Haggling

Virtual Universe, Jiuyuan City, Elder Council.

A small meeting concerning Jiang Yao was also being held as he arrived at the Main Sect of the Lingtong Race.

It was not a meeting of the Elder Council, but a secret one attended by only a few people.

Meng Yi was one of the participants.

The three World Lord Elders who oversaw the affairs of Jiuyuan Holy Land sat at the head of the room, while four Domain Lord Elders sat below them.

This was actually the first time Meng Yi had been able to attend a small meeting like this. The Lingtong Race's Elder Council was said to hold a revered position, but it was really just a way for the Main Sect to draw the Branches close and strengthen its own power.

There were three or four hundred Elders from the Main Sect and the various Branches, but real authority lay with the few World Lord Elders and the Domain Lord Elders from the Main Sect who handled day-to-day affairs.

The Elder Council's usual meetings were little more than announcements of decisions. They could hardly be called powerful.

Meng Yi had been invited to this small meeting today because its subject concerned him.

The World Lord seated in the middle at the head of the room spoke. "Yinhu Island has accepted the terms we offered: four Immortal weapons and twenty Life Fruits."

"That's strange. Since when has Yinhu Island been so reasonable?"

"The Old Ancestor threatened God Lord Jinlun of Yinhu Island with war. I heard God Lord Jinlun took on a Stellar-level genius as a disciple, and that the disciple even crossed the threshold of the Origin Law of Wind. He might be afraid, too."

"I've heard about that genius from Yinhu Island, but he's staying there. What does he have to fear?"

"Then perhaps Mo Hong really did this on his own. Maybe God Lord Jinlun feels in the wrong?"

"Hmph. That old man has lived for over nine hundred Eras, hasn't he? He's a dying man, nothing more. He was probably pushed forward as a scapegoat."

"Enough. The Old Ancestor has already made his decision. We'll accept Yinhu Island's apology and let the matter rest. Don't tell those below us. As for young Jiang Yao, whether it's his Domain at the Planetary Level or his newly awakened Bloodline Divine Ability, both prove he has great potential worth nurturing.

"His Bloodline Divine Ability collapsed, and he suffered a considerable loss. We should provide some compensation.

"Meng Yi, tell us what you want."

The World Lord Elder on the right lowered his head and smiled at Meng Yi, giving him a great boost of confidence.

The Wushen Thorn he had used to kill Yinhu Island's mysterious Domain Lord had been lent to him by this very World Lord Elder. The two also shared a good personal relationship.

"Jiang Yao awakened the ninth Top-grade Bloodline Divine Ability in our Lingtong Race. The most urgent thing is naturally to help him nurture a Divine Ability again. Aside from that..."

Meng Yi paused, then continued, "I heard that in seventeen years, after the Stellar-level geniuses from the various Branches have arrived, there'll be a competitive selection. The prizes will be Fifth-Order and Fourth-Order weapons. Why not give him a Fifth-Order Psionic Weapon aligned with the Origin Law of Fire as compensation?"

As far as he knew, because the Old Ancestor attached great importance to this Genius Tournament, the Main Sect had already prepared eight Fifth-Order Psionic Weapons and eight Fifth-Order Force Weapons as the highest rewards. There would also be Fourth-Order weapons, all intended to spur the clan's geniuses as they prepared for the Peak Battle.

These prizes weren't loans. They were gifts.

A Fifth-Order Force Weapon or Psionic Weapon was usually worth at least a trillion Universe Coins. Fifth-Order weapons that could be used by Stellar-level warriors were even more expensive—each one was a priceless treasure. Even most Domain Lord Elders in the Jiuyuan Holy Land's Elder Council couldn't afford one if they emptied their entire fortunes.

As soon as Meng Yi finished speaking, the three World Lord Elders at the head of the room remained silent. But the Domain Lord Elder across from him, who came from the Main Sect and handled its daily affairs, immediately spoke up.

"I don't think that's appropriate. Fifth-Order Psionic Weapons are engraved with Law Secret Patterns, and most can only be used by those at the World Lord Level. Only a few are compatible with lower-level users, and even then, a Stellar-level user would need a Sevenfold Domain at the very least.

"As far as I know, Jiang Yao has had his Domain for less than two years. The chance of him reaching the Sevenfold Domain level within three hundred years is extremely slim. And even if he does, that doesn't mean he'll be able to bring out the full power of a Fifth-Order Psionic Weapon.

"You and I both know that in a real battle, the weapon best suited to you is the best one. A Fifth-Order weapon doesn't necessarily offer more power than a Fourth-Order weapon. Often, the opposite is true.

"Otherwise, among the top geniuses who make it to the Peak Grand Finals at each Genius Tournament, countless have comprehended the Origin Law or even crossed its threshold. Yet only a handful use the nine Controller Divine Weapons.

"That's because a Psionic Weapon isn't better simply because it's higher-ranked. A good weapon is one that suits your Domain and lets you better bring out the Origin Law you've comprehended.

"Our Lingtong Race isn't short on resources, but we shouldn't waste them. I think a Fourth-Order Psionic Weapon would be more suitable and practical compensation for the boy.

"Usually, anyone with a Domain can wield a Fourth-Order Psionic Weapon. He could use one right away. Wouldn't it be awkward to get a Fifth-Order Psionic Weapon and be unable to use it?"

As Meng Yi listened to the other man's patient lecture, as though he were instructing a child, he could barely keep himself from laughing in anger.

Did he really need to tell him such obvious nonsense?

Forget someone as young as Jiang Yao. How many Stellar-level geniuses from the Main Sect, who had cultivated for thousands of years, had reached the Seventh Domain? Were there any who could wield a Fifth-Order Psionic Weapon?

Why were Fifth-Order weapons offered as prizes, then? In truth, they were simply meant to spur the geniuses to cultivate, while also providing promising candidates with more resources for their training.

A Fifth-Order weapon could be sold for at least a trillion Universe Coins, enough to buy eight or nine hundred Fourth-Order weapons. For geniuses who won the competition, it gave them a goal to strive for—to cultivate hard enough to use a Fifth-Order weapon. And if they couldn't reach that goal, the money would still ensure they wouldn't lack resources as they grew.

It was also bait for the various Branches. The weapons represented wealth worth hundreds of billions, and even if only part of it went back to a Branch, it would still be a considerable sum.

It was precisely this Fifth-Order weapon bait that spurred the Branches to screen their Stellar-level geniuses with all their might, pour all their resources into them, and then send them to the Main Sect.

Why pretend not to understand?

Meng Yi was so furious his teeth ached, but he knew that this Main Sect Domain Lord Elder, who was playing dumb, was not speaking only for himself.

Naturally, the Main Sect didn't want these priceless treasures to fall into the hands of Branch geniuses. It worried that such tremendous wealth might bolster the Branches and strengthen their desire to break away, but the main reason was simply its prejudice in favor of the Main Sect.

Yet that prejudice was impossible to resolve, because its root was a struggle over interests and resources.

In the eyes of an Immortal God like the Old Ancestor, all members of the Lingtong Race—including those in the Branches—were his children, his people.

But the World Lords and Domain Lords below him had descendants, disciples, and friends. The Elders from the Main Sect would naturally want to keep resources within the Main Sect.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have waited seventeen years to bring the Branch geniuses to the Holy Land, only to hold a competitive selection as soon as they arrived. Wasn't that just an attempt to keep as many resources as possible, along with the Old Ancestor's attention, focused on the Main Sect's geniuses?

Meng Yi steadied himself and gritted his teeth. "If Yinhu Island hadn't attacked Jiang Yao, we wouldn't have received those four Immortal weapons and twenty Life Fruits as an apology."

The implication was clear: one should remember who had dug the well when drinking its water. Four Immortal weapons and twenty Life Fruits represented what kind of fortune? It was probably worth more than a hundred Hunyuan. Surely it was only right to take one percent of that and compensate Jiang Yao.

The Main Sect Domain Lord Elder who handled daily affairs, however, showed no sign of yielding. "Yinhu Island has always been domineering. If the Main Sect hadn't threatened it with war, why would it have paid compensation? Still—"

Perhaps he felt he shouldn't be too shameless, so he changed his tone. "The path of the strong requires lofty aspirations, but one shouldn't reach beyond one's grasp. The boy is only at Stellar Level One. At this stage, he can't make use of resources that are too precious. It would be better to save them. The Main Sect can grant him the status of a Holy Land core disciple until he becomes a Domain Lord."

Meng Yi hesitated. The Main Sect offered its core disciples quite generous benefits: treasures, weapons, secret techniques, even ultimate techniques. They could also remain in Jiuyuan Holy Land, and if they were lucky, a World Lord Elder might take them on as a disciple.

He knew this was the Main Sect's way of killing two birds with one stone: keeping the resources in the Main Sect while directly assimilating the Branches' talented disciples into it.

But Meng Yi genuinely hoped that the geniuses who came from the Yanhe Branch could go further. Even if they were drawn into the Main Sect, they would still feel some kinship with the Yanhe Branch, just like another Domain Lord Elder who came from there. He was the disciple of the World Lord Elder on the right, and Meng Yi had been taken under that World Lord's wing through their connection.

Moreover, Meng Yi had already figured it out. The Domain Lord arguing against him was just a representative. He was certainly conveying the wishes of the Main Sect's World Lord Elders—perhaps even one of the three World Lords seated above them.

World Lords were responsible for making decisions. They couldn't personally argue with Domain Lord Elders from the Branches without losing face.

Meng Yi sighed inwardly and was just about to agree when his expression suddenly shifted. A moment later, his face turned a little strange.

After a while, he gritted his teeth and said, "There's no need to make him a Holy Land core disciple. I'd like to ask for a different form of compensation. I want Jiang Yao to be allowed to study on Yuluo Island in the Holy Land."

The other Domain Lord Elders were all taken aback. Yuluo Island was in Jiuyuan Holy Land—in other words, within the God Kingdom. It held many stone walls of various sizes, inscribed with the secret techniques, ultimate techniques, and Law Comprehension created or collected throughout the history of the Lingtong Race. It could be called the Holy Land's most important place.

The secret techniques and ultimate techniques that Lingtong Race members usually cultivated were all copied from the stone walls on Yuluo Island. They didn't need to visit the island themselves.

Those who truly needed to study on Yuluo Island were observing Law Comprehension or learning ultimate techniques and secret techniques that involved profound Origin Laws.

That was because much of the knowledge concerning Origin Laws couldn't be clearly expressed in words. It had to be drawn, or recorded directly as Law Secret Patterns.

Most of the time, it was the latter. To record insights into an Origin Law in the form of a painting required an exceptionally high level of comprehension—one had to have a profound understanding of the Origin Law and even have forged one's own path.

Usually, only Universe-level geniuses who had comprehended an Origin Law, or those who had reached the Domain Lord Level, needed to study on Yuluo Island. Even after receiving approval from the clan, they were only allowed to study the stone walls related to what they intended to cultivate or to their own Origin Law. This was to prevent the secret techniques and ultimate techniques from being leaked on a large scale.

After all, the stone walls on Yuluo Island held the Lingtong Race's most important foundation. If most of its secret techniques and ultimate techniques, along with the Law Comprehension left behind by generations of powerful figures, were spread outside, the Lingtong Race would suffer an unbearable loss.

The Domain Lord who had kept arguing against Meng Yi was first startled, then found the request absurd.

Wasn't it pointless for a little Stellar-level boy to study on Yuluo Island? The Main Sect wasn't stingy when teaching secret techniques to geniuses from the Branches. The copied texts were already available. What difference was there between the writing on the stone walls and the copies?

As for insights into Origin Laws or systematic collections of secret techniques and ultimate techniques, most of them existed as Law Secret Patterns, just like the patterns engraved on Fifth-Order weapons.

If you hadn't comprehended an Origin Law and didn't understand the patterns, you would forget them as soon as you memorized them. Was he just hoping to broaden the boy's horizons and give him something to look at?

Then, he suddenly understood. The Yanhe Branch was clearly after the vast trove of low-level techniques and secret arts on Yuluo Island that had nothing to do with Origin Laws.

To the Main Sect of the Lingtong Race, the Law-based secret techniques, ultimate techniques, and insights accumulated over generations were the most important part of its foundation.

But from the Branches' perspective, weren't the countless techniques below the Domain Lord Level, which had nothing to do with Origin Laws, also a foundation?

In fact, most of the content on the stone walls of Yuluo Island consisted of these low-level techniques, suitable for Universe-level warriors and below. The higher-ups of the Lingtong Race didn't consider them valuable, and copies were already available.

But even if they weren't considered valuable, they wouldn't be handed out for free. These techniques for Universe-level warriors and below, which had nothing to do with Origin Laws, cost anywhere from one or two Xuanshang Coins to thousands of Universe Coins. The expensive secret techniques were usually related to improving one's Domain.

Even when cultivating geniuses from the Branches—or even the Main Sect—the clan only provided techniques suited to each genius's attributes for free.

The fortune required to buy the countless low-level techniques the Lingtong Race had accumulated over tens of thousands of Eras would be astronomical.

Was the Yanhe Branch trying to skip the purchase and get a free look at Yuluo Island?

At that moment, the World Lord on the right suddenly spoke. "I don't think this is anything serious. Yinhu Island's compensation is worth over a hundred Hunyuan. That's because the Yanhe Branch raised a genius like Jiang Yao. And he even suffered a collapsed Bloodline Divine Ability. It wouldn't be right not to offer some compensation."

Once a World Lord Elder had spoken, even a Domain Lord from the Main Sect didn't dare contradict him lightly.

After a little thought, it did seem reasonable. In fact, all the low-level techniques the Lingtong Race had collected over tens of thousands of Eras might not even be worth as much as a single Fifth-Order weapon. They were simply numerous.

Besides, how much could a little boy who had just reached the Stellar Level memorize, even if he spent every moment doing so?

Thinking this, the Main Sect Domain Lord even offered a kindly warning. "Although the boy's Divine Ability collapsed and his potential was damaged, he's still quite talented. What he needs most right now is to nurture a Divine Ability again and work hard to improve his Domain. Wasting time and effort on other things would be putting the cart before the horse."

Meng Yi gave a soft snort. "No need to pretend to be kind."

"You don't need to worry about that."