Chapter 0799 – Li Luo's Retaliation
When the first order from their Li Luo reached their ears, the members of the first division were infuriated as expected.
Although they had not joined the rest of the banner in welcoming their new Banner Leader, was it necessary to give them such a stern warning in response?
"This is too much!"
"Didn’t he just injure our boss yesterday? What’s wrong with us not going to welcome him today?"
"With our boss out due to injury, there is no leader in the first division. Naturally, we don't know what to do!"
"Exactly! He still dares to stop us from participating in the Fiendish Devil Cave?"
"Does he really think he can just do whatever he wants in the Green Nether Banner?!"
"Don't worry, he is just trying to scare us."
"Let's go! We shall report this to Boss Zhong Ling!"
Multiple enraged complaints could be heard from the first division members at the Green Nether drill grounds. Moreover, the confidants of Zhong Ling were stirring up their emotions. Soon enough, they gathered a group of banner members and headed over to Zhong Ling's place to report this matter.
However, an even bigger group of first division members stayed behind. Shortly after the previous group had left the drill grounds, their complaints started to die down and looks of worry surfaced on their faces.
Evidently, the new Banner Leader was coming after Zhong Ling. The battle between these two had really started to heat up.
If it were anyone else that had come after Zhong Ling, the first division would be confident in their own Sub Leader. After all, Zhong Ling was not weak by any means, and he had a strong backing with Zhong Yushi, the Green Nether Hall’s Second Hall Master, being his uncle.
With such a background, no one in the Green Nether Banner had dared to trifle with him thus far.
But... Li Luo had an even more fearsome background.
Originally, Zhong Ling had an edge over Li Luo as he was more powerful, being a Gold Fiend. However, this was no longer the case after yesterday's battle. Li Luo had won despite being in a lower tier, and he was evidently an up and coming unstoppable force.
In addition, Li Taixuan, Li Luo’s father, was still the Hall Master of the Green Nether Hall despite being away for decades.
The respectable Lineage Chief... was clearly supportive of Li Luo no matter how one looked at it too.
Therefore, in the eyes of the ordinary banner members, Li Luo had a formidable backing in terms of his background and his strength. If Zhong Ling were to go up against him, there was no way to guarantee he would be able to get anything good out of it.
Furthermore, it was clear from Li Luo's tough attitude in this particular situation that he was not afraid of Zhong Ling's little tricks.
If what Li Luo had said was just an empty threat, everything would be fine. But if it was real...
Ordinary folk like them would have to suffer as a result of the conflict between two great forces.
As the ordinary members of the first division worried over it, Zhong Ling’s confidants arrived at his residence.
Zhong Ling welcomed them to his living room.
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Although his face was still pale, his injuries from yesterday's battle had recovered. As he listened to the grievances from the crowd, his face was largely unchanged, but his eyes were filled with fury.
"Hmph!"
He slammed the teacup in his hand onto the table as he coldly said, "What an arrogant Banner Leader!"
Him being absent due to his injuries was half truth and half lies. He had wanted to use his reputation in the first division to make things difficult for Li Luo, thinking that Li Luo would give in to him and he would be able to save face. Who would have thought that Li Luo would instantly flaunt such a tough response?
Clearly, Li Luo wanted to confront him directly and refused to give in.
"The first division is the strongest division in the Green Nether Banner. Without us, the Green Nether Banner will turn into the weakest banner. I don't believe he is willing to forsake our division. Pass my words down: Li Luo is just trying to scare us. As long as we stay united in the first division, Li Luo will give in after a few days and invite me back out respectfully!" Zhong Ling told them.
When the crowd heard his words, their spirits were lifted and they stuck together in one mind.
The atmosphere surrounding the Green Nether drill grounds remained tense the next day. None of the first division members had turned up for Harmony training, and their reason was the lack of a leader as Zhong Ling had yet to recover from the fight.
However, this situation did not persist for long before another piece of news reached the first division.
The internal vault of the Green Nether Banner had started to decrease the cultivation resources allocated to the first division.
The ordinary members of the first division started to panic when they heard about this. Li Luo was faster and more ruthless than they had expected. As the Banner Leader, he did have the authority to control the resource allocation in the banner.
Could he really be thinking of abandoning the first division?
Before they had gotten over their fright, the second day brought even more news. Apparently, their Banner Leader had asked the Third Hall Master, Li Rouyun, to help him inspect the talents in the Dragon's Fang Lineage and prepare a new batch of young elites as backup.
But what were these backups for?
The news sent a chill up their spines. Could the Banner Leader be thinking of replacing the whole first division? That was too ruthless and decisive!
With the bad news piling up, most of the ordinary members of the first division were panic-stricken. They had come to the Green Nether Banner to cultivate so that they could get a better life in the future. It would be utterly disastrous if they were to be kicked out of the banner by Li Luo now.
At this moment, some of them started to regret joining Zhong Ling in his conflict with Li Luo.
After all, Zhong Ling was not in the same predicament. He had a strong backing from Zhong Yushi, so he would not be hung up over cultivation resources like them. Moreover, he had not gotten any less resources at all, unlike the regular grunts at the first division.
This did not sit well with some of the first division’s personnel. They had paid a heavy price and risked their futures in order to support Zhong Ling in his protest, while Zhong Ling himself had not sacrificed anything in this at all.
After two days, there was dissatisfaction and complaints forming in private among the ordinary folks of the first division. Gradually, there were fewer and fewer people following Zhong Ling's allies.
On the third day, Li Luo gave a new order. The selection for the new Sub Leader of the first division would begin.
This caused a huge commotion within the first division. They were terrified by this news. Day after day, Li Luo had been getting more aggressive as if he did not care about the loss of their division at all. It was like he wanted to restructure the whole division.
At this rate, was Zhong Ling going to be fired as well?
Everyone knew that he was... used to be the strongest fellow in the whole Green Nether Banner!
It would be a huge loss for the Green Nether Banner to lose him, right? Did the Banner Leader not care about the future at all?
However, these reckless moves by Li Luo had indeed sparked some new ideas amongst the elite members of the first division.
If Zhong Ling was indeed fired, then they... would stand a chance, right?
Although Zhong Ling had a reputation in the first division, it was insufficient to make everyone give up everything for him. What's more, Li Luo had slowly diminished his reputation with his aggressive moves over the last three days.
…..
At the center training field in the Green Nether drill grounds.
The four divisions of the Green Nether Banner had gathered. Thousands of people filled the field, and it was a majestic sight to behold.
Li Luo stood on the highest point without much expression. After two days of hard work, he had finally mastered the Draconic Atavism Scripture of the Banner Leader. It was about time to try attaining Harmony with the whole Green Nether Banner now.
This would be a power that could rival someone at the Duke Stage.
Of course, the absence of the first division would greatly affect the power of Harmony. However, it was still worth a try to see how things went.
Most importantly, he had planned to resolve all the internal issues of the Green Nether Banner today.
Zhong Ling was a hidden threat that he had to get rid of no matter what. If he didn’t, he might be endangered during the state of Harmony if Zhong Ling pulled any tricks during the competition in the Mystical Yellow Dragonbreath Pool.
As he pondered over this, his gaze grew colder and more frigid.
He raised his palm and gently waved down, signaling to the banner members to begin the practice.
However, there was a sudden commotion coming from afar that distracted the soldiers at the training field. Everyone turned and looked, and they saw a huge wave of people coming towards them.
It was the members from the first division.
Although it was not everyone, the majority had come.
Thousands of them had gathered in front of Li Luo, who was standing on a tall platform, and dropped down to one knee despite the gazes from the other divisions.
"Banner Leader, twelve hundred members of the first division are reporting in!" a guy acting as their leader shouted loudly.
Hearing this, the members from the other four divisions could not help but raise their eyebrows.
When they looked up and saw the slender, tall guy on the elevated platform, they knew very well deep in their hearts that Zhong Ling had lost.
The future of the Green Nether Banner would ultimately be decided by the one in front of them.