Epilogue and Outpost (I)

"Resolved."

"He arrived with his men a quarter of an hour later."

"If you have no objections, then go and make your preparations."

"Manpower, venue, conditions, bottom line."

"Let me know when you're almost done preparing."

"So that I can also grasp the proper measure."

Ye Qingcang brushed off non-existent dust from his clothes and looked at Yang Haoyu, Yang Haohan, Li Zhengzhi, Sheng Yue, San Shui, and the others. Seeing that none of these high-ranking members of the Temple Alliance had moved, he raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "What, is there another problem... or do you want to negotiate on your own, to bargain with Feng Xiu more freely?"

"Senior Ye, you've misunderstood..." Yang Haohan, as the Knight Temple Master and the Temple Alliance Master, quickly denied it upon hearing this. All negotiations are based on strength, and given the strength that Demon God Emperor Feng Xiu had just displayed, it could be said that this negotiation opportunity was entirely won by Ye Qingcang alone. If Ye Qingcang left, even if they negotiated, they wouldn't have the confidence to bang their fists on the table and curse the Demon Race: "We just wanted to congratulate Senior on your triumphant return..."

"Forget it, get to the point." Ye Qingcang instantly saw through Yang Haohan's insincerity, scoffed, and showed no respect for Yang Haohan and his group. "You used to call me Ye Qingcang, and now you're calling me senior; 'triumphant return' is utter nonsense, at most I didn't lose; actually, I gave you a chance before, and my silence was tacit approval of your emotional appeal. If Lan Yanyu and Sheng Lingxin had realized their mistakes in time, Cai'er would have been willing to forgive them, or even if they hadn't been willing to forgive, even if they were just hesitant, I would have turned a blind eye for Cai'er's sake; but you just missed the chance to keep Cai'er, so our relationship is just that of transactional partners... Your current arrogant and obsequious attitude is laughable, so don't bother me if you have nothing to do."

Ye Qingcang always preferred to use diplomacy first before resorting to force.

Now that reason and diplomacy are no longer effective, we have no choice but to resort to force.

Now that troops have been mobilized, it's clear that the most direct approach will be taken.

To save face?

You wish!

Even Yang Haohan, the Temple Alliance Master and the Knight Temple Master, was mocked by Ye Qingcang's words, his face turning red and then pale. Not to mention the others, including Sheng Yue, who were standing behind Yang Haohan.

However, no matter how grim their expressions were or how dissatisfied they were, they had no choice but to endure it for the sake of the upcoming situation. Moreover, they couldn't deny that the problem did indeed lie with them.

Ye Qingcang is right.

At most, the words were a bit sharp.

So, Yang Haohan sighed and forced himself to continue explaining, "Senior Ye, to be honest, we don't trust the Demon Race. Compared to the Demon Race's promises, we'd rather believe in you... We'd like to select a group of young people from our respective temples to follow you and listen to your teachings. If you're not satisfied with the young people we've chosen, you can also choose from our own temples without any restrictions. Would you be willing?"

"Instead of binding me to your Chariot, you want to bind yourselves to Chariot..." Ye Qingcang, holding Sheng Cai'er's small hand, walked down the city wall without even glancing at Yang Haohan and the others who were standing there dumbfounded. "You really think you're something special... You only have the confidence to negotiate with Feng Xiu because of me. Unless you can persuade Feng Xiu to stand on your side, you have no right to negotiate with me, let alone get on my chariot without my permission."

Looking at Ye Qingcang's swaggering back.

On the city wall, all was quiet.

After a long silence, San Shui shook his head and spoke, breaking the oppressive stillness. "I've said it before, he's not someone who can be easily manipulated. His previous politeness was just a shackle to restrain the beast within him. Now, that shackle has been broken... We can't find any way to deal with a beast."

"So... you're just going to let it go like that?" Li Zhengzhi glanced at San Shui and sneered, "Once he leaves, the Demon Race can easily find an excuse to break the contract and start another war. Can you stop the Demon God Emperor Demon God Emperor, or can I?"

These words were spoken.

A moment of silence fell over the city wall.

Previously, they hadn't seen Demon God Emperor Feng Xiu use his full power, which was understandable.

Now that they have witnessed Demon God Emperor Feng Xiu's full power, and even though it's unclear if he was at full strength or if he still had trump cards, and that he was able to fight Ye Qingcang in the shattered space, they know their own capabilities. Even if they were just bragging, they wouldn't dare to make empty boasts.

You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want.

"If Sheng Cai'er were willing to help us, or if our relationship with the Saint Family hadn't developed to this point..." The Vice Hall Master of the Priest Temple Ruo Shui, sighed, "Even if he leaves with Sheng Cai'er, we don't need to worry about the Demon Race breaking their promise, because the Demon Race would never provoke someone who can fight the Demon God Emperor to a draw before they are confident. I believe the Demon God Emperor would also be unwilling... Unfortunately, it's too late to say anything. They don't even look at us."

"Putting yourself in someone else's shoes is not entirely incomprehensible."

"She's only fifteen years old this year."

"Lift it up a bit, and it'll be at most sixteen."

"At sixteen, he could fight the Demon God Emperor to a draw, even without either side revealing their trump cards... The power that can cultivate such a genius must far surpass the Demon Race and even the Temple Alliance composed of our Six Great Temples. How could they possibly be interested in our conditional attempts to win him over and swear an oath?"

Yang Haoyu shook his head, analyzing the matter with a calm mind. As a Ninth Order, fifth-level Punishment Knight, and also the highest combat power of the Human Race, his words naturally carried a certain degree of credibility. "Don't you understand yet? From the very beginning, your Destiny was not in your own hands. Your only way to survive at that time was to win over Sheng Cai'er as much as possible... But you always acted high and mighty, unable to lower yourselves, thinking that bowing down was not advisable, which led to his contingency plan."

Sheng Yue sighed deeply.

San Shui sighed deeply.

Li Zhengzhi and the others also sighed deeply.

They sighed more times today than they had in the first half of their lives combined, but they couldn't find a way to salvage the situation except by sighing. This was true before, and it was true now, so all they could do was sigh.

Despite his sigh, he didn't forget to arrange negotiations.

About fifteen minutes.

They need to come up with a solution.

Otherwise, one can only hope to improvise on the spot.

"Brother Yang, what do you want to do?" Long Tianyin nudged Yang Haoyu's arm with his elbow. Standing on the city wall, he looked at the ruins inside the Exorcist Pass, the soldiers of the Exorcist Pass who were busy rescuing people and putting out fires, and Long Xingyu who arrived late. His heart was filled with gloom.

The task of arranging the negotiations was left to Sheng Lingxin and others.

The task of writing the proposal was also left to Sheng Lingxin and others.

For these high-ranking members of the Temple Alliance, they were well aware that peace was not based on a single agreement. In Ye Qingcang's presence, an agreement without Ye Qingcang's military Intimidation was just a piece of waste paper. Therefore, Ye Qingcang's status was higher than the peace agreement and the subsequent negotiations. It had to be admitted that Ye Qingcang had replaced the original overall situation and become the new one.

"It's really hard to imagine that someone could turn everything upside down overnight, going from an outsider to an insider, and then from an insider to the mastermind..." Yang Haoyu's sigh was tinged with a deeper meaning. As Long Tianyin pondered, he suddenly said, "What's most admirable is his character: humility, courage... perfectly meeting the requirements of a knight's loyalty."

"Are you crazy?"

Do you know what you're saying?

"Loyalty?"

"You want to pledge allegiance to him along with the Knight Temple?"

Because Yang Haoyu was playing his cards openly, Long Tianyin immediately understood Yang Haoyu meaning. To correct Yang Haoyu's thinking, he whispered angrily, "The Knight Temple should truly be loyal to the Human Race!"

"And then?" Yang Haoyu, as the only Human Race to have contracted Starry Sky Divine Beast, knew more and saw further than Long Tianyin Long Tianyin the others. His reasoned question left Long Tianyin, who had intended to denounce the heretical doctrines, speechless. "Human Race desires peace, but we cannot give it to Human Race... He can. To be loyal to him is, in effect, to be loyal to Human Race."

People always have to face reality.

To dare to face reality is to be a warrior.

Those who overcome reality are called the strong.

"Alright, I'll go talk to them and see what they think." Yang Haoyu knew that Long Tianyin Long Tianyin n't accept his idea anytime soon, but he wouldn't force him. Before he arrived, the Human Race had already missed two opportunities: one was Sheng Cai'er, and the other was the conditions paid for negotiating with Ye Qingcang. Now, in what seemed like an impossible situation, he wanted to seize this slim chance to help the Human Race change their Destiny: "You stay here and think about it by yourself."

Looking at Yang Haoyu's back.

Long Tianyin was more confused than ever before.

He stared at Long Xingyu and Long Haochen under the city wall for a long time.

He barely managed to reconcile with himself.

What good would it do for the Knight Temple to swear allegiance to Ye Qingcang in the name of peace?

For the sake of peace, they are not even afraid of death, so why would they be afraid of losing their dignity?

However, Long Tianyin didn't know was that inside the Demon Race camp, there was also a group of Demon Race also longed for peace and were actively preparing for negotiations.

This is something that Yang Haoyu, Yang Haohan, Li Zhengzhi, San Shui, Sheng Yue, and all the high-ranking members of the Temple Alliance were unaware of.

"Father." Inside the vast Demon Race camp, the slender Yue Ye slowly walked into a large tent dominated by purple and bright silver. Seeing the Moon Demon God Agares sitting behind the table, she bowed and said, "You summoned me here; is it related to the upcoming negotiations?"

"You've always been very clever..." The Moon Demon God Agares got up at some point and appeared in front of Yue Ye. He patted Yue Ye's head and said something that seemed perfectly normal, but it sent a chill down Yue Ye's spine. "So, there's no need to test me."

As one of the few doves within the Demon Race race.

The Moon Demon God has always had a relatively good attitude towards the Human Race.

Like the Star Demon God and the Star Demon Race.

To be able to treat everyone fairly and impartially, without showing favoritism to anyone.

However, this result was hard for Yue Ye to accept, and even violated her carefully constructed persona of forbearance that she had maintained for many years. She couldn't help but ask, "Why me... aren't there any other suitable candidates for marriage?"

There are three types of negotiations.

The first type is negotiation where one side has the upper hand.

The second type is negotiation when one's own side is at a disadvantage.

The third type is negotiation on an equal footing between the two parties.

If it were a negotiation where she was at a disadvantage, she wouldn't necessarily refuse the Destiny. She couldn't control the situation, so she could only go with the flow. But since it was a negotiation between equals, why did she need to go through with the marriage? And it seemed to be a mandatory choice.

In other words, others can fail.

But she must marry a human male.

Even if that human male is a useless person.

She also had to be a typical and symbolic figure in the marriage.

On what grounds?

Yue Ye's little fists clenched involuntarily, the veins beneath her skin faintly visible. This scene, of course, did not escape the eyes of the Moon Demon God Agares; the difference in strength between the two was too great.

"Of course." The Moon Demon God Agares admired his daughter's expression of anger that dared not be expressed. If it weren't for the fact that his daughter Human Race blood and was born without the qualification to inherit the position of Moon Demon God, he would not have been willing to let go of this outstanding daughter. "However, only you, Human-Demon Hybrid, are qualified to represent peace."

The meaning of the Moon Demon God Agares is very simple.

Because you are Human-Demon Hybrid, your very existence proves that there is no absolute reproductive isolation between Human Race and Demon Race.

As long as you marry a human and become a role model, more and more Demon Race women will marry into that race, and more and more Human Race women will marry into that race. If you can give birth to children, more and more Demon Race women will give birth to mixed-race children, and more and more Human Race will give birth to mixed-race children. Within five generations, the human and demon races will be considered one family. This is the most solid guarantee.

As for the conflict between the lower-level Demon Race and Human Race.

It's as if the Human Race has never been defeated.

Thieves and scoundrels—they are countless.

Especially when a Human Race town is breached by the Demon Race, the surviving refugees, though unable to be ruthless towards the Demon Race, are certainly able to be ruthless towards their own fellow refugees.

Feng Xiu had been to the Human Race territory, and so had he.

He witnessed firsthand how those refugees fought tooth and nail for a single bite of food, even killing each other, and in the legendary case of cannibalism.

Therefore, as long as the Human-Demon Hybrid plan succeeds, these conflicts will no longer be conflicts, but rather family matters that Human Race and Demon Race will handle together; the principle of "a life for a life, a debt for a debt" will no longer be just empty words.

He is the Moon Demon God.

At present, it is absolutely necessary to maintain our stance.

His status also makes it difficult for him to arrange a marriage.

At this critical juncture when peace has just begun to glimpse, to engage in a marriage of convenience based on self-interest, especially one involving him, the second-ranked Demon God, is a foolish choice. Even if he were a pawn, let alone the mastermind behind it all, the mastermind would never make such a stupid decision to arrange things for him.

Therefore, Yue Ye is the most suitable time.

Unfortunately, Feng Xiu's eldest daughter is no longer here.

If she were here, she would be more suitable than Yue Ye.

The Moon Demon God Agares ' thoughts wandered for less than a second before instantly returning to reality. He glanced at the silent Yue Ye and used extremely hurtful words to soothe the barely suppressed Yue Ye: "And as the price for this qualification, you have the right to choose... Listen carefully, only the right to choose."

"I understand... Father!" Yue Ye replied with a restrained expression.

It was well disguised.

Unfortunately, bodily reactions cannot be faked.

Before the Moon Demon God Agares.

Even a slight increase in heart rate.

Even the sound of rapidly flowing blood was particularly jarring.

It's just that the Moon Demon God Agares doesn't care.

"Then go and make preparations." Watching the Yue Ye slowly retreat outside the tent, just before the curtain fell, the Moon Demon God Agares's voice rang out precisely. "There will be a grand banquet..."