Chapter 175: Three Conditions
After a long period of facing off, Su Chen sighed, “Why do you think I have the ability to stop the battle?”
Eternal Night replied, “I don’t know how you will do it, because that is your problem. All I know is that there is only one person who has ever pushed me to this degree, and that’s you. You have so far accomplished miracle after miracle, first with the Ravagers and now with the Harpies, by relying on your transformation technique, spatial abilities, and predictive capabilities, all while remaining free to act as you please and wreak devastation on both of us. Since you have been able to do all of these things, calming a battle is but a trivial matter.”
“And what if I can’t do it?”
“Zhu Xianyao will die,” Eternal Night said faintly. “I don’t care about offending the Harpies right now. If you cannot stop the war that is brewing between us, I will kill her. In any case, the number of deaths won’t be changed much by adding one more to the tally.”
His words were filled with ruthlessness, clearly demonstrating what kind of character he had.
Now, it was Su Chen’s turn to feel a headache coming on.
He rubbed his temples and said, “Your Majesty, when did you become so unreasonable?”
“The fact that I haven’t given you a violent beating before sending you back to deal with the battle, given what you have done to the Harpies, is already me showing great restraint.”
Su Chen could only helplessly say, “Fine. Tell me your conditions.”
Eternal Night raised three fingers. “First of all, you need to stop the conflict that is brewing with both the Beasts and the humans.”
When Su Chen heard this, he frowned.
It wasn’t because this request was too excessive, but because it was only one request of three that Eternal Night was going to make.
However, Su Chen still said in the end, “I agree.”
“Secondly, you must create a cultivation method for the Harpies as well.”
“Hm?” Su Chen was stunned.
Eternal Night said, “You are the Worldly Sage, responsible for creating the bloodline-less cultivation techniques. If you can do it for the humans, you can also do it for the Harpies. We are inherently physically weak and have been trying to resolve this problem for years. However, we have always lacked a good close-quarters combat system. If there’s anyone who can solve this problem, it’s you. After all, you helped those Ravager guys figure out a cultivation system, didn’t you?”
So you know about that too.
Su Chen frowned, but in the end he still nodded, “I can do that as well. The third request is probably for me to return all the treasures that I stole to you, right? I can agree to that as well.”
As he spoke, he pulled out a trunk.
The trunk was filled with Origin Rings.
These were all the treasures that Su Chen had gathered during his two years in Harpy territory.
Unfortunately, it appeared that he was going to have to return all of these treasures.
Unexpectedly, Eternal Night didn’t even spare the trunk a single glance.
He said, “You don’t need to return these things to me.”
What?
Su Chen was stunned.
Eternal Night said calmly, “Anything you were able to take away belongs to you. I’m not that greedy.”
Su Chen chuckled. “Old man, there’s no need to say these things, right? This trunk not only contains all of the treasures I took from Fate’s Hands and Jade Clearmist’s treasure stores. Even the Mother G.o.ddess Sect’s treasures are in here, especially those divine Origin Tools……”
Eternal Night interrupted him. “The Mother G.o.ddess Sect’s treasures aren’t mine. Why should I care?”
Hey…...
Su Chen stared at Eternal NIght in a daze.
Eternal Night said, “You don’t need to pretend to be an idiot. I never planned on keeping this from you in the first place. The Mother G.o.ddess Sect merely represents divine authority and controls the souls of the ma.s.ses. But that is true whether they succeed or fail. The Mother G.o.ddess Sect is too above worldly matters. They wield incredible authority, but they don’t know how to use it because they don’t know how to be political. Throughout the past tens of thousands of years, the Mother G.o.ddess Sect has always been dragging the country back - dragging me back. There are many things I wanted to do that were impossible simply because they refused to let me.”
Su Chen said, “But what I do know is that the Mother G.o.ddess Sect and Sky Country are irreversibly tied together at this point.”
Eternal Night nodded. “I will not refute that truth, but that is only because of Serene Dream’s trust in me…… But I am getting old, and one day I will die. Who knows what will happen then? The Mother G.o.ddess Sect’s influence might not necessarily be a good thing for the country. It’s probably a good thing for those treasures to remain lost. If they lose some strength, it will give them less overall authority. The Mother G.o.ddess Sect has a good reason for existing, and it is necessary for them to stick around, but they cannot be too strong. Weakening them a little is a good thing.”
Su Chen finally understood what he was saying.
Unfortunately, while Serene Dream Lotus Crown was infatuated with Eternal Night, Eternal Night was constantly scheming, even bringing the Mother G.o.ddess Sect into the mix. There was no way that Eternal Night would be able to appropriate those treasures for himself, so it was better just to let them go.
Of course, this didn’t mean that Eternal NIght was just going to give them to Su Chen for free.
It was obvious that these treasures would be given to him because of the third requirement.
Su Chen could instinctively sense that this third condition was going to be the most important.
Indeed, Eternal Night said, “I need you to bring me two items. As long as you are able to do this, I will immediately release Zhu Xianyao, and everything you have reaped in Harpy territory will belong to you. If you want, I can even open up the imperial storehouses and let you take away any treasure that you want.”
Su Chen wasn’t happy in the slightest when he heard this. “You don’t need to entice me like that. If you’re willing to pay that high a price, the two items you are going to request will be incredibly hard to obtain. Tell me what you want.”
“The Immortal Soul and Neptune’s Eye.”
Pu!
Su Chen spat out the tea he had just been drinking.
He stared at Eternal Night. “You……”
When he was able to confirm that Eternal Night wasn’t kidding, Su Chen said, “You’d better prepare to kill me and her together then.”
The Immortal Soul and the Neptune’s Eye came from a piece of Sky City’s history that the Harpies preferred not to look back on.
The Deep Sea Anchor plan.
The plan would give Sky City access to an immense amount of energy, but the interference of the Harpies’ enemies forever locked Sky City in place, making it impossible for the city to move.
The main offender of this was the Deep Sea Anchor itself, which extended into the unknown and firmly rooted Sky City in place.
One end of the Deep Sea Anchor was placed on the Sark’s Nucleus controlling the city, while the other end was placed in the depths of the Origin Energy Sea.
Even though it sounded quite simple, the plan was incredibly complex in reality. The anchor itself was an incredible feat of engineering, and it had been designed with a number of different functionalities in mind. It absolutely had many more functions than to merely transmit energy at a more efficient rate.
Naturally, there needed to be a control mechanism for this kind of a complex piece of equipment.
This control hub was actually Neptune’s Eye.
Neptune’s Eye was a large crystal ball made with precious materials and filled with complicated Origin Formation inscriptions, allowing it to resonate completely with the Deep Sea Anchor.
Because this resonant functionality was installed when the Deep Sea Anchor was being created, it was impossible to construct a second Neptune’s Eye for the same anchor.
However, Neptune’s Eye had been stolen after the anchor was successfully completed.
The ones to take it away were the various Intelligent Races that had been harmed by the Harpies.
The Immortal Soul had also been stolen.
The Immortal Soul was a special kind of consciousness that was designed to attach itself to the Deep Sea Anchor to become the anchor’s Tool Spirit. Of course, this compatibility was extremely rare, so it was impossible to find a subst.i.tute.
The Immortal Soul’s will would increase the maneuverability of the Deep Sea Anchor.
If Neptune’s Eye was like the Deep Sea Anchor’s brain, responsible for controlling it, then Immortal Soul was like the anchor’s limbs, responsible for moving it.
The Deep Sea Anchor had basically entered a vegetative state after having its brain and limbs removed.
Later on, it was discovered that these two treasures had been dispersed to the Oceanids and to the Astrals, becoming their treasure.
This was also the reason that they came to be known as Neptune’s Eye and Immortal Soul.
For Eternal Night to request these things from Su Chen meant only one thing - he wanted to allow Sky City to regain its mobility.
Sky City!
The powerful, invincible Sky City that even a Desolate Beast could not defeat!
Eternal Night actually wanted to give Sky City the ability to move around again.
What were the Mother G.o.ddess Sect’s treasures worth when compared to such a grand plan?
That was why Su Chen said, “Then you might as well kill me.”
These two items were incredible treasures of the two races. How could he allow Eternal Night to have them?
Unexpectedly, Eternal Night nodded when he heard this. “Fine, that’s what I was thinking as well.”
“What?” Su Chen was taken aback.
“What I’m saying is that I really want to kill you,” Eternal Night replied. “If you don’t agree to my conditions, then I will just kill you here and now. That is not a bad decision.”
Su Chen frowned. “I don’t understand. Didn’t you need my help to defuse the situation earlier? Why are you saying this now?”
Eternal Night replied, “That was before I saw you. But now, I suddenly feel that killing you is the best decision, based on the fact that you were the one to start this war, caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Harpies, and
Hey now......
Was this kind of hatred necessary?
After a moment’s thought, Su Chen asked, “What is it that suddenly caused this change of heart?”
Eternal Night replied, “The fact that you are now at the Spirit Burning Realm.”
Spirit Burning Realm!
So Eternal Night had managed to figure it out anyways.
Su Chen had carefully kept his cultivation realm a secret, but it appeared that Eternal Night had managed to discover that something wasn’t right.
Su Chen felt his heart tremble. “Your Majesty, you must be joking. So what if I’ve reached the Spirit Burning Realm? That’s not really a big deal, is it?”
“How is it not a big deal? You’ve reached the Spirit Burning Realm without a bloodline!” Eternal Night replied calmly. “How many humans have yearned for this to happen without anything coming to fruition? Yet you were able to do it. There were humans who were able to reach the Blood Boiling Realm before. But then you opened the way to the Yang Opening Realm, then the Light Shaking Realm, and now the Spirit Burning Realm. In but a few decades, you have accomplished what others could not in tens of millenia. Is that not a big deal?”
Su Chen remained silent.
Eternal Night continued, “Because of you, humans will definitely escape from the control of bloodlines. Why are the three countries so confident that they can take us on? Because your cultivation techniques have been spread far and wide, and the Origin Qi Scholars have begun to appear in waves amongst the human race, especially ones at the Blood Boiling Realm or Yang Opening Realm. Those people serve as the backbone of the human army, and now they are virtually ubiquitous. Even the status of Light Shaking Realm cultivators is rapidly declining, even though you haven’t universally distributed it yet. But you will sooner or later, right?”
Su Chen fell silent.
Eternal Night nodded. “Many people think that the Light Shaking Realm is your upper limit, and that the Spirit Burning Realm is impossible. But I can tell that you are far from your limit. You are still young, but you have already broken into the Spirit Burning Realm. Who knows if you will be able to make it into the last two realms? What will happen to the strength of the human race? I can’t help but tremble even thinking about it. Tell me, why shouldn’t I nip the problem in the bud and kill you right now?”
Su Chen sighed helplessly, “If you put it that way, then I think your best bet is just to cut me down where I stand. You aren’t afraid of being labeled a villain anyways. It would be quite impressive for you to make such a sacrifice for the sake of the Intelligent Races.”
“This is the exact reason why I have not allowed myself to kill you until now...... I am not willing to be sacrificed for the sake of the Intelligent Races,” Eternal Night replied. “Why do the Harpies need to pay the price for the sake of containing the human race’s rise to power?”
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