Chapter 1291 Kong"s Contribution
"I understand how you feel," w.a.n.g Wei said as he looked at this group. He raised his hands to stop them after noticing they were about to explode due to his words.
"Although I haven"t lived a similar experience, I can understand," w.a.n.g Wei continued. "You spent your entire life studying a profession, and after years of hard work and success, your status is n.o.ble and respected."
No matter the place or time, alchemists or other professions are respected, and that"s because the ratio of cultivators to professions is too low. The world is vast, and there are plenty of resources. However, no matter how many professionals there are, it will never be enough for the entire world. Even top lineages who can cultivate their own profession often feel they do not have enough.
"However," w.a.n.g Wei continued. "Just as you were about to reap the fruit of your labor, these parasites came into power. They took away your pride, status, and, more importantly, your dignity. They turned you into, well, to put it directly, into slaves.
"They controlled your lives, showed you no respect, did not pay you, and, more importantly, cut off your path of progress. Am I right?"
The room was quiet. He was correct. That"s how these people felt. That"s why they would rather die than submit to someone else again. Empyrean Cloud Flame took a deep breath to calm down. "What"s the point of saying this? Are you trying to put salt in our wounds?"
"Of course not," w.a.n.g Wei replied with a gentle smile. "I"m telling you this to show you I understand how you feel and that I"m different from Blood Dragon. Our working relations.h.i.+p will be more of a cooperation.
"You"ll work for me, but you"ll also be compensated. I"ll give you the dignity and respect you deserve. More importantly, you"ll have your freedom, and I won"t care where you live as long as the things I want are delivered in time."
w.a.n.g Wei had a sincere smile, but Red Cloud would not buy it, so he said: "That sounds too good to be true. What"s the downside? Where is the trick?" He looked w.a.n.g Wei in the eyes. "Might as well be direct and truthful because we have nothing else to lose. We have already considered ourselves dead."
"You"re being a little overdramatic," w.a.n.g Wei said calmly. "As for the downside? All I ask is you make my orders a priority."
"In other words, you want us to work exclusively for you," Could Flame sneered.
"Now, you"re twisting my words," w.a.n.g Wei said. "I said to prioritize my orders, not that you only take orders from me. Plus, I"m not asking you to work for me for the rest of your life. Our contract can have an expiring length, and after that date, based on our previous experience, you guys can decide whether to sign again."
These professionals took a moment to consider. They have to admit that if w.a.n.g Wei was telling the truth, he did give them enough freedom and return power and dignity to them.
"And what if we refuse to work with you?" Cloud Flame asked. His words brought everyone"s attention to w.a.n.g Wei again. Simultaneously, these professionals were glad they chose him as a representative since he could ask the hard questions.
"Nothing will happen. You can live if you don"t want to work with me," w.a.n.g Wei replied calmly.
"You expect me to believe that?" Red Cloud sneered.
"What do you want me to say? Kill you? I don"t need to do that since others will do it for me."
"What do you mean by that?"
w.a.n.g Wei looked at them calmly. "All of you are in this predicament because you were talented, but your background was weak. These parasites would not dare capture the professionals from these top lineages. They would instead secretly and openly a.s.sa.s.sinate them but not dare use them.
"After leaving this place, what do you think will happen to you guys, talented professionals who have no potent background to protect you? You"ll either die at the hands of the remnants of Blood Dragon, the other parasites will try to capture you again, or some other faction will once again l.u.s.t after your talent.
"And you know they will not be as friendly to talk as me. Some of them will not care about whether you wish to die or not. To them, your death means their enemy will not become powerful, and their foundation will not deepen."
The faces of these professionals turned ugly; they knew there were some truths behind w.a.n.g Wei"s words. Many of them once belonged to another of the moons but were acquired by Blood Dragon through compet.i.tion, gambling, and even direct kidnapping; they were treated as commodities, as a game to weaken the forces of the other moons. They were stuck in the Alchemy Hall not only because the Blood Dragon wished to control their lives but also to protect them from the others.
Cloud Flame wanted to tell w.a.n.g Wei to stop using fear-mongering tactics but did not do so. His purpose as the elected representative of the group was to protect their interest, and knowing the truth they will face once they gain their freedom is in their best interest.
"This is w.a.n.g Qi, one of my most trusted subordinates," w.a.n.g Wei said. "He has all the power to represent me. You can negotiate with him the nitty-gritty of the working contract. If you disagree with the final result, I"ll give you some starting funds so you can leave and start your life in the outside elsewhere.
"For those who leave, my doors will forever be open if you choose to return."
"Come with me," w.a.n.g Qi said to the group, leading them to another room for the negotiation. As he was leaving, w.a.n.g Wei sent him a message through divine sense:
"Use the fact I"m the destined one and their hatred for the parasites to get more advantage in the negotiation. However, you can be more lenient regarding the length of the contract."
w.a.n.g Wei knew what these people valued more than anything currently was their freedom, so he did not mind a short contract. As long as they sign, he can treat them better so they can sign again and eventually turn them into his men when he returns to the Dao Opening Sect.
"Why are you here?" w.a.n.g Wei asked, looking at Red Mask. She should have been organizing Blood Dragon"s information and spy agency.
"There"s a s.p.a.ce Dragon in charge of the spy network, and he was causing chaos when we opened the vault."
"Did he destroy the information?" w.a.n.g Wei asked with a frown.
"I"ve acted swiftly, so he did not destroy anything valuable," Red Mask responded. "However, their headquarters is a mess; we"ll take time to organize everything."
w.a.n.g Wei looked in the distance and saw through their headquarters. The s.p.a.ce Dragon liked to keep the information on paper instead of recording jades or other storage means. To ensure nothing happened to these doc.u.ments, the s.p.a.ce Dragon made these papers from his scale, making them extremely hard to destroy. The headquarters was now full of paper everywhere, and the Fate Shadow Guards were organizing it.
"Another waste of resources," w.a.n.g Wei thought. How valuable was dragon scale, and how easy was it to acquire? The dragon race has long known how valuable their scales were, so they"ve developed methods of shedding and using them for various reasons, including exchanging resources with other races. Although many dragons think such an act is beneath them, many others don"t care so much — especially in desperate times.
"You should not have come here just because of the chaos," w.a.n.g Wei said.
"No, my lord, we"ve found something important, and I wanted to report it immediately," Red Mask responded before showing w.a.n.g Wei a blueprint.
"A pillar?" w.a.n.g Wei first thought before looking at it closely. "So, that"s why the world is not full of resentments. These parasites have built these pillars in their terrotories that can transform the resentment between Heaven and Earth. But, since when were they so capable?"
w.a.n.g Wei finished reading this blueprint and realized something: "The core of this blueprint is transformation. The transformation of resentment into something beneficial to Heaven and Earth. Such brilliant methods would require a deep mastery of Transformation Dao —- this is Emperor Kong"s work."
"As astute as always, my lord," Red Mask praised. "According to the information gathered, Emperor Kong offered this method to the parasites. He probably used this to convince them to re-open the academies under his leaders.h.i.+p."
"Heroes truly rise during adverse times," w.a.n.g Wei sighed. Is Emperor Kong a hero? It depends on what perspective his actions are observed. The resentments of all sentient beings should have slowly eroded the Qi Luck of all these parasites, and by was.h.i.+ng them away, Emperor Kong essentially prolonged the reign of the parasites.
However, such large-scale resentment is not good for the Eternal Ascension World. If it were not dealt with, there would be more cultivators with Heart Demon, and people would be more impulsive, resulting in countless more killings worldwide. So, Emperor Kong"s actions could be said to have saved trillions of lives.
"I remember I had a meeting with Emperor Kong," w.a.n.g Wei thought. After everything that has happened, it"s very likely for the latter to cancel it, so he decided to send another invite.