This type of wealth and foundation definitely couldn"t be built up in just a day or two; it had been acc.u.mulated over countless generations.
Behind a huge desk sat an old man. Even though his hair and beard were both white, his back was still ramrod straight, and there were three dazzling stars on each of his epaulets, indicating that he was a federal general!
There was a ma.s.sive artwork hanging on the wall behind him, depicting a man in a suit of golden full-body armor. The man held a huge sword in his hand, and there were three pairs of pristine wings spread open on his back. Each and every feather on those wings had been painted in an extremely detailed and lifelike manner.
The man who was taking care of some official duties while sitting behind the desk was none other than the commander of the Southern Legion, and the leader of the Holy Angel clan. He could be considered to be extremely powerful and influential, even in the context of the entire federation; he was Angel Douluo Yue Zhengen.
Yue Zhengen had been the commander of the Southern Legion for over 40 years, and under his control, it had become an extremely tight-knit unit. In a sense, it could be said that this was one of the special forces of the federal military.
The Southern Legion had the support of many of the major families of the south, both in terms of manpower and wealth, so the Southern Legion relied on the military the least among all of the legions in the federation. As such, it was very difficult for the military to plant their people into the legion as attempts to do so would be met by collective resistance from the major families of the south.
In the entire Douluo Federation, the southern region was the one that abided by traditions the most. In terms of technological development, it was lagging behind the likes of the central and western regions, but it was the wealthiest among all of the regions. Within the federal parliament, over 20% of the seats belonged to the major families and politicians of the south.
The federation had tried on multiple occasions to improve their control over the Southern Legion, but none of their attempts had ever succeeded as no one dared to offend the traditional hierarchy of the entire southern region.
One had to realize they comprised an undeniable force in the federal parliament. Conversely, these families also required support and backing from military forces, and it was exactly this powerful background that granted the Southern Legion so much wealth and such a strong foundation; even the military wasn"t able to do anything about this.
Control over the Southern Legion had been held firmly in the hands of the Holy Angel clan this entire time due to the fact that the Holy Angel clan was the most powerful of those aforementioned traditional families; almost every generation had a Hyper Douluos or even more powerful beings among their ranks. A Hyper Douluo with the Holy Angel martial soul was more powerful than the average Hyper Douluo, and on top of that, the Holy Angel clan had even produced Limit Douluos before.
Another factor behind this was the selfless nature of the Holy Angel clan, which always allowed them to ensure fairness and impartiality. This was something that was dictated by their martial soul; if they couldn"t even ensure this, then there was no way that they"d be able to cultivate their Holy Angel martial soul to a higher level.
Ever since Yue Zhengen took over command of the Southern Legion over four decades ago, he had made every effort to improve the legion, and it now had fewer troops than before, but overall, it had become far more powerful. The Southern Legion was quite renowned for its power and elite equipment, and in those regards, it wasn"t inferior even to the Central Legion, which was under the direct command of the Battle G.o.d Hall.
However, these major families of the south were also very lawful and civilized. Due to the existence of the Southern Legion, even if members of their families were to join the military, they would only join the Southern Legion and never tried to spread their influence to other legions. Only then were they able to forge a balance with the federal parliament.
"Report!" A boisterous voice rang out from outside.
Yue Zhengen"s lips twitched with amus.e.m.e.nt, and he didn"t even need to ask to know who it was. There was only one man in the entire legion who dared to yell in such a loud voice outside his office.
"Come in."
The door was opened, and a burly figure appeared within the office. He strode forward in an imposing manner, arriving in front of Yue Zhengen"s desk in just a few steps before standing up straight and extending a military salute.
"General!"
Yue Zhengen raised his head, and he looked up at the man before him with a slightly resigned expression. This was a mountain of a man who was over 210cm tall with a set of extremely wide shoulders. He had two bars and four stars on each of his epaulets, indicating that he was a senior colonel.
His facial features were very chiseled and rugged, and there seemed to be flames dancing with his eyes. If he had to be described using one word, then "intimidating" would undoubtedly be the most suitable adjective. At the very least, he was very intimidating in the Southern Legion.
"Did you progress to the grand final?" Yue Zhengen asked. Yue Zhengen had rather mixed feelings about Sima Jinchi. With his abilities, he should"ve been a general a long time ago, but he simply wasn"t cut out for such a lofty military rank. It could be said that he had gone through the most role changes in the entire Southern Legion. Initially, he was a garrison leader, then an instructor, then a corps commander, etc. However, he was able to screw up every single role he touched, and the reason for that was very simple; he was addicted to fighting, and he didn"t know how to hold back, so he often injured his own comrades.
One had to realize that almost all of the high-ranking officials in the Southern Legion were from the major families of the south, and all of these families were regularly filing reports against him!
Yue Zhengen saw him as a very valuable a.s.set and s.h.i.+elded him from a lot of these dissenting voices.
As such, after the Star Battle Net was invented, the troops of the Southern Legion were more excited than anyone else as there was finally a place for the Wild Gale Saber Demon to vent without having to pick on them!
Sima Jinchi had progressed to the semifinals of the compet.i.tion, and the entire Southern Legion was rooting for him.
Sima Jinchi had indeed made many significant contributions to the legion, but unfortunately, he"d gotten into even more trouble. Thus, in the face of the widespread objections being aimed at him, he was unable to become a general in the end, and could only settle for being a senior colonel with no soldiers and under his command, nor any jurisdictive power at his disposal.
"No, I lost my match," Sima Jinchi replied.
Yue Zhengen raised an eyebrow with a hint of surprise on his face. "You lost? Who defeated you?"
Sima Jinchi"s face was filled with unbridled excitement. "It was Zhengyu"s captain. General, I"m going to find him; I"ve finally found the one that I"ve constantly been searching for! I came here to bid you farewell."
"The one you"re looking for? You mean..." Yue Zhengen"s eyes lit up as a hint of astonishment appeared on his face.
No one knew Sima Jinchi"s circ.u.mstances better than he did.
At present, Sima Jinchi was a rank 89 Soul Douluo, and he had been stuck at rank 89 for 10 years. He was currently 42 years of age, and even back at 32, he was ready to attempt a breakthrough to the t.i.tled Douluo stage. With his brilliant apt.i.tude, there was no way that he wouldn"t have been able to become a Soul Douluo.
However, he was unable to progress his soul past the 89th rank, and that was why he was constantly searching for fights and battles; he was hoping to find a catalyst for a breakthrough during battle!
Unfortunately, even after searching for the past 10 years, he was still unable to find that catalyst. It was only after he attained his saber soul that he felt something in his spiritual world, pointing out the path ahead for him.
Yue Zhengen was well aware that Sima Jinchi"s Dragonslaying Saber martial soul definitely wasn"t of a lower caliber than the Holy Angel martial soul. Furthermore, he had attained a saber soul after much painstaking effort, and if he could reach the t.i.tled Douluo stage, then he would undoubtedly become an unstoppable force.
Now that Sima Jinchi was telling him that he"d found the one he was looking for, it was undoubtedly the case that he was referring to a catalyst for his breakthrough, so how could Yue Zhengen not be elated to hear this? If he could make this breakthrough, then he would definitely become one of the most powerful beings on the entire continent!
"When are you leaving?" Yue Zhengen asked. He didn"t try to convince Sima Jinchi not to go as he didn"t have that intention in the first place, and on top of that, he knew that no one could sway Sima Jinchi"s decision once he set his mind on something.
"I want to go right away, so I came here to ask you where he is. You know where he is, right?" Sima Jinchi asked in an urgent manner.