The Spirit Hall is a typical theocratic regime, although the people of Douluo Continent don't seem to really believe in the Angel God.
The peasants within the Spirit Hall's jurisdiction lived a relatively comfortable life. Compared to the slave system under the aristocratic politics of the two great empires, the Spirit Hall was still too feudal.
The peasants of the two great empires could not be called peasants; they were serfs under the rule of the kingdom's nobles.
Not only does all land ownership belong to the kingdom, but people also lack personal freedom, essentially making their property equivalent to that of nobles. Even getting a full meal depends on the whims of the noble lord.
The Spirit Hall is a very complex political system, which Qianxun Qianyuan calls a semi-feudal and semi-imperialist state.
It was semi-feudal because the basic production income of the Spirit Hall still relied on farmers farming.
However, the Spirit Hall has to build or renovate the Spirit Awakening Hall in Douluo Continent every year, and also pay subsidies to the Spirit Masters.
Such a large sum of money is not something that a Spirit Hall as large as the Barak Kingdom could afford by simply collecting land rent.
It is clear that the Spirit Hall has other sources of income.
The first is relying on the tributes paid to the Spirit Hall by the two great empires.
Relying on its powerful base of Soul Masters, the Spirit Hall intimidated the two great empires, forcing them to spend money to avoid trouble.
Another point is the competition. When Qianxun was researching Douluo Continent, she was very puzzled as to why the people of Douluo Continent valued the Soul Master Competition so much.
It feels like Soul Masters are going to die if they don't participate in competitions.
Tang San felt even worse than if Xiao Wu had died than if he couldn't win the championship or even drew with Tianshui Academy.
Is it really necessary to make such a fuss over a single game?
One second after defeating Fire Dance from Blazing Academy, he arrogantly shouted, "My Blue Silver Grass is fire immune!"
The next second, he was tied by the fusion skill of Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu's martial souls, and he became depressed: "Has all my efforts over the years been in vain? Should I give up on Blue Silver Grass?"
If Dugu Bo hadn't acted as a psychologist to guide Tang San, Tang San would have really switched to cultivating the Clear Sky Hammer.
Old Poison Master is truly a father and mother figure to Tang San, giving him immortal herbs, soul tools, and even acting as a psychological counselor. He's also incredibly powerful. He's the real teacher of Tang San!
Does Yu Xiaogang, this genius who broke through to fifty years old before reaching level thirty, even deserve to be called a genius?
Later she realized that the purpose of holding the Soul Master Competition was mainly to make money from nobles, just like the NBA and the World Cup.
Noble gentlemen have few forms of entertainment, but they enjoy watching Soul Masters battle and are willing to spend money on it, which is how Soul Masters earn their income.
Both empires, including the Spirit Hall, have large Soul Arenas in every city, and they also hold a Soul Master "Olympics" every four years. If there were no huge profits, who would organize such a competition?
Chihiro clearly realized that playing competitions is at best a tertiary industry. Without a solid industrial and agricultural foundation, the prosperity earned solely through competitions is ultimately unsustainable.
After all, the nobles' money came from exploiting the serfs in their manors, and the entire Douluo Continent was still supported by a large number of slaves and peasants.
In her view, the Spirit Hall was indeed much better than the two great empires, since most of the Spirit Hall's expenditures were to maintain its powerful base of spirit masters.
Unlike a certain country in later times that had a "kill line" and only frantically exploited its own core population.
However, this "worst-than-average" mentality will only cause the Spirit Hall to stagnate! Constantly comparing which of the two great empires, the Spirit Hall, Shrek Academy, Tang Sect, and the Sun Moon Empire is the worst, and then thinking that the others are good, is meaningless.
"The only right path is to create a better Spirit Hall!"
...
In Fenghao Village, Qianxun took Bibi Dong to experience farming firsthand, study the soil and make farming tools, and have in-depth conversations with the villagers, summarizing a wealth of experience.
With the power of the Gold Soul Coins, the villagers were incredibly open and honest, sharing all their knowledge over the course of a month. Chihiro frantically recorded the information, preparing to return to the laboratory to improve the technology.
Even the farmers in the Spirit Hall's jurisdiction who had a relatively higher status only used iron hoes and oxen for farming, which was enough to show the backwardness of the countryside. Research on soul-guided tools for farming was urgent.
Back in her laboratory at the Spirit Hall, Qianxunqian, with her strong hands-on skills, spent a week building a tiller by hand.
But her ambitions don't stop there. So what if she builds a tiller? She can't just hand-operate it 24/7. Industrial mass production is still the best solution!
As a new generation genius of the Spirit Hall, she spends all her time either in the laboratory or driving a tractor in the fields. Although Qian Daoliu understands his niece, he is also very worried about her.
Aren't you wasting your talent?
Qianxunqian wasn't interested in this. First of all, she thought the competition was particularly stupid. Besides being known as the Love Continent, Douluo Continent also had the nickname "Competition Continent."
In the original work, cultivating and improving soul power seems to be solely for the purpose of participating in the Soul Master Competition. Apart from that, there doesn't seem to be any other way to showcase the advantages of the Soul Master profession.
Ultimately, the advantages of Soul Masters were only truly demonstrated during wartime, but basically, it seems that Soul Masters were created specifically for competitive play...
This is such a pointless thing, I might as well drive a tractor every day!
At the same time, Chihiro shamelessly asked her uncle for money.
Qian Daoliu was so angry that his hair was practically flying. He just opened his mouth and asked for a million gold soul coins. Did he think he was a candy?
Chihiro scratched the back of her head and said:
"My niece's innate soul power cultivation device is still being tested and we don't plan to sell it yet. So, Uncle, please do me a favor and let me be the first principal of our school once she has established it!"
Qian Dao Liu Qi laughed:
"Do you even know what kind of school you're running?"
"The College of Agriculture!"
"I wouldn't say anything if you set up a Soul Master Academy, but what are you trying to do by setting up an agricultural academy? Train people to farm! Why would people give up being proper Soul Masters to farm?"
Chihiro explained her blueprint to Chidoru in great detail.
Why establish an agricultural college?
1. Revenue generation: He has researched many agricultural techniques, which, if applied in practice, can increase crop yields and help the Spirit Hall generate revenue.
2. Only with the development of agriculture can we provide the necessary feed for the breeding of spirit beasts, ensuring a continuous supply and preventing spirit masters from running out of spirit rings! Therefore, agriculture and spirit masters are closely linked; helping farmers is helping spirit masters!
3. Agriculture is the foundation of the future soul tool industry. Agriculture provides raw materials for the production of soul tools. Without a solid agricultural foundation, it will be difficult to achieve mass production of soul tools in the future!
...
Qianxunqian's ideas were all geared towards benefiting the Spirit Hall and the Spirit Masters, which left the old man Qian Daoliu completely bewildered.
Qian Daoliu thought to himself: ? How come he didn't know that farming had so many benefits? Oh no! After being a Soul Master for so many years, it seems like all my contributions are less than those of a farmer.
Qian Daoliu looked at his niece, who had grown up crooked, with mixed feelings, and sighed deeply:
"Brother! It's not that I don't want to raise Qian'er properly, but the child is just too smart, and this old man really has no way to deal with him!"
(End of chapter)