I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

Morning light slanted into the room through the window. When Ji Tian finished washing up and came downstairs, Elena was already sitting at the dining table.

She had just finished washing up not long ago, a few strands of hair sticking to her ears, and she was holding a cup of hot milk, sipping it slowly.

Upon seeing him, Elena suddenly felt her cheeks burn. Instead of turning her face away, she pushed another glass of milk on the table towards him. "Yesterday...did you take me to bed?"

Ji Tian nodded upon hearing this, "You're asleep; you'll catch a cold sitting on the chair."

"Then why didn't you wake me up?"

"You woke up groggily once during the night, and then went back to sleep."

Elena pursed her lips, took another sip of milk, and then said, "Wake me up next time. I want to see you come back."

Ji Tian glanced at her, catching a hint of undisguised seriousness in her eyes, and nodded, "Okay."

The two finished their breakfast quietly and walked out of the Viscount's mansion side by side. The morning breeze carried the fragrance of roses from the garden, blowing a few strands of Elena's hair and brushing against Ji Tian's arm.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You go ahead and do your own thing. I'll go to school by myself and wait for you to come back tonight."

Ji Tian figured it wouldn't take much time to fly her to the academy anyway, so he said, "I'll take you to the academy first."

Elena was overjoyed at the news, skipping a few steps forward before turning back to take his arm and pulling him along the main street of the capital. Seeing Ji Tian hesitate, she asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

"...It's nothing."

Hmm, never mind, I'll just walk with her.

The streets were sparsely populated in the early morning, with only breakfast vendors already busy at work, and the aroma of bread wafting from the bakeries, mingled with the roasted scent of coffee beans.

They weaved through the crowds, through the main gate of the college, through the garden, and finally arrived at the steps of the teaching building.

Elena released her grip. "We're here."

"Um."

She walked up the steps, took two steps, then stopped, looked back at him, and said, "Be careful, you're all alone."

"Okay, don't forget to wear the badge I gave you."

Elena smiled, took out a badge from her pocket and waved it at him, then turned and walked into the teaching building.

The morning light outlined her silhouette softly, her long, light golden hair swaying in the light and shadow until she disappeared into the depths of the corridor.

Ji Tian stood at the bottom of the steps for a moment, using his divine sense to confirm that there was no danger at the academy. Then he made a hand seal to conceal his figure and flew towards the largest cult stronghold in the capital.

……

He had dismissed most of the believers in the capital, leaving only a few obedient deacons to deliver messages.

When Ji Tian pushed open the door, the deacon was kneeling in front of the altar praying. Hearing the noise, he quickly got up and bowed.

"grown ups."

"Summon all the religious followers in the capital. They must all be here by today."

The steward dared not ask any further questions and hurriedly went out to deliver the order.

By noon, the warehouse was already packed with people.

The cult members in grey robes, factory workers in overalls, and even a few ragged homeless people...

They were all low-level followers of the Order of Light in the capital, completely unaware of the truth about the order, drawn only by the doctrine of "light" or by the relief food.

Ji Tian stood in front of the altar, his gaze sweeping over the faces that were filled with either awe or fear.

Without wasting words, he raised his hand, and spiritual energy spread out like a fine spider web, simultaneously covering the consciousness of everyone present.

Souls are searched in batches and filtered one by one.

Searching souls one by one is too slow. With the strength of his Nascent Soul stage consciousness, he can process the memories of hundreds of people at the same time.

Of course, this is on the premise that these people's mental strength is far lower than his own, so that they will not cause a backlash against his consciousness.

Memories flooded in like a tide, and Ji Tian's consciousness swiftly traversed them.

He saw poverty, hunger, and despair; he saw workers exploited by factory owners; he saw farmers with nowhere else to turn; and he also saw a few scoundrels who used the name of the religious order to amass wealth, bully the weak, and even kill people.

Those people's memories contain greedy scheming, deception of fellow believers, and even more so, their clandestine collusion with thugs to bully and dominate the market.

Ji Tian marked the "guilty" memories separately, took out paper and pen to record the evidence, and finally withdrew his divine consciousness.

Time rewinds.

Everyone present had their consciousness and state reset to what they were before the soul search, except for those few scoundrels who were marked.

Ji Tian pointed at the group of people and handed the paper to one of the stewards who hadn't done anything wrong. "Tie them up and send them to the Royal Capital Police Station. The charges and evidence are all here."

The deacon accepted it and bowed his head in response.

"From today onwards, the religious order is dissolved. Those of you who wish to stay and work may remain in the factory; those who do not wish to, take your severance pay and fend for yourselves."

A commotion broke out in the crowd.

An elderly worker with gray hair tremblingly raised his hand, "Sir, is the factory still open? We... our whole family depends on that wage."

Ji Tian nodded, "Open it, not only open it, but also change it."

He offered no further explanation, but simply instructed the deacon to lead the workers back to their respective posts, while he himself ventured deeper into the factory to begin an experiment.

He had already visited the factories in the North last night. The ones in the capital were smaller in scale, but their operating models were modeled after those in the North.

The workers toil for six hours a day, their wages barely enough to make ends meet. No one cares about the noise, dust, and exhaust fumes from the factory. There is no compensation for work-related injuries, and workers are dismissed if they get sick.

This is the underlying tone of the "new era" that Augustus spoke of.

The cult's anti-clerical doctrines do, to some extent, force its members to work only during the day, but the corresponding costs are shifted to non-cult workers.

Ji Tian stood in the roaring workshop, spreading his divine sense to memorize every process and the physical condition of every worker.

He started listing things on paper: double wages; shorten working hours to four hours (8 hours) with three shifts; double night shift wages; install ventilation and dust removal magic arrays in the factory; establish a workers' compensation fund; and grant one day off per week...

After he finished writing, he handed the page to another deacon, saying, "Do as instructed. The money will come from the cult's account."

The butler stared at the densely packed words on the page, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. "M-Sir, this... double the salary? Such a big reduction in working hours? And a ventilation and dust removal magic array? How much will this cost...?"

"Previously, most of the factory's profits had to be handed over to the religious order, but that's no longer the case. The money stays in the factory and is more than enough to support the workers."

The butler stammered, "But...but the owners of other factories wouldn't..."

"Other factories?" Ji Tian glanced at him sideways. "What does that have to do with me? If they have any complaints, let them come to me. I'm good at reasoning with people."

The deacon fell silent, bowed, and then left.

Ji Tian leaned back in his chair, cultivating while using his divine sense to supervise the steward in carrying out his plan.

He didn't expect to change the world with a few factories; he just wanted to try it out himself before completely overthrowing the old order and see what kind of rules would allow ordinary people to live better lives.

Otherwise, if he were to defeat the strongest being in this world and become the "Dao Ancestor" of this world, and then open his mouth with "Why don't they eat meat porridge?", it would certainly make quite a few jokes.