"Master, it's time to go fetch the bride."
Thirteen, dressed in formal attire, wore a straightforward smile on his face.
At this moment, Ye Tian was still gazing at Xiao Bai's departing figure, pondering how to find a breakthrough from her.
Interrupted by Thirteen's voice, he slowly snapped out of his contemplation and nodded lightly.
Thirteen chuckled, saying:
"Master, you've moved on so quickly. If Miss Nana knew, she'd be heartbroken."
"...But that might not be a bad thing. With your prowess, Master, if you only married Hu Liena, wouldn't people assume you're just a consort of the Spirit Hall? That wouldn't reflect well on your reputation if the news spread."
From the bottom of his heart, Thirteen hoped Ye Tian could remain independent of major powers rather than aligning with the Spirit Hall.
After all, with Master Ye Tian's current capabilities, even the Spirit Hall would have to show him respect.
"Stop spouting nonsense," Ye Tian said, waving his hand slightly.
He understood that, given Thirteen's meticulous mind, he wouldn't joke in such a manner.
The reason for such words was likely that Zhou Long and the other subordinates had discussed among themselves and entrusted Thirteen to convey this indirectly.
They didn't want Ye Tian to lose his autonomy because of Hu Liena and fall under the control of the Spirit Hall.
Ye Tian knew his subordinates had his best interests at heart.
Looking into Thirteen's eyes, Ye Tian raised his hand and said:
"I understand the meaning behind your words. Rest assured, I won't lose my judgment over this."
"As expected, nothing escapes your eyes, Master."
Caught red-handed, Thirteen scratched his head in embarrassment.
As a man, this was the only way he could remind his master.
Now that the issue was out in the open, Thirteen leaned in closer and whispered:
"Master, the Spirit Hall isn't a virtuous organization. Like the two empires, they've done their share of shady dealings behind the scenes."
"Their lofty creed of serving spirit masters has long been discarded. Today, they're just a proxy for the interests of a few top-tier spirit master families."
This wasn't mere conjecture.
As the head of Ye Tian's intelligence network, Thirteen's operations extended far beyond the East Sea City region.
With the abundance of gathered intelligence, he had managed to piece together these patterns from the vast amount of data.
"That's true." Ye Tian nodded lightly, acknowledging the fact.
The Spirit Hall had indeed strayed from its original purpose—an undeniable reality.
That's why the Spirit Hall needed change: to eliminate corruption and infuse new vitality.
Though creating a new force from scratch would be easier than reforming the Spirit Hall, any new entity would inevitably become a target.
Ye Tian recognized that he wasn't yet strong enough to openly challenge the many powerful factions on the Douluo Continent.
Given this potential threat, leveraging the Spirit Hall's structure was still necessary.
The events on Sea God Island had made it clear to Ye Tian that placing hope in others was akin to courting disaster.
The only solution was to become powerful himself.
"The Tianze Army needs to expand," Ye Tian sighed meaningfully.
Hearing this, Thirteen's eyes lit up, and his tone grew even more respectful:
"Master, have you finally decided to unify the continent?"
With Ye Tian's current wealth, supporting 5,000 soldiers in the Tianze Army was no issue.
Even 50,000 wouldn't be a problem.
But Ye Tian had never shown interest in this, despite Thirteen's earlier suggestions, which Ye Tian had rejected.
Afterward, Thirteen never brought it up again.
As a subordinate, his main duty was to relay gathered intelligence to Master Ye Tian. Offering advice was already beyond his scope, and he was lucky not to be reprimanded.
"I'm not thinking about that," Ye Tian chuckled, patting Thirteen on the shoulder.
"Let others worry about conquering the stars and seas—I don't have the time for that."
"I just feel our cards are too few to ensure our safety, so I want to strengthen them a bit."
After pondering briefly, Ye Tian continued:
"After my wedding, Old Chen will downsize my workshop."
"From the dismissed workers, select 2,000 with clean family backgrounds to form two logistics units."
"Then secretly recruit 3,000 soldiers from around the East Sea City region. Make sure their families are clean."
"I understand," Thirteen replied solemnly.
In these times, honest officials were hard to find, but civilians with clean backgrounds were abundant.
Then, he raised a concern:
"Master, once the recruitment is complete, should we send them to the Sea Soul Mountain base for training?"
"But with another 5,000 people, it'll get pretty crowded there."
"No need to worry about that," Ye Tian said calmly. "Didn't I have Purple Pearl set up an estate on the Pearl Islands some time ago?"
"I originally planned to move there, but it seems that's no longer possible."
"However, the island's isolation and secrecy make it a perfect training ground."
"And the existing buildings are suitable for housing the new recruits for their training."
"That's an excellent idea," Thirteen exclaimed.
Training on the island would indeed provide more concealment than the Sea Soul Mountain base.
…
Since Ye Tian had no uncles or brothers, his wedding procession was rather small.
Thirteen initially suggested that the young, handsome soldiers of the Tianze Army form a grand hundred-man procession for the occasion.
But Ye Tian decided against it, preferring to stay low-key.
Thus, the entire procession, including those carrying the bridal sedan, numbered less than 20 people.
Most of them were mid-level officers from the Tianze Army.
For these officers, serving as groomsmen for Master Ye Tian's wedding was an honor.
Hu Liena's departure point was the staff quarters of a farm.
Although Hu Liena was the future Holy Maiden of the Spirit Hall and heir to the Pope, the setting seemed unworthy of her status.
Originally, Ye Tian had planned to use a villa as the venue for Hu Liena's departure.
But with Qian Renxue and Ning Fengzhi staying there, relocating was out of the question.
Moreover, both Bibi Dong and Hu Liena insisted that the wedding date could not be delayed.
Thus, everything had to be kept simple.
"The groom has arrived!"
The voice belonged to Su Xiaoxin, a lively young girl.
Since Hu Liena didn't have many people by her side, Su Xiaoxin temporarily served as her bridesmaid.
"Brother Ye Tian, you look so handsome today!" Su Xiaoxin ran over, trying to get close to him.
Ye Tian smiled, patted her head, and gestured slightly with his hand.
Thirteen quickly caught on, pulling out a red envelope and handing it to Su Xiaoxin.
"This is the bridesmaid's red envelope."
"Thank you, Brother Ye Tian!"
(End of Chapter)
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