Chapter 437 - Stone Heart Has Been Weakened?
"King?" Shen Mei blinked in surprise and while looking Bai Zemin straight in the eyes asked a little lost, "Excuse me but I don't understand what you mean with that."
She understood the matter of the division of levels by means of a single title, something that was indeed simple and without too much structure but definitely organized and clear enough to avoid problems. It was a scale of divisions that could undoubtedly work for a long time and only when the faction wanted to take a huge step would it be necessary to make adjustments to polish the overall structure in order to move forward without staggering in the process like an old machine and losing several crucial pieces.
However, Shen Mei did not understand the matter of 'King'.... No, rather than not understanding it, she simply didn't want to think about it.
"Just as you heard." Bai Zemin said without changing his tone of voice. "The initial goal of our Transcendent faction is to control the entirety of China and unify all these lands under a single standard. Although there will be a government cabinet and those holding high-level Noble titles will be able to give opinions and even interfere in decision making, the final say will always be mine. Basically, I aim to become the King of these lands and subsequently Emperor once all enemy races are expelled."
"..." Shen Mei gawked at him and after several seconds of silence whispered, "Are you crazy...?"
"Who knows..." Bai Zemin chuckled and his eyes glittered strangely as he pointed behind him and calmly said, "That question was asked to me many times until now. You are not the first and several of those here thought the same as you. For all of them, it hasn't even been 1 month since they received the news of that target of mine.... But tell me what do you see in their faces now?"
"What do I see in their faces now?" Shen Mei repeated the question as it caught her off guard. Still, she looked into the eyes of those she could see.
Confidence, faith, pride, anxiety, desire, greed, certitude, cunning, etc.
Shen Mei saw many emotions flashing in the different soul evolvers, emotions that were as clear as sunlight for all to see.
They all seemed to be confident about the future, to have faith in something or someone, proud of their own strength and position, anxious to try something, desirous to achieve a certain goal, greedy for the benefits they will receive, certain that something will happen, cunning enough to take advantage of the opportunities they were given, etc.
If all these emotions were there because of what Bai Zemin had just said.... Shen Mei was frightened at the same time as her heart thudded.
Her dark eyes met the dark eyes of the Transcendent faction leader, trying to find what it was that others saw in him to follow him practically blindly even though they probably all knew that a single mistake would mean the end of their paths. A single mistake would mark the end, an end even more severe than the one brought by the changes of the Soul Record since this end would not mean the end of an era but the end of their lives!
"You don't need to think about it too much." Wu Yijun stepped forward and stood a step behind Bai Zemin.
She looked at Shen Mei with a small smile on her beautiful baby face and said word by word:
"Earlier, you were probably able to see what Bai Zemin's power can do. His current power has reached a realm that honestly even I am surprised even though I have been following him practically from the moment the world changed. However, even though his personal power reached a level that someone like me cannot comprehend, he never misused that power. There are many beautiful women willing to be with him but for the sake of finding his loved ones and for the sake of building a safer world for them, he never even stopped for a day to rest let alone flirt.... All of us here believe that following such a leader is not that bad despite the danger that failing in our path represents."
"That's true!" Little Luo Ning suddenly rushed out of the lines and stood next to Bai Zemin as she said loudly, "Big brother Bai is really good! Unlike that old man named Lei Su who had many wives and mistreated them, big brother Bai doesn't even have a single girlfriend!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Luo Ning's words immediately caused the original soul evolvers of the Transcendent faction to burst into laughter. Of course, rather than mockery over Bai Zemin's situation, the reason they were all laughing was because Luo Ning had actually done it again one more time!
After all, everyone was more than aware that if he wanted, forget about having a girlfriend; even having 2000 girlfriends wasn't difficult at all! He wouldn't even have to look for them and 90% of the female soul evolvers of the faction, which were mostly beauties after evolving and absorbing Soul Power purer than theirs, would line up to join him.
"These bastards..." Bai Zemin looked behind him and muttered through gritted teeth. Soon, however, his expression relaxed and he shook his head not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
It was naturally impossible to get angry over something as childish as this. Besides, Bai Zemin felt that it wasn't so bad to let his subordinates relax a little after experiencing so many abrupt emotional ups and downs.
'Uh?' Bai Zemin blinked in shock. If it was before he definitely wouldn't have thought like this!
Even if he didn't care, at least he wouldn't worry about the mental state of subordinates who were just a means to an end; no matter how slight and insignificant that concern was!
'Is it because of this title?' His attention focused on a certain record, attracted by the title Bright Mind he had just received.
Apparently, the title Bright Mind judged by itself that Bai Zemin's practically inhuman thought was detrimental to him so the effect of the skill Stone Heart was suppressed by 10%.... As to whether it was only the thought of "slight concern" that would appear or whether more would appear was yet to be seen as this title had just been born.
While Bai Zemin was lost in his own thoughts, Shen Mei watched the relieved and smiling expressions of the original members of the Blood Spear Legion. As she watched everyone laugh nonchalantly, as she watched the little girl who could summon strange cats from the shadows narrow her eyes cutely and laugh next to the leader of the Transcendent faction, for some strange reason her heart shuddered strongly.
For the first time, Shen Mei's heart and emotions completely overwhelmed her ever rational brain and mind; rational enough to make wise and optimal choices in times of need as had happened after deciding to let the then enemy Fu Xuefeng go alive.
'So, this is the faction these people call Transcendent...' She thought to herself before resting her eyes on Bai Zemin. 'Even though he was nothing more than a 20 year old college student in the past.... How did he manage to unite all these people under his standard?'
At this moment, rather than a leader guiding his subordinates, the members of the Transcendent faction looked like a family more than a military unit composed of soul evolvers!
"Hehe... I hope getting carried away by the emotions of the moment won't make me regret it later." Shen Mei muttered to herself.
Although Bai Zemin's senses were very sharp, amidst the chaos he did not manage to hear the words of the woman in front of him clearly even though she was only a couple of meters away. Therefore, he looked at her and asked serenely:
"I'm sorry but I'm afraid I couldn't hear you. Did you make a decision?"
"As a matter of fact, I made a decision." Shen Mei nodded and approached him step by step, stopping only when their bodies were close enough that only a space of a palm remained between their two leather armors.
As she smiled weakly, she said in a clear voice, "You aroused my curiosity, Bai Zemin.... Let me see what all these people see special about you, since at this moment in my eyes, you look no different than a lunatic who aspires to achieve the impossible."
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