Chapter 608 - 52: Decision

To be honest, like any other young person, Su Zhou had no interest in things like meetings.

He had even brought it up with the Thirty-Six Saints before. He argued that he was young and impulsive, lacked seniority, and couldn’t possibly offer any meaningful ideas in the meetings. He just wasn’t cut out for it, so could he perhaps be excused from attending in the future?

But the Thirty-Six Saints’ reply was rather thought-provoking.

"You can choose not to attend the meetings, and you can choose not to voice your opinion. But Su Zhou, since you have this level of power, it is best that you still participate in the process."

At that time, it was the Literary Saint who spoke with Su Zhou. The old man sat in his office chair and sighed, "Otherwise, what if we were about to announce a national plan, and you—a Commander Tier who might one day become an Overlord or even reach the Immortal God Level—suddenly showed up and declared in public, ’I don’t agree with this!’ The damage from that would be far greater than you simply telling us ’I don’t agree’ in the conference room."

"The purpose of these meetings is to avoid such pointless internal friction and to get everyone on the same page, even if it’s just a formality."

The Supervision of All Saints originated from the ’Hundred Schools Alliance’—a coalition formed before the fall of the Anx Dynasty by nearly all of its sects, Hidden World Organizations, and various family lineages.

As representatives of the landlord and Extraordinary Cultivator classes of that era, they personally witnessed the tyrannical and mad actions of the greatest ruling class—and the greatest class of Extraordinary Cultivators—the lineage of the Emperor of Anx Dynasty. After these actions led to a nationwide rebellion that plunged the people into misery and wiped out countless lineages, they vowed to find a "reign of Great Harmony" that would bring great peace to all and satisfy everyone, whether they were Cultivators or ordinary people.

This was the origin of Zhengguo.

In the early days of Zhengguo’s founding, the Supervision of All Saints had not yet taken shape. At that time, the policies implemented across the country were all different. In essence, it was as if individual local sects or great clans were managing their own territories. They would mention issues at the Hundred Schools assembly if they felt like it, or even conceal them entirely. Every faction that had participated in overthrowing the Anx Dynasty acted like a local tyrant, and there were even faint signs of them becoming independent nations.

Foreseeing the great schism this system was about to cause, the predecessors of today’s Thirty-Six Saints—a number of Major Sects and their supporters—launched a civil war that lasted for decades. They ultimately resolved the problem of regionalism, established the initial authority of the Saints, and once again forged the concept of ’unity’ into the very civilizational meme of Zhengguo.

Individuals like Su Zhou were not uncommon during that era of civil war—geniuses who chanced upon the heritage of Immortal Gods or some other lineage, possessing enough martial power to shatter the established order. The task of the Saints was to find a way to accommodate them while also making them understand that they did not belong to a single Sect, but to ’a nation and a people’.

This could perhaps be considered the world’s earliest Awakening of a national and ethnic consciousness, and it was initiated by the most powerful group of Sects. While it might sound like they were betraying their class, this wasn’t actually strange; many such examples exist in the world.

Although the Sects that were the archetypes of the old Hundred Schools have all but vanished in modern Zhengguo, replaced by the Supervision of All Saints and the major Academies, some deep-rooted things, such as ancient feuds and rivalries, remain and are still commonplace today.

Fortunately, Su Zhou was no puritanical moralist who couldn’t stand a bit of dirt. He didn’t care about the covert struggles between the factions of the Thirty-Six Saints, nor was he bothered by their less-than-clean methods. When others tested him, he responded directly. As for hints about forming cliques and various other friendly overtures, Su Zhou always pretended he never heard them.

The overt and covert struggles and endless bickering between the Military Saint and the Life Saint; the large-scale aerospace and rocket development conglomerate under the Yu Saint that was in the process of consolidating all related enterprises in Zhengguo into a giant monopoly; the rampant corruption and cronyism within the Department of Oceanic Development... To understand, analyze, or resolve any one of these conflicts would require an extremely long and arduous struggle.

He could see all these things, but for now, he lacked the political savvy and influence to make any changes.

Besides, Su Zhou had not the slightest interest in this kind of human infighting. ’Since I can’t just go on a killing spree, it’s better to keep it out of sight, out of mind. If they really cross the line, I’ll just have to put on a mask and some spandex, pretend I’m the Dark Knight, and go kill to my heart’s content.’

He only cared about more practical matters. For example, when it came to licensing for certain cutting-edge technologies or operations against large Mysterious Organizations like the Spirit Summoning Association, Su Zhou would always be the first to respond and voice his opinion.

And as it happened, Zhengguo currently needed just such a powerful, neutral party.

’A meeting isn’t just a meeting. It’s a venue for all sides to express their opinions and views, state their terms, and then compromise and cooperate.’

Reciting this sentence to himself, Su Zhou chose to skip over the things he didn’t understand and had no desire to learn about, focusing instead on the core idea of this "Otherworld Development" meeting.

And this time, the meeting had a surprising amount of substance; it wasn’t just a discussion about which party would lead the project.

In general, ’Otherworld Development’ was divided into two main parts. The first was a plan for the realms behind the numerous Space-Time Sects on Earth, worlds like the Beast God Realm and the Celestial Pool Realm.