"Your Zhao State is being rather overbearing."
The Rong Tribe's Minister of War smiled with narrowed eyes.
Minister Kong said flatly, "It isn't that our Zhao State is overbearing. We've already agreed to divide Fire Flood Dragon Island into northern and southern jurisdictions.
"If blood essence ore appears in our territory, it belongs to our Zhao State.
"How we distribute it is also up to our Zhao State. Those are the rules.
"But rest assured, our Zhao State never keeps everything for itself. We'll share some with your Rong Tribe when the time comes.
"Your Rong Tribe is desperately short of this blood essence ore... even if we give you just a few pounds or ounces, you ought to accept it gladly."
Xie Jinjia and the Middle-aged Lay Buddhist wore smiles.
Li Zhong and the others also smiled as they looked at the Rong Tribe's group.
There was no mockery in their eyes, but rather a trace of coldness.
The other man fell silent for a few moments, then said with a faint smile:
"Very well. Let those above us settle exactly how to divide it. Once the rules are set, if we find blood essence ore on our side, we'll follow those rules too.
"I'm sure you know that when blood essence ore appears somewhere, it means the deposit spans at least fifty li."
"Quite a bit of that falls within territory governed by our Rong State."
With that, he chuckled and turned to leave with the Rong Tribe's experts.
The smile faded from Minister Kong's face as he looked at Xie Jinjia and the Middle-aged Lay Buddhist.
"Get the mine open as soon as possible. While those above negotiate, we'll dig. Prioritize output in the early stages. The more blood essence ore we extract, the better.
"The blood