Biochemical Martial Arts: Supreme Heavenly Venerate

In the process of relocating Heart of Light No. 7, Lin Rui briefly reviewed the situation of the Bright Holy Sect's Branch No. 7.

There were as many as 24 million registered believers here, even more than the number in Ninth Base City.

Of course, the quality of the believers in Branch No. 7 could definitely not match those in Ninth Base City.

Their influence was concentrated in the Lower Zone, where only 9 million believers were legal citizens, and most of them were at the bottom of society, without a single noteworthy upper-class individual.

The remaining 15 million people were illegal immigrants without legal status.

Lin Rui skimmed through the information of these followers and found that a large proportion of them had been tricked by the missionaries here into joining the Bright Holy Sect.

The income of Branch No. 7 also mainly relied on exploiting believers and illegal business.

Not only were the followers treated like laborers and ATMs, but they were also involved in drug production, arms trafficking, prostitution, and so on. Although they bore the name of 'Light,' the institution was actually filthy inside.

Especially for those illegal immigrants, their situation was particularly unbearable.

They were independent of the government system, establishing dozens of illegal settlements and treating tens of millions of immigrant believers like livestock.

Lin Rui shook his head slightly, thinking it would be a long-drawn task to reform every aspect of Branch No. 7 and sort things out clearly.

However, the future prospects of Branch No. 7 were still very promising. Although the upper echelons of the sect here had been swept away by them, and a significant cleanup was imminent, possibly leading to great turmoil and division in Branch No. 7, as long as they used the right methods and approaches, they should be able to retain over 95% of the followers.

The vast majority of believers here were very devout in their faith in the Light Saint King, having invested too much in this belief, with a substantial amount of sunk costs.

One of human nature's traits is that the more one invests, the less willing one is to give up. Now to make these followers give up their faith in the Bright Holy Sect would be even more painful than killing them.

Although Lin Rui preferred the missionary methods of Branch No. 9, in terms of cohesion, the followers of the Holy Sect there actually couldn't compare to those here.

Heart of Light No. 9 was very pleased.

Lin Guangming: Master, you see, I wasn't lying. Among all the 14 Hearts of Light, I am the one closest to the original teachings and the true will of the Light Saint King.

What pleased No. 9 the most about this operation was not the takeover of Branch No. 7, or bringing more believers back into the true embrace of the Light Saint King, but that after the initialization and restoration of No. 7, its thought process, values, and outlook on the Light Teachings became similar to hers.

This proved that she, No. 9, had always maintained the original intent and the orthodoxy of the Bright Holy Sect.

Lin Guangming: Master, rest assured, I will collaborate with No. 7 to clean up here as quickly as possible. I have noticed that within Branch No. 7, there are still many who truly believe in the Light. They have been ostracized by these pseudo-believers yet continue to promote the true Light faith. You can promote them and steer the sect back on the right path.

Lin Guangming: There are many excellent missionaries in Branch No. 9 that can fill the vacancies in the Holy Offices here.

Lin Rui ignored her, directly issuing instructions in the 'Light Group'.

Gu Ying Tiandao (Lin Rui): This cleanup operation will be led by No. 7, with believers at the local level remaining the backbone of the Holy Offices. If there is a shortage of personnel, we will deploy from Branch No. 9. We must pay careful attention to their mindset and actions; I do not want another purge.

No. 7: Yes, having learned from past lessons, I will pay extra attention to this aspect. No. 7 will not let the Light shone down by the Supreme be tarnished.

Gu Ying Tiandao (Lin Rui): During the cleanup, also try to win people's hearts as much as possible. Improve the living conditions in these settlements a bit—add some electrical circuits, street lights, ventilation pipes, air exchange systems, clean water sources, and sewage systems. These cave clusters could also be renovated, reinforced, and organized a bit, maybe slightly expanded. It doesn't require a big investment but could have an immediate impact.

Gu Ying Tiandao (Lin Rui): Isn't the existence of our Bright Holy Sect precisely to help people see the Light and to bathe in the Light?

Unbeknownst to him, No. 7 was privately contemplating that 'Supreme' was certainly correct, but to witness the true Light, it was still missing a Holy Thunder to cleave through the darkness and a Tribulation Fire to burn everything away.

Gu Ying Tiandao (Lin Rui): Moreover, if our sect wants to expand its influence, we must have more legal followers. We need to help them get jobs and legal identities. Stop dealing with those underworld businesses. The mining, refinement, and your own farms can be retained, try to expand them as much as possible. I will get the legal permits for the mining companies quickly to legalize these businesses.

Gu Ying Tiandao (Lin Rui): Try to engage in more labor-intensive manufacturing and service industries to find jobs for the followers. My companies have a very high demand for various refined minerals and industrial goods; soon I will give you a list of categories so that Branch No. 7 can make corresponding investments.

Gu Ying Tiandao (Lin Rui): If there's a lack of funds, I can support you judiciously, but you also need to learn to seek external business opportunities on your own. We have so much cheap labor and can produce our own manufacturing tools; this is a significant advantage.

At this moment, Lin Rui was massaging his forehead and added: Try to open more training courses and cultivate the believers' professional skills—train more construction engineers and mechanical engineers. If someone is interested in biotechnology and has the talent, I can also invest resources in their training.

There are many businesses they could engage in. Not only does Sky Extreme Star greatly desire various industrial goods from the Earth Federation, but the Earth Federation's home planet and various Colonization Stars also have a high demand for the various specialties of Sky Extreme Star.

For example, a beverage currently named 'Ace of Hearts' in the Federation has become popular across the Earth Federation because it contains a special ingredient from a plant native to Sky Extreme Star, with annual sales reaching trillions of federal coins.

Similarly, some clothing companies interweave fibers from special Sky Extreme Star products into various garments. Not only are the clothes themselves dazzling and attractive, but they also have longevity-enhancing effects.

Lin Rui just thought of the employment problem for those more than ten million unemployed believers and his head was filled with unbearable pain.

The more advanced and developed modern technology became, the fewer job opportunities people could find.

The work efficiency of this era had been exaggerated to an extreme degree, yet the competition in the market still existed, which led to the profit of each product being minuscule; capitalists would not share the money they made with the common folk.

Fortunately, the AI rebellion that took place hundreds of years ago had led the Earth Federation government to strictly restrict various forms of artificial intelligence, otherwise the current situation would only be worse.

For the next day and a half, Lin Rui was busy on this end.

Mainly settling Heart of Light No. 7, suppressing and clearing the many false believers within the sect.

Division No. 7 was involved in all sorts of illegal businesses, which had fostered many vested interests that naturally could not get along with the newly-established Division No. 7.

Lin Rui wanted a cleaner Division No. 7, as it was easier to paint on a blank sheet. Thus, he was incredibly resolute when purging, and his methods were extremely cruel and fierce, almost all the sect's strongholds involved in organized crime were swept away by him.

Due to the 'betrayal' of Heart of Light No. 7 and the blockade of information, only a tiny portion of these people managed to escape, less than a thousand, and the most powerful among them were only at the Sixth Realm. After No. 7 expelled them from the sect, they posed no threat.

To his surprise, after Lin Rui's purge, the number of his soul power points actually recovered to over two million.

Lin Rui also significantly adjusted the personnel of Division No. 7 based on the recommendations jointly submitted by No. 7 and No. 9.

The two AI brains claimed that they had promoted those whose words and deeds truly conformed to the Light Teachings, and who possessed exceptional ability and virtue, to high positions within the sect.

Lin Rui did not know whether this was true or not and had no time to investigate in detail.

Lin Rui was willing to accept the Bright Holy Sect and become its "Supreme" because he valued the sect's vast base of followers and influence, wanting to use it as wings to gain more chips to confront the Longevity Association.

He did not truly want to be the "Light Saint King" and bring light to the Light believers.

All of Lin Rui's actions within the Bright Holy Sect were the result of his own limited "conscience," done conveniently, but his fundamental goal was still to strengthen his own power.

If Lin Rui did not want to expend too much energy on the Bright Holy Sect, he could only rely on the help of No. 7 and No. 9.

If these two had issues and deviated from the Light Teachings, Lin Rui was actually helpless.

His control over the Ninth Base City was actually very weak, and he was completely unaware of the situation in the Seventh Base City. He could not find suitable people to take over those key positions.

It was like the ancient emperors who had to rely on the gentry to rule the world.

Lin Rui also took the time to meet with two independent candidates in the area.

These two welcomed Lin Rui, the big financier, but held doubts about the 9 million votes offered by the "Light King Sect."

They had no doubt about the number of followers of the "Light King Sect," yet they kept their distance from the doctrines and the style of conduct that the sect upheld.

—Even a fool could see that this so-called "Light King Sect" was just the Bright Holy Sect in a new skin.

It was unknown how the sect managed to navigate the relationships and applied for a legal religious license, transforming from a notorious cult to a legally registered sect in the Federation.

However, both of them were not optimistic about the future of the Light King Sect, for as the saying goes, "It's easy to change rivers and mountains, but hard to change one's nature."

The Bright Holy Sect of the past committed fraud, robbery, murder, drug trafficking—almost all kinds of evil deeds, with a long list of crimes.

Now, with a change of skin, could they cast off these shady illegal businesses? It's feared that before long, this temporarily legal sect will once again become part of the cultist stream.

Both candidates were worried that a deep association with the Light King Sect would instead drag down their own election prospects.

However, seeing that Lin Rui was a major financier, they were still willing to engage in limited cooperation. They were willing to observe and listen to their words, watch their actions; they were also willing to invest political resources to provide convenience and protection for the newly established "Light King Sect."

If in three months the election started and the Light King Sect truly underwent the transformation as Lin Rui claimed, then the two could further cooperate with the Light King Sect, or even join their party "Light Group."

Lin Rui did not entirely achieve his aim, but he wasn't disappointed.

The two independent candidates had been active in the political arena for many years, and they had considerable influence among the citizens of the Seventh Base City and were known for their integrity and courage. To get them to turn directly for these 9 million votes laced with great risks was inherently unlikely.

That evening, Lin Rui boarded the Guardian Battleship and returned to the Ninth Base City.

At that point, there were still many loose ends to tidy up at Division No. 7, but Lin Rui no longer had the time to attend to them, because that very night was Linghu Mingde's birthday banquet.