Chapter 445: 445. Negotiation

The attacks of the rank 5 creature stopped after the newly appeared heroic cultivator spoke, its tentacles vanished in the air in a few seconds.

"The Council is ready to talk!"

Another voice filled the archipelago, it belonged to a woman and seemed to come from the direction where the ships of the Papral nation were docked.

'They are trying to preserve troops, the war has reached the point where human cultivators can't affect it anymore.'

Noah sighed internally as he realized what was happening.

The cultivators in the heroic ranks from each faction had tasted the power of the copying spell and were expressing their willingness to negotiate, it was useless to waste all their human assets against those magical beasts.

"The Elbas family is ready to talk."

At last, even the heroic cultivator from the Utra nation gave up on fighting the powerful tentacles coming from the sea and decided to resort to negotiation.

Silence filled the archipelago, all the battles on the peripheral islands had long stopped since the appearance of the magical beasts, all the cultivators on them were waiting for the answer of the powerful beings ruling the underground organizations.

Then, a tall cultivator with a burly body filled with scars, red eyes, and brown eyes appeared in the air above the battlefields.

Noah could recognize him, he was the Chasing Demon!

"Let's talk then."

A faint smile was on his face as he answered the heroic cultivators from the other factions and gestured to follow him, four figures disappeared in a few seconds.

In a purple underground area, on the horizontal peak that was the mountain where Chasing Demon trained, four cultivators sat on a table outside the formation on the ground.

If Noah was there, he would notice that the area around the underground mountain was now filled by the shining lines of a huge formation, Chasing Demon had used his training area as part of the core of the copying technique.

Chasing Demon sat on one side of the table, he seemed completely relaxed as he took long sips from the cup in front of him, the piercing gazes of his three guests didn't bother him at all.

The three guests were the heroic cultivators sent by the three big nations to escort the ships, there were actually more of them with the ships but only the strongest of each faction had joined that negotiation.

They were one man and two women, all three of them in the fifth rank of the dantian, their gazes tried to probe the power of Chasing Demon but, to their surprise, they weren't able to understand his level.

The two women from the Papral and Utra nation seemed somewhat anxious but the cultivator from the Empire was managing to keep his calm, realizing that the man in front of him was in the sixth rank didn't seem to affect him in the slightest.

It was due to that mental tranquility that he was the first to speak and to open the negotiations.

"I've already notified the continent that the Coral archipelago has a rank 6 existence defending it now, I, Gray Fury, have been granted the permission to seal an accord. The Shandal Empire is willing to offer five hundred years of peace and favorable exchanges of resources for the technique used to restrain and put to use rank 5 magical beasts."

His words were spoken proudly, he seemed completely sure that his offer would be accepted.

Chasing Demon acted as if he didn't speak and simply continued to drink his wine as he stared at a vague point in the distance.

"I've also notified the Council and been granted permission to represent the Papral nation in this negotiation. The Council is willing to reinstate the Chasing Demon sect as an orthodox sect and help it in its control over the archipelago. All your benefits can be further discussed once the exact value of the archipelago is decided."

The woman from the Papral nation spoke, she had long brown hair and shining green eyes, she didn't look more than forty years old since not even a wrinkle could be seen in her beautiful face.

"Anthea, you were only a mortal when the demon sects were chased out of the continent, don't speak about things that you can't understand."

Chasing Demon answered the woman from the Papral nation without looking at her, his stance clearly expressed that he wasn't interested in her offer.

It was then time for the heroic cultivator from the Utra nation to make her proposal.

"I'm Lady Edna, the Elbas family congratulates the Chasing Demon for reaching the sixth rank and hopes to seal a deal that can benefit both organizations. The Royal dynasty is willing to recognize the Coral archipelago as an independent nation as long as the stream of resources for the researches of the Royal academy isn't interrupted."

Lady Edna spoke slowly, there seemed to be something bothering her mind but she ultimately chose to leave that matter for later.

She was the heroic cultivator that had helped Thaddeus and Cecil in opening Eccentric Thunder's Inheritance ground, she had the usual golden hair of the Elbas bloodline and green eyes, her position in the Royal family was also quite high.

The offers of the three big nations of the continent had been presented, it was up to Chasing Demon now to speak.

Chasing Demon moved his gaze on the table, his eyes lingered on the almost empty cup in his hand for a while before he decided himself to speak.

"You can stop pretending, we all know that you won't pursue a full offensive on the archipelago, you simply fear each other too much."

Unsightly expressions appeared on the representatives of the continent when they heard his words.

"The Empire alone is enough to deplete all your reserves of energy and reclaim the archipelago under its banner."

Gray Fury complained when he felt the honor of his country being attacked.

"Yes, but doing that will pave the path for a collaboration between the other two big nations. Your three areas of influence are bound to clash at some point, are you really sure that your country wants to be weakened so much before that?"

As he said those words, Chasing Demon raised his eyes and stared at Gray Fury who had lowered his head to hide his expression in front of that mighty existence.

A tense atmosphere was created as soon as the patriarch of the Chasing demon sect decided to express his thoughts.