Chapter 911 - Respective Bargaining Chips
Translated by: Berrrybunz
Edited by: TN and DeAndreR
Honorable Martial Palace.
"Clan Elder Seuss' report isn't exaggerated. It was extremely difficult to seek confirmation of the battle at the Qiu Offense Institute, but at the later stages of the battle, especially for Xin's final attack, it was witnessed by many people. We have surveyed over 60 witnesses, and all of them gave the same result. We have arranged 70 Clan Elders to access over 3000 old records through the night, and finally obtained nine possible targets, but we are still unable to confirm his identity."
"Considering that Xin's background is most likely related to Mace Field Tradings Family, we have also investigated on Mace Field Tradings Family. We went to read up on their history, but we have very limited information. Mace Field Tradings family's history is extremely long, their ancestors were a branch of family from the north, and the north families could be traced back to 200 thousand years. It is a pity that Mace Field Tradings Family's successive generations did not live in good conditions, the information was not preserved well at all, and thus there are no useful information for us."
Clan Elder Ta Fei's reports were always detailed, his face was covered with wrinkles, but he was still vigorous and hearty, his grey eyes remained extremely sharp, his hair was combed to perfection, and his pure white robes were a perfect fit for him. He was unlike other Clan Elders that enjoyed material possessions like brilliant and bright gemstones, or enjoyed delicate brooches and such. There were no ornaments on him, he was extremely simple, like a veteran that only awaited for commands.
If it was anybody's first time meeting him, very few would know that this extremely simple old man was actually the second man of Temple.
After listening to Clan Elder Ta Fei's report, the Great Clan Elder spoke up: "You've said so much, but what you mean is that there was no results?"
Clan Elder Ta Fei trembled, cold perspiration trickled down his back, he lowered his head and gritted his teeth and spoke: "Yes. We did not find any useful information."
When the Great Clan Elder was a nobody, Ta Fei had been his adjutant. He had followed the Great Clan Elder from the beginning, and in the span of over 40 years, they gained prestige and reputation, while he gained the trust of the Great Clan Elder. When the Great Clan Elder
became the master of the Honorable Martial Palace, he too, got promoted rank after rank, and became the second most important figure in Temple.
After following him for many years, he understood the Great Clan Elder's temper extremely well, and did not conceal anything despite being fearful of angering the Great Clan Elder. But the growing pressure from the Great Clan Elder made him extremely nervous which did not come from habit but an instinctive reaction from his body.
The Great Clan Elder remained quiet for a moment, then spoke up: "Tell Seuss that I will give him the largest authority, I want to see this Spirit General."
"Yes." Ta Fei complied while trembling, he hesitated for a moment: "Do you think he is from Heaven's Road? I am worried that this Spirit General has something to do with the Southern Alliance. Southern Alliance's Tang Tian also has an extremely powerful spirit general."
The Great Clan Elder's voice came out from the golden Holy Flames, which was extremely calm and filled with confidence: "As long as he is a spirit general, it doesn't matter."
Ta Fei nodded his head: "I understand. Mace Field Trading is just a small family, they will definitely agree to us."
"That's right. They think that just by allying up, they can go against us. They think that by taking action at such a time, we will not act against them, they think that I will cooperate with them for the sake of the entire situation." The Great Clan Elder's voice contained a strong taste of ridicule: "Such foolishness."
Ta Fei knew that the Great Clan Elder was genuinely angry, he too felt that the families had gone overboard, for their self-interests, they would sacrifice the interest of the Honorable Martial Continent. ~Do these ingrates not know that if the Honorable Martial Continent loses, they will lose as well?~
That's right, they believed that the Great Clan Elder would not allow the Honorable Martial Continent to lose, thus they believed that he would cooperate. But, they never thought that the Great Clan Elder had his own plans.
He spoke respectfully: "They are seeking their own deaths."
"They are all rotten, Ta Fei."
Great Clan Elder's voice resonated throughout the entire Honorable Martial palace.
"They have already lost their ancestor's courage and glory, they are just old rats who are lost in the darkness and playing tricks, they are not fit to have anything now. But they will soon
soon realize that the Honorable Martial Continent does not need them, it only needs Temple. Temple does not need them as well, their era had long been over 500 years ago. What Temple needs now is new blood, the Honorable Martial Continent needs new blood, we must get rid of all of these rotten meat and pus, and welcome new life!"
The Great Clan Elder became worked up, and as though the Holy Flames had sensed his emotions, it released an extremely bright light, causing him to become as bright as the sun.
"No one can stop us, including Mace Field Tradings."
Clan Elder Ta Fei accepted it willingly, it had always been like so.
***********************
Inside Huo Family's side courtyard where security was tight.
Inside the hall, aside from the Qiu Family, the Five Aristocratic Families' Patriarchs were gathered. The battle at the Qiu Offense Institute had shook the entire Saint Continent. With their fastest speed, they sped through the night and rushed over, no one dared to delay. They had just returned from observing the battle at Qiu Offense Institute, and all of their expressions were of shock.
"I never knew that such a powerful spirit general still existed in this world! The Qiu Family's loss was not in vain." The Mo Family's Patriarch, Mo Yi Gu, spoke up.
The rest nodded their heads, being present at the battlefield and witnessing the destruction of Qiu Offense Institute first hand left an extremely deep mark in them. The Qiu Family was completely destroyed. The loss from the battle affected the Qiu Family more than ever, and they judged that it would lead the end of the Qiu Family. Upon thinking about how a first rate Prestigious Family had fallen just like that, all of them felt distress.
But, they did not have the time to grieve for the Qiu Family. Their greatest concern was the huge change from the sudden turn of events, and how it would affect the situation.
Vicari Family's Patriarch, Howl Vicari, spoke up: "We need to discuss how it will affect us."
Everyone's faces became serious, the situation was on thin ice, and any minor changes would affect the entire situation, furthermore, what had happened was not any small change.
The heavy losses of the Qiu Family was the most terrible thing for them. The original five families had been reduced to four, and their strength had taken a huge hit.
Howl Vicari carried on:
carried on: "Temple has launched a gathering, although we have already did our greetings, but they are still gathering over 300 of the smaller Prestigious Families. In terms of the size of the armies, we are at a disadvantage."
"Isn't it old news that Temple is trying to use these smaller Prestigious Families that they groomed themselves to replace us?" Huo Liu Shang snorted: "Ever since they started the initiative of the so called gaining recognition by Temple, We have long guessed that this day will come. Let us consider the capabilities of those country bumpkins."
"Who knows, they are still harboring the dreams of replacing us. They are truly foolish." Mo Yi Gu shook his head: "When Temple violated the promise back then, they knew that they could no longer contain our families. They want to be the sole Master of the Honorable Martial Continent, where they can decide who lives and who dies. All of those cannon fodder are not worth mentioning."
"Cannon Fodder will always be Cannon Fodder." Huo Liu Shang snorted.
Howl reminded everyone: "Mace Field Tradings is not cannon fodder. Their General rank Spirit General is unheard of, and that sword, it is an extremely formidable treasure. It caused the destruction of the Qiu Offense Army, we can tell that its strength is unfathomable. We need to pull Mace Field Tradings to us."
"I agree." Mo Yi Gu nodded his head: "Such a powerful Spirit General will have an invincible army, if they land in Temple's hands, we will be in danger. Who has the confidence to defeat him?"
No one uttered a sound.
All that were present were the top rate Prestigious Families, they had powerful armies and talented geniuses, but none of them dared to pat their chest and claim that they could win in a battle against the Spirit General.
Sadra Croft, who had maintained silence for the entire time, spoke up: "Whatever he wants, satisfy him."
Sadra held the highest prestige amongst the four, when he spoke up, everyone's opinion became one.
"That is if he had said what he wanted, now, it is us opening the floor." Howl felt a headache coming.
Sadra suddenly looked at Huo Li Ruo, who was behind Huo Liu Shang: "You said that that spirit general actually bowed to someone? Who is he?"
Huo Li Ruo tried to recall the scene, then said: "That's right. At that time, Senior Xin bowed to the leader of the Iron Mask Army,
Iron Mask Army, and called him In-Law, and he even called himself as a subordinate."
His eyes flashed with a look of annoyance, ~That's right, how could I have forgotten such an important detail.~
"The Iron Mask Army, Mace Field Trading, that man is the key." Sadra said indifferently: "I believe that he is able to see the entire situation clearly. Furthermore, he can control such a powerful Spirit General, he will definitely be interested in Temple's offer."
Huo Liu Shang's eyes lit up: "You mean to say…."
Everyone thought of the same thing at once, and they became excited.
Snow City was recently overcrowded, as though anyone with a head in the Saint Continent would head there. Of course, the most crowded place was still the Mace Field Tradings shops. Everyone knew how much Mace Field Trading was worth at the moment.
Temple and the Five Aristocrats, oh, it had turned to Four Aristocrats, were all trying their best to rope in Mace Field Tradings. Furthermore, there was a rumor that this had become the most crucial point for the war, whichever side that Mace Field Trading chose, the side would had a higher chance of victory.
The numerous visits and gifts by the noble guests almost caused Mace Field Tradings to explode. Both parties mobilized all of their efforts, utilizing others to bring business to Mace Field Tradings, to hype up and promote their own sides, they made promises, incite activities in an endless stream.
The restaurant opposite the shop was equally as bustling and crowded.
"Hey, who do you think the Patriarch of the Gustus Family is working for?"
"It should be Temple, he is a new Prestigious Family."
"That guy looks familiar, eh, I can't remember who he is."
"I think he is the Patriarch of Constantine Family."
"Right, right, right…."
Everyone watched the bustling activities, and were basking in the joy. Snow City was not a country, but they had never witnessed so many major figures appearing, occasionally, gasps would be heard from the crowd, and all the famous people would appear before them.
The people were moved by the fickle world, all the small time Prestigious Families had become the key pawns to decide the future of Honorable Martial Continent.
Who would Mace Field Tradings choose to join? Everyone was curious and worried, apart from the families that had already made their stand, everyone else longed for the situation to be clarified sooner.