Chapter 1 The Jiang You Plan

Jiang You's plan wasn't foolproof, but right now, against Ye Qiu, who was acting as a hunter in Thousand Wave Lake, the guilds really had no other options. It was better to do as Jiang You said and first get past this immediate hurdle. If it didn't work, they could always go back on their word. That was common in guild conflicts; everyone understood the unspoken rules.

Lan He, who had already decided to ignore the situation, didn't expect to be caught in the crossfire. After further discussion, they decided that Lan He would be the one to negotiate with Ye Qiu and try to resolve the situation peacefully.

"After all, you've dealt with him the most and for the longest time, so you understand him better!" The guild leaders were throwing Lan He's earlier words right back at him.

"Go," even his own superior, Chun Yi Lao, said, clearly thinking Lan He was the best choice.

Lan He was naturally annoyed, because this task wasn't as simple as it sounded.

You kill when you want to kill; when you can't kill, you tell them you won't kill anymore… There was no such easy thing in the world. Although Lan He didn't think Ye Qiu was the type to hold a grudge, the problem was that this concession was just a temporary expedient for the guilds, and they had a backup plan. Lan He didn't believe Ye Qiu couldn't see through their little tricks. Even if he couldn't see through the guilds' conspiracy, he would at least realize it was a delaying tactic. After all, the geographical advantage of Thousand Wave Lake wasn't something they could encounter at every level. If they could trick him into enduring this level range, it would be a new beginning.

"I'm not confident," Lan He admitted.

"It's okay, nothing in this world is ever 100% certain. Just do your best!" the guild leaders said earnestly. Lan He wanted to curse. These guys were saying nice things, but if he really failed to negotiate, he didn't believe they would be so kind. Maybe they would blame the whole mess on their Blue Brook Guild in the future. Lan He didn't believe Chun Yi Lao didn't understand this, so he couldn't understand why Chun Yi Lao was willing to let him take on this thankless task.

"I can't handle it," Lan He insisted, determined not to give in.

"Lan He, you can't say that. We're not forcing you to succeed, we just think you have a better chance. It's disheartening to hear you say that without even trying."

Lan He sneered silently. In the Heavenly Domain, they cursed and slaughtered each other, stabbing each other in the heart as deeply and happily as possible. Now, they were talking about being "disheartened." Lan He wanted to laugh.

Seeing that Lan He didn't respond, the others turned their guns and started lobbying Chun Yi Lao, the leader of Blue Brook Guild, obviously trying to get Chun Yi Lao to order Lan He to go.

Chun Yi Lao was always terse in the message chat, not saying much. He just sent a question mark to Lan He in a private message.

"Can't handle it," Lan He said without hesitation.

"Can't handle it." Then Lan He saw that the message he sent was instantly forwarded by Chun Yi Lao into the discussion group. He seriously suspected that the guild leader had just dragged the message with his mouse.

This person refused to budge, and no matter how bad the guild leaders' tempers were, they were helpless. They could only say some sarcastic words. But these people weren't really on the same side, so these taunts didn't matter much. They said even more hurtful things normally, so these words really had no impact. Everyone felt it was meaningless to keep talking, so they had to recommend someone else.

"Why not Night Cold Pool? Looking at the tenth server, besides Guild Leader Lan He, your Tyrannical Ambition and Lord Grim have had the most dealings with each other, so you must understand him well." The leader of Hundred Blossom Valley's tenth server, Beacon Fire, suggested someone.

Night Cold Pool had a dark expression, but his boss, Jiang You, stood up for him: "Everyone… our guild's background and Ye Qiu are sure to be full of gunpowder. Sending us would probably backfire."

That made sense, but if Night Cold Pool were to tell the truth, although they only found out later that Lord Grim was Ye Qiu, Ye Qiu had seen that they were from Tyrannical Ambition long ago. In all their dealings, Night Cold Pool had never felt that Ye Qiu treated them differently because of their hostile backgrounds. So, while the logic was sound, the reality was different.

But of course, Night Cold Pool wouldn't say that. In fact, his true thoughts were exactly the same as Lan He's. He also thought this matter was difficult to bring up and difficult to resolve, so he didn't want to be the one taking the heat.

So, this person also refused. Everyone was helpless and finally directly pointed at Jiang You: "Guild Leader Jiang, you came up with this plan, so who do you think is the most suitable person? Don't say Lan He, he's already said he won't go."

"How about we vote?" Jiang You suggested a democratic approach.

"Vote? If we vote someone out, will they object?" someone said.

"I object." Lan He didn't hesitate and directly admitted it. Everyone sent helpless emoticons.

Jiang You saw that his great plan was about to be shelved here. He couldn't command the people from other guilds, and Lan He was refusing to go no matter what. If they had a vote, the obvious choice would be their Night Cold Pool. In that case, Jiang You decided to be a man about it.

"Night, you go! No one will blame you if it doesn't work out. Let's make an agreement today. However this goes, we will follow Night Cold Pool's lead, and no one is allowed to complain, okay?" Jiang You said.

"That's right, that's right," many guild leaders echoed.

"Screenshot as proof," Jiang You said.

"Screenshot as proof," everyone agreed. Dragging this out wouldn't accomplish anything, and no one wanted to use this as an excuse to make trouble. They needed to get past this hurdle quickly.

Thus, Night Cold Pool was miserably chosen as the negotiating representative and sent to the front lines to negotiate with Ye Qiu, striving for a peaceful resolution.

"Great God…" Unlike Lan He, Night Cold Pool wasn't so stubborn. After being assigned by Jiang You, he had to bite the bullet and go.

"What's up?" Ye Xiu's reply was swift, showing how leisurely he was.

"Ahem, discussing something," Jiang You said.

"Go ahead!" Ye Xiu replied.

"Can we stop fighting? We admit defeat this time!" Night Cold Pool thought for a moment and decided to be direct. He thought he probably wasn't a match for Ye Xiu if he tried to be roundabout.

"Oh? Sure!" Ye Xiu replied.

"Thank you!!!" Night Cold Pool didn't expect the other party to be so straightforward and was so excited that his eyes sparkled.

"Territorial cession or reparations?" Ye Xiu replied again.

"What?" Night Cold Pool replied subconsciously, but after thinking about it, he started sweating.

"Territorial cession means letting us level up in Thousand Wave Lake, and reparations are the same as before. I'll open a materials list!" Ye Xiu replied. Night Cold Pool had already anticipated this answer, and he was already done sweating.

"This, this, this, isn't it too much…" Night Cold Pool didn't have any negotiating skills at all and was just talking nonsense.

"When you surrender, don't you have to cede territory and pay reparations? Letting you choose between the two is very humane!" Ye Xiu replied.

Night Cold Pool was depressed! Although they said he was fully responsible, he felt that if he really agreed to these conditions, even screenshots wouldn't help. But thinking of screenshots, Night Cold Pool had an idea. He simply screenshotted his chat log with Lord Grim and sent it to the discussion group without hesitation.

"Everyone, what do you think?" Night Cold Pool was clever. He wasn't a negotiating representative, he was a messenger.

The materials list that Lord Grim opened… The guild leaders in the tenth server had almost all seen it before, but many of the general guild leaders from the Heavenly Domain didn't know about it. They frowned and asked, "What is this?"

"It's simple, he has conditions!" Lan He now had the leisure to explain to everyone.

Everyone obviously didn't have a good impression of Lan He and ignored him, just listening to another tenth server guild leader explain it simply.

"Give Thousand Wave Lake to them? Damn, their guild only has five people at level 40, and two of them can only join in five days!" one guild leader angrily said.

"Why don't we have him open the materials list and take a look first," Ma Ta Xi Feng said.

"Yeah, let's see the list first!" Misty Rain Lock said.

The tenth server guild leaders all chose to remain silent at this time. They wouldn't say anything about looking at the list because they could predict that the list would be inhumane. The general guild leaders would definitely have their eyes opened.

Night Cold Pool didn't dawdle and immediately asked Lord Grim if he could open a list for them to see.

Ye Xiu had of course anticipated that they were discussing this as a group. He knew how many guilds were involved from the previous skirmishes, so he didn't hesitate and quickly opened a thick list. The speed was so fast that Night Cold Pool suspected he had already prepared it.

"Damn! Why doesn't he just rob us!!"

Sure enough, after the list was screenshotted and sent back to the discussion group, the several general guild leaders who had just arrived in the tenth server were all a mess in the wind.

"To be honest, the way he's been earning materials all along is far better than robbing…" Lan He couldn't resist joining in with the mockery.

"This… this…" Misty Rain Lock looked at the screenshot of the list and "this"-ed for a long time, unable to say anything else.

"But if everyone calculates it carefully, if we divide it among ourselves, this list is still within our tolerance range," Lan He said.

"Lan He, whose side are you on!" someone decisively began to doubt Lan He's position.

"I'm just helping everyone understand his style. He's always been like this. He'll make you feel a lot of pain, but he won't cross your bottom line… I'm not the only one who feels this way, right?" Lan He said.

The tenth server guild leaders were more or less used to it, but most of the general guild leaders who came from the Heavenly Domain obviously couldn't stand this coercion.

"I don't care!" The first to speak was Misty Rain Lock, who had been "this"-ing for a long time: "I don't believe it. Thousand Wave Lake is so big, and he only has a few people. Can he really control the whole place?"

"Brother Misty Rain is right!" Ma Ta Xi Feng, who had been chatting with Misty Rain Lock, also expressed his stance on the spot.