Chapter 692: Negotiation
After Bai Li had returned, the tendrils of frosty mist spreading from the Frost Island behind her had been contained within a specific area. They no longer leaked outside.
It was obvious that the holes Qin Lie and the seven G.o.dly lights had created were repaired by her.
Once these holes had been plugged completely, Qin Lie noticed that the frosty mist of Frost Island was no longer being drawn towards him when he circulated the Frost Arts.
Since the frost aura no longer spread, the seawater wouldn’t turn into ice and new glaciers.
Therefore, Frost Island wouldn’t be able to expand its domain.
This was the countermeasure these foreign races and evil spirits had employed in order to protect their interests.
Qin Lie had an idea what to do now.
“You are a white barbarian of the the three great eastern barbarians tribes, aren’t you?” Qin Lie asked randomly.
“What if I am? What if I’m not?” Bai Li’s eyes turned cold as she said hostilely, “This is the Ruined Lands and not the Land of Chaos or some other place! The Ruined Lands can handle all kinds of monsters. Are you going to tell me that it can’t fit a mere female white barbarian like me?”
She thought that Qin Lie was purposely bringing her ident.i.ty up to attack her.
The eastern barbarians and the residents of the Land of Chaos had never shared an amicable relations.h.i.+p with each other. Every once in a while, a conflict would erupt between the two parties. This was public knowledge.
lllusory Demon Sect and Black Voodoo Cult especially fought quite often against the eastern barbarians because they were on the east side of the Land of Chaos and was thus located nearer to them.
Both sides had clashed against one another for almost several hundreds of years.
The Ruined Lands weren’t too far away from the Heavenly Slaughter Continent. Bai Li thought that Qin Lie might be a member of Illusory Demon Sect or Black Voodoo Cult, which was why she grew even more displeased towards him.
“If you’re a white barbarian, then you… probably know Jia Yue, don’t you?” Qin Lie asked again.
Bai Li’s expression abruptly changed as she screamed, “How did you know about Jia Yue?”
Qin Lie fell silent as his eyes glittered with a dim, odd light. He cast a glance at the lizardman and dragonman.
Bai Li hesitated for a moment before she said softly, “I’d like to talk with this kid in private.”
The lizardman and dragonman exchanged a glance with each other before nodding. Then, the lizardman said, “Bai Li, this human hunior is related to the Seven Eyed Monster. You’d better watch yourself, or you may draw his ire after he escapes.” He was worried that Bai Li would lose control over her emotions and kill Qin Lie directly. He was afraid that she would draw La Pu’s fury.
“Cut the nonsense!” Bai Li said impatiently.
Since Bai Li had repaired the holes made by the seven G.o.dly lights and Qin Lie, she had nothing else to do here.
A moment of thought later, the two foreign race clansmen decided to stay silent and cast another deep glance at Qin Lie. Then, they flew away from the area.
“Now speak. Who are you? How do you know Jia Yue?” Bai Li said coldly.
“You talk first. Are you here for Jia Yue?” Qin Lie asked.
Bai Li looked surprised as she asked in confusion, “What does me being here have anything to do with Jia Yue?” After a pause, she continued, “The spirit art I cultivate is of the frost attribute. Since Frost Island is always cold, there are plenty of people who cultivate there. I’m just one of them.”
“You aren’t here for Jia Yue?” Qin Lie frowned.
“I haven’t returned to the clan for more than ten years, so obviously I haven’t even met Jia Yue. Why on earth would I come here because of her?” Bai Li snorted and said impatiently, “Stop dodging the question! Tell me, how do you know Jia Yue?”
“When did Frost Island get a new master? When has the abnormal changes and invasion of frost aura begun?” Qin Lie ignored her question and asked again.
“You answer my question first!” Bai Li said angrily.
“What I’m asking has something to do with Jia Yue. I hope you can answer my questions first.” Qin Lie remained firm.
“It happened about a year ago.” Bai Li restrained her anger and answered, “The nine great Silver forces organized something called a Trial, but for whatever reason announced its end not long after. There were many ancient elite remains scattered about in the sea, causing many forces to set out searching for them. Although the Ruined Lands had nothing to do with those Silver rank forces, there are plenty of people who l.u.s.t for the ancient elite remains. Therefore, there were plenty of people who have come looking.”
“It was at that time that Frost Island suddenly changed.”
“First, there were many frost attribute spirit beasts that fell into ice holes. Not long after, there was an ice storm beneath Frost Island that caused the entire island itself to shake.”
“I happened to be cultivating at Frost Island at the time, and I was also woken up by that energy.”
“Some time later, many spirit beasts have come out from inside of Frost Island and began chasing all other races that cultivated on Frost Island. I was also chased out by a couple of powerful spirit beasts.”
“Not long after, I heard that a great change had occurred deep inside Frost Island, and that this place now has a new master.”
“Going by the rules of the Ruined Lands, any ent.i.ty on an island weaker than island’s master must evacuate on their own. Those who consider themselves sufficiently powerful or are interested in the island itself can charge into the inner region of the island and challenge the master. The victor shall replace the former master and rule over the island, and the loser will either die or leave the island forever.”
“There are some fellows who cultivate frost spirit arts just like me and couldn’t take this offense, ultimately charging into the inner region of Frost Island. They wanted to take out the master of Frost Island and take the position of master for themselves.”
“I’m familiar with some of those people, and there were plenty of them who were much stronger than me. However, they vanished after they had entered the inner region, never to return.”
“Over time, no one dared to venture deep into Frost Island to challenge the new master any longer. The experts of the Ruined Lands slowly acknowledged the existence of Frost Island’s new master.”
“The story was supposed to peacefully end here.”
“However, the frost aura released by Frost Island had grown more and more intense as of late, and it was continuously freezing seawater and creating glaciers, expanding Frost Island’s boundaries. This caused the masters of the surrounding islands to grow wary immediately.”
“Some of them sent their subordinates into Frost Island midway in attempt to inquire its master’s intentions.”
“Unfortunately, none of the people who were sent to Frost Island had returned.”
“The surrounding island masters gathered for a secret discussion, and in the end they decided to take the extreme path. On one hand, they sealed off Frost island and stopped the frost aura from spreading. On the other, they sent experts into Frost Island in an attempt to kill its new master.”
“As for me, I used to cultivate in Frost Island, and I am rather familiar with this place. I am also very displeased by this new master’s actions, which is why I have partic.i.p.ated in this operation.”
“That’s the gist of the situation.”
Bai Li couldn’t stop the moment she started talking. She explained everything that had happened on Frost Island so far in great detail.
La Pu hadn’t told Qin Lie about Frost Island because he thought that there was no need for him to know, and because it did nothing to help Qin Lie’s cultivation.
That was why Qin Lie knew nothing about Frost Island.
Now that Bai Li had explained things, Qin Lie slowly formed a pattern of thought inside his mind as he connected the changes of the Demon Sealing Tombstone to the changes of Frost island.
“The new master of Frost island is probably largely related to Jia Yue. If… it is still holding Jia Yue’s body, then Jia Yue is the new master of Frost Island,” Qin Lie gave her the answer after pondering for a moment.
Bai Li sneered, “Nonsense! Jia Yue may possess an astounding amount of talent, but she is only at the Netherpa.s.sage Realm. With her level of strength, she wouldn’t even be able to establish herself at the Ruined Lands, much less dominating Frost Island!”
“The ice spirit has taken over Jia Yue’s body,” Qin Lie clarified.
“The ice spirit?” Bai Li looked confused. “What’s that? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“I’m talking about the ice spirit of the seven spirits. It escaped the Graveyard of G.o.ds after that place had exploded,” Qin Lie explained.
“The Graveyard of G.o.ds? Isn’t that the secret realm where the Trial took place?” Bai Li exclaimed.
Upon closer inspection and noticing how surprised Bai Li was at everything, Qin Lie was sure that this Bai Li really hadn’t returned to the white eastern barbarian clan for a very long time. That was why she didn’t know about the changes that had occurred there as of late.
“I guess you really didn’t know anything,” Qin Lie shook his head and said helplessly, “It’s a pain to explain it from the beginning, and it’ll take a long time too. Why don’t you… let me in first? I can tell you everything once we get into Frost Island.”
“How do I know if what you’re telling me is the truth?” Bai Li said coldly.
“That doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t be too hard for you to open a pa.s.sage and let me through the barrier. Once I’ve entered Frost Island, whatever happens to me has nothing to do with you. My life won’t affect you any longer,” Qin Lie said with narrowed eyes. “You are only worried that I would force my way through the barrier and cause more undesirable cracks to appear on the barrier, causing Frost Island’s frost aura to spread, right?”
“Yes?” Bai Li nodded.
“Then the solution is simple, isn’t it? I won’t force my way into Frost Island, and I won’t cause you too much trouble. I don’t think you like me very much, so wouldn’t it ease your mind if I were to die on Frost Island?” Qin Lie said smilingly.
“But what if you don’t die immediately on Frost Island? What if you throw a tantrum and ask to come out not long after you went in? It takes a lot of spirit energy out of me to open or close a pa.s.sage every time. Where would I find the time or energy to entertain you like this?” Bai Li retorted coldly.
“What if I pay you in spirit stones?” An idea flashed through Qin Lie’s mind. “You open a small pa.s.sage and let me in. I’ll pay you five thousand Earth Grade spirit stones. What do you think?”
“Five thousand Earth Grade spirit stones?”
“Yes!”
“You should’ve said that from the beginning. Come, come! Give me your spirit stones, and I’ll exhaust myself and open a pa.s.sage only for you.” Bai Li extended a hand.
The iciness in her eyes seemed to have melted by the mention of five thousand Earth Grade spirit stones. Even her voice had grown gentle immediately.
Qin Lie was speechless.
He suddenly realized that his explanation was not nearly as persuasive as five thousand spirit stones. His spirit stones had easily caused this female white barbarian who was just stopping him in his tracks righteously to change her att.i.tude completely.
“Spirit stones are the key of persuasion, I see.” Qin Lie thought in secret.
After he pa.s.sed five thousand Earth Grade spirit stones to Bai Li, the cold in her eyes was long gone.
“I’ll open a path for you.” Bai Li was obviously feeling pretty great. After putting away the spirit stones carefully, she quickly flew to the edge of Frost Island and executed a strange spirit art, opening a bright path through the dark barrier.
Qin Lie smoothly pa.s.sed through the barrier and entered Frost Island’s territory.
Surprisingly, Bai Li hadn’t stayed outside. She actually came through the barrier too and looked at Qin Lie with a frown. She seemed to be thinking and wanting to say something.
“Is there something else?” Qin Lie turned around and asked.
“Now that you’ve come in, I want confirmation on what you had told me earlier. Were you lying to me earlier because you want to save yourself some spirit stones?” Bai Li asked.
“No.” Qin Lie shook his head.
“Then what you told me about Jia Yue being taken over by some ice spirit, and that she may very well be in Frost Island is all real?” Bai Li asked again.
“That remains to be seen. But I am at least eighty percent sure that the new master of Frost Island is the ice spirit that had escaped from the Graveyard of G.o.ds!” Qin Lie said seriously.
Bai Li frowned deeply and pondered for a moment. Finally, she said, “Wait for me for a bit. I’ll inform that lizard and come back right away.”
“Why should I wait for you?”
“I know every ice and stone on Frost Island!”
“Uhh, okay, I’ll wait for you then.”