"Elder Manness. Have you changed your wet pants?"
The moment Alex uttered that magic line, Manness's expression was distorted as it filled with anger. His Spiritual Energy started leaking as his face became red. He put down the wine and slammed the table, splitting it in half. "What did you say?"
Alex didn't have a change of expression and faced Manness calmly. There was only one thing that kept him confident. It was the fact that Manness didn't let out a single killing intent during this period. In other words, Alex knew Manness was embarrassed, and the magic line was pretty effective.
"I only need to say it once before Elder Manness skin me alive." Alex shook his head with a slight smile.
"The only one who always said that line was your master…" Manness took a few deep breaths, calming his heart down before saying with a deep tone. "I will help you this time. I have several conditions."
"Please do tell."
"First. I want to listen to your strategy about this."
"Certainly." Alex nodded. It was completely normal to know about the strategy first before helping him. He helped Alex with his influence after all, so he needed to see the cost and whether this was a suicide mission or not. Alex began telling his plan from how he wanted to convince the Ancient Blue Family, cause a ruckus in the Snow White Mountain, and deal with the Fire God Clan. Of course, the Freedom Sect was still known as an unknown fourth influence.
Manness closed his eyes for a few seconds, calculating the plan and their losses. "The plan is feasible, and it's where I won't lose many people."
"Good." Alex nodded and smiled inwardly. "What is your second condition?"
"I want a share. Nonetheless, this war is the biggest so far, comprising several big influences. The losses will be immense, so it's hard to convince the mass and might even make our influence unstable."
"I understand," Alex answered as if he already had a thought about this. "I will give you twenty percent."
"!!!" Manness clenched his fists and roared. "Are you kidding me? Do you think I can stabilize my clan after that?"
"You listen to me first." Alex raised his hand with a stop sign. "First of all. I am the one who starts everything. Even if you are not going, I can still defeat them. Secondly, my Spirit Nest might only have a small group, but they are elites capable of killing thousands of enemies. This is a fact and the reason why I could kill many people in the past.
"Besides, you can choose to watch from the sideline like the Divine Kingdom. I only give this number because you are my master's old friend. If not, the least I can give you is ten percent." Alex paused for a moment, staring at Manness, who wanted to blow a fuse. He then said his last piece. "Last but not least, this twenty percent is coming from a total of Fire God Clan and Snow White Mountain."
"What?!" Manness dropped his jaw. He thought this twenty percent was coming from the Fire God clan alone. Although the money from them would be huge since it was coming from thousands of years influence, it wasn't enough to appease the entire influence. However, it was different if he would get twenty percent of share from two influences of the same level. It was more than enough to get him by and stopped the entire influence with absolute control.
"I have stated my best offer. It is futile to negotiate." Alex stated with a stern voice.
"You come to this place alone and negotiate with me like this… Do you think you can get away with just like this? I can kill you here and now before giving your head to the Fire God Clan. I believe I don't need this type of high-risk plan… Don't you say?" Manness smirked as he released his Spiritual Energy.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtOn the contrary, Alex remained unfazed. In fact, he even smiled at him and said playfully. "That's a good idea. To reap more benefit from the Fire God Clan and weaken them even further. By presenting my head and having my Spirit Nest act like I am dead, they will trust you. The only problem is that if you dare to pull the real head of mine? You can see what will happen to you and your influence."
Alex's last sentence sent a chill down to his spine as his body shook once. Manness closed his eyes and sighed. "You are really that bastard's disciple. Fine. I am in."
Alex smiled as he finally got his objective. "Then please come to the Ancient Blue Family three months from now. It will be a perfect time for the Blackwade Clan to move as well."
"Fine." Manness drank his wine until it was empty before flying away, leaving Alex alone in the forest.
Ngina appeared not far from him, cupping his hand toward Alex. "What are we going to do now, Young Master?"
"At the very least, Elder Manness has joined our side. For the time being, I will send a note to Song Jiaoren to convince his father to participate in this. Then I will send Rose to Freedom Sect and request some Elders from there. And we can negotiate with the Ancient Blue Family." Alex thought for a moment and answered.
"I shall stay here to make sure that old man doesn't stab you from behind."
Alex nodded. Even though he was his Master's friend, he couldn't trust his back on this person completely after knowing his personality. He agreed with Ngina as a precaution.
"I will leave it to you."
Ngina cupped his hands again before vanishing into thin air.
Alex then took out Nicole's card and said, "Proceed with the plan tonight."
"Understood."
After Nicole replied, he decided to return to the base.
On the other hand, Nicole stayed silent until night came, where she infiltrated Song Jiaoren's courtyard once again.
Noticing this type of presence and knowing it was almost the time, Song Jiaoren recognized this presence and said, "If you are going to talk about this, come inside."
Nicole smiled and opened his room.
"What does Sir Alexander want?"
"The time has come to pressure the Ancient Blue Family. We are planning to go there in three months. We hope that the Patriarch or Grand Elder himself can come." Nicole smiled.
Song Jiaoren thought for a moment. "I know. It is not easy for us to have our Patriarch just go like that and these three months seems to be satisfactory for us. I understand. I will talk with my fath… the Patriarch about this."
"The place will be the Ancient Blue Family. We will meet you there." Nicole nodded.
"Do you want me to do anything special?"
"No. As long as you attend this negotiation, we will take care of the rest." Nicole nodded gently.
"Then I will convince them after this." Song Jiaoren nodded, waving his hand as if telling him to leave.
Nicole smiled and slightly bowed to him before flying away. Meanwhile, Song Jiaoren fell into deep thought. "This is the turning point. If we stop the Ancient Blue Family right away, our chance to kill Fire God Clan is better. As for whether the Snow White Mountain wants to join the fray or not is completely insignificant."
Song Jiaoren stood up and prepared to head to his father's room, discussing this matter with his father and grandfather.
…
The situation became peaceful for them, while the Fire God Clan was completely exhausted dealing with the bad rumor surrounding them. To stop the Fire God Clan from ambushing Alex, the N squad had released many bad rumors about the Fire God Clan, making the unstable family even more unstable. Even with their money, the disciples kept leaving one by one.
On the contrary, the Phantasm Sect got an influx of new disciples, mostly from the Fire God Clan. Knowing that the Phantasm Sect was the most neutral sect, they would surely have no chance of being swallowed in this storm.
However, the Phantasm Sect didn't necessarily accept them. They did several tests and only accepted the best of the best. They were deserters anyway, so when Phantasm Sect experienced the same thing, they would surely escape again. That was why they kept the best and planned to utilize them for as long as they could.
Of course, Song Yu played a big part in this because she would know whether the opposite party was lying or not. The moment they lied, the sect would not accept them. This accident increased the favorable impression for her, and Astennu was happy with it.
Finally, one week passed, Song Ling'er had returned to the Blackwade Clan Mansion and immediately headed toward her brother, only to find him being together with her father and grandfather. Song Ling'er didn't know whether to say this in front of these three, but since they had assembled, she chose to settle it once for all.
"Big brother! Father! Grandfather! We need to rethink our decision to ally with Spirit Nest." Song Ling'er screamed as she walked inside.
"Ling'er?" Song Jiaoren and the others tilted their heads as they couldn't understand why she suddenly said so.
Song Jiaoren stood up and greeted her. "You have come back. Why don't you rest first?"
"No! This is more important." She shook her head. "Let me tell you my story…"
Song Ling'er didn't give them time to react and told her story, including Firia's sudden appearance and the result.
"To think that Ling'er can get the inheritance from those Gods and Goddesses, I am happy," Her father said while humming.
"True enough. It seems she will be able to lead the clan just fine." Her grandfather nodded in agreement.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmSong Jiaoren smiled and nodded. "It seems I don't need to worry about this clan anymore and can go to the main clan peacefully."
Song Ling'er was baffled by their reactions. She had told them Firia's failure and the fact that Alex made a mistake. Yet, their nonchalant expression frustrated her as if they didn't believe her.
"Why don't you believe me?" Song Ling'er screamed while clenching her hands. "This is a huge matter."
"It's indeed surprising, but you are wrong in one part." Song Jiaoren sighed and decided to explain.
"I have mistaken?"
"Yeah. Let me say this from the start. First of all, Sir Alex's wife was able to enter the pillar before anyone else, right?"
"Yes."
"Then, the trial has a time limit of two weeks?"
"Yes. The total is two weeks."
"How about you think like this? What if she managed to enter the last tower before anyone else? Just like how she appears in the midst of monsters and enters the pillar a few days before you." Song Jiaoren smirked as he glanced at the two old men. "I am sure Father and Grandfather had noticed this, right?"
"Indeed." They nodded with a smile.
Song Jiaoren then looked at the confused younger sister and patted her head. "This is why you need to be more observant. You shouldn't come to a conclusion this easily and think it through. It seems Grandfather needs a long time to teach you…"
"What do you mean, Brother? Am I wrong?"
"Yes. Let's talk about this from another perspective. Father. How many Gods and Goddesses there, and how many of them visited you back then?"
"A total of twenty, and all of them visited us at the same time."
"Grandfather?"
"It was the same for me."
"Can you see Ling'er?" Song Jiaoren smiled.
Song Ling'er fell into silence as if she grasped something but couldn't put it into words. Song Jiaoren decided to blurt it out. "If we go with my scenario. There should be twenty of them visiting you, but the fact that there were only several of them, there was only one thing."
"She had entered and met the Gods and Goddesses. Most of them were handling her as we couldn't be compared to her." Song Ling'er gasped as she realized what happened in that place.
Song Jiaoren patted her head again. "That's right. This is why we will follow his words. Do you have any objection?"
Song Ling'er could only look down and shook her head.