Chapter 2754 - 2755: Preliminary Agreement

Agunas arrived quicker than Feng Yuan expected, not because Feng Yuan sought its help, but because this matter involved the war timeline. Although it wasn’t particularly keen on getting involved in such matters, it had reservations about humanity’s continuous wars and didn’t view such actions favorably.

The excessive number of Legendary Beast Masters leading to an overconsumption of resources for cultivating beasts wasn’t something it was aware of. After all, it had just returned and wasn’t fully informed about the current state of Legendary Beast Masters.

However, to Agunas, waging wars for the Ascension Stone may not be the right choice. Even considering the Allied Operations of the Empire Timeline against the Eastern Continent Great Xia Alliance Empire, with the Divine Beasts backing them, casualties within the United Army were unavoidable.

Although those casualties could have been prevented, doing so would mean the Divine Beasts were dominating the war entirely, turning the United Army into spectators.

This obviously didn’t align with their ideals. Were it not for the excessive actions of the Imperial People, it wouldn’t have rallied a group of Divine Beasts to deal with the Eastern Continent Great Xia Alliance. On top of that, should they also help humans charge and fight? Isn’t that overthinking it?

The War Qi Chen incident served as a good reference for it. At the very least, successful peace talks require both parties to hold the same intention. It was pointless for the Main World to seek peace if the other side wasn’t receptive.

Seeing Agunas appear, Feng Yuan waved at it and said,

"Hey~ Agunas~"

Glancing at Feng Yuan, Agunas turned to War Qi Chen and said,

"I understand your intentions. Before proceeding, I need to confirm one thing: can you represent or at least partially represent the thoughts of your top leadership?"

If it was merely War Qi Chen’s personal thought and not shared by the leadership, it saw no reason to discuss further.

"Of course, I can even promise that the outcome of our discussions this time will be considered by them, as long as it doesn’t seriously damage the interests of our Eastern Continent Great Xia. To what extent they can compromise will depend on your sincerity."

With a serious expression, War Qi Chen spoke solemnly. Feng Yuan knowingly stepped aside. War Qi Chen appeared to be yielding, mainly because the Main World held the initiative and advantage in this matter.

From the start, the standings of both parties were unequal. His concession was partly because he understood the disposition of the Divine Beasts.

"Whether it damages your interests, I don’t care. I can only ensure to do my best to facilitate peace talks. As for what price you need to pay, I need further understanding of various intel, and about your demands..."

Seeing both sides engaging in an official business-like attitude in negotiations, Veronia yawned and sneaked out of the room, showing no interest in the matter. Tamur, on the other hand, watched curiously from the side, as it was the first time they saw a Divine Beast negotiating so seriously as if it were an official representative.

Feng Yuan at this moment had retreated to a corner to avoid affecting both sides since, personally, he easily leaned towards War Qi Chen. However, Agunas was representing more than just itself at this moment, implicitly representing the numerous forces behind the United Army and negotiating with War Qi Chen alongside the Divine Beasts.

Judging by Agunas’ behavior of pausing after each lengthy statement, Feng Yuan suspected this was just a projection of Agunas and that its real body might be in synchronous transmission and discussion with the United Army’s upper echelon for this initial contact’s information.

This wasn’t Feng Yuan’s wild guess. Initially, both sides were merely probing. Yet, as the discussions progressed, War Qi Chen offered few new promises, whereas Agunas seemed to cover and promise various aspects, unlikely without communication.

From Agunas’ performance, Feng Yuan estimated that the majority of the United Army’s leadership also supported stopping the ongoing wars; otherwise, they wouldn’t have proposed those conditions.

The shopkeeper, although unaware of Agunas’ projection ability, initially doubted the conditions and promises Agunas made, which were clearly beyond its authority, wondering if it was speaking idly. Yet, considering Agunas’ Divine Beast identity, this seemed improbable.

As negotiations continued, he discerned the nuances. Although only Agunas was present, the leadership of the United Army seemed to be standing behind it.

As for whether it was the Alliance, he was confident it wasn’t, given the unfavorable situation the Alliance was currently in, lacking the energy to manage this.

Or rather, they simply lacked the capability to constrain all countries, and any negotiation with them would only yield a paper promise at best.

Qiu Hanmo quietly listened with a smile, leaving others guessing about his thoughts. Qi Chen tried to understand but found himself increasingly lost as more issues were addressed. Despite having some resemblance to War Qi Chen’s character, he couldn’t keep up with the thought process.

Dou Yanlan barely managed to follow but wondered if the whole affair wasn’t excessively trivial. Such an important matter being discussed by two individuals not exactly considered high-level, could it be effective?

Neither the two nor the Divine Beast concerned themselves with such matters. The entire negotiation lasted a long time. By the time they reached a preliminary agreement, the sun was nearly setting.

Feng Yuan had no interest in listening for so long, retreating midway through the process. Only Qiu Hanmo and the shopkeeper remained to eavesdrop till the end. Even Yang Hongzhi couldn’t resist slipping away.

"Is it done?"

Feng Yuan, who was at the entrance chastising Xiao Ji, noticed War Qi Chen and Bai You exiting and turned his head to ask curiously. War Qi Chen glanced at Xiao Ji, who had its head lowered as if guilty of some wrongdoing, nodded slightly and said,

"We’ve temporarily agreed on a framework that both sides should find acceptable. Specifics still require effort; hopefully, they’ll keep up."

"Uh, those guys shouldn’t come around too quickly, and deciding on a war with the war timeline isn’t easy either."

Understanding War Qi Chen’s meaning, Feng Yuan said with a bit of helplessness. It wasn’t that he underestimated those people; even with the Ascension Stone dangling in front, he doubted that mob could easily start a war with the war timeline.

The Imperial Timeline has safe footholds, at least the East Continent United Continent has United Army stationed, preventing easy loss. In case of an unexpected incident, they have a place to retreat to.

The war timeline is different. They need to attempt establishing safe zones themselves, which isn’t overly challenging but for that mob, it is quite difficult.

Though numerous, they don’t follow orders entirely, each has their own schemes and strategies. When things are going well, it’s manageable, but once the situation turns unfavorable, a defeat would be unsurprising.

Counting on them to secure a piece of territory in the war timeline is less plausible than hoping the war timeline would suddenly surrender.

Of course, Feng Yuan didn’t wish for them to declare a full-scale war on the war timeline either. Beyond his connection with War Qi Chen, it was also because there were already plenty of Legendary Beast Masters, and more would lead to resource strain.

"Hopefully so."

Smiling helplessly, War Qi Chen still considered the worst-case scenario, given the significance to his own country, he couldn’t afford to be careless.

As he watched them depart, Feng Yuan turned to Agunas and asked,

"So, how did it go?"

Glancing at Feng Yuan, Agunas flicked its tail and said lightly,

"If he can persuade Eastern Continent Great Xia, there shouldn’t be a problem. What are your expectations?"

"Hehe, of course, it’s forming an alliance. After all, besides the war timeline, there’s also the Qi Realm timeline. You can’t just finish dealing with the Empire, start a war, then go flip the Qi Realm, it’s unrealistic, also..."

"The Qi Realm timeline... I need some time to gather data on that place."

Flicking its tail, Agunas said helplessly. The Qi Realm timeline was too unique, and the Qi Realm itself had a significant impact.

If its move to protect the war timeline was out of consideration of multiple aspects, the Qi Realm timeline required unavoidable protection. At least, it wouldn’t allow the Main World to declare war on it before it launched an attack first.

It wasn’t out of fear of the Qi Realm timeline’s humanity. Compared to the war and the Empire, the Qi Realm timeline’s human strength was still weaker.

However, the Qi Realm, a unique entity, guarded the Qi Realm timeline.

It affected even Divine Beasts and was integrated into the Main World’s rules. Should the Main World initiate an attack, it would likely provoke a fierce counterattack.

To prevent such reckless actions, it was determined to stop humanity from causing trouble for themselves.

But before that, it had to understand what exactly the Qi Realm timeline and Qi Realm were about. Previously, dealing with the Empire Timeline’s affairs, Agunas had no spare energy for this matter.