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Translator: Silavin & Jon
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
“Good,” Hong Di nodded faintly, “We can return Great Evolution Pass to the Humans, but it comes with conditions.”
Mi Jing Lun replied with a smile, “Nothing is free in this world; we’re fully aware of that. It’s understandable that you have some conditions. As for whether we’ll agree to it, that’s another thing.”
Hong Di continued, “The soldiers of the two Races are fortunate you are such a principled person.”
Ou Yang Lie pursed his lips, as though he was saying this Black Ink Clansman was buttering them up again.
Hong Di ignored him and got straight to the point, “Since the Black Ink Clan occupied Great Evolution Pass 30,000 years ago, we’ve spent a lot of time and effort fortifying it. Other than the various setups, the Black Ink Nest there alone is extremely valuable. If we leave, there’s no way we can keep the Black Ink Nest, so we expect those losses to be borne by the Humans. Therefore, we can give Great Evolution Pass back to you, but you must give us sufficient resources as compensation.”
Mi Jing Lun kept a smile on his face, “That’s understandable. Is there anything else?”
Hong Di was startled, as he had never expected this Human to be so approachable. He thought that the Humans would haggle over everything with him. Besides that, when they talked about where the peace talks should be held, the Black Ink Clan demanded that they take place just 1 million kilometres away from Great Evolution Pass, yet the Humans had directly agreed to it.
It seemed that this Eighth-Order Master was a straightforward person.
“Additionally, we were repeatedly intercepted by the Humans when we tried to leave the Great Pass in the past. We had no choice but to engage in life-or-death battles with you and eventually were forced to return to the Pass. In order to prevent this from happening again, we request your Army to withdraw a 10-day distance either to the left or right of Great Evolution Pass. Only then can we leave without any worries. What do you think?”
“A reasonable request,” Mi Jing Lun nodded, “Will you send some people to monitor us?”
Hong Di nodded, “Yes, I will.”
If they weren’t monitored, there was no guarantee that the Humans would stay 10 days distance from Great Evolution Pass. If the Humans blocked their way again, a battle would be inevitable.
“Do you have other conditions?” Mi Jing Lun asked with the same inscrutable smile on his lips.
Hong Di had no idea what other conditions he should come up with. Getting resources from the Humans was more like a way to show that the sacrifices of the Black Ink Clansmen who were killed in the battle were not in vain. Other than that, the Humans had to stay far away to ensure that the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t be ambushed. These two conditions were enough.
It was pointless to bring up other conditions. It wasn’t like they could tell the Humans to apologise for the death of the Black Ink Clan soldiers. The Humans would never agree to such a ridiculous demand.
As such, Hong Di shook his head and said, “If the Humans agree to these two conditions, we will return Great Evolution Pass to you.”
Mi Jing Lun put on a smile, “You’re a frank person as well. In that case, we should be straightforward with each other. Since you’ve mentioned the conditions you have, I’ll now talk about the conditions we Humans have.”
Hong Di frowned, “The Humans have some conditions?”
Mi Jing Lun said, “Since this is a negotiation, why can’t the Humans propose some conditions?”
Hong Di was rendered speechless, but reckoning that he should hear him out, he nodded, “In that case, please go ahead.”
After a nod, Mi Jing Lun waved his feather fan and said grimly, “The first condition is that the Black Ink Clan can leave Great Evolution Pass, but all the resources, including all fortifications and arrangements the Black Ink Clan has installed, must stay behind.”
Upon hearing that, Hong Di was infuriated, “You want us to leave all resources and equipment behind in Great Evolution Pass?”
He thought he had misheard him.
Then, he turned to look at Nu Yi, who appeared puzzled with a frown.
“Yes, everything.” Mi Jing Lun nodded. Regardless of whether the other party would agree to it, he pointed his feather fan at Great Evolution Pass and went on to say, “The second condition is that the Black Ink Nest in Great Evolution Pass has to stay. The Black Ink Clan cannot destroy it, nor can you bring it away.”
“Impossible!” Hong Di roared. The Black Ink Nest belonged to him, and he had personally hatched it. If it fell into the Humans’ hands, the transmission of information between the Black Ink Clan would be exposed to the Humans. Moreover, Humans had many strange and unusual methods, so he wasn’t certain if they could use this Black Ink Nest to harm him somehow. Therefore, he directly rejected the idea without even giving it a thought. Even if he couldn’t bring the Black Ink Nest away, he had to destroy it rather than allow the Humans to control it.
Mi Jing Lun ignored his outburst directly, and as the smile on his face faded, he looked Hong Di in the eye and declared solemnly, “The third condition is that all Black Ink Disciples must stay.”
This time, Hong Di didn’t explode, because when his fury crossed a critical point and he instead became calm. He stared at Mi Jing Lun with narrowed eyes and replied impassively, “It seems that you’re not really interested in holding peace talks with us.”
With a serious expression, Mi Jing Lun said, “We’re sincere; otherwise, we wouldn’t have come at all.”
Hong Di slowly shook his head, “But I don’t see any sincerity from you.”
“Letting the Black Ink Clan safely leave Great Evolution Pass is the biggest sincerity we can show.”
Hong Di furrowed his brows, “What do you mean by that?”
Mi Jing Lun replied with a smile, “Must I make it clear to you? Alright, I’ll do just that. Over the years, it was the North-South Army that has been fighting against you all. On the other hand, the East-West Army is responsible for destroying the Royal City. 10 days ago, in the battle outside the Royal City, the Black Ink Clan suffered a massive defeat. Many of your comrades were killed, and the Royal Lord has suffered grievous injuries. Now, the East-West Army is on its way here from the Royal City and will rendezvous with us within a month. When that time comes, we’ll have sufficient manpower and the Old Ancestor with us. So, how are you going to stop us even if you hole up inside Great Evolution Pass?”
Hong Di was flabbergasted, “Y-You know what had happened at the Royal City?”
He had never expected that the Humans were aware of what had happened at the Royal City. The reason he even came up with his two conditions was that he thought that the Humans were inferior to the Black Ink Clan when it came to the transmission of information. In truth, the Black Ink Clan would be considered lucky if they could safely leave Great Evolution Pass and return to the Royal City. By bringing up two conditions, Hong Di simply wanted to make the Black Ink Clan appear overbearing while it wouldn’t matter even if the Humans didn’t agree to them in the end.
Therefore, he was surprised to learn that the Humans had found out the outcome of the war.
[How did they find out about it? It would take a person at least a month to arrive at this place from the Royal City. The war at the Royal City only ended 10 days ago, so it was unlikely that the Humans in this place would learn about the outcome so soon!]
The only possibility is that the Humans had already expected the outcome of the war and sent someone to this place to inform the North-South Army about it in advance!
“Are you surprised, Sir Hong Di?” Mi Jing Lun smiled faintly.
Hong Di was a Territory Lord, after all, so after a momentary surprise, he came to his senses and snapped, “Why did you even agree to my conditions, then? Are you messing with me?”
Mi Jing Lun shook his head, “I did not agree to your conditions. I only said that you could bring up your conditions, and we would discuss it.”
Hong Di fell silent.
Without giving the other party time to ponder on it, Mi Jing Lun went on to say, “The East-West Army will arrive at this place in a month; however, we cannot rule out the possibility that the Old Ancestor might act on her own. In that case, she will reach this place from the Royal City within a few days. When that happens, none of you will be able to leave.”
Hong Di shivered at that moment, for the notion of the Old Ancestor coming to this place on her own never crossed his mind, so he quickly objected, “There’s no way your Old Ancestor is not injured after the fight with the Royal Lord. In that case, she has to be recuperating now. What is the point of you bluffing?”
Mi Jing Lun shook his head, “She’s not in a rush to recuperate as retaking Great Evolution Pass is more important. The Old Ancestor is unlike your Royal Lord who fears death. Every time a battle broke out, she always led the charge. So, if all of you want to safely leave Great Evolution Pass, you’d better do it quickly. Leaving within three days would be ideal; otherwise, you won’t be able to when the Old Ancestor arrives.”
Despite knowing that this Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was trying to threaten him, Hong Di was still flustered, for if the Old Ancestor really came to this place on her own, the Black Ink Clan would be doomed.
Over the years, from the information they had gathered through the Black Ink Nests, the Old Ancestor was a woman who could hardly be said to be a reasonable and mild-tempered person.
After giving it a thought for a brief moment, Hong Di said, “We’ll agree to your first condition.”
The resources didn’t matter to them. As long as they could return to the Royal City, they could mine more; therefore, he directly agreed to it.
“Very good.”
“However, I’m afraid I can’t agree to the second and third conditions.”
Mi Jing Lun shot him a dispassionate glance, “If you don’t agree to it, we’ll have no choice but to fight.”
Hong Di grit his teeth, “If we fight, you two will definitely lose your lives.”
Mi Jing Lun replied impassively, “That’s fine. We won’t feel lonely with you two to keep us company on the way to the Yellow Springs.”
At this moment, Hong Di was regretful of the decision he had made before. He shouldn’t have tried to act brave by only bringing Nu Yi with him. Instead, he should have had all the Territory Lords come over. With more people on their side, they could join forces and defeat these two Humans.
Now, it was an embarrassing situation. If a fight broke out here, these two Eighth-Order Masters would undoubtedly die, but he and Nu Yi would probably lose their lives as well. The Eighth-Order Humans seemed to have grown a penchant for mutually assured destruction with Territory Lords.
Seeing that they had reached a deadlock, Nu Yi, who had remained silent all along, suddenly proposed, “Please calm yourselves. Since this is a negotiation, we should keep cool heads. What’s the point of confronting each other now? In my opinion, both of us should make a concession.”
Mi Jing Lun turned to look at her, “What kind of concession will you make?”
Nu Yi replied apologetically, “Please give me a moment, Sir.”
Saying so, she communicated with Hong Di using Divine Sense right in front of Mi Jing Lun and Ou Yang Lie.
A myriad of expressions came over Hong Di and a while later, he nodded with a gloomy expression. It was apparent that he was still unwilling, but had no other choice.
It was then that Nu Yi turned to look at Mi Jing Lun and forced a smile, “Sir Mi, I’ve discussed the matter with Sir Hong Di, and we’ve decided that we’ll agree to your second condition.”
“A wise decision,” Mi Jing Lun responded with a smile.
“We have shown our sincerity by agreeing to your third condition, so can you withdraw your third condition to show that you’re willing to make a concession as well? That way, we can reach a peaceful settlement without resorting to needless violence.”
Mi Jing Lun glanced at her with a smile, “You’ve agreed to one of our conditions, so we would appear unreasonable if we did not concede in return. There’s no reason for me to reject your proposal.”
Upon hearing that, Nu Yi was elated; however, before she could speak, Mi Jing Lun went on to say, “Good, since you have shown enough sincerity, we won’t be imperious. This Mi will withdraw our side’s second condition. You can do anything you want to the Black Ink Nest. I don’t care whether you’ll bring it away or destroy it. However, all the Black Ink Disciples have to stay. We will handle them.”
Nu Yi widened her eyes in disbelief as she was lost for words.
She had never expected that Mi Jing Lun would turn the tables on them in such a way by withdrawing the second condition but forcing them to accept the third one.
Beside her, Hong Di sported a dark expression.
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