Reincarnated as the Death Spider Queen, sacrificing Bibi Dong at the start

"If I hadn't heard about you on this island, why would I have taken such a big risk to come to a place so far from the mainland? In this vast ocean, isolated and helpless, if something really happened, I wouldn't even be able to run away!"

Qian Renxue held onto his arm tightly, refusing to let go. "You have to stay by my side tonight! If you insist on sleeping on the beach like a wild man, I'll go with you and just sleep on you! I've slept on you countless times when we were kids!"

Seeing Qian Renxue's shameless act, Nan Feng was completely defeated by her.

"Fine, fine, I'll go with you! I'll go with you, okay?" Nan Feng raised his hands in surrender, letting her drag him into the villa.

This seaside villa has three floors, and the interior is extremely luxurious. I don't know how Purple Pearl planned it, but each floor has four or five spacious rooms, and the facilities in each room are exactly the same top standard.

Qian Renxue dragged Nan Feng up to the top floor, the third floor. After careful selection, she pushed open the door to a huge bedroom facing the vast sea.

"This is the room!" Qian Renxue looked around the spacious viewing balcony outside the room with satisfaction. "The view here is the best. We can watch the sunrise over the sea tomorrow morning."

Nan Feng leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, and couldn't help but ruthlessly expose her fantasy: "Your Highness, has your sense of direction been blown away by the sea breeze? This is the west coast of Purple Pearl Island. From this balcony tomorrow morning, you won't be able to see anything except a cold wind. You can only see the sunset over the sea from here."

Qian Renxue's smile froze instantly, and she turned around to glare at him speechlessly: "Since you want to build a villa, why not build it on the east coast? Isn't the vibrant scenery of the sunrise over the sea more beautiful than the lifeless sunset?"

Nan Feng was even more speechless: "Isn't your jurisdiction a bit too broad? I'm just building a house on this deserted island, and you're telling me which way the front door faces?"

"Why can't I speak up?" Qian Renxue retorted confidently. "I might have to come to this wretched island for inspections and negotiations quite often in the future! I'll definitely have to live here then, so what's wrong with me offering some suggestions?"

Nan Feng laughed at her illogical arguments, then sighed wearily, "If you really want to see the sunrise, why don't you just buy a sea-view apartment on the east coast tomorrow?"

Seeing Qian Renxue's puzzled look, Nan Feng began his professional explanation:

"The area on the east coast is not only the most important deep-water port on the entire island, but also the high-end tourist resort and high-consumption business district that I have designated. The sunrise, with its freshness of 'new life' and 'hope,' coupled with the entertainment industry that never sleeps and the 'buy early, enjoy early' hunger marketing campaign, is most likely to stimulate the impulsive consumption desires of those wealthy merchants and nobles in the early morning, making them spend large sums of gold soul coins."

"As for the West Coast..."

Nan Feng pointed to the night sea outside the window, "I also designated a high-end development zone a kilometer to the south for this kind of romantic and nostalgic sunset view. However, there are no noisy entertainment venues there, only quiet and artistic high-end souvenir shops and high-end handmade customization areas."

"Under the stunning sunset glow, coupled with the tranquil atmosphere of waves lapping the beach, wealthy tourists are easily moved by the ambiance. Then, you can sell them expensive items imbued with the meaning of 'eternal love' or 'sea voyage souvenirs.' Making money this way couldn't be easier."

Listening to Nan Feng's theory of being a heartless businessman, Qian Renxue looked at him with a strange expression.

“You…” Qian Renxue looked him up and down, “You even understand these mercenary business practices?”

Nan Feng rolled his eyes speechlessly. "Guess who came up with the whole plan behind the transformation of Purple Pearl Island from a poor pirate den where people couldn't even get enough to eat into a super maritime trading hub that makes a fortune every day in just over a year?"

"My methods for economic development and capital operation are far more professional than my methods for scheming against those filthy and corrupt people here with you!"

Chapter 231 The two great empires are bleeding money, the Spirit Hall is feasting, and the common people are burning incense.

……

"The kind of scheming that involves manipulating people's hearts is, in the end, just a bunch of petty tricks that can't be brought to the table."

Nan Feng walked to the wicker chair on the balcony and sat down. "Scheming and plotting are nothing to brag about. There are plenty of people in this world who can scheme and plot as long as they are ruthless and shameless enough. But how many of them can truly build skyscrapers from scratch and develop the economy in a real and solid way?"

"Looking at the entire Douluo Continent, the only one that truly understands capital operation and economic development is the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School."

Hearing this, Qian Renxue felt a surge of resentment. As the young master of the Spirit Hall, she naturally couldn't stand others praising others and belittling her own.

“Isn’t our Spirit Hall the same?” Qian Renxue raised her chin and retorted, “The Spirit Hall controls all the Spirit Masters on the continent, and the wealth it has accumulated is something that even the two great empires can hardly match. Doesn’t that mean we understand economic operations?”

"The Spirit Hall?"

Nan Feng looked at her speechlessly: "You're actually proud of that bandit-like operating model?"

"By using various falsified accounts and layered charges, they forcibly extorted funds from the treasuries of the two great empires; by relying on absolute bureaucratic violence, they extorted and exploited the chambers of commerce and lower-level soul masters in various cities... You call this pure 'vampire' operation mode economic development?"

Seeing Qian Renxue's face slightly flushed as she tried to argue, Nan Feng interrupted her without hesitation:

"To put it bluntly, the Spirit Hall's operating model is the most classic example of 'bandit-like officialdom'!"

"Several hundred years ago, the Spirit Hall, under the pretext of being responsible for managing, registering, and enrolling all the Spirit Masters on the continent, forcibly took over the huge piece of the pie, the 'Spirit Master Subsidy,' from the two great empires. It was called unified management, but in reality, the two great empires allocated funds and the Spirit Hall was responsible for handling the distribution."

Nan Feng sneered, "But Miss, have you considered that the cities in Douluo Continent are far apart, and information dissemination is extremely limited? In the absence of instant communication and unified verification, theoretically speaking, if a Soul Master receives a subsidy in this city today, as long as he has the speed, he can easily run to the next city and register again to receive it again the next day!"

"As long as this Soul Master is shameless enough and has enough mobility, he can even make a fortune from the Soul Master subsidy!"

Qian Renxue was stunned. Having grown up in the upper echelons of society, she had only ever witnessed grand narratives and power struggles, and had never considered such loopholes in the execution of policies at the grassroots level.

"And beneath this extremely lenient and loophole-ridden method of receiving funds lies an even more shocking and deeply rotten corruption within the Spirit Hall!"

A hint of mockery flashed in Nan Feng's eyes: "How many Soul Masters actually received the subsidies each month? How much money was distributed in total? The two great empires can't find out these numbers at all. It's entirely up to the deacons and hall masters at the bottom of the Spirit Hall to decide!"

"All they need to do is write a few words and submit a false account. Then the Spirit Temple will compile these inflated accounts, which are several times or even ten times more inflated, and brazenly take the bills to the two great empires to demand money. Would the two great empires dare to refuse? To refuse would be to go against all the spirit masters on the continent!"

Qian Renxue opened her mouth, but had no answer.

"Over the past few years, in order to get a clear picture of the Spirit Hall's true colors, I only casually had someone check the messy accounts of the Spirit Hall's various branch halls." Nan Feng sighed. "As for the extent of their corruption, I can only describe it as 'utterly astonishing'!"

"Even a mere branch hall master in a remote town can easily embezzle tens of thousands of gold soul coins every year by drawing salaries without working and falsely reporting subsidies! Those main hall masters who control major cities are even more blatant, easily making millions of gold soul coins every year!"

"As for the Martial Soul Temple located in the capitals of Heaven Dou and Star Luo... any Platinum Bishop there could be as wealthy and amassed as the top nobles of the two empires who have been passed down for centuries!"

Nan Feng looked directly into Qian Renxue's shocked eyes and said, "To put it bluntly, in this world, the two great empires are exploiting the people at the bottom by using their privileges, while your Spirit Hall is using the power of your spirit masters to rob the two great empires."

"But the problem is, the money comes from the people! The Spirit Hall's appetite is getting bigger and bigger. The more it robs, the empires' treasuries become emptier. The empires' treasuries become emptier, and the more the nobles levy taxes on the common people in order to maintain their extravagant lifestyles and pay the Spirit Hall's 'protection fees'!"

"Sucking the blood of the poor people across the continent to fatten up a bunch of corrupt officials who line their own pockets, is this the Spirit Hall economy you're so proud of?"

Nan Feng leaned back in his wicker chair, looking at Qian Renxue's face, which was filled with shock and disbelief. "I'm asking you, do you even understand what economics is? What is robbery?"

"Making the 'plate' that belongs to the whole continent bigger and bigger through trade and production, and filling it with more and more food, is called economic development! But relying on force to forcibly reach into someone else's plate and steal food, that's called banditry!"

He pointed in the direction of Tian Dou City, "Take a look at how the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School operates. Their merchant guilds are spread all over the continent, transporting the rare minerals and spices unique to the Star Luo Empire to the Tian Dou Empire, and then selling the grains and cloth of the Tian Dou Empire to the Star Luo Empire."

"In this massive trade chain, they not only made huge profits themselves, but also enabled countless small merchants and laborers along the way to profit. More importantly, the fruits of the labor of the grassroots workers and farmers who toiled in the fields were circulated through the chamber of commerce, earning them tangible rewards. This is called expanding the pie, allowing more people in the world to have a share of food!"

"Where is the Spirit Hall?"

"In this distorted social structure, Soul Masters are in an absolute ruling upper class. Ordinary people who don't even have Soul Power seem to be born with the obligation to support noble Soul Masters."

"But the question is, have the existence of Soul Masters ever given back to the ordinary people who support them?"

No! Not even a tiny bit!

"The existence of Soul Masters only leads to exploitation from top to bottom! Big fish eat little fish, and little fish eat shrimp! All resources and money are converging on the hands of the bishops, elders, and retainers at the top of the pyramid."

"The Spirit Hall is not even as good as the two great empires!"

"No matter how corrupt the rulers of the two great empires are, in order to maintain their rule, they still need to care about the taxes from the lower classes, require local officials to report their achievements, and require the most basic prosperity and development of the cities. Because if everyone dies, they will have no taxes to collect."

"But what about the Spirit Hall? Because its funds are forcibly 'bleed' directly from the imperial treasury, the lower-level branch hall masters don't even need to care whether the common people in their jurisdiction live or die!"

"As long as the accounts look good and the empire's funding arrives on time, even if the common people outside starve to death in the streets, the Spirit Hall will still be a place of extravagance and revelry every night!"

"The most ridiculous thing is..."

Nan Feng turned his head and looked at Qian Renxue, who was completely stunned. "Such a superficial and rotten logic of bloodsucking is so blatant that hardly anyone can see it! In fact... hardly anyone can understand it!"

"..."

Nan Feng's words struck Qian Renxue's heart like a heavy hammer, shattering the pride she had built up over the past decade.

However, Nan Feng did not stop there. He sneered and shook his head: "No, I was wrong just now. It's not that they can't see it, nor that they can't understand it."

"It's because they don't want to see it, they don't want to understand it!"

"In this world, Soul Masters are the most respected and noble profession on the entire continent. Whether they are beggars on the street or farmers in the fields, everyone dreams of awakening their Soul Power and aspires to transcend social classes and become a member of this privileged class that can legally 'drink blood'!"

“Look at those ordinary people who have been drained of their blood, what kind of logic is in their heads?” Nan Feng said mockingly. “They will frantically resent those imperial officials who collect taxes at the bottom, even if those officials care about whether they can survive next year for the sake of long-term tax revenue.”

"But what about the rest of the population? These exploited commoners go on to worship the Spirit Hall's Soul Masters who directly robbed money from Imperial officials! Just because the Spirit Hall occasionally helps a few children awaken their Spirits for free at the village entrance, they are moved to tears and regard the Spirit Hall as a savior who saves all living beings!"

"It's like in a village, the farmers' hard-earned wages are being ruthlessly exploited by the landlord. Why? Because the landlord has to pay protection money to those vicious bandits in the mountains! The more money the bandits demand, the more the landlord exploits the farmers in order to break even!"

"And what was the result? The peasants down below were filled with hatred, but they only hated the landlords, not the bandits in the mountains at all! They even felt grateful to the bandits who occasionally came down the mountain to rob and slapped the landlords, believing that the bandits were acting on behalf of Heaven to punish the wicked!"

"The most tragic thing is that these farmers burn incense and pray to Buddha every day, and even earnestly hope that their children will grow up to become glorious 'bandits' in the mountains!"

Chapter 232 Justice never judges right or wrong, but only whose violence is more absolute.

……

Qian Renxue sat in the chair, her face as pale as paper. She opened her mouth, but found that her throat seemed to be blocked by something, and she couldn't say a word.

“I’m not criticizing those farmers for being stupid and ignorant.” Nan Feng sighed, a hint of sadness in his voice. “Because they’ve been stuck in the mud for generations, their status and perspective are limited. They can’t even imagine the cruel economic logic behind it, and they don’t even dare to think about it.”

"Even... this absurd idea that 'bandits are saviors' is simply a twisted logic born out of desperation to comfort themselves in this messed-up life!"

"This is called 'victim's gratitude to perpetrator'! It's a distorted defense mechanism that people are forced to develop in order to protect themselves and live numbly under long-term absolute oppression and abuse!"

Nan Feng suddenly turned around, looking down at Qian Renxue with a commanding gaze, his voice rising abruptly.

"The common people are blind to this because of their ignorance and fear, but what about you?! What about you high-ranking Soul Masters who stand at the top of the power pyramid?!"

"Can't you see it?!"

"You self-proclaimed angelic family, embodying light, holiness, and absolute justice! You've ruled the Spirit Hall for generations, controlling the most extensive intelligence network on the entire continent. Do you think you don't know the cannibalistic underlying logic behind this prosperity?!"

"Of course you know! Because it is your Angel Family that has deeply rooted this idea of ​​'Soul Master supremacy' and 'survival of the fittest' in everyone's hearts, and tamed the common people into lambs to the slaughter!!"

Qian Renxue's body began to tremble uncontrollably. She wanted to refute, to defend the glory of her family, but her pale words seemed so powerless in the face of Nan Feng's bloody truth.

"Weren't you always resentful and secretly angry, wondering why I always looked down on and disdained the glory of your so-called angel family?"

Nan Feng said coldly, "That's the answer!"

"A group of 'angels' who claim to bring light to the world, strip away their sacred cloak, and in essence, they are the creators of the greatest darkness and injustice in this world!"

"If it's just about using power to oppress and exploit, then so be it. After all, it's the winner who takes all, that's reality."

Nan Feng's eyes were filled with undisguised extreme disgust. "But what disgusts and laughs me the most is that you people from the Angel Family are extremely lacking in self-awareness!"

"First, you used your power and force to rob people of most of their food and wealth, the very things they depend on for survival. Then you turned around and casually tossed back a few insignificant gold soul coins through your fingers, calling it a 'soul master subsidy,' and you dared to shamelessly call this 'divine mercy'?"

"Why? Because in the arrogant logic of your angelic family: as a descendant of a high and mighty god, I could easily take everything from you, even crush you and take your life at any time! But I didn't do that. I even left you a bite to eat. That is my greatest mercy to you!"

"In other words, in your eyes, the fact that these civilians are still alive and breathing is a great blessing bestowed upon them by your angelic family!"

"This is the 'light of the angelic family' that you are so proud of!"

"Hypocritical, arrogant, and selfish to the extreme! Absolutely disgusting!"

Faced with Nan Feng's scathing criticism, Qian Renxue was completely speechless.

She lowered her eyes, biting her bloodless lower lip tightly, unable to utter even the weakest rebuttal. It wasn't that she didn't want to argue, but rather that she sadly realized she had no way to refute it.

Because Nan Feng is not a hypocrite who merely stands on the sidelines making sarcastic remarks. Over the years, he has indeed been using bloody and forceful methods to gradually change the corrupt Spirit Hall. Despite immense pressure from the Elder Hall and the Hall of Worship, and facing obstacles at every turn, he forcefully pushed forward reforms, killing wave after wave of corrupt resident bishops and severing countless corrupt hands reaching into the lower levels.

In just one year, he transformed Purple Pearl Island, a filthy pirate den where people couldn't even get enough to eat and could only survive by plundering, into the prosperous place it is today, where money flows in every day and countless people at the bottom of society have a way to survive.