Qianye looked back at the group of subordinates. As survivors of a great ordeal, all of them were injured and almost half couldn’t move well. The ones with the heaviest injuries were lying on the airship and would be carried down later. Mercenaries didn’t quite care about their appearance normally, and even less now that they were injured. At a glance, they looked more like refugees than mercenaries.

Their auras were fairly subdued since they were injured. A wounded beast simply couldn’t compare to an undamaged creature of the same species.

Ji Rui was an old fox. In order to prove that he wasn’t just currying favor, he said with a laugh, “Sire, the Empire is full of talented people, so these men might seem ordinary in comparison, but they are rare talents in the neutral lands. Half of your men have the potential to break through to the champion realm. Once they do, Dark Flame will no longer be the same.”

Qianye immediately understood what Ji Rui wanted to say. This old fox liked to exaggerate a bit, but it was true that a third of them might break through.

With enough resources, these promising mercenaries would break through into several dozen champions. Even the Empire’s numbered army corps only had that many experts....