Chapter 1250: Chapter 704, Chairman Gu?
What Gu Hang told Galaraldo were words that came straight from his heart.
In his view, entering the Supreme Council through the two routes mentioned by Galaraldo was not stable.
Becoming the Supreme Commander of the Star Realm Army to gain a seat among the Thirteen?
Not to mention that Galaraldo understated the difficulty, but even if it succeeded, it would be a rootless source, a leafless tree.
Gu Hang did not rise through the ranks of the Star Realm Army. Even if one were to say the Alliance Army is part of the Star Realm Army, it would be nonsense. Although the Alliance Army is quite powerful, its influence is ultimately limited to the vicinity of the Alliance; fundamentally, it is still the base of the Alliance. The Alliance Army is not like a renowned legion within the Star Realm Army that would campaign across the entire universe to establish achievements.
With an unstable foundation, as an outsider relying on political means to seize opportunities that belonged to the Star Realm Army insiders and took one of the Thirteen seats, can this position be secure?
Itās unstable.
Gu Hang is not a three-year-old child. He fully understands that itās not about sitting in that position to have power, but rather having power to sit in that position.
Forcing his way up there would mean relying on the achievements established through the Alliance, using political means and facing massive internal friction. The Star Realm Army system might not be an asset but a bomb under his seat.
Gu Hang would have to spend more energy suppressing internal chaos and would have to rely more heavily on those political forces that put him in that position. In that case, at best, heās a puppet; at worst, he wouldnāt last two years before being ousted.
If he abandons the Alliance, what then?
Start all over again?
Thatās nonsense.
As for the second route Galaraldo mentioned, relying on his status as arguably the strongest Psychic in the Empire, to unify the Psychic Cultivatorās Association and enter the Thirteen-member Council as the chief grand mentor, it also has hidden dangers.
Possibly even greater.
The Psychic Cultivatorās Association is an even more fragmented organization with no actual power.
Or to be precise, they have power, but whether the battle group think tanks, Tribunalās psychic experts, various Star Realm Armies, Navyās psychic troops, or the psychics on various planets... would these so-called ābasesā listen more to the Psychic Cultivatorās Association, or their original superiors?
Undoubtedly, it would be the latter.
The Psychic Cultivatorās Association has long been fragmented by the various subordinate organizations.
This power has practically no possibility of unification.
In a narrow sense, the Psychic Cultivatorās Association might have just one A-level psychic in a Star Domain, even worse than the Allianceās Storm Mage Corps. Depending solely on them, what can be achieved?
Certainly, it isnāt hard to unite them, but their power is too weak to support a seat in the Supreme Council.
Past chief grand mentors couldnāt secure a top seat for hundreds of years for precisely this reason: they nominally had the qualifications to campaign but lacked concrete power to hold the stage.
Even if Gu Hang went, the result would be the same.
Unless he were willing to start from scratch, spending who knows how many years and facing unknown difficulties and obstacles to elevate the responsibilities of the Psychic Cultivatorās Association to the broadest stage, meaning to manage and deploy all spiritual power throughout the entire Empireās battle group think tanks, Tribunalās psychics... then it would be a formidable force.
The difficulty is immense.
Relying solely on the haphazard position of chief grand mentor to enter the Thirteen-member Council would mean relying not on his own base but on the political forces driving him.
If so, the outcome would be the same as taking the Star Realm Army path to the Supreme Council; those who could push Gu Hang in today could oust him tomorrow. Gu Hang wouldnāt wield real political power from the highest seat: voting, proposing, and executing would all depend on others.
Such a High Lord, for many, is an unreachable dream. A puppet High Lord is still a High Lord, nominally one of the Empireās highest and most powerful Thirteen.
But to Gu Hang, it means little.
Of course, if the position of High Lord was there, and if Gu Hang could truly sit in it, he would welcome it.
He could formulate strategies beneficial to himself and the Alliance from the level of the Central Empire.
But this position must be supported by sufficient and personal power to be viable.
So, the last thing he told Galaraldo was about this.
And this is what he plans to do next.
Firstly, he intends to contend for the position of Cosmic Domain Chair.
He has two ideas, yet to be decided.
Either to seize the chairmanship of the Spiderweb Domain or the Eastern Cosmos Domain. By then, with a strong Alliance as tangible support internally and the official recognition of the highest administrative officer in the domain externally, he could wield significant power within the entire domain.
And as a Cosmic Domain Chair, he can dispatch representatives to participate in central affairs at Holy Terra. Some domain representatives, like the incumbent chair of the Star Devouring Cosmos, even sit in a High Lordās position.
If Gu Hang achieves becoming a High Lord in this way, he would truly be someone of significance and authority.
The Alliance controlling a domain; influencing the entire Imperialās Eastern Frontierās dozen domains from a single domain, meaning anything concerning the Imperialās Eastern Frontier, equivalent to one-fifth of an Empire, would need Gu Hangās approval. Such power is required to truly support a substantive, non-puppet High Lord position.
And why is Gu Hang so persistent about local interests?
Because of the system.
Gu Hang possesses this tremendous, decisive tool that played a crucial role in his historical ascent. His task is to continue leveraging his advantage.
Abandoning this advantage, leaving the foundation established over decades, to fight political battles within the Star Realm Army or to attempt seizing psychic authority from nearly all other Empire forces within the Psychic Cultivatorās Association... now that would be forsaking a righteous path for deviant ways.
Of course, the matter of the system is something Gu Hang cannot divulge to Galaraldo.
However, matters of local interests, local foundations, and needing sufficient strength to uphold a true high chair position can be discussed.
But for Galaraldo, itās quite challenging.
He understands Gu Hangās intention yet also expresses:
"Promoting you to become the chair of the Spiderweb Domain or the Eastern Cosmos Domain is exceedingly difficult. That report of yours really threw Holy Terra into chaos."