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Translator: Silavin & VictorN
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
All this only made Yang Kai more determined to kill Mo Na Ye. He had to seize any opportunity to eradicate this Pseudo-Royal Lord as soon as possible. Mo Na Ye was undoubtedly a Black Ink Clansman on the inside, but on the outside he was as shameless and cunning as any Human.
In short, this guy was very difficult to deal with.
“Di Wu is now dead, and the Territory Lords who went to the Ancestral Land were also killed by you. So, it is the Black Ink Clan who suffered a heavy loss!” Mo Na Ye sighed.
Yang Kai snarled in return, “Why shouldn’t I have killed Di Wu and those eight Territory Lords? Should I have stuck out my neck to let them chop my head off instead?”
“That’s not what I meant,” Mo Na Ye waved his hand, “I just want to say that their death isn’t worth us fighting over. I just hope that their death can also calm your anger and allow this matter to rest. What do you say?”
“What do I say?” Yang Kai turned furious and then snapped, “If this is what you want to tell me, then save it! I will go back to the 3,000 Worlds and kill 100 Territory Lords to vent my fury!”
“Ha… very well,” Mo Na Ye smiled bitterly and said, “If it were me, I would not let this issue rest either. We both know that the peace treaty cannot be torn up right now, so let us see if we can come to some kind of arrangement. Sir Yang is undoubtedly unrivaled on the external battlefields as my Black Ink Clan does not have enough Royal Lords. Many Territory Lords would indeed die at your hands; however, once an all-out war breaks out, the future of your Eighth-Order Masters will be equally perilous. I believe that this is not the outcome the Human Race wants to see.”
“Threatening me is meaningless!” Yang Kai coldly snorted, “If a war is what you want, then that is what you will get. We’ll see whether your Territory Lords or our Eighth-Order Masters are wiped out first! Regardless of the outcome, I know I won’t be the one to die!”
Mo Na Ye was dumbfounded. Indeed, with Yang Kai’s methods, no matter what kind of war broke out, the chance of being killed was minute, unless the Black Ink Clan created a few more Pseudo-Royal Lords to corner him.
However, right now, the number of Black Ink Clan Innate Territory Lords could hardly support the creation of more Pseudo-Royal Lords. The Acquired Territory Lords could certainly perform the Source Fusion Techniques, but these seedlings were the future hope of the Black Ink Clan to produce true Royal Lords, so how could they be willing to sacrifice them?
“Sir Yang, why don’t you state your request openly,” Mo Na Ye gave up trying to negotiate with Yang Kai as it was clearly not working. The Black Ink Clan could not emerge unscathed from this it seemed.
Yang Kai had already prepared for this and said indifferently, “Those who are responsible should be punished. Di Wu and eight Territory Lords who attacked me that day may be dead, but there were 12 other Territory Lords who escaped. Where are they now?”
Mo Na Ye was shocked that Yang Kai had such a big appetite. He clearly wanted to kill those 12 Territory Lords to appease his anger, but even if the Black Ink Clan agreed to his demand, it was now impossible to find those 12 Territory Lords.
“Sir Yang Kai, if you want those 12 Territory Lords’ heads, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.” Mo Na Ye sighed, “After they escaped, Sir Royal Lord ordered them to be executed as a sign of his determination to uphold the agreement between the two Races!”
“Executed?” Yang Kai was a bit stunned, but when he thought back on the earlier battle, he realized that he had not detected any of those 12 Territory Lords’ auras.
He was not familiar with the 12 Territory Lords who fled; however, he encountered all of them when he probed the Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array in the Ancestral Land. For a Master like him, once he met a Territory Lord, it was impossible to forget their aura after a mere 100 years.
In their recent battle, all the Territory Lords at the No-Return Pass had to have been deployed to fight. The 12 Territory Lords couldn’t be hiding from him.
As for the claim that the Royal Lord executed those 12 Territory Lords just to maintain the peace between the two Races, Yang Kai would be a fool to believe Mo Na Ye.
The Royal Lord couldn’t do such a thing to weaken his forces and their morale. At most he would send them to the six Great Territory Battlefields as a punishment to redeem themselves.
Yang Kai’s brow twitched and swept his eyes over to look at Mo Na Ye.
According to the information he got from the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, 13 Innate Territory Lords were sacrificed so that Di Wu could attain the rank of Pseudo-Royal Lord. At that time, there should not have been a second Pseudo-Royal Lord at the No-Return Pass.
Now, Mo Na Ye had become a Pseudo-Royal Lord, and the 12 Territory Lords who had escaped from the Ancestral Land were missing.
Yang Kai suddenly realized how Mo Na Ye became a Pseudo-Royal Lord, and was now curious about how the Black Ink Clan turned an Innate Territory Lord into a Pseudo-Royal Lord. Although he had a lot of information now and it was assumed that it was done by some means of sacrifice, the in depth details were still unknown.
He also doubted the Black Ink Clan would just tell him the truth.
[Perhaps… I can try? What if I get something out of it?] Yang Kai thought.
While Yang Kai was thinking, Mo Na Ye nodded his head and replied, “It’s true that they were executed. I know that you don’t believe me, but there is no need for me to lie to you about this.”
Yang Kai said, “It does not matter. If they are dead, then let other Territory Lords take their place. 12 Territory Lords, I don’t care who they are. I’ll behead 12 and be on my way. If you can’t bear to lose 12 Territory Lords, then let me destroy 12 High-Rank Black Ink Nests… That’s right, I’ve already destroyed two. Just give me ten!”
“After all, you were the one who asked me to state my demands,” Yang Kai sneered.
Mo Na Ye was barely able to maintain his smile as he replied, “Your Excellency, your demands are rather unrealistic. I’m afraid they could not be met.”
Whether it was Territory Lords or High-Rank Black Ink Nests, they were not assets the Black Ink Clan could afford to sacrifice. If Yang Kai insisted on these, then there was no point in continuing the conversation.
“It was you, the Black Ink Clan, who attacked me first!” Yang Kai said frostily.
Mo Na Ye could not help but sigh as that was an indisputable fact. If this was a negotiation between two equal parties, logic and reason would allow them to reach a compromise. However, Yang Kai was currently a nightmare to all Territory Lords and had no reason to be reasonable.
Mo Na Ye silently cursed the dead Di Wu. If he had gone to the Ancestral Land to preside over that incident, things would not have deteriorated to this extent.
“Di Wu and the others were indeed at fault, but they were either killed by you or executed by Sir Royal Lord, isn’t that enough to quell your anger?”
“10 High-Rank Black Ink Nests or 12 Territory Lords, no bargaining,” Yang Kai’s was relentless.
Mo Na Ye frowned and said, “You know that this is impossible. If you insist, then I can only assume that you have no intention of maintaining the peace agreement between our two sides. It will not be beneficial to either of our Races for things to collapse here. I would like to suggest resolving this matter, are you willing to consider it?”
“Go ahead!”
“It is true that you were attacked and have suffered losses…” Mo Na Ye said but then paused. When he thought about it, it was the Black Ink Clan who had suffered losses. Yang Kai killed a Pseudo-Royal Lord, eight Territory Lords and his rampage at the No-Return Pass had destroyed two High-Rank Black Ink Nests. These losses were extreme and yet Yang Kai refused to let the matter rest. Still, Mo Na Ye could not quibble about things here and simply said grudgingly, “Perhaps the Black Ink Clan can compensate you with a large amount of resources to calm your anger.”
“How much is a large amount…?” Yang Kai raised an eyebrow.
Mo Na Ye said with a silent sigh, “It will definitely satisfy Your Excellency.”
Yang Kai stroked his chin and pondered. Although he came to the No-Return Pass looking for some revenge, his main goal was to find out the internal situation of the Black Ink Clan. Now that his primary objective had been achieved, and he knew there were two Royal Lords here, it would truly be difficult for him to do anything more. His demands for 10 High-Rank Black Ink Nests or 12 Territory Lords were just him asking for the lion’s share to see what he could squeeze out of the Black Ink Clan. He also knew that the Black Ink Clan couldn’t agree to this demand, so the best-case scenario would really be getting some free supplies from them.
The Human Race now has a large number of rising stars and a huge demand for resources; however, the number of Great Territories controlled by the Human Race was too low. Although the Cave Heavens and Paradises had accumulated a massive quantity of materials throughout their existence, they would one day be depleted.
The Black Ink Clan was different. They now controlled some 99% of the 3,000 Worlds as well as the entire Black Ink Battlefield, so they were never short of supplies. This was also the reason why there were many Human Race Hunters who plundered the Black Ink Clan in the Great Territories outside the main battlefields.
So, Mo Na Ye’s proposal to use resources to solve this situation was acceptable.
However, Yang Kai couldn’t dismiss this incident so easily. From the battle at the Ancestral Land, it was clear that the Black Ink Clan wanted to kill him. He was lucky that he had a geographical advantage and coincidentally had a massive Small Stone Race Army from Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan on hand. Otherwise, he would have faced a deadly situation.
Since the Black Ink Clan wanted him dead, they could not blame him for shaving off several kilos of flesh.
Yang Kai said, “I have two conditions. If Black Ink Clan can agree, then the Ancestral Land matter will be settled.”
Mo Na Ye frowned and said, “Please tell me.”
Although he was relieved to hear this, Mo Na Ye showed nothing on his face. As long as Yang Kai was willing to state conditions, that meant there was room for negotiation. Mo Na Ye was only afraid that Yang Kai would insist on killing 12 Territory Lords or destroying 10 High-Rank Black Ink Nests. Those conditions were simply unmanageable.
“First condition, Black Ink Disciples!” Yang Kai held up a finger, “I want 100 Black Ink Disciples in exchange for each Territory Lord’s life. 1,200 for 12 in total, of whom no fewer than 100 must be Seventh-Order. I know that the Black Ink Clan has corrupted many Black Ink Disciples over the years, so 1,200 should be nothing to you.”
Mo Na Ye smiled bitterly and replied, “1,200 is not a small number.”
Yang Kai said, “100 Black Ink Disciples for the life of a Territory Lord. I think I am being very generous to the Black Ink Clan. I won’t force you if you don’t want to accept.”
Mo Na Ye reached up and rubbed his forehead as if he was having a headache; however, Yang Kai noticed that he was actually using his Divine Sense to communicate with the Royal Lord at the No-Return Pass.
Yo the dao of negotiation had long ago surpassed the dao of space with YK