Chapter 370: Chapter 369: I Thought You Were Friends
"Thank you, Junior Uncle, you’ve worked hard."
"Junior Uncle is indeed impressive!"
"Ancient Uncle, please have a seat, have some tea!"
Lin Long, as the foremost young member of the Cuowu Sect, was extremely powerful... and had high hopes placed on him by Sun Bumie and others.
However, the appearance of Xu Lingjun undoubtedly stole all of his limelight.
But after witnessing Xu Lingjun’s strength with his own eyes, he no longer harbored even a hint of envy.
The gap was too large.
Moreover, this was the Sect’s Junior Ancient Uncle, such a powerful person. If he were an opponent, he probably wouldn’t even be able to sleep... but if he were one of their own, he could sleep soundly in any position.
Because of this, he was very respectful and admiring of Xu Lingjun.
For a moment, as Xu Lingjun reclaimed the top spot in the Five Sects Martial Arts Competition for the Cuowu Sect, showing his true strength, especially at his age...
No one dared to speak ill of Xu Lingjun anymore, and his reputation in the Cuowu Sect quickly soared... With Xu Lingjun’s current achievements, as long as he doesn’t die, he will become an Upper Realm Grandmaster in ten years.
And at this rate of improvement, the Martial Arts Ultimate Realm is not an impossibility.
Everyone knows banding together for warmth is the safest; anyone with sense wouldn’t push such a talent out.
But like this, it made Tomorrow truly envious...
Thirty years of fortune on this side, thirty years of fortune on that side.
He suddenly realized he was the foolish one... Encountering talent should be about recruiting them at all costs, not pretense or worrying about the Sect Leader’s face, those are all hollow matters, the real regret is now.
Fortunately, he had a good relationship with Li Lei, and Ji Roufeng was practically in his house every day recently, making Tomorrow almost think this person wasn’t part of his Sect.
It could be considered a good connection.
If I can’t be your master, then I might as well be your father-in-law.
That’s the only way he could console himself.
However, in this way...
It was Han Xu Yang who suffered.
Under Han Qingxue’s suggestion, he initiated the Five Sects Martial Arts Competition, actually to benchmark against the Four Mansions Trial...
Because of this, the rewards for both were similar.
Resources were secondary.
But what about the promised position from before?
The rank of Colonel?
Xu Lingjun was already a Colonel... but if he were to be promoted again...
"What else can be done if he isn’t promoted?"
Han Yun City remarked indifferently, "After becoming a Colonel, he’s achieved a number of significant merits, Pirate King Roger Sparrow was actually captured by him, he should have been rewarded at that time, but it was deliberately withheld, and he successfully killed Zhou Qianmo afterward... Father, you know Zhou Qianmo’s strength, if three tributors were sent out and any were harmed, it would be a loss our Imperial Family couldn’t afford, but he completed it."
He was surprised, "Huh? Why has Xu Lingjun been doing the work of a Divine Soldier Guard during this time? Frankly speaking, I feel Zhu Zhengdao somewhat lacks capability for his position, so why not just let Xu Lingjun be the Grand Commander of the Divine Soldier Guard."
Han Qingxue softly countered, "That wouldn’t be appropriate."
"Not only inappropriate, it’s absurd, Zhu Qing is not mediocre, just that the enemies in this period have been too cunning; moreover, Xu Lingjun has never led soldiers into battle, never even set foot on a battlefield, he hasn’t earned a bit of military merit, and you want him as a commander? If he could sing to boost morale on the battlefield, I’d even be willing to give him a commander rank."
Han Xu Yang frowned, "This kid is ascending too fast, let’s see, sum up his achievements and reward them, promote him to the Deputy Commander rank, indeed we can’t not promote him... the military rank has already reached its limit, let’s compensate him more in other areas."
Han Yun City said, "He’s backed by the Zhanzheng Academy, he lacks no weapons, just acquired the Thousand Slaughter Blade Technique, lacks no Martial Skill, he’s in need of nothing; you can’t even give if you wanted to!"
He coldly laughed, "Really interesting, now I understand why I work so hard on the Polar Star Battlefield but am promoted so slowly, it turns out being too outstanding also requires being suppressed."
"This is merely to prevent the tall tree from catching the wind."
Han Xu Yang sighed, "The higher the position, the greater the risk it bears, this is also to provide space for your growth, to prevent the untimely demise of overly exceptional talents."
"The prize is his, not mine, father why are you explaining to me."
Han Yun City said calmly, "We have no relation, do you really think I’d stand up for him? What a joke... after all, we’re competitors."
Han Qingxue couldn’t help but twitch slightly at the corners of her mouth, remaining silent.
"He might not lack things he doesn’t need."
Han Qingxue hesitated for a bit, then continued with a smile, "Actually, I had some private contact with him before and gave him a lot of good things... and the items he picked, surprisingly, all belonged to the type that strengthens veins."
"Search the National Treasury, gather all resources of this type and take them out, I have a premonition, sooner or later these things will not escape that kid’s grasp."
Han Xu Yang smiled wryly, "And as you, little city, said, I’ve suppressed him for too long, this time I must give sufficient reward, otherwise, merits unawarded will make those who’ve rendered service feel discouraged."
Han Yun City: "I didn’t say anything."
Han Qingxue laughed lightly, "But I feel, little city, you seem to care about Xu Lingjun, I always thought you two were rivals."
"We are rivals indeed!"
Han Yun City decisively said, "It’s rare to have a rival who can match me, even if he wants to be friends with me, I wouldn’t agree. I just don’t want the gap in identity to create a disparity in resources, I wish to compete with him equally, I want to defeat him fairly, or be defeated by him fairly!"
Hearing this, Han Qingxue pondered and thought, could this be the mutual appreciation between enemies?
Could it be I was wrong before...
Was Xu Lingjun and Little City really not friends?
At this time.
Xu Lingjun had already arrived within Cuowu Sect’s premises.
Thanks to his excellent performance in the Five Sects Martial Arts Competition, he quickly integrated into the Cuowu Sect, even receiving the enthusiastic support of the Elders, including Sun Bumie’s face beaming with delight.... The entire Sect’s atmosphere was a unity mess.
All those skills Ling Jun thought might come in handy, like flaunting and putting on an act, playing dumb against a cunning fox... he didn’t use any of them.
For this Junior Ancient Uncle who suddenly appeared above them, the disciples didn’t have any resentment either.
This greatly improved his impression of Cuowu Sect, and he vaguely understood the rules of the Sect.
The Sect was similarly self-governing, while there might be competition externally, internally it was extremely united... It was precisely because of this unity that they could stand on par with the Four Mansions despite being outnumbered.
Therefore, as long as he successfully integrated into the Sect.
These disciples would naturally be happy that many years from now, they’d have such a strong pillar to rely on.
In fact... this was the normal operation within the Sect.
Seeing a powerful master who was not from the Sect, and thinking such a person must not stay, thus becoming an enemy...
The real right move, shouldn’t it be turning him into one of your own?
In this regard, Sun Bumie felt he hadn’t done anything wrong... moreover, as long as he was sincere, as long as the Junior Uncle sensed that they indeed weren’t exploiting him, but genuinely wanted him to integrate into the Cuowu Sect.
Was there even fear of not obtaining "Reversed Tao Qiankun"?
A win-win, losing face?
Probably made those Sect Leaders envious to the point of their eyes turning red.