Considering the current condition of Bai Zemin, it was impossible that there would not be some mutinies and usurpers trying to take his position. After all, greed was a really powerful emotion and not for nothing was it part of the seven deadly sins recorded in the Catholic bible and in many other legends.
Although Bai Zemin tried to rule as well as possible, it was impossible for him to do everything right and therefore it was impossible to keep everyone happy. There were always some who would feel that what they were getting was not enough or who would be dissatisfied with the way he led.
Bai Zemin was fully aware that once he left the gray corridor and his broken body was exposed to the eyes of everyone there would definitely be at least one person who would rise up against him. However, even Bai Zemin could make wrong judgments at times.
What Bai Zemin expected to face was some armed soldiers trying to play savior or perhaps some soul evolvers belonging to the Baiquan Camp who had submitted less than half a day ago after being defeated. But little did he expect that the person who would rise up against him would not be one of those who had recently been his enemy but someone with whom he had fought shoulder to shoulder on more than one occasion.
Bai Zemin was only a couple of meters distance away from Yan Tu when he stopped and simply stood there looking at him silently.
Yan Tu looked at Bai Zemin with complicated eyes and was after more than a minute of silence that his eyes finally became resolute as he said in a deep voice: "Bai Zemin, fight against me. A death combat between two men!"
Shangguan Bing Xue, Fu Xuefeng, Cai Jingyi, Kang Lan, Zhong De, and many others who were 100% loyal and held Bai Zemin in high esteem completely disdained Yan Tu and his comment.
Death combat between two men? Yan Tu sure had thick skin to dare to say those words with a serious face.
Did he dare to say those same words if Bai Zemin was at his peak? Clearly, Yan Tu was just a coward trying to take advantage of the opportunity that had apparently appeared before him.
"Really, why are there such despicable creatures in this world?" Shangguan Bing Xue muttered coldly.
Bai Zemin lowered his head and looked at the ground without responding immediately.
"May I ask why?" Bai Zemin frowned slightly and no one knew if it was due to physical pain or some particular reason. He raised his head and looked at Yan Tu, who was almost a head taller than him, and pointed out, "If you think you are getting less than you deserve, I don't think it is necessary to go that far?"
If Yan Tu had said those words at the beginning of it all and when his Stone Heart skill practically ruled over his emotions, then Bai Zemin would probably have slaughtered him instantly. However, the current Bai Zemin was slowly beginning to evolve not only in power but also as a person and as a leader.
Bai Zemin was not a lone warrior and he was destined to never be one. Sure, he could fight most of the important battles on his own, but at the end of the day, he was building a kingdom and raising a faction step by step. So even though it was a slow process, Bai Zemin began to think more like a leader when he needed to think like a leader and saved his warrior thoughts for when the occasion warranted.
Yan Tu shook his head and sighed as he said quietly, "No. What I get from you is more than enough, so much so that I have supplies left over and I don't even know what to do with them."
"Then…?" Bai Zemin frowned harder uncomprehendingly.
Yan Tu took a deep breath and looked Bai Zemin in the eyes, "Bai Zemin, let's stop the unnecessary chatting. Today, one of us will die here. First of all, I would like to clarify that Leader Lu and Young Miss Lu don't know anything about this so I hope you will leave them out of trouble if you defeat me."
Lu Xiaoyao was in the main camp of Bai Zemin organizing everything for the migration to the south together with several logistic teams while on the other hand, Lu Yan was protecting the west gate with a few soldiers, so, it was clear that neither of them knew about what Yan Tu was doing.
On the other hand, Yang Tu was a lonely man with no family as his family had abandoned him long before the apocalypse broke out. Therefore, he did not need to worry too much about possible consequences.
Bai Zemin closed his eyes and when he opened them again a moment later, his gaze had turned deathly cold, sending chills down Yan Tu's spine and causing him to subconsciously take half a step back before he stopped.
The reason Yan Tu had stepped forward to challenge Bai Zemin was nothing heroic like wanting to create better rules for everyone, far from it. In fact, the government of Bai Zemin was no different from heaven compared to the government of many other leaders who were currently abusing their power.
However, Yan Tu could not obey anyone but Liu Yan. He really tried to adapt, but simply could not. In Yan Tu's eyes, Bai Zemin was just a young college student not fit to lead and decide over the lives of so many people.
Unfortunately for Yan Tu, Bai Zemin was simply too powerful. Yan Tu was clear that he had no hope of defeating him under normal circumstances. But now that Bai Zemin was so injured that it even seemed difficult for him to stay on his feet, Yan Tu judged that this might be the best opportunity that would come his way so after hesitating for a long time he finally decided to take it.
"Since this is the way things are, then I will fulfill your wish." Bai Zemin said in a cold voice. "Come. I'll give you a fast death."
Memories began to flash in Yan Tu's mind and the more he thought the more frightened he became. Even though Bai Zemin was so badly injured, Yan Tu's memories were fresh and the images of this powerful young man wiping out his enemies as if they were insignificant ants weighed heavily on his shoulders.
The others watched with different emotions what was about to happen.
Many were joyful while secretly waiting for Bai Zemin's downfall, many others were angry with Yan Tu, and many others were just indifferent. However, under the eyes of people like Shangguan Bing Xue and Evangeline, none of them had the qualifications to interfere regardless of what their thoughts were.
Shangguan Bing Xue was especially attentive to the soul evolvers. She was a smart woman and understood that there might be people who thought of sneak attacks. Although she knew that Bai Zemin was strong, his current condition was really bad and she simply could not let go of her worries; this was one of the "disadvantages" of someone entering our hearts, it was simply impossible to stop worrying about their well being.
Suddenly and as if to block the rising fear, Yan Tu took half a step forward to make up the distance he himself had created and shouted out loud.
His voice was so powerful that it made several nearby soldiers dizzy while his muscles began to swell to a deep golden color. Only a few seconds passed but in that time Yan Tu's previously brown skin turned completely yellow just like a statue made of real gold.
But Yan Tu did not stop and continued activating different skills to polish his Strength and others stats to new heights.
Bai Zemin's eyes flashed coldly but he did not comment on it.
"That wretch actually hid that skill." Shangguan Bing Xue pointed from the distance in a cold voice for all to hear.
When a soul evolver joined Bai Zemin's ranks, especially when it was one who once belonged to an enemy camp, he or she had to honestly describe their skills and hand in a report about it. This was a way to prevent future problems since knowing the highs and lows of a skill one could create countermeasures in such a way that even a normal armed human could deal with the stated soul evolver.
Hiding this information was not very smart since with the passage of time the lie would be discovered and this would only cause big problems for the offender. On the other hand, if one had no nefarious thoughts then one need not worry about sharing such information as only Bai Zemin and a handful of others had access to it.
However, it was clear that Yan Tu was planning to hit Bai Zemin from the very beginning since even when the beasts almost killed him back then while they were still in the North Camp, Yan Tu never used this skill.
"Bai Zemin! If I defeat you today, I hope that the command of your forces will fall into Lord Lu's hands accordingly!" Yan Tu roared.
His voice had become extremely hoarse similar to that of a primordial beast.
"I see…. Now I understand your goal…. Just die, traitor." Bai Zemin said in a cold voice before he disappeared without a trace.
"W-" Yan Tu's eyes widened as he noticed his enemy suddenly disappear.
However, before he could say anything else or better comprehend the danger he was in, a thunderous explosion rumbled across the battlefield.
Boom!
Yan Tu's eyes widened to a terrifying extreme and the veins around his face swelled tremendously as the overwhelming pain enveloped him with his chest as its core.
He looked down only to find a fist-sized hole where his heart was supposed to be.
Thud!
Yan Tu fell heavily on his knees as disbelief flashed in his eyes. His defense-focused active ability had increased his Stamina and Health stats by over 200 points each and strengthened his skin to the point where even normal high-caliber bullets could not hurt him…. However, a single fist had completely broken through his defenses to the point where a bloody hole was visible through his body.
[You have obtained the Soul Power of First Order Yan Tu level 43…..]
Bai Zemin watched indifferently as Yan Tu's body collapsed to the front.
The thud of the golden giant's fall spread amidst the total silence and when Bai Zemin raised his head to look into the eyes of each of them, none of them dared to hold his gaze for more than a second before lowering their heads in fear.
Those with wild ideas dared not mention them and those who had no revolutionary thoughts simply dared not make a sound for fear of being misunderstood.
None of those present could believe that such a badly injured person who had lost an arm could do something as insane as that!
Fu Xuefeng and the others let out sighs of admiration in their hearts.
Even being so injured after having faced who knows how many enemies and what kind of existences beyond the spatial portal that had almost completely closed, Bai Zemin still managed to kill the mighty Yan Tu with a single blow proving that even if he was like this, he was not someone they could deal with!
Bai Zemin raised his right foot and planted it on top of Yan Tu's corpse's head.
"Burn." He whispered before a flare of blue fire shot out from the soles of his boots.
He watched as the Endless Lotus Blue Flame slowly incinerated the head of his former subordinate with indifference; there was no need to show mercy to traitors so there was no need for Yan Tu to have a burial place let alone a corpse to begin with.
As the weakened Endless Lotus Blue Flame burned gently after consuming most of its Soul Power in the Oblon World and in the short battle against Jack, Shangguan Bing Xue looked at Bai Zemin calmly from a distance.
"Indeed. Even though he is so badly injured, he is not someone to deal with. At least, there is probably no human in this world capable of standing up against him." Shangguan Bing Xue recalled how Bai Zemin ended the life of a Third Order existence easily and couldn't help but mutter such words.
"What happened on the other side?" Evangeline approached and asked in a low voice.
She was not perturbed at all by Yan Tu's death despite having fought as comrades on several occasions.
In Evangeline's eyes, death was simply something obvious that everyone would experience; it was just a matter of whether death would embrace you early or late, but in the end, that embrace would always come. This was especially true for people like them who fought to the death day in and day out. Today she was alive but maybe tomorrow she would be no more; that was how this worked.
"… I think Bai Zemin will report on this later." Shangguan Bing Xue replied calmly. The current her no longer felt any pressure as she looked at Evangeline; proof of how powerful she had become after fighting to the death in the Oblon World alongside Bai Zemin.
She rejoiced in her heart and thanked her stubbornness because even though she was on the verge of death and her life was in danger on more than one occasion, her strength had grown greatly. If Shangguan Bing Xue had not gone with Bai Zemin to the Oblon World, the distance between him and her would probably have widened so much that she would never be able to reach him in her entire life.
Evangeline naturally sensed Shangguan Bing Xue's change so she was curious. However, given the current circumstances, it was best to wait so she simply nodded silently without asking more about it.
Bai Zemin watched as Yan Tu's head incinerated but there was no Soul Stone present. His eyes were cold as he let the blue flames set the entire body on fire, turning even the plate armor into waste.
With this, he looked at everyone coldly as if he was telling them that regardless of how strong they were or how valuable they may think they were, in Bai Zemin's eyes they were still replaceable existences which could be crushed whenever and however he wanted.
If there was anyone else who after seeing what had just happened still thought that Bai Zemin was weak due to his injuries then that person was probably mentally retarded. Naturally, none of them stood up to cause trouble.
Bai Zemin walked back and motioned for Kang Lan to come over.
Kang Lan came out of the surprise and fear she felt when she saw Bai Zemin so badly injured. Seeing him motioning her to come closer, she ran at full speed to get closer in an instant.
"L- Leader, let me heal you." Kang Lan said fearfully and raised both hands.
However, just as she was planning on activating her skill, Bai Zemin stopped her.
"Wait a minute, Kang Lan." He said and looked at the surroundings as he slowly stated, "I want to do something else first."
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+2600 words chapter…
Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3
