"Cheng Tianming, the chief, has nothing to do with this. I alone will bear the resentment you have all been bottling up."
As his words fell, the four elders were all startled.
The youth before them was barely past twenty, yet his eyes were like blades tempered in frost. Beneath his calmness lay the fierce air of thousands of soldiers and horses trampling across the battlefield—this was no feigned ruthlessness, but the bearing possessed only by someone who had truly seen blood, commanded formations, and held the line in a crisis.
The four men's backs subtly tensed, a flicker of instinctive wariness passing through their hearts.
But this was the headquarters of the Liang Province Mercenary Corps, the foundation they had commanded for decades.
The four of them stood unmatched in cultivation throughout the corps. With a single stomp of their feet, all of Liang Province would quake three times.
No matter how strong Lin Chen was, he was ultimately an outsider. How could he shake their mountain gate with just a few words?
The four elders slowly rose. Their sleeves lightly swept through the air, and though their tones seemed mild, every word struck like a nail driven into the earth. "Young Master Lin, don't blame us for being unreasonable. We have never heard of your esteemed household's reputation.
"Yet Cheng Tianming, through blood, sweat, and his very life, handed the Liang Province Mercenary Corps over to the Lin Family. This is something we four old men can never agree to."
Lin Chen laughed aloud, having long since made his calculations.
He had expected this outcome before coming. With power changing hands, how could the four elders possibly let go so easily?
He could understand their resistance, but he could not tolerate their seizure of Cheng Tianming's military tally