"Excellent!"
'Heaven Battering King' Qi Changsheng, who had been the first to shout that he would fight the deities to the death, was the first to jump to his feet and respond to Meng Chixin. The leader of the bandits scratched his head and laughed. "I was wrong just now. Senior Meng is right. In any case, we should preserve our strength and survive. Then, there will always be a chance for us to rise again.
"If it is just a fake surrender, I can consider it if the conditions are right. When I was hunted by the army and the b * stards of the Cultivators in the past, I did surrender many times when I had nowhere else to go. What was the point of it? It was only a temporary measure. Didn't I find an opportunity to crush the b * stards in the end? Hahahaha!"
"Kacha"
Ba Xiaoyu bit the stem of his pipe and glared at him. "Who are you calling a b * stards?"
Qi Changsheng glanced at him and said with a strange smile, "Whoever chased after me is a bastard. Old beggar, you've never been involved in the affairs between me and the major sects. Why are you in such a hurry to jump out?"
Ba Xiaoyu sniffed. "I just can't stand your shameless face. While it's true that your Heaven Battering Army was founded by refugees in the beginning, you have committed a lot of atrocities after you rose to power. Had it not been for the arrival of the demons and deities and the impending doom of the Ancient Sages Sector, I would've chopped off your head a long time ago." "That's right.
"Ha!"
His eyes glittering, Qi Changsheng extended his head toward Ba Xiaoyu and slapped his neck hard with his hands, shouting, "Come on. My great head is right here. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on."
"You —"
The flames of spiritual energy around Ba Xiaoyu suddenly burst out.
"You what?"
Qi Changsheng did not care at all. He grinned hideously. "Do you know what 'outrageous' means? Don't think that you're a real beggar just because you're dressed up in rags and deliberately put a few ulcers on your body. Do you really know the sufferings of the people and what kind of life they live?"
"If I get to the bottom of it, Ba Xiaoyu, you are just a noble gentleman with some eccentricities. Even though you can pretend to be a lowly beggar on the surface, you are a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator deep down in your bones. You will never feel the sufferings, pain, and hatred that the real refugees, beggars, and poor folks suffer. You will never understand them.
"You don't know what happened in the northwest road at all. You don't know how the corrupt officials and the scumbags of the Cultivators dealt with the Heaven Battering Army and our family.
"You are a noble man who likes fancy clothes and who considers himself a hero. You are bold enough to talk about 'outrageous' with the paupers like us. Damn you."
"What's wrong? Do you think you're very noble and great when you're a hero among the common folk? Do you think you're a wolf in sheep's clothing? Hmph, if you want to pretend to be a beggar, that's your business. But don't put on such a bad attitude in front of Old Qi. Old Qi won't fall for it."
"If you are capable of overturning the court and the Cultivators who have been oppressing all the people in the northwest road and giving us justice. Otherwise, just get out of the way. Don't put on such a high and mighty face, and don't bother about how the paupers like us will save ourselves and retaliate against those who have oppressed us brutally."
Qi Changsheng was sharp-tongued, and Ba Xiaoyu was rendered speechless with frustration.
"Fellow Cultivators, the big picture is more important. Let's not hurt each other."
Master Bitter Cicada interfered in the middle of the two Yuanying and pondered for a moment. "I believe that no matter how many disagreements and contradictions we have, we at least have one thing in common, which is that we are all willing to consider for the common people and do not want the Ancient Sages Sector to be destroyed.
"If there is a way to save the Ancient Sages Sector from the pain of war so that the folks can live and work in peace, even if the solution is to surrender, it is not entirely unthinkable.
"After all, like you said, fellow Cultivators Wu and Meng, the deities in the outer space are too vast and strong. Apart from everything else, how are we going to resist them if they land on the Ancient Sages Sector with a hundred or two Cloud Qin Gold Statues?"
Master Bitter Cicada's question was rather sharp. He described part of the strength of the deities' realm in a way that everybody could understand.
Everybody looked at each other in bewilderment, deep in thought.
It was true that one Cloud Qin Gold Statue was already enough trouble for them. The Cloud Qin Empire in the past had ruled the world with only twelve Cloud Qin Gold Statues.
How many Cloud Qin Gold Statues were there in the deities' realm?
What would they do if a hundred Cloud Qin Gold Statues landed on the Ancient Sages Sector?
"Whether it's an expedient plan or a slow one, or for the sake of the people of the Ancient Sages Sector, surrendering to a certain powerful force in the deities' realm sincerely and being protected by the force are all options that can be considered.
Master Bitter Cicada stared at Meng Chixin and Wu Suiyun in the eyes. "How can you be sure that they are willing to accept our surrender?
"If the Ancient Sages Sector is just a grain of sand in their eyes, and the Cultivators of the Ancient Sages Sector are all ants who do not need or accept our surrender, wouldn't we be flattering ourselves?"
"I don't think so."
Meng Chixin shook his head and said, "Don't underestimate yourself, everybody. Maybe Wu Suiyun and I were too harsh with our words just now, making you think that we are truly helpless in front of the deities' realm. But that may not be the case."
"Just look at Deity Raincloud. If the deities' realm really considers us to be ants, she should be able to stomp us to death easily.
"However, Deity Raincloud and her subordinates seem to be relying on the advantages of the weird armor and the Cloud Qin Gold Statues. Without the armor and the Cloud Qin Gold Statues, their personal combat ability might not be as good as yours. Don't you think so, young emperor?"
Lowering his head, Emperor Phoenix replied dutifully, "Yes. When Deity Raincloud taught me the arts of the deities' realm, I sensed that the deities' realm seemed to pay special attention to the power of the armor and the magical equipment. Their personal training might not be much better than ours."
"That's right."
Meng Chixin pondered for a moment and said, "Perhaps the Ancient Sages Sector and the deities' realm are incomparable in terms of overall capability. For example, there are only two Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators and three hundred Yuanying in the Ancient Sages Sector, but there may be hundreds of Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators and tens of thousands of Yuanying in the deities' realm.
"But Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators are Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators, and Yuanying is Yuanying. The super experts of the Ancient Sages Sector like us should not be too weak in the standard of the deities' realm. At the very least, we are of value to be exploited. Otherwise, Deity Raincloud wouldn't have been reluctant to kill Han Baling, Qi Changsheng, and Wan Mingzhu and even turned against the young emperor for that."
"What are you suggesting, Senior Meng?"
Qi Zhongdao's eyes suddenly glittered. "Deity Raincloud is actually trying to manipulate us to fight for her in the deities' realm."
"Very likely."
Meng Chixin nodded and said, "It is not terrible to be manipulated. As long as we are of value, we can evaluate our value and bargain with them. Just like Qi Changsheng said, even if we surrender, we can still negotiate a suitable price.
"As long as the price is reasonable, so what if we are manipulated? When the tribes on the Dark Cloud Prairies suffer natural disasters and their livestock are frozen to death, it is not unusual for them to accept the employment of the major sects and forces in the central plateaus to fight for the people of the central plateaus."
"In that case …"
Qi Zhongdao's eyes were still as sharp as before. He was not shaken at all even when he was faced with a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator. "Senior Meng, you have always been one of the surrenders. Why did you kill all the people who surrendered to Deity Raincloud?"
Meng Chixin was amused. He said casually, "Surrendering is different from surrendering. It's true that after realizing the vastness of the deities' realm and the formidability of the deities, I made the most firm judgment that the Ancient Sages Sector does not have a second way out except to surrender to the deities' realm.
"However, the surrender that I'm considering is for the entire Ancient Sages Sector to surrender together as an inseparable whole. We will negotiate the terms together and fight for the greatest interests for our world in the end.
"I dare not say that I am completely selfless, but I can swear to the infinite sea of stars above my head that I, Meng Chixin, have never placed the future of the Ancient Sages Sector above my own selfishness, and I will never place the future of the Ancient Sages Sector above my selfishness."
"But the guys who surrendered to Deity Raincloud were different.
"Those selfish, shortsighted, shameless guys became dogs wagging their tails and begging for mercy just because they were attracted by the petty profits that Deity Raincloud threw out. They would bite whoever they were asked to bite, even their comrades and brothers a moment ago.
"They surrendered for their own sake. As long as there was the slightest benefit for them, they would definitely sell out the interests of the entire Ancient Sages Sector without even blinking their eyes.
"Let's put it more straightforwardly. Our goal right now is to sell the entire Ancient Sages Sector at a good price. If we keep those scoundrels alive, they will only think about filling their own pockets and sell the entire Ancient Sages Sector cheaply as long as they are offered something random.
"This is exactly what Wu Suiyun and I talked about just now. Unity. We must be united.
"Surrendering can be tricky, too. Such things often happened to the tribes on the prairies when they surrendered to the dynasty in the central plateaus. The dynasty in the central plateaus intentionally tempted part of the tribes on the prairies with petty profits, bought them over, and planted a nail in the prairies. Then, they instigated discord among the tribes and intensified the conflicts between the tribes. The tribes were all weakened.
"In the end, the dynasty in the central plateaus subdued the entire prairie without any effort, and the tribes that were bought over at the beginning would end up being killed and their dogs cooked."
"Fellow Cultivator Spiritual Vulture, such things are not unusual in the Southland of Sorcerers, are they?"
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