Chapter 1160: Rapid Expansion
The Underworld Office's territory in the mortal realm was reduced by nine-tenths. Naturally, the Ninth District under Yang Haoran's jurisdiction was no exception; its domain significantly shrank. However, compared to its former size and to the other eight major districts of the Jingling Continent's Underworld Office, Yang Haoran's Ninth District suffered relatively fewer losses in terms of area.
To be precise, it wasn't that the Ninth District suffered fewer losses in area. Rather, Yang Haoran's fist was hard enough, and his reactions swift enough to deploy forces promptly, allowing him to forcefully seize a considerable piece of territory from the enemy, rather than simply incurring minimal losses.
After all, those so-called territories had never truly belonged to their Underworld Office. They were a chaotic mix of various powers, and in some places, the Underworld Office was even subordinate to other major forces. Therefore, calling them the Underworld Office's domain was indeed a bit of a stretch,
But the territory Yang Haoran currently managed was entirely different. These lands belonged unequivocally to the Underworld Office. Apart from the Underworld Office, there were no other powers; even allies like the Demon Hunter Association, though they might be present in his territory, held no administrative authority over it whatsoever.
Furthermore, the Demon Hunter Association had also acquired its own territories. The vast majority of their Demon Hunters had been recalled to their respective domains, leaving only a fraction to assist the Underworld Office. These Demon Hunters, remaining as support, were naturally aware of the altered global landscape. They understood very well that they were not the masters of this land, but merely allies aiding the Underworld Office, and thus generally refrained from overstepping their bounds.
Currently, Yang Haoran's Guardian District had not only expanded significantly in size compared to a year ago, but its power had also multiplied several times over. This situation, of course, was closely linked to the changes in the world's power dynamics.
In the simplest terms, the area of Yang Haoran's jurisdiction had drastically shrunk, allowing him to consolidate his forces to the maximum extent. Consequently, the strength of all major cities within his jurisdiction had, without exception, been greatly enhanced.
Since the power of other cities within the jurisdiction had been significantly boosted, his Guardian District was naturally no exception. After all, this Guardian District served as an unyielding banner for their Ninth District; it was only natural to concentrate more and stronger forces within it.
Conversely, if the Guardian District's power was insufficient, it would inevitably become the enemy's primary target. Should the Guardian District fall, the spiritual backbone of the entire district would collapse with it. At that point, morale would plummet, and the enemy could effortlessly conquer the entire district.
Yang Haoran, of course, understood this principle. Therefore, he selected a group of individuals from among the numerous Undertakers to bolster the Guardian District's strength. These Undertakers were either powerful in their own right, or exceptionally skilled in certain areas, making them highly valuable for development. Their inclusion naturally led to a significant increase in the Guardian District's overall power.
Since Yang Haoran chose these individuals, what he valued was not merely their strength or specific abilities, but also their characters. While he certainly desired their power, what he sought even more was their loyalty – their absolute loyalty!
Furthermore, he demanded not their loyalty to the Underworld Office, but their absolute loyalty to him, Yang Haoran, the Guardian!
To expect absolute loyalty from these subordinates from the very beginning was clearly impossible. Their superficial loyalty to him stemmed partly from the Underworld Office and partly from his status as Guardian. It had little to do with Yang Haoran's personal charisma. Such loyalty, in his eyes, could not be considered absolute, for it was not absolute loyalty to Yang Haoran himself.
Therefore, he needed to dedicate time to training these individuals. Whether he could train them to his satisfaction in the shortest possible time, ensuring their absolute loyalty, depended crucially on their personalities. This was precisely why he paid such close attention to their characters when selecting them.
However, character was not something one could fully grasp from a single meeting or a few words. Such understanding was merely superficial, not the kind Yang Haoran sought.
Thus, he conducted multiple rounds of screening among his thousands of Undertakers. Once the number of candidates reached a certain point, he instructed Shui Ling to collect detailed information on them, including hobbies, special skills, and every minute detail within the scope of collection. Only after a final screening based on these compiled profiles did he ultimately arrive at this batch of satisfactory candidates.
These individuals were then directly transferred to the Guardian District from various parts of the Ninth District by a single official order issued by him, the Guardian.
With the addition of these Undertakers, the Guardian District surged from its original two divisions to fifteen. Each division had a captain and a vice-captain, both of whom were legitimate Undertakers. Furthermore, all fifteen captains were, without exception, Earth Soul realm experts, and Lu Wu and Shui Ling were no exception either.
Under normal circumstances, Lu Wu and Shui Ling would absolutely not have been able to break through to the Earth Soul realm in such a short span of time. Their ability to do so, of course, was due to the strong support of their boss, Yang Haoran.
Apart from these two, the other thirteen captains were already Earth Soul realm experts upon their arrival at the Guardian District, though their individual strengths varied.
However, the Undertakers Yang Haoran transferred to the Guardian District from various locations extended far beyond these thirteen; these thirteen were simply the most outstanding among all those transferred. The others either served as vice-captains of the divisions or were assigned by Yang Haoran to various special positions. In any case, not a single one was idle.
As for Yang Haoran's other trusted subordinates, their strength also advanced by leaps and bounds during this past year. High-ranking figures like Old Master Wu and Zhu Rong had their realms elevated to the Earth Soul realm by Yang Haoran using large quantities of Soul Pills. Although most were merely beginners in the Earth Soul realm, the power they now possessed far surpassed their capabilities from a year ago!
Since Soul Pills now provided minimal improvement to Yang Haoran's own strength, but his daily output of Soul Pills was astonishing, he had several sources: Soul Pills issued from above to incentivize subordinates, Soul Pills he received as a commission from all the Ninth District Undertakers after they submitted souls in the Underworld, Soul Pills he refined himself, and even Soul Pills earned daily from the large quantities of dānyào sold by Jingran Pharmacy.
Apart from the first source, which was less significant, the other channels provided an astounding number of Soul Pills. To maximize the value of these Soul Pills, he generously invested a considerable amount into his trusted subordinates.
After all, in the current climate, the stronger his confidantes were, the greater the advantage to him. Conversely, if their strength was too low, not only would their safety be compromised, but they would also be easily looked down upon, making it difficult to establish authority and hindering effective management.
Moreover, as they were loyal to him, he naturally could not treat them shabbily. When he lacked sufficient Soul Pills, there was nothing he could do, and he couldn't be blamed as their boss. But if he could provide enough Soul Pills, he certainly wouldn't be stingy.
However, breaking through from the Heaven Soul to the Earth Soul was much easier, at least in Yang Haoran's view. But after entering the Earth Soul realm, every slight increase in power required a vast amount of Pure Yin Qi. To rapidly boost the strength of all his trusted subordinates in a short period was clearly impossible, though he was confident he could achieve it over a longer duration.
The influx of numerous experts and the rapid advancement of his trusted subordinates' strength were only part of the reason for the Guardian District's explosive growth in power. The expansion of the Medicine God Society and the Flock of Demons Society were also contributing factors.
Both the Medicine God Society and the Flock of Demons Society had grown considerably stronger compared to a year ago.
The Medicine God Society had added more than a dozen new members over the past year. Among these, some sought them out on their own for various reasons, actively requesting to join the Medicine God Society. Some wished for the Medicine God Society's protection, while others desired to enter and learn more skills, as the Medicine God Society was an organization composed of Pharmacists. Here, discussing and learning with other Pharmacists to enhance one's abilities was a given.
Besides those Pharmacists who came to join the Medicine God Society on their own, there were also those Yang Haoran sent people to invite after discovering their whereabouts, though these invitations often carried a hint of compulsion.
A dozen or so Pharmacists might seem like a small number, but the profession of Pharmacist itself was rare, making a dozen already quite a significant count. To have added over ten Pharmacists to the Medicine God Society in just one year was an astonishing achievement indeed.
Naturally, the Medicine God Society's reputation within Yang Haoran's jurisdiction was growing steadily. Many now knew that within Yang Haoran's Guardian District, there existed a Medicine God Society, which not only boasted a considerable number of Pharmacists but was also presided over by a powerful Medicine Sect expert. It was precisely because of its burgeoning fame that Pharmacists actively sought them out, requesting to join.
As for the Flock of Demons Society, the increase in members over the past year was truly immense. Little demons, for instance, were astonishingly numerous. These little demons almost invariably joined the Flock of Demons Society seeking protection, hoping to find a powerful backer in these tumultuous times.
Beyond the astonishing number of little demons, dozens of great demons had joined, and even several Demon Kings had been added. Their reasons for joining the Flock of Demons Society varied: some sought development within the society, as it was growing increasingly powerful and had Yang Haoran, the Guardian, as its patron, making it an excellent place to build a future. Others were fleeing enemies, naturally seeking refuge within the Flock of Demons Society. Still others simply wished to find a reliable organization to band together with for warmth in this chaotic era.
Though their reasons were numerous, the fact remained that they had joined the Flock of Demons Society and become its members.
The expansion and multi-fold increase in the Guardian District's power compared to a year ago were, of course, inseparable from the Flock of Demons Society and the Medicine God Society!
As for the Myriad Ghost Grotto led by Tang Shi, it operated in the shadows and was not within the Guardian District itself, so it wasn't even included in this count.
However, the Myriad Ghost Grotto, under Tang Shi's command, was the most terrifyingly improved entity among all the organizations under Yang Haoran's authority!
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