The new commander-in-chief of the Blood River Battlefield is Howard Xiao. Formerly a deputy director under the Military Council's Strategic Operations Camp, he’s the type who aims high but delivers little. As soon as he arrived at Blood River, he tried to stuff all the key positions with his own cronies.
As the saying goes, every radish has its own pit—he wanted to place his people in all the important posts, but completely overlooked the existence of the deputy commanders.
Naturally, he ran into united opposition from all ten deputy commanders.
Although the two deputies with the most merit—Fiona Li and Marcus Meng—had already been transferred away, the remaining ten who continued as deputy commanders all carried considerable achievements.
Howard Xiao had neither prestige nor accomplishments, yet tried to snatch food from the bowls of the ten deputies—naturally, he ended up making a fool of himself.
Not only did the usual 'three fires for a new official' fail to ignite—even the ordinary soldiers at Blood River knew this new commander couldn't hold the fort. He had the title but no real authority, and had already been completely sidelined by the ten deputy commanders.
Helpless, Howard Xiao could only appeal to the Military Council for help, hoping to have those ten arrogant, unruly deputies reassigned.
But right at that moment, war broke out between the East Domain and the Military Council—his memorial vanished into the void, never to be heard from again.
Somehow, the ten deputies got wind of his attempt to have them all reassigned, so they became even more brazen, even more over the top, and showed him not a shred of respect.
Two figures flickered—Leon Huang and Raymond Lei appeared in Blood River City.
"Old Lei, let’s sit in a tavern first and scope out the situation in Blood River City," Leon suggested.
So, the two of them climbed up to a tavern in Blood River City and took a seat in a discreet corner.
They sipped on some wine, listened to the idle chatter of other diners, and before they knew it, an hour had passed.
During that hour, Leon and Raymond got a pretty good grasp of the current situation in Blood River City.
"Those ten guys are totally lawless—they’ve completely sidelined the commander!" Raymond said, exasperated.
"Feeling pretty pleased with yourself, aren’t you?" Leon asked with a grin.
"What’s there to be pleased about?"
Leon joked, "Back when you were in charge, those guys did whatever you said. But swap in someone else, and suddenly they’re all acting out. Makes your leadership look pretty impressive by comparison, don’t you think, Marshal Lei?"
Raymond shot Leon a glare. "Do I look that shallow to you? Honestly though, I never expected those guys to get so out of hand. Howard Xiao’s still the commander—you’d think they’d at least let him save some face!"
Leon snorted. "Enough with the crocodile tears—let’s get down to business. So, who do you think should take command of the Blood River Battlefield?"
"Why not let Marcus Meng take command? Otherwise, nobody else could keep those guys in line," Raymond mused.
Leon nodded in full agreement. "Alright, Marcus Meng it is!"
If Howard Xiao were the tough, scheming type, bringing Blood River under control might have required some tricks. But since he’s just a pushover and a softie, Leon had no reason to be polite—he’d just send Howard back where he came from. With the Military Council now holed up in the Holy City, nobody cared about them anymore.
In less than fifteen minutes, all ten deputy commanders of Blood River City arrived at the tavern.
Seeing Leon and Raymond sitting there, they all rushed over in excitement.
After a few quick greetings, Raymond proposed kicking out Howard Xiao and appointing Marcus Meng as the new commander of Blood River.
Every deputy commander raised both hands in favor.
With that settled, Leon went to the Holy City, brought Marcus Meng to the Blood River Battlefield, and kicked Howard Xiao out. Marcus Meng became the new commander.
Once the Blood River situation was resolved, Leon and Raymond headed straight for the Black Crag Battlefield.
Fiona Li had already been commander of Black Crag for several months. Though she had no roots there, her skillful tactics had quickly put her in full control.
Leon and Raymond were both impressed.
Fiona was delighted by their visit, laid out a banquet, and personally joined them.
After three rounds of drinks and five courses of food, everyone set down their cups and chopsticks in tacit agreement.
But before Leon could speak, Fiona took the initiative—she volunteered to bring the Black Crag Battlefield under Leon’s command.
Don’t be fooled by her playful, show-off exterior—she’s actually very shrewd.
Even the mighty Military Council had been toppled by Leon, and his fair division of spoils earned Fiona’s admiration. So when she heard the army had suffered a crushing defeat in the East Domain, she started eyeing Leon’s camp and decided to join him.
Three out of seven battlefields were now under control.
The remaining four required careful thought—how to bring them under Leon’s banner?
The other four were the Sky Origin Battlefield, Blackwater Battlefield, Red Sand Battlefield, and West Sea Battlefield.
Sky Origin fields 1.2 million troops, led by Brent Bu—the younger brother of Elder Bu. He’s been commander for over thirty years and has made the battlefield nearly impregnable. Winning over Sky Origin means winning over Brent Bu himself.
If this were any other force, Leon might just launch a decapitation strike. But Brent Bu is different—he’s repelled the Devil Race time and again, earning great merit for humanity. Leon could ignore reputation, but he wouldn’t harm a true hero of the Human Race.
Next was Blackwater Battlefield, with 600,000 troops under Harry Han—a young commander of thirty-eight, only late Great Grandmaster in cultivation but highly talented and promoted entirely by military merit.
Harry Han’s battlefield skills are top-notch; his rise to commander was earned through accumulated military achievements.
Red Sand Battlefield holds 800,000 troops, led by Logan Sima—a former foot soldier who fought his way up through sheer ferocity. Now a peak Martial Saint, he still leads charges from the front, and his troops fight like ravenous wolves.
Normally, a commander would direct from the center, overseeing the big picture. But Logan Sima always leads from the front, so his soldiers fight just as fiercely as he does.
Finally, there’s the West Sea Battlefield—1.1 million troops, commanded by Brian Bai. This front mainly fights off sea demonic beasts.
Since Brian Bai took command, sea beasts have rarely broken through into the interior. He’s not much for offense, but his defensive skills are unmatched—he once led three thousand defenders to hold off a hundred thousand sea beasts for a whole month.
In the days that followed, Leon and Raymond visited each of the four commanders. Brent Bu was cold and distant; Harry Han was warm and seemed ready to defect; Logan Sima dismissed them and had them thrown out.
Brian Bai, on the other hand, was very clear: "No matter who rules the Human Race, I’ll guard West Sea Battlefield and never let the sea beasts set foot on our land."
No matter who takes charge, Brian Bai will defend West Sea for humanity.
He won’t let the sea beasts invade human territory.