Seeing that everyone had stopped their attack, Sorokin finally breathed a sigh of relief, only to feel a burning pain in all the wounds on his body.
Although the fight lasted only a short time, the disparity in combat strength was too great. He was ganged up on the entire time, being rubbed into the ground by dozens of burly men, and his injuries were not light. If it weren't for his own superior combat strength, an ordinary Beyond Grade A would probably have been smashed into a pancake.
Fortunately, he had a quick wit and hit the Sanctum's weak point, otherwise he would have been doomed... Moreover, knowing the Sanctum's weakness is not enough; one must have the matching ability to use it as leverage. Under such circumstances, only a very few people in the universe can do this, Sorokin is one of them. No one knows how many bodies he has or where they are hidden.
Moreover, the group was unsure of Sorokin's methods of faking his death and dared not act rashly.
At this moment, Sorokin suppressed his inner turmoil and forced a stiff smile, barely managing to suppress his inner anger.
"Ahem, that's more like it. We're all old acquaintances, so we should resolve today's misunderstanding peacefully. Fighting is no good."
"What's your explanation?" The Oathkeeper stood with his arms crossed, hovering in starlight, his tone ambiguous.
Sorokin's eyes lit up. "We can totally cooperate."
"Cooperation?" The Oathkeeper looked Sorokin up and down.
"That's right, we're all old fogies from the old era. Past grudges have long since faded with time, and we're no longer enemies. Today's events are a misunderstanding. My target was actually just the Soul Flame, but I happened to stumble upon your secret. The biggest conflict between us is your distrust of me. You worried that an outsider like me would leak information, so you planned to capture me..."
Sorokin had calmed down by this point and used his silver tongue, honed through years of business experience, to negotiate.
He observed the expressions on everyone's faces, paused, and continued:
"But now you can't stop me from passing on the intelligence, and I'm worried that you'll use it against me. We both have our concerns, so cooperation is the best option for both of us. If we can reach a peaceful consensus, we can avoid the situation from escalating into a lose-lose situation."
"So how do you want to cooperate?" the Oathkeeper asked, narrowing his eyes.
"It's simple. You're worried about leaks and don't trust me to operate outside, so why not just let me join the Sanctum? Then we'll all be on your side, and that'll solve the problem."
Sorokin smiled.
His core idea is simple: if you can't beat them, join them!
This was not a life-saving expedient, but the result of careful consideration. Although this encounter brought him danger, upon careful thought, he realized it might not be a bad opportunity, a chance to explore the secrets of the universe.
He was already prepared to abandon the identity of "Sorokin" and originally planned to retire to Secondary Dimension World for a while, but now it seems that the Sanctum Organization might be a better place. Not only does he have a group of old acquaintances to keep him company, but they also seem to be brewing some big plan. Staying here, he can also pretend to the outside world that he is also a resurrected person.
After the initial shock, Sorokin had developed a strong interest in the Sanctuary Revival. His other goal was to reduce the number of Beyond Grade A beings in the universe, but now that he had discovered a way for Beyond Grade A beings to be resurrected, he would be restless and unable to eat or sleep until he figured out what was going on.
At the same time, Sorokin couldn't help but feel a little envious. He originally thought that most of the First Ones had disappeared into the long river of history, and that he was the only one who survived to reach the new era. Although he didn't say it, he actually harbored a vague sense of superiority, believing that among the strong people of his time, only he had the last laugh.
But now, seeing a large group of the First Ones still alive, Sorokin's sense of superiority vanished instantly, replaced by a sour feeling in his heart. Especially when he thought about his own years of living in anonymity and treading carefully, he couldn't help but feel both jealous and envious of these Revived, which made him even more interested in the Sanctuary Revival.
"You want to join the Sanctum?"
Everyone was stunned for a moment, their eyes turning strange.
You want to share in our victory without contributing anything?
How could you be so optimistic?
After all these years, how did the powerful Spirit Emperor I remembered become so shrewd?
The Oathkeeper frowned in thought, remaining silent, seemingly struggling with his decision.
Seeing this, Sorokin added fuel to the fire, saying, "To be honest, I was just thinking of retiring. If the Sanctum is willing to accept me, I won't come empty-handed. You should know that I am the head of the Infinite Financial Group. I can bring the Sanctum a huge amount of operating funds. No matter what plan we want to carry out, we need money, right?"
He also coveted the secret of the Sanctuary Revival and spared no expense to gain the right to join, believing that if he could also enjoy such benefits, his life would be more secure.
Upon hearing this, the Oathkeeper said quietly, "Letting outsiders join is risky and difficult to control. You've hidden yourself so well, and we don't know much about you, so it's hard for us to trust you."
"I understand your concerns, but I am indeed very sincere. As for what outsiders say, I don't think it's accurate," Sorokin said with a smile. "We are old acquaintances, we know each other's ways, and there is no lack of trust between us."
Baigel suddenly shook his head and interjected, "No, we're not familiar with each other."
Screw you! You roasted me alive back then!
Sorokin almost swore, but he had to keep smiling.
The Oathkeeper slowly said, "So many years have passed, you must have changed your identity more than once, how would we know if you've changed?"
Upon hearing this, Sorokin paused for a moment, then shook his head. "Everyone has secrets. Whatever I've been through in the past, now I'm just Sorokin."
He didn't want to reveal information about his other identities. Both Spirit Emperor and Sorokin's identities were relatively clean, but he had committed many crimes under other identities. If exposed, it would become new leverage. Therefore, he refused to reveal his previous identities and took this opportunity to appropriately show toughness in the negotiations, reminding the other party of their equal status in the negotiations.
The Oathkeeper thought for a moment, then changed the subject, saying, "Let's put that aside for now. Let me ask you first: you say you can sense the Soul Flame, but there's been no activity for so many years. Why are you suddenly trying to regain this ability? We can't believe you until you explain this clearly."
Sorokin hesitated for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "Actually, I've encountered a powerful enemy, and I want to deal with him, so I need to retrieve the Soul Flame and do my best to increase my power."
Who is that formidable enemy?
"Black Star!"
As soon as the words were spoken, everyone was startled and quickly controlled their expressions, not revealing anything unusual.
Suppressing his surprise, the Oathkeeper feigned doubt and asked, "Black Star? I know that guy. He only rose to prominence in the last few decades and seems to be one of the top tier of powerhouses in the universe. It's said that his strength is unfathomable. How did you get involved with him?"
Sorokin's face darkened at the mention of this.
"He found out my identity and came to my door to blackmail me. I decided to settle things peacefully and agreed to his demands, even at a loss, just to satisfy his appetite and make him keep quiet. But this bastard is too much! He took my money and now he wants to expose my background and stab me in the back. If I don't teach him a lesson, he'll probably really think I'm easy to bully!"
This time, Sorokin's anger was not an act, but a genuine outpouring of emotion. He seemed to be a sworn enemy, as if he would kill Black Star on the spot if he were in front of him.
"So this is why you've abandoned your current identity and want to live in anonymity?" The Oathkeeper, seeing that Sorokin's performance didn't seem fake, couldn't help but ponder.
"That's right, I don't want to attract the attention of the Three Universal Civilizations. He forced me to abandon the power I've built up over the years and flee."
Sorokin said bitterly.
He harbored great hostility towards Han Xiao, and just now he even had a greedy thought, wanting to use the threat of leaking secrets to force the Sanctum Organization to help him deal with Black Star. With such a powerful and unexpected armed force, Black Star would definitely be caught off guard.
However, upon closer reflection, he dismissed the impulsive idea. After all, Black Star had the ability to teleport to the Sovereign and was immune to encirclement. Furthermore, his threat would inevitably cause dissatisfaction within the Sanctum, and there was a chance that they would refuse to accept him.
Compared to the secret of the Sanctuary Revival, targeting Black Star seemed less important, so Sorokin didn't want to lose sight of the bigger picture. Besides, he had already learned his lesson from this experience—if you choose to back down, you should stick to it!
Therefore, Sorokin didn't want to cause any more trouble. With the Sanctum Organization's big secret at stake, he secretly decided to cancel his plan to deal with Black Star and retire peacefully. In any case, he felt that there would be plenty of time in the future, and he would always encounter better opportunities to make Black Star pay the price for his actions.
The Oathkeeper narrowed his eyes and suddenly said, "If Black Star is targeting you, that's a risk. If we accept you, Black Star might one day find the organization's location while tracking you, leading to our exposure, just like today."
Sorokin hurriedly said, "No, Black Star doesn't have much of an obsession with me personally. He's most likely just after my assets. You don't know, this guy is insatiable, domineering, Tu Shu, ambitious, cunning, and extremely shameless... His real goal is to seize the assets of the Infinite Financial Group."
If we hadn't had contact with Black Star, we might have actually believed your lies.
... But their shamelessness is undeniable.
The Oathkeeper secretly rolled his eyes, then feigned seriousness, saying, "This is just your guess. You can't guarantee what Black Star will do. If you want to join the Sanctum, you'd better deal with this potential threat first."
Sorokin was secretly annoyed. He had already planned to cancel the plan to be on the safe side, but he didn't expect the Sanctum to force him to continue targeting Black Star.
However, in his view, the Oathkeeper's concerns were reasonable and there was nothing wrong with them, Sorokin did not find anything unusual about them.
"To be honest, I'm not very confident I can handle Black Star on my own. He's too strong..." Sorokin helplessly.
The Oathkeeper glared at him. "Do you expect us to help you? Don't push your luck! If you really think you can blackmail us with something we've got, we'd rather expose you than let you get away with it."
His firm stance was to prevent Sorokin from believing that the Sanctum was connected to the Black Star.
"Then what are you going to do?"
Sorokin countered, thinking that after all the Oathkeeper had said, it was impossible for him to still be thinking of a fight to the death.
The Oathkeeper narrowed his eyes, his tone suddenly softening. "In short, you cannot leave for now. We need to ensure your physical body remains within our sight, but we will not harm you. This is merely a precaution to prevent you from leaking information. As for your request to join the Sanctum... we still need to consider it and weigh the pros and cons."
The people of the Sanctum all understood the Oathkeeper's intention to concede, and their expressions varied.
"No, are we really going to accept him?" Baigel feigned surprise.
"This isn't a bad option, otherwise, what if he really leaks the information?" The Oathkeeper turned to look at him, then glanced at the others, giving them a subtle wink before turning back to Sorokin and saying calmly, "These are my conditions. If you don't accept them, then there's nothing more to discuss."
Sorokin weighed the options for a moment, realizing he didn't have many choices, and that this outcome was already quite good. He let out a breath and slowly nodded.
"Alright, I agree to this condition. I am willing to be under your control for the time being, but you cannot secretly set up traps to block mental fluctuations. Although such things are not very useful to me, as long as you show any such signs, I will take it as a lack of sincerity in cooperating, and I will immediately break the deal and let the possessed body expose the information."
"Yes," the Oathkeeper nodded.
Both sides reached a consensus, and the atmosphere quickly eased.
The crowd swarmed around Sorokin, escorting him to the Sanctum Organization fleet, intending to monitor him every minute as a new form of entertainment besides playing cards.
Sorokin obediently followed the group away, secretly wiping away cold sweat. He felt as if the experience was a dream, and secretly rejoiced.
"Fortunately, my persuasive skills were quite good, and I managed to turn the tide..."
Once everyone had gone some distance, the Oathkeeper breathed a sigh of relief. His plan was similar: to first calm the other party down.
In fact, for the Oathkeeper, if Sorokin was genuinely joining, then accepting him wouldn't be a problem. There was no deep-seated hatred between them; they were, after all, contemporaries and acquaintances with common interests, and it would also prevent leaks.
The Sanctum is not an affiliated force of anyone else, and recruiting new members does not actually require reporting to Black Star. However, the Oathkeeper felt it would be better to inform Black Star about this matter.
After all, Sorokin and Black Star had a conflict, and the Oathkeeper was still biased towards Han Xiao. For him, the Black Star Army was a more important partner.
With this in mind, the Oathkeeper closed his eyes slightly and secretly used mental projection to contact Han Xiao.
Black Star Palace, Legion Commander's Office.
The Oathkeeper's mental projection appeared in the room, and upon looking up, he saw a burly figure processing documents in his seat.
Noticing the arrival of the Oathkeeper, Han Xiao looked up and smiled.
"Hey, Old Oathkeeper, what a rare guest!"
The Oathkeeper, however, had no time for idle chatter. He said in a deep voice, "Black Star, an unexpected situation has just occurred. I feel I need to inform you. This matter may seriously affect our plans."
"Then tell me, I didn't shut you up." Han Xiao wasn't nervous at all, his tone was teasing.
"Just now, Sorokin came to our door..."
The Oathkeeper recounted what had just happened without reservation.
"Is that so? I thought my luck was bad enough, but I didn't expect you to be just as unlucky."
Han Xiao was immediately amused. He hadn't expected Little Sorokin to be so brave as to trespass into the nursing home.
"You can still laugh!" the Oathkeeper exclaimed angrily. "Tell me what to do about this. If you have no objections, I'll really take him into the Sanctum!"
"Hey, what's the rush? This is very easy to solve." Han Xiao waved his hand casually.
What's your idea?
"I think you've fallen into a misconception. It's understandable that concern can cloud judgment," Han Xiao said, resting his hands on his chin and chuckling. "You're worried he'll leak information, but he doesn't know about my connection with you. So in his eyes, exposing information only threatens the Sanctum Organization, which is useless to me. If you change your perspective, you'll realize that this is actually good news for me."
"You mean..." The Oathkeeper's heart skipped a beat.
"I've never had a chance to strike him secretly, but now you've secured my prey and indirectly created a clandestine execution site. Sorokin doesn't even know the incriminating evidence he has is useful to me. A simple act is all it takes to solve the problem. That's the meaning of having partners, in other words..."
Han Xiao smiled faintly, a Glimmer flashing on the Netherland Mark on the back of his hand.
He's gone.