Chapter 1548 The Qualities of a Leader

After Xue Qingyi finished announcing his decision, he dismissed everyone except Bi Jianqiong.

When only the two of them were left in the hall, Xue Qingyi asked, “Do you understand why I’m doing this, Uncle?

Bi Jianqiong thought for a while before his eyes suddenly lit up. He said, “To preserve our force while they weaken each other?”

“Mhm.” Xue Qingyi confirmed his answer and sighed, “In this fiasco, thirty supreme Saints from our camp have fallen, including Le Xuexiu’s force. This kind of casualty...is anything but small!

“In the future battle for supremacy among the eight domains, this loss alone will put our Blood Demon Ancient Domain in an unfavorable position.

“Under such a circumstance, if I were to disregard everything again to go and kill Lin Xun, then the best case is that I succeed in one fell swoop, but what if I fail to take his life?”

Bi Jianqiong couldn’t help but say, “With your current strength, how can Lin Xun be your opponent?”

Xue Qingyi’s scarlet pupils glowed intimidatingly. “With Lin Xun’s temperament, do you think he would wait for me to come and kill him? Not to mention...”

He stared Bi Jianqiong in the eyes as he said, “You have seen what he is capable of, Uncle, so how can you not see that killing him isn’t an easy thing to do?

“Le Xuexiu had six other experts with him, but they failed.

“Le Tianheng’s trio failed.

“Lie Yu’s group of five attacked him alongside another sixteen supreme Saints, and they still ended up failing.

“He alone laid siege to this huge City of Protection!”

A frightening light flashed in Xue Qingyi’s eyes, and his voice was eerily low, “So Uncle, do you still think that it’s wise to go for revenge right now?”

Bi Jianqiong shivered. A chill ran straight down his back.

Xue Qingyi moved his gaze from him, his expression once again indifferent. “As I said, Lin Xun is a knife. If he can cut us, then he can just as well cut a few pieces from the other seven domains! I know they want to see a joke out of us, and I will not let them have their wish.

“If we suffer losses, then everyone shall suffer losses together. No one shall be spared!”

Toward the end of his speech, Xue Qingyi was radiating an unnerving aura, and his face was frosty.

Bi Jianqiong could not help but ask, “Then...do we just put up with it and...do nothing?”

Xue Qingyi mused, “Of course not.”

Bi Jianqiong’s spirit was lifted.

But he then heard Xue Qingyi say decisively: “Withdraw all of our people from the Ancient Wasteland Territory and tell them that without my order, no one will take a step in there again in the future!”

What?!

A dumbfounded Bi Jianqiong almost screamed out.

Won’t this tell the other domains that their Blood Demon Ancient Domain has yielded to the Ancient Wasteland Domain?

“Of course, we can’t go about this kind of thing openly,” sighed Xue Qingyi as he was a little disappointed with Bi Jianqiong’s reaction. Not bothering to explain further, he said, “Go, just do as I say.”

Despite his doubts, Bi Jianqiong took the order and left.

Standing alone in the hall, Xue Qingyi remained in a long silence before suddenly erupting with uncontrollable murderous intent.

How could he not be furious after such humiliation?

“Lin Xun! I’ll allow you to jump around for a little while and see how sharp your blade is. After that, I will slowly settle this account with you!”

Every word was stressed with seething killing intent and endless hatred as they echoed in the empty hall.

......

“What? Xue Qingyi actually took it lying down?”

“Don’t tell me it was so great of a loss for his Blood Demon Territory that Xue Qingyi doesn’t dare to act rashly anymore?”

“Hmph, this is Xue Qingyi we are talking about. He must have other plans.”

“Heh, this fellow is obviously unwilling to let the others have it at his own expense.”

It didn’t take long for word to spread about Xue Qingyi’s decision. The leading figures of the other domains quickly learned about it.

They were astonished and instantly made various speculations.

The fact that Xue Qingyi was able to endure such an enmity made everyone wonder what he was really up to.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

However, the cultivators of the other domains also laughed at him. They viewed him as a hopeless coward to lie low at a time like this despite being one of the Azure Blue Eight Supremes.

“Xue Qingyi has no guts. I have doubts about how he could become one of the Azure Blue Eight Supremes.”

“What is he doing? As if his Blood Demon Ancient Domain hasn’t lost enough face.”

“Scared witless by an Ancient Wasteland Domain supreme Saint... Xue Qingyi is disappointing.”

As more and more people learned about this, the other territories started to be filled with all sorts of ridicule, which dealt a great blow to Xue Qingyi’s reputation.

The man, however, did nothing to defend himself. Right after having made his decision, he had gone into secluded meditation.

Without a care in the world.

......

Regardless of what the world thought, the storm created by Lin Xun quieted down with Xue Qingyi’s forbearance from taking action.

However, Lin Xun’s name also spread to the other domain territories and became known to all of their cultivators.

By now, everyone was aware that the tattered Ancient Wasteland Camp had finally produced a character that wasn’t an eyesore.

But that was all.

After all, Lin Xun was just one man. In the Nine Domains Battlefield where there were countless forces and powerful experts, he was unable to change the Ancient Wasteland Camp’s inevitable defeat.

This was the unanimous opinion of the other eight domains.

At this moment, Lin Xun was at the ruins of the City of Protection, prowling here and there while pondering and making calculations.

In order to establish an unbreakable City of Protection, the city protective formation was undoubtedly the key part.

As a dao rune master, setting up a large formation was not a difficult task for him, but the calculations required a great deal of time and energy.

This was already his nineteenth day of surveying the terrain and calculating the formation diagram.

During this time, Shaohao, Ruowu, and the other Ancient Wasteland Domain experts had set up a temporary campsite on this ruin.

Also during this period of time, foreign enemies had been coming in droves like flies at the smell of rotten flesh.

But before they could get close, Shaohao and Ruowu had joined hands and killed them all. None of these people had been lucky enough to be an exception.

Their corpses, bones, and blood were collected as much as possible. Since these were the materials for building the city, the more the better.

“In the past two days, the number of intrusions and enemies has plummeted visibly. At this rate, it will be a bit troublesome to collect the materials for construction,” analyzed Ruowu.

“The strongest ones have yet to appear.” Shaohao quietly gazed into the distance. “You should know that most of those who are ravaging the Ancient Wasteland Territory nowadays are led by ordinary True Saints. They naturally pose no threat to us.

“Also, they certainly have realized by now that we are not to be messed with. Those who are self-conscious of their lack of strength won’t dare to come here and seek death.

“However, once they figure out our purpose of gathering here, their leaders definitely won’t be able to sit still.

“After all, who among them can watch us rebuild this City of Protection?”

Ruowu nodded, her eyes gleaming. “Which is to say, when we truly start constructing the city, we will encounter unimaginable obstructions, is that right?”

“This is inevitable,” said Shaohao calmly. “This storm will come sooner or later, but it won’t be too serious at the beginning.”

Speaking of this, he smiled bitterly. “The most crucial thing is that Lin Xun is determined to use the bones and flesh of our enemies as the construction materials, but for such a big city, the amount needed is way beyond what you can think of.

“What we’ve gathered so far is just a drop in the bucket. We can’t even build a single wall with that.”

Hearing this, Ruowu was speechless.

She then looked over at Lin Xun who was concentrating on deducing the formation diagrams in the distance, and said, “No need to be hasty, we can take our time. I believe in Lin Xun. Since he is determined to do this, he must have his ways.”

“Mhm.” Shaohao then said, “But just waiting here is too passive a solution. I plan to take a group of people out for some training.”

Ruowu was taken aback. She asked, “Where to?”

With his hands behind his back, Shaohao domineeringly swept his gaze around. “This is the territory of our Ancient Wasteland Domain, but it’s filled with foreign enemies wreaking havoc everywhere. I intend to clean them all up little by little.”

After a pause, he added, “And I can help Lin Xun collect construction materials while I’m at it, so why not?”

Ruowu nodded. “Then you have to be careful.”

Shaohao’s lips curled up into a confident arc. “It’s not that easy to kill me.”

On the same day, Shaohao left with a group of roughly fifty Ancient Wasteland Domain experts.

Ruowu watched them leave with emotions roiling within her.

Imperial Son Shaohao was a supreme figure with great courage and broad-mindedness. He already possessed the qualities of a leader.

A heaven pride like him was usually difficult when it came to obeying and cooperating with other people.

But Shaohao was different. Even though the Ancient Wasteland Camp nowadays was tacitly following Lin Xun’s lead, Shaohao had never shown a shred of resistance or dissatisfaction.

On the contrary, his actions always considered the big picture, and he never held back from putting in his effort for the Ancient Wasteland Camp.

This made Ruowu, who had worried that there would be internal conflicts between Shaohao and Lin Xun, breathe a sigh of relief. At the same time, she couldn’t help but have admiration for him.

She believed that if there was no Lin Xun, the Ancient Wasteland Domain would honor Shaohao as its leader, and he in turn would not let everyone down.

Ruowu couldn’t help but take another glance at Lin Xun. This fellow was also one of a kind.

He never made the conscious decision to control everything nor wanted to be a leader, yet he still managed to make Shaohao willingly cooperate with his actions, which was really strange.

At this thought, Ruowu was suddenly struck dumb by a realization.

Aren’t I...the same?

From the moment she had met him in the Blood Demon Territory until now, she had also been unconsciously following his lead and doing whatever he said.

And she never resisted nor felt conflicted about it...

“One can’t help but follow him willingly and happily... Perhaps, this guy is a born leader?” pondered Ruowu.