Douluo Continent: This Tang San is different

Chapter 239 Xue Qinghe's Visit

When the Crown Prince came to visit, Tang San naturally had to go out and greet him personally, even though this prince wasn't Emperor Xue Ye's biological son at all, or even his son...

"Greetings, Your Highness!"

Tang San welcomed Xue Qinghe into the Silver Blue Manor and led him to the living room. Xiao Wu, Guang Ling, and Lan Yinzi did not participate but were busy with their own things: researching medicine, researching soul tools, and cultivating.

"Brother Tang, you've been living a carefree life lately. There are quite a few private newspapers in the city reporting on your romantic escapades," Xue Qinghe said with a smile, holding his teacup.

Whether he revealed his true identity at the Luo Wang Auction House or went to auction off slaves, it was bound to be spread by those with ulterior motives. However, the meaning of news coming from such a place is open to interpretation.

and so--

"That's right, it's all true." Tang San admitted it. After all, he had already had a threesome, so what was there to be ashamed of? It just wasn't as outrageous as the outside world made it out to be.

"With fame comes trouble, Brother Tang, you don't need to..." Xue Qinghe was about to say a few words of comfort, but suddenly felt that there might be something wrong with his ears. However, his composure was not bad, and he immediately smiled and said, "Brother Tang is truly a man of character."

"Compared to the Crown Prince, I'm just more free." Tang San poured tea for Xue Qinghe, then got straight to the point and asked, "I wonder what brings Your Highness here to see me? Let me make it clear first, I don't get involved in royal disputes; I only focus on research that interests me."

"Brother Tang, am I the kind of person who is loyal to power?" Xue Qinghe feigned anger.

"It's my fault." Tang San laughed, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and asked, "Then what brings Your Highness to see me? It can't just be a casual chat, can it? After all, it's rumored that Your Highness is also busy with countless concubines every day."

"Actually, it's about my father..." Xue Qinghe's eyes twitched as he slowly recounted the whole story.

It turns out that Emperor Xue Ye has recently been gradually handing over the affairs of the empire to Xue Qinghe, while he himself is preparing to become the retired emperor and enjoy a wonderful old age.

This should have been a good thing.

But when Xue Qinghe actually started dealing with those imperial affairs, she realized that being an emperor was not so easy. It was fine for a short time, but over time, she became physically and mentally exhausted.

This was completely different from the position of the Pope of the Spirit Hall that she had seen before!

Bibi Dong only needs to spend a little time each day dealing with government affairs, and even at her busiest, it's no more than half a day. The rest of the time can be used for cultivation or doing things she likes.

The emperor of the Heavenly Dou Empire, however, had to review memorials at all times and could not even rest at night. He could only have more rest time during festivals or when a grand event was held.

This truly caused Xue Qinghe, who was just beginning to learn how to be an emperor, to feel a strange sense of disillusionment.

Pope and Emperor are the supreme rulers of two major powers, so why do they have such a large workload?

If Xue Qinghe were to ask, then Tang San could answer—

The methods of governance are different.

The rule within the Tiandou territory is based on a balance of power. As the supreme ruler, the emperor naturally cannot only enjoy himself, but must also pay close attention to the intelligence of the various countries within the territory to prevent conflicts or even wars between them, or to prevent them from having treacherous intentions towards the Tiandou royal family and preparing to rebel.

In addition, the emperor himself was extremely concerned about power, and he wanted to review and approve all matters, big and small, himself, and did not want his subordinates to conceal anything from him.

As a result, dealing with all sorts of matters within Tiandou City every day was enough to exhaust the Tiandou Emperor. It was only natural that Emperor Xueye would fall ill from overwork. However, Xue Qinghe had secretly given him a slow-acting poison, prematurely breaking several of Emperor Xueye's mental strings.

And what about the Spirit Hall?

It is an organization similar to a church, whose members are all Soul Masters. The strong are respected. Although it is mixed with beliefs and ideologies, it cannot be denied that as long as you join the Spirit Hall and have enough strength, you can have a high status.

Back to the point.

Xue Qinghe came here mainly because he was short-handed and hoped Tang San could help.

Isn't this still hiring?

Tang San pursed his lips slightly, thinking to himself: However, it's not really about getting involved in royal disputes, it's just that I'm completely clueless about handling political affairs.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, you may have the wrong person. I have absolutely no experience in assisting with political affairs. If you were to ask me about martial spirit cultivation, I could speak eloquently about that, but assisting you in managing affairs is truly... beyond my scope of expertise," Tang San said rather tactfully. "Since Your Highness is destined to sit in that position, I'm sure many insightful people favor you. Why not seek them out?"

Xue Qinghe sighed, then stared intently at Tang San: "They are all good-for-nothings, none of them have accomplished anything. Moreover, the family networks behind them are complicated, and I dare not trust them completely."

Xue Qinghe even planned to replace all these people with his own people after he came to power!

How can we give them important positions?

He's not at ease!

"Your Highness's gaze is quite flattering," Tang San sighed, "but I still want to say that my research in martial spirit theory does not mean I have achievements in politics. Everyone has their own expertise."

"In matters of governing the country, Your Highness need not be too fixated on Soul Masters."

"Soul Masters make up only one-twentieth or even one-thirtieth of the total population of the continent. Governing the Heaven Dou Empire is different from the Spirit Hall's management style, which allows those with strong abilities to hold high positions while leaving tasks to those with weaker abilities. We need to consider the people's livelihood."

"As for people's livelihood, it cannot be managed by force. At most, it can frighten them into not daring to rebel. But since Soul Masters do not engage in production, over time, many changes and problems will inevitably arise."

This is probably one of the reasons why the Spirit Hall caused such a stir in the original story, leading to the wrath of the heavens and the rebellion of the two great empires – managing the people's livelihood and managing the spirit masters are completely different things.

Managing Soul Masters is easy; if you're stronger than them, you can make most of them obedient.

And managing a large number of ordinary people...

To put it simply, in the original work, the Spirit Hall and the Spirit Empire not only failed to manage their people well, but they also failed to train their armies properly. During the final battle, the Heaven Dou Army and the Spirit Master Army had people of the same level in the same camp with uniform spirit rings, while the Spirit Hall Army had a chaotic mess of spirit rings, with only the Armor Sect and the Holy Dragon Sect being slightly more organized.

Managing a sect (gang) and managing a nation (state) are not the same thing.

However, Xue Qinghe's gaze became even more intense.

Although Tang San repeatedly claimed that he didn't know how to govern a country, his words revealed the essence of governing a kingdom: it's not about loving the people like one's own children, nor about having overwhelming strength, but about the people's livelihood.

As long as the people live in peace and contentment, a country can be considered well-governed!

"Tang San, come help me?" Qian Renxue extended the invitation again. "What the Spirit Hall can give you, I can give you as well, and I'm willing to share the throne of the Heaven Dou Emperor with you!"

The atmosphere in the living room immediately fell silent.

After a moment, Tang San put down his teacup and said calmly, "To be honest, I still prefer more freedom, rather than sitting in a confined room all day organizing documents."

Xue Qinghe asked curiously, "When you usually research information about martial spirits and spirit beasts, aren't you also sitting in a confined room?"

"The content we watch is different, and everyone's interests are different. If you force me to watch it, it might backfire." Tang San leaned back on the sofa, exuding a lazy aura, which made Xue Qinghe unsure of how to persuade him.

"Then forget it." Xue Qinghe felt that she couldn't win Tang San over with bribes; she had to conquer the man in front of her like Bibi Dong did!

In terms of personal charisma, Qian Renxue believed that her disguise as Xue Qinghe was not bad, but if the Crown Prince was indifferent to Tang San, then this charisma was close to zero.

As for martial prowess, Qian Renxue believed that only by becoming a god could she subdue him.

But with Tang San's abilities, is it possible for him to crush gods with a mortal body?

Upon hearing this thought, Qian Renxue herself was startled and quickly changed the subject, saying, "Speaking of which, at the banquet back then, my sister Xueke had a great liking for you. My father even wanted to bestow a marriage upon you and make you his son-in-law, but unfortunately you refused."

"Your sister is indeed charming and lovely, but feelings need a foundation." Seeing the other party's ambiguous smile, Tang San pretended to be serious.

The refusal at that time wasn't a direct refusal, since that would have been disrespectful to Emperor Xueye. Therefore, just as Emperor Xueye was about to speak, Tang San secretly blew the negative buff seed of his second soul skill into his nose, causing him to fall into a deep sleep.

Negative buffs can reduce all of a Soul Master's attributes.

Emperor Xueye was already in poor health, and as a result, he naturally fell into a deep sleep.

Others might not notice, but Xue Qinghe must have.

"Feelings can be cultivated." Xue Qinghe narrowed his phoenix eyes slightly, relentlessly pressing the issue, feeling as if he had caught Tang San red-handed.

"For ordinary people, it is indeed possible to cultivate such relationships, but for researchers like me, if we cannot understand each other and force ourselves to be together, it is nothing more than wringing two dry towels together. Without the nourishment of moisture, they will eventually separate."

This peculiar metaphor left Xue Qinghe speechless. He could only chuckle awkwardly and, trying to make conversation, asked, "Brother Tang, how long do you intend to stay at Silver Blue Manor?"

"I haven't decided yet, but it could take anywhere from a month to half a year." Tang San stroked his smooth chin, giving an ambiguous answer. "After all, I've come all the way from my hometown and seen quite a few commoners' martial souls. I've conducted a fairly detailed investigation and made some new ideas. In addition, I previously recruited a pair of brothers with physical martial souls, a mother and daughter whose martial souls and bodies are materialized, and a little girl who can't awaken her martial soul at the Luo Wang Auction House. All of them need time to study."

"Oh? Materialization?" Upon hearing this new term, Xue Qinghe's eyes lit up, eager to find out more.

"That's right, materialization, although we can only corroborate it based on some uncertain legends at the moment..." Tang San kept everyone in suspense.

Xue Qinghe asked, "What legend?"

Tang San said, "Reach level 100 to become a god."

"God..." Xue Qinghe's pupils contracted, realizing that Tang San might already be thinking about breaking through to level 100 in the future, and couldn't help but ask, "This should just be a legend, right?"

"So, it's not confirmed, but as a rigorous theoretical researcher, I won't completely deny that it's fake." Tang San revealed a confident smile. "God, I'm not sure, but I do have some guesses about breaking through to level 100."

"What guess?" Xue Qinghe himself didn't notice that his voice had become thinner—Tang San actually had a guess about breaking through to level 100!

"One of them is to materialize one's own martial soul!"

Tang San raised an index finger. "Soul Master cultivation, increasing soul power, and breaking through level 100 means completely transforming the Martial Soul, which is something between matter and energy, into energy or matter. In short, it can transform back and forth between these two concepts, rather than existing in between."

"From this, I have deduced a new theory: the more important purpose of a Soul Master cultivating Soul Power is not only to gain control over extraordinary power, but also to control the conversion authority of the Martial Soul between matter and energy."

"Of course, I will only publish this theory after I have tested it myself and found it to be feasible."

Xue Qinghe was stunned.

Although Tang San's description contained some new vocabulary, she was able to understand its general meaning based on the context, which is why she was so shocked!

This is because he has touched the threshold of creating his own godhood through his own research!

However, Tang San overlooked an important condition: the power of faith.

Without the power of faith, Tang San's desire to break through level 100 and create his own godhood would be nothing short of a pipe dream. Even if he broke through to level 99 and had a thousand years in his lifetime, he would still not be able to accumulate enough energy to materialize his martial soul.

However, Qian Renxue still admired her.

After all, Tang San is only fourteen years old. In the future, he may realize the role of the power of faith, or find other ways to break through.

His future holds limitless possibilities!

"Then what about the second method?" Qian Renxue asked after calming down.

"If someone became a god in the past, then perhaps those who come after can inherit the godhood of their predecessors." Tang San said this without the slightest hesitation.

"Inherit the divine position? That's impossible, isn't it?" Xue Qinghe took a sip of tea.

"After all, there are indeed some extremely peculiar places on the continent." Tang San lowered his finger. "For example, the Slaughter City. A major change has recently occurred in this place. After hearing about it, I went to investigate and found that the place seems to exist in another dimension, which is definitely not something that current human beings can create."

"Rumor has it that passing through the Hell Road can grant one domain-type skills."

"The ability to bestow power upon a domain—I think only a god could do that for the vast majority of people today."

"So, let's make a bold guess: could the City of Slaughter be a city founded by some evil god?"

(End of this chapter)