Yet although Li Chen agreed inwardly, he could not accept immediately.
Interests were at stake. If he handled this properly, he might gain even more.
In plain language, one side asked for the sky while the other bargained from the ground. At the negotiating table, who dared not haggle over every last coin?
On the battlefield, those coins would be living, breathing people and expensive Battle Puppets.
Meng Fuyun naturally understood this too. Once he noticed the change in Li Chen's attitude, he immediately summoned his advisers and disciples, ordering them to hash out every point with Li Chen.
Both sides sent representatives to meet secretly at a place called Pass City on the front lines. They clashed fiercely over the details and clauses of the peace treaty, their contest of wit and courage no less intense than open warfare.
Still, those who could not win on the battlefield would always stand a head lower at the negotiating table.
However much Chess Mountain's advisers racked their brains, however much intelligence and skill they brought to bear, it was ultimately useless when Chess Mountain's military strength fell short.
In the end, the two men drafted a treaty and confirmed five principal terms for peace.
First, Chess Mountain would pay Guangyun one hundred billion Talisman Coins in cash, along with assorted cultivation provisions, spirit materials, Cultivation Manuals, and Mechanism Puppets worth one hundred and fifty billion, as reparations. It would also publicly acknowledge its defeat.
Second, the name of the Myriad Heavens Trade Alliance would be abolished. It would join the Myriad Realms Marketplace's system under the name of the Chess Mountain Trade Alliance, thereafter paying membership and channel fees to the Myriad Realms Marketplace like other merchants, while taking responsibility for local business throughout the Chess Mountain region.
Third, beyond the