Chapter 2753 - 2754: Negotiations

"This isn’t something we should be talking about at the door. How about we go in and talk slowly? And there just happens to be a relevant party here who can offer some reference opinions."

Feng Yuan chuckled slyly as he spoke and looked toward the shopkeeper standing to the side. The other pulled a long face and said harshly,

"My suggestion is: don’t bring personal feelings into official matters."

"Tsk, don’t be like that. East Continent Great Xia hasn’t really done anything to us. Or rather, as things stand right now, East Continent Great Xia hasn’t attacked the Main World and hasn’t helped anyone attack the Main World. From that angle, I think there’s still room to talk, isn’t there?"

"Saying ’the whole world as our enemy’ sounds simple enough. Time Branches one after another... I won’t even bring up the fact that every single war means people die. You definitely don’t care about that. What I want to say is, even if doing this can bring in a huge amount of Ascension Stones, but..."

Feng Yuan deliberately paused and didn’t go on, instead glancing at the shopkeeper. The other just silently watched Feng Yuan, expression unchanged, looking like a man who’d say ’whatever, just talk.’

Letting out a sigh, Feng Yuan could only continue,

"Have you ever considered this: every time Ascension Stones are distributed, it brings in a large number of new Beastmasters above Legendary Level. Even if you ignore everything else, with that many Legendary Beast Masters, where is the Main World supposed to get enough resources?"

"You can’t possibly plan to throw all of them into the meat grinder on the battlefield, right? Setting aside whether that’s cruel or not... can you really pull that off?"

The shopkeeper stared at Feng Yuan for a while before slowly speaking,

"The worlds we conquer will provide the resources we need."

"That’s the ideal scenario. But... a constantly increasing number of Legendary Beast Masters, tsk... a resource crisis is definitely not a joke."

Shaking his head with a wry smile, Feng Yuan didn’t explain further. He was sure the other understood; after all, he was from the Commander faction. These people specialize in strategy—how many of them could fail to think this through?

And Feng Yuan wasn’t worried about him being verbally stubborn either, because this crowd is also the one that respects objective facts the most. Unless he hasn’t exited the Combat Sequence in the usual way—then it’d be a different story.

Under Feng Yuan’s constant gaze, the shopkeeper turned his head away and said,

"Forget it. Come in. If you’ve got something to say, say it inside."

Chuckling, Feng Yuan signaled War Qichen and the others with his eyes to follow. Bai You didn’t have much goodwill toward the shopkeeper—couldn’t be helped, with that kind of attitude it was impossible for her to let it go, even though she very well knew this was just how that bunch of people were.

Qiu Hanmo’s eyes froze for a moment when he saw War Qichen. After a brief pause, he seemed to think of something, then smiled in a way that made it impossible to see what he was really thinking.

Feng Yuan hadn’t expected a private kitchen like this to have a meeting room at all. Judging by the setup, it was probably arranged according to a temporary combat command room.

Not dwelling on that, Feng Yuan casually found a seat, sat down, and looked at War Qichen, saying,

"As for persuading Great Xia, I can help. But you also know I can’t interfere with their decisions. At most I can make recommendations. Whether they listen or not... that’s hard to say."

"However, if Agunas comes to help, the effect should be very good."

"Agunas?"

War Qichen was puzzled at first. After a moment he reacted—this was one of the leading figures of the Divine Beasts Corps within the United Army. If it stepped forward, then so long as their own interests weren’t harmed, not just Great Xia, the other United Army participant nations would probably all give it face.

"If that’s the case, then all the better. But I suspect that even it won’t be able to completely stop your people from taking the initiative to attack us."

Bai You spoke first, looking at Feng Yuan. She didn’t doubt Agunas’ clout, but... it wasn’t like she hadn’t studied the Main World’s situation. To say nothing of anything else, those illegal organizations certainly weren’t above going head-to-head with Divine Beasts.

It was just that those illegal organizations were clever. While they did go against the Divine Beasts, they never crossed any bottom line—it was just minor provocation. Unless a Divine Beast was particularly narrow-minded, it usually wouldn’t go out of its way to cause them trouble.

Of course, there were also cases where they went too far and got beaten down at their own doorstep. Bai You’s thinking was more like...

"There’s nothing we can do about that. Divine Beasts aren’t an absolute solution either. At most, Agunas can make sure the United Army’s participating nations won’t take the initiative to move against you. If you go looking for trouble yourselves, it definitely won’t be able to stop you."

Seeing Bai You’s expression turn displeased, Feng Yuan smiled and said,

"But from a certain angle, that’s not actually a problem. They attack you first, you fight back—I doubt anyone else will be able to call that wrong, right?"

"You’re saying we should rely on our own strength to protect ourselves?"

Bai You looked at Feng Yuan with an odd expression and an odd tone. Qichen, off to the side, was a bit worried and wanted to cut Feng Yuan off. In his opinion, wasn’t this getting a little excessive?

"Or do you actually want to place your safety entirely in other people’s hands? Veronia, has Agunas returned yet? How about asking it to come over and lend a hand?"

Even though Feng Yuan believed Agunas would definitely agree to help coordinate this matter, there were some things he really couldn’t guarantee—unless he used his own strength to suppress everyone by force.

"Mm-hmm, it has come back, but it’s still over with the United Army doing cleanup. Having it make a trip is fine too, after all this matter also concerns the United Army."

Seeing that Feng Yuan didn’t continue, Bai You hesitated for a moment and didn’t press him. She vaguely sensed that Feng Yuan’s change of topic seemed to be because he couldn’t make the corresponding promise?

But if it’s a Divine Beast speaking, that should be trustworthy. After all, the status of Divine Beasts in Main World human society is anything but ordinary.

"Let’s wait for Agunas to get here before we decide. As for what’s actually feasible, I can’t give you an answer—but it probably can."

As Feng Yuan spoke, he glanced at Veronia. In theory, it was also a Divine Beast and understood this sort of issue. Unfortunately, Veronia hadn’t taken part in United Army operations and didn’t have enough prestige among humans, so its opinion could only be a reference.

"Even though I can’t make you any promises on this side, you definitely need constraints on your side too."

While they waited for Agunas, Feng Yuan simply chatted about other things with War Qichen and the others. After exchanging a glance with Bai You, War Qichen slowly spoke,

"We’ll do everything we can. She’s also agreed to rely on her father to influence decisions in this area. But... we can’t get them to make unilateral decisions."

It wasn’t that he was haggling over benefits—it was just the reality. Only what benefits both sides can be pushed through; unilateral sacrifice is hard to pass anywhere.

"Of course. I’ve never intended to make you concede too much—that’s unrealistic. But how far we can get in negotiations is really hard to say. Those Ascension Stones are blindingly tempting."

Feng Yuan shook his head helplessly. After hesitating for a long time, War Qichen looked at Feng Yuan and finally asked a question he’d long wanted the answer to.

"Is it only humans from the Main World who can obtain Ascension Stones? If that’s a difficult question to answer, just forget it."

The shopkeeper snorted, utterly disdainful of War Qichen’s question. Whether Feng Yuan answered or not, he could get the answer—unless Feng Yuan chose to lie.

"Your guess is right. Ascension Stones are rewards for the Main World. Just as the Time Branches were born around the Main World. That’s something we can’t change."

Shrugging, Feng Yuan naturally had no need to lie. As for whether War Qichen believed him, that wasn’t his concern. He wasn’t hiding anything, but the truth wasn’t exactly friendly to them.

Hearing that, War Qichen sighed but didn’t doubt it. It matched what he understood about the status difference between Time Branches and the Main World.

"If you don’t believe it, you can always try. Anyway, places you occupy don’t trigger Ascension Stone rewards. As far as they’re concerned, it’s all the same—the only difference is who the enemy is."

Feng Yuan smiled. He didn’t mind them experimenting; it posed no loss to the Main World at all.

War Qichen looked at Feng Yuan and gave a helpless wry smile,

"How could I not believe it? If I didn’t know the Main World was special, why would I keep trying to persuade them not to make the Main World an enemy?"

At first it was only because of Feng Yuan—he was worried that East Continent Great Xia would provoke someone as hard to handle as Feng Yuan. As he learned more, he realized that being enemies with the Main World brought East Continent Great Xia no benefits at all.

There was no helping it. It wasn’t just that Feng Yuan was hard to mess with; in terms of status, the Main World and the Time Branches were worlds apart. The appearance of Ascension Stones this time was merely an affirmation of his view.

In a certain sense, even if they were unwilling to admit it, their Time Branches were just the Main World’s vassals.