Novels online

Chapter 1508: Solving the Problem

After careful selection, Yang Haoran ultimately chose a Spiritual Art suitable for fusing souls into newborns. The reason he chose a Spiritual Art instead of an Underworld Office Ghost Art was because, comparatively, the Spiritual Art offered greater cost-effectiveness.

Yang Haoran copied the Spiritual Art and handed it to Old Master Wu. As for how to proceed, Yang Haoran believed that even without his explicit instructions, Old Master Wu would execute it to his satisfaction.

Due to the pressing time, Old Master Wu, upon receiving the Spiritual Art, immediately took his leave without delay. Because the matter was of great importance, he dared not be negligent. Moreover, training a batch of Soul Fusion Masters would still take a certain amount of time, so he had to immediately set about handling this matter.

In addition to immediately training a batch of qualified Soul Fusion Masters, the families of the newborns also needed to be appeased. After all, any family encountering such a situation would undoubtedly be extremely anxious. If the authorities stepped forward at this time to reassure them and guarantee that the problem could be solved, it would not only set the families' minds at ease but also greatly enhance the authorities' prestige, making the populace trust and revere them more.

However, to avoid unnecessary trouble, Yang Haoran repeatedly emphasized to Old Master Wu that the process of fusing souls into newborns should ideally not be leaked to outsiders. They should try their best not to let the families know the source of the souls. If the families were to learn that their children's souls originated from people who had died in the Great Night Empire, some might not care, but others might develop resistance. Therefore, to prevent this from happening, it was best to keep it a secret if possible.

With the authorities stepping forward to appease and provide guarantees, the emotions of the newborns' families stabilized. If the authorities had not intervened to solve this matter, then within a few days, the entire Great Night Empire would have fallen into chaos, like a pot of porridge. After all, thousands of newborns were arriving daily, and each infant was like a vegetable, so it would have been truly strange if the Great Night Empire hadn't plunged into disorder.

Although the authorities' appeasement and guarantees could not completely eliminate the worries in the hearts of the newborns' families, this was certainly far better than the authorities ignoring the situation and letting events unfold freely. Such inaction from the authorities would also be the beginning of unrest.

Yang Haoran had long anticipated this form of retaliatory strike from the Underworld Office, which was why he had made many preparations in advance.

According to his initial plan, once the Underworld Office used this method to attack the Great Night Empire, he would move the Great Night Empire through the National Protection Grand Array, changing its geographical location to solve the problem. If the new location was discovered again by the Underworld Office, he would change it again. During this period, there would certainly still be many newborns without souls, but the number would absolutely not reach the current level, and handling them would not be as troublesome as it was now. However, he did not do so.

There was naturally a reason why Yang Haoran did not do this. As the Great Night Empire's territory expanded, its land had long ceased to be confined to Half-Moon Island. In addition to Half-Moon Island, the Great Night Empire possessed other islands. However, the Great Night Empire's National Protection Grand Array only covered Half-Moon Island. Even if they changed location through the array to evade the Underworld Office's lock-on, only Half-Moon Island could achieve this. The other islands simply could not, at least not yet.

Therefore, evasion could not truly solve this problem. Only by cultivating a large number of Soul Fusion Masters in each region could they better cope with this form of retaliatory strike from the Underworld Office.

The Underworld Office's retaliatory strike against the Great Night Empire had already begun, and targeting newborns was just the appetizer. Yang Haoran believed it wouldn't be long before the Underworld Office's people appeared in the Great Night Empire's territory. At that time, the Great Night Empire would inevitably face a major battle with the Underworld Office, and in his opinion, the arrival of this day wouldn't be too distant.

As for whether this move targeting newborns had achieved a significant effect, Yang Haoran believed it wouldn't be kept from the Underworld Office. After all, this was no secret; the Underworld Office could easily find out with a little investigation. Moreover, with thousands of newborns daily in the Great Night Empire, too many people knew about it, and with such a massive number, it would be unrealistic to keep it completely secret. It was only a matter of time before the Underworld Office discovered it.

Once the Underworld Office discovered that this move had no effect on the Great Night Empire's newborns and had not caused any impact on the Great Night Empire, the Underworld Office would undoubtedly be furious. And the consequence of their fury would certainly be to launch an even more ferocious attack on the Great Night Empire, thereby salvaging their dignity and causing immense losses to the Great Night Empire.

These were all just Yang Haoran's conjectures. He could not be certain if things would actually develop as he predicted, but the necessary countermeasures still had to be taken.

To be precise, it wasn't about implementing countermeasures, but rather about reminding relevant personnel. Because countermeasures against an Underworld Office invasion had long been prepared by the Great Night Empire, and there was no room for further improvement; they had reached the peak of what the Great Night Empire's current capabilities could achieve. Therefore, these so-called countermeasures were merely a reminder.

Under Old Master Wu's full implementation, the first batch of Soul Fusion Masters quickly emerged. Although their numbers were small, their skills were excellent.

While the second batch of Soul Fusion Masters was being selected, the first successfully trained batch of Soul Fusion Masters had already been put into the task of saving newborns. Due to the still limited number of Soul Fusion Masters and the countless newborns requiring soul fusion, the workload for the first batch of Soul Fusion Masters was considerable. Apart from brief sleeping hours, they spent the rest of their time fusing souls for newborns, without a moment's rest.

With the experience gained from training the first batch of Soul Fusion Masters, the Funerary Division was able to train the second batch much faster, shortening the time by a full third. Because of this, the second batch of Soul Fusion Masters was quickly put into the task of saving newborns as well.

The number of Soul Fusion Masters in the second batch was twice that of the first. With the addition of the second batch, the first batch of Soul Fusion Masters did not find their work eased, because even with the second batch's inclusion, the demand still could not be met. The number of newborns needing soul fusion was far greater than the combined total of both batches of Soul Fusion Masters; the two were completely disproportionate. Therefore, the deployment of the second batch of Soul Fusion Masters merely allowed more newborns to successfully undergo soul fusion simultaneously, without reducing the workload of the first batch.

It was not until the third batch of Soul Fusion Masters completed their training and joined the task that the first and second batches of Soul Fusion Masters finally found some relief. This was because the third batch contained far more Soul Fusion Masters than the second, and furthermore, before the third batch finished training, the first and second batches had already performed soul fusion for a portion of the newborns. The number of newborns awaiting soul fusion was decreasing, while the number of Soul Fusion Masters was increasing significantly. This is what led to the third batch's arrival providing the second and first batches with a moment to breathe.

Although the addition of the third batch of Soul Fusion Masters somewhat eased the burden on the first and second batches, the Funerary Division did not cease its training of Soul Fusion Masters. In order to fully meet the Great Night Empire's demand for Soul Fusion Masters, the Funerary Division also trained a fourth batch of Soul Fusion Masters. The number in this batch exceeded the combined total of the first three batches. Upon completing their training, they immediately began work, just like the previous three batches, and their arrival completely solved the problem of newborns in the Great Night Empire lacking souls.

From the emergence of this problem to its complete resolution, the Funerary Division spent only three months in total. To achieve this in just three short months was quite remarkable, and it clearly demonstrated the Funerary Division's capability.

Yang Haoran was very satisfied with this timeline, as it was much shorter than he had anticipated, and he found no fault with the quality of the completed task. He couldn't even find a reason to be dissatisfied, even if he wanted to.

In response, Yang Haoran not only rewarded Old Master Wu, but also everyone in the Funerary Division who had made contributions to this task received their due rewards, especially the Soul Fusion Masters who had tirelessly worked on the front lines.

While the Funerary Division was handling the soulless newborn incident, Yang Haoran, the Great Emperor, was absorbing Soul Crystals to enhance his strength. Under normal circumstances, Yang Haoran would be reluctant to absorb and refine such rare and valuable high-grade items as Soul Crystals, always treasuring them as precious collectibles. Even when facing powerful opponents, he would never be willing to use Soul Crystals unless it was a last resort.

However, this time, without facing an enemy, he actually took out Soul Crystals for his own absorption to boost his strength. There was only one reason for this: he wanted to increase his strength as much as possible before the Underworld Office's attack on the Great Night Empire. He knew that the time left to him was short, and that day would arrive very soon.