It's Not Easy to be a Man After Travelling to the Future

Chapter 431-440

Chapter 431: Goading Qiao Ting!

Thunder King Qiao Ting had been having a hard time lately. Even though he knew that he would certainly receive some flak after his defeat at the hands of Lingtian, he had not expected the impact of the defeat to be so significant. He was so affected by it that he could hardly bear it.

Those vice regiment commanders of Leiting who had been so reverent to him before were now flippant and disrespectful, blatantly and subtly conveying their wish for him to abdicate his position on his own. Even those major battle clan leaders he had personally cultivated had also begun to be disobedient behind his back. In the eyes of the regular members, Qiao Ting had even perceived some discontent and distrust.

Was losing such an unsalvageable catastrophe? Qiao Ting was a proud person — since Leiting could no longer abide him, he simply resigned from his post as the regiment commander of Leiting. If not for the fact that he still wanted to represent Leiting to fight against Lingtian again next year and wash away this debt of shame personally, he definitely would have quit completely and left Leiting ...

However, Qiao Ting did not expect that things did not end with his resignation from the post of regiment commander. Very soon, a rumour spread across the campus, saying that while he had been the regiment commander of Leiting, not only had he oppressed the talented juniors in his faction, keeping them from being able to shine, he had also abused his authority to practise nepotism. The rumours also said that he was very high-handed, completely suppressing all views which opposed his own, causing the Leiting Mecha Clan to be constantly filled with anger and resentment.

Under the purposeful instigation to spread the rumours, Qiao Ting's reputation continued to fall. Now, every time Qiao Ting stepped outside, he could feel the scornful gazes of the people around him, many of which were also tinged with schadenfreude.

Qiao Ting was not a stupid person. After some quick investigation, he found out that this was the handiwork of the current regiment commander of Leiting. Qiao Ting did not feel much anger, only some disappointment. In order to completely supplant him, the other had actually employed such an underhanded method. How could someone like this lead Leiting to greater heights? Thinking about that cold regiment commander of Lingtian's with his outstanding abilities, Qiao Ting began to fear for Leiting's future.

At the thought of Ling Lan, Qiao Ting's feelings were extremely complicated. Not only because of his defeat at Ling Lan's hands, but also because of Ling Lan's ability to subdue her subordinates. Ling Lan's actions and behaviour were actually very much like his own, domineering to the extreme — and yet, his own subordinates were only loyal and obedient on the surface, having their own private schemes and plots in secret, while those other regiment commanders of Lingtian were serving under Ling Lan whole-heartedly. Regardless of any mistakes Ling Lan may commit, or however great the losses those mistakes may cause to Lingtian, Qiao Ting believed that those regiment commanders would only blame themselves for their shortcomings and not harbour any resentment towards Ling Lan.

Was this the difference between a king who had created his own kingdom and a king who was only defending the kingdom his predecessors had handed down? Truth be told, Qiao Ting was very envious of Ling Lan. He envied how the other could make decisions so wilfully, never ever being checked by anyone. In contrast, even at his most glorious hour, he still had to bend and compromise for the sake of the larger picture. If possible, Qiao Ting too wanted to be like Ling Lan and be a king who had forged his own kingdom, with everything within his control.

Qiao Ting did not know that although Ling Lan was the first regiment commander of Lingtian, Ling Lan had always been a free-rein general who had left everything in the faction to be handled by the other three regiment commanders. This attitude of absolute trust 1 was also the main reason why Wu Jiong, Li Yingjie, and the others were so loyal in their support of Ling Lan ... since you trust me so, I will return it a hundredfold.