the two complementing each other. It involved political achievement and ethical persuasion. Generally speaking, Confucianism emphasizes benevolent governance, focusing on using ethical persuasion to guide the people toward goodness and propriety to implement rule, while Legalism emphasizes the legal system, focusing on political axioms, advocating that there must be laws to follow, laws must be followed, discipline must be strictly enforced, and violations must be investigated—the sixteen-character mantra.

Regarding resources, Spirit Masters would still enjoy the highest status, but they would need to exchange their strength to protect innocent commoners. As long as they could protect the peace of a region, ensuring the people were neither bullied by nobles nor harmed by bandits or beast tides, then even if they did nothing usually and just lay around drinking and eating meat, they would still be superior to others. But if a Spirit Master took the lead in breaking the law, the crime would be doubled; in one sentence, the more one enjoys, the more one is restrained.

As for ordinary people, they would be rewarded according to their labor. This was indeed still unfair, but in a world where power is respected, complete fairness was a joke; Xun Yu had already tried his best to maintain a balance.

Moreover, this was not impossible to achieve, because the ratio of ordinary people to Spirit Masters on the Douluo Continent was currently about 1000:1; in other words, one thousand people supporting one Spirit Master was not a heavy burden for the ordinary people.

Additionally, regarding belief, Feihuang and Xun Yu had also discussed it; they did not reject the Qian Family spreading the belief in the Angel God. As long as it was a sect that guided people toward goodness and not the kind of evil cult that would bankrupt people or incite them to burn themselves, there was no reason it must be destroyed. Didn't Feihuang's original world also have sects like Taoism and Christianity?

However, the spread of sects must also be under supervision. First, belief cannot be forced; one cannot label others as heretics just because they do not believe, nor can one spread pessimistic, world-weary thoughts. Violators would be destroyed.

After hearing Feihuang's strategy, the clenched fists of Qian Daoliu slowly relaxed.

He gave up; what else could he do now? Even if they didn't surrender, did their Spirit Empire have any power to resist the Gu Lei Empire? He knew that if it weren't for the sake of Qian Renxue, Nan Feihuang could have destroyed him at any time.

Moreover, his brothers were still in Feihuang's hands, especially Golden Crocodile, whose limbs had all been broken. Although it would not be difficult to reattach them later with the power of the Angel God, if they were reattached too late and the original parts were damaged, it wouldn't be perfect, and it might even damage Golden Crocodile's foundation.

Although after surrendering he could not achieve his original vision of having everyone on the Douluo Continent believe only in the Angel God, this was already quite good. As the loser, how could he ask for more? And this was the only way to keep Qian Renxue from continuing to be hostile toward Feihuang; after all, he did not want his own granddaughter to remain in a state of sadness and conflict.

"Xue'er, I am tired. With Bibi Dong and Hu Liena missing, from now on, the Spirit Hall will be under your control. You decide for yourself," Qian Daoliu said in a deep voice.

Qian Renxue nodded, walked in front of Nan Feihuang, and knelt on one knee. "Feihuang, I, Qian Renxue, as the successor of the Angel God and an Adjudication Elder of the Spirit Hall, swear my allegiance to you, and in the name of the Angel God, I promise that from now on, I am willing to become your sword or your shield, to fight for you, and I will never betray you!"

Qian Renxue swore solemnly. As the Angel successor, she took oaths very seriously, let alone one made in the name of the Angel God; she would never violate it.

Feihuang happily stepped forward to help Qian Renxue up. "Xue Jie, then I, in the name of the Peerless God General, accept your surrender."

The two looked into each other's eyes, and at this moment, above their foreheads, the Angel God Seal and the Peerless God Seal actually began to shine in mutual reflection.

Qian Renxue was surprised. "Feihuang, you are actually a successor to a God Position too!"

Feihuang nodded. "Yes, quite a surprise, right, Xue Jie? From now on, we will never be enemies again. The moment you swore your allegiance to me just now, our God Positions seemed to resonate, becoming a couple-style God Position similar to the God of Food and the Nine-Colored Goddess."

(End of chapter)