Chapter 2588 - 2580: Gotta Pay More

Chapter 2588: Chapter 2580: Gotta Pay More

Has the Asura intel been exposed? That was Yi Jue’s first reaction.

Thankfully, it wasn’t too bad. She knew the other side was a Divided Spirit Great Lord—even if this was only a Nascent Soul Clone—if she couldn’t control her own thoughts, he would sense it. So she kept her mind tightly in check.

Then she sorted through her thoughts again and felt this wasn’t all that serious. "Our Sect True Sage’s return, whether it’s for the Insect World or not, is our own affair. No need for you, True Lord, to pry."

Even if the information leaked, so what? As long as their own Great Cultivators came back quickly, Spirit Plant Dao would still be in charge.

"That’s not what I meant." The Xiong Family True Lord had lived for so long that he’d seen scenes like this more than a few times. He spoke in a low voice, "If my guess isn’t wrong, you people must have made some other discovery... Don’t rush to deny it, I haven’t finished yet!"

"This discovery is different from the Insect World. For you, it may be a stroke of fortune, but considering the Insect World and the Heavenly Demon front where fighting is ongoing, Tianqin’s cultivators are about to be facing alien races from three directions..."

"You might think alien races from three directions aren’t that big a problem, but who can guarantee a fourth direction won’t appear? Who can guarantee that Demon Cultivators won’t seize the chance to revive from the ashes and stir up trouble? I’ve seen that kind of situation before!"

At this point, he fell silent. Everything that needed to be pointed out had been pointed out. The rest would depend on the other side’s attitude.

Yi Jue understood what he was driving at. She really hadn’t thought that far ahead, so she turned her head to look at Feng Jun.

Feng Jun couldn’t help thinking of one term: raising bandits to make oneself important!

Still, one way or another, the other’s analysis was not without merit, so he glanced at the two Great Sages.

The two True Sages had no intention of speaking. Clearly, they wanted him to make the call.

"All right." Feng Jun let out a helpless sigh. "Just as you, True Lord, said, I can spare this person and won’t demand that he become a personal attendant. However... the price goes up!"

"The... price goes up?" The Xiong Family True Lord froze for a moment, then finally reacted. "Raising the price is fine, but Yi Jun is only at Nascent Soul Initial Stage. Paying with Upper Spirit Stones will suffice."

"That’s impossible." Feng Jun refused flatly. "It’s still Extreme Spirit Stones, plus ten more—one hundred and ten in total."

"Have you lost your mind?" The Xiong Family True Lord, of course, was unwilling to agree. He felt this was blatant blackmail. "Since when is a Nascent Soul valued in Extreme Spirit Stones? Upper Spirit Stones are already more than enough."

"I’m willing to let him go. That alone is worth paying in Extreme Spirit Stones." Feng Jun replied proudly. "A Xiong Family scion willingly died for his clan. Someone like that—doesn’t he deserve to have his life redeemed with Extreme Spirit?"

"To be frank, if not for what you just said about the possibility of other alien races, even if you gave me Extreme Spirit Stones, I still wouldn’t let him go... Do I look like someone short on money?"

You may not be short on money, but you’re definitely short on Extreme Spirit! The Xiong Family True Lord had seen every kind of scheme. He gave a slight cough. "Strictly speaking, Yi Jun took quite a risk for the clan. Redeeming him with Extreme Spirit Stones isn’t entirely out of the question, but that number..."

"The number is ten," Feng Jun declared without the slightest hesitation. "Anyway, Senior, you’re a Divided Spirit Great Lord. Haggling over a few Spirit Stones doesn’t really fit with a Great Lord’s dignity, does it?"

The Xiong Family True Lord was almost amused into anger by him, but in the end, he was indeed a Divine Spirit True Lord, and face was a real consideration. "Fine, we’ll add ten more. Do you have a fifth condition?"

"No." Feng Jun shook his head and stated straightforwardly, "I’m not a greedy, insatiable man."

If you weren’t, that’d be strange! The Xiong Family True Lord snorted inwardly, but his expression didn’t change. "Then later I’ll bring you, little friend, to fulfill the agreement... Whatever conditions you have, just state them—keep it realistic."

"I want the Xiong Family’s notes and insights on Spatial Perception." Wei Sancai stepped out without hesitation. "I don’t want your clan’s secret techniques or classified records, just some reflections and essays... Stones from other hills can polish jade."

"Even without asking for secret techniques, your demand is over the line." The Xiong Family True Lord, having finished dealing with Feng Jun, felt somewhat settled and sneered, "I know where the Wei Family Minor Realm is. Daring to loot my Xiong Family while we’re down—you’ve got guts."

"My Wei Family also had multiple juniors in the Void at the time." Wei Sancai pointed at Feng Jun. "If you don’t believe me, ask Mountain Master Feng."

"That’s right." Feng Jun nodded, stating without hesitation, "Sancai True Sage expended a great deal of effort hunting down the mastermind."

Whether the other side liked it or not, Wei Sancai wanted him to vouch for it, and Feng Jun absolutely wouldn’t stand aside.

The Xiong Family True Lord understood what they were doing. He stared at Wei Sancai and said through gritted teeth, "The Xiong Family is willing to compensate, but that doesn’t mean we’ll let you open your lion’s mouth wide. We don’t want internal strife, yet we also won’t tolerate others exploiting our goodwill."

The Xiong Family, good-hearted? Wei Sancai’s lips curled with a trace of mockery, then he glanced at Feng Jun—some words weren’t appropriate for him to say himself.

Feng Jun had no choice but to speak again. "Senior Great Lord, you may have misunderstood one thing. Sancai True Sage isn’t extorting you. His original path is the rules of space, and right now he’s hit a bottleneck. He just wants to see more thinking on spatial rules."

"Exactly." Sancai True Sage nodded and released his aura. What Feng Jun said was the plain truth. It was just a pity he himself wasn’t in a position to say it, so he had to trouble Feng Jun. Now, at least, he could show a bit.

"I originally intended to fight for some compensation for the juniors. To end up using their opportunity instead—I feel quite guilty about that."

He was apologizing out loud, but the Xiong Clan True Lord knew perfectly well in his heart that if he still refused to agree and let Wei Sancai really start fighting for the younger generation of the Wei Family, it would only make negotiations harder—what if they also demanded Extreme Spirit compensation?

What Wei Sancai needed were those insights and such; they were very important to the Xiong Clan too, but letting someone else look them over a couple of times wouldn’t cause any substantive loss. The key issue was—if this kind of thing got out, it wouldn’t sound good.

The Xiong Clan’s codices being taken away by the Wei Family’s True Sage to read—if someone who didn’t understand the situation heard that, they might very well assume the Xiong Clan was scared of the Wei Family. This would be a textbook example of the so‑called "the actual damage isn’t much, but the insult is extreme."

However, Wei Sancai was studying the Dao of Space and came to borrow books from the Xiong Clan; with that kind of reason, the Xiong Clan’s face would be preserved.

As for whether Wei Sancai would gain anything from reading those insights, that was another matter. In principle, though, this didn’t count as aiding the enemy—this had been agreed on as compensation from the start; if he did end up gaining something, that would be his own fortuitous encounter.

By the same token, if Wei Sancai gained nothing, he couldn’t turn around and demand further compensation from the Xiong Clan.

In short, reading those insights was itself the compensation, and it wasn’t the Xiong Clan’s fundamental Techniques, so there was no need to push this up to some big principled level.

Even so, the Xiong Clan True Lord wasn’t exactly feeling comfortable about it. He glanced at Wei Sancai, then let out a cold snort. "And this is what you call spatial rules? This inheritance of yours is really... couldn’t you just focus on studying your Wei Clan’s Primordial Techniques?"

"Is there any point to showing off your tongue at a time like this?" Wei Sancai frowned, impatient. "These are my rules. If Great Lord wants to discuss them, I’m happy to accompany you. If you just want to belittle them, then forget it... My surname is Wei, not Xiong."

The Xiong Clan True Lord pointed at him speechlessly. "And this is what you call the attitude of someone borrowing books?"

"I may be borrowing books, but I’d trouble Great Lord to get the causality straight," Wei Sancai spoke sternly. "I’m here to demand compensation; borrowing books is only offsetting your debt... Just give me a straightforward answer: are you lending them or not?"

The Xiong Clan True Lord gave him a deep look, but couldn’t be bothered to keep tangling with this matter. "The Wei Family’s issue will be considered settled in this way. Next... who else has demands?"

Han Hai True Sage’s Divine Sense sent out a wave of fluctuations, the meaning very clear: True Lord, let’s talk privately.

The two of them privately communicated for about five minutes. When the Divine Sense fluctuations stopped, it was obvious they’d finished their discussion.

Then the Xiong Clan True Lord took the initiative to look toward Yi Jue and ask, "You can state the demands of the Spirit Plant Dao as well.最好跟 Han Hai Dao‑friend一样,讲一点实际的,也不用浪费大家的时间."

Yi Jue was just as tough, and really did send out a Divine Sense fluctuation.

Her Divine Sense far surpassed her peers, but was clearly still no match for Han Hai True Sage, let alone a True Lord at the Divine Spirit Stage.

However, with Feng Jun present, she didn’t care. In fact, it wasn’t just her—even Han Hai True Sage, when exchanging with the other side, hadn’t avoided everyone by going off somewhere else. Feng Jun’s presence really was a stabilizing pill for everyone.

Likewise, the two of them didn’t take long to communicate, about six or seven minutes.

In the end, the Xiong Clan True Lord turned his gaze on Qian Zhong. "This Dao‑friend, you can state your terms now."

Hearing this, Qian Zhong gave a light laugh. "None of my relatives or friends have been threatened. Are you sure you still want me to state terms?"

"Hm?" The Xiong Clan True Lord was stunned. In his mind, this Divine Spirit cultivator was the second hardest person to deal with, only easier than Feng Jun. That was why he’d left this person for last, not without a bit of psychological leverage—everyone else has agreed, so don’t go too overboard.

He really hadn’t expected the other party to give such an answer. After being taken aback for a moment, he let out a displeased snort. "So, Dao‑friend came here on purpose just to watch my circus, did you?"

"What’s so interesting about your circus?" Qian Zhong snorted disdainfully. "I just want to establish some cooperation with Mountain Master Feng, so I figured I’d demonstrate some value. I really didn’t expect that not only is the Ancient Xiong Family still around, but they’re also entangled in this kind of shady business."

"Then you must be really idle," the Xiong Clan True Lord gave a cold snort, but his mood relaxed. At this point he no longer wanted to stir up more trouble.

But right after, his brows furrowed. "’Shady’... you’re also from an Ancient Family?"

"Tch." Qian Zhong curled her lip in contempt. "You hide your own roots and origins, but you want to dig into other people’s... If I were you, I’d start by introducing my own background."

The Xiong Clan True Lord was left speechless by her words, but he truly didn’t dare expose his own roots. Aside from "too embarrassed," he really didn’t dare—because the one behind Feng Jun was far too terrifying.

He worried that if he exposed his background, that person might casually make a move, and the Xiong Clan could very well suffer a heavy blow.

So he stopped paying attention to Qian Zhong and instead looked to Feng Jun. "Mountain Master Feng, can we set off now?"

Yi Jue’s expression changed ever so slightly.

(Updated to here, summoning monthly tickets.)