Chapter 685 - 145: What is Diplomacy (Part 2)

Dark red blood seeped through the cracks between his fingers as he covered his mouth. The surrounding crew members all stared at him, their expressions tense.

Among the entire fleet and all its people, Zhang Deming could only spot a single Cultivator at the Four Symbols Stage: the middle-aged man.

This suggested that the Cultivators of the Celestial Universe Federation weren’t particularly advanced, neither at the High Tiers nor the Low Tiers.

...

Yang Guizhong looked at the seriously injured man, hesitated for a moment, then waved his hand. An illusory Medicinal Ginseng, shimmering with Spiritual Light, materialized and flew toward the man.

The Magic Power around the coughing man’s body flickered slightly, then subsided. He allowed the Medicinal Ginseng to merge into his body without resistance.

As the illusory Medicinal Ginseng merged into his body, the man’s injuries instantly improved a great deal.

After catching his breath, he rose to his feet. Facing Yang Guizhong and Dang Xiangjun, he performed a solemn bow in the Hongmeng tradition and said, "I am Shang Tingjie, Marshal of the Celestial Universe Air Force and a Four-Ring Guardian Mage. I greet my fellow Daoists from the Celestial Spirit Sect."

Dressed in Celestial Universe attire, performing a Hongmeng salutation, and fluently addressing them as "fellow Daoists"—the whole scene was rather jarring.

Dang Xiangjun and Yang Guizhong returned a slight bow and said, "You are too kind, General Shang. We have been eagerly awaiting your delegation’s arrival for a long time."

"My fellow... COUGH, COUGH..." After only a few words, Shang Tingjie doubled over and began to cough violently again. More blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.

Dang Xiangjun asked with concern, "General Shang, are you alright?"

"COUGH, COUGH..." After a few more coughs, Shang Tingjie waved his hand dismissively. "It’s nothing serious. I was already heavily injured, and on top of that, I had to use Absolute Defense for the better part of a day. It put a strain on my Rune Core and damaged my foundations a little, that’s all."

’His Rune Core is damaged and his foundations are hurt, and he calls that "a little"? That’s all?’

’Heh! Spoken like a true diplomat!’

’These linguistic gymnastics... If you need a healer, would it kill you to just say so?’

Yang Guizhong paused, his aged face twitching slightly before he spoke. "My specialization is not in the path of Elixirs. I can only offer the General further treatment after we have returned to the Sect."

Shang Tingjie smiled in response. "It is no matter. I can hold on. It’s not fatal... COUGH, COUGH..."

As he said this, he started coughing again, and blood began to seep from the corner of his mouth.

Zhang Deming was speechless.

’You really can’t mess with these top-level diplomats! To be able to play the martyr while maintaining a noble front, and do it so skillfully that no one feels repulsed... Zhang Deming had to admit, he was impressed!’

Dang Xiangjun paused. Although he also wanted to return to the Sect immediately, there were some matters he needed to clarify first.

"General Shang, weren’t you supposed to come by way of Hua Shui Palace, from the direction of Tongzhou to the north of our Sect? How did you end up here in Xiaozhou, to the west?"

Shang Tingjie replied with a wry smile, "We set out after concluding our exchange at Hua Shui Palace. As you know, due to a tradition from the early days of the conference, we are met by a welcoming party but are not accompanied by an escort."

In the beginning, the exchange groups were extremely unpopular. Forget an escort—even the welcoming ceremonies were incredibly half-hearted, more so than the reception from Huixin’s group back then.

Later, for various reasons, the exchange delegation went from being universally despised to being welcomed everywhere. Although the situation improved dramatically, the politically astute Celestial Universe people preserved this tradition of "welcome but no escort" to maintain a sense of consistency with past protocols.

Of course, this wasn’t just about being politically savvy. Traveling unescorted for half the journey gave them the freedom to attend to their own affairs, which was another key reason they insisted on preserving this tradition.

"As we were about to enter Celestial Spirit Sect territory, we tried to contact you, only to find that the Communication Card from the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land had stopped working.

Coupled with the fact we’d noticed a great deal of unrest along the way, we figured your Sect was in some kind of trouble. So, we didn’t wait idly by, but decided to proceed directly into your territory and head for the Sect."

Shang Tingjie paused, looked at the two of them, and continued, "As you probably know, the Flying Artifacts of my Celestial Universe rely primarily on intelligent navigation, with very little need for manual control.

Even though Hongmeng lacks satellite guidance, we had the map your Sect submitted to the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land and the Artifact’s own auxiliary navigation, so there shouldn’t have been any issues.

However, not long after we set out, our course deviated severely. Without the aid of satellite positioning for real-time confirmation, by the time we realized what had happened, our ship had already reached Xiaozhou.

Only then did we realize something was wrong, but it was too late. The fleet was instantly besieged.

Even though I immediately activated the fleet’s main Energy Shield, our ship couldn’t withstand the assault from a strange, spherical metal Puppet for long and crashed.

Only by exerting all my power was I able to protect a number of the Disciples and get them out on an escape vessel.

But they were hot on our tail as we fled, forcing me to activate Absolute Defense. I thought our doom was certain, but then, unexpectedly, they retreated.

Is the territory within your Sect’s borders so chaotic these days? This kind of inexplicable Tribulation Dao... it reminds me of the circumstances back when we first began our exchanges."

’Hm? What’s he implying with that last sentence...?’

Listening quietly, Zhang Deming raised an eyebrow and glanced at Dang Xiangjun and Yang Guizhong.

Although there wasn’t a direct question in his words, any discerning person could understand the implication behind that final sentence.

After all, everyone involved was well aware of what it meant to be ’ambushed’ during the initial period of their exchanges. For him to bring it up now was a clear, if indirect, accusation—questioning whether the Celestial Spirit Sect no longer welcomed them.