Chapter 9: Negotiations
“Blackrock Gold is the Primordial Continent’s highest quality metal. Any Origin Tools made with it will have its strength raised by at least ten percent. At the same time, it is also one of the Sand Race’s most important resources. I won’t leave it up to a human to deal with.”
Pall devoured a roasted lamb leg as he spoke, his hands covered in oil. However, it didn’t seem to impact his speaking, almost as if he had two mouths.
“Blackrock Gold is a very high-quality metal, but it’s definitely not the best, and it improves the durability of an Origin Tool, not its strength. Most importantly, the Blackrock Gold stores here are almost exhausted.
Zhu Xianyao sat in her own seat and spoke in an elegant matter, immediately pointing out the flaws and lies in Pall’s words.
Pall didn’t mind and chuckled as he continued to gnaw on the lamb leg. “Oh. But you still want it, right?”
“But that’s not a reason for you to try to open your mouth to swallow so much all at once,” the other human replied.
He was called Zhu Baiyu.
“I haven’t even begun to open my mouth yet,” Pall said as he waggled his head. “Since you have said as much, however, then I’ll start with an opening price. A hundred million Origin Stones!”
“A Blackrock Gold Mine that’s about to go bad?” Zhu Xianyao laughed coldly. “Leader Pall, are you so poor that you’ve gone crazy?”
“Watch your tone, damn woman!” Pall harrumphed.
This was the first time that Zhu Xianyao had ever been called a damn woman.
The Sand Race’s eye for beauty was really quite unflattering.
Pall continued, “I’m not an idiot. I know that you have ulterior motives. You don’t want that Blackrock Gold Mine at all; that’s just a pretense. If you won’t come clean, then don’t blame me for being impolite. Also, I came all the way here to meet you specifically. If you won’t give me an acceptable answer, then don’t even think about heading back. Even a Demonic Emperor Bloodline Nobility Clan can’t act wantonly in my territory!”
Zhu Xianyao and Zhu Baiyu glanced at each other.
Zhu Xianyao nodded before Zhu Baiyu said, “Fine. Esteemed leader, your intelligence exceeds what I expected. I must admit that our goal is not just the Blackrock Gold Mines. No one would be interested in a nearly exhausted mine, right? That lie was truly a bit too much.”
Pall chuckled. “Then tell me your true motives for coming here.”
“Leader knows that we are from Liao Ye Country. Even though we are part of the human race, like Long Sang Country, we are not actually the same country. Because of this, doing things here is quite inconvenient,” Zhu Baiyu said. “As such, we were always hoping to find some kind of foothold in Long Sang Country, a bit of territory belonging to ourselves where we have some control.”
“You want to establish a foothold here in my territory?” Pall was extremely shocked.
“Only one to lay a foundation for increasing our strength,” Zhu Xianyao replied. “This territory belongs to the Sand Race, and the Long Sang Country’s hands can’t reach in here. This is perfect for our initial expansion.”
“Why must you establish a foothold in Long San Country? Do you already have total control over Liao Ye Country and have nowhere else to expand?” Pall laughed.
Of course this was impossible, but it seemed from this great leader’s mocking tone that he also didn’t believe that reason.
Zhu Xianyao replied emotionlessly, “We’ve been forced to do this in order to deal with certain people.”
“What kinds of people?”
“Has Leader heard of the Qing, Mu, or Zhang Clans?”
“There’s so many Bloodline Nobility Clans under the heavens. How could I possibly know each and every one of them?”
“Then what about the Immortal Temple?”
Upon hearing this name, Pall immediately sat up.
Outside the castle, Shi Mingfeng and Su Chen glanced at each other.
Shi Mingfeng said, “I didn’t expect that the Zhu Clan’s Young Miss would run all the way over here as well.”
“You know her?” Su Chen asked.
“Quite a few of our members have died to the Zhu Clan the past few years. How could we not recognize them. Hey, now that you mention it, this problem seems to have been caused by you, huh?” Shi Mingfeng glanced at Su Chen.
Su Chen laughed. “It was caused by that bastard Ma Renze.”
“That’s true. But it seems like this Young Miss Zhu harbors a lot of hatred for us if she’s willing to set up a base of operations in Long Sang Country to confront us.”
Su Chen suddenly said, “She’s willing to make such a huge investment just to deal with the Six Bloodline Nobility Clans and you guys? Is that worth it?”
“The Bloodline Nobility Clans can be very headstrong sometimes.”
Everyone laughed out loud.
Su Chen made a shushing motion. Everyone quieted down and continued to listen.
Pall’s fat face assumed a serious expression. “I hate those half-truth-telling bastards, and I have to admit that they are a big pain to deal with. Those scoundrels steal, rob, and kill people as they please without even blinking an eye.”
“That’s rich! He’s the biggest scoundrel out of everyone, yet he dares to make fun of us,” everyone began to say scornfully outside the castle. Su Chen was forced to shush them again.
“So, leader, we have a strong basis for cooperation: we are both enemies of the Immortal Temple, since you don’t like them either. With us keeping watch here, we can help defend you against all kinds of external greed,” said Zhu Xianyao as she took advantage of the opportunity in the conversation.
“What kind of price are you willing to pay for this?”
“We can give the Sand Race a great commercial opportunity. We promise that goods worth no less than five million Origin Stones will pass through here every year, including food, water, and other survival necessities for the Sand Race. We can provide them to you at the lowest possible price.”
“Only five million worth of goods?”
“This is every year!” Zhu Xianyao said weightily. “This is a long-term deal. Don’t drain the pond just to catch all the fish.”
Pall harrumphed, “You humans are too tricky. How do I know that you’ll keep your end of the bargain? There’s a benefit to being short-sighted, which is that it’s difficult to be cheated.
Zhu Xianyao was so angry that her face was beginning to turn pale. “No one can hand over more than a hundred million Origin Stones all at once.”
Outside of the castle, everyone pointed at Su Chen. “He can.”
Su Chen rolled his eyes.
The negotiations were continuing within the castle.
At that moment, He Xu had already placed all of the food down and was standing to the side, his head lowered as he pretended to be awaiting further orders.
At that moment, a Sand Race individual suddenly walked over to He Xu and said, “Who are you? How come I’ve never seen you before?”
Dammit!
Everyone cursed silently.
Because he hadn’t anticipated the evening banquet, He Xu had just carelessly transformed into a Sand Race individual. After all, this was just to get by momentarily. However, he hadn’t expected to be caught like this, and even more hadn’t expected for an error to occur at this moment.
He Xu was stunned. He wanted to explain more, but a Sand Race individual standing not far behind Pall suddenly glanced over.
He glanced at He Xu.
With this single glance, He Xu felt the energy in his body suddenly begin to fluctuate wildly, causing him to almost lose control of his disguise.
He Xu knew the situation wasn’t good. A strange light flashed across the eyes of the Sand Race individual staring at him.
He yelled out loudly, “It’s a spy! Catch him!”