ccnovels #402 - Negotiations broke down [Please vote and subscribe]
#402 - Negotiations broke down [Please vote and subscribe]
“The representative of humanity here has arrived.”
Nielda Tamon slightly raised his head.
His gaze was firm and unwavering from beginning to end.
Wang Jixuan's appearance at this moment clearly gave Nielda Tamon a bit more confidence.
In contrast, the old man's expression changed slightly, his eyes filled with vigilance, his body like a tightly wound spring, as if he might lash out at any moment.
This old man had not sensed where Wang Jixuan had come from.
Even now, as Wang Jixuan walked towards the bonfire from not far away, the old man still couldn't lock onto his figure.
What Daoist Wang was currently manifesting was naturally a foreign soul, and not even a complete one.
His main body was hiding not far away, ready to strike at any time.
He went straight to Nielda Tamon's side.
Yezi tried to step forward, but was pulled back by a gentle force.
It was the old man who had made the move.
The old man proactively drew a boundary, creating a transparent barrier, as if Wang Jixuan only needed to attack Yezi and Obsidian, and he would immediately take the two of them back into the range of the black mist.
A very cautious old man.
However, this old man should be Obsidian's subordinate, so Wang Jixuan didn't bother with a direct greeting.
The Daoist glanced at Yezi, with a hundred doubts in his heart, wanting to ask directly, but now was indeed not the right time.
He didn't want to give these people any leverage.
So, Wang Jixuan stared at Obsidian.
Obsidian gazed at Wang Jixuan with his gentle and deep eyes.
For some reason, Wang Jixuan always felt like he had seen this guy somewhere before.
Obsidian slowly stood up, nodded slightly to Wang Jixuan, and smiled, “We meet again, Great Pioneer.”
“Have we met before?”
Wang Jixuan asked deliberately.
Sure enough, Obsidian was visibly stunned, then smiled and said, “Haven't we met?”
Wang Jixuan frowned slightly, seemingly puzzled.
Yezi whispered, “Leader, Big Brother seems to have lost his previous memories and doesn't remember the details of his communication with us.”
“Is that so?”
Obsidian looked at Yezi, his gaze momentarily sharp.
Yezi also rarely looked like a normal person, her eyes somewhat uneasy.
Obsidian then laughed nonchalantly, “In that case, let's just reintroduce ourselves. My name is Obsidian, and I am a spiritual cultivator.”
“I know.”
Wang Jixuan, somewhat regretful for not being able to get any information out, said simply and directly:
“What conditions do you want to discuss?”
“This, actually, I haven't really considered it before.”
Obsidian sat down on his own, continuing to warm his hands, watching the fire in front of him, and said slowly:
“We can achieve our goal without negotiation now.
“This opportunity for negotiation is actually given to this weak human civilization.
“But this is not fair to you. Our demands are all for you to bear personally, and the bargaining chips are all related to the civilization here.”
Wang Jixuan also didn't stand on ceremony, sitting directly beside Nielda Tamon.
He sneered, “After listening to so much high-sounding nonsense from you, I didn't expect that in the end, it's still the hypocritical threat.”
“High-sounding nonsense? You misunderstood. I was just mocking Nielda Tamon.”
Obsidian said with a smile:
“My plan has already been completed, pushed to this point, and no one can stop the Blade Beasts anymore.
“It should be, tell me what conditions you can give us to abandon the current offensive against humanity.”
Wang Jixuan: … …
Good heavens, this guy is really difficult to deal with.
And he has this kind of calm, with a bit of 'I don't care' attitude in his bones.
The absence of obvious weaknesses is what makes it truly difficult.
“Then we don't need to beat around the bush.”
The Daoist said:
“Take the Blade Beasts away from this planet and cease fire for twenty years. These are my conditions.
“You can state your conditions now.”
“Cease fire for twenty years?” Obsidian smiled, “The history books of the Ina civilization clearly record that the personal power of the Great Pioneer is impossible to resist, it is unbelievable, even if the Ina civilization exhausts all its resources, it cannot cultivate an existence that can reach the limit of power in this plane.”
Wang Jixuan gently raised his eyebrows.
Obsidian then said, “So, it is unlikely that I will let you grow freely for twenty years. I have no doubt that you can solve the Blade Beast civilization alone.”
Wang Jixuan: … …
“State your conditions, don't test my patience. I can leave here at any time and hide myself.
“If this civilization is destroyed, then I can avenge them, and it can also bring peace to my Dao heart.”
Obsidian nodded lightly, seemingly not doubting Daoist Wang's words, but seriously considering what conditions to propose.
The bonfire crackled.
In the black mist, there seemed to be tentacles intertwined, circling each other.
Obsidian suddenly thought of something, looked up at Wang Jixuan, and said softly:
“We have three conditions.
“First, you come with us and teach us the true cultivation method, instead of just perfunctorily giving Posuo Yezi a cultivation method that you yourselves don't even use.
“That poor guy has been deceived terribly.”
Yezi whispered, “Actually, it's not a deception. This technique is a universal cultivation method that can be widely promoted.”
Obsidian gently shook his head and continued:
“Second, this planet abandons the mechanical civilization development path and takes a semi-spiritual energy and semi-technological development path.
“Third, our side wants to set up an observation point in the South Pole of this planet to observe the civilization development process of this planet and supervise whether the humans on this planet restart the mechanical civilization development path.
“As long as these three points can be achieved, I will immediately withdraw the Blade Beasts.
“Moreover, as long as these three points can be maintained well in the future, the Blade Beasts will definitely not invade this planet.”
Wang Jixuan said indifferently, “Humiliating treaty?”
“No, no, no, this is not a humiliating treaty, but a… survival treaty.”
Obsidian chuckled:
“If I didn't come, you would definitely have a way to solve the trouble of the Blade Beasts.
“The planet barrier has already been opened, and the City in the Clouds has opened to you. Your cultivation speed will definitely exceed everyone's expectations.
“So, I can only take you away from here.”
“Become your prisoner?”
“No,” Obsidian said seriously, “Become my friend, our friend. Our family will welcome your arrival and will not deliberately demand anything from you. If you are willing to share some things with us, then we will be very happy, but it doesn't matter if you don't.”
“Oh?” Wang Jixuan stared at Obsidian, “You are not interested in my cultivation method?”
“I am more interested in knowing the artistic achievements of this immortal cultivation civilization itself, and whether you have brought any artistic forms from higher civilizations.”
Obsidian said with anticipation.
Wang Jixuan said coldly, “A murderer is discussing art here.”
“I must admit that I am a murderer, the kind who does all kinds of evil, after all, I have plundered the right to survival of a large number of intelligent lives.”
There was some dim light in Obsidian's eyes, and then he changed the subject:
“But this is a necessary growing pain.
“I will not tamper with history. I will let the guy who compiles this history book truthfully record Obsidian's actions, and I will not care whether others scold me.
“I remember that when I came here last time, it was still in the so-called golden age. At that time, I watched a movie in the cinema. The villain in that movie was called Thanos, and he put forward a great idea—as long as half of the life in the universe is eliminated, disputes can be resolved and peace can be restored.
“At that time, I laughed out loud.
“This screenwriter is simply too…
“In a pond, the area of duckweed doubles every day. On the twenty-ninth day, it occupies 50% of the pond area, then on the thirtieth day, it will fill the entire pond.
“Eliminating half of the life forms, the remaining half will soon be able to reproduce.
“But this incident also gave me some inspiration… Don't try to make others understand you, no one has the obligation to understand you.
“So, I am a murderer, and after my ideals are realized, I will apologize to the dead in any way I can think of.
“But this has nothing to do with my love of art, does it?”
Wang Jixuan was silent, constantly thinking.
Obsidian's three conditions, one for him, two for Earth civilization.
This actually shows from the side that the other party has realized how crazy Fu Jian's doomsday destruction plan is, and what kind of challenges it will bring to them in the future.
Agreeing is definitely not an option;
However, some delaying tactics can be used to give myself time to study how to deal with this black mist.
Obsidian suddenly smiled, “You should be thinking about how to delay our release of this black mist… Actually, you don't need to worry too much. As long as these three conditions are met, we will immediately withdraw this black mist. However, given your potential is too great, we must ask you to swear by the thing you care about most, for example, that you will never be able to ascend to a higher plane.”
“You would believe an oath?”
“I don't believe in oaths, but I believe in you,” Obsidian said seriously, “Even if you want to deceive me, I am willing to believe it.”
Wang Jixuan was really in trouble.
This guy is really hard to deal with.
Obsidian didn't show too much strength. After speaking, he continued to warm himself by the fire, as if he was really cold.
Yezi whispered, “Big Brother, the leader always keeps his promises. This is also an important reason why we are willing to follow him, and we can swear by the core circuit.”
Wang Jixuan made a concession, “I can go with you, but the development rights of the civilization cannot be interfered with.”
“That won't do,” Obsidian immediately shook his head. “I don't want to expose your thoughts, as it might make you feel awkward, but in reality… you are actually eager to know what happened when Yezi released you from that cage in the City Above the Clouds. With this information, I can maintain a friendly relationship with you.”
Obsidian changed the subject:
“Since arriving here, I've discovered the terrifying consequences of the path represented by mechanical civilization. It will develop into a terrible disaster no weaker than the Blade Beasts.”
“I understand the desire of the humans here to fight back against the Blade Beasts, but… I can control the Blade Beast disaster. Can humans control the mechanical disaster?”
“I can terminate the Blade Beast civilization at any time. Once mechanical civilization is out of control, who can stop it? Unordered, unrestricted, asexual replication will completely destroy civilizations based on sexual reproduction.”
“Currently, the Blade Beasts have not completely destroyed any civilization. I have left enough sparks and survival pressure. It will probably only take two thousand years for this starfield to regain its prosperity.”
“And because of the pressure from the Blade Beast civilization, the intensity of war will decrease, the number of conflicts will reduce, and more intelligent beings will be able to live happy lives.”
“This is the ideal world I want to create, a broad, universally beneficial ideal world.”
“Oops, I've said too much again. I'm just a talkative person.”
Wangji Xuan said, “So, you mean my condition is just secondary, and suppressing the development of human mechanical civilization is the most important thing?”
“Yes.”
“Then the monitoring can be cancelled.”
“Monitoring is necessary,” Obsidian said. “The technological development path here is already very dangerous.”
“Wouldn't that mean humans are being raised in captivity by you in disguise?”
Wangji Xuan said indifferently:
“Your grand narrative based on civilization is very deceptive.”
“But you've overlooked one point.”
“The Blade Beast disaster has greatly accelerated the progress of interstellarization. Whether intentional or unintentional, humans will be drawn into the vast process of interstellar navigation. If Earth humans are monitored, they will easily face discrimination and be treated differently.”
Obsidian smiled and said, “Isn't that better than extinction?”
Wangji Xuan nodded, stood up, and said, “I need to go back and discuss this with the commanders-in-chief of the Nine Comprehensive War Zones.”
“That won't do. You must give me an answer now.”
Obsidian said seriously:
“If it weren't for you, I wouldn't actually discuss these things with them. For the potential threat to this future prosperous age, the best way is to destroy them.”
“Destroying them has nothing to do with them.”
“But I don't dare to give you too much time to comprehend these black mists. My other methods are the same. You are the source of psionic energy in this world. I don't dare to challenge your comprehension.”
Wangji Xuan said with a dark face, “How can I make decisions for them?”
“You are just avoiding your own responsibility.”
“I'm just passing through here, acting out of a sense of justice. How can there be talk of responsibility?”
“That's a bit lacking in courage.”
Obsidian said:
“Actually, they won't agree to my conditions because they haven't given up resisting.”
“Because of your existence, they have a little more hope than they should…”
“How about this? We'll talk again in three days. I think they will agree to all my conditions by then.”
Wangji Xuan's gaze was like a murderous blade.
Obsidian met his gaze calmly, his expression always gentle.
“Hmph, if that's the case, then let's compete based on our own abilities first!”
Wangji Xuan's figure disappeared with a whoosh, turning into a beam of black light and遁入(dun ru) into the earth.
Nielda Tamon slowly stood up, frowning and said, “We can set up a ring and solve it in the traditional way of our psionic civilization. There's no need to involve an entire low-level civilization.”
“Psionic civilization is dead. You chose it yourselves, Senior Nielda Tamon.”
Obsidian stretched out his hands towards the firelight.
Nielda Tamon snorted coldly, “See you on the battlefield.”
He turned and flew away. The three psionic cultivators here did not stop him.
The fire tongue kept flickering, and Obsidian suddenly laughed.
“Our great pioneer must be nearby now.”
The old man next to him asked, “Should we find him?”
“No need,” Obsidian said simply. “Now it's the great pioneer who needs to find us. We have most of the information he craves. Yezi can act with the two of us.”
“Okay.”
Yezi whispered, “Leader, actually I…”
Obsidian raised his eyes and looked over, his lips twitching slightly.
Wangji Xuan's psionic sense couldn't hear what he was saying, and Yezi lowered his head and sighed, looking very conflicted.
What Obsidian said was: ‘Don't worry, I'll tell you what happened back then. I was there too.’
The old man asked, “Should we continue to release the black mist?”
“Release four, and destroy their elite combat power from different directions.”
Obsidian said simply:
“We need to make the humans here despair so that they will give up struggling and preserve the spark.”
“Their mechanical civilization is very cool, isn't it?”
“It's just a pity that the Ina civilization had already touched the edge of advanced civilization on the path of technological civilization, and they didn't dare to relax the restrictions on mechanical civilization at all.”
“Remember to remind Jialinuo to let the Blade Beasts avoid the black mist. Their power here is too little, so they must cherish it.”
“Yes.”
The old man stood up, his figure flashing and disappearing.
Wangji Xuan was about to attack Obsidian immediately, but as soon as the old man left, faint ripples appeared in the space behind Obsidian, and two elderly psionic cultivators appeared, smiling and sitting on Obsidian's left and right.
Wangji Xuan: …
He's hiding two psionic cultivators?
How many old psionic cultivators has this guy recruited? Or rather, how many psionic cultivators on the verge of death has he extended the lives of?
Wangji Xuan had already reminded Fu Jian that the enemy was about to release the black mist again, and Fu Jian had begun an emergency evacuation, only able to reduce the number of human soldiers per unit area as much as possible.
As for where the other party would release it and how large the area would be, they knew nothing.
Incomparable passivity.
Coming from the crushing of civilization level.
What Wangji Xuan could do now was to quickly analyze the composition of the black mist. He already had some clues, but he couldn't find a suitable method of restraint for a while.
Moreover, the black mist was just one of the methods the other party had just taken out;
It was unknown how much accumulation the other party had, which was the most棘手(ji shou).
Racing against time;
Looking for opportunities!
Psionic sense brought the voices of Yezi and Obsidian's conversation.
“Leader, shouldn't we try to recruit Nielda Tamon? His combat power is still very strong.”
“No need.”
“Why?”
“The strength of combat power cannot hide the rigidity of his thinking. This is a guy who adheres to the so-called traditions of psionic cultivators. Our team doesn't need such backward thinking. Thinking is the most powerful force.”
Obsidian said so.