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Chapter 639 - The classic carrot and stick
Chapter 639 - The classic carrot and stick
Chapter 639 - The classic carrot and stick
Earlier, during his inspection of the terrain and after leaving Feng Tian Wu, Bai Zemin had shared with Lilith his new skill after Stone Heart finally evolved. Lilith at that moment was incredibly happy but also very shy since the evolution of Stone Heart meant that Bai Zemin was effectively in love with her and that the words he had said to her at that moment in the middle of the desert were not empty words; he knew that he was in love with her even if the Soul Record had not "approved" of it yet.
After seeing the effects of the new skill Immovable Heart, Lilith simply vowed to herself to never again be surprised by the crazy skills that Bai Zemin might obtain in the future.... As for whether she would achieve such a thing or not remained to be seen.
Be that as it may, the effect that most caught Lilith's attention was the increase in natural charm for those of the opposite sex. After all, Stone Heart was a skill meant for Bai Zemin to stay away from women but its evolution practically pushed women to him.
Bai Zemin really wanted to retort to Lilith's words but wisely decided not to say anything as not only would he be seen as a lunatic for speaking to the air but there was no need to say anything in the first place.
To everyone's shock, Bai Zemin actually turned his hands around and took the soft and delicate hands of Wu Yijun's mother between his own, intertwining their fingers. Looking into the eyes of the woman in front of him who was old enough to be his mother he said in a soft voice, "Aunt Sun, if you are willing to leave uncle Wu and come with me, then I will gladly make you happy."
Chen He: "..."
Cai Jingyi: "..."
Nangong Lingxin: "..."
Zhong De: "..."
Wu Yijun: "..."
Meng Qi: "..."
Shangguan Bing Xue raised an eyebrow and silently tossed a chocolate mani into her mouth as she looked at Bai Zemin with amusement and finally realized that it wasn't just her that had received a minor "readjustment" in the personality. It looked like things might get more interesting in the future and for some reason, Shangguan Bing Xue felt anxious like a little girl eager to open her Christmas present.
"This..."
Even Sun Ling was astonished as she looked at the young man who was young enough to be her son but that boldly and confidently dared to take her hands even though he knew she was married. As if that wasn't enough, that same young man was the target of her daughter's affection... Sun Ling just wanted to tease him and her daughter Wu Yijun a bit but little did she expect that she would eventually end up in this kind of situation.
"Of course, it's a joke." Bai Zemin let go of Sun Ling's hands and leaned back. "Aunt Sun, you should stop teasing Yijun or she might really get mad at you."
"O- Okay..." Sun Ling found herself nodding still looking at him with wide eyes.
Bai Zemin looked at Wu Yijun and realized that the girl's face was as red as a ripe tomato and for a second he couldn't help but worry whether she was going to explode or not. As for the reaction of the others, he didn't care at all. The only thing Bai Zemin did was to gesture to Shangguan Bing Xue secretly to indicate that he would explain to her later since she really seemed curious about it.
Approximately five minutes later, several people entered the tent being led by a soldier armed in a strange combination of modern weaponry and medieval-style armor.
Six people among whom it could be said that Bai Zemin knew three of them.
On one side was Huang Tian, leader of the Black Turtle guild.
Feng Hong, father of Feng Tian Wu and whom Bai Zemin had recently learned was actually the leader of the Phoenix guild.
Finally, Feng Tian Wu herself whose level was 45 but whose power allowed her to fight on equal footing against a level 50 First Order existence while playing the role of the leader of the Phoenix guild's elite team.
As for the other three, this was the first time Bai Zemin had met them but he had read information about them on the way here thanks to the documents Wu Yijun's father bothered to prepare for him.
One of them was an old man who seemed on the verge of death as he staggered with every step he took and was as thin as a stick so it seemed that the next gust of wind might blow him away. However, this decrepit old man named Lian Jing was actually a powerful level 50 assassin in the middle of his breakthrough mission and leader of the White Tiger guild. According to rumors, his special job was the reason for his current appearance even though his life expectancy was stronger than ever.
The other was a young man who looked to be around Bai Zemin's age and seemed friendly enough. Black hair, dark eyes, a rather handsome appearance and wouldn't have anything too remarkable if it weren't for the green-scaled snake that coiled from the bottom of his right foot and ran his full height to the extension of his opposite arm. His name was Teng Hua, a powerful level 50 soul evolver close to breaking into the Second Order and leader of the Blue Dragon guild.
Finally, the eyes of Bai Zemin rested on the last person and a peculiar glint flash shone in them.
This last person was a woman who looked between 25 and 27 years old, quite beautiful with wavy black hair, an oval face, and a delightful body. However, none of this was the reason why Bai Zemin focused on her.
This woman's name was Xia Ya and she was the leader of the special forces of hidden soul evolvers that Wu Keqian had secretly formed without anyone else knowing about it; he called these special forces as the fifth guild, the Qilin guild. The thing was that surprisingly, Bai Zemin had no idea how strong this woman was.
Was Xia Ya stronger than Bai Zemin? Was her Soul Power purer or so abundant that he could not compare? Neither Bai Zemin nor anyone who knew a fraction of his power would believe such a thing even if they were beaten to death.
Therefore, Xia Ya probably owned a treasure that stopped any leakage of Soul Power.
"Thank you all for coming just as I asked." Bai Zemin nodded in their direction, standing up as a sign of respect for strong and brave people.
Huang Tian, the old Liang Jing, snake youth Teng Hua, Feng Hong, and Xia Ya nodded toward him and saluted with respect. Feng Tian Wu did so as well but clearly still felt a bit awkward as her eyes were erratic whenever she looked forward.
"All of us here are all people whose time is worth too much so I won't beat around the bush." Bai Zemin said in a deep serious voice, "Except for Xia Ya whose mission was specially delegated by Mayor Wu to protect his wife General Sun and his daughter Wu Yijun, all of you and the troops below you will have to listen to my commands and follow them to the letter."
"This..." Liang Jing looked at Bai Zemin with his small eyes and said somewhat hesitantly, "Leader, about the guilds..."
"That's what I was getting at, thanks for pointing it out." Bai Zemin nodded calmly. "To this day, the four guilds have been fighting their own battles despite being on the same battlefield. While this is good in its own way as dividing tasks is not bad, my combat style and leadership differ considerably from Mayor Wu's and probably any other commander you have had so far."
Bai Zemin observed the expression of the new arrivals and noticed that Feng Hong, Liang Jing, Teng Hua, and Huang Tian looked somewhat dissatisfied. It was clear that the competition among the four guilds was fierce and they all wanted to compete for merits and benefits.
"I don't care how strong each of you may be, if you don't know how to follow orders then you are of no use to me. Numbers are important without a doubt, but I always aimed for quality rather than quantity, and considering my position as the founding leader of a faction with over 30,000 survivors I don't think my approach is wrong." Bai Zemin showed no mercy with his words to the point where Sun Ling, who didn't know him too well, became a little worried.
At this rate, wouldn't the operation end up being a failure even before it officially began?
But in fact, while 30,000 survivors might not be too much in the eyes of a colossus like the Chinese Renaissance, the important factor here was that those 30,000+ survivors had been united under a single standard after being saved by an ordinary college student who did not have the support of any official title or power as was the case with Wu Keqian at the beginning of the apocalypse.
Suddenly, Bai Zemin smiled slightly and said with confidence, "I know you are not satisfied and the only reason you are not saying anything is because you know I am strong. However, while I like to enforce the rules and severely punish those who break them, I also reward juicily those who obey."
The ears of the dissatisfied immediately perked up at Bai Zemin's words and it was obvious that they were now listening to him more eagerly than before.
"The four guilds will continue to exist as the subdivision of powers is interesting, but instead of the leader of each guild having the final word the role of each of you will be to transmit and ensure that my orders are carried out. If any of you disobey, then once I take over the base you can dream of holding a high position regardless of how strong you are.... However, if you perform well, I will reward each of you four with a Second Order Soul Stone after my Transcendent faction and the Chinese Renaissance faction merge. How about that?"
Second Order Soul Stone? One to each of them? Huang Tian exchanged glances with the other three guild leaders as they gasped in shock.
Even Sun Ling looked at Bai Zemin with wide eyes as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"This... Second Order Soul Stone? Four of them? You're really not kidding?" Sun Ling really was incredulous.
The entire Chinese Renaissance faction only had three Second Order Soul Stones and they were treated as ultimate treasures! Even her husband Wu Keqian didn't dare to casually spend them to evolve any skills as he believed it was a waste but the young man in front of her actually boasted that he could casually take out four and casually give them away!
"Joking?" Bai Zemin looked at the beautiful mature woman standing right next to him taking the place as the deputy leader and said in a serious voice, "Do you even think that I am in this place making jokes? If every one of my serious words were nothing but jokes then there is no way that people as powerful as them would be willing to follow me, don't you think?"
Saying that, Bai Zemin pointed at Shangguan Bing Xue, Chen He, Wu Yijun, Cai Jingyi, Zhong De, and finally Nangong Lingxin.
Shangguan Bing Xue nodded and said indifferently, "There is no need to be doubtful. He really is capable of taking out four Second Order Soul Stones and handing them out as rewards without shaking the foundation of our Transcendent faction at all."
Wu Yijun and Chen He also rallied to support Bai Zemin, leaving Sun Ling with no choice but to believe him. At the end of the day, there was no reason to lie when his power was so high and in fact lying would only affect his future if his eventual goal really was to conquer China.
"Hahaha! Since the leader is putting it that way, this old man will honestly listen to your orders." Liang Jing laughed so hard that he soon began to cough and staggered several steps as if he was really going to collapse soon.
Feng Tian Wu's father, Teng Hua, and Huang Tian nodded and quickly accepted Bai Zemin's proposition.
What a joke!
With a Second Order Soul Stone, they could evolve their main skills to the next Order or if they wanted to, they could sell it to the base for enough resources to live a life of luxury for years!
Bai Zemin smiled slightly and his eyes glistened with satisfaction.... And seeing that peculiar smile on his face, Shangguan Bing Xue and everyone else who knew the kind of person he was and his means realized that by the time this operation was over the strongest soul evolvers from the four guilds that had been sent on this operation would most likely become devoted to him.
It was not the first time such a thing had happened and it surely would not be the last.