Translator: Truth Editor : Dhael Ligerkeys If this was Jiu Zhou, then the old man would have crushed Lu Ye like an ant. But this was the Spirit Creek Battlefield. Forget a Real Lake Realm cultivator, even a Divine Ocean Realm cultivator must take Lu Yi Ye’s reaction into account before they say anything. It was very tiring. “In the Spirit Creek Battlefield, you won’t find a soul who won’t acknowledge that you’re practically invincible, but there are things in life that individual strength cannot change—” “Get to the point!” Lu Ye interrupted his incessant blabbering. The old man did not take offense at his rudeness and took a moment to ruminate his words. He then said, “The Purple Gold Clan is willing to pay you handsomely if you agree not to attack our Outpost!” This was the real reason the old man had sought out Lu Ye. “State your offer!” The old man was surprised. He thought he would need to speak a little more to convince Lu Ye into accepting his plan, but the young man had asked him to give his price immediately. “Fifty thousand Contribution Points worth of goods!” Lu Ye shot the old man an incredulous look. His aura slowly turned dangerous. The old man felt a chill creeping up his spine as he hurriedly explained, “Let me explain, young friend. It is true you’ll receive more Contribution Points if you conquer our Outpost—forget fifty thousand, your net profit will easily exceed five hundred thousand Contribution Points—but as I had told you earlier, you’ll also create a bunch of homeless cultivators who’ll do everything in their power to take bloody revenge against the Grand Sky Coalition if they do so. They will definitely band together with those who have also lost their Outposts and attack a Grand Sky Coalition Outpost. I’m sure you don’t wish to see that happen, yes? This is a negotiation. The only way to achieve a win-win scenario is for both sides to make a compromise.” “If you think that the Purple Gold Clan’s Outpost is only worth fifty thousand Contribution Points, then we can end this conversation here.” The old man chuckled. “Of course our Outpost is worth more than fifty thousand Contribution Points. Generations of cultivators have worked on it for years, and the amount of Contribution Points spent on the Outpost could only be described as astronomical. “If you’re only targeting my Purple Gold Clan, then yes, we are more than willing to pay you fifty thousand Contribution Points to buy your mercy. But you should remember that we aren’t the only Outposts in the Core Circle.” Lu Ye frowned. “What do you mean by that?” “I’m saying that if you set a precedent here, you may be able to convince other Thousand Demon Ridge sects to buy your mercy as well. Let’s assume that our offer is the baseline. How many Contribution Points do you think you’ll get if you visit a hundred Outposts?” Seeing that Lu Ye was silent, the old man continued, “I’ll do the math for you. There are nine provinces in Jiu Zhou, and each province has ten Tier-One sects, twenty to thirty Tier-Two sects, and forty to fifty Tier-Three sects. At the minimum, that is around eighty to a hundred sects in total. Multiply that by nine, and you’ll get a total of eight hundred to one thousand sects that are Tier Three or above. “Assuming that the ratio of Grand Sky Coalition and Thousand Demon Ridge sects is half-half, that means that there are four to five hundred sects in the Thousand Demon Ridge. If every sect were to pay you fifty thousand Contribution Points worth of goods, that means you’ll be earning twenty million Contribution Points at least. Do you think it’s still insufficient now?” For the first time since the conversation began, Lu Ye was completely speechless. He hadn’t done the math, so he did not realize just how much wealth he would be getting. Going by the old man’s calculation, he would be earning between twenty to thirty million Contribution Points worth of goods. That was insane to say the least. Take the Inviolable for example. It was one of the pricier nonuple-enhancement Spirit Artifacts in the Vault of Providence, and it was only worth a hundred and thirty eight Contribution Points. Even the astronomically priced Point Restoration Pill was only priced at a hundred and sixty thousand Contribution Points. He could buy hundreds of them with thirty million Contribution Points, though of course there were only a few of them left in the Vault of Providence now. “That’s why you shouldn’t think that I’m paying you a pittance. Fifty thousand Contribution Points is the number I’ve arrived at after much consideration. If you ask for too much, the other sects might think that it would be better to lose their Outposts. No offense, but no one wants to raise a monster who is guaranteed to annihilate them in the future. We’d rather die fighting.” “Are you sure the other sects would accept this arrangement?” Lu Ye asked. The old man stroked his beard smilingly. “Have we not paid you to stop when you were conquering our Outposts in the Inner Circle? What is losing some Contribution Points compared to losing an entire Outpost? As I’ve told you, each Core Circle Outpost is the culmination of generations or even tens of generations of hard work.” Lu Ye accepted his explanation with a nod. Although the old man hadn’t said it out loud, Lu Ye had a feeling that the old man wasn’t just speaking for his sect, but the entire Thousand Demon Ridge! This must be the optimal solution they had arrived at after discussing what they wanted to do with him, and this old man was their mouthpiece. [It’s not an unacceptable arrangement…] Before this, Lu Ye was worried that his wanton conquest was eventually going to lead to a catastrophic situation for everyone. The old man’s—or rather the Thousand Demon Ridge’s—plan would make him far less profit, but at least it wouldn’t result in excessive chaos and destruction. Also, the Thousand Demon Ridge was going to pay him fifty thousand Contribution Points worth of goods. Right now, every Contribution Point he earned had to be converted into Sect Contribution Points first before he could pay himself just ten percent of the total sum. It could not be compared to goods that could be used for cultivation. Finally, the Crimson Blood Sect did not urgently need Contribution Points right now. The concentration of their World Spiritual Qi had already been upgraded to the max, and the only other upgrade they could perform was to increase its radius. On the other hand, the cultivation resources could accelerate his disciples’ growth even further. It was a great arrangement for him no matter how he looked at it. “Very well. I want a hundred thousand Contribution Points from Tier-Three sects, two hundred thousand Contribution Points from Tier-Two sects, and three hundred thousand Contribution Points from Tier-One sects!” The Thousand Demon Ridge was the one who wished to compromise, so of course he was going to squeeze them for all it was worth. The thought of accepting the old man’s price as it was had never crossed his mind because he was the winner, not them. They were the ones who should comply with his demand, not the other way around. Of course, he freely admitted that fifty thousand Contribution Points worth of goods was a lot. He could buy hundreds of Inviolables with that kind of wealth. He was well aware how many Contribution Points the sects usually spent on their Outposts though. Three hundred thousand was but a splash in the pond compared to that! Lu Ye was certain that his offer was perfectly fair, and that everyone would happily accept it! “Young friend—” the old man tried to speak. Lu Ye was done with the old man, however. He took out his 10-point map and chose a location. “I’ll be waiting for you at Skysword Peak. You have ten days to prepare. I shouldn’t need to tell you this, but any sect who fails to deliver on the promise shall receive a personal visit from me!” With that said, he summoned his Spirit Boat and took to the sky. “Young friend!” The old man called after him, but the young man paid him no attention. He could only watch as Lu Yi Ye vanished into the horizon. Just an incense stick later, every Core Circle sect had heard of Lu Ye’s terms. Countless people were hopping mad and cursing Lu Yi Ye for his insatiable greed. If Lu Yi Ye had accepted the old man’s offer, then the Crimson Blood Sect would be earning between twenty to thirty million Contribution Points worth of goods. That was already a disgusting number to even think about. But if they complied with Lu Yi Ye’s demands, then the Crimson Blood Sect would be receiving between fifty to sixty million Contribution Points worth of goods! Twenty to thirty million Contribution Points were already enough to transform the Crimson Blood Sect completely. Fifty to sixty million? They didn’t even dare to think about it! The bad-tempered ones even made an announcement saying that Lu Yi Ye might as well conquer every Thousand Demon Ridge Outpost in the Core Circle. When that happened, they would band together and ensure that no one would be the winner. Of course, talk was just talk. As the old man of the Purple Gold Clan had mentioned before, every Core Circle Outpost was the culmination of generations or even tens of generations of hard work. One could not even begin to imagine the amount of Contribution Points they had spent on their Outposts. Compared to that, one, two or even three hundred thousand Contribution Points was nothing at all. It was just that some people could not swallow the indignity. Meanwhile, the twenty three Outposts who were conquered by Lu Yi Ye were on the verge of tears. How nice would it be if Lu Yi Ye had given his terms before he conquered their Outposts? Heavens know how many years it would take to rebuild it all… No one thought it was possible for a single Spirit Creek Realm cultivator to create this much wealth until he did. If they lumped the resources they had paid to the Grand Sky Coalition a few months ago under Lu Yi Ye as well, then the amount of losses the one man had cost them could only be described as astronomical. The Skysword Peak was a Spirit Peak located at the centermost area of the Spirit Creek Battlefield and the Core Circle. It was given its name because it looked like a massive sword that was planted on the ground. Coincidentally or not, it was overflowing with sharp, craggy rocks as well. The reason Lu Ye chose the Skysword Peak was because it was located at the center of the Spirit Creek Battlefield. Even the farthest Thousand Demon Ridge sect could definitely make it over in ten days, meaning that anyone who did not show up in time must disagree with his demand. Naturally, he was going to conquer those fools when it was time. It took Lu Ye two days to travel from the Purple Gold Clan to the Skysword Peak. To his surprise, someone was already there. They were two women. They seemed to be cultivating by feeling the nature around them. When Lu Ye landed, they opened their eyes to see who it was. Then, they realized in horror that he was none other than Lu Yi Ye of the Crimson Blood Sect! The two women shivered in terror. Was today their unluckiest day or something? Just what were the chances they would run into the One Leaf while cultivating in a Heavens forsaken mountain? The older woman asked her junior sister, “This is bad. What do we do?” The younger woman answered feebly, “Fight him to the death?” The older woman shook her head. “There’s no way we can win. He’s killed hundreds of people in the past ten days alone.” “What do we do then?” the junior sister sounded like she was on the verge of tears. “What if… what if you try to seduce him?” Her senior sister suggested. “What? How? He looks like he can swallow me alive!” Her junior sister responded in a dumbfounded voice. “With your chest, idiot! I heard that he loves women with big breasts. Have you heard of Bai Lan? You know, the Scroll of Supremacy ranker? She survived where no one else did because she was big enough. You’re pretty big yourself, so I’m sure you can do it.” “Really?” It was clear that this was the first time the junior sister had heard of this. She was just wrestling with disbelief and disgust when suddenly, Lu Yi Ye looked in their direction. Both women turned as pale as death in an instant. The senior sister hurriedly gave her junior sister a push. Knowing that it was the only way they might survive, the younger woman immediately puffed up her chest and forced a smile on her face. Before she could say anything though, Lu Ye shot her a glance and said, “Get lost!” Perhaps it was because he killed way too many people as of late, but Lu Ye couldn’t muster the desire to kill the two women. At first, they couldn’t believe that they would let them off so easily. However, they quickly recovered and brought out their flying Spirit Artifacts. They were gone in the blink of an eye. A long, long time later, the junior sister finally patted her chest and exhaled, “I thought we were going to die!” Her senior sister said, “See? I told you that he has a weakness for big, round melons! That bastard!”