Commander Huo Chen
As Xue Bai entered the main hall with Xiao'er following closely behind, he saw the shopkeeper and Blacksmith Guo kneeling in the center of the hall with his parents and Li Huo looking at them from above.
Li Huo, oddly enough, had his own seat at this time. However, from how much it differed from the rest of the hall's aesthetic, it was obvious the man just pulled the chair out of his spatial ring so he wouldn't be forced to stand.
Xue Bai's footsteps weren't heavy nor created much of a sound, but since everyone in the main hall was in the Qi Sea realm and above, they had access to Spiritual Sense.
So once they all heard footsteps coming, five strands of Spiritual Sense flew at Xue Bai and Xiao'er.
After they realized who the person was, though, each pair of eyes had a different reaction.
Xue Feng and Li Rou were the first ones to react as they both looked happy at his arrival and quickly motioned him to come over and stand with them.
Xue Bai was obedient and nodded before he walked up the small set of stairs. But instead of Li Huo, who made himself at home, Xue Bai decided to stand behind them.
While he was the heir, he had yet to succeed his Father. So he couldn't truly stand on equal footing as them yet.
Once Xue Bai stood behind his parents, he felt a gaze to his right. But once he turned to look at who it was, he realized that it was his Uncle, who was looking at him unkindly.
Li Huo was still annoyed from being left to clean up his mess. But Xue Bai just gave his Uncle a cheeky smile which caused Li Huo to laugh.
He was going to start a conversation with his Uncle, but before he could, the Wang twins also entered the main hall.
Once they entered, the twins saw the workers from earlier and were quick on the uptake, so without any words, they went over and knelt in the center of the hall next to them.
Xue Feng started to speak after seeing everyone he called for in the Main Hall.
"Blacksmith Guo, while I know your name, before I begin, shopkeeper, can you tell me yours?" Xue Feng asked.
"Yes, Duke Xue, this servant's name is Li Qi." Li Qi humbly answered. But as he did, Li Qi still kept his head facing the ground.
"Then Blacksmith Guo and Li Qi, since I assume you both know why you're here. I'll explain to you your new positions in my dukedom. Since the main reason my son recruited you was that you saw something you shouldn't have, you both have a choice." Xue Feng paused before he looked at them with cold eyes and continued, "Like those hunters, you both will swear a Dao Oath never to reveal what Bai'er opened. Or die where you stand."
'How is that a choice!' The two men cried inwardly.
But they were both greedy for life, so without any hiccups, they both swore a Dao oath. If they would rather die than bend, they would've died in the Stone Gambling Pavilion.
So what was the point of being stubborn now? It would only waste theirs and the Duke's time.
Xue Feng smiled at this.
"Now that the two of you are a part of my Dukedom and have decent cultivation and experience, I will give you both a space to excel in," Xue Feng finally looked at them and said. "Blacksmith Guo, you go and find Commander Huo in the Inner Region. He is the lead of my side professionals where you specialize in. And Li Qi, you can go back to Snowy Wind City and go to Herb Mountain Pavilion. You can take my wife's token and find Zhou Beizhan and tell him to make you the lead of all sales associates there.
Hearing such a generous offer, the two men who were still kneeling on the ground became ecstatic.
They had thought Xue Feng would suppress them with terrible positions and be constantly supervised. However, to their surprise, it was the opposite.
And since neither of them dared to deny such a comfortable position, they both kowtowed as hard as they could and responded, "Yes, Duke Xue!"
Not bothering to respond, Xue Feng waved his hand, and a similar-looking token to the one that Li Rou gave Xue Bai appeared. Then by using his profound cultivation base while still sitting, Xue Feng made the token float over to Li Qi before gently landing the man's outstretched hands.
"Go to your new positions now. I have already informed Commander Huo and Zhou Beizhan, and they are waiting for you." Xue Feng
Kowtowing once more, the men quickly run to their new jobs. Leaving the Wang twins as the only people still kneeling on the ground.
Xue Feng waited for a few minutes before speaking this time and let the two twins stay kneeling on the ground. However, once he felt the two previous men leave the Core Region, he started to speak.
"Wang Ye and Wang Shu, while you two have seen a core secret like them. You both are in very different situations than them. Not only are you two my son's bodyguards, but you two are also people I look favorably upon. So rather than giving you something like them, I'll only promote you once more. You two are allowed to choose a courtyard in the Core region near my son's. And while the Spiritual Qi in it isn't comparable to my own, it is far better than your previous courtyard." Xue Feng kindly spoke.
Other than him and his wife, they were the only people to his knowledge with a peak Yellow-grade set of Martial Veins. So Xue Feng truly looked highly upon the twins and hoped that they could at least reach the Domain Lord realm in the future.
Plus, the two were extremely loyal to his dukedom and him. And as an experienced general, Xue Feng knew his way around the human heart and how to make loyal subordinates.
Suppressing them would only cause their loyalty to twist and turn them against him in the long run. So rather than idiotically creating two ticking time bombs at his side, Xue Feng promoted them.
Hopefully, through this, the two would become firmly tied to his ship and would become his left and right-hand men.
But only time will tell.
Thankfully it worked.
The twins have wanted to rise in the Dukedom since childhood. And now that they heard they would be allowed to live in the Core Region, they felt like it was a dream. However, even after they pinched each other and reality stayed the same, they realized it was reality.
So even harder than the men before, the twins kowtowed toward Xue Feng, thanking him.
Xue Feng just waved them off with a smile and reminded them to move courtyards. And after kowtowing once more, they left.
'It seems they aren't ingrates and know how to be loyal.' Xue Feng thought.
Once the outsiders left, Xue Bai couldn't hold back his questions anymore. So after he turned to his father, he asked them.
"Father, I understand Big and Little Wang, but why did you give those two such good jobs? While they are in the Dharma Idol realm, it's because of the resources they wasted. Not only are they just medicine jars, but they also have no combat power. Why hire them?" Xue Bai was confused by this.
While Xue Bai didn't want to per se kill the two, at the end of the day, they didn't know much. Why hire them?
Worst case scenario, they leak the information about Xue Bai opening a low Black-grade natural treasure. However, even then? What about it? The other two Dukes had treasures of this rank. So why would their family having one be so bad?
Xue Feng looked at his son with surprise. He didn't think his son would comment on his actions and would only nod mindlessly.
'He's growing.' Xue Feng smiled inwardly.
Seeing his son want to become interested in his thought process, Xue Feng decided to explain it to him.
"You're right. While the information they possess isn't too threatening to us, it's still something important. And if they decide to leak it, while it wouldn't bring too much of a threat to our home, it's still a danger that I'd rather not have. Besides, our dukedom is more than capable of taking in two more workers, even more, so people in the Dharma Idol realm. Their strength is low, but their usefulness isn't. Better to hire than to kill useful men." Xue Feng patiently explained to Xue Bai.
Xue Bai nodded at this. Xue Feng knew they had a threat, but it was too small for him to worry about. And the value they possessed overvalued the minuscule threat they could possess should they turn rogue.
But with their personalities, leaking the information would be little to none.
Both of them were greedy for life. However, they swore a Dao Oath. So should they ever leak the information, their cultivation bases would be gone.
And since both of the men were far beyond 100 years of age, if they were crippled, death wouldn't be too far along.
However, Xue Bai had another question.
"I met Zhou Beizhan earlier today, and Uncle Li also told me about his past, but who is Commander Huo?" Xue Bai asked.
He heard the name from Xue Feng earlier and wanted to bring it up then, but since his father was in the middle of giving out orders, he stayed mum and only remembered the name, so he asked about it later.
"Commander Huo is a prodigy from a declining Marquis Family under me. He has been the only capable cultivator from their family in this generation, so after offering the Huo Clan to take them as subordinates, I took him away from them. So it was a win-win deal for us both." Xue Feng replied.
Xue Bai's face changed after he heard that. He knew who this Commander Huo was now.
Commander Huo's name was Huo Chen, one of Huo Long's uncles and someone who would die soon. After hearing the news of Huo Long's crippling, he made a trip back home but died of a sneak attack on the way back.
However, Xue Bai didn't show anything on his face.
Saying all of this now would be stupid. It was better to wait and try to find a way to save the man in the future.
Anyways he had time. Huo Long would be crippled in about seven years, so Xue Bai had more than enough time to formulate a plan to save Huo Chen.
And after talking to his Uncle a little longer, he went to his room for the night.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every little thing helps - https://ko-fi.com/slarbi123.
There is now a discord for this novel. However, be warned. It is rather bare bones. I suck at Discord. The link is in the synopsis.
Also, if you like this novel, you can check out my others!